Northern Ireland (Part Two)

At the end of the 16th century Queen Elizabeth began a new scheme for permenanty obtaining Ireland and its resources. This action which came to be known as "the plantation" threw Irish lords and peasants off of their land and were replaced with new English landlords and a new Protestant working class. The 17th century saw an increase in plantations, especially in the eight counties of northern Ireland (which is traditionally known as Ulster). It was here that huge numbers of Protestant settlers from the lowlands of Scotland were brought in high numbers. In 1607, some ninety or more leading Catholic nobles who were unwilling to submit left Ulster for the continent. This event - which came to be known as the flight of the Earls - fully sealed the fate of the northern counties remaining in the hands of the English. This Protestant upperclass and workforce treated the Catholic Irish as second class citizens and denied them what is today known as civil rights based on their religion. The differences between the northern part of Ireland and the other counties continued to grow. The Northern counties now had a wealthy (compared to the rest of Ireland) foreign population with a different religion.

(To be continued...)