English Colonization of Ireland

British colonialism has a long history of exploitation of conquered lands and indigenous peoples. British wealth and power, many maintain, was built on the backs of exploited labor and exploited natural resources in lands colonized by the British. If we look at the English colonization of Ireland we can see that such charges are not altogether exaggerated by those who make them. The English colonization of Ireland proves that English governments have often crushed an indigenous peoples effort to be independent through any force necessary if those peoples possessed something the British government felt it had a right to take.

While the colonization of Ireland by the British did not begin until the 17th century, for centuries British monarchs has unsuccessfully been trying to subdue Ireland. However, in 1603 the Ulster Irish finally surrendered to Lord Mountjoy and nine counties in northern Ireland would become available for colonization. For the Irish, colonization by the British was a disaster, especially for poor Catholic Irish. Once colonization took firm root in Ireland, the British rapidly depleted Irish resources. So, too, unfair plantation arrangements left many poor working Irish starving. Such conditions would be heavily satirized by Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal. As one historian notes of the conditions in Ireland that Proposal illustrates: "Under colonial rule by England, the majority of Ireland's resourc

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eputation by his inglorious progress through the country and by the speed with which eh returned to England after a private conversation with O'Neill" Ireland 2). For the Irish, the eventual colonization of Ireland would prove devastating. Aside from exploiting the poor, English administrators greedily robbed the countryside of its resources in a manner that was not sustainable by the environment. Such overuse of agrarian lands would eventually result in failed potato crops that would set off the great Irish famine that saw many die of starvation and many others emigrate. Because of such abuses, continual warfare, and constant hostilities between the English Protestants and the poor Catholic Irish, England eventually lost the degree of indigenous support it had previously enjoyed in its efforts to colonize Ireland. As Lewis argues, "Ireland was pacified though partly destroyed. Paradoxically, English rule now enjoyed less indigenous support than in 1558 and depended heavily on financial and military support from England" (2). As the 1630s ended and the 1640s began, new rebellions broke out on the Irish landscape. The Great Rebellion in Ireland would occur from 1641-1649, followed by Cromwell's Irish Campaign in 1649-1650

Category: History - E