Galway Chronicles
Although uncertain, it is generally agreed that the town was named after the river, which was known until recently as the Galway River rather than the previously known Corrib River.
The modest beginnings of Galway were as a fishing village on the east bank of the present site of St Nicholass Collegiate Church.
By 1270 Walter de Burgh commenced the enclosing of the settlement with walls, and the medieval city grew inside a great encircling wall. Galway became a lone outpost of English influence in the West of Ireland.
The arrival in the 13th and 14th centuries, of a number of Welsh and Norman families who sought protection against the resurgent Irish with in the walls of Galway, heralded the commercial development of Galway as a major sea-port and center of trade with mainland Europe.
These early settlers saw the gradual development of Galway into an independent city state with a merchant oligarchy which controlled and promoted trade contacts all over Europe.
Nowadays modern industries such as engineering, IT and electronics began to replace the traditional industries in Galway making it more of a technology based economy.
Sligo Chronicles
Sligo's Irish name "Sligeach" meaning "shelly place" and it originates in the abundance of shellfish found in the river and its estuary.
The Garavogue River was originally also called the Sligeach.
An abundance of shells were found underground in many places throughout the town where houses now stand, the whole area was rich in marine resources.
Famous poet W. B. Yeats is associated with much of Sligo. Many of his writing describe the area around Sligo
town. His poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is a reference to Lough Gill a small, uninhabited island.
When Yeats, who spent much of his youth in Sligo and its surroundings, died in 1939, he was buried in the graveyard in Drumcliffe.,
though not until 1948.
The town of Sligo is encircled by two massive mountain ranges, named the Dartry Mountains located to the north and the Ox Mountains on the south.
Dublin Chronicles
Dublin is the largest city in Ireland and the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and at the centre of the Dublin Region.
Founded as a Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's primary city for most of the island's history since medieval times.
Today, it is an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland, and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city.
The city has a world-famous literary history, having produced many prominent literary figures, as well as the birthplace of William Butler Yeats.
Dublin is also famous as the location of the greatest works of James Joyce,
Dubliners and Ulysses, his most celebrated work.
Ireland's biggest libraries and literary museums are found in Dublin,
including National Library of Ireland as well as Trinity College which houses The Book of Kells, a world-famous manuscript produced by Celtic Monks in A.D. 800 and an example of Insular art.
