Editing Connacht (section)

=== Early history ===
[[File:Ireland early peoples and politics.gif|thumb|Early peoples and kingdoms of Ireland, c.800.]]
Up to the early historic era, Connacht then included [[County Clare]], and was known as [[Cóiced Ol nEchmacht]]. Later myths state the [[Fir Bolg]] ruled all Ireland before the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] arrived. When the Fir Bolg were defeated, the Tuatha Dé Danann drove them to Connacht. Sites such as the [[Céide Fields]], [[Knocknarea]], [[Listoghil]], [[Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery]] and [[Rathcroghan]], all demonstrate intensive occupation of Connacht far back into prehistory.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |pages=580, 641 & 678|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref> Enigmatic artefacts such as the [[Turoe stone]] and the [[Castlestrange stone]], whatever their purpose, denote the ambition and achievement of those societies, and their contact with the [[La Tène culture]] of mainland Europe. In the early historic era (c. A.D. 300 – c. A.D. 600), Ol nEchmacht was not a united kingdom but a region. It comprised dozens of major and minor [[túath]]; rulers of larger túatha ([[Maigh Seóla]], [[Uí Maine]], [[Aidhne]] and [[Máenmaige]]) were accorded high-king status, while peoples such as the Gailenga, Corco Moga and [[Senchineoil]] were lesser peoples given the status of [[Déisi]]. All were termed kingdoms, but according to a graded status, denoting each according the likes of lord, count, earl, king.

Some of the more notable peoples or ethnic groups included the following:
{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|
* [[Conmaicne]] – west coast and northern areas of County Galway
* [[Dartraige]] – north-west County Leitrim
* [[Delbhna]] – south County Roscommon, and both sides of the [[Lough Corrib]]
* [[Fir Craibe]] – County Clare (then part of Connacht) and south-west Galway
* [[Fir Domnann]] – west coast of Mayo
* [[Soghain]] – most of east-central County Galway
}}
By the 5th century, the pre-historic nations such as the [[Auteini]] and [[Nagnatae]] – recorded by [[Ptolemy]] (c. AD 90 – c. 168) in ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' – gave way to dynasties. This is demonstrated in the [[noun]] ''moccu'' in names such as [[Muirchu moccu Machtheni]], which indicated a person was ''of the Machtheni people.'' As evidenced by kings such as [[Mac Cairthinn mac Coelboth]] (died 446) and [[Ailill Molt]] (died c. 482), even by the 5th century the [[gens]] was giving way to kinship all over Ireland, as both men were identified as of the [[Uí Enechglaiss]] and [[Uí Fiachrach]] dynasties, not of tribes. By 700, ''moccu'' had been entirely replaced by ''mac'' and ''hua'' (later ''Mac'' and ''Ó'').

During the mid-8th century, what is now County Clare was absorbed into [[Thomond]] by the [[Déisi Tuisceart]]. It has remained a part of the province of [[Munster]] ever since.

The name Connacht arose from the most successful of these early dynasties, The [[Connachta]]. By 1050, they had extended their rule from [[Rathcroghan]] in north County Roscommon to large areas of what are now County Galway, County Mayo, County Sligo, and County Leitrim. The dynastic term was from then on applied to the overall geographic area containing those counties, and has remained so ever since.