Irish Plantations 1605–20

Although the English first established plantations (confiscated and colonized lands) in Ireland from the 12th century, the 16th–17th centuries plantations were Protestant and displaced Catholic rule in much of Ireland. The first Protestant plantation, established in 1582, was Munster. To settle this region, the English colonizers brutally suppressed resistance (destroying nearly a third of the population) and used scorched-earth tactics, laying waste to much of the countryside. The plantations were meant to be exemplary Protestant communities, but were also created as a response to anti-English insurgencies. Ulster plantation was established in 1606, under the English-Scottish crowns of James VI/I. After the creation of the Ulster plantation many Catholic nobles, who had fought with Spain against England in the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603), migrated to Spain. By 1611, the fortified towns of Derry and Enniskillen were established. Waves of English and Scottish settlers exploited government grants in the early years of the 17th century to buy cheap plantation land, mostly in Ulster.