Bronze Age, 1400-1200 BC Pair of armlets, Derrinboy, County Offaly	Irish School, 13th c. St. Patrick and a King, miniature from a manuscript

In Ireland, the Bronze Age began around 2500 BC and saw production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments, weapons and tools. This tradition of fine craftsmanship and exquisite detail continued in the medieval era, when the arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished.

Celtic, 8th c. The Ardagh Chalice (detail) (silver, enamel, brass and bronze)	Celtic, 8th c. The Tara Brooch (cast silver, glass, enamel & amber)

In 1171, King Henry II of England came to Ireland to claim sovereignity over the island. From the 13th century, English law began to be introduced, but the medieval English presence in Ireland was deeply shaken by the Black Death, which hit Ireland in 1348. From the late 15th century English rule was again expanded, but it was Cromwell's brutal invasion in 1649 that resulted in the complete conquest of Ireland.

English School The Black Death, 1348 (engraving)	English School, 17th c. Oliver Cromwell Besieges the Drogheda (engraving)

In the late 18th century dissent among the Irish Catholics and nonconforming Protestants culminated in a rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen. Despite aid from France, though, the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British forces. In 1801, the Act of Union was passed, merging the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

English School, 18th c. The Society of United Irishmen take the oath against English rule (engraving)	English School, c. 1801-37 Crest of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and King of Hanover

The nineteenth century saw the Great Famine, during which one million Irish people died and over a million emigrated. By the 1840s, as a result of the famine, fully half of all immigrants to the US originated from Ireland.

J.T. Foley (pub.), 1871 The Eviction: A Scene from Life in Ireland (engraving)		Duval & Hunter (pub.), 1872 St. Patrick's Day in America (colour litho)

For an island with a relatively small population, Ireland has made an amazingly large contribution to world literature. Jonathan Swift, thought by many to be the foremost satirist in the English language, was extraordinarily popular in his day, and his Gulliver's Travels continues to remain a favorite of modern children and adults.

Frederic Lix Illustration from Gulliver's Travels, 19th c.	Auguste Rodin Bust of George Bernard Shaw, 1906

Ireland also produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw (1923), William Butler Yeats (1925), Samuel Beckett (1969) and, most recently, Seamus Heaney in 1995. James Joyce is also widely considered one of the most important writers of the twentieth century; Samuel Beckett actually refused to attend his own Nobel award ceremony, claiming that Joyce should have won instead.

William Butler Yeats with his wife and children, 20th c.		Ulysses by James Joyce Shakespeare and Company (pub.), Paris, 1922

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