The Spread Of The Irish Potato Famine

The Irish Potato Famine occurred in Ireland in 1845 to 1849, when the potato harvest failed. A disease that destroys the edible parts of potato plants known as Late Blight caused the unsuccessful crop. The Irish Potato Famine was the worst famine to occur in Europe in the 19th century. Almost fifty percent of the Irish population had become dependent on potatoes in their diet, but the entire population consumed the crop in large quantities, especially the rural and the poor. The Potato was very susceptible to the blight, and no cure was in existence in Ireland at the time. The American blight was primarily recognized in France and the Isle of Wight in 1845. In this year the rural community of Ireland expected a good harvest, because of the
It not only destroyed vital crop but it also killed more than one million people, and exposed the social and economic problems facing 19th century Ireland. A mysterious fungus, known as late blight, destroyed the potato harvest, on a scale never previously experienced. The poor people in Ireland could not afford other foods aside from potatoes, to the point of dependency. The lack of discrepancy in diet, created a lack of genetic variability among the potato plants in Ireland. The potatoes spread was a cause of the Cottier System, which supported cheap labor at the cost of a lower standard of living. This expansion of the crop created an extremely agricultural society. In 1844 Irish newspapers reported on an alarming disease that was detected in the potato crops. There was a loss of one third of the crops in 1845. By 1846 this number increased to three thirds. In the autumn of 1846 is when the first deaths by starvation were recorded. The famine effected people of all sectors of
Piles of filth were removed from the streets, cabins were cleansed, and corpses were buried. Thousands of patients were given new accommodations. A wave of doctors and nurses were hired. The epidemic continued to rage across Ireland, but at least the wheels of government started to turn in motion. Certain areas received varying degrees of relief. There is no accurate number of how many Irishmen died of the famine, because there were no official records kept. In the countryside for example, many peasants displayed tendency to shrink from British government officials, even those who came to offer help of count corpses. Statisticians would arrive to count the dead but all doors were locked in villages, and windows were shuddered. Thousands of Irish disappeared during this time. There is a multitude of reasons for the disappearances including emigration, starvation and of course disease. This makes it nearly impossible to have an exact number of how many people were lost during the Irish Potato Famine. The effects of this history changing effect are still widely spoken