As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of 'Alpha minus', which places it as one of the top thirty cities in the world. Following independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.ĭublin is a contemporary and historical centre for Irish education, arts and culture, administration and industry. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire after the Acts of Union in 1800. As the small Kingdom of Dublin, the city grew, and it became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion. There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where and when Dublin originated, with a settlement established by the Gaels during or before the 7th century AD, and a second, Viking, settlement, following. The population of the Greater Dublin Area was 1,904,806 per the 2016 census. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region (traditional County Dublin) as of 2016 was 1,347,359.
It is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Situated on a bay on the east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, it lies within the province of Leinster. Dublin ( / ˈ d ʌ b l ɪ n/ Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, pronounced or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland.
