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The irish famine open university essay
Effects of the potato famine in ireland
The irish famine open university essay
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How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe The author Thomas Cahill was in 1940 in New York City and had Irish-American parents that raised him in Queens and the Bronx. He is said to be a lifelong scholar by the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. He studied ancient Greek and Latin literature as well as medieval philosophy, scripture, and theology at Fordham University where he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree.
In 1847, “… the Irish Confederation published a booklet, edited by John Mitchel, entitled Irish Political Economy. Mitchel starkly contrasted ‘Irish’ political economy with what he witheringly called ‘English’ or ‘Famine’ political economy. He wrote that ‘English Professors of political economy have, by perverting and misapplying the principles of that science, endeavoured to prove to us, that to part with our bread and cattle is profitable ‘commerce’ and that our trading intercourse with their country enriches us immensely whatever the ignorant and starving Irish may say and feel to the contrary’” (Boylan and Foley, p. 8) Mitchel means that the Irish have no say in what is right for their economy because the Irish are “ignorant”.
Many immigrants, such as the Irish, came to America for a better life. The potato famine, which started in the mid to late 1800’s, infected many Irish people. About 2,000,000 Irish men, women, and children perished during this terrible incident (document 1.) The majority of the Irish people were farmers and planted many potatoes. That meant during the potato famine, many potatoes were infected and rotten, so many farmers became poor and helpless.
However, they do encounter various obstacles, among those include the Homestead Strike. According to Standiford, the Homestead Strike led to the bloodiest conflict between management and labor, also signifying the end of the Carnegie-Frick partnership. Following the start of Ireland’s Great Potato Famine, Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish
This was such a big deal it even got it’s own nickname, The Starving Time. Right before the winter of 1909, Francis West and 36 other men sailed to trade with the Patawomeke Indians for the winter to come. They did trade with the Indians. To West and the rest of the crew, it was obvious that the grain they traded was going to help during winter, but it would not be there the whole winter. They also realized the grain would get everyone on the ship “fatly home to England”
The volunteers and United Irishmen allied to compound their political power. For a time things worked well, Ireland was gaining right. England having just lost the Americas years earlier saw ghosts of the past. The British did not want a repeat of the American Revolution and attempted a form of appeasement. The Catholic relief act of 1791 was one of many attempts by the British government to stop the rebellion, yet that would all end with the veto of Catholic emancipation.
Potatoes were also a New World crop that was essential to the European diet which was also food for the lower class too.
The Great Famine of Ireland was caused by a disastrous potato disease and is one of the most famous famines in history. 33% of the Irish population depended on potatoes for nourishment, and the beginning of the disease outbreak in 1845 sparked incredible starvations lasting until 1853. The huge Catholic population was overthrown by British rule, and forced the Irish to no longer own land or possess employment. When the disease hit, ships owned by the British prohibited other nations from transporting food aid. Ireland forced an evacuation, with 2 million plus people escaping the country.
Furthermore, Potatoes provide more calories, vitamins, and nutrients per area of land sown than other staple crops. Because of this as well as how well the potato was able to grow in Europe, many researchers believe that the potato ended the Famine in Northern Europe. However historians such as historian William H. McNeill argue, that the potato did more than just end a famine, it led to empire: “By feeding rapidly growing populations, [it] permitted a handful of European nations to assert dominion over most of the world between 1750 and 1950.” In other words, the potato fueled the rise of the
Potato was such a normal food that people ate, so when people didn’t have potatoes to eat, they starved until there death. A story published in London was about three people; a 25 year-old woman, a 52 year-old man, and a 31 year-old man dying from starvation from Clare County, Ireland. People dying from starvation and published stories about the people that were dying became an everyday thing around the world. Ireland has suffered with other famines before, but when people started to notice that it was killing people and it wasn’t like any other famine they decided to immigrate to other countries. The people of Ireland started to immigrate to North America and some parts of Great Britain.
Because the potato is a tuber, and therefor grows under-ground, it could be cultivated in the inhospitable lands of northern Europe and Asia. It quickly became the food of soldiers, industrial workers,
The Irish were wary of cornmeal, as dependency led to nutritional deficiencies. But corn, still with its difficult process and poor nutrients, still was able to save some people from bereavement. The British government was satisfied with the cornmeal as a supplement for the Irish people, although it was not satisfactory for the Irish. The British did not improve situations
“By 1840 the potato had become the sole food of one third of the of the people and an essential element in the diet of many more” (Williams 1996, p. 17). When the blight struck, hundreds of thousands died of starvation between 1845 and 1848. The Irish were in a state of panic and hopelessness. During 1845 and 1851, it is estimated that around 1.6 million people left Ireland for America. As Williams eloquently states, arriving in America, the Irish immigrants had to adjust to their new country and Americans had to adjust to their new fellow citizens.
“Twenty-two states now have some version of fresh-food financing and there are countless local and nonprofit programs...” They claim that stores are coming to these “claimed” “food desert.” Whereas, about two percent of that population did not have a car that they could use to go to the grocery store (US
In 1845, Ireland was hit with a devastating blight that destroyed all of its potatoes and caused more than a million people to die of starvation and disease. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as The Great Famine, was a tragic time in Irish history, lasting from 1845 - 1849. Ireland’s poor was very dependant on potatoes, so the sudden death of the potatoes devastated Ireland’s population. Ireland got almost no help from Great Britain, so it had to help itself, but it did not have the resources to do so.
