Ireland was considered a British colony for centuries. Although the Irish were often hostile to English imperialism, their territory was gradually “annexed” and governed by the British, through elaborate stratagems.
The “Plantations” period was one of his ploys. It refers to a complex episode in Irish history, which enabled British settlers to gain a lasting foothold in the territory between the 16th and 17th centuries.
Their plan was to settle wealthy British settlers in Ireland, hand over to them ownership of land that had once belonged to Gaelic clans and other large Irish families, and force local Irishmen to work in the fields for these large landowners.
An effective means, according to the Kingdom of England, of enslaving the Irish population and gradually transforming Ireland, by encouraging the integration of English colonists on the spot.
But nothing went according to plan. This forced colonization created a climate of tension between the local inhabitants and the settlers, nicknamed“planters“…
Since the 12th century, the Kingdom of England has had ambitions to seize Ireland… After several centuries of tensions and battles, the British finally succeeded in establishing their supremacy over the Kingdom of Ireland, thanks to the successive policies of several monarchs, including :
At the time, England’s intention was clear: it wanted to pacify Ireland by Anglicizing it, and implanting a new class of British rulers in the country, as well as a new model of peasant community to which the Irish had to rally…
The plantations were intended to promote English integration within the country, and to form colonies to educate the Irish population in the English way of doing things…
The first plantations were planted in the 16th century… At the time, the Kingdom of Ireland was literally crushed under the English boot, and living in total poverty. Irish Catholics were oppressed and discriminated against by British Protestants, and saw their lands expropriated and driven out by over 125,000 English settlers who came to Ireland between the 16th and 17th centuries to set up their plantations.
There are 2 types of plantations throughout Ireland:
The exemplary plantation was intended above all to be formative, and to rally the Irish peasantry to the English economic model. One of the first plantations of this type to see the light of day in the late 1560s was at Kerrycruihy not far from Cork, on land leased from the Earl of Desmond.
Punitive planting, on the other hand, is firmer, and involves settling on confiscated land that belonged to rebels who challenged the British presence in Ireland. The rebels, expelled from their territories, attack the settlers in violent clashes…
The first plantations of this type were built in 1556, including those in King’s County and Queen’s County. The O’Moore clan, who owned the land at the time and were expropriated following the arrival of the colonists, launched an open war against the“planters” (the name given to the colonists) which lasted over 40 years (it finally ended with their massacre perpetrated by the English). This violence curbed the influx of English settlers, who feared being targeted by Irish rebels…
The situation soon became explosive: the Irish had difficulty accepting the presence of the planters, and demanded their withdrawal… But the policy of the Kingdom of England persisted in its colonization plans, and the plantations soon became the scene of pitched battles between settlers and Irish clans…
Massacres abound: entire Irish clans are decimated and slaughtered. Women, children and civilians are tortured and then murdered indiscriminately.
The colonists then had defensive military structures built on their plantations to better cope with the onslaught of Irish rebels… The Irish rebellions followed one another, and they now demanded not only the withdrawal of the colonists, but also the independence of their island, as well as their freedom to choose their religion, rather than the one ordained by the king…
Scotland took advantage of the situation to join in its demands, and the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-1653) (or War of the Three Kingdoms) broke out.
Following a reversal of power, the then king, Charles I, was finally beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell decided to take control of the situation in Ireland and Scotland.
He landed in Ireland at the head of 12,000 men and crushed the Irish rebels, reducing the Irish population by half… He then consolidated the plantations in Ulster, encouraging the massive arrival of new English settlers… (This policy is at the root of the current situation in Northern Ireland).
Completely crushed and bloodless, Ireland was forced to live under the domination of England… This situation would not change until the 20th century, with the rise of nationalism and the War of Independence (1919-1921).
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