The Great Famine of 1845 With 3 million either gone or dead from the island of Ireland, 1845 was possibly the most painful year in its history. It was also obvious that something was afflicting Ireland, with the smell and sight of the crops. Death rate grew high, and immigration even higher during this time period of the famine. The Great Potato Famine of 1845 had a massive effect on Ireland in population decrease, the reactions of the people, and effects it had on the future of Ireland. One of the biggest, and nastiest, effects of the famine was population decrease. Population decrease was also devastating on the population. While 8 million people either left or died during the 1800s, the famine was the leading cause for the decrease. At least one million people died. At least two million immigrated during this time period. And, death rate was higher than the birth rate. As well as population, the famine had an effect in another thing of Irish culture. Emmigration was a powerful and most obvious result of the famine. ("BRIA 26 2 The Potato Famine and Irish Immigration to America - Constitutional Rights Foundation.") A Frenchman named Gustave de Beaumont who traveled the country compared the Irish to “the Indian in his forest and the Negro in chains. . . . In all countries, paupers may be discovered, but an entire nation of paupers is what was never seen until it was shown in Ireland.” The famine gave Irish a reason to leave Ireland. Along with population decrease, family went down as well. Another effect of the famine was in the family. Along with population decrease, issues with families resulted. Marriage rates went down, and family size decreased as marriage rates went down as well. Less children were born. In spite of ... ... middle of paper ... ...Ireland – Becoming a Free State”). Finally on Monday, April 18, 1949 Ireland became the Republic of Ireland. (“Ireland – Becoming a Free State”)Now the Republic was formally free of allegiance to the Crown, and a decline in anti-British feelings. Economy started to grow, and along with that, a new measure of political stability. (“Ireland – Becoming a Free State”) On December 14, 1955, the Republic joined the United Nations with the admission of other communist and noncommunist nations. (“Ireland – Becoming a Free State”) The Great Famine was destructive, and affected population, people, and the future of Ireland. While the famine was a major event in Ireland’s history, it is hard to say what would have happened without it. Maybe, today, there would be no Republic, and Ireland would still be under the rule of the Crown. But without the famine we would never know.
The Irish Famine 1845-1849 “Is ar scáth a chiéle a maireann na daoine” “It is with each other’s protection that the people live” From the Fifteenth through to the Nineteenth centuries English Monarchies and Governments had consistently enacted laws which it seems were designed to oppress the Irish and suppress and destroy Irish Trade and manufacturing. In the Penal laws of 1695 which aimed to destroy Catholicism, Catholics were forbidden from practicing their religion, receiving education, entering a profession, or purchasing or leasing land; since Catholics formed eighty percent of the Irish population, this effectively deprived the Irish of any part in civil life in their own country. In the eighteenth century the Irish condition had improved: The Irish merchant marine had been revived and ports improved, and the glass, linen, and clothing industries developed. Agriculture had also been improved and in 1782 the Irish Constitution was formed.
Famine can be highly detrimental to human health and cause a lot of sickness throughout humans. It is clear that there are many biological effects caused by famine but there are also many effects on society and human agency. Famine can cause a breakdown in society and create barriers to economic growth. This can lead to dramatic changes in religions, cultural practices and the structure of government.
The chance to make a living and put some money in their pockets was an attractive situation for struggling Irish immigrants. The inevitable factor for Irish immigrants to leave their homeland was the effects of famine that was occurring among the rural population of Ireland. Ireland depended heavily on potato crops, but as the crops failed they diminished the hopes of survival for many Irish families.... ... middle of paper ...
To know why the Irish left Ireland, one must look at what was going on in Ireland from approximately 1815, a time before the famine began, to 1854 when the famine came to an end. Firstly, the Irish population had been steadily increasing from 2.8 million in 1712 until an estimated 8.5 million in 1841. This naturally led to harder times as families had more children to support. There also came a decline in agricultural prices, leading the average farmer’s income to decline as well. There was a legislation, as well, that was passed in 1816 and 1819 that decreased the cost of eviction, which led some of the landowners to evict their tenants to use the land for the purpose of grazing. This left those tenants without a place to live and a way to support themselves. As well, the Union with Great Britain in 1801, and the free trade that followed, ruined many of the forms of labour in Ireland at the time, including manufacturing and the products of artisans. This led many of the farmers and labourers to resort to begging, stealing and even starvation. This seemed to be enough of an incentive for people to start migrating overseas, and it is only common sense that those with the most money were able to leave first in 1815, these people mainly Protestant farmers. However, there was a reduction in fares in 1817 and that allowed some of the poorer classes, most usually were the Protestant counterparts, to finally migrate. During that period, many of the Irish immigrants came from the town of Ulster. This has been found to be due to the collapse of the linen industry there, which left the former employees unemployed. It seems apparent that in the decade prior to the Potato Famine, unemployment and a decline in the level of lifestyle were the major driving forces behind the first
The Irish began immigrating to North America in the 1820s, when the lack of jobs and poverty forced them to seek better opportunities elsewhere after the end of the major European wars. When the Europeans could finally stop depending on the Irish for food during war, the investment in Irish agricultural products reduced and the boom was over. After an economic boom, there comes a bust and unemployment was the result. Two-thirds of the people of Ireland depended on potato harvests as a main source of income and, more importantly, food. Then between the years of 1845 and 1847, a terrible disease struck the potato crops. The plague left acre after acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. The failure of the potato yields caused the prices of food to rise rapidly. With no income coming from potato harvests, families dependent on potato crops could not afford to pay rent to their dominantly British and Protestant landlords and were evicted only to be crowded into disease-infested workhouses. Peasants who were desperate for food found themselves eating the rotten potatoes only to develop and spread horrible diseases. ¡§Entire villages were quickly homeless, starving, and diagnosed with either cholera or typhus.¡¨(Interpreting¡K,online) The lack of food and increased incidents of death forced incredible numbers of people to leave Ireland for some place which offered more suitable living conditions. Some landlords paid for the emigration of their tenants because it made more economic sense to rid farms of residents who were not paying their rent. Nevertheless, emigration did not prove to be an antidote for the Famine. The ships were overcrowded and by the time they reached their destination, approximately one third of its passengers had been lost to disease, hunger and other complications. However, many passengers did survive the journey and, as a result, approximately ¡§1.5 million Irish people immigrated to North America during the 1840¡¦s and 1850¡¦s.¡¨(Bladley, online) As a consequence of famine, disease (starvation and disease took as many as one million lives) and emigration, ¡§Ireland¡¦s population dropped from 8 million to 5 million over a matter of years.¡¨(Bladley, online) Although Britain came to the aid of the starving, many Irish blamed Britain for their delayed response and for centuries of political hardship as basi...
