what was the political impact of the great famine in ireland

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How did the Irish Famine affect society?

The Famine or the ‘Great Hunger’ as it was known led to the deaths of 1 million people and another two million emigrated. The article will examine the impact of the famine on Irish society and how it ‘decisively shaped its history and the nature of its society and economy. [1]

What is another word for Irish Famine?

For other famines in Ireland, see Irish famine (disambiguation). The Great Famine ( Irish: an Gorta Mór [ənˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ] ), also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine (mostly within Ireland) or the Irish Potato Famine (mostly outside Ireland), was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852.

When was the Irish Potato Famine?

There were also small and localized food crises in Ireland in the 1820’s and the 1830’s. However, the famine in the period 1845-1850 was to be an unprecedented one and was to change Irish history. There were several significant factors that all contributed to the great Irish Potato Famine

What are the best books about the Irish Famine?

The Famine in Ireland. Dublin: Dundalgan Press. ISBN 978-0-85221-1083.. Henry George, Progress and Poverty Chapter 6: "The Truth about Ireland" – George's account of the Irish famine. Mary C. Kelly, Ireland's Great Famine in Irish-American History: Enshrining a Fateful Memory. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014. Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2017).

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What impact did famine have on Ireland?

It decimated Ireland's population, which stood at about 8.5 million on the eve of the Famine. It is estimated that the Famine caused about 1 million deaths between 1845 and 1851 either from starvation or hunger-related disease. A further 1 million Irish people emigrated.

How the British government responded to the Great Hunger in Ireland?

Under the terms of the harsh 1834 British Poor Law, enacted in 1838 in Ireland, the “able-bodied” indigent were sent to workhouses rather than being given famine relief per se. British assistance was limited to loans, helping to fund soup kitchens, and providing employment on road building and other public works.

Who did the Great Famine affect?

Although estimates vary, it is believed as many as 1 million Irish men, women and children perished during the Famine, and another 1 to 2 million emigrated from the island to escape poverty and starvation, with many landing in various cities throughout North America and Great Britain.

What did the government do about the famine?

People who had managed to survive the first crop failure of 1845 were now in terrible conditions. A new prime minister called Lord John Russell took charge of the government in England. He reduced the sale of cheap food and thought instead that giving employment was the best thing to do.

Was the British government responsible for the Irish famine?

The Great Famine in Ireland began as a natural catastrophe of extraordinary magnitude, but its effects were severely worsened by the actions and inactions of the Whig government, headed by Lord John Russell in the crucial years from 1846 to 1852.

What was one major effect of the Great Famine?

Great Famine (Ireland)Potato Famine An Gorta Mór / An DrochshaolReliefSee belowImpact on demographicsPopulation fell by 20–25% due to death and emigrationConsequencesPermanent change in the country's demographic, political, and cultural landscapeWebsiteSee list of memorials to the Great Famine8 more rows

Did anyone help Ireland during the famine?

Donations to Ireland came from Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts, and other small islands. Donations were also sent from slave churches in some of the southern states of America. Children in a pauper orphanage in New York raised $2 for the Irish poor.

How did the corn laws affect Ireland?

The Corn Laws enhanced the profits and political power associated with land ownership. The laws raised food prices and the costs of living for the British public, and hampered the growth of other British economic sectors, such as manufacturing, by reducing the disposable income of the British public.

How did the British landlords respond to Irish potato famine?

However, when the poor and starving ran out of money to pay rent, the landlords soon ran out of funds with which to support them. The British government limited their help to loans, soup kitchens, and providing employment on road building and other public works.

Why did the British refuse to aid the Irish during the famine?

The British government chose not to use the resources of that vast empire to prevent suffering and starvation (Ireland had reluctantly been part of the United Kingdom since 1800.)

How did the English government worsen the potato famine in Ireland?

One of the first acts of the new government was to oversee the introduction of an amended Poor Law, which made the much-detested workhouse system the main provider of relief, and meant that the Famine poor were now to be classified as “paupers.” More significantly, responsibility for financing relief was to pass to ...

How was the Irish potato famine solved?

The "famine" ended in 1849, when British troops stopped removing the food. While enough food to sustain 18 million people was being removed from Ireland, its population was reduced by more than 2.5 million, to 6.5 million.

What caused the Great Famine?

