19th Century Belfast: A British City in the North of Ireland?

Nineteenth-century Belfast was a fast-growing industrial city with a substantial Protestant population. Both contemporaries and subsequent commentators have followed this logic, emphasizing the ways that Belfast was different from other Irish cities. But was Belfast really a British city in Ireland? Looking closely at the city's civic culture, economic development, and politics, this talk evaluates these claims, arguing that Belfast defies such easy characterizations.