- Connaught redirects here. For the racing team, visit Connaught (racing team).
Connacht
Cúige Chonnacht
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| Area: |
17,713.18 km² |
| Population: |
464,296 (2002) |
Connacht (IPA: /ˈkɒnɔːt/; Irish: Connachta (IPA: /ˈkunəxtə/), "(land of the) descendants of Conn", also known in English as Connaught[1], is the western province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Galway (Co. na Gaillimhe), Leitrim (Liatroim), Mayo (Co. Mhaigh Eo), Roscommon (Co. Ros Comáin), Sligo (Sligeach). In Irish the province is usually Cúige Chonnacht i.e. the province (literally, fifth) of Connacht. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south, and Sligo in the north. It has a population of 464,000, the smallest of the four Irish provinces.
The Irish language is spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of west Mayo and west Galway, the largest being Connemara.
The highest point of Connacht is Mweelrea (814 metres), in Mayo. Its largest island is Achill, the largest in Ireland. The biggest lake is Lough Corrib.
Up to the early historic era, it was known as Cóiced Ol nEchmacht.
Connacht-Ulster was one of Ireland's four regional constituencies for elections to the European Parliament until it was superseded in 2004 by the new constituency of Ireland North West.
See also
Note
^ The spelling Connaught reflects the former English practice -- in Ireland, though not in Scotland -- of representing the Gaelic voiceless velar fricative /x/ as ugh (compare lough for loch), (u)gh having been used in Middle English for the same sound. Although this sound later disappeared from English, the spelling of words like "thought" and "caught" remained unaltered -- and in a further Anglicization the "new" English pronunciation of -aught was even applied in England to titles like that of the Duke of Connaught. In Ireland, however, the original pronunciation having remained intact, the Gaelic-style spelling Connacht is now used more often in English. It may have gained currency by mistranslation of the Irish name into English: in Irish, the form "Cúige Chonnacht" (province of Connacht) is almost always used, and this may have led to people misunderstanding genitive case "Connacht" as the Gaelic version instead of nominative case "Connachta".
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