Cork is an old city, one of the oldest of all Irish cities.The name 'Cork' derives from the Irish 'Corcach Mór Mumhan', which means the 'great marsh of Munster' and refers to the fact that the centre of Cork city is built on islands, surrounded by the River Lee, which were marshy and prone to episodes of flooding.The monastery of Cork which was built on elevated ground on the south bank of the River Lee is the earliest human settlement in Cork for which we have incontrovertible evidence. The date of the foundation is unknown but historians think that it was founded in either the sixth or seventh century. The earliest mention of the monastery in the annals is for 682, when the death of Suibne, abbot of the monastery, was recorded. The location of the monastic settlement was on the area around the present-day site of Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral.