ABSTRACT
From its inception, Northern Ireland made little sense as a geographic entity (it covers an area of 5,276 square miles, only slightly more than the state of Connecticut) or as a cultural community. During the 1912–1914 Home Rule crisis, British politicians decided that if nationalist demands and unionist anxieties were to be eased their most feasible option was to partition Ireland. These ministers had concluded that it would be unjust to place a 25 percent Protestant minority in an Ireland controlled by a 75 percent Catholic majority. Instead they passed the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, which not only partitioned the country but also created a six-county northern state in which a 33 percent Catholic minority was placed under the domination of a 66 percent Protestant majority.
