Northern Ireland (engl. Northern Ireland), which belongs to the UK northeast part of the island of Ireland, with 13,562 km 2 and 1.85 million residents; the capital is Belfast.
History: According to philosophynearby, when Ireland broke away from Great Britain in 1920/21, the six counties of the historic province of Ulster, which were predominantly Protestant (mainly Presbyterians and Anglicans), remained with the motherland. H. its own parliament (Stormont) and its own government. The main determinant of the internal development was the conflict between the Protestant majority, which adhered to the union with Great Britain, and the (politically largely marginalized) Catholic minority, which sought unification with the Republic of Ireland.
From 1969, civil war-like conditions prevailed in Northern Ireland, supported by radical and militant groups such as the Catholic underground organization IRA and extremist Protestant forces. In the same year, the British government moved troops to Northern Ireland to end the violent conflict; In 1974 she took over direct governance.
In 1994 the first partial successes came in the lengthy Northern Ireland Talks, in which the Republic of Ireland also took part. The Irish and British governments recognized the right of all residents of the island of Ireland to self-determination, and the IRA and the armed Protestant associations declared that they would not engage in terrorist activities. A peace agreement was confirmed by referendums in 1998 (in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland, which in future wants to waive the constitutional right to reintegrate the Northern Irish counties). After parliamentary elections in 1999, a politically and religiously mixed regional government began work in Northern Ireland, which means the end of British direct rule. The autonomy was temporarily lifted in 2000 (again in 2002), because the IRA refused to disarm. With the declaration of the IRA to end the “armed struggle” (2005), the Northern Irish peace process received a new impetus. The formation of an all-party government in 2007 led to a return to self-government. The transfer of responsibility for the police and the judiciary marked the end of the gradual transfer of administrative sovereignty to Northern Ireland that was initiated after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Northern Irish government work did not remain free of conflict in the period that followed. The transfer of responsibility for the police and the judiciary marked the end of the gradual transfer of administrative sovereignty to Northern Ireland that was initiated after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Northern Irish government work did not remain free of conflict in the period that followed. The transfer of responsibility for the police and the judiciary marked the end of the gradual transfer of administrative sovereignty to Northern Ireland that was initiated after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Northern Irish government work did not remain free of conflict in the period that followed.
Belfast
Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland and separate district, at the confluence of the Lagan in Belfast Lough, on the north-east coast of Ireland, (2015) 338 900 residents (agglomeration: 614 300 residents); Seat of a Catholic bishop and a bishop of the Church of England; cultural center with university (founded 1908), Belfast Metropolitan College, several museums and galleries, theaters, opera, zoological and botanical gardens. Textile, food, tobacco industry; traditional shipbuilding (1909-11 construction of the Titanic) went through a serious crisis in the last few decades; Newer branches of industry are aircraft, machine and electrical appliance construction; Petroleum refinery. Some ministry offices have also been moved to Belfast. The Houses of Parliament of Northern Ireland are located in the Stormont district. Belfast has Northern Ireland’s main port and an international airport.
Cityscape
The town hall was built between 1898 and 1906 as a domed, neo-baroque building according to plans by Sir Brumwell Thomas (remarkable interior design). The Saint Anne Cathedral, main church of the Anglican Church of Ireland, was built in 1898 ff. In neo-Romanesque style according to plans by Sir Thomas Drew. The Tudor-style Queen’s University (1845–94, by Charles Lanyon)) is located in the south of the city, as is the botanical garden with palm house (around 1850) and the Ulster Museum (including art from the Celtic and early Christian times; European painting, especially from the 17th / 18th centuries; Irish art from various eras; handicrafts, especially Gold and silver work). Belfast Castle (1870; now a museum) rises halfway up Cave Hill in the north of the city. A specialty of Belfast are the murals on house facades and walls, which are distributed over the city (especially in the west and south), which were created as political and artistic manifestations of the unrest in Northern Ireland, especially since 1968.
History
Belfast was built at the beginning of the 17th century with a Norman castle built around 1177 (destroyed several times and rebuilt) and gained city rights in 1613. The construction of a bridge over the Lagan and the settlement of French Huguenots (both at the end of the 17th century) favored the economic boom; Belfast developed into a center for linen manufacture and trade, as well as the cotton industry and shipbuilding since the late 18th century. In 1920 Belfast became the seat of the administrative authorities of Northern Ireland. Heavily destroyed by air raids in 1941 during World War II, Belfast has been a major stage in the Northern Irish Civil War since the late 1960s. On April 10, 1998, eight Northern Irish parties and the heads of government of Great Britain (T. Blair) and Ireland (B. Ahern) signed an agreement to initiate a peaceful political solution to the Northern Ireland conflict (called the Good Friday Agreement due to the date).