Northern Ireland: Encyclopedia II - Northern Ireland - Geography and climate

Northern Ireland - Geography and climate

Northern Ireland was covered by an ice sheet for most of the last ice age and on numerous previous occasions, the legacy of which can be seen in the extensive coverage of drumlins in Counties Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim and particularly Down. The centrepiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 151 mi² (392 km²) the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles. A second extensive lake system is centred on Lower and Upper Lough Erne in Fermanagh.

There are substantial uplands in the Sperrin Mountains (an extension of the Caledonian fold mountains) with extensive gold deposits, granite Mourne Mountains and basalt Antrim Plateau, as well as smaller ranges in South Armagh and along the Fermanagh–Tyrone border. None of the hills are especially high, with Slieve Donard in the dramatic Mournes reaching 2782 feet (848 m), Northern Ireland's highest point. The volcanic activity which created the Antrim Plateau also formed the eerily geometric pillars of the Giant's Causeway.

The Lower and Upper River Bann, River Foyle and River Blackwater form extensive fertile lowlands, with excellent arable land also found in North and East Down, although much of the hill country is marginal and suitable largely for animal husbandry.

The valley of the River Lagan is dominated by Belfast, whose metropolitan area includes over a third of the population of Northern Ireland, with heavy urbanisation and industrialisation along the Lagan Valley and both shores of Belfast Lough.

The whole of Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, rather wetter in the west than the east, although cloud cover is persistent across the region. The weather is unpredictable at all times of the year, and although the seasons are distinct, they are considerably less pronounced than in interior Europe or the eastern seaboard of North America. Average daytime maximums in Belfast are 6.5°C (43.7°F) in January and 17.5°C (63.5°F) in July. The damp climate and extensive deforestation in the 16^th and 17^th centuries resulted in much of the region being covered in rich green grassland.

Highest maximum temperature: 30.8°C (87.4°F) at Knockarevan, near Belleek, County Fermanagh on 30 June 1976 and at Belfast on 12 July 1983.

Lowest minimum temperature: -17.5°C (0.5°F) at Magherally, near Banbridge, County Down on 1 January 1979. [3]

Northern Ireland - The Counties in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland consists of six counties:

• County Antrim
• County Armagh
• County Down
• County Fermanagh
• County Londonderry (official geographic term) \ County Derry (Nationalist & Irish geographic usage)
• County Tyrone

These counties are no longer used for local government purposes; instead there are twenty-six districts of Northern Ireland which have different geographical extents, even in the case of those named after the counties from which they derive their name. Fermanagh District Council most closely follows the borders of the county from which it takes its name. Though Coleraine Borough Council, for example, derives its name from the town of Coleraine in County Londonderry.

Northern Ireland - Towns and villages

Main articles: Towns in Northern Ireland and Villages in Northern Ireland See also the list of places in Northern Ireland for all villages, towns and cities

• Ahoghill, Armagh, Antrim
• Ballycastle, Ballyclare, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Ballynahinch, Banbridge, Bangor, Belfast, Bushmills
• Carnmoney, Carrickfergus, Castlerock, Comber, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon
• Derry/Londonderry, Donaghadee, Downpatrick,Dromore, Dundonald, Dungannon, Dungiven
• Enniskillen
• Glengormley
• Hillsborough, Holywood
• Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Lurgan
• Magherafelt
• Newcastle, Newry, Newtownards, Newtownstewart
• Omagh
• Portrush, Portstewart, Portadown, Portaferry, Poyntzpass
• Strabane
• Warrenpoint

Northern Ireland - Places of interest

• Belfast City
• The Mountains of Mourne
• Lough Neagh, the biggest lake in the British Isles, 153 square miles
• Lough Erne
• Strangford Lough
• Carlingford Lough
• The Giant's Causeway
• The Glens of Antrim
• Fermanagh Lakeland
• The Sperrin Mountains
• National parks of Northern Ireland
• National Trust Properties in Northern Ireland
• Dromore, County Down

Northern Ireland - Variations in Geographic nomenclature

Many people inside and outside Northern Ireland use other names for the country, depending on their point of view:

The most common names used are

• Ulster - to suggest that Northern Ireland has an older ancestry that predates its founding in 1921, dating back both to the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century and to the millennium-old province of Ulster, one of four provinces on the island of Ireland. The province of Ulster covers a greater landmass than Northern Ireland: six of its counties are in Northern Ireland, three in the Republic of Ireland.

