The Cause Of The Irish Potato Famine

When the Irish Potato Famine Struck Ireland On a sunny morning in 1845, Irish farmers were going to check their crops. A farmer named Abraham Fitz found black potatoes in his fields. He thought it may be only the one, so he moved over 4 rows and dug another potato out of the ground. This one was black and rotten. This causes Abraham to travel to his neighbors house and ask about their potatoes. His neighbor’s potatoes were black, rotten, and giving off a foul stench. This would later be discovered to have affected thousands of acres in the countryside of Ireland. The Irish Potato Famine caused by Phytophthora infestans would cause one million people to immigrate to the United States and left over one million dead. Early in the 19th century,
The Irish Potato Famine caused food riots to erupt in ports such as Youghal near Cork where peasants tried, unsuccessfully, to steal a boatload of oats(The Great Hunger). In the winter of 1846 and spring of 1847, protesters and rioters filled the streets of Irish port cities as ships were loaded with goods being shipped to England(McCaffrey, Jill). During the famine years, large quantities of native grown wheat, barley, oats, and oatmeal were shipped to England. Ships full of the crops were shipped to England even though the Irish were dying from starvation. Many peasants had to borrow money at high interest rates from gombeen men, petty money lenders, to provide for themselves and their families(The Blight Begins). This often caused them fall behind on their rent and forced landowners to send them to North America rather than support them in Ireland(McCaffrey, Jill). Many families survived the first year by selling livestock and pawning meager possessions(The Blight Begins). To survive the famine many families had to pawn possessions or immigrate to the United States and
Prime minister Peel came a solution on his own, without informing his conservative government. His plan of action was to import cheap indian corn, maize. Peel imported €100,000 worth of maize from America. The imported corn kept deaths the first year down. The corn, nicknamed Peel’s Brimstone, had to be ground into digestible corn meal. This caused many issues, due to the fact that mills in Ireland were not used to process corn, the mills had to use valuable resources to grind corn twice. To distribute the cornmeal a business like plan was put into place by the Relief Commision. The Relief Commision was composed of landowners, their agents, magistrates, clergy and notable residents. The Relief Commision estimated that four million Irish would need to be fed during the summer and spring of 1846. While the cornmeal could be used to make bread, it lacked the vitamin C potatoes were rich in. The lack of vitamin C caused many families to endure scurvy, a previous unknown disease. The cornmeal was unsatisfying. It caused diarrhea, was hard to digest, and proved difficult to cook with. The corn meal was sold at one penny per pound, however, the peasants soon ran out out money(“The Blight Begins”). While the Irish became accustomed to the cornmeal, the supplies were exhausted by June of