| Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath): |
Dublin is the capital and largest city in Ireland, near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a centre of Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's capital since mediæval times.
The city of Dublin is the entire area administered by Dublin City Council. However, when most people talk about 'Dublin', they also refer to the suburban areas that run into the adjacent local authority areas of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. This area is sometimes known as 'Urban Dublin' or the 'Dublin Metropolitan Area'.
The population of the administrative area controlled by Dublin City Council was 505,739 at the census of 2006. At the same census the Dublin Region population was 1,186,159, and the Greater Dublin Area 1,661,185. This number is estimated to reach over 2 million by 2021.
A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or colloquially as a Dub, or, pejoratively, a Jackeen.
In a 2003 European-wide survey by the BBC, questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin was the best capital city in Europe to live in, and Ireland the most content country in Europe.
Dublin is the third most visited capital city in Europe (after Paris and London) with over four million visitors a year.
|
