Ulster is the only one of Ireland's four historic provinces divided between two states: six of its nine counties — Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone — form Northern Ireland and belong to the United Kingdom, while Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland. This division, a result of the 1921 partition of Ireland, continues to shape the politics, identity and daily life of the entire province.
On Northern Ireland's north coast lies the Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of around 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns formed by volcanic activity roughly 60 million years ago. The Mourne Mountains in County Down and Lough Erne in Fermanagh are among the island's most striking landscapes.
Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital, is the birthplace of the Titanic and is known today for the Titanic Belfast museum as well as the turbulent history of the Troubles, which can be experienced through murals and guided tours. Derry — whose dual name, Derry/Londonderry, remains politically charged to this day — has Ireland's only fully intact 17th-century city walls.
In the south of the province lies Donegal, part of the Republic of Ireland, with one of the wildest and least developed stretches of coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way — a counterpoint to the more urban character of Northern Ireland.