Deprecated function: The each() function is deprecated. This message will be suppressed on further calls in book_prev() (line 775 of /home/multycli/public_html/tourism/modules/book/book.module).
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in theme_table() (line 1998 of /home/multycli/public_html/tourism/includes/theme.inc).
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in theme_table() (line 2061 of /home/multycli/public_html/tourism/includes/theme.inc).
40 Ireland Most Beautiful Places to Visit
from: Siim V
Northern Ireland
(Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann or Norlin Airlan)
is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, or region of the United Kingdom, amongst other terms. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland is largely self-governing. According to the agreement, Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland on some policy areas, while other areas are reserved for the British Government, though the Republic of Ireland "may put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between [the two governments]".
Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament. Unlike Southern Ireland, which would become the Irish Free State in 1922, the majority of Northern Ireland's population were unionists or loyalists, who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom. Most of these were the Protestant descendants of colonists from Great Britain; however, a significant minority, mostly Catholics, were nationalists or republicans who wanted a united Ireland independent of British rule. Northern Ireland was covered by an ice sheet for most of the last ice age and on numerous previous occasions, the legacy of which can be seen in the extensive coverage of drumlins in Counties Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim and particularly Down. The centrepiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 151 square miles (391 km2) the largest freshwater lake both on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. A second extensive lake system is centred on Lower and Upper Lough Erne in Fermanagh. The largest island of Northern Ireland is Rathlin, off the north Antrim coast. Strangford Lough is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km2.