What caused the Great Famine of 1845?
Great Famine. Great Famine, also called Irish Potato Famine, Great Irish Famine, or Famine of 1845–49, famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years. 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 caused the Potato Famine of the 19th century?
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. The causative agent of late blight is the water mold Phytophthora infestans. The Irish famine was the worst to occur in Europe in the 19th century.
How did the potato blight affect Europe?
It spread into France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and England, and caused huge crop failures in which thousands of people died. In these countries people were less dependent on potato as a food, unlike the Irish. A severe drought in Europe in 1846 helped to kill the blight completely.
What happened to the potato crop in 1845?
A disease called late blight destroyed the leaves and edible roots of the potato plants in successive years from 1845 to 1849. Read more about late blight, the disease that destroyed Ireland’s potato crops.
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Which country suffered from potato famine?
Great Famine, also called Irish Potato Famine, Great Irish Famine, or Famine of 1845–49, famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years.
Was there a potato famine in Germany in 1840?
The European Potato Failure was a food crisis caused by potato blight that struck Northern and Western Europe in the mid-1840s. The time is also known as the Hungry Forties.
Where did the potato Famine blight come from?
The potato blight that killed about a million people in Ireland in the 1840s originated in South America, a new genetic analysis finds. Until now, the origin of the fungus-like blight that devastated potato crops in Ireland and throughout Europe had not been pinned down.
Which country had the greatest impact from the potato famine?
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.
Why did the Irish migrate to America in 1840s?
The potato blight which destroyed the staple of the Irish diet produced famine. Hundreds of thousands of peasants were driven from their cottages and forced to emigrate -- most often to North America.
Where did the Irish settle in America in the 1840s?
Irish immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s settled mainly in coastal states such as New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, but also in western states such as Illinois and Ohio.
Did the British cause the potato famine?
The landed proprietors in Ireland were held in Britain to have created the conditions that led to the famine. However, it was asserted that the British parliament since the Act of Union of 1800 was partly to blame.
What was the Irish famine caused by?
potato late blight pathogenThe potato late blight pathogen was introduced to Europe in the 1840s and caused the devastating loss of a staple crop, resulting in the Irish potato famine and subsequent diaspora.
Did the British help the Irish during the potato famine?
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.
What county was worst affected by the famine?
The claim that the Famine did not affect Ulster has been debunked by recent historical research. Between 1845-51 Ulster's population fell by 340,000, a drop of 15.7% compared with 19.9% for the whole of lreland. The greatest losses of population were in the south Ulster counties of Cavan, Fermanagh and Monaghan.
What caused the famine in Ireland in 1847?
Between 1845-52 Ireland suffered a period of starvation, disease and emigration that became known as the Great Famine. The main cause was a disease which affected the potato crop, upon which a third of Ireland's population was dependent for food.
Why did Russia have a famine?
Major contributing factors to the famine include: the forced collectivization in the Soviet Union of agriculture as a part of the First Five-Year Plan, forced grain procurement, combined with rapid industrialization, a decreasing agricultural workforce, and several severe droughts.
Did the Germans have a potato famine?
A severe late blight outbreak in Germany's potatoes in 1916 went untreated and the potatoes rotted in the fields. The resulting scarcity of potatoes led to the deaths of 700,000 German civilians from starvation [7].
Did Germany have a potato famine?
A late blight epidemic destroyed Germany's potato crop in 1916 due to the lack of protection with a fungicide. “…the last major famine caused by P. infestans occurred in 1916 during World War I.
When was there a famine in Germany?
I first read about the starvation of Germans at the end of WWI in a book written by British historian Clive Ponting, he reported that close to 900.000 Germans died of starvation in 1918 and 1919. The “starvation policy” had begun in 1914.
When did Germans start eating potatoes?
Potatoes were once guarded by soldiers Native to the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, the potato first arrived in Germany in 1630. According to legend, King Frederick II of Prussia believed in the economic and nutritious value of potatoes.
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 ...
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 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.
When did the Great Hunger begin?
Great Hunger Begins. When the crops began to fail in 1845, as a result of P. infestans infection, Irish leaders in Dublin petitioned Queen Victoria and Parliament to act—and, initially, they did, repealing the so-called “Corn Laws” and their tariffs on grain, which made food such as corn and bread prohibitively expensive.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 is the name of the potato famine?
Gaiseadh a' bhuntàta. Cross-section of a blighted potato tuber. Country. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Location. Scotland. Period. 1846–1856. The Highland Potato Famine ( Scottish Gaelic: Gaiseadh a' bhuntàta) was a period of 19th-century Highland and Scottish history (1846 to roughly 1856) over which the agricultural communities ...
What was the effect of the famine on the Scottish diaspora?
News of the famine led the Scottish diaspora, including Scottish-Americans, to organise relief efforts. The prompt response of the Lowlands (and the much smaller size of the problem) meant that famine relief programmes were better organised and more effective in Scotland than in Ireland.
How did the Highlands change?
On the eastern fringes of the Highlands, most arable land was divided into family farms with 20 to 50 acres (8.1 to 20.2 hectares) employing crofters (with some land held in their own right, insufficient on its own to give them an adequate living) and cottars (farm workers with no land of their own, sometimes sub-let a small patch of land by their employer or a crofter). The economy had become assimilated to that of the Lowlands, whose proximity allowed and encouraged a diverse agriculture. Proximity to the Lowlands had also led to a steady drain of population from these areas. : 188 In the Western Isles and the adjacent mainland developments had been very different. Chieftains who had become improving landlords had found livestock-grazing (generally sheep, sometimes cattle) the most remunerative form of agriculture; to accommodate this they had moved their tenants to coastal townships where they hoped valuable industries could be developed and established an extensive crofting system (see Highland Clearances ). Croft sizes were set low to encourage the tenantry to participate in the industry (e.g. fishing, kelp ) the landlord wished to develop. A contemporary writer thought that a crofter would have to do work away from his holding for 200 days a year if his family were to avoid destitution. : 190 The various industries the crofting townships were supposed to support mostly prospered in the first quarter of the 19th century (drawing workers over and above the originally intended population of townships) but declined or collapsed over its second quarter. The crofting areas were correspondingly impoverished, but able to sustain themselves by a much greater reliance on potatoes (it was reckoned that one acre growing potatoes could support as many people as four acres growing oats). : 191 Between 1801 and 1841 the population in the crofting area increased by over half, whereas in the eastern and southern Highlands the increase in the same period was under 10 percent. : 191 Consequently, immediately pre-blight, whilst mainland Argyll had over 2 acres (0.8 hectares) of arable land per inhabitant, there was only 1⁄2 acre (0.2 hectares) of arable land per head in Skye and Wester Ross: : 188 in the crofting area, as in Ireland, the population had grown to levels which only a successful potato harvest could support.
Why did the landlords discover tacksmen operating large grazings?
Such emigration as had taken place had been of the prosperous; in replacing them the landlords had discovered tacksmen operating large grazings to be willing to pay higher rents and more reliable in paying them. That discovery had led them to move crofters to more marginal areas to create more grazings.
What were the Scottish Poor Laws in 1850?
The Scottish Poor Laws, unlike those in England, allowed relief to be given from the parish poor rates only to the sick and infirm and explicitly forbade any relief being given to the able-bodied poor unable to find work locally. As early as 1848 Sir Charles Trevelyan had advocated that the Scottish Poor Law be amended to allow the able-bodied poor to claim relief; critics countered that the scale of destitution was such that it was clearly unrealistic to expect a large number of unemployed in a distressed parish to be supported solely by rates levied on that parish.#N#In response to inquiries from county officials, the government indicated that it did not intend to make additional funds available now that the charitable relief effort had ended, neither to provide relief in situ nor to assist emigration from distressed areas. It suggested that a Poor Law clause giving the Poor Law authorities discretion to grant relief to those temporarily unable to work might (somewhat contrary to its wording) be used to provide relief to the able-bodied poor willing but unable to find work. It set up an enquiry under Sir John McNeill, the chairman of the Board of Supervision (of Scottish Poor Law Boards), to investigate the situation and recommend remedies.
What seaweeds were used to make soda?
^ Various seaweeds, including true kelp, gathered and burned to yield soda ash. The industry was only able to compete with imported barilla in the early 19th century because of the Napoleonic Wars and a high import duty on barilla: from 1822 onwards the duty on barilla was progressively reduced and 1845 abolished; by then neither natural source could compete on price with the Leblanc process. "Kelp was formerly a valuable resource of the highland and Irish peasantry on the coast, but it ceased to be remunerative as Barilla became cheaper, and the manufacture of soda by chemical means has reduced the price still more and utterly destroyed the trade"
How many people died from starvation in 1850?
There had been no known deaths by starvation since the cessation of Relief Board operations (to put those in proportion, he noted that total expenditure by the Relief Board on Skye in 1850 was less than half the value of taxed whisky sales on Skye in 1850, gratuitously going on to note that the latter was more than double the value of sales in 1846) and the predicted humanitarian crisis had not materialised. On Skye, where the parochial boards had been giving discretionary relief to the able-bodied in response to the end of Relief Board Operations even before government guidance:
Where did potato blight originate?
FAM-1 caused outbreaks of potato late blight in the United States in 1843 and then two years later in Great Britain and Ireland. It was also found in historic samples from Colombia—suggesting a South American origin.
What disease caused the Irish potato famine?
A plant in Chile affected by late-blight disease. Researchers track the evolution of strains of P. infestans, the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s, which continues to harm plants worldwide. (Credit: Jean Ristaino)
Why are potatoes so vulnerable to fungicides?
Potatoes in the developing world are particularly vulnerable as fungicides are less available and often unaffordable.
