The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with

several navigable rivers extending inland. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild but changeable
climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the
Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of
over 33%,[7] and most of it is non-native conifer plantations.[8][9] There are twenty-six extant mammal
species native to Ireland.[10] The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very
moderate,[11] and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are
cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.

The earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC (12,500 years ago).[12] Gaelic
Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onward.
Following the 12th century Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did
not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation
by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially
disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th
century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of
independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, creating the Irish
Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern Ireland,
which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late
1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of
Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland, as
part of it, did the same.