The Irish Famine was one of the most important events in Ireland’s history. It resulted in mass migrations to the United States, as well as other countries, and  forever changed society in Ireland itself.  This massive change was not simply the consequence of a fungal disease of potatoes, the principal subsistence crop, but rather the culmination of centuries of social, economic, and geographic factors. The disastrous results of the Irish potato famine can be traced back to medieval Ireland.

Prior to the English conquest, Ireland had a dramatically different socio-economic makeup than her sister island, and her governing system was less centralized than those of most European countries during the Middle Ages. In the 10^th and 11^th centuries, Ireland's Gaelic society was governed by a complex system of family chieftains who nominally answered to an over-king who gained his authority from his chieftains. This decentralized form of government created numerous conflicts between and within family groups, as individuals tried to gain positions of power within the system. Social interaction within this system was governed by an equally complex code of honor. Under this code, for example, a family was obligated to provide hospitality for travelers that came to their homes. A failure of hospitality resulted in a loss of honor, and could have disastrous implications for the whole family.

The economy of Ireland, for the most part, was based on subsistence agriculture. A kinship group would either grow crops or graze livestock in the fields around small settlements.  Land was usually held in common within the family, and each adult male had a right to grow food on his family’s land. This form of cooperative agriculture was supposed to prevent family squabbles over who received land; however, repetitive planting of small holdings was very hard on the land and as a result the population of Ireland tended to be semi-nomadic.  What few urban areas there were tended to be small settlements on the coasts or along rivers -- villages originally founded by Viking and Norman traders.

English domination of Ireland was gradual, but had a dramatic effect on the country.  The first English inroads into Ireland came in the mid-12th century in the form of land-hungry Norman Lords.  The first of these Normans came in 1166, as allies to an Irish chieftain trying to gain power in the Irish political system. Other Normans soon followed, conquering almost two-thirds of Ireland. These Normans not only brought with them armies, but also a social system, which they imposed on their new domain. The Normans began establishing the feudal system they had known in England, including castles, manor houses, and fiefs. However, these alterations were short-lived. Ireland was a long way from England, and of little interest to English gentry. Also, in the centuries that followed the Norman conquest of Ireland, wars with France and Scotland, and natural disasters, such as plague and famine, tended to distract England from Ireland. As a result, Norman settlements were gradually assimilated into the Gaelic society.^[1]

The next English encroachment came from the Tudor family, which came to power in England at the end of the War of the Roses in 1485.  The encroachment began with Henry VII’s suppression of an insurrection which had developed against him in eastern Ireland under the Earl of Kildare. After the insurrection was put down, Henry VII established a nominal presence in eastern Ireland by working through the Norman lords, called the old English, and the ambitious Earls of Kildare, whom Henry had pardoned. The conquest of Ireland continued under Henry VIII, who worked to impose English culture on Ireland. Henrician reforms extended not only to the political system of Ireland, but also to its religion. With Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic church the Irish and the Old English, who remained loyal to the Pope, became enemies of England. Henry VIII began to encourage new English settlement in Ireland to strengthen his control over his nonaligned subjects.

Henry VIII’s children and their successors continued the process of conquest. Mary Tudor, although Catholic, introduced the plantation system to Ireland. Under the plantation system, the Irish peasantry was forced onto the less productive land, while the most fertile land was utilized by English landlords to grow crops for export to England. This process was further refined under Elizabeth I, who established English plantations in Munster. Elizabeth also furthered the Anglicizing of Ireland by founding Trinity College in Dublin.  The establishment of English colonies in Ireland triggered several brutal revolts by the Irish, which were suppressed with equal brutality by the English colonists. Under James I, the first Stuart king of England, the confiscation of Irish land for English settlement continued. Under James I, who was also the king of Scotland, Scottish Presbyterians began to settle in Ulster, reshaping its social, religious, and economic makeup. The collapse of the English monarchy under Charles I, brought about an insurrection in Ireland in which violent atrocities were committed against the Protestants of Ulster. To counter these atrocities, the English Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, led an expedition to Ireland in 1649, and suppressed the instruction with unforgettable viciousness.

The years following Cromwell’s invasion proved to be very unstable ones for the Irish, both militarily and economically. The Glorious Revolution of 1688, so called in England because of its peacefulness, was very bloody in Ireland. Armies loyal to William III, the new Protestant king of England, and armies loyal to the deposed Catholic king, James II, battled for control of Ireland. Ireland was finally brought under English control by William when he defeated the army loyal to James at the battle of the Boyne. 

