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Dublin

Dublin

:This article is about the city in Ireland. For other uses of the name, see Dublin (disambiguation). Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. The city has served continually as Ireland's capital city since mediæval times. mediæval The city proper has a population of some 495,000 (CSO Census 2002), though the population of the Dublin metropolitan area is higher, with the development and spread of suburbs and satellite towns continuing into the surrounding areas. The population of the city and region is 1,164,400 (CSO Census 2002); although even this figure does not accurately reflect the population of "urban Dublin", failing to account for largely integrated parts of north-east Kildare and conversely, undeveloped rural areas in north Fingal. The population of urban Dublin is currently projected to be 1,274,100 for the year 2006 when the next census will take place. The term Dublin Region has become a substitute for the traditional County Dublin, whilst "Greater Dublin Area" is accepted as including Dublin city and all of counties Wicklow, Kildare, Fingal, South Dublin, Meath and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown with the limits of the commuter belt stretching to a much greater distance. commuter belt

Culture

Dublin is a major cultural centre in Ireland. Dublin is the origin of many prominent artists and writers such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, and Roddy Doyle. Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce about incidents and characters typical of residents of the city in the early part of the 20th century. Ulysses, also by James Joyce, a novel set in Dublin, is full of topographical detail and is both acclaimed and controversial. The National Print Museum of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and three centers of the National Museum of Ireland are located in Dublin. Temple Bar is an important place for night life and often people from Britain and beyond visit for the weekend.

Multicultural Dublin

Dublin has long had a sizeable number of immigrants especially from Great Britain, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and continental Europe. More recently Dublin has also attracted significant Nigerian, Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Eastern European populations, largely attracted by Ireland's economic success since the the mid-1990's . Old and once run-down streets have rapidly become busy 'ethnic districts', such as Moore Street's tranformation into 'Little Africa' and Parnell Street East's into the city's de-facto 'Chinatown' and 'Asian Village'.

Education

Eastern European Dublin is the primary centre of education in Ireland, with three universities and several other higher education institutions. The University of Dublin is the oldest university in Ireland dating from the 16th Century. Its sole constituent college, Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), was established by Royal Charter under Elizabeth I. The National University of Ireland has its seat in Dublin which is also the location of the associated constituent university of University College Dublin (UCD), the largest university in Ireland. Dublin City University (DCU) is the most recent university created in Dublin and specialises in business, engineering, and science courses, particularly with relevance to industry. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is an independent medical school located on St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, another constituent university of the NUI, is located about 25 km from Dublin. Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) is a modern technical college and is the country's largest non-university third level institution; it specialises in technical subjects but also offers many arts and humanities courses. It is soon to move to a new campus at Grangegorman. There are also smaller Institutes of Technology at Blanchardstown and Tallaght. The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (DLIADT) support training and research in art, design and media technology. There are also various other smaller specialised colleges, including private ones, in the city. One example is The Gaiety School of Acting which hosts a two year intensive degree in acting.

Exhibitions

- 1853 - Great Industrial Exhibition (1853)
- 1865 - International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures (1865)
- 1874 - International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures (1874)

Northside vs Southside

International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures (1874) Traditionally, a north versus south division has existed in Dublin with the dividing line provided by the River Liffey. The Northside is generally seen as working-class, while the Southside is seen as middle and upper middle class. This is also reflected by Dublin postal districts, with odd numbers being used for districts on the Northside, e.g: Phibsboro is in D7, and even numbers for ones on the Southside, e.g: Sandymount is in D4. This division dates back centuries, certainly to the point when the Earl of Kildare built his residence on the then less regarded Southside. When asked why he was building on the South Side, he replied "Where I go, fashion follows me", and indeed he was promptly followed by most other Irish peers. Irish peers]] The Northside/Southside divide is punctuated by examples of Dublin "sub-culture" stereotypes, with upper-middle class constituents seen as tending towards an accent and demeanour synonymous with (but not exclusive to) the D4 postcode on the Southside (see Dublin 4, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly), and working-class Dubliners seen as tending towards accents and demeanour associated with (but not exclusive to) Northside and inner-city Dublin neighbourhoods. (see Scanger) This simplification of economic and social communities in Dublin ("southside rich, liberal and snobby"/"northside poor, industrial and common") does not survive more than a few real-world examples however. For example, the President of Ireland's residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, is on the Northside, although its postal district is D8, a Southside number. Three of Dublin's wealthiest suburbs, Howth, Malahide, and Castleknock are to be found on the Northside. The Southside similarly has many working-class suburbs, like Tallaght, Palmerstown, Crumlin, and Ballyfermot. In fact, a greater division in social terms is evident between the coastal suburbs in the east of the city, both north and south, and the newer developments further to the west, though this too is only a rough guide.

Sport

Ballyfermot Dublin contains the headquarters of almost all of Ireland's sporting organisations. Croke Park, an 82,000-capacity stadium near Drumcondra and Phibsboro, is the base of the Gaelic Athletic Association and hosts Gaelic Football and Hurling games during the summer months and on St. Patrick's Day. Lansdowne Road is a 48,000 capacity stadium owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and is also the venue for home games of the Republic's national football (soccer) team. Dalymount Park, in Phibsboro and the traditional Home of Irish Soccer, is now used only for home games of local club Bohemian FC. Rivals Shelbourne FC play at nearby Tolka Park, while St Patrick's Athletic play in Richmond Park in Inchicore on the south west edge of the city. Shamrock Rovers are originally from Ringsend but have spent the last two decades in search of a home, and hope to complete a new stadium in Tallaght by 2006. The other senior soccer clubs are University College Dublin F.C., based in Belfield, and Dublin City F.C. (formerly Home Farm F.C.). The National Aquatic Centre, located in Blanchardstown, is the first building to open in the Sports Campus Ireland. There are several race courses in the Dublin area including Shelbourne Park (Greyhound racing) and Leopardstown (Horse racing). There are also Basketball, Handball, Hockey and Athletics stadia within the city - most notably Morton Stadium in Santry, which held the athletics events of the 2003 Special Olympics.

Name

The name Dublin is an Anglicism of Dubh Linn (Irish, meaning "Black Pool"), though some doubt this derivation. Historically, in the old script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot placed over the 'b'—thus appearing to be Dub Linn or Dublinn. The Norman French speaking English who arrived in Old Irish-speaking Ireland starting in 1169 had no idea the dot over the 'b' signified it was really 'bh,' so they omitted it and spelled the town's name as 'Dublin'. Meanwhile, the city's name in Modern Irish—Baile Átha Cliath ("The Town of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles")—actually refers to the settlement, founded in 988 by High King Mael Sechnaill II, which adjoined the town of Dubh Linn proper, at the Black Pool. Some have suggested that "Dublin" is of Scandinavian origin, cf. : "djúp lind" ("deep pond"). That does not work for two reasons. First, the name "Dubh Linn" pre-dates the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland. Second, the Old Norse name for Dublin is simply the words "Dubh Linn" re-spelled as if they were Old Norse: Dyfflin (correctly pronounced "DUEV-linn" - indeed, the letter 'y' is still pronounced like the vowel in "ewe" in Modern Norwegian, Swedish, etc., just as it was in Old Norse).

