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  • Hey everyone!

  • We've reached the land of 1/8 of my own heritage, Ireland,

  • which means I'm probably a far-off distant cousin of our favorite Irishman:

  • PEADAR!!!

  • For those who don't know,

  • PEADAR has helped us out with many of the animations in the past

  • and PEADAR been such a great guy

  • so we decided to fly PEADAR out here

  • to literally be in PEADAR'S own country's video.

  • PEADAR, you rock man!

  • Peadar: It's pronounced ''Padder''!

  • (Uhhh... what?)

  • [intro]

  • Barby: Ehh too late, I've been calling you Potter for like two years now.

  • I'm not changing my mind.

  • Anyway, we've reached Ireland!

  • Peadar: And I'm here to correct him if he gets on anything wrong. So don't worry lads.

  • Barby: Yeah, that is so true Potter.

  • [Peadar punches Barby]

  • Peadar: Ah so that's how that feels like.

  • POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

  • Ahh the Emerald Isle, Europe's rain shield, the McNugget.

  • Ireland is loaded with so many notable spots and regions

  • Barby: Hehe, and there's a town called ''Dingle''.

  • First of all, Ireland is the third largest island in Europe located in the North Atlantic Ocean

  • separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel

  • Barby: Ehehehaha, did you notice how I deliberately avoided British Isles?

  • Peadar: Yeah. Good call.

  • Barby: Now here is where things get a little confusing... Ireland's subdivisions...

  • Let's just get it over with quick and fast.

  • Peader: So when discussing the independent sovereign state,

  • most people are referring to the Republic of Ireland which makes up these 5/6 of the island and, unless mentioned otherwise,

  • this is the Ireland will be mostly discussing in this episode.

  • Barby: To this day, the last fifth Northern part of Ireland here is actually part of the UK

  • and it doesn't even quite know exactly what to label itself.

  • Some call it a province,

  • some say it's a region,

  • some say it's a constituent country,

  • but the point is, UK holds on to it.

  • Peadar: Which as you can imagine has created some interesting feelings in the past with the Irish.

  • Barby: It's weird though because the people here can choose their own citizenship:

  • be a British, Irish or both.

  • On the west side, the North Ireland border just juts into the farmlands ending at a small village called Manger

  • and provides a 7 kilometer wide quarter to the town of Bundoran

  • for the rest of the Republic to enter into Donegal County.

  • Peader: And then you have the strange pene-enclave, right across the Fin River

  • with only a tenth of a kilometer wide entrance,

  • the Ireland Grahdens is still part of Monaghan County.

  • This in return gave a small exclave to the UK, an unnamed patch of land with only three small farming homes.

  • Barby: The only way to get in besides swimming across the river would be by taking the most name switched International Road on the island,

  • the Irish N54

  • which turns into the A3 highway once you cross into Northern Ireland,

  • then it switches back into the N54 once you cross into the exclave

  • and it reverted back to the A3 again for about two kilometers

  • and then back to the N54 once you cross back into the Republic of Ireland.

  • So literally it's like Irish, British, Irish, British, Irish!

  • Peadar: Or as I like to call it...my dating life!

  • Also, the UK was like: ''Argh, instead of following the Foyle river all the way up to the Foyle lock,

  • why don't we just swerve left through the Farmland to take the entire city of Derry

  • because hey...

  • LOGIC!

  • Basically to an Irish person, the entire island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland is just...

  • IRELAND!

  • Barby: So if you consider the administrative divisions,

  • the Republic of Ireland is divided into 26 counties,

  • however, many also include the extra 6 from Northern Ireland and call it 32,

  • but then there's the two city and county councils, Limerick and Waterford,

  • and the three city councils: Dublin, Galway and Cork,

  • making 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland

  • and technically 37 again if you include Northern Ireland's counties

  • and the capital of Dublin.

  • Peader: Says, is that right?

  • Barby: OK, yeah, you know. I got that right, whoo!

  • Peadar: Historically though, Ireland was also kind of split into four provinces that many people still refer to today.

  • They are Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster.

  • Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster as it encompasses most of the counties that make up the historical province.

  • Otherwise, the largest cities after Dublin are Cork and Limerick

  • with the largest airports being Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

  • Keep in mind, if Northern Ireland was included in this, Belfast would take the number two spots on each of those lists.

