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Irish potato famine
Effect of irish potato famine
Irish potato famine
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The Great Potato Famine was an event that drastically affected the lives of the Irish in a bad way. This paper covers the history of the potato, the migration of the potato blight to Ireland, land consolidation, and agriculture laws in Ireland. Also, the food exports in Ireland during the time of the famine, potato dependency, and the relationship between the Irish and the English at that time. Now let’s give you some background knowledge on the potato.
In the ancient ruins of Peru and Chile, archaeologists have found potato remains that date back to 500 B.C. The Incas grew, ate, and worshipped the potatoes. Also, the Incas would bury the potatoes with their dead. The Incan potatoes had purplish skins and yellow flesh. The Incas called them papas like some people still do today.
In 1565 the Spanish found the potato when they were in search for gold. A conquistador names Gonzalo Jiminez de Quesada brought the potato back to Spain to compensate for the gold that he was unable to find. When the potatoes were seen, the Spanish thought that the potatoes were a kind of truffle and so they started calling them tartuffo. In 1589 Sir Walter Raleigh, a British explorer, first brought the potato to Ireland and planted them at his Irish estate in Myrtle Grove, Youghal, near Cork, Ireland. Now that you have the information on the potato, let’s get to the dependency of the potato at that time.
The Irish people greatly depended on the potato plant. It was their main crop that they grew. Also it was the main food source for a majority of the people. When the Phytophthera infestans attacked the potatoes it caused a great crisis. One of the crisis’s that the P. infestans caused was the potato blight. This led to the starvation of more than a mil...
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...ine month period in the year of 1847 where the Irish exported grain-derived alcohol to England. They exported 874,170 gallons of Porter, 278,658 gallons of Guinness, and 183,392 gallons of Whiskey. The total amount of grain-derived alcohol exported from Ireland was 1,336,220 gallons.
The Great Potato Famine was an event that drastically affected the lives of the Irish in a bad way. This paper has explained this to you. The potato has evolved and has come a long way it came from 500 B.C. and still exists today. Ireland has went through a rough time from dealing with a trying to get their independence and supporting the Irish people and the English people. This was all happening while the potato blight was happening causing the death of many people and the migration of many others. This was a bad time and now you know why it was a terrible time for the Irish people.
“It must be understood that we cannot feed the people” (Kinealy Calamity 75). The mid 1800s in Ireland were characterized by extreme poverty, death, and emigration. The Great Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Hunger,” first hit in 1845; however, its effects lasted into the 1850s and can still be seen today. Prior to the famine, Irish manufacture and trade was controlled and suppressed by British government, which made Ireland an extremely poor country. Farmers in Ireland were forced to export crops such as corn, wheat, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the main dietary staple for the people, especially the poor. Therefore, when the fungus Phytophthora infestans caused some, and eventually all, of the crop to rot over the next couple of years, the reliance on the one crop made the people of Ireland extremely susceptible to the famine. The effects were devastating, and poverty spread across the nation causing a huge increase in homelessness, the death-rate, emigration, and a change in the Irish people and country overall.
middle of paper ... ... n that after nearly seven hundred years of attempted domination, the British oppression of the Irish had deprived them of all but the bare necessities of survival, and caused such destitution that when the potato famine struck, the poor could not avoid the worst privations, given the social and political conditions controlling their lives. The British government’s ineffectual attempts at relieving the situation played a major role in worsening the situation; they allowed prejudice and State and individual self-interest, economic and religious dogma to subjugate even the least consideration for humanity. Ultimately British politicians bear considerable blame because they were not prepared to allocate what was needed to head off mass starvation, and they as the parent government did nothing to protect its subject people.
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
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...
There are several circumstances to take into consideration when looking at the causes of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Due to the great dependence the Irish people had on the potato, it is clear how blight could devastate a country and its people. To understand the Irish people's dependence on the potato for diet, income, and a way out of poverty, it is necessary to look at several key factors that were evident before the famine. Factors such farming as the only way of life, rise in population, and limited crops explain why the people of Ireland relied on the potato. But not only do these reasons clarify why the famine hit the Irish people so hard, other important factors play into effect as well. By looking at the weak relationship between England and Ireland through parliamentary acts and trade laws, it is more evident what the causes of the Great Famine are and why it was so detrimental.
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 1845-1846 events in Ireland would change the lives of many. The Great Potato Famine was a major incident that shocked the entire world. This incident was cause by a disease that traveled from ships overseas. The Great Potato Famine affected one of the biggest crops at the time, which was the potato. Many people got sick from this disease otherwise known as, Phytophthora Infestins. Phytophthora Infestins killed about 1 million people in Ireland.
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.
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.
The Green Corn Rebellion was a short-lived uprising against the United States federal government. The rebellion was unique to Oklahoma and it spanned three counties: Pottawatomie, Pontotoc and Seminole. It consisted mainly of poor white men, but it also included African Americans and Native Americans as well. The cause, outcome and historical significance are all important factors of the Green Corn Rebellion. This small rebellion rarely makes it into the history books, but it had a great impact on the Socialist Revolution, which began around 1910 and continues even today. Many people consider World War One, which began in 1914, as the beginning of the Socialist Movement.
The great Inca empire had an astonishing influence on Peru as well as Latin America. One way that the Incas influenced Latin America as well a space is by making freeze dried food. The Incas would make freeze dried food in case of a drought or crop failure. But how did such an early empire create something still used today? The Incas live up high in the Andes mountains in the altitudinal zone Terre Fría, it was freezing. The Incas would take potatoes or any type of crop and put cloth around it. They would take the wrapped crop and place it down to freeze over night. After it would freeze they would squeeze the moisture out of the potato and repeat this process until they made freezed dried food. The freeze dried potato would be called chuño.
Beginning in 1845 and lasting until 1861 the Great Potato Famine of Ireland killed over a million people, and causing another million to leave the country. The famine began in September 1845 as leaves on potatoes suddenly turned black and curled, then rotted. The cause was an airborne fungus (phytophthora infestants) originally transported by ships traveling from North America to England. Many other factors contributed to this devastation.
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
Domesticated potatoes were once all belong to one botanical species, Solanum tuberosum; it included thousands of varieties that had diversity in size, shape, color and other characteristics. The potato was first domesticated in the South America Andes, then the Puritans who took Mayflower arrived the land and the First Nations taught them about potatoes. Then the sailors went back to Europe and people started to plant potatoes in Spain, England, France, and many other countries in Europe. Later, potatoes were spread into Africa by the colonists. The crop was once believe to be poisonous by the local farmers who refused to plant them. However, the colonists persuaded the farmers and introduced potatoes as a low-price and high-production crop in substitute of wheat and rice.
Sweet potatoes date back to 750 B.C. in Peruvian reports, even though archeologists have found evidence showing that sweet potatoes began around 2500-1850 BCE. It is also said that Columbus brought sweet potatoes from England and soon after they were transported here. They became very popular in South and Central America. Later, Columbus brought sweet potatoes back to Spain and there they became popular as well. Nonetheless in recipes it would get confused as to whether it was the white potato or the sweet potato. Not until the late 1740’s was when they began to distinguish a difference. The sweet potato also got more “fame” when England’s John Gerard wrote about the sweet potato in his 1597 Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. He wrote that the sweet potato “comforts, strengthens, and nourishes the body” and also, “procuring bodily lust”. Gerard’s suggested words could have been the reason for popularity of sweet potatoes during the 16th century.