The Plantation of Ulster was a major colonial enterprise that transformed a formerly rebellious province into a stronghold for the British Crown in Ireland. The process of how Ulster became Protestant saw the native Gaelic Irish population being evicted in favor of English and Scottish settlers while large tracts of land were also granted to merchants, soldiers, and nobles. The resulting demographic changes have directly impacted the political landscape of the British Isles, with six counties of Ulster remaining part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.Ireland in the Early 17th CenturyBattle between English and Gaelic forces in The Image of Irelande by John Derrick, 1581. Source: Edinburgh University LibraryThe 16th century was one of great change for Ireland. The religious violence of the continent arrived on the island after the Tudors had embraced the Reformation while the native Irish largely remained with the Catholic faith. Warfare also intensified on the island. At the start of the 1500s, both sides had preferred bows but by the end of the century firearms were predominant in both English and Irish armies.Numerous wars had raged across the island and the Desmond Wars devastated the southern half of the country during the second half of the 1500s. These were followed by the cataclysmic Nine Years War which saw the end of the Gaelic order and the establishment of English rule over the entire island. During this period Ireland experienced famine, war, and disease, as well as foreign armies landing on her shores after the island was dragged into larger-scale conflicts such as the Anglo-Spanish War.The Nine Years War had devastated the country, no area left untouched by the violence. Although the Gaelic nobility had submitted, there remained the potential for the outbreak of further hostilities. The conflict had nearly bankrupted the Crown and the new king, James I, was eager to ensure there would not be another one. James had a prejudiced view of Gaels, both in Ireland and Scotland. He resolved to revive a popular tactic of colonial control, plantation, seeking to civilize the more moderate Gaels while removing or destroying those he saw as barbarians.The Process of Plantation17th Century Plantation of Ulster. Source: Ulster Historical FoundationPlantation was a process where the native Gaelic or Irish population was evicted and their land was granted to incoming English and Scottish settlers. The land chosen was typically of great economic or strategic value, while the original Gaelic occupants were evicted to upland areas full of bogs and hills. Planters had to abide by certain conditions to take this offer, and many were forbidden from having Gaelic tenants on their land. In practice this did not always happen and it took decades in some cases for planters to finally clear their lands of Gaelic Irish families.Plantations had been attempted before in counties such as Laois and Offaly and most of the province of Munster. A failure to attract settlers and subsequent rebellions led to their failure. Ulster was to be the most successful and long lasting of the plantations. Settlers had been outnumbered, with a hostile native population surrounding them. Ireland was extremely forested at this time and rebels would use the woods as cover for ambushes and raids on the English settlements. Similarly, in Scotland, protracted resistance in the Highlands and Islands could impede or ruin an English colony. The Flight of the Earls removed any prospect of organized resistance in Ulster.Incoming settlers generally took the land under certain conditions, often serving the role of a supplementary garrison to regular armed forces. They were required to own weapons and towns were fortified with even villages boasting a small fort or stronghold. Planter settlements were intermixed with Irish ones in order to civilize them by converting them to Protestantism and compelling them to abandon their native Gaelic tongue for English.The PlantersMap of Northern Irelands Catholic Population based on 2001 census data by Dr Sunil Prasannan of Imperial College London, 2001. Source: Ulster UniversityThe settlers who took advantage of the Ulster Plantation came from diverse backgrounds. Early attempts at settlement in the province had been undertaken by Scots from the Highlands and Islands who, sharing a common language with the Gaelic Irish (Scottish and Irish Gaelic being related dialects) had encountered much less hostility as both sides had intermarried and alternately warred and traded with each other. Those coming across in the early 1600s were cut from a much different cloth. They tended to be from England or the English-speaking Scottish Lowlands.The first type were referred to as undertakers as they undertook to plant British settlers on the confiscated lands. Undertakers were generally wealthy English or Scottish who were required to bring across at least ten families for every 1,000 acres they took. They were also required to fortify their holdings and maintain an armed militia. Another type were servitors, generally ex-soldiers or officials who had served in Ireland. They received smaller estates but unlike undertakers could have both Irish and British tenants on their land.Other settlers included Protestant clerics, wealthy merchants, and most surprisingly of all, some Gaelic Irish lords. These were typically supporters of the Crown during the