  • Peadar: In addition to being an island itself, Ireland also hosts hundreds of smaller little islands and islets.

  • The most populated one being Great island by Cork, Achill Island in Mayo and Gorumna and the Aran islands in Galway.

  • Barby: Finally some places of interest across Ireland might include places like:

  • Trinity College,

  • the Guinness storehouse,

  • the Neolithic tomb of Newgrange which is older than the pyramids of Giza

  • Rock of Cashel,

  • Glendalough in Wicklow,

  • Blarney Stone of Cork,

  • Peadar: That island that was filmed up the end of Star Wars. It's called Skellig Michael,

  • Tory Island which kinda has like its own king,

  • Scotia's grave, where an Egyptian princess is buried supposedly

  • I didn't know about that one.

  • Barby: You didn't even know that. Wow!

  • I just found it off of Atlas Obscura.

  • The Mound of Hostages,

  • the Ceide Fields,

  • the Sky Garden,

  • the Hook Head lighthouse, the oldest continuously used lighthouse still operating in Europe.

  • Barby: You live right next to it?

  • Peadar: Yeah!

  • Barby: Sean's bar, the oldest surviving pub and possibly in the entire world.

  • Peadar: And of course way too many churches, abbeys, castles, dolmens, tombs, everything else to list.

  • Barby: Way too many of them.

  • Peadar: Way too many.

  • Barby: Oh, and avoid Temple Bar, right, in Dublin?

  • That's like a tourist trap and you can't actually meet any real Irish people there, it's...

  • just don't go there,

  • don't go to Temple Bar.

  • Peadar: Yeah, give it a miss. Go to Coppers

  • Barby: Coppers.

  • Ahhh beer! You guys know your way around the pint. Don't you?

  • Peadar: Oh, well Irish people do, but I don't actually drink...

  • Barby: No? Ok.

  • Peadar: ...after that man I killed.

  • Barby: Oh, yeah... wait, wha...?

  • PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

  • Ireland is very green.

  • THE END!

  • Peader: Alright, so there's a little bit more to it than that.

  • Ireland is a post-glacial carved mineral and sandstone island with about 12 small mountain ranges,

  • the majority of which are located in the north, west and south.

  • Peadar: You'll notice looking at the map that the east coast Ireland seems to be relatively smooth and straight

  • whereas the west coast of Ireland seems to be all choppy and surrounded with inlets and peninsulas.

  • Almost like if you took a ball of clay

  • and just spread it across a flat surface in one direction.

  • Barby: Hehe, One Direction...

  • Anyway the tallest peak is Mount Carrauntoohil, at about a thousand meters

  • Barby: and the longest and most important river being the river Shannon

  • Peader: and the largest large lake on the entire island being Loch Neagh in Northern Ireland,

  • However, if we're talking about the Republic of Ireland, the largest would be Loch Corrib in West Galway.

  • Barby: The west side is also home to the most notable natural landmark, the cliffs of Moher that rise about 120 meters straight up from the ocean

  • Peadar: Otherwise, you have the Slieve league cliffs, a bit further up north and in the UK's Northern Ireland, used to-

  • You have the Giant's Causeway, a series of hexagonal volcanic plug steps that just jot into the ocean side.

  • Barby: I love how you say that, Hexagonal.

  • Peader: Hexagonal.

  • Barby: Hexagonal, hexagonal.

  • Now despite being located fairly north in latitude,

  • Ireland actually experiences a strange weather phenomenon

  • in which it actually kind of acts like a rain shield for the UK.

  • It takes all the warm air released by the North Atlantic Gulf stream that starts all the way from the Caribbean.

  • This means that although Ireland is on the same relative latitude as Newfoundland, Canada,

  • they remain about 9 degree Celsius or about 17 degrees Fahrenheit warmer

  • rarely reaching the freezing point, which in return means they hardly ever get snow.

  • However that again in return, means Ireland gets a ton of rain.

  • Like seriously, over half the year is drenched,

  • you only get like two months of sunshine, and then it's back to the downpour.

  • I mean wouldn't that make you guys like kind of depressed?

  • Peadar: What do you think? Drinking is a thing in Ireland.

  • Speaking of which, the abundance of rain allows Ireland to actually flourish in flora and agriculture

  • giving it its trademark green colour.

