Economics is all about measuring in measurable. I was reading this week about "scientific racism" in Victorian England, where people tried to develop mathematical measures of how close various peoples came to being Africans. These measures showed the Irish were almost Black. Such matters were taken very seriously and the time.
The English tried very hard to make the Irish, umm, English, but the English in Ireland just kept on becoming Irish no matter what they did -- until, of course, the Elizabethans. Oppression of the Irish people really accelerated with the Elizabethans, and by the time the Victorians rolled around, the oppression was well established.
Throughout the history of Ireland, invader after invader came and eventually absorbed themselves into the native population of Ireland. They ALL became Irish. First it was the Celts who were actually very friendly invaders from the beginning. Then the Vikings came, less friendly at first but eventually joined the Celts and became Irish. The last of the more hostile Normans, came, fought, conquered, and then became Irish. The Anglos (Old English) also adopted Gaelic practices until the Tudors and specifically the Elizabethans began to give landed titles in Ireland in exchange for the abandonment of Gaelic governing customs and culture. The Elizabethans also established "presidencies" for crying out loud in Connaught and Munster -- something like Wales. But the worst and most detrimental practice to the Irish was an "ethnic cleansing" style colonization in Ulster and Munster.
Diane "Kathleen O'Ciardha" Monaco :)