Infrastructure

Communications

Radio Telifís Éireann (RTE) is Ireland's national state broadcaster, and has its main offices and studios in Dublin. Fair City is the broadcasters' capital based soap, located in the fictional suburb of Carraigstown. TV3 the state's only private television broadcaster is also based in Dublin, though much of its programming is imported from the UK and the US. It generally aims to attract a young audience. The main infrastructure and offices of An Post and the former state telephone company Eircom, as well as Vodafone and O2 are located in the capital. The capital is also the headquarters of important national newspapers such as The Irish Times and Irish Independent, and commercial radio stations such as Today FM.

Transport

Today FM] Dublin is the centre of the transport system in Ireland (see Transport in Ireland). Dublin Port is the country's most important sea port. Dublin Airport is the most important airport in the republic and the bulk of passenger traffic travels through the airport. Heuston Station and Connolly Station are the city's major railway stations, Heuston connects with the towns and cities in the south and west of the Republic while Connolly serves the Sligo and Dublin-Belfast routes.

Road network

Dublin is also the main hub of the country's road network. The M50 motorway, a semi-ring road runs around the south, west and north of the city, connecting the most important national primary routes in the State that fan out from the capital to the regions. A toll of €1.80 applies on what is called the West-Link, two adjacent concrete bridges that tower high above the River Liffey near the village of Lucan. Construction of the M50 took almost 20 years, with the final section opening in June 2005. A court case regarding the destruction of medieval ruins at Carrickmines Castle delayed the final completion of the route. The M50 currently has two traffic lanes going either direction but plans are afoot to increase that to three. The National Roads Authority also intends to increase capacity at many of the motorway's busiest junctions by building triple-grade interchanges instead. 2005 Custom House and Liberty Hall]] To complete the ring road, an eastern bypass is also proposed for the city of Dublin. The first half of this project is currently under construction, the Dublin Port Tunnel. It is scheduled to open in early 2006 and will mainly cater for heavy vehicles. When finished, Dublin City Council hopes to ban all unnecessary trucks and lorries from the city quays. The second half of the project would involve another tunnelling project, linking Dublin Port to the road network on the southside of the city. Plans for this have never been formalised. The capital is also surrounded by what have been termed by Dublin City Council as an inner and outer orbital route. The inner orbital route runs roughly around the heart of the Georgian city from St. Stephen's Green to Mountjoy Square and from the King's Inns to St Patrick's Cathedral. The outer orbital route runs largely along the natural circle formed by Dublin's two canals, the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal, as well as the North and South Circular Roads.

Public transport

Royal Canal The Dublin Area Rapid Transit system is the only electrified railway in the country and serves stations at regular intervals on the railway line along the east coast. A 2 line light rail system called Luas opened in 2004 and has proved popular in the (limited) areas it serves. It is hoped a metro system linking Dublin Airport to the city will be the next major infrastructural project. The bulk of the public transport system in Dublin is made up of bus services operated by Bus Átha Cliath (Dublin Bus), which operates a network of nearly 200 daytime routes (identified by number and sometimes suffixed with a letter, e.g. 40, 40A, 40B, 40C, 40D) and 24 "Nitelink" overnight services which run on Monday to Saturday nights, which are identified by a number suffixed with "N" e.g. 40N). Apart from some tourist buses, all Dublin Bus' services are one-man operated, and daytime fares are determined by the number of fare stages travelled through—fares are payable in coin and only the exact fare is acceptable—if passengers overpay, they are issued "change tickets" which must be presented at the Dublin Bus office in O'Connell Street to be converted to cash. Alternatively, various pre-paid tickets and passes can be bought from Dublin Bus or its agents, and are processed by a validating machine on the right of the entrance door of the bus. Nitelink buses charge a flat fare regardless of the distance travelled. Bus Átha CliathA number of other bus companies provide services in Dublin, including Bus Éireann which provides services to the more distant parts of Dublin's ever-widening commuter belt. In the absence of an overall transport authority in Dublin, obtaining information about all public transport options available for a particular journey can take some time. The Irish Government has launched a national transport plan which is expected to cost the government €34.4 billion over the next 10 years. Most of this will go towards the Dublin Port Tunnel, seven new LUAS projects, two Metro lines, DART extensions and an underground station at St Stephen's Green integrating all services. However Irish transport plans tend to go massively over-budget. The best example is the Port Tunnel which has gone over-budget all the way in to the record books. The Port Tunnel was originally envisaged as a single bore, two lane road to cater primarily for trucks, and which by charging no toll on trucks an extorionate toll on cars to deter their custom, would not need substantial tolling infrastructure. It has been built to motorway standard as two separate tunnels to cater for all traffic and all traffic will be tolled. The tunnels are significantly deeper than originally planned to reduce disturbance to residential areas, and had to be built one kilometre longer to reach this depth and requiried many more ancilliary works to facilitate this, such as demolition and rebuilding of existing bridges.

Entertainment

There is a vibrant night life in Dublin — the most internationally notorious area for these activities is the Temple Bar area south of the Liffey. This area has become synonymous with stag and hen parties and tourists, causing many locals to steer clear of the area. There are several theatres within the city centre, the largest of which include the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Olympia Theatre, and the Gaiety Theatre, which opens its doors after the evening theatre production to host a variety of live music, dancing, and films. The Gaiety's bars are open later than any others in the city. The largest theatre in the city is the Mahony Hall in The Helix at Dublin City University in Glasnevin. There are two large cinemas in the city centre; The Savoy Cinema and the Cineworld Cinema (formerly UGC) are located north of the Liffey. Alternative and special-interest cinema can be found in the Irish Film Institute in Temple Bar, and in the Screen Cinema on d'Olier St.

Industry

Probably the most famous industry in Dublin is brewing: Guinness has been at brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759. During the Celtic Tiger years of the mid to late nineties a large number of pharmaceutical and information technology companies have located in Dublin and its suburbs and the large volume of computer industry in Dublin has led to it being referred to as the Silicon Valley of Europe. Microsoft's EMEA Operations Centre is located in Sandyford Industrial Estate to the south of the city and Google and Amazon have established operational bases in the city. Intel and Hewlett-Packard have large manufacturing plants in Leixlip, Co. Kildare to the west of Dublin.

