What caused millions of Irish people to die or move to the United States and Canada around the year 1845?
The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) spread rapidly throughout Ireland.
What caused the potato famine in Ireland?
The Great Famine was caused by a failure of the potato crop, which many people relied on for most of their nutrition. A disease called late blight destroyed the leaves and edible roots of the potato plants in successive years from 1845 to 1849.
How many people died and emigrated during the famine?
1 million people
What were the effects of the Irish potato famine?
It decimated Ireland’s population, which stood at about 8.5 million on the eve of the Famine. It is estimated that the Famine caused about 1 million deaths between 1845 and 1851 either from starvation or hunger-related disease. A further 1 million Irish people emigrated.
Did the English starve the Irish?
By the end of 1847 the British government was effectively turning its back financially on a starving people in the most westerly province of the United Kingdom. The famine was to run for a further two or three years, making it one of the longest-running famines in Irish and European history.
Why did the English starve the Irish?
Some claim that there really was no food shortage in Ireland in the late 1840s. The British government, so this view goes, promoted the export of food from Ireland with the deliberate aim of starving the Irish people. With the potato ruined, Ireland simply did not have enough land to feed her people.
Is Ireland a free country?
Around 40% of the country’s population of 5 million people resides in the Greater Dublin Area. The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Free State was created, with Dominion status, in 1922 following the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
Was Ireland ever part of the UK?
Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1922. For almost all of this period, the island was governed by the UK Parliament in London through its Dublin Castle administration in Ireland.
Does Ireland have two flags?
The flag of Dublin City features a green field with a gold harp and three white two-towered burning castles on a navy canton. Green and blue are the two national colours of Ireland. 1890–present. Flag of Belfast is a heraldic banner that is based on the shield of the coat of arms of the city.
How many years did the Celtic Tiger last?
Celtic Tiger is a nickname for Ireland during its boom years—between 1995 and 2007— when its economy was growing rapidly. The Irish economy grew at an average annual rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000, and between 1987 and 2007, Ireland’s GDP grew by 229%.
Why did the Celtic Tiger fail?
In September 2008, Ireland became the first eurozone country to officially enter recession. The recession was confirmed by figures from the Central Statistics Office showing the bursting of the property bubble and a collapse in consumer spending that terminated the boom that was the Celtic Tiger.
When did the Celtic Tiger crash?
The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent property bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive, and an expansion …