Ireland is an island in north-western Europe with a temperate
	climate.  Much of the coastline is hilly and large plains cover
	the middle and southeast of the country.  It is inhabited by
	around five million people.  Thousands of years ago, Ireland was
	covered with deciduous forests, but now fields are the
	dominant feature of the landscape.

	There are two cultures to be found in Ireland.	Historically,
	the island has been politically dominated by the people of its
	eastern neighbour, Britain.  One culture, found mostly among
	those whose ancestors came from Britain (usually hundreds of
	years ago) values its connections with Britain: people of this
	culture see themselves as British (though not always and not
	always exclusively) in the same way that the Scots and the
	Welsh are.  They are called unionists.	People aligned to the
	other culture see themselves as Irish and put great value in
	being independent from Britain.  They are called nationalists.
	While members of both groups will value the indigenous heritage,
	such as the Irish language, nationalists are apt to claim it
	as their own.  Unionists are mostly raised as Protestants,
	nationalists as Roman Catholics.  (Unsurprisingly, nationalism
	and unionism both run in families.)  The two cultures are often
	referred to as the two traditions, communities or identities.
	This is a generalisation, because many (maybe even most) people
	have connections to both cultures.

	There is a border between the north-eastern part of the island
	(which is still united with and ruled from Britain) called
	Northern Ireland and the larger south-western part (which has
	been independent since December 1921 and is governed from the
	largest city on the island, Dublin) known as the Republic of
	Ireland.  Unionists form the majority in Northern Ireland and
	nationalists form the (overwhelming) majority in the Republic.