Ireland: The Great Famine

Ireland: The Great Famine

In 1845, a disease infected the potato crop all over Ireland. The potato being the main food source of the Irish, made this result into a horrific, deadly famine killing millions. Some of the Irish people fled from the infected land in search of a new and pure world. They sought refuge in America and Canada. The others who stayed true to their homeland faced a war of life that shattered many dreams and put fear into the hearts of the Irish people.

Emigration of Ireland

There were two ways out of this Irish nightmare, death and emigration. People were leaving from every port in Ireland. In 1847 a quarter of a million Irish men, woman and, children left Ireland and the rate of emigration was to continue at the same level and sometimes higher for the following four years. This massive emigration rate not only permanently changed Ireland's population structure but also helped develop an Irish nationalist feeling against English government. Many of the poorest emigrating Irishmen never got beyond the English port. By mid-May 1847 there were one thousand plus Irish wondering, begging and filling the streets of Liverpool and other towns north of England. The poor classes were n ot the only Irishmen migrating. On board the emigrant ships, conditions were sometimes shocking. These ships came to be known as Coffin Ships because of the conditions the emigrants are forced to live in. There was little air in these over crowded below decks, which carried the poorest class. There were extreme cases of fevers, little water, low abundance of food, few cooking and sanitary facilities. Most of the Irish emigrants went to the United States, but the emigrants with the worst conditions went to Canada. Almost every ship had a third of their passenger's die at sea or upon their arrival. By August 1847 half the passengers from 10 ships had died while the others were sick with fevers. On the shores of Quebec eyewitnesses saw hundreds literally flung on the beach, left in the mud, dying like fish out of water. Emigration has been an on going feature of Irish life since the famine. The large amounts of emigration before independence were streams of criticism towards the British government by the Irish nationalists. Population continued to fall a fter the independence and the government stopped recording emigration statistics.

Towards the end of the 1870s the