Ireland

Ireland

  • Submitted By: tasha83
  • Date Submitted: 03/03/2009 12:41 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1216
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 359

One Island, Two Cultures?

Ireland is the third largest island in Europe and consists of two discrete countries. On the one hand the Republic of Ireland which gained its independence in 1921 by the Anglo-Irish Treaty and on the other hand Northern Ireland which was established in 1921 by the Government of Ireland Act. Sine the Republic of Ireland is a totally independent country, Northern Ireland still is in control of Great Britain.

Although these two countries are located on the same island the cultures seem to be completely different to each other. Not only the cultures differ a lot but as well the whole country and economy.
You encounter the first difference when you take a look on the map, because the Republic of Ireland is much bigger than Northern Ireland. Traditionally, Ireland is divided into four provinces: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. These four provinces make 32 counties. Twenty six of the counties are located in the Republic of Ireland, and the remaining six are all in the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland. There are only three counties in Ulster which belong to the Republic of Ireland: Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan.
And this also leads to the fact that there are high numerous differences in population where the North has only about 1, 7 million inhabitants and the Republic of Ireland around 4 million. One might argue that it is the effect of the economical boom the Republic of Ireland has experienced since the 1960s. Since then the number of immigrants arose so rapidity in the last years so that the number of population is still rising. A totally other scenario is taking place in Northern Ireland because the economy is stagnating and poverty mark the terrible conditions. Unemployment and emigration characterize the worse conditions of people as well. Many of them leave their country and try to begin a new life in countries like Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland. Especially many Catholics in Northern Ireland immigrate to...

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