Irish States (1171-present)

Irish States have existed under a number of different names for nearly a thousand years. A unified Irish proto-state had been coalescing from the multitude of small tribal kingdoms that existed circa 500AD, similar to the pattern elsewhere in Europe. The development of the several dynastic regional kingdoms into a nascent national kingdom, however, was extinguished by the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169.

This list deals with the various states that existed from 1171 onwards that owed their origin to English involvement on the island of Ireland. Until the whole island was conquered in 1609 these states shared the island of Ireland with a patchwork of indigenous states that existed outside of their authority.

• The Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541)

• The Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800)

• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1922)

• The unilaterally declared Irish Republic (1919-22)

• Southern Ireland (1921–22) and Northern Ireland (1921- present) Both created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, though only the latter existed in reality

• The Irish Free State (1922–37)

• Éire or, in the English language, Ireland (1937–present), more generally known since 1949 as

• The Republic of Ireland (1949–present)