Dublin

Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath,) is the capital of and largest city in Ireland, near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a centre of Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's capital since medićval times.

The city of Dublin is the entire area administered by Dublin City Council, but can also refer to the contiguous suburban areas that run into the adjacent counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. This area is sometimes known as 'Urban Dublin' or the 'Dublin Metropolitan Area'.

The population of the administrative area controlled by Dublin City Council was 505,739 at the census of 2006. At the same census, the Dublin Region population was 1,186,159, and the Greater Dublin Area 1,661,185 (estimated by the CSO to reach 2.1 million by 2021). Today, approximately 40% of the population of Ireland live within a 100 km (60mi) fan radius of this east coast city.

A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or colloquially as a Dub, or, pejoratively, a Jackeen.

In a 2003 European-wide survey by the BBC, questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin was the best capital city in Europe to live in, and Ireland the most content country in Europe.

The name Dublin is a Hiberno-English derivative of 'Dubh Linn' (Irish, dubh -> black, and linn -> pool). Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot over the 'b', viz 'Duḃ Linn' or 'Duḃlinn'. The French-speaking Normans omitted the dot and spelled the name variously as 'Develyn' or 'Dublin'.

Some sources doubt this derivation, and suggest that 'Dublin' is of Scandinavian origin, cf. Icelandic: djúp lind ('deep pond'). However, the name 'Dubh Linn' pre-dates the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland, and the Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) name for Dublin is simply the words 'Dubh Linn' re-spelled as if they were Old Norse: 'Dyflinn' (correctly pronounced "Duev-linn" — the letter 'y' is still pronounced like the vowel in 'ewe' in Modern Norwegian, Swedish, etc., just as it was in Old Norse; Icelandic, while keeping the spelling, has changed this sound to /i/).

The common name for the city in Modern Irish is 'Baile Átha Cliath' ('The Settlement of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles'), which refers to the settlement, founded in 988 by High King Mael Sechnaill II, that adjoined the town of Dubh Linn proper at the Black Pool. It seems also that the seafaring Vikings and Normans thought of the place in terms of a pool deep enough for harbouring ships, while the Gaelic speakers saw the place in terms of a ford over a major river.

The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Ptolemy, provide perhaps the earliest reference to Dublin. In around A.D. 140 he referred to a settlement he called Eblana Civitas. The settlement 'Dubh Linn' dates perhaps as far back as the first century BC and later a monastery was built there, though the town was established in about 841 by the Norse. 'Baile Átha Cliath' or simply 'Áth Cliath' was founded in 988, and the two towns eventually became one.

The modern city retains the Anglicised Irish name of the former and the original Irish name of the latter. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Dublin became Ireland's capital, with much of the power centering on Dublin Castle until independence. From the 14th to late 16th centuries Dublin and the surrounding area, known as the Pale, formed the largest area of Ireland under government control.

Dublin also had local self-government via its Corporation from the middle ages. This represented the city's guild-based oligarchy until it was reformed in the 1840s on increasingly democratic lines.

From the 17th century the city expanded rapidly, helped by the Wide Streets Commission. Georgian Dublin was, for a time, the second city of the British Empire after London. Much of Dublin's most notable architecture dates from this time. The 1800s were a period of decline relative to the industrial growth of Belfast; by 1900 the population of the latter was nearly twice as large. The Easter Rising of 1916 left the capital in an unstable situation and the Anglo-Irish War and Irish Civil War left it twice in ruins, with many of its finest buildings destroyed. The Irish Free State rebuilt many of the buildings and moved parliament to Leinster House, but took no bold tasks such as remodelling. After The Emergency (World War II), Dublin remained a capital out of time: modernisation was slow, but finally the 1960s saw change begin. In recent years the infrastructure of Dublin has changed immensely, with enormous private and state development of housing, transport, and business. (See also Development and Preservation in Dublin). Some well-known Dublin street corners are still named for the pub or business which used to occupy the site before closure or redevelopment.

Since the beginning of English rule in the 12th century, the city has served as the capital of the island of Ireland in the varying geopolitical entities:

• the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541) • the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800) • the island as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) • the Irish Republic (1919–1922),

From 1922, following the partition of Ireland, it served as the capital of the Irish Free State (1922–1949) and now as the capital of the Republic of Ireland. (Many of these states co-existed or competed within the same timeframe as rivals within either British or Irish constitutional theory.)

Dublin enjoys a maritime temperate climate characterised by mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Contrary to popular belief, Dublin does not experience as high rainfall as the West of Ireland, which receives twice that of the capital city. Dublin has fewer rainy days, on average, than London. The average maximum January temperature is 8 °C (46 °F), the average maximum July temperature is 20 °C (68 °F). The sunniest months, on average, are May and June, with six hours of sunshine daily (though daylight in these months is a lot more). The wettest months, on average, are December and August, with 74 mm (2.9 inches) of rain. The driest month is April, with 45 mm (1.7 inches). The total average annual rainfall (and other forms of precipitation) is 762 mm (29.5 inches), lower than Sydney, New York City and even Dallas. Due to Dublin's high latitude, it experiences long summer days (around 19 hours of daylight) and short winter days (as short as nine hours). Like the rest of Ireland it is relatively safe from common natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Strong winds from Atlantic storm systems can affect Dublin, though usually less severe than other parts of Ireland. Severe winds are most likely during mid-winter, but can occur anytime, especially between October and February. During one of the stormiest periods of recent times, a gust of 151 km/h (94 mph) was recorded at Casement Aerodrome on 24 December 1997.

An urban heat island effect means Dublin is a few degrees warmer than surrounding areas. There is also a slight temperature difference between the city centre and the city's suburbs, with the city centre slightly warmer, as it is more built up. There are slight differences between the city centre and the Airport, just 12 kilometres north.

The city is not noted for its temperature extremes due to its mild climate. The lowest recorded temperature was −15.6 °C and the highest 30.6 °C. Typically, the coldest months are December, January and February. Temperatures in summer in recent years have been rising to substantially above average figures, e.g. 31 °C (88 °F) in July 2006, over 11 °C higher than the average maximum. Recent heat waves include the European heat wave of 2003 and European heat wave of 2006.

The main precipitation in winter is rain. The city can experience some snow showers during the months from November to April, but lying snow is rare (on average, only 4/5 days). Hail occurs more often than snow, and is most likely during the winter and spring months. Another rare type of weather is thunder and lightning, most common in summer.