Irish Patato Famine

Ireland in the 1500's was a very unstable country. The country's English rulers fought

with the local Irish civilians and the Irish nobles. The Irish nobles also fought among themselves.

The English landlords owned the land that the peasants lived and farmed on. As a result of this

continual fighting, it was hard for the peasants to grow enough food to feed themselves. The

British passed laws to deny the Irish peasants freedom. They were forbidden to speak their

own language, to practice their own religion, to own a horse worth more than ten dollars, to go to

school, or to hold a public office.

Potatoes were first introduced to Ireland around the 1600's. Some say that Sir

Walter Raleigh, an English explorer brought the potato to Ireland to see if it would survive.

Another belief is that the potato came to Ireland when some potatoes

washed ashore from a

Spanish Armada ship that had sunk off the coast of Ireland.

The white potato is thought to have originated in the Andean Mountains. The Spanish

discovered it in northern Peru and brought it back to Europe. It was first considered poisonous

by the Europeans because it was classified in the same family as the poisonous nightshade.

Potatos became popular and somewhat of a fashion statement after Marie Antoinette wore

potato blossoms in her hair. Once the royalty learned of the potato's nutritional value they

ordered the peasants to start to grow it.

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A potato, also called a tuber, is an underground stem that is short, thick, and fleshy. The

potato was such a good crop because it has nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrate, and

vitamin C. It only lacked vitamin A and calcium. If it was combined with milk than it would

contain all of the elements required for a healthy diet. For nutrition in the mid 1800's a person

would have to eat around six and a half pounds of potatoes.

The potato was also good because when there were wars going on in Ireland, the soldiers

would go and burn all of the farmer's crops. Since the potatoes were underground, they

would not be affected by this and could still be dug up afterwards. Ireland's mild, cloudy, and

damp climate allows root crops, such as the potato, to thrive and to be grown successfully in

their peaty soil. Many of the people who lived in Ireland at that time were farmers and did not

own their own land. Most of them were poor and used subsistence farming.

Potato's were also used as cash crops. They paid the rent for the house and the land.

The farmers had to give a share of the crops that they grew to their landlords. The little that

was left over was what they used to feed their families. One and a half acres of land planted

with potatoes could feed a whole family of six for a year, including pigs, cattle, and fowl.

Planting, tending, and harvesting the potato's was very hard work.

The potato soon became the single major crop of Ireland. Almost ninety percent of the

population was dependent on it. It was very dangerous, as we know now, to be dependent on

one crop. If something happens to that one crop, there is nothing else to take its place. The

Irish Potato Famine began in the fall of 1845. It lasted until around the year 1849-1850. This

was one of the greatest disasters of the nineteenth century. It became known as the Great

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Hunger, or the Irish Potato Famine.

The fungus first appeared in Maine which is in the United States. It spread across the

country to the great plains of the Midwest. One of the diseased potatoes crossed the Atlantic

ocean by ship. This is how the fungus got to Europe. From there it spread to Germany, then

Belgium , France, England, and finally Ireland in 1845.

The cause of this famine is a disease called potato blight. Phytophthora infestans is an

airborne pathogen that spreads rapidly among crops. It began as a funny white growth on the

leaves of the potato plant. When the potato's were dug up they were small and wrinkled. The

potato stalks turned black and the stench of rotting potatoes could be smelled for miles and miles

away. The disease spread all throughout Ireland killing their main, or staple crop, potatoes.

This was their chief source of food.