Irish Famine
Also called the Great Potato Famine, the Great Irish Famine, and the Famine of 1845-49, this disaster marked a lowpoint in Irish agricultural history in which the potato crop failed for four successive years. The crop failure was due to late blight, a disease which destroys the leaves, roots and tubers of the potato plant. The major component of late blight is a fungus, Phytophthora Infestans. By the 1840s, almost a half of the Irish population, primarily the rural poor, depended heavily on the potato for their diet. The reliance on just a small number of high-yielding varieties reduced the genetic variety that generally prevents the decimation of an entire crop by disease. In 1845, an abnormally cool and moist year in Ireland, the Phytophthora fungus arrived accidentally from North America. The peculiar climate difference allowed the blight to thrive and conquer, rotting much of that year's potato crop. The initial failure paved a pathway for future devastating failures in 1846-49, each year producing the same ruined crop.
The British government's efforts to relieve the famine were futile. Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel provided some relief in 1845 and early 1946, but was replaced by Lord John Russell, who turned to Irish resources for relief efforts. As a result, must of the financial burden to provide for the starving Irish lower class was thrown on the Irish landowners themselves. However, since the peasantry was unable to pay their financial expenses, the landlords' funds were quickly depleted. British assistance was limited to funding soup kitchens and providing employment on public works. Cornmeal from the United States eased some of the starvation, but was limited in nutrition and disliked by the general population. By August 1847, 3,000,000 people were receiving rations at soup kitchens. Throughout the famine, Irish farms continued to export grain, meat and other high quality foods to Britain because the Irish peasantry lacked the monetary means to purchase such foods. In the end, the British government spent about £ 8,000,000 on relief to ease the Irish famine.
As a direct result of the famine, the Irish population dropped from 8,400,000 in 1844 to 6,600,000 by 1851. About 1,100,000 people died from starvation or from famine-related disease such as typhus. Another 1.5 million people immigrated to North America and Britain. For the following decades, Ireland's populations continually declined due to overseas migration and lower birth rates. In 1921, although Ireland achieved its independence, the population was half the size of what it had been in the early 1840s.
