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Presentation of Cork

Cork (Irish: Corcaigh) is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,143, while the addition of the suburban areas contained the county brings the total to 190,384 in 2006. Metropolitan Cork has a population of approximately 274,000, while the Greater Cork area is about 380,000.

HISTORY OF CORK

Cork was originally a monastic settlement founded by St. Finbarr in the sixth century. However, Cork only achieved an urban character between 915 and 922 when Norseman (Viking) settlers founded a trading port. It has been proposed that, like Dublin, Cork was an important trading centre in the global Scandinavian trade network.

The medieval population of Cork was about 2000 people. It suffered a severe blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of bubonic plague when the Black Death arrived in the town. In 1491 Cork played a part in the English Wars of the Roses when Perkin Warbeck a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrow Henry VII of England. The mayor of Cork and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed. Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.

The city's charter was granted by King John in 1185. The title of Mayor of Cork was established by royal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900 following the Knighthood of the incumbent Mayor by Queen Victoria on her visit to the City.

In the War of Independence, the centre of Cork was gutted by fires started by the British Black and Tans, and the city saw fierce fighting between Irish guerrillas and UK forces. During the Irish Civil War, Cork was for a time held by anti-Treaty forces, until it was retaken by the pro-Treaty National Army in an attack from the sea.

The city was once fully walled, and some wall sections and gates remain today.

See the full history of Cork on Wikipedia.

Sister cities of Cork

Coventry (United Kingdom)
Rennes (France)
San Francisco (USA)
Cologne (Germany)
Shanghai (China)
Kaliningrad (Russia)
Swansea (Wales)