The name Cork comes from the Irish Corcach Mór Mumhan which means the great marsh of Munster and refers to the fact that the center of Cork City is built on islands, surrounded by the River Lee, which were marshy and subjected to instances of flooding. The waterways between the islands have been built over to form some of the main streets of present-day Cork. Traditionally, Saint Finbarre has been credited with the foundation of the monastery of Cork. The monastery of Cork, which was built on elevated ground on the south bank of the River Lee, is the earliest human settlement in Cork for which historians have incontrovertible evidence. The date of the foundation is unknown but it has been surmised that it was founded in either the sixth or seventh centuries. The earliest mention of the monastery in the annals is for 682 which record the death of Suibne, the abbot of the monastery. The location of the monastic settlement was on the area around the present-day site of Saint FinBarre’s Cathedral.

After several violent Viking raids, the Vikings and the monastic community eventually arrived at a form of peaceful coexistence. Indeed the seafaring and trading abilities of the Vikings proved to be an economic boon to the monastery, since they provided it with wine, salt and other commodities. By the 12th century the descendants of the original Norse settlers had intermarried with the native Irish and had become known as the Ostmen or Eastmen. They had established Cork as an important center of trade and its importance was enhanced with the coming to power in the 12th century of the MacCarthys of Desmond who established Cork as their capital.

In 1169, the Norman conquest of Ireland began. At the Council of Oxford in 1177, King Henry II of England granted the kingdom of Cork to Robert FitzStephen and Milo de Cogan, but he reserved the city of Cork for himself. An army led by FitzStephen and de Cogan arrived at Cork City in 1177 and took the city, thus beginning the Norman era of the history of Cork. Prince John in 1185 granted a charter to Cork City which made Cork a corporate town with powers of local government.

Cork continued to be an inportant center of commerce for the early part of the Middle Ages. However, in the middle of the 14th century Cork City, already in economic decline and harried by the rebellious Gaelic population outside the walls, was devastated by the Black Death. It is likely that between 25 and 35 percent of the population died.

Cork continued to suffer economic decline through the 15th to the 17th Centuries, as well as the rancor due to the reformation and the establishment of Protestantism in Great Britain. It survived the ravages of Oliver Cromwell, but was conquered some decades later by the forces of William of Orange. Thereafter, Cork enjoyed a renewal of economic prosperity that ended during the Great Famine of the 1840s.

Cork's deep-seated sense of Irish identity ensured that it would play a key role in Ireland's struggle for independence. A mayor of the city was killed by the Black and Tans (British police and soldiers) in 1920 and his successor died in a London prison after 75 days on a hunger strike. The English were at their most brutal in Cork, destroying much of the city center. Ever a prey to its own turbulent political factions, Cork was also a regional focus of the destructive civil war that followed independence in 1921.

Today, having survived the ravages of history, Cork a vibrant city. It is a center of culture, history, and industry.