History of Belfast

Situated between towering Cave Hill (the inspiration for Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’) and the wide, meandering Lough, Belfast’s distinctive location not only helps form its open, attractive character but has played a vital part in enabling it to become one of the world’s great ports.

Although there is evidence of people living in the Belfast area as far back as the Stone Age, it was only in the 17^th century that it began to grow from a small settlement to an important town. Modern Belfast can be said to date from 1613, when King James 1 granted a Royal Charter to Sir Arthur Chichester, incorporating it as a borough. He also permitted the building of Donegall Quay, where the Lagan and Farset rivers meet (Belfast gets its name from Béal Feirste, the Gaelic for ‘mouth of the Farset), thus beginning its development as a port.

Belfast grew steadily during the 18^th century, when it was still largely dominated by Presbyterian merchants, many of whose ancestors had been brought from Scotland to Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster. It was at the end of this century that the first great Belfast shipbuilder, William Ritchie, set up business. It was during the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century that Belfast’s astonishing transformation took place, its population growing from little more than 20,000 at the beginning of the century to over 350,000 by the end. Many thousands, Catholic and Protestant alike, were drawn from the countryside to work and the city expanded rapidly. Many linen mills were built, including the world’s largest in York Street, as Belfast became the world’s leading manufacturer of fine linen, earning itself the title ‘Linenopolis’.

Belfast became one of the great shipbuilding ports too, and by the time Harland & Wolff built what was then the largest and most luxurious ship in the world, RMS Titanic (whose maiden and final voyage was in 1912), Belfast led the world in a number of industries, including the manufacture of tobacco and rope.

The great wealth of Belfast’s industrialists was reflected in the many magnificent Victorian and Edwardian buildings you can still see today. Greatest of all is City Hall, opened in 1906 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s award of city status to Belfast in 1888.

With its mixed Catholic and Protestant populations, Belfast bore much of the brunt of the recent Troubles (1969 to 1996). Reminders of that era can still be seen in the political murals of areas like the Protestant Shankill Road and Catholic Falls Road. But since the peace process kicked in the transformation of Belfast has been little short of astonishing. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been invested in new visitor attractions, hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs to complement the city’s popular traditional attractions. The influential Lonely Planet guidebook, which listed Belfast as one of its top ten ‘Cities on the Rise’, summed the city up best – ‘hip, historical and happening’.

Lonely Planet also recently confirmed Ireland as the world’s friendliest destination, and the people of Belfast - warm, genuine, funny and hospitable - are the city’s greatest visitor attraction. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that Belfast was voted second most popular city in the United Kingdom by readers of the Observer and Guardian papers.