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In 1993 the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom agreed on a framework for resolving problems and bringing lasting peace to the troubled region. The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland joined the European Community on January 1, 1973, and were integrated into the European Union in 1993.
Northern Ireland ( Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann [ˈt̪ˠuəʃcəɾˠt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ] ⓘ; [13] Ulster-Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland that is variously described as a country, province or region.
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- Overview
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Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, lying in the northeastern quadrant of the island of Ireland, on the western continental periphery often characterized as Atlantic Europe. Northern Ireland is sometimes referred to as Ulster, although it includes only six of the nine counties which made up that historic Irish province.
In proximity to Scotland and to sea channels leading to England and Wales, Northern Ireland has long witnessed generations of newcomers and emigrants, including Celts from continental Europe and Vikings, Normans, and Anglo-Saxons. In the 17th century, the period of the so-called Ulster plantation, thousands of Scottish Presbyterians were forcibly resettled and English military garrisons built, arrivals that would institutionalize the ethnic, religious, and political differences that eventually resulted in violent conflict.
Since the 1920s, when Northern Ireland was officially separated from Ireland, it has been tormented by sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the peacemaking efforts that began in earnest in the mid-1990s, Northern Ireland is still best navigated by those who are skilled in the shibboleths and cultural codes that demarcate its peoples, governing which football (soccer) team to cheer for, which whiskey to drink, and which song to sing. The complexity of those political markers is captured in a graffito once scrawled on Belfast walls that read “If you are not confused you don’t understand the situation.” But, Northern Ireland’s political fortunes subsequently have changed for the better, and with that change has come a flourishing of the arts, so that increasingly outsiders associate the country not with violent politics but with the poems of Seamus Heaney, the music of Van Morrison, and other contributions to world culture.
The capital is Belfast, a modern city whose historic centre was badly damaged by aerial bombardment during World War II. Once renowned for its shipyards—the Titanic was built there—Belfast has lost much of its industrial base. The city—as with Northern Ireland’s other chief cities Londonderry (known locally and historically as Derry) and Armagh—is graced with parks and tidy residential neighbourhoods. More handsome still is the Northern Irish countryside—green, fertile, and laced with rivers and lakes, all of which have found lyrical expression in the nation’s folk and artistic traditions.
Northern Ireland occupies about one-sixth of the island of Ireland and is separated on the east from Scotland, another part of the United Kingdom, by the narrow North Channel, which is at one point only 13 miles (21 km) wide. The Irish Sea separates Northern Ireland from England and Wales on the east and southeast, respectively, and the Atlantic Oc...
Northern Ireland can be thought of topographically as a saucer centred on Lough (lake) Neagh, the upturned rim of which forms the highlands. Five of the six historic counties—Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, and Londonderry—meet at the lake, and each has a highland region on the saucer’s rim. To the north and east the mountains of Antrim (physiographically a plateau) tilt upward toward the coast. They reach an elevation of 1,817 feet (554 metres) at Trostan, with the plateau terminating in an impressive cliff coastline of basalts and chalk that is broken by a series of the glaciated valleys known as glens, which face Scotland and are rather isolated from the rest of Northern Ireland. The rounded landscape of drumlins—smooth, elongated mounds left by the melting ice of the final Pleistocene glaciation—in the southeast is punctuated by Slieve Croob, which rises to 1,745 feet (532 metres), and culminates in the Mourne Mountains, which reach an elevation of 2,789 feet (850 metres) at Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland’s highest point) within 2 miles (3 km) of the sea. This impressive landscape of granite peaks is bounded by Carlingford Lough to the south.
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The scenery to the south of Lough Neagh is gentler, but the land rises to 1,886 feet (575 metres) in Slieve Gullion near the border with Ireland. West of Lough Neagh the land rises gently to the more rounded Sperrin Mountains; Sawel, at 2,224 feet (678 metres), is the highest of several hills over 2,000 feet (610 metres). The far southwest, the historic County Fermanagh, is focused geographically on the basin of Lough Erne, in a drumlin-strewn area ringed by hills more than 1,000 feet (300 metres) high.
Much of the landscape of Northern Ireland is gentle, and in most low-lying areas it is covered with swarms of drumlins that have played havoc with the local drainage and are interspersed with marshy hollows. Glaciation also gave the land its main valleys: those of the River Bann (which drains Lough Neagh to the Atlantic Ocean) in the north, the Riv...
Soils are varied. Although much glacially transported material covers the areas below 700 feet (215 metres) in elevation, the nature of the soil is predominantly influenced by the underlying parent rock. Brown earth soils, forming arable loams, are extensive and are derived from the ancient Silurian rocks of the southeast—some 420 million years old...
Apr 24, 2023 · Northern Ireland is bordered by the Republic of Ireland in the south and west. In the east, it is separated from Scotland by the North Channel. Northern Ireland is separated from England and Wales in the east and southeast by the Irish Sea. In the north, it is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Regional Maps: Map of Europe.
Dec 31, 2020 · As mentioned, the main difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland is that they are two separate countries. The Republic of Ireland, often just denoted as Ireland, is an independent sovereign state, while Northern Ireland has been a part of the United Kingdom since the 3 rd of May 1921. Ireland is a member of the European Union (EU), while ...
Jan 2, 2024 · 1. It’s both part of Ireland yet separate. While Northern Ireland may be on the island of Ireland, it’s officially part of the United Kingdom (and has been that way for over a century). The border is open and easy to cross, but note that you’re entering an entirely different country when you do. 2.
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The ...