Belfast (pop. 345,418) is the capital, largest city, and chief industrial center and port of Northern Ireland, a division of the United Kingdom. The city is on Northern Ireland’s eastern side. It lies on Belfast Lough, an inlet of the North Channel that forms the mouth of the Lagan River.
Donegall Square lies in the center of Belfast. In the square stands City Hall, the headquarters of the Belfast City Council. Donegall Place, the main street in the business district, is north of the square. Nearby buildings include the Royal Courts of Justice and St. Anne’s Cathedral. Queen’s University lies to the south. Next to the university are the Botanic Gardens, which surround Ulster Museum. The Parliament Buildings of Northern Ireland are at the Stormont Estate, east of Belfast. Docks and a shipyard border the harbor on the east shore of Belfast Lough. The city’s residential neighborhoods include apartment buildings, crowded areas of row houses, and areas of single-family houses.
For many years, shipbuilding was a major industry in Belfast. The city’s shipyards have built many warships and ocean liners, including the famous British passenger ship the Titanic. Textile factories in Belfast produce delicate Irish linen that is popular around the world. Since the 1930’s, the aerospace industry has become an important part of the city’s economy. Belfast’s other major products include machinery, nonalcoholic beverages, processed foods, and soap. The region has two airports. One of them, George Best Belfast City Airport, is near the harbor. The other, Belfast International Airport—Northern Ireland’s largest—lies northwest of the city.
English and Scottish settlers established Belfast as a trading center in 1613. During the 1800’s, Belfast became an industrial city and a major port. From 1801 to 1920, what are now Northern Ireland and Ireland formed one political division of the United Kingdom. In 1920, Ireland became independent. Northern Ireland, with Belfast as its capital, remained a part of the United Kingdom.
During World War II (1939-1945), Belfast supplied the Allies with naval vessels and military aircraft. In 1941, the city suffered heavy damage from German air raids. From the late 1960’s to the late 1990’s, Belfast was affected by the Troubles—outbreaks of violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics over civil rights and political control of Northern Ireland. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other paramilitary groups (military groups not sponsored by the government) carried out bombings and other terrorist activities in the city. In 2007, a peace agreement led to a power-sharing government in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont.
In 2012, Titanic Belfast, a sprawling museum dedicated to the Titanic ocean liner, opened in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter. The Titanic Quarter occupies the former shipyards of Queen’s Island.
