how did northern ireland become british soil ?

Question

do they speak english ?

Answer 1

Ireland was invaded in 1169-1171 by the Normans acting under English authority, they siezed control of the country in the name of the English crown. England's control of the island was consolidated over the following centuries by further invasions and settlement, with large tracts of Irish land being granted to English Lords and Knights who were faithful to the English King. The strongest resistence came from the native Irish-Gaelic chieftains of Ulster in the north of Ireland, whose power was finally broken in 1607, after which their lands were confiscated by the British Crown and given to Protestant English and lowland Scots to settle on (The Ulster Plantations). Ireland remained under English (and later British) rule until the Irish war of Independence 1920-1921, when a peace treaty was signed between the British government and the Irish rebel leaders which gave the 26 southern counties of Ireland the status of a "Free State" (not true independence, Ireland remained part of the British Commonwealth Empire and swore an allegiance to the British Crown) while the 6 northern counties remained part of Britain, a clause included by the British both for strategic reasons and because of the large number of Protestant settlers in northern Ireland who were loyal to Britain (your previous answer by Trojangirls (sorry, Thorgirlswar!) is incorrect, there was never a democratic election in to decide who wanted to remain part of Britain). The partition between north and south was passed by the Irish parliament but was unpopular with many who still wanted the entire island of Ireland to have full independence from Britain, this led to the Irish Civil War 1922-1923 which the Government (Pro-Partition side) won. The Anti-Partition side were eventually elected into power in 1937 and began to dismantle the Free State and all its ties with Britain and declared the southern 26 counties as the Independent 'Republic of Ireland' in 1948. The 6 northern counties remain to this day part of Great Britain.


Thorgirlswar! I may have got your name wrong but I am not a dimwit, there is no need to insult me. My line "The partition between north and south was passed by the Irish parliament" refers to the parliament in southern Ireland. Your implication that the people of Northern Ireland voted in a democratic election to stay within Great Britain remains incorrect. The British Government of the day refused to consider letting the north go back to Irish control. It was not an option.

And to Ron who asked the question, yes they do speak English and some of the Catholic community also speak Irish (Gaelic).

Wow! Someone is really paranoid!
Thor = Norse Mythology
Trojans = Greek Mythology, look it up.
I got mixed up, simple.
Apologies to Ron, I hope that's the end of it.

Answer 2

The reason for the partition of Northern Ireland goes back to the early 1600's when king James Stuart (Scottish king by the way not English, it's always the English who get blamed for everything) started the plantations by moving Scots and English to Northern Ireland. So hence the problems during and after partition when the majority in the North still wanted to be associated with the Crown.
I'm sure it will be a united country again in the not too distant future.

Answer 3

During Michael Collins' negotiations with the British it was agreed that the question of independance would be settled so that Leinster, Connaught and Munster (three irish provinces would become an Irish independant state, the free state) while Ulster, the fourth province would democraticaly decide it's own status, due to the larger amount of protestant settlers there, however it was soon discovered that this would not work as the nine counties of Ulster still had a majority of Irish catholics, so new borders were created by the British to facilitate a protestant majority in the northeast corner of ireland comprising of six counties.

Answer 4

Just to answer Thor. The partition of Ireland was nothing to do with a democratic vote - it was a deal forced upon the people of the 6 counties, and it was made worse because Carson didn't want Ireland split - he would have preferred a United Catholic Ireland rather than a split Ireland.

By the way - at that time, Donegal was a majority protestant county, so if there had been a vote, they probably would have opted in while Derry, Tyrone & Armagh would have stayed as part of the Republic...

Answer 5

Ireland was invaded by the English in 1171. After that English rule was almost always present, although with intermittent declines, e.g. in the 14th century. In the 19th century (1801) the Act of Union was passed, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain, and Ireland became directly ruled by the UK parliament (apparently there was a lot of bribery of the Irish parliament involved in getting this passed). It was after this that the English set about changing place names from Gaelic to English.
In 1921, during the Irish Civil War, Northern Ireland came into being, and 1922 saw the creation of Eire. Northern Ireland opted out of the new state, most of its population being protestant and fearful of being the minority in a majority catholic nation.

Answer 6

All of Ireland was British for several hundred years. In the 1920's uprisings by the IRA caused the British government to negotiate a settlement. That settlement called for a Democratic vote by all Irish counties. Those that chose to leave would become the Irish republic. Those that chose to remain part of Britain could do so as well and did. The 6 counties that Legally and Democratically voted to stay in British control are the reason you seek.


Trojangirls is incorrect, there was never a democratic election to decide who wanted to remain part of Britain). The partition between north and south was passed by the Irish parliament but was unpopular with many who still wanted

Hey DAVO "passed by the Irish Parliment" IS A democratic vote!!!!! I never said that had polloing places in all the Irish PUBS

And it's THOR GIRL dimwit


Um Trojans= Condoms I'm female....I think you intended the insult in spite of your less than gallant denial

Answer 7

The whole of Ireland was annexed. The North was settled by protestant English in the form of the Ulster Colony. Then, the regicide but BALZY Cromwell killed a bunch of Irish. The Irish won their independence but Collins 'gave up the North' and the IRA killed him. I think you can throw U2 in there somewhere.

Answer 8

Wasn't it in Cromwell's time? You'd be better looking on the internet, I'm sure the whole history will be on there somewhere.

Answer 9

by defeating the catholics that were irish. with english protestents brought over from england

Answer 10

Our stupid king decided to take it.Has usual it was for the fat cats.
I am English & the sooner they have there country back the better.