ABSTRACT
Over a period of 1,500 years the Irish have left Ireland for two main reasons: to evangelize or to escape poverty or persecution at home. Not since the fifth century has territorial aggrandizement been a reason for emigration. Ireland produced few explorers. The Antarctic explorers, Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) from Kildare and Tom Crean (1877-1938) from Kerry, are outstanding exceptions.
