To the north of the Dublin Mountains on the East Coast of Ireland facing the European mainland, Dublin has been a significant hub in the European periphery for centuries.  Though literature from as early as the 6th century mentions settlements at Dubhlinn and Áth Cliath, little is known about pre-medieval Dublin.  There were likely two separate fortifications.  A monastic settlement seems to have existed at the black pool or dubh linn, which was a tidal embayment on the southern bank of the river Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, the main river flowing through Dublin.  There is more evidence for the proto-urban settlement at Áth Cliath (hurdle ford) named for the lowest crossing point of an estuary of the river Liffey. Little else is known about the functions of these settlements except that they served as raiding grounds for Vikings beginning in the 9th century.  The Vikings first captured Áth Cliath in A.D. 837, and the area seems to have changed hands frequently between then and the 12th century.  Eventually though, the Irish and Norse intermarried and Dublin became a hub of trade for Irish and Scandinavian kingdoms.
The Anglo-Normans captured Dublin in 1170 however, and the functions of the town shifted from trading to administrative.  Dublin became the capital of the Irish national government under the British Royal Crown.  Most activity at this time was centered on a High Street, which minimized difficulties that mud and water caused but also created a very dense and often unsanitary environment.  Relative prosperity in early medieval times faded by the 14th and 15th centuries, when plague, fire, and English turmoil caused strife in Dublin.

The above map was drawn in 1610 by John Speed and has similar boundaries to maps of medieval Dublin, showing that the city didn’t grow much until after the 17th century.  It is estimated that Dublin had up to 20,000 inhabitants at the time the map was drawn.  The 18th century is regarded as Dublin’s ‘golden age’, when its magnificent stock of Georgian structures were built for a prosperous British elite population that gained wealth exporting Irish raw materials and textiles.  Dublin’s infrastructure was also built up during the 1700s, as the Grand and Royal Canals were completed and the port was expanded to accommodate transport of Irish goods to Britain and Europe. However, colonialism ultimately failed in Dublin, and it fell from being the 6th largest city in Europe in 1800 to the 5th largest in the British Empire by 1860.  Parts of the city were destroyed in the civil war which ensued independence from Britain in 1911, and the city’s economy without the old British protective tariffs has only recently been able to compete in the European system.  It underwent its most significant physical and population expansions in the 25 years following WWII. Today, Dublin is five times larger than Cork, the second city in Ireland’s urban hierarchy, and exhibits a degree of primacy seen in few other European states.  It attracts twice as many tourists (2 million) per year, as it has inhabitants (1,024,429 according to the 1991 census).

 
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