What is the name of the plant pathogen that caused the late blight on tomato plants?
The study, published in Scientific Reports, shows that the historic lineage called FAM-1 ...
Overview
The Great Famine , 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 1849, which constituted a historical social crisis which had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole. With the most severely affected areas in the west and south of Ireland, …
Causes and contributing factors
Since the Acts of Union in January 1801, Ireland had been part of the United Kingdom. Executive power lay in the hands of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Chief Secretary for Ireland, who were appointed by the British government. Ireland sent 105 members of parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and Irish representative peers elected 28 of their own number to sit fo…
Reaction in Ireland
The Corporation of Dublin sent a memorial to the Queen, "praying her" to call Parliament together early (Parliament was at this time prorogued), and to recommend the requisition of some public money for public works, especially railways in Ireland. The Town Council of Belfast met and made similar suggestions, but neither body asked for charity, according to John Mitchel, one of the leading Repealers.
Government response
When Ireland experienced food shortages in 1782–1783, ports were closed to exporting food, with the intention of keeping locally grown food in Ireland to feed the hungry. Irish food prices promptly dropped. Some merchants lobbied against the export ban, but the government in the 1780s overrode their protests.
Historian F. S. L. Lyons characterised the initial response of the British govern…
Food exports
Many Irish people, notably Mitchel, believed that Ireland continued to produce sufficient food to feed its population during the famine, and starvation resulted from exports. According to historian James Donnelly, "the picture of Irish people starving as food was exported was the most powerful image in the nationalist construct of the Famine". However, according to statistics, food imports excee…
Charity
William Smith O'Brien—speaking on the subject of charity in a speech to the Repeal Association in February 1845—applauded the fact that the universal sentiment on the subject of charity was that they would accept no English charity. He expressed the view that the resources of Ireland were still abundantly adequate to maintain the population, and that, until those resource…
Eviction
Landlords were responsible for paying the rates of every tenant whose yearly rent was £4 or less. Landlords whose land was crowded with poorer tenants were now faced with large bills. Many began clearing the poor tenants from their small plots and letting the land in larger plots for over £4 which then reduced their debts. In 1846, there had been some clearances, but the great mass of ev…
Emigration
At least a million people are thought to have emigrated as a result of the famine. There were about 1 million long-distance emigrants between 1846 and 1851, mainly to North America. The total given in the 1851 census is 967,908. Short-distance emigrants, mainly to Britain, may have numbered 200,000 or more.
While the famine was responsible for a significant increase in emigration fro…
Overview
The Highland Potato Famine (Scottish Gaelic: Gaiseadh a' bhuntàta) was a period of 19th-century Highland and Scottish history (1846 to roughly 1856) over which the agricultural communities of the Hebrides and the western Scottish Highlands (Gàidhealtachd) saw their potato crop (upon which they had become over-reliant) repeatedly devastated by potato blight. It was part of the wider foo…
Vulnerability of crofting areas
Over the late 18th and early 19th century, Highland society had changed greatly. On the eastern fringes of the Highlands, most arable land was divided into family farms with 20 to 50 acres (8.1 to 20.2 hectares) employing crofters (with some land held in their own right, insufficient on its own to give them an adequate living) and cottars (farm workers with no land of their own, sometimes sub-let a small patch of land by their employer or a crofter). The economy had become assimilat…
Famine and destitution
In the Scottish Highlands, in 1846, there was widespread failure of potato crops as a result of potato blight. Crops failed in about three-quarters of the crofting region, putting a population of about 200,000 at risk; the following winter was especially cold and snowy and the death rate rose significantly. The Free Church of Scotland, strong in the affected areas, was prompt in raising the alarm and in organising relief, being the only body actively doing so in late 1846 and early 1847; r…
Consequent depopulation
Most landlords worked to lessen the effects of the famine on their crofting tenants: forgoing rent, donating to the relief committees, running their own parallel relief operations, funding the introduction of new crops and industries or reviving old ones. However, as it became apparent that crofting at current population levels had long-term problems, they feared that the government would impose some system of permanent relief charged against their estates (either directly or t…
Aftermath
McNeill's report did not endorse the argument of papers such as the Scotsman that the destitution was due to the inherent laziness of the Gael (which contrasted unfavourably with the estimable traits of the 'Teutonic' Lowland Scots who read the Scotsman), but his comments on the cultural barriers which had hindered timely migration from the congested areas mirrored and reinforced a prevalent assumption that Gaelic culture and language was an unnecessary brake o…
See also
• Agriculture in Scotland
• Great Famine (Ireland)
• European Potato Famine
Further reading
• Krisztina Fenyo, Contempt, Sympathy and Romance: Lowland Perceptions of the Highlands and the Clearances During the Famine Years, 1845–1855. (2000) East Lothian: Tuckwell Press
• Redcliffe N. Salaman & J. G. Hawkes, The History and Social Influence of the Potato. (1985) New York Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-07783-4