It only takes one word from God for us to be healed. About one in six people belong to the next biggest Protestant denomination, the Anglican Church of Ireland. During the political violence of the last third of the 20th century, many Protestants moved away from western and border areas of Northern Ireland. In the western half of Northern Ireland, regional services and administration have enlarged Omagh and Enniskillen. Although the Portuguese were generally suspicious of Protestants, Protestant missionaries-Presbyterian, Free Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Anglican, and Congregationalist-remained active, particularly in the northern interior and in the hinterlands of Inhambane and Maputo, providing Africans with alternative medical facilities and boarding schools. A variety of African Independent Churches developed, but, because of official disdain for their activities, they were unlikely to register publicly. Christian missionaries were active throughout the country during the colonial era, and after 1926 the Roman Catholic Church was given government subsidies and a privileged position with respect to its educational and evangelical activities among the African population. Reflecting Belfast’s 19th-century origin, most of the streets are inextricably and bleakly mixed with mills and factories, while the reclaimed land at the head of Belfast Lough is given over entirely to industry.

Armagh is an ecclesiastical centre with two cathedrals, while Lisburn, Lurgan, and Portadown, all in the Lagan valley, form an extension of the Belfast industrial complex, their size a product of the textile industry. The size of Belfast, at the head of Belfast Lough on the northeast coast, underlines its dominance of the region, as well as its significance as an industrial centre and major port. West of Lough Neagh and in the fastness of the Mourne Mountains and of Slieve Gullion, as well as in the more distant Lough Erne region, indigenous elements have maintained a distinctiveness. Londonderry, a centre for shirtmaking, was the heart of the Lough Foyle lowlands until the hinterland that it served was split by the partition of Ireland, but it remains the main focus of the west. Although the Northern Irish birth rate declined over the last two decades of the 20th century, it remains relatively high by British standards. Indeed, about half the Northern Irish live in districts in which nine-tenths or more of residents are drawn from one of the two communities. The traditional regions of Northern Ireland correspond closely to the main topographic elements, although they are also the outcome of the cultural evolution of the area.

Northern Ireland is also marked by stark patterns of residential segregation. In terms of population, Northern Ireland is the smallest part of the United Kingdom, and its demographic profile differs from that of Great Britain in a number of ways. Such relatively isolated pockets as the glens of the northeast coast and Kilkeel on the southeast coast retain a local consciousness that gives colour and interest to the human geography of Northern Ireland. Since partition, emigration from Northern Ireland has tended to outpace immigration. During the “Troubles”-the term used euphemistically to describe the violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland-many wealthy Protestants from Belfast relocated to the pastoral environs of northern Down while their less privileged counterparts moved to the bleak estates that sprung up in the satellite towns that ring the city. As a result, the historic counties of Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone now have marked Catholic majorities, while the traditional concentration of Protestants in the eastern reaches has increased.

But while Knievel is well-known for his stunts and fame, his life had darker patches as well. Ramadan is an examination of the belief of Allah’s promise and reward, verses our weakness, temptation, diseases of the heart, material life. How Did Life Begin? At the end of Ramadan and before the breaking of the fast, Muslims say takbeer. Between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century, most of the land was enclosed and the scattered strips consolidated, partly as a policy of the landlords but finally because of the decline in rural population after the Potato Famine of the 1840s. The end result was the orderly, small square fields that dominate the contemporary landscape. Some of these towns acquired a mill in the 19th century, but in few cases has this changed the essentially rural context. Built by the English and Scottish planters or by the landlords of the 18th century, they have a foreign touch of orderliness and urbanity. In the north and east the influence of the Scots and English has been paramount. In the east, wealthier Hindus also fled newly formed East Pakistan, but a sizeable minority of Hindus (nearly 10 million) stayed behind.