<human>:  When did the Troubles start in Northern Ireland?
<bot>: The Troubles started in the late 1960s and lasted until the late 1990s. The Troubles began as a conflict between the Catholic Irish nationalist population of Northern Ireland and the Protestant unionist population. The conflict escalated in 1969 when the British Army was sent to Northern Ireland to suppress the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1980s, the IRA turned to terrorism as a means of pressuring the British government into negotiating a political solution to the conflict. The conflict ended in 1998 when the IRA declared a ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement was signed.