The Great Famine was caused by a failure of the potato crop, which many people relied on for most of their nutrition. A disease called late blight...

What were the effects of the Great Famine?

As a direct consequence of the famine, Ireland's population fell from almost 8.4 million in 1844 to 6.6 million by 1851. About 1 million people die...

Why were potatoes so important to Ireland?

The potato plant was hardy, nutritious, calorie-dense, and easy to grow in Irish soil. By the time of the famine, nearly half of Ireland's populati...

How did the potato blight happen?

The Irish relied on one or two types of potatoes, which meant that there wasn't much genetic variety in the plants (diversity is a factor that usua...

How many people died during the Great Famine?

About one million people died during the Great Famine from starvation or from typhus and other famine-related diseases. An estimated two million mo...

What caused the famine in Ireland?

Famine was not new to Ireland. Every few years, there was a partial failure of the potato crop or some natural disaster resulted in a famine. In the 1740’s, an unseasonable frost destroyed the crops in the fields [3]. This led to widespread hunger and epidemics and by the end of the famine, some 10% of the population died over a two- year period. There were also small and localized food crises in Ireland in the 1820’s and the 1830’s. However, the famine in the period 1845-1850 was to be an unprecedented one and was to change Irish history.

Why was the famine important?

The Famine was not only important for Ireland but for many other countries. The waves of emigrants that left Ireland as a result of the Famine, established new homes in North America, Britain, and Australasia and changed these societies.

How did the potato famine affect the poor?

In 1845, the blight was felt hardest by those who lived in the poorest areas and on marginal lands, such as those in the upland areas. The blight decimated the food supply of the poorest of the poor and those who were least able to bear the loss of their precious potato crop. However, not all areas of the country experienced a disastrous potato harvest and some farmers managed to retrieve at least a portion of the harvest. This is evident from the different death rates across the country, in the period 1845-1850. Some 24% of the population emigrated or died in Connacht and 23% in the province of Munster. This compares to 12% in Ulster and 16% in Leinster [19].

What was the last famine in Europe?

The Great Irish Potato Famine. The Irish Potato Famine, or the ‘Great Hunger’, was the last great famine in Western Europe and one of the most catastrophic recorded in that region. It led to the death of up to a million people and the emigration of two million people from the island of Ireland.

What was the potato blight?

The blight was a novelty to many of the Irish peasants. Potato diseases were not unknown and they have caused partial failures in recent decades. The blight was beyond the experience of Irish farmers. They were amazed to find their potato blacked and inedible when they took dug out of the ground. Because of the great poverty of the poorest elements in society, many tenant farmers simply did not have any food reserves. Typically, when the harvest was gathered, people began to eat the potato immediately, this was because the supplies from the last harvest had already been eaten. Upon discovering the potato crop was ruined, many knew that they would starve. A large number of tenant farmers and laborers also did not have the financial surplus to help them over the crisis. The economy of many poorer areas of the country was based on a barter system and little money actually circulated in these areas and this meant that they could not purchase the available food. Those that did have some money were forced to make a decision whether to pay their rent to the landlord or buy food. The potato blight was a disaster for many families. This meant that when the potatoes failed that they did not have enough to eat and they and their families were at risk of losing their land and their livelihood. Many people immediately began to seek relief from their local community, it was traditional in Irish society to help those who were in distress, especially family members, and neighbours. At first, the Irish poor would share their resources and this helped many throughout the hard winter of 1854-1846. However, soon, people began to hoard their own supplies, as they began to run out of food. This mean that the traditional support networks, that had helped people in previous famines collapsed and this meant that many more people began to starve. People bemoaned the fact that traditional charity and neighbourliness had ended and people were even turning on each other like ‘wolves’ [14]. Some people became so desperate for food that they made the fateful decision to eat their seed potatoes. They were needed to plant next season’s potato harvest. When people ate their seed potatoes, then they would not have any potato harvest next season and they would be condemned to starvation. Within months of the first appearance of blight, it was clear that the situation for many of Ireland’s poor was disastrous [15]. At this time, it was very common for families to eat grass and nettles. The hungry often boiled nettles and ate them as a broth and this became very common during the Famine.

How did Irish society shape the world?

