

Ancient Ulster extended from the northern and northeastern coasts of Ireland south to what is now County Louth and west to what is now County Donegal. About the beginning of the Christian eraCommon Era, when the ancient provinces of Ireland were first taking permanent shape, Ulster had its capital at Emain Macha, near Armagh. Attacks from the midland kingdom of Meath (Midhe, or Mide) led to Ulster’s disintegration in the 4th and 5th centuries. The province subsequently split into the three kingdoms of : Oriel, or Airgialla (in central Ulster), Aileach (in western Ulster), and the smaller kingdom of Ulaid (in eastern Ulster).


In the 16th century Ulster was administratively divided into nine shires (counties), of which those in the republic Republic of Ireland still exist. Meanwhile, the O’Neills (of County Tyrone) and the O’Donnells (of County Tyrconnell [Donegal]) had become virtually supreme in much of Ulster. These two Roman Catholic clans were involved in a serious rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I from 1594 to 1601, caused in part by attempts to impose the English Reformation on the Irish. The failure of negotiations with James I led to the flight of the northern earls of Tyrone, Tyrconnell, and many others in 1607. Soon afterward thousands of settlers, mainly Lowland Scots Presbyterians, were introduced into Ulster, and particularly into its eastern portions, which became predominantly Protestant as a result. Their descendants prospered, and their refusal to join the rest of Ireland in accepting Home Rule led to the establishment of the state of Northern Ireland in 19201921, consisting of the six Ulster counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh (replaced in the early 1970s by 26 local districts). The three Ulster counties of Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal were included in independent Ireland, the Republic of Ireland . Area of Irish portion of Ulster, 3,123 square miles (8,088 square km). Pop. (2002) Irish portion of Ulster, 246,714; (2006) Irish portion of Ulster, 267,264.since 1949.