Preview

Irish Potato Famine

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1649 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Irish Potato Famine
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 Ireland, and millions of emigrants forced to leave their home and country just to try to survive. The famine would effect countries other than Ireland as well. Some of these countries included England, America, Canada, and Australia.

The next five years, almost all Irish citizens, would have the hardest struggle that they would ever face. It would tear families apart, destroy peoples lives, and cause large financial losses to landowners.

In the early to mid 1800s Ireland was a very poor and difficult place to live. Most of the land was owned by landowners that lived in England and rented their land out to Irish citizens. The owners had almost no interest in their land and property in Ireland. They only cared about getting their money from their renters. The rents were overpriced and living costs in Ireland were also extremely high. The living conditions for the renters in Ireland were horrible, with one-room houses that were expected to shelter whole families. Another problem with the country was that over 70% of the population was illiterate.

The renters would use their land to farm potatoes because they were cheap, easy to grow, full of vitamins, and you could grow a lot in a small area and in poor farming conditions. The whole country relied on the crop of potatoes as their source of food and income.

In the mid 1800s there were many seasons that produced poor crops, and in some cases no potatoes at all. These

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    * There was a big drought in the 1880s and the large amount of wheat caused wheat prices to drop…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    GKE 1 Task 1

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The domestication of the potato is said to have been around the year 10,000 BCE near the Andes mountain range. The potato was the most important crop in the Incan Empire. A story states, in 1577, Sir Frances Drake bartered with Indians for potatoes and took them on his voyage and introduced them to Northern Europe. They reached Bolivia by way of Spanish discovering silver.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Ghost of Duffy's Cut

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Another significant incident that caused a wave of Irish immigrants to come to America was famine, more specifically the potato famine in 1840’s. As stated before, finding employment in Ireland was quite difficult and a majority of poor families relied on agricultural labor in order to grow and live on potatoes. Watson describes how important this crop was to Irishmen: “These “potato people” spent their entire lives in back-breaking agricultural labor to gain access to a plot on which to grow a nutritious but fickle crop. Even in the best of agricultural cycles,…

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 1700s and 1800s the Irish decided to migrate to America for a variety of reason. Some of those being poverty, denied property, denied education, couldn’t be involved in politics, and weren’t able to practice their religion freely. They were constantly being harassed and stereotyped by the English. Therefore, the Irish decided to travel to America for a chance at a better life.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery in 1607 and 1775

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages

    crops like wheat and corn. Also, the hot weather of the south did not allow for easy…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    (2017). The History Place - Irish Potato Famine. [online] Available at: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/index.html [Accessed 2 Nov. 2017]. Jackson, A. (2017).…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before AD 1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America. By the 1840s, Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the proximate cause of the Great Famine was a potato disease.Maize and manioc, introduced by the Portuguese from South America in the 16th century, have replaced sorghum and millet as Africa 's most important food crops. 16th-century Spanish colonizers introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and thereby contributed to population…

    • 1219 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jamestown Settlement

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    First of all the settlers neglected to plant crops because they were so eager to find new riches. The colonists had never really planned to grow all of their own food. Instead, their plans depended upon trade with the local Native Americans to supply them with enough food between the arrival of periodic supply ships from England. This quickly caused their food supplies to dwindle and many starved to death.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The 1700s in Ireland's history is alternately referred to as the “Penal Era”, and the “Age of Ascendancy”. Under these times Irish Catholics descended deeper into desperation and deprivation. The Penal laws suppressed the Catholic religion which made it harder for family's to buy land. When a Catholic landowner died the land was equally distributed to all sons. This caused the lands to be devalued and gradually reduced them to small ownings . Many other Irish lived as tenant farmers of English landlords. The amount of crops was sold to pay rent for the land. They mostly grew potatoes, but most of them were made of poor quality because of overworked soil. The Irish did have a harsh time, but there are still other restrictions that made it more…

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Potatoes In The 1800s

    • 2048 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The potato grew well in Irish soil and climate. Its ease of production and high yields allowed even the poorest farmers to produce food for their families without large investment of time of labor. The population doubled between 1780 and 1841 (Chapaman). 40% of the Irish ate no solid foods besides potatoes (Mann). Many Irish survived on diets of potatoes and milk alone (Chapaman).…

    • 2048 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Famine also happened which was when all the potatoes got a disease so no one could eat them which led to starvation and…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Irish Potato Famine was a great famine that took place in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. The famine was caused by a potato disease, also called a potato blight. This was a huge problem especially considering that much of Ireland’s population was heavily reliant on potato crops. The famine itself killed around one million people. The question of genocide comes in when the British are taken into account.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ireland suffered greatly during the potato famine in the 1840s. Around one million people died of starvation or disease. Many immigrated to the United States to try to escape the horrid that surrounded them in Ireland.Food was considered the most deadly weapon in a war. Starvation was the leading cause of death in a war. If you had control of the food supply, your army had the greater advantage. Your enemies would most likely fall from starvation, enviably you would win. Food also gave the soldiers energy to march as well as to fight. Overall, food was the key to victory or defeat in a war. Food could also be used defensively. Soldiers would go through towns and remove or destroy all the food in their sight. Another defensive mechanism, was…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Irish Potato Famine

    • 2993 Words
    • 12 Pages

    By the beginning of the 19th century the potato had taken root in most of Ireland, becoming the staple source of food for 90% of the population (Purcell, 2). The main reason for this is because the potato could support a family on a very small plot of land, and could be grown in almost any soil type and climate. To see why this was important you have to look at a little bit of pre-famine history in Ireland. After the Napoleonic Wars, Ireland was considered part of the United Kingdom. A lot of control over Ireland was exerted by the British, including landholdings. The system of landholdings was set up with a landlord who owned a huge section or land, even though he may not have even lived there. Purcell explains that these landlords, almost all of whom were protestant, controlled nearly 95% of the land (3). The landlord would have a few farmers or agents, usually British or wealthy Irish protestant, who were in charge of different plots of his land. Those farmers would then either hire Irish peasants to work the land in exchange for a small plot of their own to live and farm on, or they would divide up their land and give small plots to Irish peasants who would have to pay them taxes. A lot of these peasants didn't even have large enough plots to be thought of as land owners. Figure #1 shows a map of the…

    • 2993 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. Peasant farmers could afford to cultivate new crops as no large amount of capital or expensive equipment was required. Land was available and small plots of land could produce favourable yields. Markets were available locally and abroad for the sale of these crops.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays