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Ireland was mostly defeorested before the British even arrived. Though having arrived they did indeed make it worse.
by NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Ireland was mostly defeorested before the British even arrived. Though having arrived they did indeed make it worse.
- dalbasal 7y agoThat depends on who/what you consider "British" and what you consider "arrival." Is it the first time Viking/Germanic/scandi lowlanders permanently migrated, the first time normans take control of those settlements or the first time "English" lords displaced Gaelic speaking ones outside of cities and trade centres. Not sure strongbow was (a) British or (b) responsible for land use outside of his east coast enclaves.
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoWell I don't consider the Norman invaders of Britain and Ireland either British or English (or Irish!). That necessarily comes later. It took 300 years for the ruling class to even share the same language, sticking to Norman French.... English were the subjugated who were tending the field and cow for producing the ruler's french beef (bœuf). They still thought themselves French until the wars of succession. Danish adventures don't really count either, even with the Danelaw in parts of Britain. So we have to get to the time of the early English adventures around the 1600s for it to make a lot of sense, though it certainly does before British being a concept with the Scottish Act of Union uniting Britain. TL;DR it's complicated. :)