Throughout the conflicts between Irish and English, Catholic and Protestant, the makeup of Ireland was changing. Catholic land ownership was gradually dropping. In 1641, Catholics owned over 50% of the land in the districts of Munster, Connaught, and most of Leinster. By 1688 only in small sections of Munster, Connaught, Leinster, and Ulster did Catholics still own the majority of the land. By 1703, with the exception of small parts of Connaught and Ulster, land ownership by Catholics in Ireland was between 5% and 15%.^[2] Politically, Ireland had changed as well. Ireland was technically a free country, however Irish leaders of Ireland were controlled by a lord lieutenant who was appointed by the English government. In 1798, another rebellion broke out and was suppressed, however, this rebellion precipitated the end to Irish independence in every sense. In 1801, the Irish parliament, under pressure from England, signed the Act of Union dissolving itself and making Ireland part of the United Kingdom.^[3]

Life in Ireland at the beginning of the 19^th century was full of sharp contrasts. Most of the land that was useable for commercial agriculture was held by the English absentee landlords. The grain and livestock raised on these farms were destined for export to England.  The land that was not usable for commercial agriculture was rented out in large sections to a few individuals on long term leases. These individuals, in turn, rented out sections of the land to Irish peasants. These Irish peasants would often rent sections of their rented land to other peasants, who, if possible would do the same. The Irish who lived on these lands would raise grain or stock. This would provide the tenant farmer with money for rent as well as money for food. The rest of the land was devoted to planting potatoes, which supplemented the diet of the Irish peasant. The potato had been brought to Ireland from South America in the 16^th century, and proved to be an ideal crop for the poor land that the Irish lived on.  More potatoes could be grown on a small plot of land than grains or legumes. Also, potatoes combined with milk made for a very nutritious diet.

As time passed, though, the situation for the Irish peasant became more and more bleak. The Napoleonic wars increased the price of grain, thus increasing the demand for land for commercial agriculture in Ireland. As a result, the Irish were pushed on to even smaller areas of land. In the district of Connaught, one of the poorest in Ireland, individuals living on less than five acres of land made up more than 60% of the population. Even after the end of the war, rents for peasants continued to skyrocket. To make matters worse, the Irish population continued to increase, making competition among peasants for land intense. As time passed, the peasantry’s dependence on potatoes began to increase. Soon, the money gained from the sale of crops and livestock went entirely to payment of rent, and potatoes became the sole source of food. Often, the money from sales of crops and livestock was not enough to pay the rent, and many Irish traveled throughout Ireland, Scotland, and England looking for work as laborers.^[4]

The economic condition of Ireland, in conjunction with the peasantry’s dependence of potatoes for nourishment, was a disaster waiting to happen. In 1842, a fungal disease, commonly called blight, destroyed potato crops throughout North America, and in 1845, the disease made its first appearance in England. Also in 1845, there was a partial failure of the potato crop in Ireland as a result of blight. In 1846, the Irish potato crop failed completely. Starvation became epidemic throughout the winter of that year. To make matters even worse, the lack of food resulted in weakened immune systems, and people succumbed easily to contagious diseases such as Typhus, Cholera, and Typhoid, as well as nutritional diseases such as scurvy. Others contracted dysentery from eating raw turnips, corn, and even seaweed. All told, about one million died of starvation or starvation related diseases.^[5]

Aid from the English was insufficient to meet the needs of the poor. Under England’s 1834 Poor Law, all aid was to be given at workhouses in exchange for work by the poor. English authorities cobbled together public works projects to provide employment, but only a fraction found work and pay. Soup kitchens gave sporadic relief to some. However, the famine created such a mass of needy people, that by 1848 the English government simply began handing out small sums of money to needy Irish. Still the aid was not enough, and the English parliament was unwilling to increase the funds spent on the poor.  Many within England’s Whig party saw the famine as nature's way of eliminating the Irish peasantry, which had always been a "problem." For the absentee English landlord, the deaths of the Irish peasants opened up even more land for cultivation. English landlords continued to export staple grain crops that might have saved starving Irish peasants had they been redistributed during the emergency. These crass attitudes toward the Irish helped to perpetuate the idea that the English held sole responsibility for the suffering of Ireland.^[6]

