Ireland Information, Geography and History

INFORMATION

•  Full name: Éire (Republic of Ireland)

•  Capital City: Dublin

•  Language: English (official), Gaelic, Irish

•  Currency: Euro (€)

•  Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant

•  National Anthem: Amhrán na bhFiann (the Soldier's Song)

•  Newspaper: Andersonstown News, Ballymena Times (Northern Ireland), Daily Ireland, The Avondhu

•  Places to Visit: Connemara, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Galway, The Burren, Waterford, Blarney Castle, Blarney Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Clonmacnoise, Killarney National Park

•  Transport: Travel to Ireland through England with several international flights. There are several flights traversing from Dublin and Shannon airports to USA, British and European provinces. The Airport departure taxes are levied upon the customers. One may even use the ferry ride that functions from Ireland to Britain through Dublin and Holyhead in Wales along with Rosslare and Fishguard and Pembroke provinces in Wales.

•  Shopping: Hand-loomed tweed, crocheted woolens and cottons, products made out of sheepskin, Aran knitwear, linen, pottery, gold and silver jewelry, Irish crystal and basketry.

INTRODUCTION

Ireland is recognized as the third largest island within the European continent. The word 'Ireland' originates from the term Ériu, which is Éire in the modern Irish language that conveys the meaning of ‘land', which is associated with it. With innumerable choices to make, one may plan their itinerary well in advance while touring to this magnificent destination. Grab the opportunity and sway your eyes over the majestic castles, convoluted caves, wonderful shipping canals, awe-inspiring landscapes and find nothing more exciting and adventurous than this.

LOCATION OF IRELAND

Ireland is well placed in the region of Far Western Europe, lying in the midst of North Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea towards the eastern front. The region is alienated from the Great Britain through the Saint George's Channel that passes from the southeastern region, along with the North Channel towards the northeastern front.

PHYSICAL MAP OF IRELAND

Ireland is seperated into two respective sovereign state, which includes:

•  The Republic of Ireland, mainly covering about five-sixth portion of the island from the south, west, east, and north-west ends.

•  The Northern Ireland, belonging to the United Kingdom, is engulfed from the northeastern sector.

The Republic of Ireland, popularly known as Éire is refered to as the "the South" or "the Republic" by the Northern Ireland native residents.

The Northern Ireland, is even called as "The North" by the local residents, the nationalist addresses it as "the Six Counties," and the unionists call it as the "Ulster”.

The highest peak of Ireland is Carrauntuohill, which is even called as the Carrán Tuathail by the natives, is elevated to a height of about 3,414 feet.

The region is intersected by one of the longest river in town known as the River Shannon, that stretches to about 386 km along the land area. The island is nicknamed with the term "Emerald Isle" due to its lush vegetation, mild climate that covers an area of 32,591 square miles.

The county of Ireland is divided into four major provinces, which were collectively named as cúigí. These provinces were named as :

• Connacht,
• Leinster,
• Munster, and
• Ulster.

These provinces were further intersected into 32 counties by the British government for the administrative reason during the 19th century.

The southwestern and western part of the Ireland is rarely cultivated because of its mountainous and rugged terrains, surrounded with flooded valleys. The eastern part is regular in nature with quite a few deep indentations.

The far west region adjacent to the Galway and Donegal is dominant with high-grade metamorphic and igneous rocks while the southeastern region of Ulster extending to the Longford and Navan areas belong to the Ordovician and Silurian era combined with Welsh similarity. The southwest region near to Bantry Bay along with the Macgillicuddy's reeks of mountainous area is influenced with Cornish likeness, which is covered with light metamorphosed Devonian-aged rocks.

Carboniferous limestone's seems to enclose the country, thereby making the landscape rich and fertile. Ireland is even considered as a branch of the British Isles.

CLIMATE OF IRELAND

Experience a maritime kind of climate, which is temperate in nature while traveling to Ireland. Being close to the Atlantic Ocean and near to the Gulf Stream, the area receives good amount of precipitation through out the year. This mild climatic condition is frequently subjected to climatic change with rarely noted extreme conditions.

The winter is relatively cloudy with occasional sun and rain spillovers. The temperature reaches to about 5ºC during the month of January whereas the overnight descends comparatively below the freezing point with frosts prevalent all around.

Summers in Ireland are sunny while speckled with fluffy looking clouds spilt with occasional precipitation and thunderstorm. The air is humid during the month of July and August, where the average temperature in July is about 15ºC, while exceeding to 30ºC.

The coastal regions are rarely affected with summer and winter conditions, as January and July experiences consistent weather that range to 10ºC due to effect created by the Atlantic Ocean, that takes up heat during summer releases it during the wintertime.

The weather differs from location to location, as seen in the mountainous region, which is subjected, to wet conditions, from where the winds prevails. The eastern region witnesses dry weather especially towards the eastern coast where few mountains are set in. The areas of Dublin and Kildare are dry in nature. The southern area is even warmer while the northern is subjected to chilly conditions.

It is this current wind emerging from the southwestern region that brings along moderate setting with low-pressure depression within the area. A "blast from the north" is even seen where the chilly weather of Artic, makes the place prone to snow and frost. The east wind that originates from the central Russia brings along moisture with it thereby making the climate hot and dry particularly in summer and cold and dry during the winter. The Atlantic storms make the western front completely wet accompanied with hail winds during the autumn and wintertime.

The northern half of the island is subjected to snowfall with a change in temperature between the coastal regions and the inland areas.

FLORA AND FAUNA OF IRELAND

Ireland is subjected to fewer species of animal and plant kingdom than seen in Britain or mainland Europe. Comprising of specific habitat particular to the region, the place is filled with with open timberland, moderate forestland, coniferous trees, peat bogs, and other coastal areas.

There are selectively 31 mamals within the region that came to this place when the sea level rose soon after the Ice Age thereby the region got completely secluded from Europe. The place is a home to animals like the red fox, hedgehog, stoat, badger, Irish hare, red deer and pine marten along with rabbits and the brown rats.

Get to see about 400 species of different variety of birds within the province of Ireland. Most of the birds are migratory in nature, along with the arctic birds, that flee to the region during the winter season and birds like swallow, that breed in Ireland as they fly a long distance from the African region.

The place boasts of rich marine avifauna, as several seabird gather along in the coastal shores especially on the Saltee Islands and Skellig Michael. The golden eagles can also be sighted in this region.

The amphibians common to this place are the common frog, the smooth newt and the natterjack toad. Catch up with marine turtles along the south west coast region.

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