ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

History of Ireland

Ireland's history is full of exciting stories from a long time ago! Long ago, Ireland was inhabited by a people called the Celts who lived in small villages around the island. They were great farmers and very good at making things out of iron and stone. Eventually, the Romans invaded Ireland but were not able to take control of it. In the 600s, the Irish people converted to Christianity and started to build churches and monasteries all over the island. This is when the Irish culture really began to develop.

In the 1100s, people from England called Normans arrived in Ireland and they conquered a lot of the land. For the next 800 years, Ireland was largely controlled by England, but the Irish people still kept their culture and language alive. As time passed, the Irish people used their culture to fight back against English rule and in the late 1800s they formed a movement called the 'Irish Republican Army', which fought against the English to gain independence for Ireland. Finally, in 1922, Ireland won its independence from Great Britain and became a free, separate nation!