• The Province - to again link to the historic Irish province of Ulster, with its mythology.

• Northern Ireland - Many more liberal-minded Protestants who reject the extreme form of Unionism prefer to use the official name of the state. Ulster is both inaccurate and, in their view, appears patronising towards nationalists.

• North of Ireland - to link Northern Ireland to the rest of island, by describing it as being in the 'north of Ireland' and so by implication playing down Northern Ireland's links with Britain. (The northernmost point in Ireland, in County Donegal, is in fact in the Republic.)

• The Six Counties - language used by republicans e.g. Sinn Fein, which avoids using the name given by the British-enacted Government of Ireland Act, 1920. (The Republic is similarly described as the Twenty-Six Counties.)

Some of the users of these terms contend that using the official name of the region would imply acceptance of the legitimacy of the Government of Ireland Act.

• The Occupied Six Counties. The Republic, whose legitimacy is not recognised by republicans opposed to the Belfast Agreement, is described as being "The Free State", referring to the Irish Free State, the Republic's old name.

Disagreement on names, and the reading of political symbolism into the use or non-use of a word, also attaches itself to some urban centres. The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should be called Derry or Londonderry.

Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of the speaker. The first Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Seamus Mallon was criticised by unionist politicians for calling the region the "North of Ireland" while Sinn Féin has been criticised in some newspapers in the Republic for still referring to the "Six Counties."

Those who do not belong to any group but lean towards one side often tend to use the language of that group. Supporters of unionism in the British media (notably the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express) regularly call Northern Ireland "Ulster". Some nationalist and republican-leaning media outlets in Ireland (such as Daily Ireland) almost always use "North of Ireland" or the "Six Counties".

Government and cultural organisations in Northern Ireland, particularly those pre-dating the 1980s, often use the word "Ulster" in their title; for example, the University of Ulster, the Ulster Museum the Ulster Orchestra, and BBC Radio Ulster.

Many news bulletins since the 1990s have opted avoid all contentious terms and use the official name, Northern Ireland. The North is still used by some news bulletins in the Republic of Ireland, to the annoyance of some Unionists. For Northern Ireland's second largest city, broadcasting outlets which are unaligned to either community and broadcast to both use both names interchangeably, often starting a report with "Londonderry" and then using "Derry" in the rest of the report. However within Northern Ireland, print media which are aligned to either community (the Belfast Newsletter is aligned to the unionist community while the Irish News is aligned to the nationalist community) generally use their community's preferred term. British newspapers with unionist leanings, such as the Daily Telegraph[4], usually use the language of the unionist community, while others, such as The Guardian use the terms interchangeably [5] [6] The media in the Republic of Ireland use the names preferred by nationalists, eg RTÉ News.

The division in nomenclature is seen particularly in sports and religions associated with one of the communities. Gaelic games and football (soccer) use Derry in club names for example. Nor is there clear agreement on how to decide on a name. When the nationalist-controlled local council voted to re-name the city "Derry" unionists objected, stating that as it owed its city status to a Royal Charter, only a charter issued by Queen Elizabeth II could change the name. Queen Elizabeth refused to intervene on the matter and thus the council is now called "Derry City Council" while the city is still officially "Londonderry". Nevertheless, the council has printed two sets of stationery - one for each term - and their policy is to reply to correspondence using whichever term the original sender used.

At times of high communal tension, each side regularly complains of the use of the nomenclature associated with the other community by a third party such as a media organisation, claiming such usage indicates evident "bias" against their community.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Geography and climate", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki