Irish History Timeline
Up to 8000BC - The Palaeolithic Period (The Old Stone Age)
- Ireland was almost entirely covered in ice, no evidence of human activity.
8000BC to 4000BC - The Mesolithic Period (The Middle Stone Age)
- Mesolithic hunter gatherers arrive in Ireland, a camp at Mount Sandel in modern day Co. Derry is the oldest known settlement.
- Population estimated to be in the low thousands, perhaps tens of thousands.
4000BC to 2500BC - The Neolithic Period (The New Stone Age)
- First farmers arrive in Ireland.
- 3200 BC - Megalithic Passage tombs in the Boyne Valley constructed
(Newgrange,
Knowth and
Dowth).
- Population estimated to be in the tens of thousands.
2500BC to 600BC - The Bronze Age
- 2500BC - The first metalworkers learned how to extract copper ore from rock. The earliest known copper mine was at Ross Island, Killarney, Co. Kerry.
- 2400BC - The first goldsmiths collected gold from rivers which they melted into ingots and hammered into shape to make sheet gold objects.
- 2000BC - Metalsmiths learned to mix tin with copper producing a stronger metal called bronze.
- Populations estimated to be in the tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands.
600BC to 400AD - The Iron Age
- Iron is mined and worked as a material for the first time
- Celtic society established - language, art, tools and weapons.
- Large ceremonial sites such as the Hill of Tara,
Rathcroghan in Co. Roscommon, Emain Macha (Navan Fort) in Co. Armagh and Dún Ailline (Dun Aulin) in Kildare.
- Bog Bodies Circa 300BC - Ritual sacrifice.
- Old Croghan man was found in a bog beneath in Co. Offaly.
- Clonycavan man was recovered from a bog in Co. Meath, only the part of the body survived.
- Populations estimated to be in the tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands.
Early Christian and Early Medieval Ireland
- In the early 5th century St. Declan founded a monastery in Ardmore, Co. Waterford.
- 431 - Pope Celestine sent Palladius as bishop to the Irish.
- 432 - St. Patrick lit a Paschal fire on the Hill of Slane
paving the way for the conversion of the Erc the chief druid to christianity on the
Hill of Tara
- 5th - 7th Centuries - Monasteries established throughout Ireland.
- 795 - The first recorded Viking raid on Lambay Island off the coast of Co. Dublin.
- 807 - Monastery at Kells
founded by monks fleeing Viking attacks on Iona, an island off the Western coast of Scotland.
- 1014 - The Battle of Clontarf fought by the forces of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, against a Viking-Irish alliance. Brian's forces were victorious but Brian was killed.
- Populations estimated to be up to 1 million.
Medieval Ireland
- 1169 - Anglo-Norman mercenaries landed at Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford at the request of Dermot MacMurragh, the deposed King of Leinster. Dermot regains the Kingdom of Leinster.
- 1170 - Further Norman landings, led by the Anglo-Norman Earl of Pembroke, Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow. He seized the Norse-Irish cities of Waterford and Dublin. Strongbow marries Dermot's Aoífe.
- May 1171 - Dermot dies suddenly and Strongbow declared himself king of Leinster.
- Oct 1171 - King Henry II landed at Waterford with a large army. Strongbow was allowed hold Leinster in fief and Dublin, Wexford and Waterford were declared crown land.
- 1172 - Henry II granted Meath to Hugh de Lacy who made Trim the centre of Norman administration for the Lordship of Meath.
- 1348 to 1350 - The Black Death (bubonic plague) quickly spread through Irish towns and cities. It is estimated that 30% of the European population died from the plague.
- 1366 - Statute of Kilkenny, a set of laws which attempted to prevent the Anglo Norman (English) settlers adopting Irish ways.
- Populations estimated to be over 1 million.
Early Modern Ireland
- 1533 - Henry VIII split from Rome and declared himself head of the church in England and Ireland.
- 1534 to 1535 - Failed rebellion by Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare also known as Silken Thomas.
- 1536 to 1540 - Dissolution of the monasteries, all religious establishments that were appropriated by the Crown.
- 1541 - Henry VIII of England upgraded Ireland from a lordship to a full Kingdom. Henry was proclaimed King of Ireland at a meeting of the Irish Parliament.
- 1601 - The defeat of the Gaelic chiefs Hugh O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell at the Battle of Kinsale.
- 1607 - The Flight of the Earls when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe.
- 1641 - After a rebellion against Protestants, the Book of Kells was transferred to Trinity College in Dublin.
- Populations estimated to be between 1 and 2 million.
Protestant ascendancy (1691–1801)
- 1690 - The Protestant King William III victorious at the Battle of the Boyne.
- The Penal Laws, aimed at suppressing the Catholic majority and reinforcing Protestant dominance in political, economic, and social spheres.
- 1695 - Education Act
- 1697 - Banishment Act
- 1704 - Registration Act
- 1704 & 1709 Popery Acts
- 1728 - Disenfranchising Act
- 1759 - Arthur Guinness founded his brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin, which would eventually
become one of the most iconic and successful breweries in the world.
- 1798 - The United Irishmen rebellion, inspired by the French and American Revolutions.
The rebellion against British rule in Ireland was brutally suppressed.
- Population estimated to be 5 million.
19th Century
- 1845 to 1850 - The Great Famine or the Great Hunger
- Mass starvation, disease, and emigration.
- 1 million people died and another 1.5 million emigrated, mostly to North America.
- Potato blight (phytophthora infestans) caused the failure of the potato crop which was the staple diet.
- Greatest impact in the west and south of Ireland, where the Irish language was primarily spoken.
- The worst year of the period was 1847 known as "Black 47".
- Population peaked at 8 million before the famine, down to 4.5 million by the end of the century.
20th Century
- 1916 - The Easter Rising, the leaders are executed which shifts public opinion in favour of the rebels.
- 1919 to 1921 - Irish War of Independence, a guerrilla war between the Irish Republican Army and British forces.
- 6th December 1921 - Signing of the Treaty which establishment of the Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion covering 26 counties and for the 6 counties in Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom.
- June 1922 to May 1923 - Civil war out between the Free State Army and the Anti Treaty Republicans.
- 1949 – Ireland officially became a Republic on April 18th, leaving the British Commonwealth.
- 1969 - Civil Rights marches in Northern Ireland, British troops called in to keep order.
- 1972 - Republic of Ireland joins the European Community.
- 1998 - The 'Good Friday' agreement and the creation of a Northern Assembly.
- Population of 6 million including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
21st Century
- Jan 2002 - Euro banknotes and coins as legal tender.
- Population of 7 million including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
