Northern Ireland

Joseph Biden is visiting Northern Ireland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement. Let's have a look at it.

Northern Ireland is the 6 counties of the northeastern part of Ireland, out of a total of 32 on the entire island, that have an overall Protestant majority population. We have visited the Republic of Ireland in the posting on this blog, "The Land Of St. Patrick", March 2023.

What I want to do today is to put Northern Ireland in perspective. We think of Northern Ireland as being sharply divided between people who identify primarily as British or as Irish. But it is far more than that.

Northern Ireland is a place all it's own. While it doesn't have a history as an independent country, it has developed it's own culture and way of doing things that is neither completely Irish or British. Considering the limited population of Northern Ireland, it has produced a lot of famous people in everything from sports to business.

Timothy Eaton, founder of the iconic department stores across Canada and whose name lives on in the centerpiece mall of downtown Toronto known as Eaton Centre, was from Northern Ireland.

As it stands now anyone born in Northern Ireland can choose either British or Irish nationality, or both. There are still countries that do not allow dual citizenship but Britain's attitude toward it's citizens also being citizens of other countries tends to be liberal. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is open, there are no customs checkpoints, so anyone can come and go as they please. In most cases the only way to tell which country one is in, around the border area, is the road markings and traffic signs.

This is the photo, from the travel blog of Europe, of Belfast City Hall that was taken in 1997.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250941.jpg

The first of the following scenes of central Belfast begins from the same perspective. If something seems out of place, it might be that cars drive on the left side of the road.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5959249,-5.9314777,3a,37.5y,60.45h,90.15t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sd6BL2UvNV1oakfr1_7eexQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dd6BL2UvNV1oakfr1_7eexQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D132.99547%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Belfast was where ships were built, including the Titanic. The building with the metallic sides, resembling a ship, is called Titanic Belfast. The city has one of the best natural harbors in the world.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6084591,-5.9097678,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMU4HykTEpLogxpAlWJjRqc3YGM5rcj2M__qumg!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMU4HykTEpLogxpAlWJjRqc3YGM5rcj2M__qumg%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya111.25199-ro-0-fo100!7i7776!8i3888

Here is Queens University st Belfast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.584472,-5.9343752,3a,75y,96.43h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sYvN_zvRGcYe7cy3y1SVaVg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DYvN_zvRGcYe7cy3y1SVaVg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D101.00945%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

This is the coastal town of Bangor, not too far from Belfast. This was one of the great monastic centers of Ireland. Remember that an abbey is the church of a monastery, with some being on the scale of cathedrals. The reason that so many old churches and cathedrals in Britain today are still called abbeys is that is what they were before the Reformation. Ruins are sometimes called abbeys because, after being expropriated following the Reformation, they were simply abandoned and left to the elements if too remote to serve as an active church.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6630521,-5.6679017,3a,75y,117.57h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sA_n5CSfV76lbcDeRyyVEKQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DA_n5CSfV76lbcDeRyyVEKQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D132.07536%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is a newer residential neighborhood of Bangor.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6462678,-5.6407992,3a,75y,316.5h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1soOON7HgCMrVO1bh3VlsKug!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DoOON7HgCMrVO1bh3VlsKug%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D316.5%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

This is the city of Lisburn, also not too far from Belfast and to it's southwest.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5108713,-6.0464828,3a,75y,200h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNM-ILpGmCl2xHDc9OLVJT4vKk4uXGlwXU4vQFR!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNM-ILpGmCl2xHDc9OLVJT4vKk4uXGlwXU4vQFR%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya82-ro-0-fo100!7i8192!8i4096

Cookstown is just about in the geographical center of Northern Ireland.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.648276,-6.7452608,3a,75y,74.79h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sE0HkPa9Vy87dEl9EGnJ6Zw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DE0HkPa9Vy87dEl9EGnJ6Zw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D64.82498%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Newry is near the border with the Irish Republic.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.177552,-6.3373833,3a,75y,351.84h,113.86t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNXGoLn2sAyuLD98LGiCrcVEguqI9hT9B87qSg!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNXGoLn2sAyuLD98LGiCrcVEguqI9hT9B87qSg%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-23.861122-ya351.84207-ro0-fo100!7i6080!8i3040

The largest city of Northern Ireland, after Belfast, is Derry or Londonderry. It is the same place. The official name of the city is Londonderry, and that is what Protestants call it. But Catholics have dropped the "London" and Just call it "Derry". The river that flows through the city is the River Foyle.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.9954557,-7.3218695,3a,75y,253.04h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s63G3UpXcEKkSCGKrpOzTgA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D63G3UpXcEKkSCGKrpOzTgA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D241.99664%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

This is a newer residential area of Derry east of the River Foyle.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.9939729,-7.2910249,3a,75y,58.5h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1stwG1nZkQZbRYM1KOReftAQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DtwG1nZkQZbRYM1KOReftAQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D58.5%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

This is the area of the Sperrin Mountains, southeast of Derry. Northern Ireland has some spectacular and attractive landscapes, including mountains and a large lake in the central area. One thing that it doesn't have much of is genuine forest.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.8179905,-6.8337315,3a,75y,219.38h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syJCN95lMDSJWivdmQlesyw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DyJCN95lMDSJWivdmQlesyw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D219.37997%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656