Probably the most infamous and heartbreaking event in Irish history, The Great Famine was a period of Irish history occurring from 1845 to 1852 in which nearly 75% of the Irish potato crop was destroyed by the mold Phytophthora infestans. It led to an estimated one million Irish casualties from starvation and related causes, with at least another million forced to flee the country as refugees, a substantial population ending up in America in what became known as The Great Migration. Several factors contributed to this disaster, both agricultural and societal, and the aftermath of the Famine has been felt for centuries since. 

Agricultural causes of the Great Famine are much more straightforward than their socio-political counterparts. As previously stated, the death of the potato crop was that of the Phytophthora infestans, which is an oomycete or water mold that primarily attacks potatoes and tomatoes. It produces dark green spots that then turn brown and black on the surface of the leaves and stems of the potato plants. The potato itself has stunted growth and black rot around the edges and seeping into its core. Phytophthora originated in Central Mexico and spread to Ireland through imported potato seeds and tubers which infect fully grown plants. Since the potato crop in Ireland was largely asexually reproduced, the potato crop were genetic clones of one another. Since there was very little genetic diversity, the mold was able to sweep its way across Ireland with very little internal pushback from the crop itself. As discussed in the Week Three post, the farmers and lower class of Ireland relied heavily on the potato crop for food since other, more desirable crops were shipped away to the weather British class. 

A less considered component of the Great Famine was the role the British Government played in the leadup to and devastation during the Famine itself. In addition to keeping the lower class almost entirely reliant on the potato crop, British lawmakers had decreed that it was illegal for people of the Catholic faith to own their land. Since Catholicism was the dominant religion of Ireland, this meant most of the population had to give up large portions of their crop yield, including the potato crop, to the British landowners. Thus, when The Famine occurred, all “good crops” were sent away from Ireland, further depleting the food sources of the Irish. In cases of other commodities such as livestock and dairy experts believe that agricultural exports from Ireland may have increased during the Potato Famine, further bleeding out the crop supply of the Irish people. While the country of England did repeal such laws as the “Corn Laws” and grain tariffs, the damage they had been afflicting for centuries had taken its heavy toll, many families had no choice by to flee. 

The lack of food and aid set many Irish families to flee their beloved homeland, and The Great Migration saw 1-2 million Irish people emigrate to North America and Great Britain. Even in the Great American Melting Pot, however, the Irish were treated harshly and isolated by the other dozens of ethnic groups that came to America in the 19th century. The Irish formed close-knit communities and soon became the largest European ethnic group to emigrate in the world, establishing close connections and aid networks for their homeland.

 

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Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain used many different techniques to keep the Irish population underhand, one of which was the practice of forced indentured servitude. As touched on in last week’s post, Irish prisoners were often sent away to work on plantations set up in British colonies, the most famous of these colonies being Barbados and Jamacia. While on these plantations, they worked as indentured servants. Indentured servitude refers to a form of labor where a person contractually works without pay for a certain amount of time in exchange for an indenture, loan, or to serve out a sentence for a crime. It is very important to remember, however, that at no point in history were the Irish considered “slaves”. This is a very popular misconception spread for various reasons spanning from simple unawareness to a malicious attempt to dismiss the treatment of African chattel slaves in discussions surrounding racism. There are several key differences between the two practices. Indentured servants were freed after five to ten years of work, and afterward, they could own land, travel, work, and move up in society. Irish indentured servants were free to marry whomever they chose, and their children were born free. African slaves were owned for life and had little to no prospects or rights even if they were to be free. The one thing that the two practices shared, however, is the dehumanizing, abusive, and horrific treatment afforded to both groups.

The majority of Irish prisoners forcefully sent to British plantations in the West Indies were “undesirables” such as political prisoners, the homeless, convicts, or prostitutes, the most popular of the crimes being vagrancy or theft. There, they labored on cash crop plantations. Originally, they labored alongside imported African slaves, but as the crops shifted from tobacco and cotton to sugar, resulting in the “sugar boom”, Irish indentures were separated from African slaves and saved for the more ‘skilled’ positions of labor. Some historians believed that the two groups were separated to prevent a dual uprising, while others speculate that it was just another way to keep the two groups underhand.

