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The Irish ( or Na hÉireannaigh) are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common ancestry, history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years (see Prehistoric Ireland). For most of Ireland's recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaels (see Gaelic Ireland). From the 9th century, small numbers of Vikings settled in Ireland, becoming the Norse-Gaels. Anglo-Normans also conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England's 16th/17th century conquest and colonisation of Ireland brought many English people and Lowland Scottish people to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland (officially called Ireland) and Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom). The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities including Irish, British or some combination thereof.
The Irish have their own unique customs, Irish language, music, Irish dance, Gaelic games, Irish cuisine and Irish mythology. Although Irish language was their main language in the past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or Irish clans, and the Irish also had their own Celtic paganism, law code, Ogham and style of dress.
There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Ireland's conversion to Christianity, Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, and the Irish came to be seen as a nation of "saints and scholars". The 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe", followed by saints Saint Kilian and Fergal. The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the "father of chemistry", and Robert Mallet one of the "fathers of seismology". Irish literature has produced famous writers in both Irish- and English-language traditions, such as Eoghan Rua Ă“ SĂşilleabháin, DáibhĂ Ă“ Bruadair, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, MáirtĂn Ă“ Cadhain, Eavan Boland, and Seamus Heaney. Notable Irish explorers include Brendan the Navigator, Robert McClure, Sir Alexander Armstrong, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides.Smiley, p. 630 Many presidents of the United States have had some Irish ancestry.
The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have varying degrees of Irish ancestry. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially Great Britain, the Irish Americans, Irish Canadians, New Zealand and Australia. There are also significant numbers in Irish Argentine, Irish Mexicans, Irish Brazilians, Germany, and The United Arab Emirates. The United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic ancestors due to transportation there as slaves by the Vikings during their settlement of Iceland.
Pytheas made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC, but his account of it, known widely in Ancient history, has not survived and is now known only through the writings of others. On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of modern-day Great Britain and Ireland. He was the first known scientific visitor to see and describe the Celtic peoples and Germanic peoples tribes.
The terms Irish and Ireland are probably derived from the goddess Ériu. A variety of tribal groups and dynasties have inhabited the island, including the Airgialla, Fir Ol nEchmacht, Delbhna, the mythical Fir Bolg, Érainn, Eóganachta, Mairtine, Conmaicne, Soghain, and Ulaid. In the cases of the Conmaicne, Delbhna, and perhaps Érainn, it can be demonstrated that the tribe took their name from their chief deity, or in the case of the Ciannachta, Eóganachta, and possibly the Soghain, a deified ancestor. This practice is paralleled by the Anglo-Saxon dynasties.
One legend states that the Irish were descended from the Milesians, who supposedly conquered Ireland around 1000 BC or later.Mac Manus, p 1 & 7
Haplogroup R1b is the dominant haplogroup among Irish males, reaching a frequency of almost 80%. This is also the dominant haplogroup in most of Western Europe. R1b-L21 is the dominant sub-clade throughout Ireland, reaching a frequency of 65%. This subclade is also dominant in Scotland, Wales and Brittany and descends from a common ancestor who lived in about 2,500 BC. "The phylogenealogy of R-L21: Four and a half millennia of expansion and redistribution." (Joe Flood)
Modern Irish people have a small amount of ancestry from the Early European Farmers who lived in Ireland during the Neolithic (New Stone Age). Irish people derive most of their ancestry from Western Steppe Herders who originally came from the Pontic–Caspian steppe and arrived in western Europe during the early Bronze Age.
A recent archaeogenetics study of ancient remains from Ireland found that the older Neolithic farming population was most similar to present-day Sardinians. Meanwhile, three Bronze Age men buried on Rathlin Island between 2000–1500 BC were most similar to present-day Irish people. They all belonged to Haplogroup R-L21 and had the gene for lactase persistence. This shows strong genetic continuity in Ireland from the Bronze Age to the modern era.
