County cork :: essays research papers

Philipps-Universitt MarburgFachbereich 10 Fremdsprachliche PhilologienInstitut fr Anglistik und AmerikanistikPS The Landscape of IrelandLeitung Madeleine KinsellaHausarbeit von Mathias WeberCounty CorkCounty CorkThe aim of this term composition is to give an overview of the county Cork, beginning with its geographical location then present some historical events that are relevant to the history of Cork and finally show the places of interest, both of the county Cork and of the metropolis itself.The population amounts to 400,000 inhabitants according to the CSO and the principal city, Cork city, covers an area of 378 hectares with about 120,000 inhabitants. County Cork also includes 640 km of coastline with many beaches, steep cliffs, making the grandness of the sea play an even greater importance since Cork has one the principal harbor of Ireland. It connects Ireland to France (Roscoff, Le Havre) and the United Kingdom (Swansea). Until the sixties it used to be the starting point of many steamers for America and also the departure point of three million Irishmen who emigrated to the &8220new world in the 19th. This port has in fact contributed a lot to the economic and commercial development of Cork and the whole of Ireland. The climate is also largely influenced by the ocean soft, wet and windy thus allowing a great variety in flora and fauna. Cork derives from the Irish &8216Corcah Mor Mumham&8217 and means the &8216great Marsh of Munster&8217 and refers to the fact that the center of Cork city is built on islands, surrounded by the River Lee, which were marshy and prone to episodes of flooding. Some of the waterways between the islands were built over to form some of the main streets of present day Cork. The oblong set of the city center island, bounded by the north and south channel of the Lee give Cork much of its physical charm. Spencer even immortalized the unusual topography of the city when he wrote&8220The spreading Lee that like an island fayre enc loseth Cork with his divided floodEven tough a few prehistoric artifacts have been found, the monastery of Cork represents one of the soonest evidence of human settlement in this region. As said earlier the sea played an important role in the history of Cork as the first foreign known settlers came using maritime means the Vikings frequently raided isolated monasteries. An attack by the Vikings is reported to have taken place slightly Cork in 802 they raided the abbey and the settlement nearby.