Irish society was shaped by the system of landownership. Land was the main source of wealth in the country prior to the Famine and continued to do so after it ended. The land was largely rented by Protestant landlords to Catholic tenants. Their holdings were often very small and it was not unusual for the tenant farmers to have only two or three acres of land. One in four Irish tenants had farms that were only 1.5-2 hectares in size. This group and their families made up the majority of the population, by some measurements over one-half of the nation, were subsistence farmers. Any chance event could reduce a tenant farmer and his family to penury and starvation. Another issue in Ireland was that often when a tenant died, they divided their lands, among all their children. This was an age-old Gaelic tradition. However, this practice of sub-division meant that over time, the holdings of the Irish cottiers was reduced in size each generation. There was not enough land for them to produce anything else than potatoes. This meant that they could not produce food for the market and their farms were used simply to provide for their food supply for the year- if they were lucky. Such was the hunger for land that more and more marginal land came into use, as in hilly and upland areas. At this time many of the islands off the west coast, such as the Arran Islands, became densely populated, as people desperately sought land. Before the famine, an official British government report indicated that poverty was endemic that some one-third of all Irish small farmers could not support their families after paying their rent. The majority of the poor lived in one or two roomed cabins. Despite this and other reports, there was nothing done to change the situation and the Irish poor continued to live in the shadow of famine and in wretched poverty [5]. Visitors to Ireland remarked that poverty was universal in rural districts as Skibberrean, County Cork especially in the hill areas, where one journalist witnessed the ‘the most dreadful privations’ in the early 1840s, even before the Famine [6]

Where was the famine in 1846?

Areas such as Skibbereen in Country Cork became by-words for suffering In the winter of 1846 and early 1847, conditions in Skibberrean and the surrounding district deteriorated. In the townland of Drimelogue, ‘one in four died that winter [20] .The continuing lack of food, meant that one Cork doctor declared that ‘not one in five will recover’ In these regions the tenants’ farms were generally small and that more poor and marginal land was in use and as a result the local inhabitants were more likely to suffer from any disruption to their food supply. Some areas of the country such as East Ulster did not suffer much at first, this was because it was more industrialized than the rest of Ireland. However, as the Famine persisted and the blight continued to attack the potato crop, those areas that initially did not suffer greatly, began to show real signs of distress and mass hunger became evident. By 1847 the Famine had spread to almost every area of the country. Even those areas in Leinster and Ulster that had been spared the worst of the disaster now were ravaged by Famine. The year 1847 is often referred to as the ‘Black 1847’ this was the year when the greatest number of people died, directly and indirectly from the Famine. Urban areas, especially Dublin, saw a massive spike in the death rate, especially in the vast slums. After 1847, some parts of the country began to recover. For example, many parts of Kerry and Cork, which had been the epicentre of the Famine, began to see signs of improvement in 1848. However, some areas of the country still saw mass starvation, such as Limerick, as late as 1850, a year when many historians believed that the famine had ended.

How did the Great Famine affect Ireland?

Aside from influencing the cultural and political landscape of the country, the famine directly affected Ireland’s physical landscape. Even today Famine Roads, which were the result of forced labour by Irish peasantry during the Great Famine, scar the Irish countryside. These roads go nowhere and were built with no direction in mind ...

What was the political landscape of Ireland during the famine?

Pre-famine, Ireland’s political landscape centred around Daniel O’Connell and his bid for Catholic Emancipation and repeal movement. However post-famine, it would take more than a decade for a resurgence of nationalist feelings.

What is the most famous famine road in Ireland?

One of the most famous Famine Roads in Ireland is the Healy Pass (R574) in Kerry. Despite its past, the route is a popular tourist attraction as it boasts panoramic views of Bantry Bay and the Kenmare River. Healy Pass.

How many workhouses were there in Ireland during the famine?

Because of this, diseases spread quickly resulting in high mortality rates. By the end of the famine in 1852, there were 163 workhouses in Ireland.

What was the main food source in Ireland in 1845?

At the time, most of Ireland’s citizens were completely dependent on one staple food source – the Lumper potato. This potato breed was calorie-rich and flourished in the harshest of conditions, making it the staple food of both the agricultural and peasant classes.

How did the Irish famine affect the Irish language?

The famine’s effect on the Irish language is still evident today. The majority of the two million people who died or emigrated during the famine were Irish speakers from the poorest parts of the country, main ly the West of Ireland . In 1841, there were four million Irish speakers on the island, but this figure dropped drastically to 680,000 by 1891.

