OVERVIEW
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel,
the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island,
and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, in the northeast of the island. In 2011, the population of Ireland
was about 6.6 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.
Just under 4.8 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
SOME HISTORY
The earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE.
The island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century,
England claimed sovereignty over Ireland. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until
the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain.
In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority
and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century.
With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom.
A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island,
creating the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades,
and Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s
until the 1990s. This subsided following a political agreement in 1998.
In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom,
and Northern Ireland, as part of it, did the same.
Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature.
Alongside mainstream Western culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music,
and the Irish language. The culture of the island also shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English
language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, and golf.
AN AWESOME FACT!
Our organisation gets it’s name, “Aran” from the “Aran Islands” which are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay,
on the west coast of Ireland, with a total area of about 46 square kilometres. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway,
Ireland.
