History

In the Bronze and Iron Age the Celts occupied Ireland. After the Christianization of Ireland by the British slaves (one of them was the national saint Patrick of Ireland) in the beginning of the 5th century the first Irish prosperity followed. However, this prosperity was interrupted by the forays of the Vikings. Later the English conquerors drove out the Irish to the infertile West of the isle. When in the 19th century the whole potato harvest was rotten there was a period of mass starvation in Ireland. More than one million Irish died of starvation and many others immigrated to the United States.
In the beginning of the 20th century Ireland made a big step towards political independence. However, six counties remained British. Down to the present day the conflict in Northern Ireland casts a damp over the Irish-Britsh politics and domestic politics of Ireland.