Wildcard Regional Questions
Cultural Region
Q: “Culture is an important factor in defining some regions”. Examine the above statement with reference to any region(s) that you have studied. (30 marks)
Language and religion are two major factors that are used to define cultural regions. In this essay I will discuss the Gaeltacht in Ireland and will also examine religion in Northern Ireland.
LANGUAGE
Language and religion are two major factors that are used to define cultural regions. In this essay I will discuss the Gaeltacht in Ireland and will also examine religion in Northern Ireland.
LANGUAGE
- Language is a central to cultural identity as it is the way of passing knowledge and ideas between people. Many countries are proud of their languages as some may be extremely old and part of their heritage.
- The Gaeltacht was defined in 1925 by a Commission for Irish-speaking Districts. To qualify an area as a Gaeltacht region, at least 80% of it’s population had to speak Irish.
- The Gaeltacht areas today include Donegal, Mayo, Kerry, Galway and Waterford. It’s total population in 2002 was almost 87,000.
- In the 2002 census, 1.57 million people (40%) of the Republic claimed to understand or speak some irish. This contrasts with the tiny amount of people when the Irish free state was set up originally in 1923.
- Even though the fragmented areas of the Gaeltacht are tiny, they are strongly valued by the Irish people today and promote tourism within Ireland.
- Every year, thousands of Irish students at both Junior and Leaving Certificate level that visit these areas to improve their language skills during their summer holidays, eg. Clifden and Connemara
- The Gaeltacht regions are also hugely supported by the Irish government through grants to protect the area and prevent rural depopulation and Brain Drain. eg. Udarás na Gaeltachta- set up to promote employment
- Pays up to €14k of a person’s wage
- Religion is getting harder and harder to define as a region. Each of the world’s major religions has a distinctive geography and has had a key role in shaping individual and group communities.
- As many religions wish to convert others to their faith, boundaries that define religions change over time for different reasons, such as Christian missionaries.
- The Irish free state was set up in 1921 but it didn’t cover the entire country of Ireland. As a result, some counties were left as part of the United Kingdom. This decision was partially based on a religious divide.
- When Britain colonized Ireland from the 1600s on wards, large numbers of English and Scottish Protestant communities settled in the Ulster plantations. In contrast, the rest of Ireland was of Catholic faith.
- In recent years, Catholic and Protestant communities in N. Ireland became very segregated, especially after the “Troubles” in the 1960’s onwards. During that time, terrible riots broke out between the two faiths in the big cities and towns such as Derry and Belfast.
- In general, the urban dwellers tended to be the Protestant majority, whereas the rural settlers tend to be Catholic. In Belfast, there are still Catholic-only and Protestant-only ghettos and the result is a divided city. However, the ratio of Catholic to Protestant inhabitants has become much more balanced over the past 20 years, The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 has brought widespread peace to N.I. and religious segregation is becoming much less of an issue as people from both religious communities work together at all levels of society.
Population in an Irish region
Q: Account for the distribution of population throughout an Irish region you have studied. (30 marks)
Population distribution refers to the spread of people across the country. I will discuss the population distribution in of the West of Ireland region. In this region, the population is 400,000 and evenly distributed.
Physical Factors
Economic factors.
Population distribution refers to the spread of people across the country. I will discuss the population distribution in of the West of Ireland region. In this region, the population is 400,000 and evenly distributed.
Physical Factors
- The distribution of population is influenced by the uneven physical landscape. The west has many mountain ranges including the Twelve Pins, Croagh Patrick and the Nephin Beg range. This upland relief hinders people living there as it is difficult to build and farm on.
- There is not much fertile land in the west which repels settlement as well. Instead of living there people have moved to more fertile soils areas in the north, east and south of the west so that they can farm and grow crops, for example Ballina. Most of the west's population live in lowland areas due to the harsh weather of the upland areas.
- There is limited natural resources in the WOI so industry is limited. A higher than average proportion of the population are employed in primary economic activities.
- About two thirds of the population in the west live in rural areas. The population density is as low as 25 people per square kilmometer in some places.
- Many of the people depend on fishing for their income and so the density is higher near the coast, for example Westport and Clifden. There may be as many as 160 people per square kilometer in these areas.
- The young people population is continuing to decline in the west as they move to Galway city or abroad in search of work, college degrees and a better standard of living.
Economic factors.
- The distribution of population is also influenced by economic factors.
- During the Celtic Tiger years in the 1990's, many people migrated to the urban areas of the west looking for work. It was because of this inward-migration that many towns' populations increased.
- An example of this migration is in the town Gort where Brazilian migrants opened meat processing companies. However, the population has decreased since then as many of these Brazilians have moved home.
- Galway city is largest urban center in the west at 70,000 people. It has experienced population increase due to college students attending NUIG third level education centers in the west. As a result, it has attracted modern growth industries such as Boston Scientific Healthcare.
- Apart from Galway there are two other big urban centers that are Ballina and Castlebar, whose populations have increased lately.
- However, due to the recession these centers have lost many due to emigration abroad or to other parts of the country. An example of this is Baxter Healthcare who announced 150 job losses in Winter 2013.
- In losing these younger people due to emigration, much of the agricultural land is owned and farmed by old single farmers. This land then becomes abandoned and is sometimes taken from them or their families by Coilte for forestry and wind farms.
European Expansion
Economic and Cultural Impact of EU expansion
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