The history of the Bogside has been characterised by the relationship between two communities – one within the walls, safe, secure and powerful; one without, powerless, dispossessed and oppressed.
The influx of migrants throughout the 18th century, which increased during and after the great famine of the 1840s, created a Catholic majority in Derry. Since Catholics were forbidden from living within the walls most settled in the Bogside.
By the end of the 19th century, Catholics had a clear voting majority in Derry but no corresponding political power.
Tensions rose across Ireland during the 1919-21 War of Independence. In the spring and summer of 1920, 40 people were killed in the city in clashes between republicans and an alliance of loyalists and British forces.
When the Government of Ireland Act was passed in 1920, and partition became a reality in 1921, nationalist Derry felt abandoned, a very reluctant part of the north.
Introduction
