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Isle of Man
Country Briefs:
Isle of Man is a place with outstanding beauty, history and
culture. It lies in the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and
Ireland. It is basically a constitutional monarchy that is not
actually a part of the United Kingdom but its Crown dependency.
Isle of Man is
nearly 221 square miles in area. It is 32 miles long and between 8 and
15 miles in the breadth. The capital of isles of man is Douglas. It is
the largest town of this region and is the Island’s hub for business,
finance, shipping, transport, shopping and entertainment. Douglas is
also a home for the government of isles of man.
According to some
people the Isle of Man derived its name from Mannanan, the Celtic
Neptune while the others believe that the reverse of this is the
truth.
Pondering over the
history of isles of man we find that till 5th century the
island was an abode of a necromancer with the holy name of
Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leir who used to keep strangers away from the
island by veiling it with mist. It is also said that he was a
wonderful magician.
Around 5th-6th
centuries, missionaries came to Isles and started spreading the
message of Christianity, thereby Christianize people. According to
some historians Saint Patrick had come to the island, established the
Bisphoric and cleared the island of venomous reptiles and toads, a
task he had to do for the sister Isles.
The Celts occupied
the region till first half of 9th century. The Celts were
followed by the Norsemen who first plundered wealth from the island
and then settled there. The Norsemen made isles an important base in
connection with their settlements in Dublin, North West England and
the Western Isles.
The isles became a
Viking outpost or kingdom from circa AD 700 to AD 900. Godred Crovan
created the Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles in 1079. He ruled
there from 1079 to 1095.
The descendants of
godred ruled in Man and the western isles till 1252. After this the
younger son of King Olaf II came to the throne. In 1263 king Alexander
III of Scotland thought of making Western Isles a part of his kingdom
and so they attacked the Hebrides. The Norwegians were defeated in the
battle of Largs and Magnus was granted to keep Mann only under the
condition of paying homage to king Alexander. As soon as Magnus died
in 1265, a treaty was signed between Norway and Scotland, which handed
the Isle of Man over to the Scots. This treaty was known as the treaty
of Perth.
Thus the Treaty of
Perth in 1266 marked the end of conflict between Norway and Magnus the
Law-mender and Scotland under Alexander III over the sovereignty of
the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and Caithness, the Norway King
Magnus VI ceded isles to Scotland.
In 1313 king of
Scotland, Robert the Bruce, landed at Ramsey and seized Castle Rushen.
But in the 14th
century, the English came to rule over the Isle of Man and it
transferred to the British crown in 1765.
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