The island of Ireland is often called the Emerald Isle due to its brilliantly green pastures. Located as far north as Hudson Bay in North America, the island is bathed in warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift, an extension of the Gulf Stream, which bring delightfully mild summers and moist, cool winters. Fog and drizzle are common throughout the year, but there is seldom much snow. This climate, called a marine climate is also common to the panhandle of Alaska, southern Chile and New Zealand. On an island so idyllic, open conflict seems out of place.
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The United Kingdom includes the three semi-autonomous political units of England, Wales and Scotland, located on the island of Great Britain, plus Northern Ireland. This geographic arrangement and the complicated history which underlies it are the sources of the conflict whose roots extend back almost 800 years. The English have been involved in Ireland since 1170. When an Irish rebellion occurred in the province of Ulster, today's Northern Ireland, the British brutally crushed it and allowed Presbyterian Scots and later English Anglicans to settle in the region around the cities of Belfast and Londonderry. Over the years, other settlers from the island of Great Britain moved into Ulster, and the British Crown allowed them considerable economic advantages over the native Irish Catholic population.