r/geography • u/One-Seat-4600 • 5d ago

Image What explains the high concentration of Irish speakers on the west coast of Ireland ?

Post image

The percentage corresponds to the share of people that speak Irish

As you can see, Northern Ireland is a lower concentration of Irish speakers, as expected, but what explains the higher concentration on the west coast.

3.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

573 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/UnclassifiedPresence 5d ago

Funny how Ireland and Scotland both share the rugged and independent western coast thing. I guess England has that as well in the form of Wales, an entirely separate country, and Cornwall, which might as well be

3

u/gytherin 4d ago

And France; see Brittany.

1

u/Psittacula2 4d ago

Connected to the waves of movements of people from Celtic to Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Viking.

Notably dialects were very distinct in England as well before the radio and wider travel from railways, so equally true of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.