Mass Starvation During the Great Irish Famine

How did the Irish immigrants come? In 1818 there were Irish immigrants,they came on the first steam service to go to the UK ,this was called the called Rob Roy. Within a decade, ships were also ferrying passengers,mainly to areas in liverpool.One pull factor for them was that they heard that England had a lot of isolated area that could be used for growing crops.One push factor is the potatoe famine.Starting, in 1845 the potato famine killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland and caused millions to leave the country.Many poor people grew potatoes for food. Potatoes grew on unhealthy soil, even in winter.When a potato disease called blight arrived, possibly in ships from America.It was a disaster. Potatoes went rotten, and were

More than a million Irish people died during the Irish Potato famine that hit Ireland between 1845 to 1849 (Pollard, pg. 551). Potatoes were the primary diet of the Irish, especially the Irish Lump potato. When the fungal disease hit, known as “potato blight,” the Irish potato crops were lost. After reading primary sources regarding the Irish Potato Famine, the reader can visualize the horrors that the Irish people endured during the Irish Potatoes Famine including starvation, the physical and the mental effects that go along with it, the loss of family members, and especially witnessing their children starve and die. Both Trench and Bennet had the purpose and intent of recording conditions exactly as they

In 1845 a crop disease known as ‘blight’ would be introduced to Ireland. It was a disease that would cause potatoes to rot while they grew. It was from guano, which was part of a fertilizer that was imported from South America. The contaminated fertilizer was also distributed to other countries in Europe such as France, Germany, The Netherlands, and England. It was responsible for thousands of deaths in these countries but was soon eliminated, as these countries were not as dependent on the potato as the Irish were.

     Nineteenth-century Ireland was the most densely populated country in Europe: in 1800, its population was 4.5 million, and by 1841, it had risen to eight million (Kinealy 15). Yet much of this population existed in condition of sorrow and misery lay in the dependence of the peasantry on just one staple crop, the potato; in western countries like Mayo and Galway, nine-tenths of the people ate nothing else (MacManus 602). Here was a disaster waiting to happen, made worst by the rapid rise in population in the first half of the century which forced the peasants to subsist on smaller plots of land (O Grada, The Great Irish Famine 63).

The Irish people would have freight, terror, death and eventually peace with these changes. The potato famine started with blight being discovered by European farmers. The Irish government started to export potatoes and grains to continental Europe to help the Europeans avoid a famine (Smith, 2011). By the end of August of 1845, Ireland was freighted to find out that blight had found its way to their produce (Smith, 2011). The blight in Ireland set off a chain of events that led to the Irish people dying in more ways to get out of Ireland. The government started trying to feed their people by importing corn and grains for food (Smith, 2011). This was not enough to help the young, old and sick. Many of theIrish people were led to complete financial ruin. By the end of 1851 more than a million Irish had died due to hunger and disease exacerbated by malnutrition(Smith, 2011).The only answer for many Irish families was to take a risk and get on a coffin boat and flee to another country. North America was a safe haven for many Irish people. They dreamed of the life they would live in the U.S.A. Nearly 1 million people arrived in many cities which include New York, and Boston (Smith, 2011). When the Irish people arrived, it was a sad reality they did not think they would face. The conditions were despicable. Many families were moved into small rooms with no sanitation, ventilation, day light or electricity (Smith, 2011). The families were charged about $1.50 per week to live in extreme poverty (Smith, 2011). This led to unsanitary conditions for the communities. Diseases were able to thrive in those conditions and one of the more common disease was cholera . The Irish people usually stayed in close proximity to each other and would make a small Irish community. The Irish community strived to make money. They were only hired for unskilled jobs

More than a million Irish people died during The Irish Potato famine that hit Ireland between 1845 to 1849 (Pollard, pg. 551). Potatoes were the primary diet of the Irish, especially the Irish Lump potato. When the fungal disease hit, known as “potato blight,” the Irish potato crops were lost. After reading primary sources regarding the Irish Potato Famine, the reader can visualize the horrors that the Irish people endured during the famine including starvation, the physical and the mental effects that go along with it, the loss of family members, and especially witnessing their children starve and die. Both W. Stewart Trench and William Bennett had the purpose and intent of recording

