THE GREAT FAMINE

-

A GOOD CROP

The year 1845 changed the history of Ireland.

The potato crop was good that year but the Irish didn't realise

that a new form of potato disease was about to strike.

THE SPREADING OF THE DISEASE

The disease first appeared in America two years earlier and later reached Europe.

THE AFTERMATH OF THE DISEASE

The potatoes turned black and nobody could eat them.More than half of the year’s crop was destroyed.Irish people depended on potatoes for their survival, and the loss of the potato crop was an utter disaster.

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

The British government did very little to help those who suffered during the crisis.In 1847 the government set up soup kitchens to give out free food to the people in need, but it was too late.

MORE PEOPLE DIED OR LEFT THE COUNTRY

Between 1845-1855 more than

700,000 Irish people died.

After the famine about two

million people, reduced to

poverty, left the country.

Many went to the USA which

accounts for America’s large

Irish contingent.

Ireland’s population fell by

more than a quarter.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF IRISH CULTURE

The crisis was worst in the West of Ireland where most Gaelic speakers lived.Families who decided to emigrate lost the use of the Gaelic language.Today only a small minority of the Irish people speaks Gaelic as its first language.

IRELAND’S INDEPENDENCE

Many historians believe

that the Great Famine

also contributed to the

rise of the nationalist

movements which

finally brought about

Ireland's independence

from Britain in 1921.