The first known settlements in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when mesolithic hunter-gatherers migrated from continental Europe. Few archaeological traces remain of this group but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were responsible for major Neolithic sites such as Newgrange. On the arrival of Saint Patrick and other Christian missionaries in the early to mid-5th century AD, Christianity began to subsume the indigenous Celtic religion, a process that was completed by the year 600.

From around AD 800, more than a century of Viking invasions wrought havoc upon the monastic culture and on the island's various regional dynasties, yet both of these institutions proved strong enough to survive and assimilate the invaders. The coming of Cambro-Norman mercenaries under Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, in 1169 marked the beginning of more than 700 years of direct English, and, later, British involvement in Ireland. In 1177, Prince John Lackland was made Lord of Ireland by his father Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford. The Crown did not attempt to assert full control of the island until after Henry VIII's repudiation of papal authority over the Church in England and subsequent English Reformation, which failed in Ireland. Questions over the loyalty of Irish vassals provided the initial impetus for a series of Irish military campaigns between 1534 and 1691. This period was marked by a Crown policy of plantation, involving the arrival of thousands of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, and the consequent displacement of the pre-plantation Catholic landholders. As the military and political defeat of Gaelic Ireland became more pronounced in the early seventeenth century, sectarian conflict became a recurrent theme in Irish history.

Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8

Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.

Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.

Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.

Thomas D'Arcy Etienne Hughes McGee, PC, (April 13, 1825 – April 7, 1868) was an Irish Nationalist, Catholic spokesman, journalist, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. He fought for the development of Irish and Canadian national identities that would transcend their component groups. He is, to date, the only Canadian victim of political assassination at the federal level.

Widely known as D'Arcy McGee, he was born on April 13th, 1825 in Carlingford, Ireland, and raised as a Roman Catholic. From his mother, the daughter of a Dublin bookseller, he learned the history of Ireland, which later influenced his writing and political activity. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Wexford, where his father was employed by the coast guard. In Wexford he attended a local hedge school, where the teacher, Michael Donnelly, fed his hunger for knowledge and where he learned of the long history of English occupation and Irish rebellion, including the more recent uprising of 1798. In 1842 at age 17 he sailed from Wexford harbour aboard the brig Leo, bound for the United States via Quebec, Canada. He soon found work as assistant editor of Patrick Donahoe's Boston Pilot, a Catholic newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. A few years later he returned to Ireland where he became politically active and edited the nationalist newspaper The Nation. His support for and his involvement in the Irish Confederation and Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 resulted in a warrant for his arrest. McGee escaped the country by steamship and returned to the United States.

Thomas D'Arcy, (born 1979) is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Guernsey, Channel Islands. He has been a member of indie rock bands The Carnations, All Systems Go!, Small Sins, Another Blue Door, The I-Spies and The Suspenders, among others.

D'Arcy's family immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1981, and in 1994, when he was 15 years old he learned to play the bass guitar. In 1995, he formed a band called Pseudonym with three other high school friends, which would later transform into The Carnations, of which D'Arcy was the lead singer and principal songwriter. They played in nightclubs they were not yet old enough to get into (due to the legal drinking age in Ontario being 19) and turned their love of bands like Weezer, Supergrass, Buzzcocks and Television into a power pop sound all their own.

In 2000, John Kastner (ex-Doughboys) saw The Carnations play a show at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, and later invited D'arcy to join his new band, All Systems Go!, which he accepted. He also continued to play in The Carnations, as well as a band called Another Blue Door.

Thomas D. (born Thomas Dürr, December 30, 1968 in Ditzingen close to Stuttgart, Germany) is a rapper in the German hip hop group Die Fantastischen Vier. He frequently works on solo projects.

After finishing Realschule he took on an apprenticeship as a barber. Because he frequently worked as a caretaker (German: Hausmeister), he gave himself the stage name "Hausmeister Thomas D."

He has been vegan for several years and supports the animal welfare organization PETA. In 2003, he was criticised for his approval of their exhibition Holocaust on Your Plate, which compared keeping animals in mass stocks to the crimes of the Holocaust.

He sees himself as a member of the Lohas ("Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability") movement and is fond of green ecologial initiatives. On stage he often wears T-Shirts from Fairtrade Label armedangels, all of his Merchandise items are fair traded as well.

Thomas D. is married, has one daughter and one son.

Thomas D. is a member of Die Fantastischen Vier, but was also successful with his solo albums Solo (1997), Lektionen in Demut (2001), and Kennzeichen D (2008). Singles released from these albums include Rückenwind, Frisör, Liebesbrief, and Solo (featuring Nina Hagen). Outside Germany, he is probably best known for Wish (Komm zu mir) which he performed with Franka Potente on the soundtrack of the movie Run Lola Run.