During the years after the Revolutionary War and the earliest days of the republic there was, on average, 6000 immigrants per year. The earliest versions of Congress didn’t have much power to control immigration as they left that power to state governments. However in 1790 they passed the first Naturalization Act, which stated "…any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States..." effectively ending any hope at the time for free black people, indentured servants, or Native Americans of becoming citizens. It also provided for citizenship for the children of U.S. citizens born abroad,

The Irish are in economic turmoil at home-- a massive famine has hit and has caused a depression in Ireland so great that many decide that they must flee the country to continue to survive. The major choice is America-- land of free, home of the brave-- a fresh start, a new beginning, a place where anything can happen; to survive they must go to America and work, and when they do, they are perceived by the American people as a hardworking class that they can work like slaves to accomplish great technological feats: the Erie Canal, the Union Pacific piece of the transcontinental railroad. The Irish men are perceived as heavy workers who need no breaks-- brutes-- while the women, mostly single women either worked in factories or worked as maids

In the year of 1845, Phytophthora infestans, was brought to Ireland from North America. With the late blight and the new disease, the potato crop began to die. The potato crop had become the staple crop of the country in the eighteenth century because it comprised of nutrients, was able to survive in the winter, and calorie-dense. Furthermore, the crop was easy to grow in the Irish

The Irish will never forgive or forget what the British policies did to their forefathers. Of the Irish who did successfully immigrated to the United States they quickly joined an associations that favored Ireland's independence. The famine is what fueled the Irish emigrant anger and most of them viewed it to be the reason for leaving Ireland in the first place. John Mitchel, journalist for the Nation, expressed the emigrants' angry sentiments when he wrote:

In the summer of 1845 a potato disease struck Ireland. A fungus Photophthora Infestans turned the potato harvest into decaying blackish masses of rottenness, unfit for human or animal consumption. Potato diseases had

The Great Famine was caused by blight that accidently came from America and affected the potatoes growing in Ireland and in turn, affected the Irish. This was especially hard on the Irish because in 1845, the potato was their main source of food. They had an average of 14 spuds a day so they relied heavily on them. Potatoes only lasted two to three months so

Early as 1845 there was something unthinkable happening in Ireland. It was called the potato blight that decimated the Irish agriculture as it was first discovered in the fields on the Isle of Wight. Consequently, mycologist raced to see who could be the first to identify this fungus that ate away the potato leaves.

Ireland 1845, food was suddenly scarce, money was hard to earn, and what little was earned was immediately spent for survival. The people of Ireland had grown up used to missing meals due to crop failure. However, previous crop failures couldn’t compare to the potato famine of 1845. For the next five years, the blight destroyed nearly all the potato crops and killed many Irish. About one million people died during this time in Ireland because of the starvation and disease. About two million fled the lands of Ireland in hopes of escaping the starvation, disease, death, and poverty that had taken over Ireland since the famine. The tenant farmers, who suffered would farm land that belonged to the absentee landlords. They would grow many crops, most of which were very successful. They were only allowed to keep the potato crops for their own; the rest of the crops would be harvested and exported to England. The absentee landlords lived like kings while the tenant farmers were forced to sell everything they owned so they could have money to purchase food to stay alive. When they ran out of things to sell they were then forced to scavenge for food scraps just to escape death for a while longer. The starvation and struggle of the Irish tenant farmers could have been avoided if the absentee landlords hadn’t been so greedy with collecting the rent. England could have come to the aid of the Irish people sooner than they did if they weren’t so interested in staying true to their

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 Famine caused many people to leave Ireland to seek work overseas in areas such as England and America. The Irish Potato Famine had a big impact on the history and the economy of Ireland.