Were Irish colonisers too? A new book reveals our forgotten dark history
In discussions around empire and colonisation, including popular movements such as Black Lives Matter and Rhodes Must Fall, Ireland likes to think itself on the “right” side of history, as colonised victims of empire.
But as Trinity College Dublin historian Prof Jane Ohlmeyer explores in her new book, Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World, it’s not as simple as that.
On the island of Monsterrat in the West Indies, for example, St Patrick’s Day is a national holiday - the only country outside Ireland to mark the day officially. But the parades there are to celebrate…
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