Government

City Government

Co. Kildare Dublin City is governed by Dublin City Council (formerly called Dublin Corporation) which is presided over by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, who is elected for a yearly term and resides in the Mansion House, which first became the residence of the Lord Mayor in 1715. Dublin City Council is based in two major buildings. Its headquarters is in Dublin City Hall, the former Royal Exchange taken over for city government use in the 1850s. Many of its administrative staff are based in the controversial Civic Offices, built on top of what had been one of the best preserved Viking sites in the world. The Corporation's (as it was then) decision to bulldoze the historic site proved one of the most controversial in modern Irish history, with thousands of people, including medieval historian Fr. F.X. Martin and Senator Mary Robinson (later President of Ireland) marching to try to stop the destruction. The destruction of the site on Wood Quay and the building of a set of offices known as The Bunkers (because of their ugly appearance) is generally seen as one of the most disastrous acts against Ireland's heritage since independence, with even Dublin Corporation admitting subsequently that it was ashamed of its action. Originally, there were to be four of these 'bunkers' built but only two were ever completed. Instead the river frontage is a less brutal office block designed by the firm Scott Tallon Walker. Completed in 1994, it boasts a leafy atrium and fine views from many of its offices. Council meetings take place in City Hall, one of Dublin's finest buildings and located on Dame Street. It was built to the winning design of Thomas Cooley. In an architectural competition, James Gandon was the runner-up with a scheme that many people favoured. Originally from England, Gandon is one of Ireland's favourite adopted sons and designed both the Four Courts and the Custom House, two of the city's most magnificent classical buildings.

Twinned Cities

Dublin is twinned with Barcelona, Liverpool and San Jose, California

The Dublin Region

The Dublin Region consists of the City of Dublin and the area which was formerly known as County Dublin, and covers an area of 922 km² and contains over a million inhabitants. In 1994 County Dublin (the area excluding the city) was sub-divided into three, each new area with county-level status and its own administration, namely:
- Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
- Fingal
- South Dublin Administration of the Dublin Region as a whole is now co-ordinated by the Dublin Regional Authority.

National Government

Dublin Regional Authority The Republic of Ireland's National Parliament (called Oireachtas Éireann) consists of the President of Ireland and two houses, Dáil Éireann (the House of Representatives) and Seanad Éireann (Senate). All three are based in Dublin. The President of Ireland lives in Áras an Uachtaráin, the former residence of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State in the city's largest park, Phoenix Park. Both houses of the Oireachtas Éireann meet in Leinster House, a former ducal palace on the south side of the city. The building has been the home of Irish parliaments since the creation of the Irish Free State on December 6, 1922. 1922]] The Irish Government is based in the Irish Government Buildings, a large building designed by Sir Aston Webb, the architect who created the Edwardian facade to Buckingham Palace. Initially what is now Government Buildings was designed for use as the Royal College of Science, the last major building built by the British administration in Ireland. In 1921 the House of Commons of Southern Ireland met there. Given its location next to Leinster House, the Irish Free State government took over part of the building to serve as a temporary home for some ministries. However both it and Leinster House (originally meant to be a temporary home of parliament) became the permanent homes of the government and parliament respectively. Until 1990, the Irish government shared the building with the Engineering Faculty of University College Dublin, which retained use of the central block of the building, However following the building of a new Engineering Faculty at the UCD campus in Belfield, the Government took entire control, and remodelled the entire building for governmental use. The previous old Irish Houses of Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland is located in College Green.

History

Main article: History of Dublin The settlement Dubh Linn dates perhaps as far back as the first century B.C.; Baile Átha Cliath or simply Áth Cliath was founded in 988 near by. The two towns eventually became one. The modern city retains the Anglicised Irish name of the former and the original Irish name of the latter. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Dublin replaced the Hill of Tara as Ireland's capital, with much of the power centring on Dublin Castle until independence. Dublin Castle and his court until 1922]] From the 17th century the city expanded rapidly, helped by the Wide Streets Commission. Georgian Dublin was, for a time, the second city of the British Empire. Much of Dublin's best architecture dates from this time. The Easter Rising of 1916 left the capital in an unstable situation and the Anglo-Irish War and Irish Civil War left the capital in ruins, with many of its finest buildings destroyed. The Irish Free State rebuilt much of the city's buildings and moved parliament to Leinster House, but took no bold tasks such as remodelling. After The Emergency (World War 2) Dublin remained a capital out of time, modernization was slow and finally the 1960s saw change begin. In recent years the infrastructure of Dublin has changed immensely, with enormous private and state development of housing, transport, and business. (See also Development and Preservation in Dublin). Since the beginning of English rule in the twelfth century, the city has served as the capital of the island of Ireland in the varying geopolitical entities:
- the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541)
- the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800)
- the island as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)
- the Irish Republic (1919–1922) From 1922, following the partition of Ireland, it served as the capital of the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and now as the capital of the Republic of Ireland. (Many of these states co-existed or competed within the same timeframe as rivals within either British or Irish constitutional theory.)

Footnotes

Baile Átha Cliath (or simply Áth Cliath) and Dubhlinn are the two names of the city, the former being the one currently in official use. Precisely Irish Statute Book: [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI394Y1993.html Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993 - Dublin Region, "The area consisting of the (then) county borough of Dublin and the administrative counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin]

Additional reading

- Pat Liddy, Dublin A Celebration - From the 1st to the 21st Century (Dublin City Council, 2000) (ISBN 0946841500)
- Maurice Craig, The Architecture of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1880 (Batsford, Paperback edition 1989) (ISBN 0713425873)
- Frank McDonald, Saving the City: How to Halt the Destruction of Dublin (Tomar Publishing, 1989) (ISBN 1871793033)
- Edward McParland, Public Architecture in Ireland 1680-1760 (Yale University Press, 2001) (ISBN 0300030641)
- Hanne Hem, Dubliners, An Anthropologist's Account, Oslo, 1994

External links

-
- [http://www.archiseek.com Discussion of architecture and planning]
- [http://www.dublincity.ie Dublin City Council]
- [http://www.vrdublin.co.uk VR Dublin] - Virtual Tour of the City of Dublin
- [http://www.dublin.ie Dublin.ie] - community portal for Dublin
- [http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/oconnell_street/spire.html Dublin Spire]
- [http://www.thedubliner.ie The Dubliner Magazine] - for clever and contemporary commentary on Dublin life.
- [http://www.visitdublin.com/ Dublin Tourism] - the official tourism site for Dublin
- [http://www.dublintourist.com DublinTourist.com ]tourist guide
- [http://www.irelandscape.com Irelandscape] - Pictures of Dublin and other Irish Locations
- [http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/ Irish Architecture - Dublin]
- [http://www.chapters.eiretek.org/ www.chapters.eiretek.org] Chapters of Dublin History
- [http://www.queerid.com QueerID.com] - Guide to Dublin's gay scene
- [http://www.dub.ie Dub.ie] - community portal for Dublin Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Cities in Ireland Category:Coastal cities Category:Ireland Category:Leinster ko:더블린 ja:ダブリン simple:Dublin

Dublin (disambiguation)

Dublin is the capital city of Ireland located in County Dublin. Dublin is also a name of some places in the United States:
- Dublin, California
- Dublin, Georgia
- Dublin, Indiana
- Dublin, New Hampshire
- Dublin, North Carolina
- Dublin, Ohio
- Dublin, Pennsylvania
- Dublin, Texas
- Dublin, Virginia
- Dublin Township, Pennsylvania There is also Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania. Dublin, South Australia is a small town in South Australia. The asylum accord of the European Union, the Dublin Convention, which was signed in Dublin See also: Irish place names in other countries

