Was Potato the Reason behind the Great Famine of Ireland in 1845?

All of you must be having some favourite fruit or vegetable or a dish. Imagine what it would be like if you get to eat the same thing that’s your favourite everyday. Would you enjoy it? For some days, you would but after that, you won’t. In Fact some of you may even start hating that.

Why I am saying all this is because a similar kind of thing happened in Ireland in 1845, But it took such a hazardous turn that a major population of the Irish people either left the country or died.

The Great Famine: Ireland 

Great famine or Irish famine is also known as Potato famine because the major cause behind such a famine was just a potato. In the early 19th century, the farmers of Ireland were unable to grow any cereal crop. Neither they could provide for themselves nor to the British market.

The potato was the only crop that was grown in Ireland. Being nutritious, rich in calories and easy to grow, potato became the staple crop of Ireland. Only two or three varieties of potatoes were grown to fulfil the nutritious needs of the entire population.

Scientifically what happens is that if we grow a single crop on the field again and again, the soil starts losing its nutrients. Along with that there are other impacts of monoculture as well. 

What is Monoculture?

Growing a single crop in a specific area for a long time is called monoculture. There are many reasons why the farmer decides to grow just a single crop, not any else in his/her field.

Like in India, we have a rich biodiversity with a lot of edible plants all around us, but the problem is we don’t know about them. It results in consumption of a few selected crops by us ignoring the rest. The excessive consumption of few crops only increases the demand for them.

It forces the farmers to grow that particular crop again and again to fulfil the demand. Unknowingly we all are the reason behind this practice of monoculture.

Impact of Monoculture in Ireland

Growth of the only crop, potato, forced the Irish citizens to depend completely on that. But the real problem arised when due to lack of genetic variations, a disease causing water mold Phythopthora Infestans attacked the potato crop and caused late blight in potatoes. Due to the disease, lesions started to appear on leaves, stems and petioles.

A whitish spore-producing structure started to appear on them. The cold and moist weather of Ireland in 1845 supported the growth of the disease in potatoes. From 1846 to 1849, the entire yield was affected every year. 

People had nothing to eat except that diseased potato. Hence they were forced to either die of hunger or to die of disease. From 8.4 million in 1844, the population of Ireland decreased to 6.6 million in 1851. Millions of people died and some who were able to, migrated to America.

One of the Largest Emigrations in the World

More than 1.5 million of adults and children left the country and migrated to America between 1845 to 1855. Most of the people who migrated were poor, helpless, diseased people who were angry over the British Government for not helping them efficiently.

Most of them settled as refugees in Boston and New York and started living in difficult conditions. Most of them anyhow, managed to survive and their descendants are major contributors to the population of America.

Should the British Government be blamed?

During the time of famine, Ireland was under the rule of the British Government. The ones who suffered in the famine were the poor. Many Irish believe that some rich people were having the oats and grain grown in their lands and they were exporting them to England while the poor were dying due to the potato blight.

If the British Government would have banned those exports and made it available to the poor starving people, many lives would have been saved.

If we talk about what the British Government had done for the poor Irish citizens, in 1838, It passed a Poor law act, which provided workhouses to them around the country. But the condition of families living there was miserable. 

In 1847, they started providing free food. The people dying of hunger were given the soup prepared with Indian corn meal and rice. In just six months, these soup kitchens were shut as the communities running those kitchens went bankrupt.

How the Irish Survived in America Despite Hatred?

Anyhow, a major population of Irish immigrants managed to settle in slum areas of America doing any available job. They were not welcomed by Americans for a few obvious reasons. They were illiterate, unskilled, couldn’t speak English and they were Catholic. 

Due to fear of getting expelled from the jobs, men used to work at very low rates. Women started to work as servants. Americans couldn’t believe that the Irish who were followers of catholic leaders could ever be patriotic Americans. 

This anti-Irish behaviour increased so much that newspaper advertisements for jobs started mentioning “No Irish need apply”.

After the civil wars, America became more industrialised and Irish labourers found new jobs, where they were paid better. With time, they managed to survive and in fact later started supporting other immigrants like jews and Italians.

In 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was the great-grandson of an Irish famine immigrant was elected as the president of the US.

End Note

During the famine, people had two options, either to die or to leave the country. The people who chose to migrate lived a miserable life but at least survived. The immigrants who reached America had two choices again, either to live a miserable life or to work hard to make their lives better. Both survived but some remained unskilled labourers while some made their future generation capable enough to be elected as the president.

It concludes with the message that life gives two choices to everyone, sometimes both are difficult, but it's up to you what you choose.

Written By: Nidhi Jha