In order to understand why the famine affected different parts of Ireland in so many different ways, it is necessary to understand the different types of agriculture that existed across the island. Ireland was certainly not homogeneous. In fact, five main agricultural regions can be identified in mid 19th century Ireland. (Note that the boundaries between these regions were extremely blurred, and there were many areas where two or more forms of agriculture competed).

Digging graves

A family evicted by their landlords

The Discovery of the Potato Blight in Ireland, Daniel McDonald, c. 1847

Tullig, near Kilrush, Illustrated London News, 22 December 1849

The Discovery of the Potato Blight in Ireland, Daniel McDonald, c. 1847

George Watts,The Irish Famine, 1849-50

LinenIreland was famous for its linen in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the country became one of the top producers worldwide. Ireland had a key advantage over Scottish rivals in that it could grow its own flax. Due to flax's particular adaptability to the inferiour drumlin country of Ulster, it was grown almost exclusively there. Linen exports soared from 500,000 yards in 1712 to 46,000,000 in 1796. Most linen weaving was done by hand. By 1820 there were 70,000 weavers in Ulster. The industrial revolution hit Ulster first, and the area around Belfast became festooned with mills. This allowed even more linen to be produced. The linen industry was so prosperous that the rural population density of Ulster soared to the highest levels in Europe (reaching 190/km2 in county Armagh by the start of the famine; it was 102 in 1991). Ulster's economy was therefore export-oriented and dependent mostly on flax. The Ulster flax-farmers purchased a lot of their food (mainly oats and potatoes) from north Leinster and Connaught. You can see a large collection of Linen machinery and tools in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Tillage

On the good lands of eastern Leinster, the farmers engaged in commerical

agriculture, growing food to be sold rather than for subsistence. In 1770, their

chief trade was in flour sold to the growing Dublin city. By the start of the famine

this also included growing produce for breweries. The commercialisation of the

tillage economy caused a rapid population increase in the early 19th century.

Farm labourers (who made up about half the population in the region) were

given a small cabin and around 0.4 hectares of land. These plots were used for

potatoes and cereal crops year about, as one prepared the soil for the other.

The Irish Hunger Memorial is a strange entity that sits just north of Battery Park City's Financial Center and Mercantile Exchange. It's strange for a couple reasons: its form and its purpose. But after one experiences it, this strangeness leads to appreciation and understanding.

Walking through the entry corridor that is reached under a cantilever on the western end of the memorial, a voice recites statistics and descriptions of hunger around the world. This sound is accompanied by text that follows the bands of stone and light that wraps the memorial as well as the entry corridor. Both extend the purpose of the memorial beyond the historical event it is name for, to the ongoing plight of hunger throughout the world.

As many Irish emigrated to New York City during Ireland's famine, the location of this memorial makes perfect sense. As does its size, exactly one-half acre, "as a clause added to the Irish Poor Law by Sir William Gregory during the famine meant that anyone who owned more than a half-acre of land was not eligible for any aid or relief," according to this web page. The journey through the corridor leads to a reconstructed ruin of 19th-century stone cottage shipped from Ireland. This ruin merges seamlessly with native weeds, grasses, and wildflowers atop the whole memorial. Like the 1/2-acre size, the memorial is loaded with symbolism, some more obvious than others.

To me the appeal of it is it's completely alien presence between the Financial Center and new residential buildings currently under construction in Battery Park City. The skyline of New Jersey (above) is slowly revealed as one ascends to the prow of the cantilever, giving the visitor a view of the Statue of Liberty to the south. But for a moment, one doesn't walk on the earth of Lower Manhattan; instead it is the earth of some other place and time.

It's the corridor that helps create this sensation, as unlike other memorials it immerses the visitor into something else, as opposed to just letting them look at something. It creates a transition between the outside world and an introspective other, at least for a few moments. As it and the visitor goes above ground, it doesn't abandon the outside world, instead it asks the us to look at it from a different perspective.

