Northern Ireland Tuaisceart Éireann Norlin Airlann | ||
|---|---|---|
 Location of Northern Ireland/sandbox (inset - orange) in the United Kingdom (camel) in the European continent (white) | ||
| Capital and largest city | Belfast 54°35.456′N 5°50.4′W / 54.590933°N 5.8400°W | |
| Official languages | English (de facto) Irish Ulster Scots1 | |
| Ethnic groups | 99.15% White (91.0% Northern Ireland born, 8.15% other white), 0.41% Asian, 0.10% Irish Traveller, 0.34% others.[1] | |
| Demonym(s) | Irish[2][3] Northern Irish[2] Ulsterman (or Ulsterwoman)[4] | |
| - | United Kingdom | British2 |
| Government | Constitutional monarchy Consociationalism | |
• Monarch | Elizabeth II | |
| David Cameron MP | ||
| Peter Robinson MLA | ||
| Martin McGuinness MLA MP | ||
| Owen Paterson MP | ||
| Establishment | ||
| 3 May 1921 | ||
| Area | ||
• Total | 13,843 km2 (5,345 sq mi) | |
| Population | ||
• 2009 estimate | 1,775,000[5] | |
• 2001 census | 1,685,267 | |
• Density | 122/km2 (316.0/sq mi) | |
| GDP (PPP) | 2002 estimate | |
• Total | £33.2 billion | |
• Per capita | £19,603 | |
| Currency | Pound sterling (GBP) | |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) | |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) | |
| Drives on | left | |
| Calling code | +444 | |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-NIR | |
| Internet TLD | .uk3 | |
| ||
Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom.[6][7] Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census, its population was 1,685,000, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland consists of six of the traditional nine counties of the historic Irish province of Ulster. It was created as a distinct division of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920,[8] though its constitutional roots lie in the 1800 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. For over 50 years it had its own devolved government and parliament. These institutions were suspended in 1972 and abolished in 1973. Repeated attempts to restore self-government finally resulted in the establishment of the present-day Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly operates on consociational democracy principles requiring cross-community support.
Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict—the Troubles—between those claiming to represent nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and those claiming to represent unionists, who are predominantly Protestant. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom,[9] while nationalists wish it to be politically reunited[10][11] with the rest of Ireland.[12][13] Since the signing of the "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998, most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their armed campaigns.
Due to its unique history, the issue of the symbolism, name and description of Northern Ireland is complex, and similarly the issue of citizenship and identity. In general, Unionists consider themselves British and Nationalists see themselves as Irish, though these identities are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The area that is now Northern Ireland has had a diverse history. From serving as the bedrock of Irish resistance in the era of the plantations of Queen Elizabeth and James I in other parts of Ireland, it became the subject of major planting of Scottish and English settlers after the Flight of the Earls in 1607 (when the Gaelic aristocracy fled to Catholic Europe).
The all-island Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1801) merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 under the terms of the Act of Union, under which the kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain merged under a government and parliament based in London. In the early 20th century, Unionists led by Sir Edward Carson opposed the introduction of Home Rule in Ireland. Unionists were in a minority on the island of Ireland as a whole, but were a majority in the northern province of Ulster, a very large majority in the counties of Antrim and Down, small majorities in the counties of Armagh and Londonderry. There were substantial numbers also concentrated in the nationalist-majority counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone. These six counties later formed Northern Ireland.
The clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over the controversial budget of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd-George produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. Given that the Lords had been the unionists' main guarantee that a home rule act would not be enacted, because of the majority of pro-unionist peers in the House, the Parliament Act made Home Rule a more likely prospect. Opponents to Home Rule, from Conservative Party leaders like Andrew Bonar Law to militant unionists in Ireland, threatened the use of violence, producing the Larne Gun Running incident in 1914, when they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for the Ulster Volunteers. The prospect of civil war in Ireland loomed.
In 1914, the Third Home Rule Act, which contained provision for a temporary partition, received the Royal Assent. Its implementation was suspended for the duration of the intervening First World War, which was expected to last only a few weeks, but, in fact, lasted four years.
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References
edit- ^ "Northern Ireland Census 2001 Commissioned Output". NISRA. 2001. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ a b Dickson, Paul (1997). Labels for Locals: What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. p. 220. ISBN 9780877796169.
Northern Ireland: Northern Irishman and Northern Irishwoman, or the collective Irish and Northern Irish
- ^ Martin, Jeanette; Chaney, Lillian (2009), Passport to Success: The Essential Guide to Business Culture and Customs in America's Largest Trading Partners, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, p. 254, ISBN 978-0-275-99716-8,
The United Kingdom is made up of Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. While all of the people of the UK are known as British, the people of Wales are also known as Welsh, in Scotland as Scottish, in England as English, and in Northern Ireland as Irish.
- ^ Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English (Third revised ed.), Oxford Dictionaries, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-953296-4,
Ulsterman (or Ulsterwoman): a native or inhabitant of Northern Ireland or Ulster.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
news.bbc.co.ukwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The Countries of the UK". www.statistics.gov.uk - geography - beginners' guide to UK geography. UK Statistics Authority. 11 November 2005. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
The top-level division of administrative geography in the UK is the 4 countries - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- ^ "countries within a country". Number10.gov.uk. The Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 10 January 2003. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom with a devolved legislative Assembly and a power sharing Executive made up of ministers from four political parties representing different traditions.
- ^ Statutory Rules & Orders published by authority, 1921 (No. 533); Additional source for 3 May 1921 date: Alvin Jackson, Home Rule - An Irish History, Oxford University Press, 2004, p198.
- ^ Standing up for Northern Ireland www.uup.org. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- ^ Richard Jenkin, 1997, Rethinking ethnicity: arguments and explorations, SAGE Publicatoins: London: "In Northern Ireland the objectives of contemporary nationalists are the reunification of Ireland and the removal of British government."
- ^ Peter Dorey, 1995, British politics since 1945, Blackwell Publishers: Oxford: "Just as some Nationalists have been prepared to use violence in order to secure Irish reunification, so some Unionists have been prepared to use violence in order to oppose it."
- ^ "Strategy Framework Document: Reunification through Planned Integration: Sinn Féin's All Ireland Agenda". Archived from the original on 16 July 2006. Sinn Fein. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- ^ Policy Summaries: Constitutional Issues SDLP. Retrieved 2 August 2008.