Dublin (pronounced /ˈdʌblɨn/, /ˈdʊblɨn/, or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, meaning Town of the Hurdled Ford,[3] pronounced [bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh] or [bˠɫaː cliə(ɸ)]) is both the largest city and the 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 an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland, has been recognised as an emerging global city by the Loughborough University group's 1999 inventory and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city.[4][5] Dublin is one of the constituent cities in the Dublin-Belfast corridor region which has a population of just under 3 million.
Name:
The name Dublin is a Hiberno-English derivative of 'Dubh Linn' (Irish, dubh -> black, and linn -> pool). Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot over the 'b', viz 'Duḃ Linn' or 'Duḃlinn'. The French-speaking Normans omitted the dot and spelled the name variously as 'Develyn' or 'Dublin'.
The common name for the city in Modern Irish is 'Baile Átha Cliath' ('The Settlement of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles'). 'Áth Cliath' is a place-name referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of Heuston Station. '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 St Valentine's (R.C.) church. Due to its length, it is sometimes abbreviated as BÁC.
The subsequent Scandinavian 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 Scandinavians to moor their ships and was connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle were covered during the early 1800s, and as the city expanded they were largely forgotten about. The Dubh Linn was situated in the area of the park of the Chester-Beaty Library in Dublin Castle.
History:
The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Ptolemy provide perhaps the earliest reference to human habitat in the area now known as Dublin. In around A.D. 140 he referred to a settlement he called Eblana Civitas. 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[6] 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 Dublin and the surrounding area, known as the Pale, formed the largest area of Ireland under government control. The Parliament was located in Drogheda for several centuries, but was switched permanently to Dublin after Henry VII conquered the County Kildare in 1504.