Ireland Travel & Culture Guide

Ireland (Éire in Irish Gaelic, Airlann in Ulster-Scots) is Europe's third-largest island (after Great Britain and Iceland). It politically divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers 83% of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. The former is overwhelmingly Catholic and was granted independence from the UK in 1922, after many centuries of English domination. Northern Ireland, a part of the traditional province of Ulster, was heavily settled by Lowland Scots in the 17th century. Mostly Protestant, a majority of people in Ulster remained loyal to the British Crown, causing serious tensions and numerous (frequently deadly) confrontations with Catholic nationalists who aspire to a unified independent Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland emerged from being one of Europe's poorest and most backward country in the mid-20th century to one of the richest at the turn of the 21st century, even overtaking the UK in GDP per capita and Human Development Index.