  • Common crops being spuds (potatoes), sugar beets and grains like Barley oats and wheat

  • which as you can imagine has a large portion that goes for the most famous product beer,

  • BEER!!!

  • Barby: Ireland without beer is like Mexico without Tacos, Koreas without Kimchi

  • Argentinians without -salsa- (correction: tango),

  • Bob Saget without his telekinetic laser vision.

  • Peader: Yeah, beer culture is such an integral part of being Irish that even

  • priests and nuns get in on the action and share with a guest.

  • Barby: Which by the way, the Bible never condemns alcohol, just drunkenness.

  • So, know your limits.

  • Peader: Yeah, we go to confessional a lot.

  • Peader: Otherwise some top notable Irish dishes might include things like:

  • Boxty,

  • potato bread,

  • brown soda bread,

  • bacon and cabbage

  • too many soups to list like coddle and Irish stew,

  • black pudding

  • Oysters and Guinness

  • and overall you can find potatoes cooked in various ways would like everything.

  • Barby: In addition, Ireland is also the perfect habitat for about twenty six species of mammals like

  • the red fox,

  • European hedgehog,

  • the stoat,

  • Pygmy shrew

  • and badger

  • and the one land reptile that is native to the country: the viviparous lizard.

  • Peader: Speaking of which, no. The set story of St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland was probably not true.

  • Ireland most likely never had snakes due to its geographic isolation from the rest of Europe

  • and also St. Patrick probably wasn't Irish, he was Welsh.

  • Barby: Yeah, lots of misconceptions when it comes to Irish people,

  • Which brings us to:

  • DEMOGRAPHICS

  • Barby: Hey, so Potter, I-

  • [Peadar punches Barby]

  • Sorry, Peadar! So what does it mean to be Irish?

  • Peader: Oh, we're all about the craic in Ireland, so we are.

  • Barby: Yeah... cra- "craic?"

  • Peader: Craic every day and night of the week. We love the craic so and...

  • Police officer: DEA! FREEZE! Hands where I can see 'em!

  • Peader: Common misconception - see, we're not actually talking about drugs. We're talking...

  • Police officer: RESISTING ARREST!

  • Peader: DOOGH!!

  • Barby: First of all, Ireland has about 4.8 million people, over 6 million if you include Northern Ireland

  • and has the highest birth rate in the EU.

  • About 83% of the country identifies as ethnically Irish,

  • whereas about 9.5% are white of other nationalities,

  • whereas the remainder of the country is other groups like Asians, Blacks

  • and who knows, probably some magical wizards or something.

  • Peadar: So the country uses the Euro as their current currency,

  • they also use the type G plug outlet

  • and they drive on the left side of the road.

  • Barby: Now thanks to modern media, everyone probably has at least a little bit of exposure to the stereotypical Irish culture, one way or another.

  • You know like Riverdance or leprechauns or

  • river dancing leprechauns...

  • But there's an entire world to the deep-rooted Irish identity

  • First of all, the language.

  • Peadar: Technically Ireland or at least the "Republic of Ireland" is a bilingual country

  • that uses both Irish and English

  • although English is used far more often than Irish ever is.

  • The Irish language is related to other Celtic-based languages

  • spoken in Scotland, Wales

  • and to so extent, Brittany in France.

  • Barby: Just when you thought you were safe after the Iceland episode,

  • Irish comes along and suddenly, 'M' and 'H' make a 'V' sound.

  • ' D' and 'H' make a 'G' or 'Y' sound,

  • 'B', 'H' and 'F' sometimes make like a ''woo'' sound.

  • Peadar: Alright Paul, let's say you take a shot at saying these words.

  • Barby: All right!

  • [Barby is trying to pronounce the Irish words]

  • Peader: Nope, Ar Aghaidh Leat, it means ''Go on''

  • [Barby tries again]

  • Peader: Nice try. It's Tabhachtach, it means ''important''

  • [Third try]

  • Peader: No! Leithris. It means ''toilet''.

  • [Fourth try]

  • Peader: Actually that was just one I made up.

  • But I strike!

  • Barby: For a long time, the language was suppressed and discouraged by the English-speaking rulers

  • to the point where a couple of generations were greatly affected and grew up barely knowing their own native tongue.

