DUBLIN

Dublin is the largest city and the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It is located near the middle of the east coast of Ireland, at the estuary of River Liffey and at the core of the Dublin Region. Dublin was founded as a Viking settlement and since then it has been the major city of Ireland for most of its history since the medieval times. In the 18th century, Dublin experienced a rapid growth when it attained its status as one of the great cities in Europe. Nowadays Dublin is the center of the government, economy, culture and tourism of Ireland. It has one of the fastest growing populations and the fastest growing economy in Europe. Dublin has more than a million inhabitants and it has booming industries in communications and technology, banking, pharmaceuticals, textiles, food processing, electrical supplies, machine tools and glass. It is also the country’s shopping capital and the location of one of the largest breweries in the world.

The common name for the city in Modern Irish is 'Baile Átha Cliath' ('The Settlement of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles'). 'Áth Cliath' is a place-name referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of Heuston Station. 'Baile Átha Cliath' was later applied to an early Christian monastery which is believed to have been situated in the area of Aungier Street currently occupied by St Valentine's (R.C.) church. Due to its length, it is sometimes abbreviated as BÁC.

The subsequent Scandinavian settlement was on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, to the East of Christchurch, in the area known as Wood Quay. The Dubh Linn was a lake used by the Scandinavians to moor their ships and was connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle were covered during the early 1800s, and as the city expanded they were largely forgotten about. The Dubh Linn was situated in the area of the park of the Chester-Beaty Library in Dublin Castle.