The history of Northern Ireland and its .
The union of church and state, economic highs and lows, and nationalism are all global issues that affect different areas of the world in different ways. Protestants and Catholics have been fighting in Northern Ireland since the early 1900s and possibly even before that. While the two religious groups seem to be the main parties in the dispute, nationalism has played a very large role in the conflict between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The dispute is caused mainly by the presence of the United Kingdom as a control group in Ireland, and the nationalists and the unionists have formed sides in the controversy. In this essay, I will discuss a brief history of the conflict in Northern Ireland, describe the main groups that are fighting, why religion and nationalism play a role in the disagreement, and how the economy has been impacted. .
HISTORY.
Some historians believe the conflicts in Northern Ireland began as long ago as 1609. At this time, Queen Elizabeth's military was dominating the globe and, after many struggles, overtook the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Once the English took control the land was commandeered and British colonists began to push the native Irishmen out (Darby, 1995). .
"So the broad outlines of the current conflict in Northern Ireland had been sketched out within fifty years of the plantation: the same territory was occupied by two hostile groups, one believing the land had been usurped and the other believing that their tenure was constantly under threat of rebellion They identified their differences as religious and cultural as well as territorial," (Darby, 1995).
In 1905 the Ulster Unionist Party was created and it was made up mostly of "Protestant members of the British Parliament who represented Ireland," (Ulster Unionist Party, 2002). This party came up with a plan, which became known as Home Rule, which would give Ireland it's own Parliament for domestic matters, while still giving the United Kingdom power over the territory of Ireland.
