Ulster

Ulster Ulaidh (Irish) Ulstèr (Ulster-Scots)
Flag Coat of arms
Sovereign states	United Kingdom Republic of Ireland
Counties	Antrim (UK) Armagh (UK) Cavan (ROI) Donegal (ROI) Down (UK) Fermanagh (UK) Londonderry (UK) Monaghan (ROI) Tyrone (UK)
Government
• MEPs[b]	1 Sinn Féin MEP 2 Fine Gael MEPs 1 Independent MEP
• UK MPs and RoI TDs	7 Sinn Féin MPs 5 DUP MPs 2 SDLP MPs 1 Alliance MP 1 UUP MP 1 TUV MP 1 Independent MP 4 Sinn Féin TDs 3 Fianna Fáil TDs 2 Fine Gael TDs 1 Independent TDs
• MLAs	27 Sinn Féin MLAs 25 DUP MLAs 8 SDLP MLAs 9 UUP MLAs 17 Alliance MLAs 1 PBP MLA 1 TUV MLA 4 Independent MLAs [1]
• Councillors (NI) and Councillors (ROI)	122 DUP Cllrs 105 Sinn Féin Cllrs 75 UUP Cllrs 59 SDLP Cllrs 53 Alliance Cllrs 8 Green Cllrs 6 TUV Cllrs 5 People Before Profit Cllrs 3 PUP Cllr 2 Aontú Cllr 1 CCLA Cllr 24 Independent Cllrs 24 Fianna Fáil Cllrs 17 Sinn Féin Cllrs 17 Fine Gael Cllrs 1 Labour Cllr 1 Aontú Cllr 13 Independent Cllrs
Area
• Total	22,067 km2 (8,520 sq mi)
• Rank	2nd
Population  (2022 estimate[a])
• Total	2,217,176
• Rank	2nd
• Density	100/km2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC±0 (GMT/WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST/IST)
Postcodes	Northern Ireland: BT Donegal: Eircodes beginning with F Cavan and Monaghan: Eircodes beginning with A or H7
Telephone area codes	Northern Ireland: 028 (from Great Britain) 048 (from Republic of Ireland) +44-28 (from rest of world) Donegal: +353-74 Cavan and Monaghan: +353-4x
ISO 3166 code	IE-U (Republic of Ireland) GB-NIR (Northern Ireland)
Patron Saints: Finnian of Moville[2] and Columba a. ^ The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency[3] census of 2021 results (1,903,100) combined with the preliminary results of 2022 census of Ireland for Ulster (part of; 314,076).[4] b. ^ The counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal are part of the Midlands–North-West constituency (4 MEPs); these three counties contain 19.5% of the population of the constituency.[5] Following Brexit, as the United Kingdom left the EU, there are no MEPs from Northern Ireland.

Ulster (/ˈʌlstər/; Irish: Ulaidh [ˈʊlˠiː, ˈʊlˠə] or Cúige Uladh [ˌkuːɟə ˈʊlˠə, - ˈʊlˠuː]; Ulster Scots: Ulstèr^[6][7][8] or Ulster)^[9][10][11] is one of the four traditional or historic Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); the remaining three are in the Republic of Ireland.

It is the second-largest (after Munster) and second-most populous (after Leinster) of Ireland's four traditional provinces, with Belfast being its biggest city. Unlike the other provinces, Ulster has a high percentage of Protestants, making up almost half of its population. English is the main language and Ulster English the main dialect. A minority also speak Irish, and there are Gaeltachtaí (Irish-speaking regions) in County Donegal which is home to a quarter of the total Gaeltacht population of the Republic of Ireland.^[12] There are also large Irish-speaking networks in southern County Londonderry and in the Gaeltacht Quarter, Belfast. Ulster-Scots is also spoken extensively in Counties Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Tyrone and Donegal. Lough Neagh, in the east, is the largest lake in the British Isles, while Lough Erne in the west is one of its largest lake networks. The main mountain ranges are the Mournes, Sperrins, Croaghgorms and Derryveagh Mountains.

Historically, Ulster lay at the heart of the Gaelic world made up of Gaelic Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. According to tradition, in ancient Ireland it was one of the fifths (Irish: cúige) ruled by a rí ruirech, or 'king of over-kings'. It is named after the overkingdom of Ulaid, in the east of the province, which was in turn named after the Ulaid folk. The other overkingdoms in Ulster were Airgíalla and Ailech. After the Norman invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, eastern Ulster was conquered by the Anglo-Normans and became the Earldom of Ulster. By the late fourteenth century the Earldom had collapsed and the O'Neill dynasty had come to dominate most of Ulster, claiming the title King of Ulster. Ulster became the most thoroughly Gaelic and independent of Ireland's provinces. Its rulers resisted English encroachment but were defeated in the Nine Years' War (1594–1603). King James I then colonised Ulster with English-speaking Protestant settlers from Great Britain, in the Plantation of Ulster. This led to the founding of many of Ulster's towns. The inflow of Protestant settlers and migrants also led to bouts of sectarian violence with Catholics, notably during the 1641 rebellion and the Armagh disturbances.

Along with the rest of Ireland, Ulster became part of the United Kingdom in 1801. In the early twentieth century, moves towards Irish self-rule were opposed by many Ulster Protestants, sparking the Home Rule Crisis. In the last all Ireland election (1918 Irish general election) counties Donegal and Monaghan returned large Sinn Féin (nationalist) majorities. Sinn Féin candidates ran unopposed in Cavan. Fermanagh and Tyrone had Sinn Féin/Nationalist Party (Irish Parliamentary Party) majorities. The other four Counties of Ulster had Unionist Party majorities.^[13] The home rule crisis and the subsequent Irish War of Independence led to the partition of Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Six Ulster counties became Northern Ireland, a self-governing territory within the United Kingdom, while the rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland.

The term Ulster has no official function for local government purposes in either state. However, for the purposes of ISO 3166-2:IE, Ulster is used to refer to the three counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan only, which are given country sub-division code "IE-U".^[14] The name is also used by various organisations such as cultural and sporting bodies.