The Effects Of The Irish Potato Famine

In 1845, the Great Potato Famine, otherwise called the Great Irish Famine happened. Amid this time there was a high measure of potato/edit disappointment on account of the "late curse" which is a sickness that decimates the leaves, roots or tubers of the potato plant. This was the most exceedingly terrible starvation to happen in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This illness obliterated the majority of the potato edits in Ireland until 1849. Additionally, in the 1840's Ireland was in destitution. The British had control over their nation and the general population were excessively poor, making it impossible to eat, pay lease or pay charges. In Ireland, Irish ranchers kept on sending out grain, meat and different nourishments to Great

Have you ever wondered how the Irish Potato Famine started or what farmers used when they got it. Did the physical environment play a part in the fungus carrying to the potatoes? What did the people do when all of their potatoes were gone? the answer to the question is the Irish famine was carried from a ship in the cool, moist environment made the blight thrive for that reason the potato crops were affected and they needed to import food from different countries.

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.

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

The Great Famine in Ireland lasted from 1845-52. Poor people relied on potatoes for food and income. However, blight destroyed the potatoes and people starved to death, got sick and many emigrated. The Irish saw America as an opportunity to procure education and success. They pushed their children to get an education and were satisfied with them leaving. The English language was essential for those who wanted to emigrate. Some of the factors pushing Irish out of Ireland are marriage, education, very little employment and living conditions. These immigrants yearned for a life which can change their life, especially when America had opportunities available. Some of the pull factors driving immigrants to America are living conditions, letters sent by friends/family/relatives, education, social capital theory, culture and a chance to get married.

Immigrants from Ireland were driven to the United States due to the Great Famine of 1845-1850. Many people were almost completely dependent on potatoes, an easy-to-raise crop, due to Britain’s change of religion. These potatoes then fell victim to the unknown disease that left many families starving, and people dead. Families saved money for several winters to be able to send even one person to the United States, although they would only be able to arrive if they managed to survive the unsanitary and unsafe journey over. After arriving, many Irish immigrants began working in factories, or took jobs in the households of native-born families - then sent money back to Ireland to feed their suffering families, or to pay for another family member

In the early 1800’s, relations between Ireland and England were tense. The English were building their support by enforcing plantations, pieces of land that once belonged to indigenous Catholic Irish and putting the ownership to the incoming settlers from England and Scotland. Therefore, the impoverished Irish rented their land out from the wealthier owners who resided miles and miles away. In the 1800’s, the majority of Ireland was dependant on potatoes, as it was cheap and easy to grow for the enormous poor population that resided there. In 1845, toxic disease spread through all of Europe’s potatoes, greatly affecting the Irish, who were enormously dependent on the crop. Because the strong belief in the laissez-faire policy, which prevents

“Beginning in 1845 and lasting for six years, the potato famine killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland and caused another million to flee the country” (The History Place-Introduction). During the 1840s many Irish citizens lived in poverty. For food, the Irish relied almost entirely on potatoes because of their low cost and nutritional value. Then a devastating potato blight began in Europe in 1845 and destroyed the crops every year until 1851. Due to Ireland’s poor government the citizens we not able to recover from the famine quickly.

Over the course of the seven years that the Potato Famine occurred, there was a decrease in Ireland’s population by twenty to twenty-five percent. This famine happened during the time that the different countries were trading

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 sole dependency of the Irish people on home-grown potatoes and the population almost doubling from 1800 - 1840. The journal, “Spaces for Famine: A Comparative Analysis in Ireland and the Highlands in the 1840’s” by Liz Young states that “if the

England ruled over Ireland and used Ireland as a source of food. England wanted Irish farmers to grow crops and ship them to England, so they didn’t have much to feed their families. Poor Irish farmers were forced to grow potatoes on the side to feed their families, since they were not desirable to the English. In 1845 the potato crop rotted all over ireland, destroying most people's main source of food. Irish starved to death and got diseases from the rotted

The main crop in Ireland was potatoes, which they had grown successfully there since the late 1500’s. Nearly half of the population had potatoes and buttermilk for every meal. Farmers only grew a couple of different types of potatoes which caused them to have little genetic variety. Since their genetic variety was not diverse it set them up for a crop failure and made them more susceptible to disease. To add to the risk a new prime minister took over in Britain who decided to rely heavily on Ireland’s resources which made the famine

In the early 1800’s, Ireland was primarily rural. Most farmers worked on rented land from wealthy landlords. All of the corn and crops that they raise go to the landlords which are later exported to England. Potatoes are the main food of the impoverished Irish farmers who grew potatoes and other grains. The potato originated in South America but wasn’t brought to Ireland until later in the 16 century. Potatoes were so loved that they replaced barley and oats that poor people previously ate. This was really devastating because barley and oats were among the few things that poor people could afford. Poor people might have been able to get at least three potatoes every week. By the mid 1800’s, a fungus infected the potato crop. Plants became black

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.

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