totally disappeared. Many of its members found niches in trade or as chief tenants on their families' ancestral lands. Subsequent settlement For the remainder of the 17th century, Irish Catholics tried to get the Cromwellian Act of Settlement reversed. They briefly achieved this under James II during the Williamite war in Ireland, but the Jacobite defeat there led to another round of land confiscations. During the 1680s and 90s, another major wave of settlement took place in Ireland (though not another plantation in terms of land confiscation). At this time, the new settlers were principally Scots, tens of thousands of whom fled a famine in the lowlands and border regions of Scotland to come to Ulster. At this point Protestants and people of Scottish descent (who were mainly Presbyterians) became an absolute majority of the population in Ulster. French Huguenots, who were Protestant, were also encouraged to settle in Ireland; they had been expelled from France after the Crown's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Many of the Frenchmen were former soldiers, who had fought on the Williamite side in the Williamite war in Ireland. This community settled mainly in Dublin, as some had already been established as merchants in London. Their communal graveyard can still be seen off St Stephen's Green. The total population of this community may have reached 10,000. Long-term results The Plantations had profound effects on Ireland. They resulted in the removal and/or execution of Catholic ruling classes and their replacement with what became known as the Protestant Ascendancy, Anglican landowners mostly originating from Great Britain. Their position was reinforced by the Penal Laws. These denied political and most land-owning rights to Catholics and non-Anglican Protestant denominations, they also brought in harsh punishments for use of the Irish language and limited Catholics ability to practice their religion. The forced dominance of the Protestant class in Irish life persisted until the late 18th century when they reluctantly voted for the Act of Union with Britain in 1800. It abolished their parliament, making their government part of Britain's. The plantations and their related agricultural development also radically altered Ireland's physical environment and ecology. In 1600, most of Ireland was heavily wooded and undeveloped, apart from the bogs. Most of the population lived in small, semi-nomadic townlands, many migrating seasonally to pastures for their cattle. By 1700, Ireland's native woodland had been reduced to a fraction of