How many people left Ireland during the Great Famine?

Even before the Great Famine, Ireland was known for its high levels of emigration. Between 1815 and 1845 more than 800,000 left Irish shores in search of better life. During the famine this number swelled considerably to 1.8 million. Most emigrants were from the poor Irish-speaking regions of Ireland and were destined for the United States ...

How many people died in the Great Famine?

About one million people died during the Great Famine from starvation or from typhusand other famine-related diseases. An estimated two million more emigrated from the country.

What was the worst famine in Europe?

Great Famine, famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years. The Irish famine was the worst to occur in Europe in the 19th century: about one million people died from starvation or from typhus and other famine-related diseases.

What was the cause of the potato famine?

The crop failures were caused by late blight, a disease that destroys both the leaves and the edible roots, or tubers, of the potato plant.

What was the main crop of the Irish people in the early 19th century?

The potato, which had become a staple crop in Ireland by the 18th century, was appealing in that it was a hardy, nutritious, and calorie-dense crop and relatively easy to grow in the Irish soil. By the early 1840s almost half the Irish population—but primarily the rural poor—had come to depend almost exclusively on the potato for their diet. Irish tenant farmers often permitted landless labourers known as cottiers to live and work on their farms, as well as to keep their own potato plots. A typical cottier family consumed about eight pounds of potatoes per person per day, an amount that probably provided about 80 percent or more of all the calories they consumed. The rest of the population also consumed large quantities of potatoes. A heavy reliance on just one or two high-yielding types of potatoes greatly reduced the genetic variety that ordinarily prevents the decimation of an entire crop by disease, and thus the Irish became vulnerableto famine.

What was the worst famine in Europe in the 19th century?

The Irish famine was the worst to occur in Europe in the 19th century. Gillespie, Rowan: Famine. Famine (1997), commemorating the Great Famine, sculpture by Rowan Gillespie; in Dublin. © Arap/Fotolia.

What disease destroyed Ireland's potato crops?

Read more about late blight, the disease that destroyed Ireland’s potato crops.

How much money did the British spend on relief?

All in all, the British government spent about £8 million on relief, and some private relief funds were raised as well. The impoverished Irish peasantry, lacking the money to purchase the foods their farms produced, continued throughout the famine to export grain, meat, and other high-quality foods to Britain.

How did the Irish famine affect the Irish people?

The famine and its effects permanently changed the island's demographic, political, and cultural landscape, producing an estimated 2 million refugees and spurring a century-long population decline. For both the native Irish and those in the resulting diaspora, the famine entered folk memory.

When was the Great Famine in Ireland?

For other famines in Ireland, see Irish famine (disambiguation). Famine in Ireland from 1845–1852. Great Famine. An Gorta Mór/Drochshaol. Scene at Skibbereen during the Great Famine by Cork artist James Mahony, The Illustrated London News, 1847. Location. Ireland. Period. 1845–1852.

What caused the potato famine in 1840?

The proximate cause of the famine was a potato blight which infected potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, causing an additional 100,000 deaths outside Ireland and influencing much of the unrest in the widespread European Revolutions of 1848.

How many people died in the 1851 famine?

It is not known exactly how many people died during the period of the famine, although it is believed that more died from disease than from starvation. State registration of births, marriages, or deaths had not yet begun, and records kept by the Catholic Church are incomplete. One possible estimate has been reached by comparing the expected population with the eventual numbers in the 1850s. A census taken in 1841 recorded a population of 8,175,124. A census immediately after the famine in 1851 counted 6,552,385, a drop of over 1.5 million in 10 years. The census commissioners estimated that, at the normal rate of population increase, the population in 1851 should have grown to just over 9 million if the famine had not occurred.

What was the Irish Famine?

Irish Famine, 1879 ( An Gorta Beag) The Great Famine ( Irish: an Gorta Mór [anˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ] ), also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine (mostly within Ireland) or the Irish Potato Famine (mostly outside Ireland), was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. With the most severely affected areas in ...

What was the worst year of the Great Hunger?

The worst year of the period was 1847 , known as "Black '47". During the Great Hunger, about 1 million people died and more than a million fled the country, causing the country's population to fall by 20%–25%, in some towns falling as much as 67% between 1841 and 1851.

