Сократите максимально текст для пересказа History In about 300 B.C. Celtic tribes invaded Ireland. They founded 5 kingdoms on the island. The northernmost kingdom, today's Northern Ireland, was called Ulster. Although the Romans did not take control of Ireland their influence was very strong: The lIrish probably used Roman coins and the language spoken in parts of Ireland may have been influenced by Latin. In about 400 A.D. Saint Patrick brought Christianity to the Irish population. He set up churches and other missionaries. Between 800 and 1000 A.D. Vikings raided Ireland. When the Normans invaded Ireland in the 12th century the island was divided into many smaller kingdoms. As time went on English kings started to take control the island. When Henry VIII turned England into a Protestant country in the 16th century most Irish people remained Roman Catholic. The following English monarchs sent soldiers to ireland to make them protestant as well. In the course of time the landowners in the northern part of Ireland fled their land and left it to the English king. James I sent thousands of protestant colonists to settle on the land that belonged to the Catholic people. These settlements were called plantations. The Catholics rebelled against this policy but by the middle of the 17th century they had been finally defeated. The Catholics were left without land and power. By the beginning of the 19th century Britain had gained control of the whole island. Ireland joined Wales England and Scotland to become the United Kingdom. Throughout the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century more and more Irish groups began fighting for their independence. But the Protestants who lived in the northern part of the island wanted to stay with Great Britain. In 1922 the island was divided. Six, mostly protestant, counties in the north stayed a part of the UK. The rest of the island, mostly Catholic, became the Irish Free State and an independent republic in 1949. Up to 1972 Northern Ireland was allowed to rule itself. During this time the Catholics, who lived in the Protestant province had no easy life. They did not have the same rights and opportunities that the Protestants had. They were discriminated against in all aspects of life. They barely found jobs, got less money from the government and were often harassed by the police. As time went on both sides realized that violence could not lead to a solution in the conflict. The British and Irish governments tried to get political and paramilitary sides to the conference table. In addition, the IRA promised to end all violent activities. Finally, talks ended in a historic agreement signed on Good Friday 1998. In a referendum the people of Northern Ireland agreed to accept the treaty and in June 1998 the new assembly was elected. However not everything went according to plan in the following years. The paramilitary groups did not trust each other and when the IRA refused to give up its weapons the British government reimposed direct rule. Finally, after years of quarrel and disagreement, the IRA announced in 2005 that it would give up all of its weapons. In 2007 the leaders of the Catholic party, Sinn Fein and the protestant Democratic Unions Party came to a historic agreement to share power in the Northern Irish government. The assembly got together again. In July 2007 the British government ended its military presence in Northern Ireland. The cooperation between the two groups is a sign that a lasting peace may finally have come to Northern Ireland.

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