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The Plantation of Ulster was a planned process of colonisation which took place in the northern Irish province of Ulster during the early 17th century in the reign of James I of England. English and Scottish Protestants were settled on land that had been confiscated from Catholic Irish landowners in the six counties of Donegal, Coleraine, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Cavan, following the Flight of the Earls in 1607.
The colony that was established in Ulster in 1610 was not the first attempt by the English to colonize and subdue Ireland. The earliest noted instance of invasion against the natives of the island was made around the Fourth Century by Christian missionaries from Gaul. They established monasteries throughout Ireland and eventually converted the Celtic natives to Christianity. From the beginning of the Ninth Century through the yeare 950 AD, the Vikings made a number of invasions into the island and exerted their power over it. Then, in 1166, as a result of an Internal struggle for lordship over the province of Leinster, the Cambro-Norman barons under King Henry II were invited by the claimant, King Dermot to intervene in the civil strife. In 1610, the Crown developed an elaborate, detailed and rigidly controlled scheme for the settlement of Counties Armagh, Donegal, Cavan, Fermanagh, and Londonderry. Nine extensive areas in these six counties were assigned to Scots for plantation. These baronies, or precincts were then divided into lots of 1000, 1500, and 2000 acres, not including bogs and mountains. Those who received these lots were termed 'undertakers'. Over each barony was placed a Chief Undertaker, who was allowed to receive up to 3000 acres.
The MacDonald clan from Scotland, who in addition to being mercenary soldiers in Ireland, settled much of County Antrim in the 1400s and gradually increased their holdings by strong-arm tactics. King James VI of Scotland had cultivated the Antrim MacDonald Chief, Sir Randal MacDonald, in order to deprive the rebellious MacDonalds of the Scottish Highlands of an obvious source of support, and to keep Irish power in the north of Ireland as weak as possible. On becoming King of England in 1603, James gave the MacDonalds patent to their land in Antrim.
James I abolished Irish land customs in 1605 and by 1613 Brehon law was superseded. At least half of the settlers would be Scots. All Ireland was placed under English law. The first such scheme was the Plantation of Leix and Offaly in 1556. The O’Moore and O’Connor clans, which occupied the area had traditionally raided the English ruled Pale around Dublin. The Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Sussex, ordered that they be dispossessed and replaced with an English settlement. He also renamed the counties as King's County and Queen's County respectively. Another failed plantation occurred in east Ulster in the 1570s. The east of the province (occupied by the MacDonnells and Clandeboye Ó Neills) was to be colonised with English planters, to put a barrier between the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland and to stop the flow of mercenaries into Ireland. The Munster Plantation of the 1580s was the first mass plantation in Ireland. Initially the Undertakers were given detachments of English soldiers to protect them, but these were abolished in the 1590s as a result of the Nine Years War to 1598, settlers took refuge in the province's walled towns of Meath or fled back to England. (Ulster Clans)
Chief Undertakers were chosen by the King and included one Duke, one Earl, three Barons and four Knights. Fifty ordinary Undertakers were then chosen by the Chiefs. All Undertakers were expected to be on their land by September 30, 1610. On every 1000 acres received, there had to be 24 able bodied Scots or Englishment over families (to minimize old clan allegiances). Two of the families were to be freeholders; three were to be leaseholders, and the remainder could be cottagers.