There Irish famineknown in the Gaelic language as An gorta mór and in English as Great Irish Faminehit Ireland between the 1845 and the 1852with the most serious moment Between 1846 and 1848. The main cause was the onset of one potato diseasewhich were the basic food of the Irish population. The measures of the British government to limit the damage proved to be ineffective and the famine caused a drastic drop in the population. A million people lost their lives and a large number of inhabitants I emigrated to North Americadistorting the ethnic-demographic composition of Canada and the United States. Carestia also affected other countries, but in a less serious extent than Ireland.
The economic conditions of Ireland in the 19th century
In the 19th century Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom, by virtue of theAct of union of 1800. However, the economic conditions of the territory were very different from that of other British regions, in particular from those of England, which had been the “engine” of the industrial revolution and since the 18th century it had been facing a profound economic transformation. In Ireland the economy was based on agriculture and industrialization had developed only in a few areas. The Irish were therefore on average poorer of the other British And already in 1740-41 they had undergone a serious famine, which had killed between 13 and 20% of the population.
In the 19th century, the agricultural production of Ireland was different according to the areas: cereals, linen, and, above all, were grown in the territory, and above all, and above all potatoeswhich were the predominant culture throughout the eastern part of the island.
The potato had been introduced in Ireland a few decades after the discovery of America, thanks to the Colombian exchange, but initially had met little luck. The production had started to grow at the end of the 17th century and had increased enormously in the following century. In the mid -19th century the potatoes were thebasic food of most of the populationthat could not afford cereals and other products. Generally they were eaten with milk, herring and other poor foods.
The causes of the great famine of potatoes
Carestia hit Ireland in 1845 for different causes. First of all, the political measures to improve the conditions of the Irish had not proved effective. In 1830 the London government had decided to deal with the problem of poverty in Ireland by establishing, as in England, the Workhouses to host the poorest workers.
However, the measure had not been decisive and during the famine Workhouses They overcrowded. Furthermore, in the early decades of the 19th century the Irish population had met a demographic increaseexceeding 8 million inhabitants in 1841. The population, therefore, was already in conditions of poverty in the early 1940s.
The main cause of the famine was one potato diseasethe peronosperadue to an infesting agent, the Phytophthora infestanswhich came from North America, which reduced the tubers to an inedible mush.
The development of famine
In the 1845 the potato harvest it was reduced by a third And the shortage of food became an obvious problem. To study the disease that affected the tubers, the British government, led by the conservative Robert Peelappointed a commission, which, however, was unable to identify the weed (which will be identified only in 1882). The government bought cereals from the United States, but could not face famine. In 1846 the Diseases caused by malnutritionlike cheering, and the mortality rate He began to climb. In some cases the population rebelled and tried to attack warehouses and shops.
The year in which mortality reached the highest levels was the 1847; Later the agricultural production began to increase, but only in 1852 the famine ended definitively. The famine also hit the Scotlandbut the effects were less destructive.
The consequences: the demographic collapse
The main consequence of the great famine was the Drastical decrease in the Irish populationcaused by both mortality and byemigration. On average, the population was reduced by about 20-25%with differences according to the areas. The impact had a long duration: at the beginning of the 1900s the overall population of the country was just over 4 million.
More specifically, during the famine the dead were about 1 million. About the same number of people emigrated until the early 1950s. By 1871 more than 2 million inhabitants left Ireland, managing mainly in North America. For this reason, today in the continent lives a conspicuous population of Irish origin, which in the United States is equal to11.9% of the total. The arrival of the Irish had profound consequences in the countries of destination and, according to some scholars, providing low -cost labor, in the United States contributed to the abolition of the slave system, which took place in 1865.
In Ireland, the demographic drop also had consequences in the cultural field, causing the reduction of the use of the Gaelic language.
Today among the Irish the Memory of famine It is very alive and the event is considered an important moment of the creation of national identity. In many locations in Ireland, including Dublinmonuments were erected in memory of the victims.
