Placing London Before Derry

The city of Derry’s name is an Anglicisation of the Irish name Doire, meaning Oak Grove. It is one of the oldest inhabited areas in Ireland. It was subjected to the colonial process of plantation by the British in the 17th century. During the Plantation of Ulster, the English and Scottish settlers built high walls to keep the native Irish insurgents, who resisted the colonisation of their lands, out of the city. To assert the goal of settling Ulster with a population that was loyal to the British Crown and recognise the financiers of the colony in London, the British declared that the city be renamed Londonderry. 

After partition, the Irish population of Derry was subjected to heavy political and economic discrimination by the unionist government. Although the Irish Nationalist community in Derry amounted to a significant majority of the population, severe gerrymandering kept the government under the control of a unionist minority. Much of the Nationalist population was confined to an area beneath the city walls known as The Bogside. Derry was at the centre of the growing Irish civil rights movement. After non-violent protests were met with violence by the RUC, the conflict increased in scale. Due to the discrimination against the majority and the violent response to their campaigns for equality, it is widely acknowledged that “The Troubles” began in Derry. 

The situation became more problematic as British troops were deployed when the Bogside residents barricaded themselves into what became known as “Free Derry” to protect themselves from violent attacks from police. Bloody Sunday serves as the prime example of the abuse of the Nationalist community in the North of Ireland by soldiers who were initially deployed to reduce the incidence of violent conflict. During the 30-year long era known as “The Troubles”, leaders in Britain proved that they placed British interests and the legacy of colonialism above the welfare of the majority in Derry.