The Irish Potato Famine was a period of starvation, disease and emigration, and was known as one of the biggest tragedies from 1845 to 1847. Many people depended on potato crops to survive; however [comma] the potato crops acquired blight, a disease that caused the potatoes to rot while still in the ground. No good crops could be grown for two years [comma] causing Irish tenant farmers unable to pay rent and was forced off their land causing over 21,000 people to die of starvation. The Irish Potato
in the 1500’s was a very unstable country. The country’s English rulers fought with the local Irish civilians and the Irish nobles. The Irish nobles also fought among themselves. The English landlords owned the land that the peasants lived and farmed on. As a result of this continual fighting, it was hard for the peasants to grow enough food to feed themselves. The British passed laws to deny the Irish peasants freedom. They were forbidden to speak their own language, to practice their own religion
1851 the Irish Famine caused approximately one million deaths from a population of eight and a half million. It is during this period that two million Irish people emigrated with a further three million emigrating in the subsequent 50 years. Historians including Ó Gráda illustrate the longevity and significance of the Famine on Irish society, showing how the event shaped Ireland both economically and indeed politically. Although the Irish famine was not the most devastating of famines, compared
The Great Irish Famine The great famine of Ireland began around the year of 1845, when a deadly fungus reached the crops, leaving thousands of acres of land filled with black rot, and diseased crops (Szabo). This disease has become commonly known as the blight. The blight was a “mysterious disease” that “almost universally affected the potatoes on the island” (Kinealy 31). This suspicious “blight” had traveled to Europe from North America, affecting mostly Ireland (Bloy). The blight turned
In the early 1800s life in Ireland wasn’t easy, Irish citizens got by day to day by farming and relying on the potato. The potato was their main source of food and money. With out the potato the Irish would have nothing. No one was prepared for what was about to happen in 1845, the beginning of the Great Irish Potato Famine. The Irish Potato Famine was the worst tragedy in the history of Ireland. The outcome of the famine would result in hundreds of thousands dead, an failure of the economy in
was known as the Great Famine. The nation was deeply devastated by this event both economically and socially. The Great Famine claimed over a million lives due to hunger and disease and resulted in the exodus of another million all in the span of six years. It is uncertain whether or not the famine could have been avoided, but the severity of the famine could have definitely been reduced. There were certain policies and procedures implemented by the British that set the Irish economy up for inevitable
The Irish Potato Famine Many Irish peasants were forced to deal with the hardship of the Irish potato famine from about 1845-1850. Said famine wiped out roughly the entire potato crop in Ireland, thus causing much of the Irish population to decrease by about one quarter. The English who did little to help despite their leadership position indirectly fueled the famine. Prior conflicts between the Irish Catholics, and British Protestants continued to make matters worse, until the end of the famine in
1845 to 1849, this is exactly what happened when a potato famine struck the British ruled country. The Great Irish Famine of 1846 was called "God's Famine" when an unknown, uncontrollable disease turned Ireland's potato crop to slime. Britain's
The Irish Potato Famine: The Ignorance of England The Irish Potato Famine, occurring in Ireland from 1845 to 1849, began as a natural catastrophe of great magnitude, with its effects exacerbated by the actions and inactions of the British government. Consequently, millions of people died of starvation while others tried to flee the merciless conditions through emigration (Donnelly). This event also inspired Jonathan Swift to compose a horrific solution in “A Modest Proposal,” which stated that the
The Irish Potato Famine and Emigration During the Victorian era, England experienced tremendous growth in wealth and industry while Ireland struggled to survive. The reasons for Ireland's inability to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution are complex, and have been the subject of debate for more than a century. Many English viewed the Irish as stubborn farmers who refused to embrace the new technology. The Irish, however, believed the English had sabotaged their efforts to industrialize
The Great Irish Famine was undoubtedly one of Irelands darkest periods of history. The Great Famine, or also referred to as the Irish Potato famine was from 1845 through 1852 where many people starved, were disease stricken, poor and some forced to emigrate. The reliance on the potato to the Irish people was so great that when the Famine struck, the population declined greatly. The famine caused around one million deaths and another million immigrated to different countries. The Irish people’s health
The Irish Potato Famine and The Holocaust in Literature Writers often use literature as a means of communicating traumatic events that occur in history, and such events are recorded by first-hand accounts as well as remembered by people far removed from the situation. Two traumatic events in history that are readily found in literature are The Irish Potato Famine and The Holocaust. A literary medium that has been used quite poignantly to convey trauma is poetry and the poetry from these two
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
The Irish Potato Famine The Irish Potato Famine caused over one million deaths of children, men, and women, creating fear in Ireland, leading to many questions over whether people would move or not. Things like what people would eat, where people would go, and what would happen after everything scared people. Over 3,000,000 peasants relied on potatoes in Ireland, and people could stay on a diet only consisting of potatoes, so it was a very important crop. However, people soon noticed something
A critical time in Irish History, the Great Irish Potato Famine in known in history books around the world, Europe’s last famine. Between 1845 and 1852 in Ireland was a period of excessive starvation, sickness and exile, known as the great Irish potato famine. During this time The Isle of Ireland lost between twenty and thirty per cent of its people. Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s the impact and human cost in Ireland, where a third of the population was entirely
Visual Representation: The Irish Famine of 1845-50 The intention of this short piece is to give an idea of the range of visual commentary on the great Famine of 1845-50. Many are found the pages of Punch and the Illustrated London News, and are increasingly reproduced in publications as varied as academic histories, popular paperback collections, commemorative anthologies and, of course, on the internet. The examples reproduced here are small selection chosen to tentatively explore how colonial
than one. What we know it as today as the Irish Potato Famine caused many health and economic problems for the citizens of Ireland. Between 1846 and 1850, Ireland’s population dramatically decreased by two million people. Out of these two million people, around one million died of starvation and diseases associated with the famine. The other million migrated to other parts of the world, in hopes to give their family a better life. Though extreme, this famine is one of the most famous examples of food
Irish Immigration Without the potato or some food substitute available in sufficient quantity to replace it, the Irish simply died. Historians dispute how many died but the best of the experts, like Cormac O’Grada, estimate that about one million did. Some died of outright starvation, perhaps as many as 9 percent in Mayo, but most died of the diseases that easily infected and ravaged the malnourished, like dysentery or diarrhea. Whatever the cause, they died everywhere: in their mud cabin hovels
Looking for a better life away from death, oppression, and destruction the Irish headed to America by the thousands in the 1840’s. Ireland’s staple food was the potato, it was the main means of subsistence for the poor. Then in the 1840’s cataclysm struck, the potato blight caused famine, disease, death and despair. Close to a million deaths were blamed on the potato blight in Ireland. The potato blight was caused by a disease that rendered the potatoes inedible. It lasted for several years, from
The Great Irish Potato Famine was during a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration through 1845-1850. According to the journal, “The Context of Migration: The Example of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century” by James H. Johnson, this caused the population of Ireland to decrease 20-25% and it did not stabilize again until the 1930’s. Although there was a potato crop failure in Europe in the 1840’s, one third of the Irish population was dependent on this crop. This was inevitable due to the