Ireland

Where the name comes from

Ireland joins Irish Éire with English “land”; Éire comes from Ériu, a goddess in Irish tradition, though the name’s deeper origin is debated.

First people

Farmers built the passage tomb at Newgrange about 5,200 years ago, older than the Pyramids of Giza.¹

Known for

Ireland is known for its traditional music and for the Great Famine of the 1840s, which killed more than a million people and drove more than a million others to emigrate.²

Outside contact

Norse settlement began in 795 and the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169.³

The modern country

Union with Great Britain in 1801 was followed by the Irish Free State in 1922; Northern Ireland stayed in the UK, and the republic was declared in 1949.³