History of Galway

sp;Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the resulting Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian forces captured the city after a nine-month siege. At the end of the 17th century the city supported the Jacobites in the Williamite war in Ireland and was captured by the Williamites after a very short siege not long after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. The great families of Galway were ruined, and, having declined owing to the potato famines of 1845–1852, the city did not fully recover until the great economic bubble of the late twentieth century.

The city takes its name from the Gaillimh river (River Corrib) that formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, which was called DúnBhunnaGaillimhe ("Fort at the mouth of the Gaillimh"). The word Gaillimh means "stony" as in "stony river" (the mythical and alternative derivations are given in History of Galway). Historically, the name was written as Gallive, which is closer to the Irish pronunciation.

The city also bears the nickname "City of the Tribes" Irish: Cathair na dTreabh because "fourteen tribes of" merchant families led the city in its Hiberno-Norman period. The term tribes was often a derogatory phrase in Cromwellian times. The merchants would have seen themselves as Irish gentry and loyal to the King. They subsequently adopted the term as a badge of honour and pride in defiance of the town's Cromwellian occupiers.

With a population of 57106, Galway is the fourth most populous city in the State and the 23rd most populous area of local government. It is located on the River Corrib.

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