e Car Rental Dublin - Prehistory Times in Dublin

From just over 1000 years ago the first major settlement of Dublin occurred. Norse people have lived in the area of Dublin City which we know today. There have been many discoveries of artifacts dating from this era to back this up, and up until very recently sites were still being dug. Unfortunately much of this ground has now been developed on, particularly by the Dublin Corporation Head Quarters on the Keys. (Dubliners refer to the keys as any area alongside the River Liffey as these used to be docks.)

In 1988 Dublin celebrated it's millennium anniversary. The Vikings and Norsemen built on the rivers South Bank where Dublin Castle now stands today.

Dublin during these times was a prosperous city and the Vikings managed to defend the city successfully until 1014 during the battle of Clontarf when they were defeated. This did not end the occupation of Dublin by the Vikings and the city continued to prosper.

In 1167 the Vikings supported Rory O'Connor in his claim to be High King of Ireland. In doing so, they exiled the king of Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough. Dermot returned to Ireland in 1170 with an army of Welsh soldiers and retook Dublin. King Henry II of England was worried that MacMurrough had claimed Dublin for himself and hurried over to Ireland with an army of his own. It was as a result of this that Dublin became the administrative capital of Ireland while in English Hands.

During the next 5 Centuries Dublin survived three uprisings and an invasion by the Scottish. By the end of the Cromwell era, Dublin was a town of only 9,000 inhabitants. The turreted city wall with its eight gates was a shambles; the two cathedrals tottered; and the dilapidated castle was, as Cromwell himself put it, "the worst in Christendom." Yet, in the 18th century, Dublin was to become the second city of the British Empire