Dublin ( , or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, lga: Town of the Hurdled Ford, or cliə(ɸ)) is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's primary city for most of the island's history since medieval times. Today, it is ranked 10th in the Global Financial Centres Index and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city. TalkingCitiesThe Irish Experience Dublin is a historical and contemporary cultural centre for the island of Ireland as well as a modern centre of education, the arts, administrative function, economy and industry.

Name

The name Dublin is derived from the Irish name Dubh Linn (meaning black pool). Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, bh was written with a dot over the b, rendering 'Du Linn' or 'Du linn'. Those without a knowledge of Irish omitted the dot and spelled the name variously as Develyn or Dublin.

The common name for the city in Modern Irish is lang: Baile Átha Cliath (meaning The Settlement of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles). It was first written as such in 1368 in the Annals of Ulster. lang: Áth Cliath is a place-name referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of Heuston Station. lang: Baile Átha Cliath was later applied to an early Christian monastery which is believed to have been situated in the area of Aungier Street currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.

The subsequent Viking settlement was on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, to the East of Christchurch, in the area known as Wood Quay. The Dubh Linn was a lake used by the Vikings to moor their ships and was connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle were covered during the early 1700s, and as the city expanded they were largely forgotten about. The Dubh Linn was situated where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle.

History

main: History of Dublin

The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Ptolemy provide perhaps the earliest reference to human habitation in the area now known as Dublin. In around A.D. 140 he referred to a settlement he called . The settlement 'Dubh Linn' dates perhaps as far back as the first century BC and later a monastery was built there, though the town was established in about 841 by the Norse. The modern city retains the Anglicised Irish name of the former and the original Irish name of the latter. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Dublin became the key centre of military and judicial power, with much of the power centering on Dublin Castle until independence. From the 14th to late 16th centuries, English crown control over Ireland was limited to a section of territory, known as the Pale, which included Dublin at its southern end, and Dundalk at its northern extremity. The Parliament was located in Drogheda for several centuries, but was switched permanently to Dublin after Henry VII conquered the County Kildare in 1504. The sacking of Drogheda, and massacre of her citizens, by Oliver Cromwell, in 1649, resulted in Dublin becoming the dominant port city in Ireland.