  • Peadar: Today the language has seen a huge resurgence and is one of the core subjects in most primary and secondary schools.

  • Although less than half the population claims to be fluent in Irish,

  • there are only a few communities that actually speak it regularly in daily life.

  • The Irish language is still survives into the 21st century.

  • Barby: All the public signs are posted in both languages

  • They even have an Irish-speaking TV channel, radio station and even an online newspaper.

  • In order to get a real feel of Ireland though,

  • you kind of have to know a little bit of history, which will take way too long to explain,

  • but in the quickest way we can put it:

  • Stone Age,

  • Celtic culture comes in,

  • Chiefdoms,

  • High Kings,

  • Christianity

  • Vikings,

  • Normans,

  • castles got built,

  • Black Death,

  • Henry the 8th split from the Catholic Church and attacked,

  • Ulster plantation and quasi English rule,

  • Oliver Cromwell,

  • wars,

  • Theobald Wolf who led a failed rebellion,

  • potato famine,

  • tons move to the US and Scotland,

  • Gaelic Revival,

  • North doesn't agree,

  • conflict in persecution against Catholics,

  • Home Rule, Home Rule suspended,

  • World War I, -Eastern- Rising (correction: Easter Rising),

  • Ira fights,

  • Irish civil war,

  • free-staters won,

  • World War II, they remain mostly neutral,

  • 1969 Civil rights marches,

  • Northern Ireland gets more drama,

  • they join the EU,

  • Good Friday agreement,

  • Celtic tiger,

  • financial crisis, but they still grow and move forward.

  • Barby: And here we are today.

  • Peadar: As mentioned, the largest ethnic group people in Ireland,

  • the Irish!,

  • come from a long line of people known as the Celts or the Celtic.

  • Barby It's Celtic [/Keltic/] Boston, Ceeeeltic.

  • Peader: Not /Seltic/.

  • Barby: Thousands of years ago, the Celts roamed all across continental Europe,

  • however, the rise of Empires and warring people groups kind of pushed them all the way west into the isles

  • Peadar: and the Celts had an incredibly complex system of tribes or clans of families that dominated certain regions with their own chiefs and kings.

  • This is partially why so many people in Ireland have 'Mc'

  • or the almost exclusively Irish used 'O' prefix, prefixes in their last names which translates to son or descendant.

  • Prior to Christianity, Celts were primarily farmers and cattle herders with pagan and druid roots

  • Barby: ...with some controversial practices recorded by the Romans.

  • Peader: Christianity came in and then Catholicism played a huge role even to this day.

  • Barby: However certain ancient traditions still have done like the festival of Samhain...

  • Peader: Sounds.

  • Barby: Really?! But I thought M and H make a V sound!

  • Peader: No, it depends, sometimes it does, sometimes not.

  • Barby: Ah your language!

  • Peader: Samhain later became known as Halloween which became popularized and is celebrated all across the world today.

  • Barby: However, originally they used to use turnip lanterns, not pumpkins.

  • Peader: Folklore and tradition is strong.

  • We've all heard of leprechauns, but there's also Fionn mac Culhaill and Fiena of the fenian cycle,

  • Gu Chulaind the hound,

  • Diarmuid and Grainne is similar to the princess

  • Iseult and Tristan in Arthurian legend and so much more.

  • Barby: And the two most popular sports which are almost never played anywhere else in the world:

  • Oh, yeah, that's like uh... Irish Quidditch or something, right?

  • [Peadar hits Barby again]

  • Don't call it Quidditch. Oh yeah. This is a hurl.

  • Barby: Oh wow that's pretty cool. How do you play with that?

  • Peader: Why don't we ask Jason Statham?

  • Barby: Speaking of which, there is no universal Irish accent. You get different dialects from different regions.

  • For example:

  • [Peadar speaks Cork dialect]

  • [Peadar speaks Dublin dialect]

  • [Peadar speaks like Liam Neeson]

  • Barby: Thank God you came here

  • because I would have offended if the entire country and gotten stabbed within hours of upload if I attempted that.

  • Otherwise, some famous people of Irish descent might include people like:

  • chemist Robert Boyle,

  • the Irish Pewdiepie guy,

  • who might incorrectly refer to as "Philly Nott" in the Guyana episode.

  • Sorry about that! (Sorry!)

