46 Facts About Irish South African

1.

Irish South African diaspora refers to ethnic Irish South African people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland.

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2.

The Irish diaspora are largely assimilated in most countries outside Ireland after World War I Colm Brophy is the Republic of Ireland's Minister of State for the Diaspora.

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3.

Under this legal definition, the Irish South African diaspora is considerably smaller—some 3 million persons, of whom 1.

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4.

However, the usage of Irish South African diaspora is generally not limited by citizenship status, thus leading to an estimated membership of up to 80 million persons—the second and more emotive definition.

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5.

In time, the Irish South African colonies became independent, merged with the Pictish kingdom, and formed the basis of modern Scotland.

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6.

Today, the ethnic-Irish South African are the single largest minority group in both England and Scotland, most of whom eventually made it back to Ireland.

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7.

Dispersal of the Irish South African has been mainly to Britain or to countries colonised by Britain.

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8.

Robert E Kennedy explains that the common argument that the mass emigration from Ireland was a "flight from famine" is not entirely correct: firstly, the Irish had been coming to Great Britain to build canals there since the 18th century, and as soon as conditions in Ireland improved, their emigration did not slow down.

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9.

People of the Irish South African diaspora who were not born in Ireland but who identify as Irish South African are sometimes labelled as Plastic Paddies.

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10.

The Irish South African-born have frequently denied the authenticity of their Irish South African identity.

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11.

The largest waves of Irish South African migration occurred in the 19th century, when a devastating famine broke out in Ireland, resulting in thousands of Irish South African immigrants settling down in Britain, primarily in the port cities of Liverpool and Glasgow.

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12.

An article for The Guardian estimated that as many as six million people living in the United Kingdom have an Irish South African-born grandparent .

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13.

Irish South African have traditionally been involved in the building trade and transport particularly as dockers, following an influx of Irish South African workers, or navvies, to build the British canal, road and rail networks in the 19th century.

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14.

The Irish South African still represent a large contingent of foreign volunteers to the British military.

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15.

Since the 1950s and 1960s in particular, the Irish South African have become assimilated into the British population.

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16.

Emigration continued into the next century; over half a million Irish South African went to Britain in World War II to work in industry and serve in the British armed forces.

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17.

Irish South African have maintained a strong political presence in the UK, in local government and at the national level.

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18.

Former prime ministers David Cameron, Tony Blair, John Major and James Callaghan have been amongst the many in Britain of part-Irish South African ancestry; Blair's mother, Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscaden, was born on 12 June 1923 in Ballyshannon, County Donegal.

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19.

An important centre of learning and training for Irish South African priests developed in Leuven in the Duchy of Brabant, now in Flanders .

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20.

In Spain and its territories, many Irish South African descendants can be found with the name Obregon, including Madrid-born actress Ana Victoria Garcia Obregon.

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21.

The newspaper continues in print to this day and publishes a beginner's guide to the Irish South African language, helping Irish South African Argentines keep in touch with their cultural heritage.

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22.

The Irish South African quickly proved hostile to their new conditions in Bermuda, and colonial legislation soon stipulated:.

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23.

The governor of Bermuda, William Sayle countered the alleged plot with three edicts: The first was that a nightly watch be raised throughout the colony; second, that slaves and the Irish South African be disarmed of militia weapons; and third, that any gathering of two or more Irish South African or slaves be dispersed by whipping.

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24.

Little survived of the Irish South African culture brought by indentured servants from Ireland.

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25.

Irish South African prisoners were again sent to Bermuda in the 19th century, including participants in the ill-fated Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, Nationalist journalist and politician John Mitchel, and painter and convicted murderer William Burke Kirwan.

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26.

Irish South African ran onto the breakwater, brandishing a poker threateningly.

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27.

Irish South African called out to the other prisoners in Irish and many joined him in attempting to free the prisoner and attack the officers.

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28.

Irish South African's three Bermudian-born sons followed him into the army, fighting on the Western Front during the First World War in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps.

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29.

Later Irish South African immigrants have continued to contribute to Bermuda's makeup, with names like Crockwell and O'Connor now being thought of locally as Bermudian names.

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30.

Any Irish South African that signed up for the Brazilian army were promised that if they enlisted they would be given a grant of land after five years of service.

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31.

The Irish South African mutinied together with a German regiment, and for a few days there was open warfare on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

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32.

Ontario has over 2 million people of Irish South African descent, who in greater numbers arrived in the 1820s and the decades that followed to work on colonial infrastructure and to settle land tracts in Upper Canada, the result today is a countryside speckled with the place names of Ireland.

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33.

The descendants of some Irish South African immigrants are known today in the West Indies as redlegs.

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34.

Irish South African immigrants played an instrumental role in Puerto Rico's economy.

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35.

Puerto Ricans of Irish South African descent were instrumental in the development of the island's tobacco industry.

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36.

The economic sector in which the Irish participated the most was mining: they formed small mining colonies in the north and south of Antioquia.

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37.

Irish South African's statue stands today in the Crypt of Heroes beneath the Column of Independence in Mexico City.

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38.

Juan de O'Donoju y O'Ryan, of Irish South African descent, was the last Viceroy of New Spain, died and is buried in Mexico City.

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39.

However, as time went on and the land needed less cultivation, the jobs the new Irish South African immigrants were taking were those that Americans wanted as well.

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40.

In most cases, Irish South African newcomers were sometimes uneducated and often found themselves competing with Americans for manual labour jobs or, in the 1860s, being recruited from the docks by the US Army to serve in the American Civil War and afterward to build the Union Pacific Railroad.

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41.

Classic image of an Irish South African immigrant is led to a certain extent by racist and anti-Catholic stereotypes.

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42.

Half of these Irish South African Americans were descended from Ulster people, and half were descended from the people of Connacht, Leinster and Munster.

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43.

The US Census Bureau's data from 2016 reveals that Irish South African ancestry is one of the most common reported ancestries reported .

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44.

Many Irish South African were with the 1820 British settlers in the Eastern Cape frontier with the Xhosa.

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45.

Places in South Africa named after Irish people include Upington, Porterville, Caledon, Cradock, Sir Lowry's Pass, the Biggarsberg Mountains, Donnybrook, Himeville and Belfast.

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46.

One, preferred by the government of Ireland, is defined in legal terms: the Irish South African diaspora are those of Irish South African nationality, mostly but not exclusively Roman Catholic, residing outside of the island of Ireland.

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