Approximately 12,500 women and girls arrived in Van Diemen’s Land as convicts in the first half of the 19th century. A Drift of ‘Derwent Ducks’ tells the stories of 200 of these women—those transported on the Australasia in 1849. These women committed crimes in Ireland at the height of the Great Famine and were transported to the other side of the world to serve sentences of seven years to life, never returning to their homeland.

What were their crimes? How did they endure the voyage from Dublin to Hobart Town? How were they treated by their masters and mistresses? What were their lives like in the female factories, hiring depots, hospitals and nurseries? What support networks did they establish? How did they survive?A Drift of ‘Derwent Ducks’ answers these questions, revealing stories of the women’s hardships, their heartaches, families, friendships, relationships, crimes and deaths so far from home.

DairyingWith the growth of importance of the potato, butter, which was perviously an essential nutrient in the diet, was freed up for selling on the market. Since the 1690s, Cork had been the centre of Ireland's dairy producing regions and this tradition was still as strong in the early 19th century. A large landowner owned several hundred cows which were rented to 'dairymen' on a per-cow basis. The dairymen were allowed to keep the calves and were given a small cabin and a plot of land on which to grow potatoes for subsistence. The upland areas were used to grow hay to feed the cattle in winter. As the region prospered in the years before the famine, many farmers sub-let their land, farm sizes decreased and population increased.

Cattle FatteningIreland's climate and rich limestone pastures made it ideal for cattle rearing. As discussed above, Munster used cows for dairying but the central areas fattened them to be sold. Some were sold to other farmers, some to other parts of Ireland and some were exported to Britain and the USA, neither of which was yet self-sufficient in cattle. As cows required large pasture lands, these regions did not become so densely populated as other areas of Ireland. In the lowland areas, some sheep grazing was also undertaken.

Statue for Boston's relief effort to the Irish Famine

Bill & Johnny at the Memorial to the Irish Famine

Emigration

Small FarmsBetween 1700 and the famine, Ireland's population increased rapidly. As land became more crowded, many farmers were forced to seek new lands for growing food on, and the only available areas were the scantly populated but poor lands of the Atlantic coast. Thousands of farmers settled in those areas, and there grew food mostly for subsistence, using the egalitarian 'Rundale' system of periodic land redistribution among the families. The land around the houses was used primarily for growing oats or potatoes while the higher ground was used for cattle grazing. The burgeoning population in these areas and lack of good soil prompted some ingenious solutions to problems, such as seaweed fertiliser and burning turf rather than wood or coal. It was soon discovered that potatoes thrived on seaweed and the potato soon became one of the main staple foods. The thin soil also prompted the invention of 'lazy beds': a potato is placed atop a sod, and adjoining sods folded over it. Traces of these furrows can still be seen in western Ireland (do not confuse natural soil creep with lazy beds. Lazy beds are vertical lines. Soil creep is made up of horizontal lines). In short, the west of Ireland was a densely populated area of small farms, many of which relied on the potato. Although it was never the dominant form of agriculture in Ireland, this region was to suffer most from the effects of the famine.

As was shown in the previous section, the potato gained importance as a crop in Ireland in the period running up to the famine. However, the potato was not a native of Ireland. It had been found by Spanish conquistadors in south America in the 1500s was shipped to Europe, and reached Ireland around 1590. For the next 80 years it was grown in small numbers, mainly in Munster, as a garden crop or stand-by. Farmers found that potatoes could grow double the food in the same land. They also realised that if they planted some of their land with potatoes, they would have enough to eat, and still have land to grow oats or engage in dairying. This surplus could then be sold, allowing the farmers to make money. By 1750, the potato had been acclimatised to the Irish climate and spread into Connaught (where the lazy-bed was invented) and Leninster, where it became the main food for the farm labourers. The two main problems that were found were (a) potatoes could not be stored for longer than 9 months or so, meaning that there was a lean period in the summer before the new crop was harvested. This was solved by growing a small number of green crops and by feeding scraps to pigs who could be eaten or sold in the summer. (b) potatoes were hard to transport so they developed as a subsistence crop except for the regions near large markets such as Dublin.

