Ireland is divided into four ancient provinces. On this map: 1) Ulster is light brown and dark brown, 2) Leinster is gray, 3) Munster is blue, and 4) Connacht (Connaught) is purple.

Looking at a map, it’s easy to see that Ireland is smaller than Great Britain. Comparing populations, though, takes a little more work. Here are some statistics I recently pulled together to make a comparison.

The first island-wide census of Ireland was conducted in 1821. Every ten years thereafter, a census was conducted up through 1911, but only the 1901 and 1911 census records survive in their entirety. This makes the 1901 Irish census the oldest surviving complete census of all thirty-two counties in Ireland.

This satellite view of Ireland was taken from NASA’s Aqua satellite on October 11th, 2010, an unusually cloud-free day for that time of year.

During the Great Irish Famine of 1845 to 1851, a blight destroyed Ireland’s potato crop, the main staple food for the country’s impoverished agricultural laborers and tenant farmers. One million Irish died from starvation and related diseases during the famine, and another one and a half to two million emigrated.

Inspired by the revolutions in America and France, a group of reformers in Belfast, Ireland organized the Society of United Irishmen in 1791.