The Irish Diaspora Tales Of Emigration Exile And Imperialism

The Irish have always been a travelling people. In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of Christianity throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in all directions. Since 1800 an estimated 10 million people have left the Irish shores and today more than 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent. The advent of the British Empire ignited a slow but extraordinary exodus from Ireland. The pioneering explorers of the Tudor Age were soon overtaken in number by religious refugees, the Wild Geese who opted to live outside of the Protestant state and to take their chances in the Spanish or French empires, or in America. The Irish played a pivotal role in the foundation of the United States of America, just as they would in the Civil War that followed eighty-five years later. The lives of Irish emigrants wove in and out of the major events of global history, including the Abbé Edgeworth, confessor to King Louis XVI at his execution during the French Revolution; Margaretta Eagar, governess to the daughters of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia; and William Lamport, who travelled from County Wexford to Central America, and became Don Guillén, a martyr for Mexican independence. Turtle Bunbury explores the lives of those men and women, great and otherwise, whose journeys whether driven by faith, a desire for riches and adventure, or purely for survival have left their mark on the world.

Explore the lives of over forty men and women - great and otherwise - whose pioneering journeys beyond the Irish shore played a profound role in world history.The Irish have always been a travelling people. Since 1800 an estimated 10 million people have left the Irish shores, and today more than 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent. In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of Christianity throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in all directions. The advent of the British Empire ignited a slow but extraordinary exodus from Ireland that has continued to the present. In his inimitable fashion, Turtle Bunbury explores the lives of those men and women, great and otherwise, whose journeys - whether driven by faith, a desire for riches and adventure, or purely for survival - have left their mark on the world.

The compelling story of the great Irish pioneers who left their homeland and in the process profoundly influenced their adoptive countries. From the first voyages of Saint Brendan in the early sixth century, an estimated 10 million people have left the Irish shores for other countries, and today, more than 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent. In the centuries after the fall of Rome, Irish missionaries carried the word of the Christian God throughout Europe, while soldiers and mariners from across the land ventured overseas in all directions. The advent of the British Empire ignited a slow but extraordinary exodus from Ireland. These "Wild Geese" who opted to live outside of the Protestant state took their chances in the Spanish and French empires, as well as in the fledgling New World. These immigrants played an important role wherever they went: rising to high political and military positions in France and Spain, impacting the foundation of the United States, and fighting in the Civil War that followed it nearly eighty years later. Other Irish would come to the fore in business, science, engineering, and the arts, while some were destined for infamy as mobsters and gunslingers. Historian Turtle Bunbury explores the lives of these men and women, great and otherwise, whose pioneering journeys beyond the Irish shore have played a profound role in world history and have left their indelible mark far beyond Ireland. Throughout The Irish Diaspora, Bunbury takes these overlooked events and characters and weaves them into an entertaining, and often surprising, history of the Irish abroad.

A sweeping history of all the places the Irish went when they left Ireland by one of the best known Irish historians in the world.

A history of the Irish migrant experience across the globe, as told through real-life stories from throughout the centuries. Ireland is known worldwide as a country that produced emigrants. The existence of the Irish “diaspora” is the subject of this fifth installment of the Irish Perspectives series. From the early Christian era, Irish missionaries traveled across Europe. From the early modern period, Irish soldiers served across the world in various European armies and empires. And in the modern era, Ireland’s position on the edge of the Atlantic made Irish emigrants amongst the most visible migrants in an era of mass migration. Ranging from Europe to Africa to the Americas and Australia, this anthology explores the lives and experiences of Irish educators, missionaries, soldiers, insurgents, from those who simply sought a better life overseas to those with little choice in the matter, all establishing an Irish presence across the globe as they did so.

Fascinating account of the Irish diaspora from early times to the present.