Only two famines this century have claimed more lives. Below, Meadbh Gallagher looks behind the stories of its horror to the thinking which allowed it to happen. Over four million died of it. Over two and a half million became refugees, fleeing Ireland to seek new lives abroad. This horror took place in the space of five years, beginning this week 150 years ago.
Poverty is never a natural disaster.
Impoverishment was the cause. Poverty for the many was, as always, the byproduct of wealth for the few. But the catalyst for what we call An Gorta Mor, was natural. It was a blight, a fungus growth which began to take effect on potato crops in Ireland in September 1845. The blight had visited other European countries, but none of these experienced famine.