The Irish Potato Famine

Potatoes, you either love them or hate them.......................unless they're cut up into fries. You might not know that Potatoes one time caused a widespread famine, this is what this wiki page will cover.

Potatoes are the staple harvest of Ireland as it can grow in it's usually wet and sometimes cold climate. In the 19th century an average Irish person would eat up to around 14 pounds of Potatoes every day. Potatoes are usually rich in Vitamin C and are a good source of iron and fiber.

But in 1845, Ireland would be invaded by a fungal infection called Phytophthora Infestans (pronounced "fight-o-thor-a-in-fest-ans") or known more commonly as Potato Blight, and it infects Potatoes turning the green stems black, and the Potatoes would white, fuzzy spots as well as black spots, and turns the pulp inside slimy. Potato Blight is believed to have originated in Mexico and then found its way to the United States where it hit the eastern part of the nation especially hard, it's also believed that Potato Blight made it's way to Europe by shipping boats that had infected Potatoes unbeknownst to the ship captains, and when it hit Europe, it hit Ireland the hardest as the fungal spores spread easily through the wind.

The smell of a Potato infected by Potato blight was so foul, it can make a person vomit as did the taste, and can cause bad stomach aches. In some areas, the entire harvest of Potatoes have been decimated and thus a famine began.

But it wasn't Potato Blight is what caused the famine, it was also a lack of varied Potatoes in Ireland as at the time the Irish were particular with their Potatoes, one such Potato that was favored by the Irish was the Irish Lumper. This lack of variation also led the Irish to be vulnerable to famine.

By the time the famine began, Ireland was under British occupation, and the Brits look down on the Irish as like "sub-humans" who were considered lazy as the Brits also saw the Irish harvesting Potatoes as such. The British Government took little action to help Ireland's worsening situation as in the first year of the famine, few people died from the famine itself, eventually the British had to step in and help, they shipped Corn Meal and Maize from the United States to try to feed the starving Irish, but there weren't enough Mills to ground the stuff up, and some Irish couldn't afford it. The Irish also found the Corn Meal and the Maize insufficient as they lacked Vitamin C, and many Irish developed (and died from) Scurvy as a result. Soup Kitchens were also established, but only for short period of time as they were shut down

The British also kinda "told" the Irish to "pick themselves up by their own bootstraps" and not rely so much on the Government, even as the situation got worse for the Irish. around 90% of Irish people were Catholic which didn't bode well for the predominantly Protestant British, and as another horrible act, the British owned most of the farmland in Ireland, so the Irish rented land and worked on it for their British owners. If they didn't meet their quota, the British occupiers would evict them from their rented land, and sometimes would burn or destroy their farms to prevent them from coming back.

It wasn't just famine is what killed of the Irish at this time, some of them died from other diseases from poor sanitation such as typhoid fever as well as malnutrition and these diseases were rampant due to the Irish especially those that were forced from their homes lived in overcrowded workhouses. looting and stealing (especially food) also became common, and some Irish people would do it on purpose to be caught and get sent to a penal colony where they can get fed.

Eventually, the Irish would have their own "great migration" as million Irish people would immigrate either to Great Britain or the United States, but even with the migration, some Irish people would die trying to get to their destination, these would be dubbed "coffin ships" for the many dead people on these ships.

As the famine ended in 1852 when the Potato plants recovered, around 3 Million Irish people would die from either starvation or disease, but perhaps it was a combination of starvation, disease, and the maltreatment of Irish by the Brits.

That'll do it for this wiki page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.