The Irish Potato Famine, also known as The Great Famine, was a tragedy that shook the Irish population to its core. Ireland lost twenty percent of its population, from both death and emigration, and the loss of population was felt throughout the nation. It took decades for Ireland to bounce back from this disaster, but it wasn’t done without the intense help and support of many foreign nations. When Ireland was able to return to its former glory, it experienced a period of environmental rejuvenation that lead to an agricultural boom. This in turn led to social and economic changes still felt today. 

After the devastating events of the Great Famine, many nations donated what they could to help the ailing nation. One of these was the Choctaw Tribe, a tribe of Indigenous American peoples native to Oklahoma. Even though the Choctaw Tribe was suffering the brutal forced migration known as The Trail of Tears”, they saw the plight of the Irish people. In 1847, the tribe took up a donation of a modern equivalent of over $5,000 in today’s money and sent it to the town of Midleton, a small town south of Dublin in County Cork. This sparked a friendship between the two nations that has lasted to this day. In 2017, a monument entitled “Kindred Spirits” was dedicated in a Midleton park, commemorating the Choctaw tribe and the gift they gave. In addition to the Choctaw, American Irish immigrants founded the Boston Repeal Association in Massachusetts. The Repeal Association was the first foreign campaign to be established for aid and relief to Ireland and raised almost $430,000 in relief and supplies. Pennsylvania was the second most crucial state in raising aid for Ireland, in addition to being the second-largest shipping port to allow the resources to be shipped overseas.

 

This aid helped to kickstart an era of environmental, economic, and social rejuvenation. What brought about this era of hope was the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. After the Famine left most of the rural areas of Ireland abandoned, the IAOS attempted to construct a new economy in the countryside. This “co-op’s” emergence radically transformed rural society in Ireland at the end of the 19th century. The at the time controversial idea behind the IAOS movement was that the farmers should have direct ownership of their businesses and the means of those businesses’ production. The co-op structure placed ownership of these businesses directly in the hands of the farmers and laborers who joined the Society as members. Each individual was then given an equal say in the decision-making processes of that business regardless of the member’s wealth or status. This helped relaunch the economy while revitalizing the environment and layed the groundwork to level out the socital playing field within rural Ireland. Another time of great economic prosperity for Ireland came almost a century later in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was called the “Golden Tiger” of Ireland, and it changed the economical and global standing of Ireland for decades to come.

 

Sources:

“Choctaw and Irish History.” Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, www.choctawnation.com/about/history/irish-connection/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.

Doyle, Patrick. “Ireland’s Co-Operative Revolution: ‘Building a Rural Civilisation.’” The Irish Times, 29 Jan. 2019, www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/ireland-s-co-operative-revolution-building-a-rural-civilisation-1.3773382.

“Ireland – the Debt Crisis and Beyond.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/place/Ireland/The-debt-crisis-and-beyond.

Poleon, Jade. “Top 5 Countries That HELPED Ireland during the Famine, RANKED.” Ireland before You Die, 11 Apr. 2022, www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/top-5-countries-that-helped-ireland-during-the-famine/.