Country Worksheet Ireland
About Ireland
afford to pay for potatoes any more. They were already paying their landlords high rents and their landlords were not kind to them at this time.
Ireland
Continent: Europe Capital: Dublin Population: 6.378.000 people Ireland’s history started about 9000 years ago when most of ireland was covered with ice. After the ice age ended, human beings arrived in Ireland. Around 300 BC Celts came to Ireland and stayed there for about 1000 years. The Vikings arrived in AD 795. In AD 988, the city of Dublin was established. In the 1530s, King Henry VIII of England declared himself King of Ireland. From 1912 to 1922, there was the Anglo-Irish war which led to Ireland being divided up. In 1948, the Republic of Ireland was established. A - Read the text above and write what happened on the key dates. 6000BC _____________________________
What was even worse was at the time of the famine, other farmers were growing lots of wheat and dairy products. However, the farmers were forced to export these things to England and other countries. So instead of letting poor Irish people eat the food that was being grown in their country, greedy landlords exported the food to make money. At the time, more than enough wheat was being grown to feed the whole population of Ireland. Also, it is said that more cows were sold abroad than there were people on the island of Ireland. Landlords sometimes got rid of the poor people on their land by paying for them to go to America. The poor people emigrated on boats to America. C - Read the text about the Great Famine and put the following in the correct order. ____ Landlords gave poor people money to go to America. ____ Prices of potatoes went up. ____ Poor people could not pay for potatoes. ____ Poor people left on boats to America. ____ Potatoes got a disease. D - Match the words from the text to the definitions. emigrate
illness
E - Saint Patrick Ireland’s patron saint is remembered on 17th March when people wear green and celebrate all things Irish. Saint Patrick was an important person in Irish history. He was the person who introduced Christianity to Ireland. Saint Patrick was born in a part of south-eastern Scotland in AD 389. At this time, Britain was being ruled by the Romans. In the year AD 405, when he was about 16 years old, he was captured by Irish raiders. They brought him to Ireland and made him work as a slave. He found religion. After six years, he escaped and returned to England. At this time, he promised to work throughout his life to convert Irish people to Christianity. He then became Bishop of Ireland and in around AD 431 he went back to Ireland. Saint Patrick converted lots of peasants and noble people. After 30 years, a lot of Ireland had been converted to Christianity and churches had been set up. He died in AD 461. By the eighth century, Saint Patrick had been made the patron saint of Ireland.
300 BC
_____________________________
disease
someone who owns land
AD 795
_____________________________
afford
AD 988
_____________________________
period of time when there is no food
1530
_____________________________
landlord
leave one’s own country and live in another country
F - Read the text about Saint Patrick and write what happened at the following points.
rents
sell and send things to other countries
389 ________________________________
famine
money that is paid to live somewhere
dairy produce export greedy
have enough money to buy something
1912-1922 _____________________________ 1948
_____________________________
B - The Great Famine This was a time in Ireland’s history when three million people died or were forced to emigrate. At this time, potatoes were the main food of Irish people, especially poor people. When the potatoes got a disease, the price of the potatoes went up very fast. Poor people could not
405 ________________________________
________________________________
butter, cheese, etc
411
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wanting more money, power, etc
431 ________________________________
International Language Campuses
461 ________________________________
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