Dublin is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, 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 centre of Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's capital since mediæval times.
The city of Dublin is the entire area administered by Dublin City Council. However, when most people talk about 'Dublin', they also refer to the contiguous suburban areas that run into the adjacent counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. This area is sometimes known as 'Urban Dublin' or the 'Dublin Metropolitan Area'.
The population of the administrative area controlled by Dublin City Council was 505,739 at the census of 2006. At the same census the Dublin Region population was 1,186,159, and the Greater Dublin Area 1,661,185.
A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or colloquially as a Dub, or, mildly pejoratively, a Jackeen.
In a 2003 European-wide survey by the BBC, questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin was the best capital city in Europe to live in, and the Republic of Ireland the most content country in Europe.
Dublin is the fourth most visited capital city in Europe (after Paris, London and Edinburgh) with over four million visitors a year.
Name
The name Dublin is an Anglicisation of 'Dubh Linn' (Irish, meaning 'black pool'). Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot (buailte in Irish) over the 'b', viz 'Duḃ Linn' or 'Duḃlinn'. The Norman-speaking English omitted the dot and spelled the name variously as 'Develyn' or 'Dublin'.
History
The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Ptolemy, provide perhaps the earliest reference to 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 of was established in about 841 by the Norse. 'Baile Átha Cliath' or simply 'Áth Cliath' was founded in 988, and the two towns eventually became one.
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 Ireland's capital, with much of the power centring 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.
After The Emergency (World War II), Dublin remained a capital out of time: modernisation was slow, but finally the 1960s saw change begin. In recent years the infrastructure of Dublin has changed immensely, with enormous private and state development of housing, transport, and business. Some well-known Dublin street corners are still named for the pub or business which used to occupy the site before closure or redevelopment.
From 1922, following the partition of Ireland, it served as the capital of the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and now as the capital of the Republic of Ireland. (Many of these states co-existed or competed within the same timeframe as rivals within either British or Irish constitutional theory.)
Climate
Dublin enjoys a maritime temperate climate characterised by mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Contrary to popular belief, Dublin does not experience as high rainfall as the West of Ireland, which receives twice that of the capital city. Dublin has fewer rainy days, on average, than London. The average maximum January temperature is 8°C (46°F), the average maximum July temperature is 20°C (68°F). The sunniest months, on average, are May and June, with six hours of sunshine daily (though daylight in these months is a lot more). The wettest months, on average, are December and August, with 74 mm (2.9 inches) of rain. The driest month is April, with 45 mm (1.7 inches). The total average annual rainfall (and other forms of precipitation) is 762 mm (29.5 inches), lower than Sydney, New York City and even Dallas. Due to Dublin's high latitude, it experiences long summer days (around 19 hours of daylight) and short winter days (as short as nine hours). Like the rest of Ireland it is relatively safe from common natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Culture
Dublin is a major European cultural centre and the origin of many prominent literary figures, including Jonathan Swift, Maeve Binchy, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, J.M. Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Seán O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, and Roddy Doyle. Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce about incidents and characters typical of residents of the city in the early part of the 20th century. Ulysses, also by Joyce, is a novel set in Dublin, full of topographical detail and is both acclaimed and controversial.
The National Print Museum of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, both the National Gallery and the National Library of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and three centres of the National Museum of Ireland are in Dublin.
There are a number of galleries and art centres in the city centre, such as The City Arts Centre, Four, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, The Project Arts Centre and The Royal Hibernian Academy.
Temple Bar is a popular night-life location and attracts many people from Great Britain and beyond for weekend visits.
The city is one of the most youthful in the world — an estimated 50% of inhabitants are younger than 25.
Economy
Media and communications in Ireland, with many newspapers, radio stations, television stations and telephone companies having their headquarters there. Radio Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) is Ireland's national state broadcaster, and has its main offices and studios in Donnybrook, Dublin. Fair City is the broadcaster's capital-based soap, located in the fictional Dublin suburb of Carraigstown. TV3, Channel 6, City Channel, Sky News Ireland and Setanta Sports are also based in Dublin. The main infrastructure and offices of An Post and the former state telephone company Eircom, as well as Meteor, Vodafone and O2 are located in the capital. Dublin is also the headquarters of important national newspapers such as The Irish Times and Irish Independent.
Probably the most famous industry in Dublin is brewing: Guinness has been brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759.
During the Celtic Tiger years of the mid to late nineties a large number of pharmaceutical and information technology companies have located in Dublin and its suburbs and there are many Information and Communications Technology companies operating in and around the city.
Dublin is at the centre of Ireland's economy, and in 2004 the Greater Dublin Area contributed over €69.6 billion (US$92 billion) to the total Irish GDP, or around 45%. Banking, finance and commerce are also important in the city — the IFSC alone handles over €1 trillion ($1.2 trillion) a year. And many international firms have established major headquarters in the city (eg. Citibank, Commerzbank). Also located in Dublin is the Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ), Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX) and Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX).
In 2005, around 800,000 people were employed in the Greater Dublin Area, of whom around 600,000 were employed in the services sector and 200,000 in the industrial sector.