Conditions in the West Indies were harsh and unforgiving. Many indentured servants had trouble acclimating to the overbearing tropical heat and were subjected to regular beatings and public floggings for even the most minor of offenses. Half of all Irish indentured servants in Barbados died before their term of service was finished, earning the Caribbean the distinction of a “white graveyard”.  To this day, the poor white descendants of the Irish that chose to stay in the Caribbean face ostracization from both the Caribbean natives and the European nations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8yEqco39T8

The above link is to the song and lyrics for “Tobacco Island”, a Flogging Molly song about the bloody history of the Barbados tobacco plantations.

Irish agriculture in the 16th and 17th centuries was primarily made up of lower-class family farms scattered across the country. While its economy was primarily agrarian, Irish farms were not as large nor technologically advanced as farms in England, which had recently gone through an agricultural revolution. Due to this, Irish farmers lived farm to mouth and were stereotyped as poverty-stricken, backward peasants. Many of their exploits were taken and given to wealthy English families, leaving only the scraps of food and labor for the families to have.

Farmers of this era were lower-class families that farmed primarily grain crops. Wheat and barley were grown as cash crops, and cattle were bred for meat and dairy, although beef and other meats often were sent for the upper class’s consumption. In addition, sheep farmers felt every tightening squeeze of British market control. The wool industry was taxed nearly out of existence by the early 1800s, and the Irish linen industry’s development and capital were controlled by London. The upper class’s control over the vegetable and meat industry in Ireland left “lesser” crops behind for the lower-class Irish farmers to eat themselves. Chief among these were potatoes.

Potatoes were initially introduced to Ireland from South America in the 1570s and were at first considered “dirty” by wealthy Irish and British classes. However, they became a staple among the farmers that grew them. Potatoes were easy to grow, easy to store, and had large, bountiful harvests. With the increase in potato crops came a large boom in the Irish population and by 1840 the population had expanded to over 8 million, with the majority of them in the lower classes. While the potato provided enough food for farmers to expand their families and stay well-fed, it also severely narrowed their diet too, in many cases, just potatoes and milk. This was a far cry from their earlier diets, which were much more varied. Eventually, potatoes found their way into the cuisines of the upper class, where they were featured more as side dishes to the heartier meat and vegetable main courses.

The British would also outsource a lot of Irish labor. Irish prisoners and laborers were often turned into indentured servants on British owned plantations in the Caribbean, most infamously in Jamaica and Barbados. Contrary to popular belief, the Irish were never enslaved in a manner similar to Africans, although the working conditions that the Irish indentured servants faced were of a similar dehumanizing brutality.

The initial colonization of Ireland was slow and subtle, beginning in the 1160s which Angelo-Norman explorers were invited to the island by Leinster King Dermot MacMurrough, a local ruler who had recently been used as High King of Ireland. Among these adventurers was an earl named Richard de Clare, soon to be colloquially known as “Strongbow”. Strongbow and his band of explorers went on to conquer a large part of Eastern Ireland, including the kingdoms of Leister and Meath.

This political movement was noticed by King Henry II of England and to prevent Ireland from becoming a formidable rival Norman power he installed Strongbow as leader of Leister and gave a King’s army soldier, Hugh de Lacy, the kingdom of Meath. This area was known as “The Pale”. By splitting the kingdoms, King Henry II was able to keep the various larger towns, like Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin, under his control, and thus the seeds of English rule had been planted in Irish soil.

As the years passed, King Henry II, Strongbow, and de Lacy pushed Angelo-Norman control over more and more Irish land, and more and more Irish kings turned over their power to the British monarchy.T he British Monarchy in turn collected “tributes” from the people to the King, including money, crops, and livestock.  By 1175, the Treaty of Windsor had been signed by King Henry II and the current High King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor, and O’Connor agreed to acquire the majority of his power to King Henry II, while still exercising minor control over the other various Irish Kings. This power split ended poorly, and in 1185 Henry sent his son, King John, to establish an organized, civil government that was separate from the influence of the feudal lords. 

 

Administrative units of late medieval Ireland, Brittanica.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the early 1200s, King John went on to begin the unification of the English counties while simultaneously phasing out the Angelo-Norman rule. In 1264 an Irish Parliament was introduced. composed of Angelo-Norman/Angelo-Irish County representatives, while Native Irish remained voiceless. This parliament mirrored the British Parliament at the time and served mostly to continue British and Irish land expansion.                                     

 

Portrait of Irish Parliament, Google Images