History of Ireland
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008The Ireland of today is a beautiful and flourishing island in Europe. It is comprised of the country of Ireland (Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland, which is governed by the United Kingdom. Currently, the entire island boasts a population of over six million. However, the first known residents, Mesolithic Stone Age inhabitants, arrived as far back as 8,000 BC. Due to the drastically lower sea levels at the time, Ireland was not actually yet an island, but still connected to the great continent of Europe, making it accessible by foot. Agriculture developed some 4,000 years later with the Neolithic era. Irish civilization reached a new plateau around 2500 BC with the arrival of the Bronze Age, when bronze and gold began being used to forge weapons and tools.