When did the potato blight return to Ireland?

When the potato blight returned to Ireland in the 1879 famine, the League boycotted "notorious landlords" and its members physically blocked the evictions of farmers; the consequent reduction in homelessness and house demolition resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of deaths.

What was the Great Famine?

The Great Famine (1845-1852) was a truly modern famine and one of the greatest social disasters in nineteenth-century Europe . Over a million people perished and a further million and a quarter fled the country which, by the Act of Union in 1801, was an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and ...

What was the potato used in the Irish famine?

The Lumper potato, a staple of pre-Famine Ireland. Many visitors to Ireland on the eve of the Famine commented on the levels of poverty they observed in the Irish countryside. Some, like Asenath Nicholson, believed that Ireland was teetering on the edge of a great calamity such was the extremes of poverty that she witnessed.

Why were overcrowded workhouses built?

Overcrowded workhouses were made to bear the brunt of Famine distress. The cramped conditions allowed disease to spread like wildfire. Built to deal with poverty in normal circumstances, they were unable to cope with a tragedy on the scale of the Famine.

What was the result of the arrival of the blight in Europe?

The arrival of the blight in Europe led to a partial failure of the crop in Ireland in 1845. A Tory government under Sir Robert Peel introduced a series of relief measures including the importation of Indian corn, the setting up of hundreds of relief committees in addition to the establishment of public works where people could earn money to buy food. The almost total failure of the crop the following year presented a different challenge to a new Liberal government under its Prime Minister Lord John Russell.

What caused Russell's government to change direction in terms of its relief policy?

However, the worsening conditions in Ireland during the winter of 1846/47 and increasing press coverage of the suffering prompted Russell's government to change direction in terms of its relief policy. The public works were increasingly seen as ineffective given the rise in disease and mortality.

How many people were in Ireland in 1851?

The population of Ireland declined from c.8.5m (8.7m?) in mid-1846 to 6.55m in 1851. In a limited number of parishes around Belfast, Dublin, Waterford and Cork small population increases are recorded, reflecting for the most part immigration into these city regions.

How many people were fed in the soup kitchens in 1847?

In the summer of 1847 three million people were being fed in the soup kitchens. However, legislation had already been passed in June 1847 (Poor Law Amendment Act) that shifted the financial burden for relief from central government to local Poor Law Unions in Ireland, many of which were financially stressed and heavily in debt.

How did the potato famine affect Ireland?

The infestation ruined up to one-half of the potato crop that year, and about three-quarters of the crop over the next seven years. Because the tenant farmers of Ireland—then ruled as a colony of Great Britain—relied heavily on the potato as a source of food, the infestation had a catastrophic impact on Ireland and its population. Before it ended in 1852, the Potato Famine resulted in the death of roughly one million Irish from starvation and related causes, with at least another million forced to leave their homeland as refugees.

What was the potato famine in Ireland?

Great Hunger Begins. Legacy of the Potato Famine. Irish Hunger Memorials. Sources. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) spread rapidly throughout Ireland. The infestation ruined up to one-half ...

What was the legacy of the Potato Famine?

Legacy of the Potato Famine. The exact role of the British government in the Potato Famine and its aftermath—whether it ignored the plight of Ireland’s poor out of malice, or if their collective inaction and inadequate response could be attributed to incompetence— is still being debated.

How many Irish people died in the potato famine?

Although estimates vary, it is believed as many as 1 million Irish men, women and children perished during the Famine, and another 1 million emigrated from the island to escape poverty and starvation, with many landing in various cities throughout North America and Great Britain. Legacy of the Potato Famine.

What were the main commodities exported from Ireland in 1847?

In 1847 alone, records indicate that commodities such as peas, beans, rabbits, fish and honey continued to be exported from Ireland, even as the Great Hunger ravaged the countryside.

How many representatives did Ireland have?

In all, Ireland sent 105 representatives to the House of Commons—the lower house of Parliament—and 28 “peers” (titled landowners) to the House of Lords, or the upper house. Still, it’s important to note that the bulk of these elected representatives were landowners of British origin and/or their sons.

Where are Irish hunger memorials?

Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Phoenix in the United States, as well as Montreal and Toronto in Canada, have erected Irish hunger memorials, as have various cities in Ireland, Australia and Great Britain. In addition, Glasgow Celtic FC, a soccer team based in Scotland that was founded by Irish immigrants, ...

