Qualla: Connacht https://qualla.com/connacht en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Connacht https://qualla.com/connacht Connacht: Introduction https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Cromwell is said to have given the Irish a choice: to hell or to Connacht. The phrase may be apocryphal but the meaning was clear. Connacht was the province on the wet Atlantic edge of Ireland, the rockiest, the poorest by the standards of the conqueror, the part of the country to which dispossessed Catholic landowners were pushed in the Cromwellian settlements of the 1650s. It is still the smallest and least populous of Ireland's four provinces. It is also the one with the strongest surviving Irish-speaking communities, the one that endured the Great Famine worst, and the one that gave Ireland its last native High King.

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Connacht: Five Counties on the Atlantic Edge https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit Calum Hutchinson, CC BY-SA 2.5. Connacht today is five counties: Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo. Galway is the only city. The province is roughly bounded by the River Shannon on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The highest point is Mweelrea, 814 metres, in County Mayo. The largest lake ...

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: Calum Hutchinson | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-five-counties-on-the-atlantic-edge.mp3 0:06 2 full Connacht: The Kings of Connacht https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit MonikaKub, CC BY-SA 4.0. Until the 9th century the territory now called Connacht was a region rather than a kingdom, divided among several major Gaelic peoples - the Ui Fiachrach, Ui Briuin, Ui Maine, Conmhaicne, and Delbhna. Between Conchobar mac Taidg Mor in the 9th century and Aedh O Conchobair in the...

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: MonikaKub | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-the-kings-of-connacht.mp3 0:06 3 full Connacht: The Famine That Hit Hardest Here https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit Bogman, CC BY-SA 2.5. Connacht's population in 1841 was 1,418,859. By 1851, after the worst years of the Great Famine, it had fallen to 1,010,031 - a drop of more than 400,000 in a decade, through death and through emigration. Mayo and Roscommon were among the worst-hit counties in Ireland. The declin...

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: Bogman | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-the-famine-that-hit-hardest-here.mp3 0:06 4 full Connacht: The Surviving Irish https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit Randwick, Public domain. Anglicisation worked less thoroughly in the west of Ireland than in the east, and Connacht today has the highest concentration of Irish speakers among the four provinces. Around 39.8 percent of people in Connacht consider themselves Irish speakers - more than 202,000 people. The ...

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: Randwick | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-the-surviving-irish.mp3 0:06 5 full Connacht: Aughrim and After https://qualla.com/connacht/ Photo credit Public domain. Connacht was the site of two of the bloodiest battles in Irish history. The Second Battle of Athenry in 1316 and the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504 each produced casualties measured in the thousands - very high for medieval Irish warfare. A third, the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 169...

Read more: Connacht on Qualla

Image: Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/connacht-wp/gc99-connacht-aughrim-and-after.mp3 0:06 6 full