It is most likely that these Bronze Age people of the R-L21 haplogroup brought the Bell Beaker culture to Ireland, and it is suggested that they also brought an Indo-European language that was an ancestor to the Insular Celtic and Gaelic languages. Today, R-L21 is the dominant haplogroup throughout the island of Ireland as well as western Scotland, Wales and Brittany. It is therefore associated with the Insular Celts.
A 2017 genetic study shows that the Irish population can be divided into ten geographic genetic clusters; seven of 'Gaelic' Irish ancestry, and three of shared Irish-British ancestry. The differences between the 'Gaelic' clusters are small, and are "surprisingly faithful to the historical boundaries of Irish provinces and kingdoms". The largest difference is between native 'Gaelic' Irish populations and those of Ulster Protestants known to have recent, partial British ancestry. They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'Northwestern France' component which reached highest levels in the Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish); and a 'West Norway' component related to the Viking era.
Irish people have the least amount of ancestry from the Anglo-Saxons in the British Isles at around 10%, which is significantly lower than their Celts neighbours in Scotland and Wales who have got around 30% of their respective genomes being of Anglo-Saxon origin.
As of 2016, 10,100 Irish nationals of African descent referred to themselves as "Black Irish" in the national census. The term "Black Irish" is sometimes used outside Ireland to refer to Irish people with black hair and dark eyes. One theory is that they are descendants of Spanish traders or of the few sailors of the Spanish Armada who were shipwrecked on Ireland's west coast, but there is little evidence for this.[http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Who-were-the-Black-Irish-92376439.html Who were the Black Irish? What is the origin of the Irish with swarthy dark features? A subject of historical discussion, the subject is almost never referred to in Ireland] . IrishCentral.com. Staff Writers, 26 March 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
Among the most famous people of ancient Irish history are the High Kings of Ireland, such as Cormac mac Airt and Niall of the Nine Hostages, and the semi-legendary Fianna. The 20th-century writer Seumas MacManus wrote that even if the Fianna and the Fenian Cycle were purely fictional, they would still be representative of the character of the Irish people:
The introduction of Christianity to the Irish people during the 5th century brought a radical change to the Irish people's foreign relations.MacManus, p 89 The only military raid abroad recorded after that century is a presumed invasion of Wales, which according to a Welsh manuscript may have taken place around the 7th century. In the words of Seumas MacManus:
Following the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Irish secular laws and social institutions remained in place.
Irish missionaries such as Columba brought Christianity to Pictish Scotland. The Irishmen of this time were also "aware of the cultural unity of Europe", and it was the 6th-century Irish monk Columbanus who is regarded as "one of the fathers of Europe". Another Irish saint, Aidan of Lindisfarne, has been proposed as a possible patron saint of the United Kingdom, while Saint Kilian and Vergilius became the patron saints of WĂĽrzburg in Germany and Salzburg in Austria, respectively. Irish missionaries founded monasteries outside Ireland, such as Iona Abbey, the Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland, and Bobbio Abbey in Italy.
Common to both the monastic and the secular bardic schools were Irish and Latin. With Latin, the early Irish scholars "show almost a like familiarity that they do with their own Gaelic".MacManus, p 221 There is evidence also that Hebrew and Ancient Greek were studied, the latter probably being taught at Iona.MacManus, p 221–222
Since the time of Charlemagne, Irish scholars had a considerable presence in the Frankish court, where they were renowned for their learning. The most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period was the 9th century Johannes Scotus Eriugena, an outstanding philosopher in terms of originality. He was the earliest of the founders of scholasticism, the dominant school of medieval philosophy.Toman, p 10: "Peter Abelard himself was... together with John Scotus Erigena (9th century), and Lanfranc and Anselm of Canterbury (both 11th century), one of the founders of scholasticism." He had considerable familiarity with the Greek language, and translated many works into Latin, affording access to the Cappadocian Fathers and the Greek theological tradition, previously almost unknown in the Latin West.