  • the dude from One Direction

  • Barby: I got that!

  • Peader: Nailed it!

  • from Northern Ireland Liam Neeson

  • and Michael Fassbender is half Irish, so I guess he kind of counts.

  • Peader: Yeah, some guy called Conor McGregor,

  • Barby: Yeah Conor McGregor

  • Oh, according to that one Malaysian guy from Flag Friday: Westlife and Boyzone

  • Otherwise, we could go on and on about the rich complex layers of

  • music, dance, literature, symbolism, artifacts, traditions, festivals, clothing, customs and legends,

  • but that would take way too long.

  • And if you want to know more, just watch any episode of Fair City or Father Ted.

  • Peadar: Or you could just like talk to an Irish person as well.

  • Barby: Nah, TV is better, TV never gets anything wrong.

  • Barby: In the meantime, Ireland's friendzone in 3, 2, 1...!

  • FRIENDZONE

  • No matter where you find them in this world,

  • you know you're gonna be lucky when you find an Irishman.

  • Peader: First of all, as an EU member state, Ireland has strong ties to many of their continental neighbors,

  • specifically to Catholic countries like France and Spain.

  • The French and the Irish have a long history of joining up in the squabbles against the British

  • Barby: and about 60% of students in secondary school learn French.

  • Spain is not only close, it does good business,

  • but it's also the No. 1 tourist destination for the Irish

  • as about a quarter of their entire population visits at least once a year.

  • Peader: Surprisingly, the Lithuanians have been flocking to Ireland since the 90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union

  • and make up the third largest immigrant group after the British and the Polish.

  • Barby: But keep in mind the Polish, they like go everywhere

  • so it's just no shocker.

  • I mean remember how they made up like 8% of Iceland's population?

  • Now despite the past drama, Ireland gets along pretty well with the UK.

  • A lot of their imports come from them and the Irish are an almost integral part of the common British atmosphere

  • as so many of them live there.

  • Peader: And nonetheless the best friends of our own would actually probably be

  • Scotland in the UK

  • and the USA.

  • Scots and the Irish are Celtic brothers that have shared cultures since the beginning as well as some of the same strifes and struggles.

  • Barby: Tons of Irish moved to -Liverpool- (correction: Liverpool is in England, it's Glasgow) after the potato famine and were generally welcomed by their cousins.

  • I mean, horrible accents aside,

  • have you seen that one scene in Braveheart where the Irish mercenaries backstab the British and joined their Scottish cousins?

  • Yeah like that, right?

  • Yeah.

  • Peader: The USA though is like their favorite younger cousin who's a lot bigger and stronger.

  • Not only do about 30% of their exports go to the US,

  • but after the potato famine, hundreds of thousands of Irish came flocking into Ellis Island

  • and to this day about 35 million Americans claim to have partial or full Irish heritage,

  • the large concentrations on the East coast in New England.

  • That's about seven times the population of Ireland itself.

  • Barby: It even got to me somehow! Thank you, grandpa I never met!

  • In conclusion:

  • I'm actually gonna give this to you man. Take it away.

  • Peadar: Thank you Paul!

  • In conclusion: Ireland has had to 'Conor McGregor' its way through war, famine,

  • economic recession, terrible leprechaun, wrapping, and Gerald Butler's horrible accent in P.S. I Love You.

  • Seriously man! You're Scottish. It shouldn't be that hard!

  • But through all that, we've managed to be the coolest kid on the block despite a few emotional issues here and there.

  • We're pretty rad if I say so myself.

  • Go on Ireland! You beautiful, drunken mess of a nation, you!

  • And you know what? In honor of your 1/8 Irish heritage,

  • I've decided to bestow on you the title of 'kind-of-Irish-I-guess.'

  • Here's 1/8 of an Irish Shamrock, tied on with a piece on sellotape.

  • Barby: Thanks Potter, even though I always get your name wrong, so yeah.

  • Peadar: You do. Title revoked

  • Barby: NO NO NO! OK, come on!

  • Peadar: We've been through this.

  • Barby: OK, so it's it's like "ladder", but "padder" right, Peadar, Peadar right? Better?

  • Peadar: Better.

  • Barby: Score! Stay tuned...

  • ...Israel is coming up next!

  • Peadar: This is going to be good.

Hey everyone!

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