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Basic Information Basic information Northern Ireland lies in the north-east of the island of Ireland.It covers 14,139 square kilometres (5,459 square miles), and has a population of 1,685,000 (April 2001). •The capital city is Belfast. •Northern Ireland was created in 1921 as a home-rule political entity, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. •People from Northern Ireland declare themselves as Irish and British •Official languages are Irish, Ulster Scots and English. History •The area now known as Northern Ireland has had a diverse history. •Northern Ireland was created in 1921 as a home-rule political entity, under the Government of Ireland 1920, along with the nominal state of Southern Ireland, which was superceded almost immediately after its creation by the Irish Free state. •When they achieved independence, they declined to join and so remained part of the United Kingdom under the procedures laid out in the Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 •47% of the population is unionist and wishes to remain part of the United Kingdom, but a 41% minority, known as the nationalists want a re- United Ireland. The clashes between both sets of identity, and discrimination against nationalists by unionists, produced a violent struggle by minorities within both communities that ran from the late 1960s to the early 1990s and was known as The Troubles. •There are still many conflicts between unionists and nationalists, especially because of the IRA-e Irish Republican Army whose members want to unite Northern Ireland to the Republic of geographic nomenclature •Unionists often incorrectly call Northern Ireland "Ulster" or "the Province"; nationalists often use the terms the "North of Ireland" and the "Six Counties". •Ulster formed one of the historic provinces of the island of Ireland and consists of 9 counties. •Three of these now form part of the Republic of Ireland. The remaining six counties became Northern Ireland: County Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry/Derry. •The nationalists say North of Ireland/ Six counties to show the historical connection with the rest of the island. Counties and cities •Northern Ireland consists of six historic counties: County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County Fermanagh, County Londonderry, County Tyrone. •These counties are no longer used for local government purposes; instead there are twenty-six districts of Northern Ireland. • There are 5 major settlements with city status in Northern Ireland: •Armagh •Belfast •Derry •Lisburn •Newry 1 geography and climate •Northern Ireland was covered by the ice sheet for most of the last ice age. The centrepiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 392 km², the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles. •The whole island is a part of ancient Gondvanne. Therefore it has a lot of natural resources like gold, granite and basalit. •The highest point of Northern Ireland is Slieve Donard in Mournes with 848 metres. • The Lower and Upper River Bann, River Foyle and River Blackwater form extensive fertile lowlands, with excellent arable land also found in North and East Down, although much of the hill country is largely suitable for animal husbandry. • The whole Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, rather wetter in the west than the east. Demographics and politics •The majority of the population of Northern Ireland identifies with one of two different ethnic groups, unionists and nationalists. Both communities are described by their predominant religious attachments. •Unionists are Protestant (the major Protestant faith is Presbyterianism, the second in terms of size is the Church of Ireland). •Nationalists are predominantly Roman Catholic. •However not all Roman Catholics necessarily support nationalism, and not all Protestants necessarily support unionism. This has not necessarily resulted in a weakening of communal feeling. • the Roman Catholic population has increased in percentage terms within Northern Ireland, while the Presbyterian and Church of Ireland population percentages have decreased. The religious affiliations, based on census returns, have changed as follows between 1961 and 2002: languages •The English dialect used in Northern Ireland shows heavy influence of Scots language, with the use of such Scots words as wee for 'little' and ay for 'yes'. •Ulster Scots comprises varieties of the Scots language spoken in Northern Ireland. Some claim it is a separate language, descended from Scots in Scotland, while others question whether it is a separate language from English at all, or simply a collection of local dialects of Scottish and Northern Ireland English. •English is by far the most widely spoken language in Northern Ireland. •The Irish language is the native language of the whole island of Ireland. It was spoken predominantly throughout what is now Northern Ireland prior to the settlement of Protestants from Great Britain in the 17th Century. Today, there’s a small percentage of people who speak only Irish , and the national resurgance of the native tongue flourishes in west Belfast. 2 Symbols and flags •Today, Northern Ireland comprises a diverse patchwork of communities, whose national loyalties are represented in some areas by flags flown from lamp posts. •The Union Flag and Northern Ireland Flag therefore appear in some loyalist areas, and with the Irish Tricolour appearing in some republican areas. •The only official flag is the Union Flag. •The Northern Ireland flag was officially the former Governmental Northern Ireland banner (also known as the "Ulster Banner" or "Red Hand Flag") and was based on the arms of the former Parliament of Northern Ireland, and was used by the Government of Northern Ireland and its agencies between 1953 and 1972. Famous people George Best, Stephen Rea, Liam Neeson, Kenneth Branagh, Martin Lynch, Marie Jones, Harry Gregg, Pat Jennings, Martin O'Neill, Brian Moore, Seamus Heaney, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, John Hewitt, William Carleton, Patrick Bronte (father of the novelist sisters) 3.
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