Early Modern Ireland: A British Atlantic Colony?

Abstract

AbstractThe question of whether Ireland should be viewed as a colony within the British Empire has been debated within Irish historiography in recent decades. The term has proven contentious, and alternatives have been suggested. However, there is considerable merit in viewing Ireland in the early modern period as a colony. The period witnessed major British plantation projects, but also increasing levels of violence, expropriation, and cultural and sectarian conflict. The consequences and contested legacies of these events would influence Ireland's historical development as it became integrated into an emerging British Atlantic world, and eventually the British Empire.