Belfast is one of the youngest capital cities in the world and it has grown incredibly fast. Today the city has a population of 400,000, neatly a third of the entire population of Northern Ireland, but in the 17th century it was only a village. Then, during the 19th century, the development of industries like linen, rope-making, engineering, tobacco and the sea-trade doubled he town's size every ten years. The city is well- known for shipbuilding- it was here that the 'Titanic', was built and sent out her fatal maiden voyage.

Some of the Belfast streets have often been the scenes of violence- street-names such as the Falls Road and Shankill Road are well known throughout Britain because they have been heard so often on the news- but people still live in Belfast, and they can and do go out and enjoy themselves. In spite of the years of trouble, there are many cultural and leisure facilities.

The central area of Belfast consists of very marshy ground and this has necessitated the pilling of most large buildings, including the City Hall. The handsome Telephone House at the end of May Street, for example, has at its foundation a concrete raft supported on 400 concrete piles sunk to an average depth of 42 feet. The Albert Memorial clock in the High Street is one of those building which despite pilling have shown signs of subsidence. Built nearly a hundred years ago, this Belfast landmark shows visible evidence of a desire to emulate the leaning tower of Pisa. The hands, by the way , move only each half-minute. The Albert's" great night is New Year's Eve, when celebrating crowds gather around it and many a bottle is splintered against its massive walls.