where did irish people come from?
Ireland
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 Over the past 1200 years , Vikings , Normans , Welsh , Flemings , Scots , English , Africans , Eastern Europeans and South Americans have all added to the population and have had significant influences on Irish culture . 

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 People have lived in Ireland for over 9 @,@ 000 years . The different eras are termed mesolithic , neolithic , Bronze Age , and Iron Age . 

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 Emigration from Ireland in the 19th century contributed to the populations of England , the United States , Canada and Australia , where a large Irish diaspora lives . As of 2006 , 4 @.@ 3 million Canadians , or 14 % of the population , are of Irish descent . As of 2013 , a total of 34 @.@ 5 million Americans claim Irish ancestry . 

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 The long @-@ standing traditional view , once widely accepted , is that Celtic language , Ogham script and culture were brought to Ireland by waves of invading or migrating Celts from mainland Europe . This theory draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn , a medieval Christian pseudo @-@ history of Ireland along with the presence of Celtic culture , language and artefacts found in Ireland such as Celtic bronze spears , shields , torcs and other finely crafted Celtic associated possessions . The theory holds that there were four separate Celtic invasions of Ireland . The Priteni were said to be the first , followed by the Belgae from northern Gaul and Britain . Later , Laighin tribes from Armorica ( present @-@ day Brittany ) were said to have invaded Ireland and Britain more or less simultaneously . Lastly , the Milesians ( Gaels ) were said to have reached Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern Gaul . It was claimed that a second wave named the Euerni , belonging to the Belgae people of northern Gaul , began arriving about the sixth century BC . They were said to have given their name to the island . 

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 The earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10 @,@ 500 BC . Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD and lasted until the First World War . The island was Christianised from the 5th century onward . Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century , England claimed sovereignty over Ireland . 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 . 
