potato blight killed the potatoes in the irish potato famine.
potato blight killed the potatoes in the irish potato famine.
what killed the potatoes in the irish potato famine?
potato blight
the island received its largest influx of immigrants in the 1840s during the "great famine", also known as the "irish potato famine," when a shortage of potatoes occurred due to potato blight striking ireland's staple crop. the famine caused millions to starve to death or otherwise emigrate, mainly to north america. during the famine, some 30,000 immigrants were processed by the island's visiting and resident physicians, with 1,196 dying at partridge island and the adjacent city of saint john during the typhus epidemic of 1847. during the 1890s there were over 78,000 immigrants a year being examined or treated on the island.
partridge island (saint john county)
the recovery of food imports after the napoleonic wars (1803–1815) and the resumption of american trade following the war of 1812 (1812–1815) led to the enactment in 1815 of the corn laws (protective tariffs) to protect cereal grain producers in britain against foreign competition. these laws were only removed in 1846 after the onset of the irish potato famine in which potato late blight ruined most of the irish potato crop and brought famine to the irish people in 1846–50. though the blight also struck scotland, wales, england, and much of europe, its effect there was far less severe since potatoes constituted a much smaller percentage of the diet than in ireland. despite this, ireland still produced agricultural surpluses during the famine- most of the food was exported to english cities and british authorities refused to close the ports. hundreds of thousands died in the irish famine and millions more emigrated to england, wales, scotland, canada, australia, europe, and the united states, reducing the population from about 8.5 million in 1845 to 4.3 million by 1921.
british agricultural revolution