Ireland, (32 counties) is divided into four Provinces, Ulster, (9 counties) Munster, (6 counties ) Leinster (12 counties) and Connaught (5 counties). Ulster is the most northerly of the four historic provinces. It consists of counties Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone. The name "Ulster" is often used to indicate that part of the province, the six northeastern counties, that remained under British rule when the country was partitioned in 1922. The counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, being excluded and remained part of the twenty six counties that formed the then Irish Free State, now The Republic of Ireland.