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 Above:
Shamrock is the national plant 
By O. Zabolotnyi
symbol of the Irish people.
Northern Ireland is the smallest part of the United Kingdom occupying just one sixth of its territory. It is situated on the northeast of the Island of Ireland. Sometimes it is called“Ulster”, because its six counties (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry,and Tyrone) used to be the part of the historic province of Ulster, which consisted of nine counties. Its capital is Belfast where as many as one third of the population of 1.6million people live. Belfast is also a very important sea port, a major industrial andcommercial centre. Its main industries are textile, clothing, shipbuilding and engineering.The rest of the territory remains chiefly rural.
Left:
The panorama of the city of Belfast.
Poets call Ireland the“Emerald Isle”obviously due to itsgreen grass. Thewinds blowing fromthe Atlantic Oceanmake the air and thesoil warm and damp. Grass grows well in such a climate. For centuries cattle farminghas been the main agricultural activity in Ireland, and has made it famous for its dairyproducts.There are low hills and peaks of rock in the northwest of the island, while the northeastpart is a plateau. The Mourne Mountains in the southeast slope down to Lough Neagh,the largest lake on the British Isles. The rivers of Ireland are not long, but quite deep.The largest river is the Shannon. The Giant’s Causeway on the north-east coast is thearea of about 40, 000 interlocking basalt columns, which are the result of a prehistoricvolcanic eruption. It is considered to be one of the greatest natural wonders of theworld.
Right:
Engraving of 
 A View of the Giant’sCauseway 
(by Susanna Drury, 1768)
For many centuries Ireland was a Britishcolony. As a result of the long andpainful struggle of the Irish people for independence, the larger part of Irelandcomprising 26 counties obtained thestatus of a British dominion in 1921. In1949 it was officially proclaimed anindependent state, the Irish Free Stateof Eire. The capital of Eire is Dublin. Thenortheast of Ireland remained under the British rule as the smallest component of theUK.
 
Northern Ireland Page 2.
 
 Above:
The
Ulster Banner 
was used officially from1953 till 1972. It is still used by some local governments and sports teams.
Right:
A march of the members of the Orange Order,a Unionist Protestant organization
.The population of the Northern Ireland is divided into two main religious groups: theProtestants and the Catholics. The Protestants are generally of British origin. They aredescendants of British settlers who came to Ireland in the 16
th
and 17
th
centuries, duringand after the Reformation. In 1795 a Protestant political organization of Orangemen (theOrange Order) was founded. It was named after King William III of England, Prince of Orange. The Catholics are mostly natives of Ireland. The Protestants constitute just a bitmore than a half of the population (about 55 per cent), and they used to dominate theCatholics severely discriminating them. In 1968 the Catholics began their movement for equal civil rights. That year violent clashes between civil rights marchers and Unionistextremists (those who support the idea of the Ulster’s union with Great Britain) tookplace. Acts of terror commenced by the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army) and Protestantextremists became more frequent and violent. In 1969 the British Army was dispatchedto Northern Ireland as a peacekeeping force. 
 Above left:
the I.R.A. political poster from the 1980s.
 Above right:
A British Army soldier on combat guard duty in Northern Ireland.
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