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'''Belfast''' is the capital of [[Northern Ireland]]. Its name, from the [[Gaelic]] ''Beal Feirste'' means, "the sandy ford at the mouth of the river", reflecting its position on the estuary of the River Lagan. Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, and after [[Dublin]] the second largest city on the island of [[Ireland]].

'''Belfast''' (Irish: ''Béal Feirste'') is the capital of [[Northern Ireland]]. Its name, from the [[Gaelic]] ''Beal Feirste'' means, "the sandy ford at the mouth of the river", reflecting its position on the estuary of the River Lagan. Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, and after [[Dublin]] the second largest city on the island of [[Ireland]].

Despite being an occupied settlement since the [[Bronze Age]], Belfast did not rise to prominence until the early seventeenth century when King [[James I]] of [[England]] granted land in the vicinity and the right to create a borough to Sir Arthur Chichester in 1611. As the small port developed its population grew from 2,500 in 1700 to 20,000 in 1800. The 19th century saw rapid industrialisation of the city. Industries included shipbuilding (most famously after 1862 by the yard of Harland & Wolff, builders of the RMS [[Titanic]]), linen weaving (which had begun in the previous century on a household basis but was organised in large factories and mills in the nineteenth century), engineering and distilling of [[whiskey]] and [[gin]]. Belfast was [[Ireland]]'s main industrial centre in part because it could import coal cheaply from the coalfields of the west of [[Scotland]]. By 1901 the population had risen to 349,000.

Despite being an occupied settlement since the [[Bronze Age]], Belfast did not rise to prominence until the early seventeenth century when King [[James I]] of [[England]] granted land in the vicinity and the right to create a borough to Sir Arthur Chichester in 1611. As the small port developed its population grew from 2,500 in 1700 to 20,000 in 1800. The 19th century saw rapid industrialisation of the city. Industries included shipbuilding (most famously after 1862 by the yard of Harland & Wolff, builders of the RMS [[Titanic]]), linen weaving (which had begun in the previous century on a household basis but was organised in large factories and mills in the nineteenth century), engineering and distilling of [[whiskey]] and [[gin]]. Belfast was [[Ireland]]'s main industrial centre in part because it could import coal cheaply from the coalfields of the west of [[Scotland]]. By 1901 the population had risen to 349,000.