Реферат: 4 capitals of Great Britain
In the early 17th century Belfast was a small town with a population
of only about 1,000 but it was busy. Wool, hides, grain, butter and salted meat
were exported from Belfast to England, Scotland and France. Wine and fruit were
imported into Belfast from France and Spain.
Later in the 17th century Belfast traded with the North American
colonies. Tobacco was imported from there. Sugar was imported from the West
Indies and refined in Belfast.
By the late 17th century Belfast probably had a population of about
1,500-2,000. It was swelled by French Protestants, fleeing religious
persecution in their own country, who introduced linen weaving to Belfast.
Other industries in Belfast were brewing, rope making and sail making.
In 1680 Belfast gained a piped water supply (using wooden pipes).
After 1686 each householder was supposed to hang a lantern outside his house at
night during the winter months. The first bridge over the Lagan was erected
after 1682.
BELFAST IN THE 18th CENTURY
Belfast Castle
burned down in 1708. In the 18th century Belfast grew rapidly. The population
of Belfast was only about 2,500 in 1700 but it grew to about 8,000 in 1750 and
about 13,000 by 1780. By 1800 Belfast had a population of around 20,000. In the
late 18th century a new suburb grew up across the Lagan.
Belfast gained its first newspaper in 1737. Belfast gained its first
bank in 1752 and its first theatre by 1768.
During the 18th century increasing amounts of linen were exported
from Belfast. (The linen was woven in people's homes in the surrounding
countryside not woven in factories). In 1701 less than 200,000 yards of linen
was exported from Belfast. By 1773 the figure had risen to 17 million yards.
The White Linen Hall was built in 1788. Cotton spinning was introduced into
Belfast in 1777. However it never had the same importance as linen.
In 1785 a
Harbour Board was formed with responsibility for the upkeep of the harbour.
Shipbuilding in Belfast began in 1791.
Belfast
thrived in the 18th century as a merchant town, importing goods from Great
Britain and exporting the produce of the linen trade. Linen at the time was
made by small producers in rural areas. The town was also a centre of radical
politics, partly because its predominantly Presbyterian population was
discriminated against under the penal laws, and also because of the influence
of the Scottish Enlightenment. Belfast saw the founding of the Irish Volunteers
in 1778 and the Society of the United Irishmen in 1791 - both dedicated to
democratic reform, an end to religious discrimination and greater independence
for Ireland. As a result of intense repression however, Belfast radicals played
little or no role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Samson & Goliath
In the 19th century, Belfast became Ireland's pre-eminent industrial
city with linen, heavy engineering, tobacco and shipbuilding dominating the
economy. Belfast, located at the western end of Belfast Lough and at the mouth
of the River Lagan, was an ideal location for the shipbuilding industry, which
was dominated by the Harland and Wolff company which alone employed up to
35,000 workers and was one of the largest shipbuilders in the world[1]. The
ill-fated RMS Titanic was built there in 1911. Migrants to Belfast came from
across Ireland, Scotland and England, but particularly from rural Ulster, where
sectarian tensions ran deep. The same period saw the first outbreaks of
sectarian riots, which have recurred regularly since.
Originally a town in County Antrim, Belfast county borough was
created when Belfast was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888.[2]
The City Hall
during construction.
By 1901, Belfast was the largest city in Ireland. The city's
importance was evidenced by the construction of the lavish City Hall, completed
in 1906. Since around 1840 its population included many Catholics, who
originally settled in the west of city, around the area of today's Barrack
Street. West Belfast remains the centre of the city's Catholic population (in
contrast with the east of the City which is predominantly Protestant). Other
areas of Catholic settlement have included parts of the north of the city,
especially Ardoyne and the Antrim Road and the Markets area immediately to the
south of the city centre.
Conditions for the new working class were often squalid, with much
of the population packed into overcrowded and unsanitary tenements. The city
suffered from repeated cholera outbreaks in the mid-19th century. Conditions
improved somewhat after a wholesale slum clearance programme in the 1900s.
Belfast saw a bitter strike by dock workers organised by radical
trade unionist Jim Larkin, in 1907. The dispute saw 10,000 workers on strike
and a mutiny by the police, who refused to disperse the striker's pickets.
Eventually the Army had to be deployed to restore order. The strike was a rare
instance of non-sectarian mobilisation in Ulster at the time.
Recent history
The city in
general has seen significant redevelopment and investment since the Belfast
Agreement. The formation of the Laganside Corporation in 1989 heralded the
start of the regeneration of the River Lagan and its surrounding areas. Other
areas that have been transformed include the Cathedral Quarter and the Victoria
Square area. However communal segregation has continued since then, with
occasional low level street violence in isolated flashpoints and the
construction of new Peace Lines.
Belfast saw
the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, since the Good Friday
Agreement in 1998, there has been major redevelopment in the city including
Victoria Square, the Titanic Quarter and Laganside as well as the Odyssey
complex and the landmark Waterfront Hall. In the largely nationalist west of
the city which bore the brunt of much of the social unrest a Sainsburys Super Market
is opening.
Conclusion
It has
occurred historically that four main nations have settled on the territory of
the United Kingdom. They live in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Main cities of these areas are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. Telling
of these cities shows us the national peculiarities of people living on the
territory of Great Britain. Despite the existing national differences they are
very connected culturally and economically. So, the English, the Scottish, the
Welsh and the Irish are the citizens of the united state and they all are
devoted to their queen.
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