The Irish Famine In The 1840's

The Irish famine, which occurred in the late 1840’s, lead to the death of over one million working class Irish citizens. The famine had an immense effect on Ireland’s economy and population. The increased death rates due to starvation and the decreased amount of food available to the lower class (more specifically the western coast tenant farmers) led to massive amounts of people migrating to areas like the United States and Australia. This has had a lasting effect on the economy and population of the country as it still has not recovered from the massive population decrease that occurred over 150 years ago. Historians have developed a variety of reasons and explanations for why the famine occurred. Irish historians may have a very different …show more content…
The primary sources in the book pertained mainly to the decrease in amount of food, population, and poor living conditions that some people were susceptible to during the late 1840’s. The beginning of the population decrease due to the economic problems of the county was illustrated by the 1841 Census of Ireland. The food deprivation was fully addressed in the book through many primary sources. A few of those pertained to money given to certain causes other than directly aiding the fight of the famine. One prime example, was the grant given to Fisheries Bill which seemed like a necessity to some but not others. Another questionable decision made with money during this time is when 50,000 pounds was granted to employ people and upgrade their properties. This leads to the questioning of the use of money. It seems that more effective ways to aid the demise of the food supply would be to buy or trade for food from neighboring countries. This would likely more directly address the issue of poverty and starvation. Another way that this issue could have been more directly addressed would be to use the money to provide housing for the people who lost their land and/or housing. The Irish somewhat contradicted themselves in some case. The main contradiction that I see is the Irish pleaded for food and supplies from Great Britain, yet the country itself had enough food to feed …show more content…
During the famine and still today, historians argue why this famine occurred and how it could have been prevented. The blame has been placed on the British, other surroundings countries, and Ireland itself. The conclusion of the historian is largely based on his or her geography and generation they were raised in. Although the Irish famine could have been minimized in a multitude of ways, the devastation that the famine caused can be blamed on the mistakes the Irish people and economy made in the years prior to, and during the