Between one-and-a-half and two million people live in the North
	(1 577 836 were counted during the last Census in 1991).
	It is divided into six counties:

	Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry (usually called Derry by
	nationalists), Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone.  These counties were
	abolished as administrative units in 1973 and replaced with
	26 "districts" [draw a deep breath]: Antrim, Ards, Armagh,
	Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus,
	Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, Dungannon,
	Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Londonderry, Magherafelt,
	Moyle, Newry & Mourne, Newtonabbey, North Down, Omagh and
	Strabane.

	Belfast is the most important city in Northern Ireland and the
	second biggest city on the island.  It has traditionally been the
	most industrially developed city in Ireland and is famous for
	its shipbuilding, particularly the Harland and Wolf shipyard.
	The shipyard has survived but is not nearly as important an
	employer as it once was.  It is a city starkly divided between
	nationalists and unionists: victims of violence can (and are)
	often be identified merely by the area they come from: someone
	from Ballymurphy is nationalist; someone from the Shankill is
	unionist.  Divisions are at their worst in working class areas,
	where it's often possible to label areas on a street by street
	basis: middle-class suburbs are more integrated.

	Unemployment is a serious problem just as it is in the south.
	It is also very unevenly distributed, as in the south: you will
	come across housing estates where the overwhelming majority of
	people are unemployed, often for more than one generation in the
	same family.  Up until the late sixties there was open
	discrimination against nationalists and many claim that this
	discrimination continues today, although there are now strict
	laws against discrimination.

	Northern Ireland is ruled from London: there is a Northern
	Ireland Secretary (currently Mo Mowlam) who is in charge of
	the Northern Ireland Office and hence the civil service.  The
	parliament in Stormont has not been active since the start of
	the Troubles in the early seventies, when "direct rule" was
	established.

	Currently 18 out of 647 constituencies represented in the
	House of Commons in London are in Northern Ireland.


	Chief of State:
	Queen Elizabeth II

	Head of Government:
	Prime Minister Tony Blair


	The Good Friday Agreement created an elected Assembly
	and Executive Authority for Northern Ireland.  The First
	Minister of this Executive is currently David Trimble;
	his Deputy First Minister is Seamus Mallon.

	The flag of Northern Ireland is that of the United Kingdom:
	the crosses of Saints Andrew, George and Patrick overlaid on
	each other.  (There is also flag for Northern Ireland alone,
	a red hand superimposed on a cross of St George.)