war and were rewarded with land for their loyalty. However they were subject to the highest rents in order to keep them from growing too powerful. Land grants to native Irishmen were also generally smaller than those to planters from Britain.Impact on the Gaelic IrishTyrone in 1609 prior to plantation. Source: Public Record Office of Northern IrelandDespite James grim design, the act of plantation in Ulster (and across Ireland) proved hard to implement. It would take some decades for the process to be completed. In Laois only 289 families could be evicted over four years as the local English garrison lacked the manpower to enforce the policy. Many undertakers also initially disobeyed the prohibitions against employing local Irish as they had no wish to leave much of their land unworked. A decade on from the start of the plantation, a surveyor was horrified to find only 866 British families on a Tyrone undertakers land alongside some 1,200 Irish families.This casual attitude in the quiet years after the war was to have ramifications in 1641 when a new conflict broke out in Ireland. Until then, little violence was offered as the Gaelic population had been devastated in the Nine Years War. Troublemakers were also regularly exiled from the island. 6,000 Irish were shipped off to fight for Charles IX in Sweden in his wars with Poland and Russia, with 1,300 itinerant swordsmen alone transported in 1609.Although some Irish retained their land, there was a noticeable cluster of Gaelic settlement on poorer land of higher altitude, generally with 500 feet above sea level as the dividing line between Irish lands above and British lands below. Even where mixed settlement was tolerated, the Irish were segregated by allocating them the poorer, more isolated land. Pressure was also put on Irish tenants to convert to Protestantism and speak English instead of Irish, part of the kings civilizing mission.Expansion and GrowthCity plan of Derry (Londonderry) by Thomas Philips, 1836. Source: Public Record Office of Northern IrelandMany towns in Ulster on both sides of the border date from the time of the plantations. By 1660, nearly 90% of British settlers lived within five miles of a market center. Derry was rebuilt in 1618 by the London merchants with walls that made it the envy of any fortress in Ireland. Coleraine and Carrickfergus received similar fortifications. Smaller settlements were based on a triangular or irregularly shaped green (known as diamonds) with houses constructed around them, usually with a fort or castle nearby. Settlements also would have a church.There was an English/Scottish border influence in the design of some settlements as some planters originated from the Border Reivers, clans of marauders who prior to the unification of England and Scotland had made a living by raiding their neighbors. Transplanted to Ulster, they were ideal as settlers. Their fortified homes were designed like a mini castle, not designed for a fully fledged siege but enough to withstand raids.As settlement expanded, the economic exploitation of the region began. Prior to the Tudor conquest, Gaelic Ireland had a localized redistributive economy. Some surplus would find its way to the market but foreign trade was predominantly from the Anglo-Irish towns. Exports increased dramatically as the plantations grew. Wool exports to Chester had only been around 1,000 kilograms in the late 1580s but by 1639 over 40,000 kilograms of wool was being exported annually. Land prices also dramatically increased from seven or eight times the annual rent to nearly twenty times by the 1630s.Effects Still Felt TodayWar on the Home Front by Don McCullin, 1971. Source: National Galleries of ScotlandAlthough Ireland in the 21st century is a modern nation with many cultures, the effects of the plantations, particularly the Ulster plantation are still visible and felt today. Ulster (three counties in Ireland with another six in Northern Ireland) still has a much higher percentage of Protestants than the rest of the island. The Protestant minority in the other provinces also tend to be from other denominations while Presbyterianism continues to be the predominant denomination within Northern Ireland.This cultural conflict was to cause much violence over the next centuries. When Ireland erupted into violence in 1641 as part of the wider Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Ulster was the site of conflict between Irish Confederates, Scottish Covenanters, and English Parliamentarians and Royalists. Similarly, the Williamite War in 1689 saw much violence in Ulster. The descendants of planters sided with William of Orange and some still celebrate his victory at the Battle of the Boyne. During the Rebellion of 1798, Ulster was the site of further conflict as the United Irishmen were active in counties Antrim and Down.The presence of a large ethnically and religiously distinct minority in the northeast of the island influenced the 1921 partition of Ireland after the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921. Perhaps the most well known struggle arising from the Plantation of Ulster has been the 20th century Troubles, a sustained period of sectarian conflict over three decades which continues to impact the British Isles to this day. The Plantation of Ulster four centuries ago has left obvious marks in the language, religion, and even in the very landscape of the region.