The influx of Viking raiders and traders in the 9th and 10th centuries resulted in the founding of many of Ireland's most important towns, including Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford (earlier Gaelic settlements on these sites did not approach the urban nature of the subsequent Norse trading ports). The Vikings left little impact on Ireland other than towns and certain words added to the Irish language, but many Irish taken as slaves inter-married with the Scandinavians, hence forming a close link with the Icelandic people. In the Icelandic Laxdœla saga, for example, "even slaves are highborn, descended from the kings of Ireland."Smiley, p. 274 The first name of Njáll Þorgeirsson, the chief protagonist of Njáls saga, is a variation of the Irish name Neil. According to Eirik the Red's Saga, the first European couple to have a child born in North America was descended from the Viking Queen of Dublin, Aud the Deep-minded, and a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland.
The arrival of the Anglo-Normans brought also the Wales, Flanders, Anglo-Saxons, and Bretons. Most of these were assimilated into Irish culture and polity by the 15th century, with the exception of some of the walled towns and the Pale areas. The Late Middle Ages also saw the settlement of Scottish gallowglass families of mixed Gaelic-Norse and Picts descent, mainly in the north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated.
Names that begin with "O'" include: Ó Bánion (O'Banion), Ó Briain (O'Brien), Ó Ceallaigh (O'Kelly), Ó Conchobhair (O'Connor, O'Conor), Ó Chonaill (O'Connell), O'Coiligh (Cox), Ó Cuilinn (Cullen), Ó Domhnaill (O'Donnell), Ó Drisceoil (O'Driscoll), Ó hAnnracháin, (Hanrahan), Ó Máille (O'Malley), Ó Mathghamhna (O'Mahony), Ó Néill (O'Neill), Ó Sé (O'Shea), Ó Súilleabháin (O'Sullivan), Ó Caiside/Ó Casaide (Cassidy), Ó Brádaigh/Mac Bradaigh (Brady) and Ó Tuathail (O'Toole).
Names that begin with Mac or Mc include: Mac Cárthaigh (McCarthy), Mac Diarmada (McDermott), Mac Domhnaill (McDonnell), and Mac Mathghamhna (McMahon clans) Mac(g) Uidhir (Maguire), Mac Dhonnchadha (McDonagh), Mac Conmara (MacNamara), Mac Craith (McGrath), Mac Aodha (McGee), Mac Aonghuis (McGuinness), Mac Cana (McCann), Mac Lochlainn (McLaughlin) and Mac Conallaidh (McNally). Mac is commonly anglicised Mc. However, "Mac" and "Mc" are not mutually exclusive, so, for example, both "MacCarthy" and "McCarthy" are used. Both "Mac" and "Ă“'" prefixes are both Irish in origin, Anglicized Prefix Mc is far more common in Ireland than Scotland with 2/3 of all Mc Surnames being Irish in origin However, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ă“" surnames are less common in Scotland having been brought to Scotland from Ireland. The proper surname for a woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or NĂ Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T). A son has the same surname as his father. A female's surname replaces Ă“ with NĂ (reduced from InĂon Uà – "daughter of the grandson of") and Mac with Nic (reduced from InĂon Mhic – "daughter of the son of"); in both cases the following name undergoes lenition. However, if the second part of the surname begins with the letter C or G, it is not lenited after Nic. Thus the daughter of a man named Ă“ Maolagáin has the surname NĂ Mhaolagáin and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname Nic Gearailt. When anglicised, the name can remain O' or Mac, regardless of gender.
There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including Clan Sweeney (Sweeney) from Swein and McAuliffe from "Olaf". The name Cotter family, local to County Cork, derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. The name Reynolds is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Raghnaill, itself originating from the Norse names Randal or Reginald. Though these names were of Viking derivation some of the families who bear them appear to have had Gaelic origins.
