Munster is the southerly
province of Ireland, consisting of the counties of Cork,
Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford. With
a total population of a little over one million, Munster
houses fewer residents than that of County Dublin further
north.
Munster has some of Ireland's softest and greenest
countryside, from the rolling hills of County Clare
to beautiful coastline of West Cork. Visitors find
the spectacular Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula
in the west of Munster a visual delight. The two
main business centres of Munster are the cities of
Cork and Limerick and throughout the province the
home sports of hurling, rugby and gaelic football
(GAA) are ever present.
The province was once divided into six regions:
Tuadh Mhuman (north Munster), Deas Mhuman (south
Munster), Urh Mumhan (east Munster), Iar mumhan (west
Munster), Ernaibh Muman (the Ernai tribe's portion
of Munster), and Deisi Muman (the Deisi tribe's portion
of Munster). Ultimately, these were all subsumed
into the kingdoms of Thomond (north), Desmond (south),
and Ormond (east), all of which were eventually subsumed
by surrender and regrant as Earldoms in the Peerage
of Ireland. The names exist only indirectly today,
particularly in the case of Thomond. The three crowns
represent these three kingdoms. This flag can easily
be confused with the flag of Dublin which has three
castles in a similar pattern on a blue background;
it also resembles the lesser coat-of-arms of Sweden.
In 1841 before the Great Famine, there were just
under 3 million people living in the province of
Munster, but the population had dropped devastatingly
low due to mass emigration in the 1840's and continued
emigration up until the 1980's.
For 30 days during the Irish Civil War, the province
of Munster broke away from the Irish Free State and
established the Munster Republic in opposition to
the acceptance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Munster
Republic was short lived and subsequently crushed
by heavily-armed Irish Free State forces.
The Irish language is spoken as a first language
in Gaeltachtaí (Irish speaking areas):
Within the past thirty years, there
has been a big increase in the amount of Gaelscoileanna
(Irish language schools) outside of the Gaeltachtaí.
Children learn Irish, and leave Irish, in the Gaelscoileanna.
Despite being in vogue for over 30 years, these schools
have failed to halt the decline of Gaelic.
