<P> By the early 1800s the former town was home to a major port . Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century , becoming the biggest linen producer in the world , earning it the nickname `` Linenopolis '' . By the time it was granted city status in 1888 , it was a major centre of the Irish linen as well as tobacco - processing , rope - making and shipbuilding industries . Harland and Wolff , which built the RMS Titanic , was the world 's biggest and most productive shipyard . It later also sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry . Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Ireland 's biggest city at the time . It became the capital of Northern Ireland following the Partition of Ireland in 1922 . Its status as a global industrial centre ended in the decades after the Second World War . </P>
<P> By the early 1800s the former town was home to a major port . Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century , becoming the biggest linen producer in the world , earning it the nickname `` Linenopolis '' . By the time it was granted city status in 1888 , it was a major centre of the Irish linen as well as tobacco - processing , rope - making and shipbuilding industries . Harland and Wolff , which built the RMS Titanic , was the world 's biggest and most productive shipyard . It later also sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry . Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Ireland 's biggest city at the time . It became the capital of Northern Ireland following the Partition of Ireland in 1922 . Its status as a global industrial centre ended in the decades after the Second World War . </P>
when did belfast become the capital of northern ireland
when did belfast become the capital of northern ireland
1922
1922