Ireland's history has been influenced by it's goegraphical position.Ireland reseived it's early settlers and much of it's culture from the main lands of Europe.
The first people settled in Ireland around 6000 B.C.They crossed from Scottland and settled on the Antrim coast where the town of Larne is situated today.
Around 3000 B.C, a second round of settlers arrived these settlers were more educated than the others.They made tools out of polished stone and tiled the landand grew cereals.
They lived in small communities in or around rectangular wooden houses thatched with straw. The the most striking survivals of these people in Irelandarethe Megaliths ( great stone monuments ) that they erectedover their dead.The simplest type of megalith is the dolmon,which consists of three or more upright stones,with aflat capstone laid across them.An impressive dolmen is at Legananny,in County Down.The most striking egaliths are passage graves,of wich the one at Newgrange,in CountyMeath,is world famous.
In about 2000 B.C,a group of metalworkers arrived in
ireland.They knew how to make bronze by mixing copperand tin.At that time,Ireland had abundant resourses of copper
and gold,and these people made the country an important center of metalwork.They exported metal goods to Britain,France,Crete,and some other areas.These goods included torques and twisted ribbons of gold.
In about 400 B.C, up to about the time of birth of christ,groups of invaders arrived in Ireland.They were tall,fair-haired people came from the region between the Rhine and Danube rivers on the main land of Europe.These invaders were called "Celts". They were armed with iron swords and soon conquered the other people in the country.their language was an old form of what is now Irish.They were farmers who grew cereals and flax,and spent much of their time tending large heads of cattle and sheep.Historians do not know how the ordinary people lived ,but Celtic kings dwelt in houses fortified by banks of earth,or in lake dwellings called "crannogs". Scholars have not discovered much about Celtic religious beliefs.They have believed in life after death and in another world ,which is sometimes called "Tir na nOg"(land of youth).The priests were called Druids,not only offered sacrifices to the gods,but also served as teaches and judges. The celts divided the country into about 150 small communities called Tuatha.A king called a Ri Tuaithe,rulrd over each tuath.The original provinces,sometimes called the five fifths of ireland were probably Ulster,Leinster,Munster,Connnacht,and Mide.But the number of provinces and boundries were constantly changing.
Celts
