For a small island in the Atlantic, Ireland has had an astonishingly powerful impact on the wider world, both at the height of its independent power in the early middle ages (as a key exporter of Christianity to much of Europe) and at the depth of its colonial subjugation by Britain (as a key exporter of millions of settlers to North America and Australia). This work offers a lucid account of Ireland's history, which should be of value both to the student and to the general reader.