History
Division between Catholic and Protestant in Ireland pre-dates the conflict over the Union. To some extent, these can be traced back to the wars of religion, land and power arising out the 16th and 17th century Plantations of Ireland. In the 18th century, Ireland was ruled by a Protestant-only Irish Parliament, autonomous in some respects from Britain. Catholics and Presbyterians were denied full political and economic rights under the Penal Laws.
Read more about this topic: Unionism In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.”
—Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)
“All history becomes subjective; in other words there is properly no history, only biography.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)