Republic of Ireland

:For an explanation of often confusing terms like Ulster, (Republic of) Ireland, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology) . The Republic of Ireland (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is the official description of the sovereign state which covers approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland, off the coast of north-west Europe. The state's official name is Ireland (Irish: Éire), and this is how international organisations and citizens refer to the country. It is a member of the European Union, has a developed economy and a population of slightly more than four million. The remaining sixth of the island of Ireland is known as Northern Ireland and is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Name

Main article: Names of the Irish state The constitution provides that the name of the state is "Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland." However the state is commonly referred to as the "Republic of Ireland" in order to distinguish it from the island of Ireland as a whole. The name Republic of Ireland came into use after the Republic of Ireland Act defined it as the official "description" of the state in 1949 (the purpose of the act being to declare that the state was a republic rather than a form of constitutional monarchy), it is also the accepted legal name in the United Kingdom of the state as per the Ireland Act 1949. Today while Republic of Ireland is an accepted term for the state, Ireland is used for official purposes such as treaties, government and legal documents and membership of international organisations. The state is also referred to, in English, by many other names such as Éire and the Twenty-six Counties. The use of Éire, in the English language, in Ireland has become increasingly rare, not least due to past condescending connotations. Historically the state has had more than one official title. The revolutionary state established by nationalists in 1919 was known as the "Irish Republic", while when the state achieved de jure independence in 1922 it became known as the "Irish Free State" (in the Irish language Saorstát Éireann), a name that was retained until 1937.

History

Main article: History of the Republic of Ireland The partition of Ireland came about because of complex constitutional developments in the early twentieth century. From 1 January 1801 until 6 December 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Famine in 1845-1847, in which 1.5 million Irish died, was followed by enormous emigration. From 1874, but particularly from 1880 under Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Parliamentary Party moved to prominence with its attempts to achieve Home Rule, which would have given Ireland some autonomy without requiring it to leave the United Kingdom. It seemed possible in 1911 when the House of Lords lost their veto, and John Redmond secured the Third Home Rule Act 1914. The unionist movement, however, had been growing since 1886 among Irish Protestants, fearing that they would face discrimination, and lose economic and social privileges if Irish Catholics were to achieve real political power. Though Irish unionism existed throughout the whole of Ireland, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century unionism was particularly strong in parts of Ulster, where industrialisation was more common in contrast to the more agrarian rest of the island. (Any tariff barriers would, it was feared, most heavily hit that region.) In addition, the Protestant population was more strongly located in Ulster, with unionist majorities existing in about four counties. Under the leadership of the Dublin-born Sir Edward Carson and the northerner Sir James Craig they became more militant. In 1914, to avoid rebellion in Ulster, the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, with agreement of the leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party leadership, inserted a clause into the bill providing for home rule for 26 of the 32 counties, with an as of yet undecided new set of measures to be introduced for the area temporarily excluded. Though it received the Royal Assent, the Third Home Rule Act 1914's implementation was suspended until after the Great War. (The war at that stage was expected to be ended by 1915, not the four years it did ultimately last.) For the prior reasons Redmond and his Irish National Volunteers supported the Allied cause, and tens of thousands joined the British Army. In January 1919, after the December 1918 general elections, 73 of Ireland's 106 MPs elected were Sinn Fein members who refused to take their seats in the British House of Commons. Instead they set up an extra-legal Irish parliament called Dáil Éireann. This Dáil in January 1919 issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and proclaimed an Irish Republic. This Declaration of Independence was mainly a restatement of the 1916 Proclamation with the additional provision that Ireland was no longer a part of the United Kingdom. Despite this, the new Irish Republic remained unrecognised internationally except by Lenin's Russian Republic. Nevertheless the Republic's Áireacht (ministry) sent a delegation under Ceann Comhairle Sean T. O'Kelly to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. However it was not admitted. After the bitterly fought War of Independence, representatives of the British government and the Irish rebels negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 under which the British agreed to the establishment of an independent Irish State whereby the Irish Free State (in the Irish language Saorstát Éireann) with dominion status was created. The Dáil narrowly ratified the treaty. The Treaty however was not entirely satisfactory to either side. It gave more concessions to the Irish than the British had intended to give but did not go far enough to satisfy Republican concerns. The new Irish Free State was in theory to cover the entire island, subject to the proviso that Northern Ireland (which had been created as a separate entity under the Government of Ireland Act 1920) could opt out and choose to remain part of the United Kingdom, which it duly did, to no-one's surprise. The remaining 26 counties of the island became the Irish Free State, a constitutional monarchy over which the British monarch reigned (from 1927 with the title King of Ireland). It had a Governor-General, a bicameral parliament, a cabinet called the "Executive Council" and a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council. The Irish Civil War was the direct consequence of the creation the Irish Free State. Anti-Treaty forces, led by Eamon de Valera, objected to the fact that acceptance of the Treaty abolished the Irish Republic of 1919 to which they had sworn loyalty, arguing in the face of public support for the settlement that the "people have no right to do wrong". They objected most to the fact that the state would remain part of the British Commonwealth and that TDs would have to swear an oath of fidelity to King George V and his successors. Pro-Treaty forces, led by Michael Collins, argued that the Treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire to and develop, but the freedom to achieve it". At the start of the war, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two opposing camps: a pro-treaty IRA and an anti-treaty IRA. However, through the lack of an effective command structure in the anti-treaty IRA, and the pro-treaty IRA's defensive tactics throughout the war, Collins and his pro-treaty commanders were able to build up an army capable of overwhelming the anti-treaty forces on the battlefield. British supplies of artillery, aircraft, machine-guns and ammunition boosted pro-treaty forces, and the threat of a return of Crown forces to the Free State removed any doubts about the necessity of enforcing the treaty. The lack of public support for the anti-treaty Irregulars, and the determination of the government to overcome them, contributed significantly to their defeat. The National Army suffered 800 fatalities and perhaps as many as 4000 people were killed altogether. As their forces retreated, the Irregulars showed a major talent for destruction and the economy of the Free State suffered a hard blow in the earliest days of its existence as a result. Collins On the 29 December 1937 a new constitution, the Constitution of Ireland, came into force. It replaced the Irish Free State by a new state called simply "Ireland". Though this state's constitutional structures provided for a President of Ireland instead of a king, it was not technically a republic. The principal key role possessed by a head of state, that of representing the state symbolically internationally remained vested in statute law in the King as an organ. On 1 April 1949 the Republic of Ireland Act declared a republic, with the functions previously given to the King given instead to the President of Ireland. The Irish state had remained a member of the then British Commonwealth after independence until the declaration of a republic in April 1949. Under Commonwealth rules declaration of a republic automatically terminated membership of the association, consequently Ireland ceased to be a member. The Republic of Ireland joined the United Nations in 1955 and the European Community (now the European Union) in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful reunification of Ireland and have usually cooperated with the British government in the violent conflict with the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland known as the "Troubles". A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, the Belfast Agreement, was approved in 1998 in referenda north and south of the border, and is currently being implemented, albeit more slowly than many would like.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the Republic of Ireland The state is a republic, with a parliamentary system of government. The President of Ireland, who serves as head of state, is elected for a seven-year term and can be re-elected only once. The president is largely a figurehead but can still carry out certain constitutional powers and functions, aided by the Council of State, an advisory body. The Taoiseach (prime minister), is appointed by the president on the nomination of parliament. The Taoiseach is normally the leader of the political party which wins the most seats in the national elections. It has become normal in the Republic for coalitions to form a government, and there has not been a single-party government since the period of 1987–1989. The bicameral parliament, the Oireachtas, consists of a Senate, Seanad Éireann, and a lower house, Dáil Éireann. The Seanad is composed of sixty members; eleven nominated by the Taoiseach, six elected by two universities, and 43 elected by public representatives from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Dáil has 166 members, Teachtaí Dála, elected to represent multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. Under the constitution, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current statutory maximum term is every five years. Single Transferable Vote (Parliament of Ireland)]] The Government is constitutionally limited to fifteen members. No more than two members of the Government can be selected from the Senate, and the Taoiseach, Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil. The current government is made up of a coalition of two parties; Fianna Fáil under Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the Progressive Democrats under Tánaiste Mary Harney. The main opposition in the current Dáil is made up of Fine Gael and Labour. Smaller parties such as the Progressive Democrats, Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party also have representation in the Dáil. Ireland has been in the European Union since 1973. Although it has less than 1% of the Union's population, it has received 16% of all "first warnings" issued on environmental issues.