"Fitz" is an old Norman French variant of the Old French word fils (variant spellings filz, fiuz, fiz, etc.), used by the Normans, meaning son. The Normans themselves were descendants of Vikings, who had settled in Normandy and thoroughly adopted the French language and culture. With the exception of the Gaelic-Irish Fitzpatrick (Mac Giolla Phádraig) surname, all names that begin with Fitz – including FitzGerald (Mac Gearailt), Fitzsimons (Mac SĂomĂłin/Mac an Ridire) and FitzHenry (Mac AnraĂ) – are descended from the initial Norman settlers. A small number of Irish families of Goidelic origin came to use a Norman form of their original surname—so that Mac Giolla Phádraig became Fitzpatrick—while some assimilated so well that the Irish name was dropped in favour of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Another common Irish surname of Hiberno-Norman origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Examples include de BĂşrca (Burke), de BrĂşn, de Barra (Barry), de Stac (Stack), de TiĂşit, de Faoite (White), de Londras (Landers), de Paor (Power). The Irish surname "Walsh" (in Irish Breathnach) was routinely given to settlers of Welsh people origin, who had come during and after the Norman invasion. The Joyce and Griffin/Griffith (Gruffydd) families are also of Welsh origin.
The Mac Lochlainn, Ă“ Maol Seachlainn, Ă“ Maol Seachnaill, Ă“ Conchobhair, Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmada families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family was in question, something that has been diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ă“ and Mac. Different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ă“ Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An Sionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day. Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as the use of a common language and mass Irish migration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries.
An English report of 1515 states that the Irish people were divided into over sixty Gaelic lordships and thirty Anglo-Irish lordships.Nicholls The English term for these lordships was "nation" or "country". The Irish term " oireacht" referred to both the territory and the people ruled by the lord. Literally, it meant an "assembly", where the would hold their courts upon hills to arbitrate the matters of the lordship. Indeed, the Tudor lawyer John Davies described the Irish people with respect to their laws:
Another English commentator records that the assemblies were attended by "all the scum of the country"—the labouring population as well as the landowners. While the distinction between "free" and "unfree" elements of the Irish people was unreal in legal terms, it was a social and economic reality. Social mobility was usually downwards, due to social and economic pressures. The ruling clan's "expansion from the top downwards" was constantly displacing commoners and forcing them into the margins of society.
As a clan-based society, genealogy was all important. Ireland 'was justly styled a "Nation of Annalists"'.MacManus, p 352 The various branches of Irish learning—including law, poetry, history and genealogy, and medicine—were associated with hereditary learned families. The poetic families included the Uà Dhálaigh (Daly) and the MacGrath. Irish physicians, such as the O'Briens in Munster or the MacCailim Mor in the Western Isles, were renowned in the courts of England, Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries.MacManus, p 348 Learning was not exclusive to the hereditary learned families, however; one such example is Cathal Mac Manus, the 15th century diocesan priest who wrote the Annals of Ulster. Other learned families included the Mic Aodhagáin and Clann Fhir Bhisigh. It was this latter family which produced Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh, the 17th century genealogist and compiler of the Leabhar na nGenealach. (see also Irish medical families).
The Enterprise of Ulster which pitted Shane O'Neill (Irish chieftain) against Queen Elizabeth I was a total failureMartin Marix Evans; David Lyons (October 2003). A terrible beauty. Gill & Macmillan. Retrieved 25 February 2013.Lennon p. 279 This was followed by the somewhat successful first British-English colony the Munster planations which had a population of 4,000 in 1580 and in the 1620s may have grown to 16,000Canny, Making Ireland British, p. 146
After the defeat of the Irish in Ulster in the Nine Years' War (Ireland); which was not exclusively confined to Ulster. The English would try again to colonize Ireland fearing another rebellion in Ulster, using previous colonial Irish endeavours as their influence. King James would succeed Queen Elizabeth the I, because King James I was previously King James VI of Scotland, he would plant both English and Scottish in the plantations of Ulster drawing upon the Munster Plantations, this proved to be the most successful they were settled in what's mostly Now Northern Ireland. The Plantations of Ireland introduced Tudor English settlers to Ireland, while The Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century introduced a great number of Scottish and to a lesser extent English as well as French as colonists. All previous endeavours were solely an English venture. The Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1653–1658) after the defeat of the Irish rebels would also plant New English in Ireland, known as the Protestant ascendency.
