County Tyrone is one of the six counties of Ulster in Northern Ireland. In Irish it's Tír Eoghain, the land of Owen, forerunners of the medieval O'Neill ruling dynasty. Tyrone is mostly lowland, with prehistoric sites and interesting small towns created during the 17th century Plantations. It has a long (and nowadays open and peaceful) border with the Republic of Ireland.
This rural, mostly lowland area triggered the sequence of events leading to the partition of Ireland. Medieval Tyrone was ruled by the O'Neill dynasty, the Gaelic lords whose territory took in Derry and Donegal. Their powerbase was initially near Strabane, then Tullyhogue near Cookstown, and finally at Dungannnon. Further south the English increasingly controlled Ireland but the O'Neills held out until the Nine Years' War of 1593-1603. That broke Gaelic rule, and their ceremonial seat at Tullyhogue was smashed with relish.
The victorious English organised Ulster into nine counties. Scottish settlers were already moving in before the war, but 1607 saw the flight of the defeated Earl of Tyrone into exile, and seizure of his estates. In 1608 rebels burned Derry, and London authority was determined to prevent further uprisings, so they began the systematic Plantation of Ulster with loyal Protestants. These became the majority population especially in the industrial east around Dungannon, while rural Strabane and Castlederg remained largely Catholic. The main industry was linen, although Dungannon also had a coalfield.
In 1921 the Anglo-Irish conflict led to the partition of Ireland. County Donegal, though geographically in Ulster, was Catholic and joined Southern Ireland, which became an independent republic. Tyrone and Londonderry were marginally Protestant and (with Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim and Down) joined Northern Ireland, which remained within the United Kingdom. A boundary commission recommended transferring several Catholic areas of Tyrone and Armagh to the south, but no adjustment was made, and the county boundaries became an international border. This blighted transport, trade and industry on both sides.
Northern Ireland slumped in the 1950s and 60s as textile and metal-bashing industries were lost to foreign competition. "The Troubles" flared up in 1969, with economic grievances stoking sectarian tensions. There were frequent bombings and shootings, and gun-running and other crime along the porous border. The army and police were deployed in force, to become themselves targets for violence. In Tyrone, Strabane was the worst damaged, and employment and industry fled.
The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 led to de-escalation of violence and military presence, though four months later a terrible bombing in Omagh showed that murderous splinter groups remained active. The border of Tyrone with Donegal and Monaghan became as insignificant as a parish boundary, but economic regeneration was slow. In 2011 the counties of Northern Ireland were abolished as units of local government, and since 2015 Tyrone has been divided between three "super-districts": of Mid-Ulster to the east with Cookstown and Dungannon, of Derry and Strabane to the north, and of Fermanagh and Omagh to the southwest. In 2020 the big uncertainty is the long-term effect of Brexit on the Irish border.
See Northern Ireland#Get in for air and ferry routes - County Tyrone is within a couple of hours drive from most ports of entry.
There is no railway service. Ulsterbus 273 runs hourly from Belfast Europa bus station to Dungannon, Omagh, Newtonstewart, Sion Mills, Strabane and Derry.
Buses run 3 times a day from Dublin Busáras and Airport: the X3 runs via Monaghan, Ballygawley, Omagh and Strabane to Derry, while the X4 runs via Armagh, Dungannon and Cookstown to Derry.
Buses also ply between Dungannon and Cookstown, and Enniskillen and Omagh.
By road from Belfast follow M1 west, which becomes A4 at Dungannon. However for the north end of the county around Strabane, it's quicker to take M2 / A6 towards Derry.
The bus routes above connect the towns. Beyond that, you need wheels, because most sights are scattered around the countryside with little or no public transport.
A network of national cycleways crosses the county, though they're mostly on road.
Usual advice about road safety, care of valuables, and dressing for the weather. The border with the Republic is nowadays safe, but many people lost family members in the Troubles so there are still raw nerves.
Primary administrative division