Ireland

"Lessee...there was a big haul of Viking gold they say is buried up there on the coast of some land of ice. Don't much like cold, me. I'd rather stay down here in the Caribbean. And there are tales of treasures on magical isles in England and Ireland. Glastonbury, Camelot, Avalon, that sort of thing."

―Jack Sparrow to Christophe-Julien de Rapièr^[src]

Ireland was an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It was separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. The geography of Ireland comprised relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland.

From the 5th century onwards, the island was Christianised, during a period in which Ireland was divided into many petty kingships under provincial kingships vying for dominance. In the late 8th century to early 11th century AD, Viking raids and settlement took place until the ending of Viking power in Ireland. Following the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century.