West Connacht Iar Connacht | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1051–1589 | |||||||||||||||||
 Iar Connacht c. 1450, marked on the map as O'Flaherty. | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Túatha of Connacht (until 1235) | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Middle Irish, Early Modern Irish, Latin | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Catholic Christianity Gaelic tradition | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Tanistry | ||||||||||||||||
| Rí | |||||||||||||||||
• 1051 | Amhalgaidh mac Cathal | ||||||||||||||||
• 1560–1589 | Murchadh na dTuadh Ó Flaithbheartaigh | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1051 | ||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1589 | ||||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | IE | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Ireland | ||||||||||||||||
West Connacht (Irish: Iarthar Chonnachta; Modern Irish: Iar Connacht) was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Galway, particularly the area known more commonly today as Connemara. The kingdom represented the core homeland of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Seóla kindred and although they ruled, there were smaller groups of other Gaels in the area, such as the Delbhna Tir Dha Locha and the Conmhaícne Mara. It existed from 1051 onwards, after the Ó Conchobhair, Kings of Connacht, pushed the Ó Flaithbheartaigh to the West of Lough Corrib, from their original territory of Maigh Seóla. Iar Connacht remained a subordinate túath of Connacht, until the 13th century, after which it was more independent.
Galway upon its founding was originally governed by the Ó Flaithbheartaigh of Iar Connacht, but with the rise of the Clanricarde Burkes, a Norman family, it was captured in 1232. Around this time much of Connacht, in general, fell to the Burkes. Galway's Norman oligarchy later achieved a quasi-independent status to carry out its trade, but there always lingered the threat of it being reconquered by the Gaelic Ó Flaithbheartaigh, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Normans placed a sign on the gate of the city saying, "From the Ferocious O'Flahertys, O Lord deliver us".