Built in 1909 under the auspices of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, this cross honours the memory of the Irish immigrants who perished from typhus between 1847-1848. The top part of the monument-a Celtic-style cross with a circle intersecting the four arms-was cut from Irish stone. The cross stands approximately 15 m high. This trilingual monument - French, English, and Gaelic -recalls the tragic destiny of Irish immigrants during the Great Famine

Carved from a marble stele, which is decorated with a cornice and topped with an urn, the monument was built around 1853 by Dr. Douglas, the first superintendent of the quarantine station. The monument bears witness to the tragic events that occurred at Grosse Île during the widespread epidemics in 1847. The oldest commemorative artifact on Grosse Île, the monument presents the names of doctors who gave their lives through their devotion to sick immigrants: Doctors Benson, Pinet, Mailhot, and Jameson, who were typhus victims in 1847; and Doctors Panet and Christie, the former a victim of cholera in 1834, and the latter of typhus in 1837.

In the east, the farmers were converting to tillage (oats, grain) while Ulster's land was turned over to growing flax for the Irish linen industry. Coupled with the growth of Dublin as an urban centre, the potato economy surged and soon many farmers were selling excess potatoes to those food-deficit regions. New potato varieties that yielded even better harvests were introduced: the Apple Potato around 1760 and the Cup Potato around 1800. As Leinster's oat-driven cash-crop economy developed, oats went out of reach for the poorest people of Connaught and Leinster, who became increasingly dependant on the potato.By the early 1800s, the population had reached such a level (over 8 million by the start of the famine) that many of the farmers and farm labourers became almost wholly dependant on the potato. By the 1830s, 30% to 35% of Irish people depended on the potato as their main source of food. After 1810, another new breed of potato was introduced by farmers in the south-west. Called the Lumper Potato, it required little manure and could tolerate poorer soils. It spread from Munster into Connaught. On the eve of the famine, the Lumperhad made inroads into western Leinster, although it had not yet spread into eastern Leinster or Ulster.Nutritionally, the potato was excellent. If one added milk, it provided enough protein, carbohydrates, energy and minerals to lead a balanced and healthy diet. In 1700, a Connaught farmer would perhaps have eaten one meal with potatoes in a day. By 1800 this had increased to two. As the potato spread, the ability of a farmer to get milk or oats diminished, so many ate little but potatoes. By 1840, a Connaught farmer would have eaten three potato meals a day, containing a total of around 5 to 6kg (12 to 14lb) of potatoes.

The Irish cemetery was laid out in 1832 on a plateau between two crags located southwest of Cholera Bay. Until 1847, individual burials were performed at the cemetery. That year, because of the high rate of mortality from typhus, long trenches were dug to serve as mass graves. According to some accounts, coffins were sometimes stacked three deep in the trenches. The cemetery's relief still shows where these mass graves were dug. In addition, the Irish cemetery holds over 6 000 of Grosse Île's 7 553 burial plots. It owes its name to the main victims of the cholera (1832,1834) and typhus (1847) epidemics: the Irish immigrants.

In August 1998, Parks Canada inaugurated the Grosse Île Memorial. Created by artist Lucienne Cornet and the Émile Gilbert et associés architect firm, the Memorial commemorates the memory of the Irish and other immigrants who perished on the island, and of those who sacrificed their lives to nurse and comfort the sick immigrants.

The work was inspired by the intensity of the location. Through a series of corridors, the Memorial leads visitors into the earth, a symbol of darkness, before emerging into the light, in an area where the names of those who died were engraved. Located near the Irish cemetery, the Memorial proposes a symbolic voyage, making the visitor relive the emotions provoked by the anxiety of a trying crossing, the conclusion of a merciless famine, and by the desire and the hope of discovering a new land. The work was inaugurated in the presence of the President of Ireland, Ms. Mary McAleese.

In conclusion, on the eve of the famine around a third of Irish people, concentrated in Munster and Connaught, depended on the potato almost exclusively. As it could not be stored or transported well, a new crop had to be grown each year.

The Industrial Revolution, which was eventually to sweep the world, began in England in the late 1700s. Yet despite the proximity to her island neighbour, Ireland generally did not industrialise. The only exception was the eastern part of the north-east flax growing area, where industrial processes improved the productivity of the linen industry. Although Ireland's economy had almost flourished during the last half of the 18th century, the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815 plunged the country into a recession. Not only did agricultural prices fall but wages too. It could be argued that the availability of cheap labour in Ireland would have encouraged industrialists to set up factories, but this did not happen. The reasons for the lack of industrialisation in Ireland are not fully understood, but is probably due to export economics.

The industrialisation in England forced Ireland to move more towards agriculture in order to produce viable export crops to make money. In fact, although economics forced the move, Ireland benefitted by an improvement in her terms of trade. Once English merchants began buying Irish grain in 1806, large flour mills were built, and communication routes and agricultural technology both improved. Cottage industry declined in favour of agriculture. Nevertheless, the poorest classes did not see much of this money because the benefit of higher export prices was cancelled out by the rise in food prices. In some ways, this polarisation towards food production increased the poor's vulnerability to crop failure. As the farmers got poorer they were forced to sell more of their crops (usually oats) for money while eating more potatoes (a crop that couldn't be transported easily).

In the 1830s the government decided to tackle poverty in Ireland. A number of inquiries were carried out, the most famous being the Irish Poor Inquiry which was based largely on the experience of a similar scheme in Britain. The British report determined that public workhouses, rather than charity, were the best solution to the problem of poverty. The Irish report rejected this policy, but was itself rejected due to the radical nature of its recommendations. Instead, the workhouse policy was extended to Ireland. Other policies introduced included free primary education and subsidised emigration, usually to Britain or the United States.

Workhouses were buildings designed for the poorest in society, who could no longer afford to live outside. They were run on the principles of discipline, work, separation from family members and dull food. A total of 130 workhouses, with a capacity for 100,000 people, were commissioned in the 1830s, the last being completed in 1843. Although conditions were harsh, they were never intended to be the over-crowded, disease-ridden pits that they became during the famine. Before the famine they were usually run at around 40% of capacity and, in fact, comparatively fewer Irish people entered the workhouses than in Britain. Funny as it may seem now, the designers had originally worried that non-needy cases would enter the workhouses in order to live off the taxpayers. In reality, those who entered the workhouses were genuinely needy (although entering a workhouse was a matter of choice, there was in reality no other option for the poorest people). In 1844, 40% of inmates were not of working age, and a third were sick on entry.

The following map indicates the level of poverty in Ireland on the

eve of the famine in 1841. The index that it measures is based

50-50 on literacy levels and the levels of class 4 (worst) housing

in each county. There is a close correlation between this graph

and the types of agriculture in Ireland in 1841 and with the effects

of the famine. This indicates that both poverty and famine severity

were linked with the type of agriculture being undertaken. This is

discussed in parts 1 and 2 of the 'Causes of Famine'.

WE MUST NEVER FORGET AND WE MUST TELL THE WORLD SO THE WORLD CAN LEARN FROM THE CRUELTY OF THE PAST AND OF MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN.

There are no reliable population figures for Ireland before 1841, however estimates (often based on Hearth Money Returns) have been carried as far back as 1700. These figures show that Ireland's population rose slowly from around 3 million in 1700 until the last half of the 18th century when it had reached 4 million. It then entered a rapid period of increase (around 1.6% per annum) which appears to have slowed to 0.6% by 1830. By 1841, the population had reached 8.2 million (according to the census, but the actual figure may be nearer 8.5 million). The population would probably have levelled off at a value of 9 million had it not been for the famine that began in 1845. The following graph shows Ireland's population since 1700.

Emigration has been a feature of Irish history more than almost any other country in the world. This is shown by the fact that, apart from the 5 million people in Ireland, there are an estimated 55 million people worldwide who can trace their ancestry back to Ireland. Although the most awesome levels of emigration were to occur during and immediately after the famine, it would be a mistake to think that emigration began in 1845. In fact, there had been mass emigration from Ireland long before the famine. In this period, the Irish accounted for a third of all voluntary traffic across the Atlantic. These emigrants were mainly from Ulster and Leinster, with fewer coming from the poorer areas of Connaught and Munster.

Between 1815 and 1845, 1.5 million Irish emigrated, mainly to Britain (c0.5 million) and to north America (c1 million). Of those who went to north America, the majority settled in Canada. Between 1825 and 1830, 128,200 Irish emigrated to north America, 61% of which went to Canada and 39% to the USA. In the decade 1831 to 1840, 437,800 Irish emigrated (almost double the number of the previous decade). Of these, 60% went to Canada and 39% to the USA. The remaining 1% went to Australia. (Note that these figures are for emigration outside the UK only. They do not include emigrations to Britain.) Irish emigration to Australia was to rise over the next 40 years, reaching a peak of 11% of all emigration in the 1870s. Emigration to Canada was to fall sharply after the famine and soon the USA would be the dominant destination. This was all in the future, however. The Great Famine was to happen first.

In September 1845 a strange disease struck the potatoes as they grew in fields across Ireland. Many of the potatoes were found to have gone black and rotten and their leaves had withered. In the harvest of 1845, between one-third and half of the potato crop was destroyed by the strange disease, which became known as 'potato blight'. It was not possible to eat the blighted potatoes, and the rest of 1845 was a period of hardship, although not starvation, for those who depended on it. The price of potatoes more than doubled over the winter: a hundredweight [50kg] of potatoes rose in price from 16p to 36p. It is now known that the same potato blight struck in the USA in 1843 and 1844 and in Canada in 1844. It is thought that the disease travelled to Europe on trade ships and spread to England and finally to Ireland, striking the south-east first.

The picture on the left shows what a blighted potato looks like. They have a soggy consistency and smell badly. Note that this picture was taken recently, showing that potato blight still attacks sometimes today.The following spring, people planted even more potatoes. The farmers thought that the blight was a one-off and that they would not have to suffer the same hardship in the next winter. However, by the time harvest had come in Autumn (Fall) 1846, almost the entire crop had been wiped out. A Priest in Galway wrote "As to the potatoes they are all gone - clean gone. If travelling by night, you would know when a potato field was near by the smell. The fields present a space of withered black stalks." The Prime-Minister, Sir Robert Peel, set up a commission of enquiry to try to find out what was causing the potato failures and to suggest ways of preserving good potatoes. The commission was headed by two English scientists, John Lindley and Lyon Playfair. The farmers had already found that blight thrived in damp weather, and the commission concluded that it was being caused by a form of wet rot. The scientists were unable, however, to find anything with which to stop the spread of the blight. It was in 1846 that the first starvations started to happen.

This cartoon, appearing April 8, 1848, was drawn by John Leech.

This cartoon, appearing April 8, 1848, was drawn by John Leech. The caption under the title reads: Monkey (Mr. Mitchell). "One of us MUST be 'Put Down.'" Mr. Mitchell is John Mitchell, editor of the the militant newspaper "The United Irishman."

John Leech 1817-64

Chief cartoonist for Punch from 1841 to 1861, contributing about 3,000

drawings. Also drew or etched for some fifty books, the most widely known

being Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. From Engen, R. K. (1985). Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers. Cambridge:

Chadwyck-Healey Inc.

Signatures:

Thee caption for this photo reads: " Men, woman and children in the 1840s many of whom were forced to flee the country in the face of terrible hardship. "