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| It's like a brain freeze, but from KNOWLEDGE! Link |
Today, the topic I focus on will be what is known to most of the United States and other regions outside of Ireland as the Great Potato Famine. However, within Ireland, it is simply known as the great famine. That's right, I'm writing about potatoes. And it is going to blow your mind.
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| Samwise, Middle Earths potato champion. Link |
The Great Famine is a period in Ireland lasting between 1845 and 1852. This famine led to sickness, death, and caused mass emigration from Ireland. By the end, over one million Irish would be dead, another one million emigrating to anywhere else they could go. This cut Ireland's population by 20% to 25%. The effects this famine would have would be massive. It would effect Ireland's view on its relationship with Great Britain (who basically had control over Ireland at the time), as well as hurt Ireland's religious relationship with that of the British Crown. (Ireland was heavily Catholic, while England was not). The famine had such an impact that most historians divide Irish history into pre-famine and post-famine history. The question remains, however....how did it start?
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| Historically accurate photo of an Irishman searching for potatoes. Link |
For starters, one of the major issues was that many Irish families had grown dependent on the potato for food. Where once dairy and grain had been a staple of diets, the potato now held total control.
1/3 of the Irish population was dependent on the potato for food. The main problem was a disease that affected the potatoes called potato blight. This disease made the potatoes inedible and destroyed many crops. Had there been different kinds of potato crops, the disease may not have been so prominent and problematic, but the Irish grew only one kind of potato, the Irish Lumper. The potato blight would take healthy potatoes such as this:
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| Healthy potatoes. Boil 'em. Mash 'em. Stick 'em in a stew. Link |
and turn them into this:
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| Basically the Syphilis of the potato world. Enjoy your french fries. Link |
However, potato blight was not the only problem.Almost 3/4 of Ireland's population was unemployed, there was already with a semi-starving population, and combined with a rapidly growing population, the British governments lack of smart government basically set Ireland up for disaster. One rule had been that Irish Catholics could not do a number of things, such as getting an education, own or lease land, or even holding a profession. This law was repealed by 1793, but its legacy had a lasting impact on the population. That's right, by merely being Catholic, your life was basically assured to suck because Protestant England had issues with Catholics. (Such an issue between Protestants and Catholics is also seen through the lens of antebellum America in the film Gangs of New York). This would lead to another large issue: the issue of land ownership.
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| "This has nothing to do with potatoes! Rabble rabble rabble!" Link |
See, the problem with land ownership in Ireland was that the rich landowners would have tenets who lived on the land and earned their stay by growing crops or doing other things for the landowner. Problem was, Ireland's Catholic population was 80% of Ireland's total population, the remaining 20% being from England, or Protestant. Guess who controlled all the land? The protestants. The set up was the landlords would collect payment, send directives through groups of middlemen (this was known as the middleman system, yes, very creative, right?)Some of the landlords didn't even live in Ireland! These "absentee landlords" just chilled in England, letting the middlemen take care of business. The middlemen would also buy up some of the landlords land, then rent it out for even higher prices to the tenents, who, having nowhere else to go, had little choice but to oblige the raise in living costs (if they could afford it) The middlemen were basically the rich, snooty Monopoly guy of their times.
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| "You owe me Boardwalk levels of money for living on Baltic Avenue! Deal with it!" Link |
The system itself was rough. The only crop tenets could grow in enough quantity to feed their families was t he potato, and due to lack of land size, most could not start ranches to get cattle. The middleman system was also rough, as it allowed tenants to be abused. Tenants could be evicted from their land for a variety of reasons, such as not paying their rent (which was very high), or if the landlord decided to use the land for raising sheep instead of growing crops. A major issue was that any improvements made to the housing/land became property of the landlord, and the fact that the tenants could be removed from their property "at will" caused many to not even try to improve the land they lived on, fearing that they would lose everything and their work would be for nothing. It wasn't until after the famine killed tons of people, of course, that the English government made the act of middlemen buying landholdings and selling them at exorbitant prices to tenants illegal.
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| A modern look at how Ireland wanted to deal with the Middleman System Alllrighty then! Link |
Now, onto the potato itself. Prior to the 18th century, potatoes were only a supplementary food, as many Irish still ate dairy, grains, etc that they grew. In the beginning decades of the 1800s, however, it became a base food of the poor, especially in the winter months. As time went on and more Irish farmers made the potato a major staple of their diet, they were setting themselves up for problems. The potato that most of them ate, as stated before, was the Irish Lumper. The fact that this was one of the only potatoes that the Irish ate was bad, as the lack of genetic variability allowed the entire Lumper crop to become infected with Phytoptora infestans, which basically rotted the potatoes from the inside out. That's right. You learned about potato genetics. Just now.
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| Random Fact: This guy was also in Gangs of New York. Proof Link |
As the potato blight spread across Europe and eventually hit Ireland, the Irish were not unaware of the predicament that the disease would bring them. They asked English politicians for alternate ways of getting food, such as bringing in corn, but the English believed that the Irish were overreacting, and that it wouldn't be that bad. Sir Charles Trevelyan, who was in charge of Government relief to the victims of the Irish famine actually limited relief, because, as he put it, "the judgment of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson." This obviously pissed off a lot of Irish people, and even inspired a song. (Version by Dropkick Murphys here). Other nations actually attempted to help the Irish. The Ottoman SUltan sent money, as well as three ships worth of food. The English attempted to block the ships, but they were able to sneak into Ireland and deliver their aid. Even native Americans such as the Choctaws sent aid, having experienced starvation on the Trail of Tears. They sent money to try and help the starving families of Ireland. While the famine went on, many families could not pay their rent, so the landlords had them evicted, leading to many Irish with no homes or land to go to. This in turn led to a large emigration of Irish. Irish emigration wasn't new, but the famine led to a huge wave of Irish to leave the country. Sadly, the mortality on the ships leaving the country was very high, causing the ships to be called coffin ships. Overall, this was not a good time to be Irish.
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| Memorial of the famine in Dublin. Link |
The famine would have lasting effects between both the Irish and English governments, as well as the population of Ireland, which took a long time to get back to where it had once been. Famine, mixed with diseased and emigration had reduced Ireland's population dramatically. Oddly enough, the potato remained a staple of Irish diets even after the famine occurred. By the end of the 19th century, the Irish per capita consumption of four pounds per day was the highest in the world.
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| Saw his whole family eaten. Guy's got some issues. Link |
Thus ends another journey through a moment in history! I hope you all enjoyed learning (even if half of it was about potato genetics).
I should have another article up in a few days, but for now, enjoy your potatoes.
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| Baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, potato chips, potato pancakes, stuffed potatoes..... Link |
Until next time!
This was a long one. Glad you're writing these again man.
ReplyDelete-Bill
Thanks, Bill! It feels great to write again!
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