Irish Geography Essay

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Andrew Willard
PSC2120: World Geography
April 24, 2014
Larry Lujan
Ireland
For my project, I chose the country of Ireland. Ireland is one of the British Isles, along with Scotland and Wales, but it is unique in that it is not directly connected the rest of England. Ireland has been home to many diverse and intelligent cultures. It can trace it’s history back to pre-Roman times. My family has Irish descent on both my father’s and mother’s sides of the family. We can trace portions of our family tree as far back as the Irish immigration during the late 1840’s. Ireland will be a very fun and interesting topic to research.
Ireland sits to the west of the main body of the British Isles and the rest of mainland Europe. Ireland is ringed in hills and mountains; in fact, Ireland is known for some of the highest cliffs in Europe that drop straight off into the ocean. Its inland is low lands with rolling small hills. There are many small lakes, but you are never that far from the ocean. Ireland has lush vegetation, a product of it’s mild oceanic climate, which can avoid extremes in temperatures, making for easy growing. As of last year, Ireland was only about 11% forested. That is far below the average for European countries at 35%. This is a result of medieval wood cutting and deforestation. As early as 800 BC, Ireland was settled by the Gaels. It wasn’t until the Iron Age that the Celts came into the picture. It is mostly their ruins that we see today in places like Glendalough and the Hill of Tara. The Celts were soon challenged by the Romans, but the Romans were never fully able to control the Celts and their “savage” ways. Instead, they tended to stay away or behind their walls.
Around the 7th century, Ireland was united under a ...

... middle of paper ...

... products (beef and dairy products). This is expected to grow in the next few years as many large Irish companies are taking interest in this. That is a good thing because Ireland’s coasts have been nearly out fished because of drastic over fishing in the mid 90’s. In order to fully support itself, it will need larger agricultural programs and less reliance on outside food sources. One of the biggest hit sectors of Ireland’s economy is the construction sector. Because of the snowballing effects of the Irish poverty bubble popping, the backing crisis, and the overall unemployment, many people simply cannot afford to build new homes or even renovate existing homes.
All in all, Ireland is a country of the brink of crisis in many situations. In the coming years, we need to keep our eyes on Ireland because it could be a precursor to how the rest of Europe is doing.

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