Great famine in Ireland

The Great Famine (in Irish Year Gorta Mór gold Year Drochshaol , in English the Blight ), is the name given to a major Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1849. The appearance of this famine is the 50 years result of disastrous interactions between the imperial economic policy British, of the inappropriate agricultural methods, and the appearance of the Mildiou on the island, a parasitic mushroom which practically destroyed of a blow the local cultures of Potatoes, basic food of the Irish peasants.

Origin

The revolt of the Irish catholics against Oliver Cromwell involves in 1649 a brutal repression and the installation of the Penal laws intended to discriminate them. Among these series of measure, Popery Act indicates that the grounds of the catholics, instead of being transmitted to the oldest son must be divided between all wire of the same family. The result is significant drops of the size of the farms and an increasing vulnerability of their owners. To remain, the Irishmen practice especially the culture of potato, nourissante and requiring only little space to be cultivated. Misery makes that many peasants are not owners of their ground and must pay a rent with a protesting landlord , they often cultivate potato for their own subsistence plus another culture intended to pay the owner. Many peasants also leave to work in English or Scottish exploitations.

The Great Famine

The appearance of the Mildiou on harvests causes the fall of the production of potato and involves a famine of great width. Contrary to what occurred during the famine from 1780, the Irish ports remain open under the pressure of the Protestant traders and Ireland continues to export food. Areas of the island where whole families die of hunger, of the convoys of food belonging to the landlords , escorted by the army leave towards England. Certain owners expel even their peasants, even if they can pay their rent as at the time of the Ballinglass Incident. If there does not exist official calculation of the number of deaths between 1846 and 1851, various estimates advance an assessment of 500 000 to a million deaths.

Consequences

The consequences of the Famine perdurent at least until 1851, but have effects during even longer, in particular on the demography of Ireland. For died of the famine, it is indeed necessary to add nearly two million refugees, and as many emigrants, primarily bound for the Great Britain, of the the United States, the Canada and the Australia. In all, the Irish population dropped of almost a quarter in 10 years, passing from 8 to approximately 6 million people. The emigration initiated by the famine will continue and until 1911 the Irish population will fall until reaching 4,4 million people, that is to say her level of 1800. The Irishmen showed the the United Kingdom them to have voluntarily abandoned. The British army had the greatest food reserves of Europe, which she refused to divide.

The Great Famine is at the origin of a revival of Irish nationalism, resulting in particular in the birth of the movement Jeune Ireland.

The Fields off Athenry is an Irish song taking again the topic of the Great Famine.

Books

The Great famine in the literature:

Trinity , 3 volumes (the Youth of Conor, Caroline, Shelley), Leon URIS
Famine , Novel of Liam O' Flaherty published in 1937. Republication at Jean Picollec in 1980.
the good-bye in Connemara , Novel of Herve Jaouen. Edition of pocket at Pocket n°12069.

Sources and references

Bibliography of Ireland

Simple: Irish Potato Famine