What caused the famine in Ireland?

It has long been claimed that the Famine was caused by population growth outstripping increases in the food supply – what economists refer to as a Malthusian catastrophe. Joel Mokyr’s (1980) econometric history of pre-Famine Ireland famously argued that this could not have been the case.

How did Ireland lose its population after the famine?

To comprehend the economic and demographic adjustment in post-Famine Ireland requires an understanding of the global context at the time. Emigration was the main channel through which Ireland continued to lose its population. The imperative to leave was obvious – people were starving – but in the aftermath of the Famine, people continued to leave, mainly for North America and Great Britain.

How did the welfare system affect the famine?

This welfare system was ill-suited to dealing with catastrophic risks and in many cases aggravated rather than mitigated the Famine’s impact by forcing those most affected to uproot their entire family and way of life. While the system was reformed later in the Famine to include some limited outside relief – such as through soup kitchens – it was too little to have a meaningful impact.

What is the lesson of the ineffectual relief response to the Famine?

Nevertheless, one policy lesson that emerges from the ineffectual relief response to the Famine is that governments must be better able to identify when existential crises are taking place.

How many people died in the Great Irish Famine?

With one million people dead and another million forced to emigrate, the Great Irish Famine of 1845-52 can be characterised as a ‘catastrophic risk’ – a low probability but high impact event ( McLaughlin and Beck, 2020 ). When deaths are considered relative to the overall population, this famine overshadows practically all others in history: 12% of Ireland’s population perished ( Ó Gráda, 2007 ).

How many railway stations were built in Ireland during the post-famine era?

The UK government implemented a variety of regional policies in Ireland in the post-Famine era, including establishing a local government system and investing in infrastructure. Nearly 300 railway stations were opened between 1890 and 1916; Ireland had 3,750 miles of railway by 1920.

What was the post-famine world?

The post-Famine world was one in which both the speed and cost of the movement of people, goods and money improved dramatically thanks to the advent of steamships and railways. Emigration became a much more accessible, and a much more attractive, option.

What happened in Ireland after the famine?

Across Ireland in the aftermath of the Famine, strong farmers and graziers increased their holdings at the expense of their weaker neighbours. A respondent to the Famine questionnaire of the 1940s recalled:

How did the Famine affect marriage?

This was reflected in the rise of the matchmaker who oversaw mercenary marriages, the rising disparity between the ages of husbands and wives, and a horrifying surge in the number of unmarried people, so that Ireland had the worst record in the world on this by the late nineteenth century.

What would happen if the Famine was forgotten?

Several people would be glad if the Famine times were altogether forgotten so the cruel doings of their forebears could not be again renewed or talked about by neighbours.

How long did emigration last in Ireland?

About a million people had already left the country in the two decades between 1821 and 1841. This annual level of emigration continued up to 1845–46; then, as famine intensified, the exodus from Ireland became an unstoppable flood.

What are the two major bulwarks of Irish speech?

Connacht and Munster (and County Donegal) remained the great bulwarks of Irish speech and traditional ways of living. This pattern of Irish speech sustained in these two provinces up to 1851. Significant pockets of Irish speech also survived in the Glens of Antrim, mid-Tyrone and the Leinster/Ulster borderlands.

Why did the British want to eliminate potatoes?

The British welcomed the elimination of the potato as a food source because it would liquidate the pre-existing Irish way of life. The future would then be an efficient Irish agricultural sector, with large-scale cattle ranches and a wage-earning sector. These changes would generate a 'modern' Irish social structure, ...

When did the Irish language begin to decline?

The erosion in the distribution of Irish-speakers began much earlier than the Famine decade. In the early seventeenth century, there was already an unequal relationship between an imperial, urbanising, print-based and aggressively expansive English culture and language, and an Irish language and culture that was more rural-based, more oral/aural in style and far more manuscript dependent.

Overview

Causes and contributing factors

• The Famine was a tragedy for Ireland and it changed the island forever. It led to mass starvation and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and it resulted in the deaths of approximately one million people. It decisively shaped Irish society for many decades and even to the present day, it effects are still felt. The country in the aftermath of the ...

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Reaction in Ireland

Government response

Food exports

Charity

Eviction

Emigration