Portal:Northern Ireland/Intro

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Northern Ireland is the smallest and least populous constituent country of the United Kingdom. It occupies roughly one sixth of the island of Ireland and is the only part of the United Kingdom to share a land border (that of the Republic of Ireland) with a foreign nation state.

Northern Ireland was created in 1921 out of the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, when the island of Ireland as a whole became part of the United Kingdom. Twenty-six counties of Ireland were separated from the United Kingdom in 1921, following the Irish War of Independence and subsequent Treaty. The remaining six counties were named Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Government operated for 50 years, until it was suspended in 1972 due to civil disturbances known as The Troubles. Several attempts have since been made to restore some form of devolved government to the region, culminating in the recent Belfast Agreement. It is sometimes described as a province, referring to it being a province of the United Kingdom, though it is also part of a larger Irish province called Ulster.

Belfast is Northern Ireland's capital city. The official flag of Northern Ireland is the Union Flag, although the former flag of the Government of Northern Ireland is still widely used to represent Northern Ireland, particularly in sporting events. It is based on the older flag of Ulster (with the addition of a crown, a star and a white background.) Flags and emblems are politically contentious, and several flags are widely flown. Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland had the largest textile industry in the world before the last industrial and technological revolutions, combined with outsourcing of labour made production cheaper elsewhere. Belfast is also known for having two of the largest gantry cranes in the world, towering above the largest dry dock in the world, in its ship building factory Harland & Wolff, which is also famous for producing the ill-fated RMS Titanic.