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The Great Potato Famine Essay

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The Great Potato Famine
By Jackson Keenan 11

The Irish did not eat potatoes for four years because of the Great Irish Potato Famine. Imagine not eating potatoes for four years. Famine, which is a low amount of food, lasted a four year period (1845-1849)and had a terrible impact on the country of Ireland. The country of Ireland still has not fully recovered from the famine.But after a while the Irish population decreased by 1 million.

How did it start

The Great Irish Potato Famine started from a fungus called phytophthora. Phytophthora originated in Mexico but because of the dryness there the fungus could not grow or expand there very well. However, in Ireland the soil was so moist that the fungus was able to grow rapidly. One rotten …show more content…

Ireland's rich and nutritious soil made it easy to crop potatoes. Many didn't eat fish during this time due to fishermen selling their materials for food for their families. Eventually, food was given to Ireland by Britain and some of those foods were corn, oats, wheat and they even tried to eat the infected potato. The fungus loved moist soil and in Ireland the soil was always moist which led to the mass infestation of most of Ireland’s potato crops.

Who helped

The main countries who helped Ireland were Britain, India and The United States of America. Britain helped Ireland by assisting them with food. India worked with Britain to send food for the starving, and India was one of the major countries who helped. America, also sent goods from Massachusetts to Ierland such as money and food, and they sent millions of dollars from New York to Ireland, as well.

In conclusion, the Great Irish Potato Famine started from a fungus. The population in 1841 was 8.18 million but in 1851 the population decreased by 19%.132,280 Irish people immigrated to the United States of America, 101,032 went to Australia, 33,530 went to Canada and 14,651 went to Spain. They could not really eat anything at the time, and many countries helped during the famine. The sources used to make this essay were: Britannica Kids and

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