Was Ireland England’s First Colony?
In many respects Ireland to Elizabeth I’s Protestant Christian England is very much like Iraq to Ahmadinejad’s Shia Muslim Iran, and -- disregarding the oilfields -- if Ahmadinejad were to extend Iranian rule into Iraq it would be largely for the same reason that Elizabeth extended English rule into Ireland. It would be a purely strategic political decision, to prevent being sandwiched between nations ruled by the same dominant religious-political power – in Ahmadinejad’s case the Sunni Muslims of Saudi Arabia, and in Elizabeth’s case the Pope in Rome.
Ireland was a problem for Elizabeth because it was run by the catholic priests and had the potential to harbor subversives and act as a launching pad for a foreign-backed western invasion – which, along with an eastern invasion from France or Spain would have destroyed England.
By extending English crown control over Ireland – and suppressing rebellions – Ireland could be seen as England's first colony but it was not colonized or plundered in the same sense that later colonies were; and real oppression of the Irish came under Oliver Cromwell, not Elizabeth I.
Read the full story Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
Ireland was a problem for Elizabeth because it was run by the catholic priests and had the potential to harbor subversives and act as a launching pad for a foreign-backed western invasion – which, along with an eastern invasion from France or Spain would have destroyed England.
By extending English crown control over Ireland – and suppressing rebellions – Ireland could be seen as England's first colony but it was not colonized or plundered in the same sense that later colonies were; and real oppression of the Irish came under Oliver Cromwell, not Elizabeth I.
Read the full story Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
Labels: act of uniformity, bloody mary, catholics, church of england, elizabeth i, england, henry viii, ireland, protestants, spanish armada, spanish inquisition, tudors, western civilization
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