Role of the Catholic church in national affairs

As mentioned in the Demographics section, church attendance has declined rapidly in Ireland in recent years. As with other European states (eg, Italy) that were predominently Roman Catholic, the Irish state has undergone a period of secularisation and legal de-Catholicisation. In 1972 the "special position" of the Catholic Church in Ireland was deleted from the Irish constitution. The Catholic Church was hit in the 1990s by a series of sexual scandals and cover-up charges against its hierarchy. In 1995, after a seventy-year ban, a constitutional amendment allowed divorce in the Republic. In 1983, the Irish constitution was amended to recognise "the right to life of the unborn", subject to qualifications concerning the "equal right to life" of the mother. In the 1990s the Supreme Court interpreted the qualifications in the amendment as allowing abortion in limited circumstances. However, the Oireachtas has not introduced a law enabling abortion to take place in those circumstances allowed by the court. A subsequent series of constitutional amendments allow Irish citizens access to information about abortion and to travel freely to get abortions outside Ireland. In 2005, a major inquiry was made into child sex abuse allegations. The Fern's report, which was published on 25 October, revealed that more than 100 cases of child sex abuse, between 1962 and 2002, by 21 priests, had taken place in the Diocese of Ferns alone. The report criticised the Garda and the health authorities, who failed to protect the children to the best of their ablities and in the case of the Garda before 1988, no file was ever recorded on sex abuse complaints.

Counties

Main article: Counties of Ireland The Republic of Ireland has 26 counties, and these are used in political, cultural and sporting contexts. Dáil constituencies are required by statute to follow county boundaries, as far as possible. Hence counties with greater populations have multiple constituencies (e.g. Limerick East/West) and some constituencies consist of more than one county (e.g. Sligo-Leitrim), but by and large, the actual county boundaries are not crossed. As local government units, however, some have been restructured, with County Dublin distributed between three new county councils in the 1990s and County Tipperary having been administratively two separate counties since the 1890s, giving a present-day total of 29 administrative counties and five cities. The five cities — Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford — are administered separately from the remainder of their respective counties. Five boroughs — Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford — have a level of autonomy within the county:

- County Carlow
- County Cavan
- County Clare
- County Cork
- City of Cork
- County Donegal
- County Dublin
- City of Dublin
- Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
- Fingal
- South Dublin
- County Galway
- City of Galway
- County Kerry
- County Kildare
- County Kilkenny
- City of Kilkenny (Borough)
- County Laois
- County Leitrim
- County Limerick
- City of Limerick

- County Longford
- County Louth
- Drogheda (Borough)
- County Mayo
- County Meath
- County Monaghan
- County Offaly
- County Roscommon
- County Sligo
- Sligo (Borough)
- County Tipperary
- North Tipperary
- South Tipperary
- Clonmel (Borough)
- County Waterford
- City of Waterford
- County Westmeath
- County Wexford
- Wexford (Borough)
- County Wicklow

Geography

County Wicklow Main article: Geography of Ireland The island of Ireland extends over 84,421 km² of which five-sixths belong to the Republic, with the remainder constituting Northern Ireland. It is bound to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast by the North Channel. To the east is found the Irish Sea which reconnects to the ocean via the southwest with St. George's Channel and the Celtic Sea. The west-coast of Ireland mostly consists of cliffs, hills and low mountains (the highest point being Carrauntoohil at 1,041 m). In from the perimeter of the country is mostly relatively flat farmland, traversed by rivers such as the River Shannon and several large lakes or loughs. The center of the country is part of the River Shannon watershed, containing large areas of bogland, used for peat production. The local temperate climate is modified by the North Atlantic Current and is relatively mild. Summers are rarely very hot, but it freezes only occasionally in winter. Precipitation is very common, with up to 275 days with rain in some parts of the country. Chief cities are the capital Dublin on the east coast, Cork in the south, Galway and Limerick on the west coast, and Waterford on the south east coast (see Cities in Ireland).

Economy

Main article: Economy of the Republic of Ireland The economy of the Republic of Ireland has transformed in recent years from an agricultural focus to one dependent on trade, industry and investment. While still small compared to its European neighbours, its growth is averaging a robust 10% in 1995–2000, and 7% in 1995-2004. Industry, which accounts for 46% of GDP, about 80% of exports, and 29% of the labor force, now takes the place of agriculture as the country's leading sector. Exports play a fundamental role in the state's rampant growth, but the economy also benefits from the accompanying rise in consumer spending, construction, and business investment. On paper, the country is the largest exporter of software-related goods and services in the world. In fact, a lot of foreign software, and sometimes music, is filtered through the country to avail of the state's non-taxing of royalties from copyrighted goods. One key reason for the country's economic surge might be her government's role in the past ten years. A number of programs to address the problems of high inflation (with poor results in recent years), large tax burdens, government spending, lack-luster foreign investment and low job skills have been introduced. A key part of economic policy, since 1987, has been Social Partnership which is a neo-corporatist set of voluntary 'pay pacts' between the Government, employers and trades unions. These usually set agreed pay rises for three-year periods. The state joined in launching the euro currency system in January 1999 (leaving behind the Irish pound) along with ten other EU nations. The 1995 to 2000 period of high economic growth led many to call the country the Celtic Tiger. The economy felt the impact of the global economic slowdown in 2001, particularly in the high-tech export sector — the growth rate in that area was cut by nearly half. GDP growth continued to be relatively robust, with a rate of about 6% in 2001 and 2002. Growth for 2004 was over 4% and it is expected to be 5% or higher for 2005. With high growth came high levels of inflation, particularly in the capital city. Prices in Dublin, where nearly 30% of Ireland's population lives, are considerably higher than elsewhere in the country [http://www.finfacts.com/Private/bestprice/irishconsumerprices.pdf], especially in the booming property market. Ireland has the fourth-highest GDP (based on PPP) per capita in the world after Luxembourg, Norway, and the United States [http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/publications/other/bes_04.pdf], but lies 8th in the 2005 UN Human Development Index, which counts GDP per capita as a factor. This indicates that life expectancy (77.36 in 2004) and literacy (98% in 1981), which both place Ireland at about 40th in the world, currently trail behind economic growth. Poverty figures show that 10% of Ireland's population live below the poverty line (1997 [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ie.html]). UNICEF figures show Ireland has the 6th highest child poverty rate in the developed world at 16.8% ([http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_chi_pov]).

