course of Irish History the
native Irish were disposessed
and driven from their lands on
Ireland's rich central plains
and lush lowlands. They were
pushed westwards towards a
rocky, barren and infertile
seaboard. It is said that
Cromwell's soldiers offered the
fleeing Irish peasant farmers a
stark choice - "To Hell or to
Connacht?" Thousands of
acres of some of the most
granted to a new landlord
class.
Independence a native Irish
government sought to redress
this centuries-old imbalance
and in the 1930's the vast
estates of the former and
mostly absentee landlords
were divided and re-
distributed to farmers living on
uneconomic holdings.