Case-Studies: Irish potato famine (1845 to
1851)
Between 1845 and 1851, Ireland's population fell from around 8
million to just about 5 million people. This was caused by
starvation, disease and emigration to America.
Two million acres of potatoes began to rot in 1845 and people
began to die. A new type of fungus hit the crops, Phytophthora
infestations. No one knew anything about it and so, entire crops
were reduced to rotted compost in a very short time. The disease
went into remission, only to come back in its same devastating
nature each year thereafter until 1850. The working-class people
were hit the hardest. 750,000 Irish were confirmed dead as a result
of this potato blight, but it is estimated that around double that
many people really perished. Overpopulation and the dependency on
one crop only worsened the situation.
Facts
and Figures
From US
State Department
Land area:
70,282 sq. km
Population:
3.7 million
Annual growth Rate:
Not Available
Infant mortality rate:
5.5/1000
Literacy rate:
98.5%
Life expectancy:
75.8 Years
Government type:
Parliamentary
republic
Trade:
Exports - $70.2 billion
$46.3 billion
Per capita income:
$21,887
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People couldn't afford to pay their rents
anymore and were evicted by their landlords. They were forced to
move to disease-infested workhouses or to emigrate to other
countries. But even emigration was no solution for many of people -
they were crowded into little ships, later also labeled "coffin
ships", and many of them died on the way due to hunger, disease and
other causes. Usually just over half of the emigrants survived the
long journeys.
Other people, who could not afford to buy other
food, were forced to eat the rotten potatoes, contracted diseases
such as typhoid, and passed these on in their entire villages.
Since not even the priests could afford to buy coffins for the
dead, they were either not buried or just buried wearing the
clothes that had died in, so no one was really safe of disease.
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Not much could be done in those times to help Ireland. Britain
provided much relief for Ireland's starving people, but was
criticized later on for a late response to the
situation.
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