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of the Republic of Ireland The Irish people are mainly of indigenous origin, with the country's only significant minorities having descended from the Vikings and Anglo-Normans. Some of them are also of English, Scottish, and Welsh descent. Demographics of the Republic of Ireland The official languages are Irish (Gaeilge), the native language, and English. Although learning Irish is not compulsory in education, most schools teach it to all of their pupils who are not exempt from needing it to qualify for National University of Ireland universities. English is by far the predominant language spoken throughout the country. People living in predominantly Irish-speaking communities (the Gaeltacht) are limited to the low tens of thousands in isolated pockets largely on the western seaboard. Roads signs are usually bilingual, except in the Gaeltachts, where they are in Irish only. The legal status of placenames has recently been the subject of controversy, with an order made in 2005 under the Official Languages Act (2003) changing the official name of certain locations from English to Irish (e.g. Dingle is now officially named An Daingean). Most public notices are only in English, as is most of the print media. National media in Irish exists on TV and radio. The Republic of Ireland is 92% nominally Roman Catholic, but there has been a massive decline in full adherence among Irish Catholics. Between 1996 and 2001, regular Mass attendance, already previously in decline, declined from 60% to 48% (it had been 90%+ in 1973), and all but two of its seminaries have closed. The second largest Christian denomination, the Church of Ireland (Anglicanism), having been in decline for most of the twentieth century, has now experienced an increase in membership, according to the 2002 census, as have other small Christian denominations, and Islam. The largest other Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church in Ireland , followed by the Methodist Church in Ireland. The very small Jewish community in the state has continued to decline in numbers. Ireland is also home to a variety of small immigrant populations. According to the 2002 census, conducted by the Central Statistics Office, the largest EU groups are from: the UK, Germany and France; the largest non-EU groups are from: the USA, Nigeria and Romania.

Culture

Jewish Main article: Culture of Ireland The island of Ireland has produced the Book of Kells, Irish traditional music, and writers such as George Berkeley, Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oliver Goldsmith, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, John Millington Synge, Seán O'Casey, Séamus Heaney, Bram Stoker and others. Shaw, Yeats, Beckett and Heaney are Nobel Literature laureates. Other prominent writers include Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger, Frank McCourt, Edna O'Brien, Joseph O'Connor, John McGahern and Colm Tóibín. Ernest Walton of Trinity College Dublin shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for "splitting the atom". William Rowan Hamilton was a significant mathematician. William Rowan Hamilton Figures influential in music included Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher, folk singer Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan with his band The Pogues and singer Sinéad O'Connor. Successful entertainment exports in the late twentieth century include the rock group U2, Thin Lizzy, Bob Geldof, The Corrs, The Cranberries and the internationally acclaimed stage dance show Riverdance.

References

- Bunreacht na hÉireann (the 1937 constitution) ([http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.pdf PDF version])
- The Irish Free State Constitution Act, 1922
- J. Anthony Foley and Stephen Lalor (ed), Gill & Macmillan Annotated Constitution of Ireland (Gill & Macmillan, 1995) (ISBN 071712276X)
- FSL Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine
- Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992 (Irish Academic Press, 1994) (ISBN 0716525283)
- Some of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.
- OECD Information Technology Outlook 2004

External links

- [http://www.gov.ie/aras Áras an Uachtaráin] - Official presidential site
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038581.stm BBC country profile]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] Irish History
- [http://www.browseireland.com/ Browse Ireland] - Directory of Irish Websites
- [http://www.irlgov.ie/ Information on the Irish State] - Governmental portal
- [http://www.irelandstory.com/ Ireland Story] - History, geography and current affairs
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator Atlas of Europe] Map of Ireland ("Irlandia") circa 1564
- [http://taoiseach.gov.ie/ Taoiseach] - Official prime ministerial site
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of Ireland and the UK
- [http://www.gov.ie/oireachtas/frame.htm Tithe an Oireachtais] - Houses of Parliament, official parliamentary site Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Republic of ja:アイルランド ko:아일랜드 ms:Ireland simple:Republic of Ireland th:สาธารณรัฐไอร์แลนด์ fiu-vro:Iirimaa zh-min-nan:Éire

River Liffey

The Liffey (An Life in Irish) is a river in the Republic of Ireland, which flows through Dublin.

Course

The Liffey rises in the Sally Gap, near to Kippure, a mountain in Wicklow, and flows for around 75 miles (125 km) through counties Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin before entering the Irish sea in Dublin Bay. There are three hydroelectric power stations along the river, at Poulaphouca, Golden Falls and Leixlip. Towns along the river include Ballymore Eustace, Newbridge, Leixlip and Lucan before the river reaches the city of Dublin at its mouth.

Crossings

Dividing the Northside of Dublin from the Southside, the Liffey is spanned by numerous bridges mostly open to road traffic. These are (listed from West to East):
- Lucan Bridge
- West-Link Bridge (on the M50 motorway. Tolled)
- Anna Livia Bridge (at Chapelizod)
- Island Bridge
- Liffey Railway Bridge (Rail Freight)
- Sean Heuston Bridge
- Frank Sherwin Bridge
- Rory O'More Bridge
- James Joyce Bridge
- Mellowes Bridge
- Fr. Mathew Bridge
- O'Donovan Rossa Bridge
- Grattan Bridge
- Millennium footbridge (Pedestrian)
- Ha'penny Bridge (Pedestrian)
- O'Connell Bridge
- Butt Bridge
- Loopline Bridge (Rail)
- Talbot Memorial Bridge
- Sean O'Casey Bridge (Pedestrian)
- East-Link Bridge (Tolled)

Navigation and use

The River Liffey (into Dublin) has been used for many centuries for trade, from the Viking beginnings of the city (see History of Dublin), up to recent times. (A well-known sight on the Liffey up to the 1990's, the Lady Patricia[http://www.irishships.com/guinness_boats.htm] and Miranda Guinness[http://www.irishships.com/guinness_boats.htm] cargo ships were used to export Guinness from the St. James's Gate Brewery). Downstream of the East-Link bridge, the river is still mainly used for commercial and ferry traffic, with some recreational use also. Upstream from the city, at Chapelizod, the river is used by both university and police (garda) rowing clubs. The Liffey Descent canoeing event, held each year since 1960, covers a 17 mile (27 km) course from Straffan to Islandbridge.

Quays

The song about Seamus Rafferty refers to the "bowsies on the quay" - However, recent years have seen much development on the quays, with the addition of linear parks and overhanging boardwalks which give the river banks renewed life. The quays of the Liffey include: Custom House Quay, Bachelor's Walk, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Eden Quay and Merchant's Quay.

In print and song

From Joyce to Radiohead, the Liffey is often referenced (if prosaically) in literature and song: Liffey Category:Geography of Dublin

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. The Middle Ages of Western Europe are commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies, the start of European overseas exploration, the humanist revival, and the Protestant Reformation starting in 1517. These various changes all mark the beginning of the Early Modern period that preceded the Industrial Revolution. The Middle Ages are commonly referred to as the medieval period or medieval times or simply medieval.

The Early Middle Ages

medieval flourished in the early Middle Ages: Hildesheim.]] As the authority of the Roman Empire dwindled in Western Europe, its territories were entered and settled by succeeding waves of "barbarian" tribal confederations, some of whom distrusted and rejected the classical culture of Rome, while others, like the Goths admired it and considered themselves the legatees and heirs of Rome. Prominent among these peoples in the movement were the Huns and Avars and Magyars with the large number of Germanic and later Slavic peoples. The era of the migrations is referred to as the Migration Period. It has historically been termed the "Dark Ages" by Western European historians, and as Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples") by German historians. The term "Dark Ages" has now fallen from favour, partly to avoid the entrenched stereotypes associated with the phrase, but also partly because more recent research into the period has in fact revealed its surprising artistic sophistication, though its political and social senses were unevolved and its technologies undeveloped, compared to the preceding culture. Although the settled population of the Roman period were not everywhere decimated, the new peoples greatly altered established society, and with it, law, culture and religion, and patterns of property ownership. The Pax Romana, with its accompanying benefits of safe conditions for trade and manufacture, and a unified cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections, had already been in decline for some time as the 5th century drew to a close. Now it was largely lost, to be replaced by the rule of local potentates, and the gradual break-down of economic and social linkages and infrastructure. This break-down was often fast and dramatic as it became unsafe to travel or carry goods over any distance and there was a consequent collapse in trade and manufacture for export. Major industries that depended on trade, such as large-scale pottery manufacture, vanished almost overnight in places like Britain. The Islamic invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries, which conquered the Levant, North Africa, Spain, Portugal and some of the Mediterranean islands (including Sicily), increased localization by halting much of what remained of seaborne commerce. So where sites like Tintagel in Cornwall had managed to obtain supplies of Mediterranean luxury goods well into the 6th century, this connection too was lost. Administrative, educational and military infrastructure quickly vanished, leading to the rise of illiteracy among leadership.

A new order

Until recently it has been common to speak of "barbarian invasions" sweeping in from beyond Imperial borders and bringing about the end of the Roman Empire. Modern historians now acknowledge that this presents an incomplete portrait of a complex time of migration. In some important cases, such as that of the Franks entering Gaul, settlement of the newcomers took place over many decades, as groups seeking new economic opportunities crossed into Roman territory, retaining their own tribal leadership, and acculturating to or displacing the Gallo-Roman society, often without widespread violence. Other outsiders, like Theodoric of the Ostrogoths, were civilized, though illiterate patrons, who saw themselves successors to the Roman tradition, employing cultured Roman ministers, like Cassiodorus. Like the Goths, many of the outsiders were foederati, military allies of the Empire, who had earned rights of settlement, including among others the Franks and the Burgundians. Between the 5th and 8th centuries a completely new political and social infrastructure developed across the lands of the former empire, based upon powerful regional noble families, and the newly established kingdoms of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Visigoths in Spain and Portugal, Franks and Burgundians in Gaul and western Germany, and Saxons in England. These lands remained Christian, and their Arian conquerors were soon converted, following the example of the pagan Frank Clovis I. The interaction between the culture of the newcomers, the remnants of classical culture, and Christian influences, produced a new model for society. The centralized administrative systems of the Romans did not withstand the changes, and the institutional support for large scale chattel slavery largely disappeared. However beyond these areas of Europe were many people with little or no contact with Christianity or with classic Roman culture. Warrior people such as the Avars and the Vikings were still capable of causing major disruption to the newly emerging societies of Western Europe. The Christian Church, the only centralized institution to survive the fall of the western Roman Empire intact, was the sole unifying cultural influence, preserving its selection from Latin learning, maintaining the art of writing, and a centralized administration through its network of bishops. The Early Middle Ages are characterized by the urban control of bishops and the territorial control exercised by dukes and counts. The rise of urban communes marked the beginning of the High Middle Ages. bishop Outside the de-urbanized remains of cities, the power of central government was greatly reduced. Consequently government authority, and responsibility for military organization, taxation and law and order, was delegated to provincial and local lords, who supported themselves directly from the proceeds of the territories over which they held military, political and judicial power. In this lay the beginnings of the feudal system. The High Middle Ages would see the regrowth of centralized power, and the growth of new "national" identities, as strong rulers sought to eliminate competition (and potential threat to their rule) from powerful feudal nobles. Well known examples of such consolidation include the Albigensian Crusade and the Wars of the Roses. This hierarchy of reciprocal obligations, known as feudalism or the feudal system, binding each man to serve his superior in return for the latter's protection, made for a confusion of territorial sovereignty (since allegiances were subject to change over time, and were sometimes mutually contradictory). The benefit of feudalism however, was its resiliency, and the ability of local arrangements to provide stable government in the absence of a strong royal power in a political order distinguished by its lack of uniformity. Territoriality was reduced to a network of personal allegiances. In the east, the Eastern Roman Empire (called by historians the "Byzantine Empire"), maintained a form of Christianised Roman rule in the lands of Asia Minor, Greece and the Slavic territories bordering Greece, and in Sicily and southern Italy. The eastern emperors had maintained a nominal claim to rule over the west, reconquered by Belisarius, but this was a political fiction under Lombard rule and became strongly disputed from 800, with the creation of the so-called Holy Roman Empire, under Charlemagne, briefly uniting much of modern day France, western Germany and northern Italy. From now on, Europe was to be bi-polar, with east and west competing for power and influence in the largely un-christianized expanses of northern Europe. The spread of Christianity in the Migrations Period, both from the Mediterranean area and from Ireland, occasioned a pre-eminent cultural and ideological role for its abbots, and the collapse of a res publica meant that the bishops became identified with the remains of urban government. Christianity provided the basis for a first European "identity," Christendom, unified until the separation of Orthodox Churches from the Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054, one of the dates that marks the onset of the High Middle Ages.

