ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Irish history with the arrival of early peoples at the dawn of prehistory and progresses through the 1840s. It shows the development of Irish institutions and identity and also explores several case studies in light of nationalist and revisionist traditions. The chapter examines the major events of the Penal Laws, the 1798 Rebellion, Daniel O'Connell, the Great Famine, the "Irish Nation," and the Rising of 1916. Socially the Celts lived in loosely knit communities whose elite built defensive hill forts that still dot the Irish rural landscape. The unique syncretism that emerged in Irish Christianity is particularly notable in the absorption of Celtic customs and festivals into the Church calendar and Christianization of early Celtic sites such as holy wells and royal centers. Irish port towns such as Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and Limerick owe their beginnings and even their names to the Vikings.
