Ulster
Ulster is one of the four historical provinces of Ireland, located in the northern part of the island. It is made up of nine counties, with six of these comprising Northern Ireland, while the remaining three are in the Republic of Ireland.
It is the second-largest and second-most populous of Ireland's four traditional provinces, with Belfast being its biggest city. Unlike the other provinces, Ulster has a high percentage of Protestants, making up almost half of its population. English is the main language and Ulster English the main dialect. A minority also speak Irish, and there are Gaeltacht in County Donegal which is home to a quarter of the total Gaeltacht population of the Republic of Ireland. There are also large Irish-speaking networks in southern County Londonderry and in the Gaeltacht Quarter, Belfast. Ulster-Scots is also spoken extensively in the counties Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Tyrone and Donegal. Lough Neagh, in the east, is the largest lake in the British Isles, while Lough Erne in the west is one of its largest lake networks. The main mountain ranges are the Mournes, Sperrins, Blue Stack and Derryveagh Mountains.
Historically, Ulster lay at the heart of the Gaelic world made up of Gaelic Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. According to tradition, in ancient Ireland it was one of the fifths ruled by a Rí#Rí ruirech, or 'king of over-kings'. It is named after the overkingdom of Ulaid, in the east of the province, which was in turn named after the Ulaid folk. The other overkingdoms in Ulster were Airgíalla and Ailech. After the Norman invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, eastern Ulster was conquered by the Anglo-Normans and became the Earldom of Ulster. By the late fourteenth century the Earldom had collapsed and the O'Neill dynasty had come to dominate most of Ulster, claiming the title King of Ulster. Ulster became the most thoroughly Gaelic and independent of Ireland's provinces. Its rulers resisted English encroachment but were defeated in the Nine Years' War. King James I then colonised Ulster with English-speaking Protestant settlers from Great Britain, in the Plantation of Ulster. This led to the founding of many of Ulster's towns. The inflow of Protestant settlers and migrants also led to bouts of sectarian violence with Catholics, notably during the 1641 rebellion and the Armagh disturbances.
Along with the rest of Ireland, Ulster became part of the United Kingdom in 1801. In the early twentieth century, moves towards Irish self-rule were opposed by many Ulster Protestants, sparking the Home Rule Crisis. In the last all Ireland election counties Donegal and Monaghan returned large Sinn Féin majorities. Sinn Féin candidates ran unopposed in Cavan. Fermanagh and Tyrone had Sinn Féin/Nationalist Party majorities. The other four Counties of Ulster had Unionist Party majorities. The home rule crisis and the subsequent Irish War of Independence led to the partition of Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Six Ulster counties became Northern Ireland, a self-governing territory within the United Kingdom, while the rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland.
The term Ulster has no official function for local government purposes in either state. However, for the purposes of ISO 3166-2:IE, Ulster is used to refer to the three counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan only, which are given country sub-division code "IE-U". The name is also used by various organisations such as cultural and sporting bodies.
Terminology
Ulster's name ultimately derives from the Ulaidh, a group of tribes that once dwelt in this part of Ireland. The Norsemen knew the province as Ulaztir, the or 'land' of the Ulaidh; this was then taken into English as Ullister or Ulvester, and later contracted to Ulster. Another, less probable explanation is that the suffix -ster represents the Old Norse element , found in names like Lybster and Scrabster in Scotland.Ulster is still known as Cúige Uladh in Irish, meaning the province of the Ulaidh. Ulaidh has historically been anglicised as Ulagh or Ullagh and Latinised as Ulidia or Ultonia. The latter two have yielded the terms Ulidian and Ultonian. The Irish word for someone or something from Ulster is Ultach, and this can be found in the surnames MacNulty, MacAnulty, and Nulty, which all derive from Mac an Ultaigh, meaning 'son of the Ulsterman'.
Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster, despite including only six of Ulster's nine counties. This usage is most common among people in Northern Ireland who are unionist, although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom. Some Irish nationalists object to the use of Ulster in this context.
Geography and political sub-divisions
Ulster has a population of just over two million people and an area of. About 62% of the area of Ulster is in the UK while the remaining 38% is in the Republic of Ireland. Ulster's biggest city, Belfast, has an urban population of over half a million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city on the island of Ireland and the 10th largest urban area in the UK.Six of Ulster's nine counties, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, including the former parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry, form Northern Ireland which remained part of the United Kingdom after the partition of Ireland in 1921. Three Ulster counties – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – form part of the Republic of Ireland. About half of Ulster's population lives in counties Antrim and Down. Across the nine counties, according to the aggregate UK 2011 Census for Northern Ireland, and the IRL 2011 Census for counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, there is a Roman Catholic majority over Protestant of 50.8% to 42.7%.
While the traditional counties continue to demarcate areas of local government in the Republic of Ireland, this is no longer the case in Northern Ireland. Since 1974, the traditional counties have a ceremonial role only. Local government in Northern Ireland is now demarcated by 11 districts.
County-based sub-divisions
Counties shaded in grey are in the Republic of Ireland.Counties shaded in pink are in Northern Ireland.
Council-based sub-divisions
| District | Council |
| County Cavan | Cavan County Council |
| County Donegal | Donegal County Council |
| County Monaghan | Monaghan County Council |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | Fermanagh and Omagh District Council |
| Derry and Strabane | Derry and Strabane District Council |
| Mid-Ulster | Mid-Ulster District Council |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | Causeway Coast and Glens District Council |
| Mid and East Antrim | Mid and East Antrim District Council |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council |
| Ards and North Down | Ards and North Down Borough Council |
| Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon | Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | Newry, Mourne and Down District Council |
| Belfast | Belfast City Council |
Largest settlements
Settlements in Ulster with at least 14,000 inhabitants, listed in order of population:- Belfast
- Derry
- Lisburn
- Craigavon
- Bangor
- Ballymena
- Newtownards
- Newry
- Carrickfergus
- Coleraine
- Antrim
- Omagh
- Letterkenny
- Larne
- Banbridge
- Armagh
Economy
| Area | Population | Country | Largest settlement | GDP € | GDP per person € |
| Greater Belfast | 720,000 | NI | Belfast | €20.9 bn | €33,550 |
| Border Region | 430,000 | IRL | Letterkenny | €10.7 bn | €21,100 |
| East of Northern Ireland | 430,000 | NI | Ballymena | €9.5 bn | €20,300 |
| North of Northern Ireland | 280,000 | NI | Derry | €5.5 bn | €18,400 |
| West and South of Northern Ireland | 400,000 | NI | Newry | €8.4 bn | €19,300 |