Facts about Northern Ireland
The IRA, using weapons and explosives obtained from the United States and Libya, bombed England and various British army bases in Europe, as well as conducting ongoing attacks within Northern Ireland.
Among traditional songs from Northern Ireland are The Sash, and A Londonderry Air also known as Danny Boy.
Northern Ireland's legal system is based on common law, and is separate from the jurisdictions of England and Wales, or Scotland.
Under the Belfast Agreement, voters elected a new Northern Ireland Assembly.
During The Troubles, Northern Ireland received little foreign investment.
Other major engineering employers in Northern Ireland include Caterpillar, DuPont, Emerson Electric, Nortel, Northbrook Technology, Seagate and NACCO.
A majority of both communities in Northern Ireland approved this Agreement, as did the people of the Republic of Ireland, both by referendum on May 22, 1998.
Chinese and Urdu are spoken by Northern Ireland's Asian communities; though the Chinese community is often referred to as the "third largest" community in Northern Ireland, it is tiny by international standards.
Similarly, on visits to Northern Ireland, the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, met with unionist ministers and with the Lord Lieutenant of each county - the official representatives of the Queen.
The 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly established in Belfast in 1998 has an executive comprised of both Unionists (Protestants who support continued British rule of Northern Ireland) and Nationalists (Catholics who support a united Ireland).
Northern Ireland's results at GCSE and A-Level are consistently top in the UK.
Rathlin, off the Antrim coast, is the largest of Northern Ireland's islands.
Ninety three percent of killings happened in Northern Ireland, and Republican paramilitaries contributed to nearly 60 percent (2056) of these.
After the partition of Ireland in 1922, Northern Ireland continued to send representatives to the British House of Commons, the number of which over the years increased to 18.
During the troubles, a Christian movement known as Corrymeela became an important peace organization in Northern Ireland.
The whole of Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, rather wetter in the west than the east, although cloud cover is persistent across the region.
Unionists are in the majority in Northern Ireland, though Nationalists represent a significant minority.
In 2000, agriculture accounted for 2.4 percent of economic output in Northern Ireland, compared to 1 percent in the United Kingdom as a whole.
Northern Ireland consists of six counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone, although these counties are no longer used for local government purposes.
Increased government focus on the problems of Northern Ireland led, in 1993, to the two prime ministers signing the Downing Street Declaration.
The IRA was unimpressed and increased their violence, while unionists were outraged at the participation of nationalists in the government of Northern Ireland and at the cross-border Council of Ireland.
The best known traditional dish in Northern Ireland is the Ulster fry.
The Deputy Leader of the SDLP, Seamus Mallon, became Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, though his party's new leader, Mark Durkan, subsequently replaced him.
A boundary commission was established to review the borders between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.
A final report was never issued, and the boundaries of Northern Ireland were confirmed as those marked by the six counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone.
The valley of the River Lagan is dominated by Northern Ireland's capital city, Belfast, whose metropolitan area included 276,459 people in 2001, over a third of the population of Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland football team also uses the Ulster Banner as its flag.
Six of the nine Ulster counties in the north-east formed Northern Ireland and the remaining three counties joined those of Leinster, Munster and Connacht to form Southern Ireland.
At the Commonwealth Games, the Northern Ireland team uses the Ulster Banner as its flag and Danny Boy is used as its National Anthem.
Northern Ireland artists include painter Basil Blackshaw, painter and sculptor John Kindness, Irish Impressionist painter Sir John Lavery, sculptor Eilнs O'Connell, and painter Neil Shawcross.
Northern Ireland has had constant population movement with parts of western Scotland.
Fiscally a part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland's official currency is the British pound sterling.
Northern Ireland has the smallest economy of any of the 12 regions of the United Kingdom, at Ђ37.3-billion, or about two-thirds of the size of the next smallest, North East England.
All schools in the state follow the Northern Ireland Curriculum which is based on the National Curriculum used in England and Wales.
Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of the speaker.
People from Northern Ireland are British citizens by birth in the UK to at least one parent who is a UK permanent resident or citizen, or by naturalization.
Most of Northern Ireland's trade is with other parts of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, which is its leading export market, as well as Germany, France, and the United States.
Ulster Unionist party leader David Trimble became First Minister of Northern Ireland.
After the introduction of internment without trial for suspected IRA men in August 1971, the SDLP members withdrew from the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and a widespread campaign of civil disobedience began.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) (in 2007 there were 55 unionists, 28 republicans, 16 nationalists, and nine others).
Many believe this to be the result of Northern Ireland's portrayal as a warzone in the media, by both British and International during this period.
Of these different industries, one of the most notable is that of Northern Ireland's fine linens, which is considered as one of the most well-known throughout Europe.
Most of the population of Peru follow the World Cup tournament on television.
The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), a voluntary organization, promotes, develops and supports Integrated Education in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by services, primarily the public sector.
Other sports, such as soccer, have separate organizing bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The national anthem played at state events in Northern Ireland is "God Save the Queen."
Loyalist paramilitaries focused their campaign within Northern Ireland, claiming a few Republican paramilitary casualties.
None of the hills are especially high, with Slieve Donard in the dramatic Mournes reaching 2782 feet, (848 meters), Northern Ireland's highest point.
Education in Northern Ireland differs slightly from systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
The fauna of Northern Ireland is similar to that of Great Britain, with fewer species.
Not everyone in Northern Ireland regards themselves as being Irish, particularly not Protestants.
The Ulster Banner has not been used by the government since the abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Despite its small geographical size, Northern Ireland prolifically produces internationally renowned writers and poets from a wide variety of disciplines.
The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should be called "Derry" or "Londonderry."
At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either the Ireland or Great Britain team.
Northern Ireland is known for the political art of the Bogside Artists, a trio of mural painters, living and working in Derry, Northern Ireland.
Other industries such as papermaking, furniture manufacturing, aerospace and shipbuilding are also important, concentrated mostly in the eastern parts of Northern Ireland.
Agriculture in Northern Ireland is heavily mechanized, thanks to high labor costs and heavy capital investment, both from private investors and the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy.
The Protestant majority of the six counties of Northern Ireland, which wanted continuation of the union for all Ireland, it settled for Home Rule for the north.
The centerpiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 151 square miles (392 square kilometers) the largest freshwater lake both on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles.
The Belfast Blitz occurred on Easter Tuesday, April 15, 1941, when 200 German Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland system emphasizes a greater depth of education compared to the English and Welsh systems.
Under the Treaty, Northern Ireland could opt out of the Free State and stay within the United Kingdom, which it promptly did.
At A-Level, one third of students in Northern Ireland achieved A grades in 2007, compared to one quarter in England and Wales.
Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Йireann) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, and consists of six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster.
Northern Ireland covers 5,459 square miles (14,139 square kilometers), about a sixth of the island's total area, or a little larger than the U.S. state of Maryland.
On October 13, 2006, the agreement was concluded in which Sinn Fйin would fully endorse the police in Northern Ireland, and the DUP will share power with Sinn Fйin.
Northern Ireland was relatively peaceful for most of the period from 1924 until the late 1960s, except for some brief flurries of IRA activity.
Northern Ireland also elects delegates to the European Parliament (the legislative branch of the European Union).
The Union Flag and former governmental Flag of Northern Ireland appear in some loyalist areas, with the Irish national flag of the Republic of Ireland, the tricolor, appearing in some republican areas.
Northern Ireland's legal and administrative systems were adopted from those in place in pre-partition United Kingdom, and was developed by its government from 1922 until 1972.