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Old World History. Great Britain. Ireland. History.    
Important Dates in Ireland

~6000 BC The first people to live in Ireland came from the European mainland and settled on the northeast coast, near what is now Larne in Northern Ireland.
~400 BC Celtic tribes from the island of Great Britain and the European mainland invaded Ireland.

~432 AD Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland.

~795 Vikings began raiding the east and south coasts of Ireland.
1014 Brian Boru defeated the Vikings at Clontarf (now part of Dublin).

1160s Turlough O'Connor overthrew Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster.
1170 Dermot recovered his kingdom, with help from the Normans.
1171 Henry II, King of England, forced Ireland to recognize him as Lord of Ireland.

1541 Henry VIII forced Ireland's Parliament to declare him King of Ireland.

1603 Queen Elizabeth ended revolts in Ulster.
1649 Oliver Cromwell crushed an Irish revolt against England and took land and many political rights away from Irish Catholics.
1690 The English defeated James II and Irish forces in the Battle of the Boyne.

1782 The all-Protestant Irish Parliament gained legislative control over Ireland.

1801 Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1829 Daniel O'Connell helped Catholics win the right to serve in the British Parliament and to hold other public offices.
1845-1847 A potato famine in Ireland killed about 750,000 persons.

1905 Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin.
1914 The British Parliament passed a home rule bill, but the outbreak of
World War I prevented it from taking effect.
1916
The Easter Rebellion against British rule broke out in Dublin.
1921 Southern Ireland became a dominion of Great Britain called the Irish Free State.

1949 Ireland declared itself a republic.
1955 Ireland joined the United Nations.

1973 Ireland became a member of the European Community (European Common Market).

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This page was last updated on 10/07/2008.

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