Spanish Ireland

Gunnerkid · 16-10-2010 4:46pm #1

What do you think Ireland would be like today if the Spanish Armada arrived and had been successful and had paved the way for the spanish to force the British out of Ireland, would we be speaking spanish and be part of Spain or would they have picked up and left after helping us ( which I doubt very much) anyways bored out of my head right now and just been thinking about this for awhile so just wondering what the rest of ye think

Biggins · 16-10-2010 4:48pm

Wow! Random question or what!
Honestly, I've no idea.

Stop thinking these questions and get back to your porn browser tab.

pablomakaveli · 16-10-2010 4:50pm

Annoying Spanish students would just be called "students".

Gunnerkid · 16-10-2010 4:50pm

Biggins wrote: »

Wow! Random question or what!
Honestly, I've no idea.

Stop thinking these questions and get back to your porn browser tab.

haha I know sitting here should be studying but day dreaming to much

Dardania · 16-10-2010 4:52pm

Admit it, you're really just fantasising about Spanish girls invading the country!

2ygb4cmqetsjhx · 16-10-2010 4:52pm

I for one would welcome our new spanish overlords. More senorita = less muffin top and don't the spanish rule the sun?

Alias G · 16-10-2010 4:54pm

I presume they would have handed us back to the Brits as soon as it was politcally convenient for them to do so.

Nichololas · 16-10-2010 4:56pm

The siesta I just took wouldn't be as frowned upon

Cheap Thrills! · 16-10-2010 4:57pm

All the men would look like Jesus and all the women would be highly strung bunny boilers!!! Not that I believe in cultural stereotypes of course!!!! :cool:

brianthebard · 16-10-2010 5:02pm

Its an interesting question. As an empire Spain was more interested in spreading Catholicism and exploiting resources than colonising a region and taxation. Without any need to convert the population and with very few natural resources at that time (Britain having used up all the trees) its hard to see what benefit the Spanish would get from their position in Ireland, apart from a launching pad for an attack on England, which would be a double edged sword at best.

southsiderosie · 16-10-2010 5:05pm

They would have lost Ireland to another major power just like all of the other islands they lost control of. Although I would like to think that the food today would be better.

Actually another way to think about it: there wouldn't be a Protestant population, because they would be kept out or forced to convert. They would hang onto Ireland until "El Desastre" of 1898 when they lost Cuba and the Philippines (because England, smelling weakness, probably would have joined the war on the side of the Americans and stepped in to snatch Ireland). But at this point, the island would be predominately Catholic, so even if Ireland briefly became part of the British Empire (which was dying anyway) independence would have happened without partition.

Or they would have traded it to the French for something, and then the world wouldn't all love the Irish.

Sisko · 16-10-2010 5:27pm

Doubt we'd be speaking Spanish, pretty sure the country would turn into a warzone for a decade or so. Who knows how different things would be as a result even outside Ireland. All the things the British Empire would have been interested in at the time would be eclipsed by the fact that an enemy empire had control of the Island right beside them.

Probably would have resulted in a free Ireland a lot sooner in the end though.

cleremy jarkson · 16-10-2010 5:34pm

All the events of world history couldn't have happened in any other way than they did happen.

Even if we ignore this and pretend that events in the universe that involve human-beings aren't deterministic and that things could have happened otherwise, is it not obvious to everybody that none of us would exist if spanish people came in and took over the place??

southsiderosie · 16-10-2010 5:35pm

If Ireland had been a flashpoint for great power struggles between Spain, France and England for 300 years, I'd guess that maybe today it would have a bi-lingual population, and that at least one of its port cities would be a New Orleans-esque free-for-all kind of place.

This would not be a bad thing.

Sisko · 16-10-2010 5:35pm

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

is it not obvious to everybody that none of us would exist if spanish people came in and took over the place??

darragh666 · 16-10-2010 5:36pm

Slightly off topic but:

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!

The_Kew_Tour · 16-10-2010 5:37pm

We would have one **** hot football team

Biggins · 16-10-2010 5:38pm

adrian280582 wrote: »

We would have one **** hot football team

Dunno... They could be a load of bull!

cleremy jarkson · 16-10-2010 5:44pm

Sisko wrote: »

Every one of your ancestors had to follow the exact life path that they did in order for you to have ever been born. If some spanish guy got to one of your 17th century ancestors before the guy who historically actually did, then you could never have been born.

rossie1977 · 16-10-2010 5:54pm

would be like mexico today, just wetter and colder

brianthebard · 16-10-2010 5:54pm

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

Every one of your ancestors had to follow the exact life path that they did in order for you to have ever been born. If some spanish guy got to one of your 17th century ancestors before the guy who historically actually did, then you could never have been born.

I don't think you get the point of the thread....

Agricola · 16-10-2010 5:58pm

We'd all be going to bed at 1 in the afternoon, despite the freezing fog outside. Oh, and the economy would be in an even worse state than it is now, if thats possible!

dlofnep · 16-10-2010 6:00pm

Our weather would still be shít. That's for one. We'd probably have a devolved Government like the Basque country, with ripe aspirations of full political independence.

cleremy jarkson · 16-10-2010 6:03pm

brianthebard wrote: »

I don't think you get the point of the thread....

Ah no I do. But I just wanted to force a few people into realising that they aren't in control of their own destiny, and that blind determinism will ensure their life's story will turn out the only way it ever could, even though their subjective experience is telling them that they have absolute agency over their choices.

brianthebard · 16-10-2010 6:04pm

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

Ah no I do. But I just wanted to force a few people into realising that they aren't in control of their own destiny, and that blind determinism will ensure there life's story will only ever have one outcome.

em, if you say so....are you a calvinist or something??

Seillejet · 16-10-2010 6:07pm

I think the Spanish Armada did land here and took control of Kinsale in the 1600's for three months or so before being forced out by the British. The first thing they did was set up an importation tax. As with all things Irish, they found commonality in alcohol and brewing wine I think!!

http://kinsale.ie/desmond-castle-the-international-museum-of-wine/

cleremy jarkson · 16-10-2010 6:08pm

brianthebard wrote: »

em, if you say so....are you a calvinist or something??

Not at all. I've just read up on and pondered the free will/ determinism problem and I've come to the, at first depressing, conclusion that all the stuff I've said above is true. I've seen you post in the history forum and you seem smart enough..what's your take on it??

RonMexico · 16-10-2010 6:20pm

Imagine Georgia Salpa with a Spanish mother.

Cheap Thrills! · 16-10-2010 6:33pm

RonMexico wrote: »

Imagine Georgia Salpa with a Spanish mother.

She's greek!!! Anyway she couldn't really be much hotter than she is now!!!!

Mars Bar · 16-10-2010 6:36pm

We'd be a sexy nation though!

Sea Sharp · 16-10-2010 6:39pm

It would have seriously undermined the formation of the British empire, making them poorer and so the industrial revolution might not have ever happened. Ireland in 2010 would be similar to Ireland in 1840.

Spanish Ireland

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