Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Belfast derives from the Irish phrase Baal Feirste, meaning Mouth of the Farset, a river whose name in the Irish, Feirste, refers to a sandbar or tidal ford. This was formed where the river ran until culverted late in the 18th century, down High Street, into the Lagan.
With a commission from King James VI and I, in 1613 Sir Arthur Chichester undertook the Plantation of Belfast and the surrounding area, attracting mainly English and Manx settlers. The subsequent arrival of Scottish Presbyterians embroiled Belfast in its only recorded siege in 1649.
From the 1820s Belfast emerged as the global leader in the production of linen goods, mill and finishing work largely employing women and children, winning the moniker Linenopolis. Shipbuilding led the development of heavier industry, and by 1914 close one eighth of world production came from the yards of Harland & Wolff.
In the spring of 1941, the German Luftwaffe appeared four times over Belfast, and in the greatest loss of life in any air raid outside of London, more than a thousand people were killed. The Belfast Blitz severely damaged or destroyed more than half the city's housing stock and devastated the old town centre around High Street.
In May 2013, the Northern Ireland Executive committed to the removal of all peace lines by mutual consent, though the target date of 2023 was passed with only a small number dismantled. The security barriers erected at these interfaces are an enduring physical legacy of the Troubles.
In November 2021, Belfast became the third city in the British Isles to be designated by UNESCO as City of Music, after Glasgow in 2008 and Liverpool in 2016. The greater part of Belfast's music scene is accommodated in the city's pubs and clubs, including Irish traditional music and Ulster-Scots snare drum and pipe music.