a little more about Belfast
 The name Belfast originates from the Irish Béal Feirste, or the mouth of the Farset, the river on which the city was built. The river Farset has been superseded by the River Lagan as the most important river; the Farset now languishes in obscurity.
Ireland's first settlers landed near modern-day Belfast around 9000 years ago, just as the melting ice caps separated the island from the British mainland. The Iron Age Celts controlled Ireland for 1000 years and left their lasting legacies of swirling designs and the Irish language. The colonisation of Ulster, until then Ireland's most Gaelic and Catholic province, by the English in the 17th century caused much tension with the existing population who rebelled in 1641 leading to the death of many Protestants. This event still haunts Ireland’s Protestant population today, whilst for Ireland’s Catholic popultation Cromwell is an equally lasting symbol of dread.
Ireland's Catholics and Protestants clashed in the late 1680s when Catholic James II was dethroned by the Protestant William of Orange. James turned to Ireland for support, with matters coming to a head at the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690 – the Glorious Twelfth is still celebrated by Ulster's Orangemen.
Ulster became increasingly separated from the South, isolated by geography and religion. While the rest of Ireland's population was devastated by the Potato Famine and mass emigration to the USA and Australia, Belfast's population soared to 350,000 by the end of the 19th century. Being the only Irish city to experience the Industrial Revolution, Belfast became known for its shipyards and because of this suffered heavy bombing during World War II. Industrialization tied Belfast into Britain's booming economy, and it forged greater ties with Glasgow and Liverpool than with Dublin. Following Queen Victoria's visit, City status was granted in 1888, and is commemorated in the excess of streets and monuments still named after her.
The world's largest dry dock is here, and the giant cranes (Samson and Goliath) of the Harland and Wolff shipyard can be seen from afar. The north of the city is known for its murals, reflecting the political and religious allegiances of the two communities.
The movement for Irish Home Rule was rigorously opposed by Ulster's Unionist Party, formed in 1885 and led by Edward Carson, whose opposition to Irish independence led directly to the country's partition. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 6 December 1921 gave independence to 26 counties and offered the six largely Protestant Ulster counties the chance to opt out. They did, and Ireland's partition was the result. The North's links with the South were broken completely in 1949 with the creation of the Republic of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Parliament sat from 1921 until 1972, when direct rule was imposed by the British government. Catholics, the 30% minority of the North's population, felt frustrated by an apparently discriminatory Protestant-dominated government. The strain reached boiling point with a violent clash between civil rights marchers and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Derry in October 1968 - that marked the beginnings of the Troubles and Belfast's image was marred by urban conflict.
The 1997 cease-fire and 1998 Good Friday Agreement has inspired Belfast to rebuild and transform the city marred by urban conflict into a vibrant and optimistic capital. There have been a number of setbacks to the peace process but troop numbers are currently the lowest since 1970. Belfast is flourishing, with higher employment, massive investment and booming tourism. The River Lagan has been cleaned up, inner-city areas such as the Cathedral Quarter have been transformed into trendy districts and stylish hotels, fashionable restaurants and sophisticated bars and cafes are popping up all over the city in the hope that the bleak past is over.
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GS, Belfast stag weekend 
