Gerald Keegan looked grim as the ship Naparima, carrying him
along with hundreds of survivors, began to leave his homeland. “Viewing the
scene in respectful silence, seeing for the last time the place we hold most
dear on earth,” he wrote in his diary. Keegan, a teacher in a small village in
west Ireland, began writing about the plague sweeping through in February 1847.
Imagining his starving and dying students, he noted, “Children have lost their
youthful appearance. They look like old people. They no longer laugh and play.”
Ireland was struck by the Great Famine, a period of severe
hunger from 1845 to 1852, caused by a potato blight. The famine led to mass
deaths and emigration. Keegan and his wife escaped across the Atlantic to
Canada, but upon arriving at the Quebec camp, his wife tragically died. Keegan
himself eventually succumbed to fever and died, while his diary was saved by a
priest.
The Great Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, was
a catastrophic period in Irish history. The famine was caused by a fungal
disease, Phytophthora infestans, that infected potato crops, the main staple
food in Ireland at the time. This blight led to mass starvation, disease, and
emigration. At least 1.3 million people left Ireland for North America,
England, and Australia. Most landed in the United States, particularly in New
York City, which saw an influx of 300 Irish immigrants daily between 1845 and
1852. The 2011 census revealed nearly 40 million people in the US claimed Irish
ethnicity, a testament to the lasting impact of this migration.
The introduction of potatoes to Europe and the subsequent
blight of the 1840s illustrate a world shaped by multispecies encounters. The
blight, identified by blackened leaves, quickly spread to tubers, rotting them
within days. Potatoes were crucial in 19th-century Ireland, especially for the
rural poor. Easy to plant and harvest, potatoes provide essential carbohydrates
and calories. Under British control since 1801, Ireland was subject to
landowner policies that favored potato cultivation due to its minimal labor
requirements and higher profitability. This exploitative system limited the
Irish people’s ability to grow other crops, making them heavily reliant on
potatoes.
In June 1845, the potato disease first appeared in Courtrai,
a border region between France and Belgium. It quickly spread to the
Netherlands, northern France, and southern England, reaching Ireland by
September. “In many places, potato plants withered, turned black, and emitted a
foul smell. Many people made pilgrimages to Saint Anthony’s Chapel to pray for
salvation,” wrote Felicitas Rommel, a resident of Courtrai, in her diary.
William G. Powderly, in his journal “How Infection Shaped
History,” noted that the potato disease struck several countries, including
Canada and the United States, in 1845. However, Ireland was particularly
vulnerable due to the lack of genetic diversity among potato plants, which
meant there were no disease-resistant varieties. “Ireland’s vulnerability was
exacerbated by widespread poverty and the population’s heavy reliance on a
single staple crop,” he wrote. The potato disease spreads easily in warm, humid
conditions, especially during rainfall.
It is estimated that more than one million people died as a
result of the Great Famine. Starvation and malnutrition, especially among
children and the elderly, weaken immune systems, making the population
susceptible to diseases such as typhus, cholera, and dysentery. “Some were
found dead with grass in their mouths. Dogs and donkeys had become common
foods. Dozens of corpses lay by the roadside,” Gerald Keegan recorded in his
diary. The famine led many Irish people to emigrate, primarily to North
America, though the perilous journey resulted in many deaths. At least 20,000
deaths were recorded at Grosse Isle, Quebec, in 1847, mostly due to typhus and
fever. By 1851, Ireland’s population had decreased by nearly two million from
the 1841 census, reflecting the devastating impact of the famine.
Ireland was effectively ruled as a British colony, with
limited representation in the British Parliament. The predominantly Catholic
Irish faced penal laws that initially barred them from owning land or holding
elected office. Most land in Ireland was owned by English and Anglo-Irish
families, forcing the Irish to work on landlords’ estates for low wages,
neglecting their own farming. Although the British Government was slow to
respond, eventually acknowledging the famine, their initial efforts were
inadequate. Prime Minister John Peel’s attempt to import corn from America and
remove tariffs to lower bread prices was too little, too late. His successor,
John Russell, adopted a laissez-faire approach, believing the free market would
solve the famine, a policy that failed and was eventually abandoned.
While the British government’s response to the famine was
heavily criticized, some countries and organizations offered humanitarian aid.
The US, France, Canada, and Australia, along with figures such as Tsar
Alexander II, Pope Pius IX, James K. Polk, and Abraham Lincoln, provided assistance.
Sultan Abdul Majid I’s substantial donation was controversially reduced at the
behest of Queen Victoria.
The Great Famine is commemorated through statues, paintings,
and other media. Cities like Boston and New York have erected memorials for the
lives lost during the famine. In Drogheda, Ireland, the local football team
adopted the Ottoman Empire’s emblem, the star and crescent, as their club logo,
a lasting tribute to the international aid provided during one of Ireland’s
darkest periods.
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