Irish Potato Famine Part 1

Part 1: Causes and Contributing Factors

The great famine (in irish "An gorta mor" literally meaning: "the big hurt" or "An Drochsaol" literally meaning: "The bad life") was a period of starvation, disease and mass emigration between 1845 and 1852. During this time the population of Ireland was reduced by 20-25% - Dramatic!! On top of that over 1 million emigrated.

One third of Irelands population was entirely dependent on potato for food. Following reports of potato blight in England  the blight was first reported, in Ireland on the 13th of September 1845.

Also, as England had rule over Ireland all land was owned by the English. Irish tenants rented the land from English landlords. Some of these landlords lived in England and were called "absentee landlords". This made the Irish frustrated as most of their produce went to their landlords in England and they got very little pay for it.

Some families lived on potato and water, had a one bedroom house with no insulation and a bed and blanket was a rare luxury.

This caused tension between the English and Irish. Landlords used their power remorselessly and people lived in dread of them. Many people were evicted because of high rents of not producing enough food. This also contributed  to the effects of the famine as people were homeless too.

Further posts will be up in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy.