1.5 KiB
Northern Ireland
Around 420 BC the Bishop Saint Patric converted most of the Pagan Ireland to Catholicism.
In 1604 King Henry VIII conquered the entirety of Ireland.
Because Ireland was still mostly Catholics who now lived under the protestant rule of England there were frequent rebellions happening.
Due to this England decided to relocate catholic farmers to Ireland. This did only really work in Northern Ireland where small presbyterian counties were formed. Presbyterianism has its roots in Protestantism.
Around 1800 the British conquered the entirety of Ireland and united it with England, forming the United Kingdom.
During the great famine of 1840 millions of people died and millions emigrated.
Ireland was split into northern and southern Ireland in 1920. Southern Ireland became the Irish Free State, or what we know as Ireland today.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.
During 1966 the conflicts in the North between Pro-British Protestants and Pro-Irish Catholics escalated into what we now call the Troubles. This period lasted until the 1990, in 1998 both sides negotiated the "Good Friday Agreement".
Ireland joined the EU together with England and Denmark in 1997.
During the Brexit in 2016 Northern Ireland and Scotland voted no with a slight majority.
This caused the unification talks between Ireland and Northern Ireland to gain traction again.
The protestants want to be part of the United Kingdom and the Catholics want to be independent.