Ireland

Ireland is a country in northwestern Europe occupying most of the island of Ireland. It shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Dublin is both the capital and largest city, and Irish and English are the official languages. Known as the Emerald Isle, Ireland has a landscape of green plains, lakes, peatlands, rugged mountains, and a deeply indented Atlantic coastline.

Ireland was governed by England and later Great Britain for several centuries. The Great Famine of the 1840s caused widespread death and emigration, profoundly affecting the country’s population and its communities overseas. The struggle for independence intensified with the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence. The Irish Free State was established in 1922, while Northern Ireland remained within the United Kingdom. Ireland formally became a republic in 1949 and joined the European Economic Community, now the European Union, in 1973.