Great Famine

Period of mass starvation between 1845 and 1850 in Ireland which has shaped Ireland's history substantially. It was caused by various bad harvests as well as the political conditions at the time. The Great Famine is "probably the best-known historical famine of all" (Ó Gráda 1999: 3).

The potato crops were first attacked by a potato blight in 1845 causing the crops to fail. Potatoes were the staple food for the Irish population, especially in the rural areas of the country.

Although many people were starving in Ireland, food was still exported to other countries. This is why some nationalists dislike the term famine and prefer the Irish name for the famine years An Gorta Mór which translates as The Great Hunger (Kinealy 1997: 1).

As a result of the famine, one million Irishmen which is about one eighth of the entire population died and another two million left the country to start a new life abroad - most of them went to either Great Britain or overseas to the United States, Canada or Australia.

Sources:

Campbell Bartoletti, Susan: Black Potatoes. The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Houghton Mifflin Books, New York. 2001.

Ó Gráda, Cormac: Black '47 and Beyond. The Great Irish Famine in History, Econcomy and Memory. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. 1999.

Kinealy, Christine: A Death-Dealing Famine. The Great Hunger in Ireland. Pluto Press, London. 1997.