Dublin

Dublin is the capital and largest city in Ireland. It sits on Dublin Bay where the River Liffey meets the sea, within the province of Leinster. To the south, it is edged by the Dublin Mountains, which are part of the wider Wicklow Mountains range. It is the most populous city on the island of Ireland. According to the 2022 census, the city council area held 592,713 people, the city including its suburbs counted 1,263,219, and County Dublin as a whole had 1,501,500 residents. There are several different definitions for a larger metropolitan Greater Dublin Area.

The area was first settled by the Gaels during or before the 7th century, and later by the Vikings. As the Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland’s main settlement by the 12th century, following the Anglo-Norman invasion. Dublin expanded quickly from the 17th century onward, and after the Acts of Union in 1800, it briefly ranked as the second-largest city in the British Empire and the sixth-largest in Western Europe. After independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, which was renamed Ireland in 1937.

The name Dublin comes from the Middle Irish Duibhlinn, meaning "black pool," from dubh ("black, dark") and linn ("pool"). This evolved into the Early Modern Irish form Duibhlinn, pronounced "Duílinn" in the local dialect. The name refers to a dark tidal pool on the site of the castle gardens behind Dublin Castle, where the River Poddle entered the Liffey. This Middle Irish pronunciation survives in other languages, such as Old English Difelin, Old Norse Dyflin, modern Icelandic Dyflinn, modern Manx Divlyn, as well as Welsh Dulyn and Breton Dulenn. Other places in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, anglicized as Devlin, Divlin, or Difflin. Similar names appear in traditionally Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh ("the black pool"), which is part of Loch Linnhe.

The Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement called Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Starting in the 9th and 10th centuries, two settlements existed where the modern city now stands: the Viking settlement of Dyflin (founded around 841) and a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath ("ford of hurdles"), further up the river at the present-day Father Mathew Bridge (also known as Dublin Bridge), at the bottom of Church Street. Áth Cliath is the common name for the city in Modern Irish, often shortened to Áth or Cliath when spoken. It refers to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Áth Cliath was also an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, now occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.

Humans have lived in the Dublin Bay area since prehistoric times. Fish traps uncovered during construction of the Convention Centre Dublin show human habitation going back 6,000 years. More traps were found near the old city settlement on the south quays close to St. James's Gate, indicating mesolithic human activity. Ptolemy’s map of Ireland, from around 140 AD, may contain the earliest reference to a settlement near Dublin; Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman astronomer and cartographer, called it Eblana polis. Evidence from an archaeological dig in Temple Bar suggests that Anglo-Saxons occupied Dublin before the Vikings arrived in 841. The Irish government recognized 988 as the year the city was first settled, and Dublin celebrated its official millennium in 1988.

From the 9th and 10th centuries onward, two settlements eventually became modern Dublin. The Scandinavian settlement centered on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, in an area now called Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a pool on the lowest stretch of the Poddle where ships used to moor; it was fully filled in during the early 18th century as the city grew. This pool lay where the Castle Garden is now, opposite the Chester Beatty Library within Dublin Castle. The epic Táin Bó Cuailgne ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley") mentions Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath, meaning "Dublin, which is called Ath Cliath."

In 841, the Vikings established a fortified base in Dublin. The town grew into a major commercial center under Olaf Guthfrithson in the mid-to-late 10th century, and despite attacks by native Irish, it remained mostly under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169. The hinterland of Dublin in the Norse period was called Dyflinarskíri. After the death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn in early 1166, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, went to Dublin and was inaugurated King of Ireland without opposition.

Some historians believe part of the city’s early economic growth came from the slave trade. Slavery in Ireland and Dublin peaked in the 9th and 10th centuries. Prisoners from slave raids and kidnappings—men, women, and children—brought revenue to both Gaelic Irish Sea raiders and the Vikings who started the practice. Victims came from Wales, England, Normandy, and beyond.

The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, after being exiled by Ruaidhrí, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. After Mac Murchada’s death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after taking control of the city. In response, Henry II of England affirmed his sovereignty by launching a larger invasion in 1171 and proclaimed himself Lord of Ireland. Around this time, the county of the City of Dublin was established.