By Sandrine Tromeur In the late 1630s and early 1640s, a handful of Irish Catholic merchants settled in La Rochelle, a French port city largely dominated by an élite of Protestant (Huguenot) mercantile families. Over time, the small Irish group gradually grew in number, and by the 1670s it had developed into a nascent community … Read more
Irish soldiers, surgeons, revolutionaries and pressmen—as well as at least one downright chancer—all joined in the conflict that saw the downfall of the Second French Empire. By Isadore Ryan Irish participation in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–1 took various forms and was overwhelmingly on the side of Ireland’s historical ally, France. The onset of the … Read more
By David Mould In July 1817 the Irish-born James Hastie, a 30-year-old East India Company sergeant, embarked on an ambitious and risky mission. From the east coast of Madagascar, he travelled by canoe and on foot to the central highlands. His destination: the court of the Ovah king, Radama, the most powerful clan chief on … Read more
By Fergal Lenehan Diplomatic relations between Ireland and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began formally only in 1980. Prior to that, a relatively small number of Irish people visited the GDR, while the Belfast-born illustrator and children’s author Elizabeth Shaw would appear to have been the sole person born on the island of Ireland who … Read more