an Gorta MórThe Irish Potato

Famine

1845-1850

P. infestans Phytophthora infestans

causes the serious potato disease known as blight

Blight - any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts

Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food Usually accompanied or followed by regional

malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality.

Food shortages in a population are caused either by a lack of food or by difficulties in food distribution; it may be worsened by climate fluctuations and by extreme political conditions related to oppressive government or warfare.

Famine Some elements make a particular region

more vulnerable to famine. These include: Poverty Inappropriate physical infrastructure Inappropriate social infrastructure A suppressive political regime A weak or under-prepared government

Famine One of the

proportionally largest historical famines was that of the Great Famine in Ireland.

It began in 1845 because of potato disease and occurred even as food was being shipped from Ireland to England.

Ireland’s Great Famineranks among the worst tragedies in

the sweep of human history. Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases.

Ireland’s Great Famine By 1855, more than two million more fled

Ireland to avoid a similar fate. This decimation of her population makes Ireland’s Great Hunger both the worst chapter in the country’s history, and arguably, the single worst catastrophe in 19th century Europe.

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=6AQzQ7Nt_Zshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=6jIVOgvZ6Ig

Famine to Freedom: The Great Irish Journey