the Irish famine

the Irish famine

1. causes of the Irish famine

   • potato blight
     • in 1845a new fungal disease stuck the Irish crop. the big Latin name for it is phytophthora infestans,but it is usually called the potato blight
     • the first sign of a problem is when the leaves of the potato plant go black and die
     • it was to late when they noticed as the disease spread especially quickly in moist, mild conditaions
     • the potatoes became a stinking black mess, even if any of them did survive they would have died in the pits in the fields
     • this was a disaster as the Irish farmers and the Irish as there main food was potato main food was potatoes
   • John Mitchell view
     • a famous nationalist historian writing in 1860 believed the English "created" the famine
     • he claimed they "they died of hungry in the midst of abundance". (this quote means the Irish died of hungry because they gave the food to the English)
     • he went on to exclaim "the almighty indeed sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine
   • The population of Ireland
     • there was a large population between 1800_1841
   • subdivision of land
     • many farmers had subvided there land between there sons. different parts of Ireland depended on different agriculture

2. chronology

   • by 1845 200000 people lived on 5 acres of land per family while 135000 lived on 1 acre of land. the land was a huge problem in ireland