As a result of England’s inability to deal with the famine, because of inefficient policies or simple unwillingness, the only solution for many Irish was emigration. Emigration from Ireland was not an easy process. For one thing, departure was confined to the spring and summer. Destinations for Irish immigrants were for the most part America, Canada, and Australia. For the very poor, Canada and Australia were necessary choices for immigration. Because Ireland was a colony of England, ships sailing from Irish ports could only go to England or other English possessions. To go to the Untied States the Irish emigrant first had to travel to England and then on to the United States. As a result, it was cheaper to go directly to Canada or Australia. In spite of this, the United States was still the overwhelming destination of most Irish immigrants.  In 1846, over 60% of the 106,000 Irish emigrants were bound for the United States.^[7]

The trip to the United States was extremely dangerous. The Irish were loaded into ramshackle vessels commonly called “coffin ships.” These ships were poorly constructed, overloaded, and often did not carry enough food or water for the journey across the Atlantic. To make matters worse, many of the fleeing immigrants carried contagious diseases with them, which spread throughout the ships. Thousands died on the trip itself, and many others died after arrival from diseases contracted en route.^[8]

Manual labor was the predominant occupation for most Irish in the United States, since most Irish were without marketable skills. America was in the midst of its industrial revolution, and was in great need of cheap labor willing to work under poor conditions. As a result, Irish immigrants became, for the most part, common laborers.  It was not uncommon for Irish women to become servants. Many Americans looked upon the occupation of servant as degrading; however, the Irish were not in a position to say no. For an Irish woman, working as a servant had some advantages. A servant did not have to pay room and board, and since the job was so time consuming there was little time for her to spend her wages. As a result, many Irish women sent their earnings back to Ireland to aid in the immigration of other relatives. Men, for the most part, did heavy labor, such as building railroads, digging canals, and working in mines.

The immigration of the Irish had a dramatic effect on the social makeup of the United States. Prior to heavy Irish immigration, the United States had been predominantly Protestant. The massive influx of Irish began a trend that would make Catholicism the largest single denomination in the United States. However, this social shift was not always welcomed by the American public. Hostility towards Irish immigrants was quite common. The Irish were common scapegoats for the ills of society. Americans viewed many Irish as useless drunks, and political parties such as the Know Nothings saw Irish immigration as a plot by the Pope to take over the country.

The famine also had a lasting effect on those who remained in Ireland. Notwithstanding the large numbers of individuals who left Ireland as a result of the famine, many stayed. The extremely poor could not afford the cost of immigration, and were forced to ride out the famine. Those who were fairly well off saw little advantage to migrating. For those who stayed in Ireland, either by choice or because they could not escape, the famine had many effects beyond social upheaval. The famine stimulated an increased interest in Catholicism. Catholicism had always been the religion of the peasantry, but up until the famine Irish Catholicism bore little resemblance to the religion in the rest of Europe. The famine caused a much closer adherence to the more dogmatic continental aspects of Catholicism. The realization that high population had played an important role in the famine was not lost on those who remained. There was an increase of late marriage and even permanent celibacy.  The famine also helped increase interest in Irish nationalism. Politics in Ireland became more closely focused on issues of land after the famine. There was greater demand for tenants’ rights as a result of the famine. However, landlords still maintained a tight grip on power and it would be over 60 years before Ireland was a free nation.^[9]

The actual potato famine was only one of many factors that led to the dramatic social upheaval that occurred in Ireland in the mid 1800s. Over the centuries Ireland’s decentralized government had made it an easy target for English expansion. The English used Ireland to produce agricultural goods for export. The Irish were pushed onto smaller and less fertile plots of land to allow for greater commercial agriculture by the English. In the process, the English attempted to supplant Irish culture in favor of English culture. This culture conflict created a great deal of tension between the Irish and the English, which often boiled over into revolts. As the Irish were confined to smaller areas of land, their ever-growing population increased the likelihood of economic disaster. This disaster came in the form of the potato blight, which eliminated the Irish peasantry’s main source of food. As a result, a million died and one and a half million emigrated to the United States and other countries, where they served as a labor source for the burgeoning industrial revolution. For those too poor to leave or too well off to want to leave, Ireland became a country even more focused on its religion, as well as issues of land and nationalism.

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