Ireland was inhabited as early as 8,000 BC. Its early Brehon Law system was highly sophisticated, and when Europe entered the Dark Ages, Ireland’s monasteries remained a beacon of culture and learning throughout the continent. However, Ireland was to face its own dark times, first with the Viking and then the Anglo-Norman invasions. Ireland’s darkest era, the Great Famine of 1845-49, saw over a million die and another million emigrate, sowing the first seeds of the Irish Diaspora.