Belfast
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This article is about the capital of Northern Ireland. For other uses, see Belfast (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 54.597°N 5.930°W
Belfast
Scots: Bilfawst [1][2]
Irish: Béal Feirste[3]
Top: Belfast skyline, Middle: Ulster Museum, Victoria Square, Great Victoria Street, Albert Clock, Bottom Belfast City Hall, Harland & Wolff
Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Area 44.4 sq mi (115 km2)
Population City of Belfast:
267,500[4]
Urban area:
483,418[5]
Metropolitan area:
641,638[6]
Irish grid reference J338740
- Dublin 106 mi (171 km) S
District City of Belfast
County County Antrim
County Down
Country Northern Ireland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BELFAST
Postcode district BT1–BT17, BT29 (part), BT36 (part), BT58
Dialling code 028
Police Northern Ireland
Fire Northern Ireland
Ambulance Northern Ireland
EU Parliament Northern Ireland
UK Parliament Belfast North
Belfast South
Belfast East
Belfast West
NI Assembly Belfast North
Belfast South
Belfast East
Belfast West
Website www.belfastcity.gov.uk
List of places: UK • Northern Ireland •
[show]Historical populations
Belfast (from Irish: Béal Feirste, meaning "mouth of the sandbars") is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland, as well as the second largest city on the island of Ireland. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly.[13] The city forms part of the largest urban area in Northern Ireland, and the main settlement in the province of Ulster. The city of Belfast has a population of 267,500[4] and lies at the heart of the Belfast urban area, which has a population of 483,418. The Larger Urban Zone, as defined by the European Union, has a total population 641,638. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.
Historically, Belfast has been a centre for the Irish linen industry (earning the nickname "Linenopolis"), tobacco production, rope-making and shipbuilding: the city's main shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff, which built the ill-fated RMS Titanic, propelled Belfast on to the global stage in the early 20th century as the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, establishing its place as a global industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century.
Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast, if briefly, the largest city in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century and the city's industrial and economic success was cited by Ulster unionist opponents of Home Rule as a reason why Ireland should shun devolution and later why Ulster in particular would fight to resist it.
Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education and business, a legal centre, and is the economic engine of Northern Ireland. The city suffered greatly during the period of disruption, conflict, and destruction called the Troubles, but latterly has undergone a sustained period of calm, free from the intense political violence of former years, and substantial economic and commercial growth. Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square.
Belfast is served by two airports: George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles (24 km) west of the city. Belfast is also a major seaport, with commercial and industrial docks dominating the Belfast Lough shoreline, including the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard. Belfast is a constituent city of the Dublin-Belfast corridor, which has a population of three million, or half the total population of the island of Ireland.
Contents [hide]
1 Name
2 History
2.1 Origins
2.2 Growth
2.3 The Troubles
3 Government
3.1 Local government
3.2 Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster
3.3 Coat of arms and motto
4 Geography
4.1 Climate
4.2 Areas and districts
5 Cityscape
5.1 Architecture
5.2 Parks and gardens
6 Demography
7 Economy
7.1 Industrial growth
8 Infrastructure
8.1 Utilities
8.2 Health care
8.3 Transport
9 Culture
9.1 Media
9.2 Sports
10 Education
11 Tourism
12 Sister cities
13 References
14 Further reading
15 External links
[edit]Name
The name Belfast is derived from the Irish Béal Feirsde, which was later spelled Béal Feirste.[14] The word béal means "mouth" while feirsde/feirste is the genitive singular of fearsaid and refers to a sandbar or tidal ford across a river's mouth.[3][15] The name would thus translate literally as "mouth of the sandbar" or "mouth of the ford".[3] This sandbar was formed at the confluence of two rivers at what is now Donegall Quay: the Lagan, which flows into Belfast Lough, and its tributary the Farset. This area was the hub around which the original settlement developed.[16] The Irish name Béal Feirste is shared by a townland in County Mayo, whose name has been anglicised as Belfarsad.[17]
As sandbars have no mouths, an alternative interpretation of the name is "mouth of [the river] of the sandbar", an allusion to the River Farset, which flows into the Lagan where the sandbar was located. This interpretation was favoured by Edmund Hogan and John O'Donovan.[18] It seems clear, however, that the river was also named after the tidal crossing.[3]
[edit]History
Main article: History of Belfast
Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888,[19] the city continues to be viewed as straddling County Antrim and County Down.[20]
[edit]Origins
Belfast Castle
The site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giant's Ring, a 5,000-year-old henge, is located near the city, and the remains of Iron Age hill forts can still be seen in the surrounding hills. Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. John de Courcy built a castle on what is now Castle Street in the city centre in the 12th century, but this was on a lesser scale and not as strategically important as Carrickfergus Castle to the north, which was built by de Courcy in 1177. The O'Neill clan had a presence in the area. In the 14th century, Clan Aedh Buidh, descendants of Hugh O'Neill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city.[21] Conn O'Neill also owned land in the area, one remaining link being the Conn's Water river flowing through east Belfast.[22]
[edit]Growth
Belfast became a substantial settlement in the 17th century after being established as a town by Sir Arthur Chichester, which was initially settled by Protestant English and Scottish migrants at the time of the Plantation of Ulster. (Belfast and County Antrim, however, did not form part of this particular Plantation scheme as they were privately colonised.) In 1791, the Society of United Irishmen was founded in Belfast, after Henry Joy McCracken and other prominent Presbyterians from the city invited Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell to a meeting, after having read Tone's "Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland". Evidence of this period of Belfast's growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries.
Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries and became Ireland's pre-eminent industrial city. Industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, employing up to 35,000 workers.[23]
In 1920-22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned. The accompanyinging conflict (the Irish War of Independence) cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the "Troubles" of the late 1960s onwards.[24]
Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II. In one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Outside of London, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz.[25]
[edit]The Troubles
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