The Irish Potato Famine 1845-1852

The Britannica Dictionary defines the word famine by: a situation in which many people do not have enough food to eat. While Spanish Conquistadors brought the potato plant to Europe in 1536, it was Sir Walter Raleigh who introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589. (“Potato Facts | Fun Facts about Potatoes”) The potato plant was a hardy, calorie-dense plant that would easily grow within the Irish soil. Before the Famine, nearly half of Ireland’s 1840s rurally poor population almost exclusively relied on potatoes for their diet. While the people of Ireland relied on the one or two common types of potato crops, a strain of water mold arrived from North America and destroyed potato crops at an extreme rate. Mokyr (“Great Famine | History, Causes, and Facts”) The type of blight that affected the crop destroys both the edible roots or tubers, and leaves of the potato plant. The type of water mold that was such wide spread is known as Phytophthora Infestans.

            The potato blight that caused the Famine was first noticed in County Cork in September of 1845, however, the full extent of the outbreak was not known until the general harvest that October. Mokyr (“Great Famine | History, Causes, and Facts”)

            The British Government did try to give relieve to the famine, but it was not enough or inadequate. Prime Minister Asir Robert Peel allowed the export of grain from Ireland to Great Britain, as well as import corn from the United States to avert the starvation. However, Peel’s policy regarding the export of grain from Ireland was more of a laisses-fair approach to the plight. Any financial aid to the starving Irish poorer population was to be held by the landowners. Since the peasantry was unable to pay the rent to the landlords, the landlords in turn ran out of funds to provide aid. And thus, much of the Irish tenant farmers or laborers were forced off the lands they worked on. Mokyr (“Great Famine | History, Causes, and Facts”)

            To b3e able to move forward with escaping the famine and to survive, those that were able to immigrated out of Ireland out of the hopes to find a better life. According to The National Archives, up to two million Irish immigrants sailed to North America during the Famine, with an estimated 5,000 ships were used to sail the two-month voyage. Through assessments on the populace that died during the Famine, of either disease or hunger still stands around one million. The mass deaths and immigration drastically reduced the population of Ireland. (UK Parliament) Many people of note were born in Ireland during this time. One of which is Bram Stoker. (“Bram Stoker - Dracula, Books & Quotes”)

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1845 to 1852