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The British Potato Famine

            
             The potato famine was a horrible event resulting in many deaths and mass immigration caused by potato blight, the tenant farming system and Britain's rule over Ireland. .
             Response.
             A cause of the potato famine was the oppression of the Irish Catholics by England. King Henry the VII disagreed with the Pope, leader of the Catholic Church, over his wish to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. The Catholic Church was the leading religion at the time and very influential in the government. So king henry set himself up as head of the protestant church. The government then took control over Ireland as protection from the catholic countries England was surrounded by. England took full control in the 1800s, putting in many rules that banned Irish Catholics from having seats in parliament, speaking their native tongue and practising their religion. Resulting the good land of Ireland in the north being taken away and given to Protestants. Irish Catholics were affected to such a level that they were the most vulnerable part of the population and most likely to succumb to famine. .
             The tenant farming system and reliance on the potato crop was another cause. By the 19th century Ireland was totally reliant on England and economically exploited. Most land in Ireland was owned by English landlords, tenants relied on the potato crop as their main food source because they had to use other crops and livestock to pay rent to the landlords. The price of living increased and Irish Catholics were forced into poverty, causing them to have to use all their other resources to pay rent. England also banned many of Irelands an export from being traded to Britain's other colonies meaning Ireland was being ripped off by England. The tenant farming system and total reliance on the potato crop meaning any crop failures would be a disaster. .
             The fungal disease potato blight triggered the famine. The fungus spread through Ireland destroying their primary food source.


Essays Related to The British Potato Famine

1. Irish Potato Famine

The potato being the main food source of the Irish made this result into a horrific, deadly famine killing millions. ... Some people blamed the famine on nature, some on God, and others put forth the notion that Britain, England and the rest of Europe were the sole causes of the potato blight. Although nature did present the Irish people with the potato blight, it was, in fact, the actions of the British and English, which caused the mass starvation and devastation among Ireland. ... On June 8, 1847, British parliament created the Irish Poor Law Extension Act, which dumped the entire co...

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2. The Great Famine

In Ireland the price of crops doubled and the price of potatoes were ridiculous. ... Britain had to pay a high tax on foreign crops brought into Britain under this doctrine. ... The Irish suffered serverely from not only from the potato famine but from the greed of the British. ... The famine not only hurt them economically but culturally as well. The Great Famine was depicted very well in "When Ireland Starved". ...

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3. The Potato Famine in Ireland

A half million were evicted from their homes during the potato blight, and a million and a half emigrated to America, Britain and Australia, often onboard rotting, overcrowded "coffin ships". ... Environmental causes of the famine are pale in comparison. ... On top of the laws was the famine of potatoes. The potato was known as the staple food for most of the rural population. Still without the potato, there was enough grain crop to feed the people. ...

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4. The Potato Blight

The starvation in Ireland: 1845-1852 Over the years, the people of Ireland have suffered many hardships, but none compare to the devastation brought by the Irish potato famine of 1845-1857. ... Many of the deaths during the famine were never recorded, because of this the death toll may never be known. ... For many of the hunger victims, this was the only kind of aid seen during the years of the famine. ... By the spring of 1851, the famine began to lift, but thousands still remain at high risk. ... The relatively cheap and easy to grow potato was encouraged as a dietary staple a...

  • Word Count: 2804
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5. Short-Term Significance of the Great Famine

For most of the 19th Century Irish people were dependent on potato crops to survive, in 1845 they were expecting potato of the "most luxurious character [And] promising abundant yield." However they had the awful surprise of finding diseased potatoes unfit for consumption. ... Mitchel too condemned British policy in Ireland and stated that "The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine...." ... Other arguments such as the one of Jim Donnelly that says the famine was "not artificial" therefore relieving any blame from the British. Donnelly carri...

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6. Gender Roles After The Potato Famine

Gender Roles After the Potato Famine Literature often distinguishes the roles of men and women, defining appropriate behavior within the context of the culture in which it is written. ... The devastation of the Potato Famine of 1845 brought numerous changes, including political uprisings, social unrest, and economic decline. ... Asenath Nicholson's and Henry Mayhew's articles concerning the social and cultural effects of the famine display the differences in pre-famine and post-famine masculine and feminine behavior. ... Although it is a possibility that these men were never ...

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7. The Irish Famine

The failure of the potato crop had all but wiped out the smallest holdings. ... had survived the famine. ... Irish direct imports from sources other than Britain had remained virtually static between 1825 and 1845 at a level of one and a half million pounds. ... the Irish language, it is now widely accepted that Irish was under challenge well before the arrival of the potato blight. ... These were the more subtle factors at play, the increasing ease of communication with Britain government and British economic influence in Ireland. ...

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8. Irish Peasent Immigration 1800-1850

Two very obvious reasons Irish peasants emigrated are Catholic persecution by the British and the Great Potato Famine in the 1840's. ... A second reason the Irish emigrated was the Great Potato Famine. In 1845, a fungus destroyed nearly all of Ireland's potatoes. Potatoes were one of Irelands most depended upon crops. ... Though there are many causes for this, two of them are the British's persecution of Irish Catholics and the Great Potato Famine. ...

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9. The Irish Famine

The Irish Famine is unique in a few key ways. ... It is sad that the famine happened the way it did because unfortunately it placed in the hearts of most Irish a hatred for the British that still runs to this day. The fact that the British prime minister wrote a story of the Famine and had it end in 1847 demonstrates this point. ... The Famine accelerated this beyond belief. ... In the west, most people were still living the subsistence farming lifestyle around the potato. ...

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