A brief history of separation

by Lumyong Pichanee
(Thailand)

Before the class last Wednesday, I had always thought that Ireland and Northern Ireland were the same country. After class I wondered why that was, so I searched at Google and found this brief historical story.

The cause which made these two countries began in the day when England had just become independent from Rome. At that time Ireland had a strong relation with Rome and Spain, so King Henry VIII wanted to have England govern Ireland in the age of Elizabeth and James I. The plan was to send their Protestant people to reside in Ireland to balance the religious beliefs. The English population in Ireland continuously increased until there was a Protestant community in the north side of Ireland. Though they had became Irish, their thoughts were clearly different -- they became Unionists (usually Protestant) and Nationalists (usually Catholic). The Unionists doubtlessly wanted to stay connected to Great Britain , and as you can guess, the Nationalists wanted to become independent.

The conflict between Unionists and Nationalists became worse and even worse, until the Nationalists argued that the main government was not good enough and insisted on taking the administrative power back. The Unionists, who were Protestants and resided in the North and owned a lot of farms and also a fortune, were afraid of unfairness after the Nationalists gained the administrative power back (due to the religious conflict). There was chaos in Ireland due to the conflict until 1921 when the country completely separated into Northern Ireland and Ireland, after that it took a while before they became peaceful.

So nowadays, Ireland is an Irish Free State, and Northern Ireland is one part of Great Britain, the same as England, Scotland, and Wales.

Northern Ireland is a beautiful country, and I would like to mention more about it but due to the space, I will end my story here. Sorry for taking too long, and thank you for your patient reading.