The relationship between Ireland and England played a major role in the causes of the Great Famine. Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801 due to the Act of Union (Edwards & Williams 19). Under this act, Ireland was placed under "the jurisdiction of the richest and most industrially advanced empire in the world" (Kinealy 33). From this act, Ireland's parliament was abolished and became controlled by England through political leadership established throughout the Irish state. A...
Ireland is a beautiful country in Europe, about the size of Maine. Today, Ireland is mostly populated with middle-class families. Irish is famous for its potatoes, but in 1845 a disease attacked the potato crops. The potatoes were what most of the Irish families lived on. They ate and sold potatoes in order to make a living, so when the potatoes stopped growing, people ran out of money. This is known as "The Great Potato Famine". It was so bad; people were actually starving to death. Two million people died. There was almost no help from the British government. Often people rebelled against the government, angered by its carelessness. Many people didn't want to leave their beloved country, afraid of change. With no food to eat, emigration seemed to be the only solution for most of the population. People often talked about "streets paved with gold" in a country called America. There was said to be many job opportunities in this new country. America seemed like the best choice to settle down and finally start a new life.
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
In my opinion Britain had all the opportunities to help the Irish but were to proud and cared to much about its own economy and the well being of themselves. If i were an official at the time and I knew I could have done more to help I would've carried all of those deaths on my back for the rest of my life! Eventually Ireland rebuilt and is now starting to strive. In this report I learned a lot of things I never knew or would never know throughout my life. It gives you a thankfulness for being in a place were foods always been on the table and a roofs been over my head.
...ight hit the fields and destroyed the crops, disaster ensued. In those terrible years, between 1846 and 1851, one million people died of starvation, malnutrition, typhus, recurring fever, dysentery and scurvy. Another million Irish citizens emigrated.
...’s position in the situation. Even before The Great Potato Famine, a cycle was beginning within the economy and government itself which in the end caused the Famine. Due to the major population, dependency, economy, and government of Ireland, such a tragedy occurred which led to the starvation, depopulation, and immigration from Ireland.
...Irish and British people had bitter feelings towards one another. Many Irish were angry the English government did next to nothing to prevent the famine. Then when it happened the government turned their heads. The anger caused a rebellion in 1848 by a group called the Young Ireland party, saying Ireland wanted its own government (Results of the Great Famine, 2014).
Populated by 8 million people, Irish, with a majority of Roman Catholic, are among the poorest people in the western world. Only about a quarter of the population could read and write, and their life expectancy was relatively short. Ireland was an exceedingly impoverished country. Under the english rule, citizens lost many of their political and religious rights. They were separated between protestants, who represents the continued presence of England, and Roman Catholics, who were hostile to Britain. The hostile of Britain faced many more challenges like being charged outrageous sums to live on the land that once belonged to them and their ancestors. They was on the verge of catastrophe politically, religiously, and economically. That is why emigration became an intrinsic part of Ireland before independence, and especially after the great famine. Many were forced to move, while others left voluntarily to search for employment and a better quality of life. Moreover, not all immigrants enjoyed their new life at British North America. Even though leaving Ireland appeared to be the only escape, Irish Catholic immigrants should not be thankful for a new start at British North America. Throughout the emigration, they have received phony promises by landlords during the famine, Irish faced the same problems of poverty and discrimination as before, and their living and working environment was deficient.
In Ireland, at the time, there was only one strain of potatoes being grown. At the time, citizens of Ireland were mainly eating potatoes and drinking milk. These two menu items provided them with all the necessary nutrients required for a healthy diet(History Magazine). The Irish were only growing one strain of potatoes at the time. When a fungus came through Ireland that only affected that strain of potatoes, it wiped out the entire potato population in Ireland, causing a famine to occur. This famine killed one million people and caused two million to move out of Ireland in a quest to find food. Potatoes killed one million people, or should I say the lack of potatoes killed one million people. This famine became one of the deadliest famines in history. After the potatoes were wiped out, the Irish started growing more than one strain of potatoes in order to ensure that another famine similar to the Irish Potato Famine of 1845 could not happen again. The Irish Potato Famine led to the Industrial Revolution(Ted Talks). When 2 million people were forced out of Ireland while the famine was going on, they moved to European countries. This boost in population aided the Industrial Revolution because now there were enough people to sustain the positions needed to run factories. We do not know where the world would be if the famine had not happened, but it definitely would not be in the same place it is
The “New Ireland” emerged in the 1990s’ when the country experienced an economic-cultural boom in which it was transformed from one of Europe's poorer countries into one of its wealthiest.