A Carolingian renaissance

See also the careers of Charlemagne and Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
The High Middle Ages
:Main article: High Middle Ages From beginnings roughly about the year 1000, greater stability came to the lands of western Europe. With the brief exception of the Mongol incursions, major barbarian invasions had ceased. The advance of Christian kingdoms and military orders into previously pagan regions in the Baltic and Finnic northeast brought the forced assimilation of numerous native peoples to the European entity. The "High Middle Ages" describes the expansionist culture and intellectual revival from the late 11th century to the beginning of the 14th. In central and northern Italy and in Flanders the rise of towns that were self-governing to some degree within their territories marked a beginning for re-urbanization in Western Europe. In Spain and Portugal, a slow reconquest of the urban and literate Muslim-ruled territories began. One consequence of this was that the Latin-literate world gained access to libraries that included classical literature and philosophy. Through translations these libraries gave rise to a vogue for the philosophy of Aristotle. Meanwhile, trade grew throughout Europe as the dangers of travel were reduced, and steady economic growth resumed. This period saw the formation of the Hanseatic league and other trading and banking institutions that operated across western Europe. The first universities were established in major European cities from 1080 onwards, bringing in a new interest and inquisitiveness about the world. Literacy began to grow, and there were major advances in art, sculpture, music and architecture. Large cathedrals were built across Europe, first in the romanesque, and later in the more decorative gothic style.
The Crusades
:Main article: Crusade Following the Great Schism, prime examples of the force of the divided cultural identities of Christendom can be found in the unfolding developments of the Crusades, during which Popes, kings, and emperors drew on the concept of Christian unity to inspire the population of Western Europe to unite and defend Christendom from the aggression of Islam, often at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. From the 7th century onward, Islam had been gaining ground along Europe's southern and eastern borders. Muslim armies conquered Egypt, the rest of North Africa, Jerusalem, Spain, Sicily, and most of Anatolia (in modern Turkey), although they were finally turned back in western Europe by Christian armies at the Battle of Tours in southern France. Political unanimity in Europe was less secure than it appeared, however, and the military support for most crusades was drawn from limited regions of Europe. Substantial areas of northern Europe also remained outside Christendom until the twelfth century or later; these areas also became crusading venues during the expansionist High Middle Ages.
Technology
:Main article: Medieval technology During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the invention of cannons, spectacles and artesian wells; and the cross-cultural introduction of gunpowder, silk, compass and astrolabe from the east. There was also great improvements with ships and upon the clock. The latter advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Exploration.
The Late Middle Ages (circa 1300-1500)
:Main article: Late Middle Ages The 14th century witnessed a decline that began with the first economic retrenchment after the long, gently inflationary rise of a unified economy that had been under way since the 11th century. The European climate itself was worsening, after the long Medieval Warm Period, leading to the onset of the Little Ice Age. In the Black Death, large areas of Western Europe lost up to a third of their population, especially in the crowded conditions of the towns, where the heart of innovations lay. The Black Death sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive change, which resumed centuries later in the Early Modern Period. Politically, the later Middle Ages were typified by the decline of feudal power replaced by the development of strong, royalty-based nation-states. Wars between kingdoms, such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France, weakened the Christian nations in their confrontations with Islam. Religously Christendom was increasingly divided during the Western Schism, which resulted in greater loyalty to national churches, though lay piety rarely wavered. The Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Black Death of 1348, popular uprisings all produced stresses while encouraging creative social, economic, and technological responses that signalled the end of the old medieval order and laying the groundwork for further great changes in the Early Modern Period. In the east, the Byzantine Empire followed a separate destiny, with its strongest period coinciding with the Western collapse during the Early Medieval period. After the Battle of Manzikert (1071), the former empire was reduced to a shell; it survived until 1453, but in a diminished and weakened form.
Historiography

Middle Ages in history
:Main article: Middle Ages in history After the Middle Ages ended subsequent generations imagined, portrayed and interpreted the Middle Ages in different ways. Every century has created its own vision of the Middle Ages, the 18th century view of the Middle Ages was entirely different from the 19th century which was different from the 16th century view. The reality of these images remains with us today in the form of film, architecture, literature, art and popular conception.
Medieval and Middle Ages

"Middle Age"
The term "Middle Age" ("medium ævum") was first coined by Flavio Biondo, an Italian humanist, in the early 15th Century. Until the Renaissance (and some time after) the standard scheme of history was to divide history into six ages, inspired by the biblical six days of creation, or four monarchies based on Daniel 2:40. The early Renaissance historians instead talked about two periods in history, that of Ancient times and that of the period referred to as the "Dark Age". In the early 15th Century it was believed history had evolved from the Dark Age to a Modern period and scholars began to write about a middle period between the Ancient and Modern, which became known as the Middle Age. This is known as the three period view of history. The plural form of the term, Middle "Ages", is used in English, Dutch, Russian and Icelandic while all other European languages uses the singular form. This difference originates in different Neo-Latin terms used for the Middle Ages before media aetas became the standard term. Some were singular (media aetas, media antiquitas, medium saeculum and media tempestas), others plural (media saecula and media tempora). There seem to be no simple reason why a particular language ended up with the singular or the plural form. Further information can be found in Fred C. Robinson: "Medieval, the Middle Ages" in Speculum, Vol. 59:4 (Oct. 1984), p. 745-56. The common subdivision Early, High and Late Middle Ages came into use after World War I. It was caused by the works of Henri Pirenne (in particular the article "Les periodes de l'historie du capitalism" in Academie Royale de Belgique. Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres, 1914) and Johan Huizinga (The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 1919). A medieval era can also be applied to other parts of the world that historians have seen as embodying the same feudal characteristics as Europe in this period. The pre-westernization period in the history of Japan is sometimes referred to as medieval. The pre-colonial period in the developed parts of sub-Saharan Africa is also sometimes termed medieval. Today historians are far more reluctant to try to fit the history of other regions to the European model and these terms are less often used.
"Medieval"
The term "medieval" was first contracted from the Latin medium ævum, or more precisely "middle epoch", by Enlightenment thinkers as a pejorative descriptor of the Middle Ages. The spelling of "medieval" may depend on context. Medieval is the modern English spelling, used in normal discourse in England and elsewhere. Mediaeval is a legacy of the Latin spelling Mediæval, which uses the diphthong ae rendered as a ligature; it is an antiquated spelling found in older works, or those that emphesis the words Latin origins. Medieval was originally a pejorative description, and as such it has taken on broader meanings that usually impart some kind of value judgement, such as things that are old, "byzantine", "gothic", crude, heavy, harsh, or dark in nature.
Periodization issues
:See also: Periodization It is extremely difficult to decide when the Middle Ages ended, and in fact scholars assign different dates in different parts of Europe. Most scholars who work in 15th century Italian history, for instance, consider themselves Renaissance or Early Modern historians, while anyone working on England in the early 15th century is considered a medievalist. Others choose specific events, such as the Turkish capture of Constantinople or the end of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (both 1453), the invention of printing by Johann Gutenberg (around 1455) or the fall of Muslim Spain or Columbus's voyage to America (both 1492), or the Protestant Reformation starting 1517 to mark the period's end. In England the change of monarchs which occurred on 22 August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth is often considered to mark the end of the period, Richard III representing the old medieval world and the Tudors, a new royal house and a new historical period. Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages is said to begin when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476. However, that date is not important in itself, since the West Roman Empire had been very weak for some time, while Roman culture was to survive at least in Italy for yet a few decades or more. Today, some date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the division and Christianization of the Roman Empire (4th century) while others, like Henri Pirenne see the period to the rise of Islam (7th century) as "late Classical". The Middle Ages are often subdivided into an early period (sometimes called the "Dark Ages", at least from the fifth to eighth centuries) of s