The Irish bardic system, along with the Gaels and learned classes, were upset by the plantations and went into decline. Among the last of the true bardic poets were Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig (c. 1580–1652) and DáibhĂ Ă“ Bruadair (1625–1698). The Irish poets of the late 17th and 18th centuries moved toward more modern dialects. Among the most prominent of this period were SĂ©amas Dall Mac Cuarta, Peadar Ă“ DoirnĂn, Art Mac Cumhaigh, Cathal BuĂ Mac Giolla Ghunna, and Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill. Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret "hedgeschools", in spite of the Penal laws.MacManus, p 461 A knowledge of Latin was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in Ancient Greek in the mountain market-places of County Kerry.MacManus, p 461–462
For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable Irish fiction, playwrights and poets include Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Brendan Behan.
There are statues and memorials in Dublin, New York and other cities in memory of the famine. The Fields of Athenry is a late-20th century song about the Great Famine and is often sung at national team sporting events in memory and homage to those affected by the famine.
The Great Famine is one of the biggest events in Irish history and is ingrained in the identity on the nation to this day. It was a major factor in Irish nationalism and Ireland's fight for independence during subsequent rebellions, as many Irish people felt a stronger need to regain independence from British rule after the famine.
The 31st International Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin in 1932, that year being the supposed 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's arrival. Ireland was then home to 3,171,697 Catholics, about a third of whom attended the Congress. It was noted in Time Magazine that the Congress' special theme would be "the Faith of the Irish". The massive crowds were repeated at Pope John Paul II's Mass in Phoenix Park in 1979.The figure 1,250,000 is mentioned on the commemorative stone at the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park, Dublin; a quarter of the population of the island of Ireland, or a third of the population of Republic of Ireland The idea of faith has affected the question of Irish identity even in relatively recent times, apparently more so for Catholics and Irish-Americans. Today the majority of Irish people in the Republic of Ireland identify as Catholic, although church attendance has significantly dropped in recent decades. In Northern Ireland, where almost 50% of the population is Protestant, there has also been a decline in attendances.
This has been a matter of concern over the last century for the followers of nationalist ideologists such as D. P. Moran.
Many famous and influential figures have claimed Irish ancestry such as Che Guevara, Walt Disney, Barack Obama, JFK, Muhammad Ali and Maréchal The 1st Duke of Magenta, the second President of the Third Republic.
Many Irish people were also transported to the island of Montserrat, to work as indentured servants, exiled prisoners or slaves. Unlike African chattel slaves, the majority of Irish labourers who were sent to Montserrat did so by personal choice. Some were Irish Confederate troops exiled by the English Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell following the Irish Confederate Wars. The African slave population on the island attempted a rebellion against the Irish plantation owners on 17 March 1768. The date was chosen with the idea that the plantation owners would be distracted by St. Patrick's day festivities, but the plot was ultimately discovered and several of those involved were put to death. To this day, the Island celebrates St. Patrick's Day as a public holiday to commemorate the revolt and honour those who lost their lives. People of Irish descent also feature strongly in Latin America, especially in Argentina and important minorities in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. In 1995, President Mary Robinson reached out to the "70 million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent". Today the diaspora is believed to contain an estimated 80 million people. The island history , discoverireland.com
There are also large Irish communities in some mainland European countries, notably in Spain, France and Germany. Between 1585 and 1818, over half a million Irish departed Ireland to serve in the wars on the Continent, in a constant emigration romantically styled the"Flight of the Wild Geese" and, before that, in the 'Flight of the Earls', just before the Plantation of Ulster. In the early years of the English Civil War, a French traveller remarked that the Irish "are better soldiers abroad than at home".McLaughlin, p4 Later, Irish brigades in France and Spain would fight in the Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. In the words of Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington, the Irish-born 'Iron Duke', a notable representative of the Irish military diaspora, "Ireland was an inexhaustible nursery for the finest soldiers".Davies, p 832
The British Legions were units that fought under SimĂłn BolĂvar against Spain for the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. Venezuelans called them the Albion Legion. They were composed of over seven thousand volunteers, mainly Napoleonic Wars veterans from Great Britain and Ireland. Volunteers in the British Legion were motivated by a combination of both genuine political and mercenary motives. The most famous cause of emigration was the Great Famine of the late 1840s. A million are thought to have emigrated to Liverpool as a result of the famine.David Ross, Ireland: History of a Nation, New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset, 2002, p. 226. For both the Irish in Ireland and those in the resulting Irish diaspora, the famine entered folk memoryThe Famine that affected Ireland from 1845 to 1852 has become an integral part of folk legend. Kenealy, This Great Calamity, p. 342. and became a rallying point for various nationalist movements.
