1 The city of Dublin is a very old town, indeed. Dublin is situated on the east coast of Ireland and is the modern day capital of the Republic of Ireland. It was one of the first areas to be settled in early Ireland. This was because it was easily accessible by sea and within sailing distance of Britain, the nearest land mass.
2 When the Vikings came to the area that has now become known as Dublin, they gave it a name based on a local land feature. Vikings were great sailors and relied on there being a body of water central to any settlement. Dublin was ideal for settlement as it is a coastal town and has a river running through its center flowing into the sea. This body of water was the River Liffey and was very dark in color. The Vikings named the area "Blackpool." When this name is translated into the Irish language version, it becomes "Dubh Linn." The Irish for black was (and still is) "dubh" and the Irish for pool was (and is) "Linn." It is not very difficult to see how this original Irish language town name became the name with which we are now familiar! Just drop an "h" and an "n" and "Dubh Linn" becomes the more familiar "Dublin." Dublin was settled by the Vikings in the 800's, and in 1988 it celebrated its millennium. That means it had its thousandth birthday!
3 In 1170 the town was taken over by Norman soldiers from England, and it became the capital of Ireland. These English soldiers and settlers established some fine buildings and monuments which still stand to this day. One such building is Saint Patrick's Cathedral, which was built in 1190. It is still a cathedral today and has had many great Deans. One such man was Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels.
