While a definitive timeline on occupation and minor land feuds can be a little fuzzy, according to the BBC, most historians agree that major British occupation began in 1171 when Henry II of England was recognized as the High King of the Irish people. However, it is important to recognize and understand Irish life before the invasion to have a true scope of British Colonialism’s full effect on the country.

In the neolithic lithic era, Ireland, England, and the British Isles were trapped in a glacial land mass, allowing an early man to travel the areas on foot. As the ice melted and the land mass retreated underwater, Irish people were left on the island. Like many early peoples, the early Irish lived as hunter-gatherers at this time. It was around 3000 BCE that the people began to switch to agriculture as their primary food source, according to Britanica.com. The subsequent Stone and Bronze Ages brought new farming technologies, tools, and practices, and the Iron Age brought something else, the Celtic invaders.

Brittanica.com states “As in Britain, the most widespread evidence of early farming communities is long-barrow burial.”

 

The Celts traveled up from Rome during the Bronze Age and were known for their superior weaponry and fighting ability. They swept across Ireland and built it up and organized the population into numerous social and political factions, or clans, each with their own elected king. This point in history was known as Celtic Ireland, and it is regarded as the beginning of “true” Irish civilization. These clans were largely independent, and agriculture became the main economic staple, with wheat, barley, oats, flax, and hay considered the principal crops. This era lasted centuries, coming to an end during the Nordic Raids of Ireland.

Starting in 745 and lasting into the 920s, Norse Vikings repeatedly stormed, seized, and plundered many cities, towns, and ports along the coast of Ireland. However, without stopping completely, they did eventually slow their invasions, they struck up a trade relationship with the Irish people, which proved mutually beneficial. The Vikings would trade pottery, leather, and jewelry for Irish wheat, hay, flax, and barley, expanding Ireland’s economic need for agricultural goods. This era lasted until the 1160s, where Angelo-Norman explorers would kick off the start of English invasion, occupation, and rule.

 

Sources: