Around one million people died in Ireland due to starvation and diseases like dysentery and typhus during the Great Famine (1845-1852), with many more succumbing to related illnesses or forced to emigrate, drastically reducing the population and marking a defining, tragic period in Irish history.
British mistreatment of the Irish stemmed from a mix of religious prejudice (Catholic vs. Protestant), cultural disdain (viewing Irish as "primitive"), economic exploitation (land ownership by absentee landlords), and strategic colonial control (fearing Irish rebellion or foreign invasion). This culminated in policies, especially during the Great Famine, justified by racist ideologies and laissez-faire economics, leading to immense suffering and resentment.
There is no consensus as to when the Famine ended with dates between 1848 and 1852 being used. There was no clear marking point or government decision made, rather the blight ran its course. From 1848 the blight affected less and less of the crops and farmers began planting again.
What did the Catholic Church do during the Irish famine?
Pope Pius IX asked every diocese and district to proclaim three days of public prayer in churches and other holy sites. The specific purpose of this prayer was to request that God end the Great Irish Famine and prevent it from happening elsewhere in Europe.
Voyage of Mercy recounts for the first time the remarkable and unprecedented relief effort by the government and citizens of the United States to assist Ireland during the terrible famine year of 1847, the first time the United States—or any nation, for that matter—extended its hand to a foreign neighbor in such a ...
What really caused the Irish Potato Famine - Stephanie Honchell Smith
Could the British have prevented the Irish famine?
There can be no doubt that, despite a short-term cyclical depression, the resources of the United Kingdom could have either completely or largely mitigated the consequences of consecutive years of potato blight in Ireland.
In the United States, the term "Black Irish" was initially used in the 19th century to derogatorily describe Irish refugees of the Great Famine. It later shifted into a term used to describe people of Irish descent who have black or dark-colored hair, blue or dark eyes, or otherwise dark coloring.
Photographs of the Great Famine in Ireland (1845 – 1852) and famine victims are scarce because photography was a relatively new invention at the time. The equipment needed to produce photographs was expensive and thus only the wealthy classes had access to it.
Still, the earliest certain potato crop in North America was brought to New Hampshire in 1719 from Derry. The plants were from Ireland, so the crop became known as the "Irish potato".
When the rest of the world heard of the famine spreading into Ireland, they were outraged over the lack of interference from the British government. The largest amounts of relief came from Catholic parishes in the United States and in Britain.
Investment in Ireland was often lacking in the colonial system. land and red meat was fetishised, abundent, colonised and restricted, and seafood and shellfish was looked down upon as food of desperation, there was a stigma of poor and starving people eating food gathered from the sea shore.
All in all, the British government spent about £8 million on relief, and some private relief funds were raised as well. The impoverished Irish peasantry, lacking the money to purchase the foods their farms produced, continued throughout the famine to export grain, meat, and other high-quality foods to Britain.
Emigration became the norm in Ireland after the famine. It is estimated that the Irish Diaspora (descendants of those who emigrated from the island) worldwide is approximately 80 million people, about half of whom are in the US. Ireland has never fully recovered from the famine.
For Irish slang for a pretty girl, common terms include "feek" (attractive person) or using "pure" as an intensifier like "pure deadly," while in Irish Gaelic, you'd say "cailín álainn" (beautiful girl) or "cailín deas" (nice/pretty girl). More affectionate terms are "mo chroí" (my heart) or "mo mhuirnin" (my darling).
Although Queen Victoria privately contributed to charities for Ireland and Scotland, and finally visited Ireland in 1849, her response has been characterized as indifferent and lackluster. She expressed concern over the people's suffering, but also on occasion echoed commonly held prejudices about them.
Lasting up to six weeks, the Atlantic crossing was a nightmare for those brave, or desperate, enough to attempt it. Packed tightly below decks, steerage passengers barely saw sunlight. They were allowed up on deck for no more than one hour a day. Here they would gather in small groups around open stoves to cook.
Where did most Irish immigrants end up in America?
The Scotch-Irish settled predominantly in the middle colonies, especially in Pennsylvania where the city of Philadelphia was a major port of debarkation. Over subsequent decades, the Scotch-Irish migrated south following the Great Philadelphia Road, the main route used for settling the interior southern colonies.
Although some believed the myth that Queen Victoria (known in Ireland in later decades as the "Famine Queen") had only donated a miserly £5 to famine relief, in fact the sum was £2,000, the equivalent of between £217,000 and £8,120,000 in 2022, from her personal resources.
Their relationship began in 1847, when the Choctaws, who had only recently arrived over the ruinous “trail of tears and death” to what is now Oklahoma, took up a donation and collected over $5,000 (in today's money) to support the Irish during the Potato Famine.