There are Afro-Caribbean people descended from Irish Caribbean, especially on Barbados, Jamaica, and Montserrat. They often have Irish surnames, speak a form of Caribbean English influenced by the Irish vernacular and, in some cases, sing Irish songs.
People of Irish descent are the second largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, after . Nine of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence were of Irish origin. Among them was the sole Catholic signatory, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, whose family were the descendants of Ely O'Carroll, an Irish prince who had suffered under Cromwell. Maryland Traces Its Irish Roots , Maryland Office of Tourism At least twenty-five presidents of the United States have some Irish ancestral origins, including George Washington. Since John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, every American President (with the exception of Gerald Ford and Donald Trump) has had some Irish blood. An Irish-American, James Hoban, was the designer of the White House. Commodore John Barry, who was born in County Wexford, was the "Father of the United States Navy".
In the mid-19th century, large numbers of Irish immigrants were conscripted into Irish regiments of the United States Army at the time of the Mexican–American War. The vast majority of the 4,811 Irish-born soldiers served in the U.S. Army, but some deserted to the Mexican Army, primarily to escape mistreatment by Protestant officers and the strong anti-Catholic discrimination in America. These were the San Patricios, or Saint Patrick's Battalion—a group of Irish led by Galway-born John O'Riley, with some German, Scottish and American Catholics. They fought until their surrender at the decisive Battle of Churubusco, and were executed outside Mexico City by the American government on 13 September 1847. The battalion is commemorated in Mexico each year on 12 September.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, 300,000 free emigrants and 45,000 convicts left Ireland to settle in Australia. Today, Australians of Irish descent are one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Australia, after English and Australian. In the 2006 Census, 1,803,741 residents identified themselves as having Irish ancestry either alone or in combination with another ancestry. However this figure does not include Australians with an Irish background who chose to nominate themselves as 'Australian' or other ancestries. The Australian embassy in Dublin states that up to thirty per cent of the population claim some degree of Irish ancestry.
It is believed that as many as 30,000 Irish people emigrated to Argentina between the 1830s and the 1890s. This was encouraged by the clergy, as they considered a Catholic country, Argentina, preferable to a more Protestant United States. This flow of emigrants dropped sharply when assisted passage to Australia was introduced at which point the Argentine government responded with their own scheme and wrote to Irish bishops, seeking their support. However, there was little or no planning for the arrival of a large number of immigrants, no housing, no food. Many died, others made their way to the United States and other destinations, some returned to Ireland, a few remained and prospered. Thomas Croke Archbishop of Cashel, said: "I most solemnly conjure my poorer countrymen, as they value their happiness hereafter, never to set foot on the Argentine Republic however tempted to do so they may be by offers of a passage or an assurance of comfortable homes." Some notable Argentines of Irish descent and Irish people who settled in Argentina include Che Guevara, former president Edelmiro Julián Farrell, and admiral William Brown.
There are people of Irish descent all over South America, such as the Chilean liberator Bernardo O'Higgins and the Peruvian photographer Mario Testino. Although some Irish retained their surnames intact, others were assimilated into the Spanish vernacular. The last name O'Brien, for example, became ObregĂłn.
People of Irish descent are also one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Canada, after English Canadian, French Canadian and Scottish Canadians. As of 2006, number around 4,354,155.
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