Ireland

Ireland is an island country in northwestern Europe. It sits in the Atlantic Ocean, just west of Great Britain. The island is split into two parts. Most of it is the Republic of Ireland, an independent country. The smaller northeast corner is Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. About 5 million people live in the Republic, and another 1.9 million live in Northern Ireland.

Ireland is famous for its green countryside. The island gets a lot of rain, which keeps the grass thick and bright all year. People sometimes call it the "Emerald Isle." Low mountains ring the edges of the island, while the middle is mostly flat with many lakes, rivers, and peat bogs. A peat bog is wet, spongy ground made of rotted plants piled up over thousands of years.

The capital of the Republic is Dublin. It sits on the east coast where the River Liffey meets the sea. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Two main languages are spoken on the island: English and Irish, which is also called Gaelic. Irish is a Celtic language with its own alphabet and sound. Road signs in the Republic show both languages.

People have lived in Ireland for about 10,000 years, since the last Ice Age ended. Ancient farmers built stone tombs older than the Pyramids of Egypt. One of them, called Newgrange, was built around 3200 BCE. Once a year, at the winter sunrise, a beam of sunlight shines straight down a stone passage and lights up the burial room inside.

In the 1840s, Ireland suffered a terrible event called the Great Famine. A disease killed the potato crop, which was the main food for poor families. About one million people died of hunger and sickness. Another two million left the country, many of them sailing to the United States. This is why so many Americans today have Irish roots.

The island was ruled by Britain for hundreds of years. The Republic of Ireland won its independence in 1922. Northern Ireland stayed with Britain, and the split caused long fights between different groups. A peace deal called the Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, ended most of the violence.

Ireland is known around the world for its music, stories, and poetry. Irish folktales are full of fairies, giants, and a small trickster called the leprechaun. Saint Patrick's Day, on March 17, honors the man said to have brought Christianity to the island. It is celebrated in cities from Dublin to Chicago.