Segregation in Northern Ireland - Historical Background

Historical Background

Soon after they had conquered England, the Normans invaded Ireland. Gaelic lords gradually regained control of the island, until the English Crown's influence was limited to the Pale by the 15th century. The Reformation marked a watershed in the history of the British Isles as the Irish remained Catholic and Henry VIII initiated the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

A final part of that century-long struggle was the Nine Years' War (1594-1603), after which the defeated earls' lands were confiscated and given to settlers, in the Plantation of Ulster. Most of the planters came from southwest Scotland and became the Scots-Irish. Several others were to follow as attempts to convert the Irish failed, but the plantation of Ulster was to be the largest.

The Plantations had a profound impact on Ireland in several ways. The first was the destruction of the native ruling classes and their replacement by the Protestant Ascendancy, of British (mostly English) Anglican Protestant landowners. Their position was buttressed by the Penal Laws, which denied political and land-owning rights to Catholics and to some extent to Presbyterians. The dominance of this class in Irish life persisted until the late 19th century and cemented the British control over the country.

During the 17th and 18th century, it was troubled by revolts and civil wars, such as the Rebellions of 1641 and of 1798. In 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland through the Acts of Union.

The following century saw an ever-increasing Irish nationalism, which in turn led to a resurgence of interest in the Irish language, literature, history, and folklore; by that time Gaelic had died out as a spoken tongue except in isolated rural areas.

As a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty ending the Irish War of Independence, six of Ulster's nine counties were formed into Northern Ireland, with a Protestant majority.