great irish famine

There are many disasters in human history. It can also be said that disasters have never stopped since ancient times. Some are natural disasters and some are man-made disasters. Even some natural disasters are caused by human destruction of the ecological environment. No matter what kind of disaster, it brings infinite pain to human beings and affects the development of human society.

great irish famine

Irish people are descendants of ancient Celts and have lived on the island of Ireland for generations. Ireland has been a part of Britain since 180 1 year. Among them, Catholics account for 80% of the population, and two-thirds of the population are tenant farmers who live on agriculture. The big landlords live in England, so most of the agricultural income is exported abroad. Tenants with little land can only make a living by planting potato, a high-yield crop. The special population structure has formed an excessive dependence on a single crop-potato. 1845- 1852' s potato failure was undoubtedly the cruelest blow to the Irish.

1845, a fungus named Phytophthora infestans began to spread in Ireland. This fungus adapts to warm and humid environment, and carries its own spores to propagate through wind, water and other media. The rainy and cloudy climate in Ireland provides the best breeding environment for this fungus. 1845 In the summer, in just a few weeks, this fierce fungus swept across the island of Ireland, causing a large number of potatoes to rot. It seems that overnight, the vibrant Irish fields became "barren".

The famine caused by potato famine is disastrous, and the extremely poor tenant peasant class has been hit hard, with relatively more deaths.

Without food, 8.2 million Irish people go hungry, and raw nettles are not only difficult to swallow, but also poisonous. At that time, they became a helpless choice to satisfy hunger. Tens of thousands of people died of hunger with nettles on their faces. Many people died of cholera, dysentery and typhus caused by famine, and coffins and bones were everywhere. Desperate people began to flee to England, but a few months later, most of them died tragically in dirty basements or huts. More than/kloc-0.0 million people fled to the United States, and half of them died on immigrant ships or in Irish communities in Boston, new york and Baltimore.

Cromwell's spirit of restraint lurks in the Irish bones. In the past four years, the Irish who were facing death did not resist the unreasonable demands of British landlords to raise the rent of wheat shipped to Britain. However, the British government stepped up the transportation of other crops and cattle and sheep from Ireland to England, which aggravated the great famine of 1845 ~ 1850.

In this great famine, the potato yield was reduced by 7.2 million kilograms, and the economic loss reached 500 million dollars. More than/kloc-0.0 million Irish people lost their lives, and another/kloc-0.0 million Irish people immigrated to the United States and Britain. However, the Irish people who experienced the disaster also began the process of national awakening and national liberation, and finally won independence.

◆ Knowledge expansion

◎ Potatoes are Irish treasures, but in the early19th century, most Europeans regarded them as plagues. The British think that the land planted with potatoes will turn to dust; The French believe that eating potatoes will make people more and more ugly, and some people regard potatoes as "devil apples"; Italian sicilian also linked potatoes with witchcraft, saying that as long as the name of the enemy is engraved on the potato, the enemy will die.

The Irish famine also had a great impact on the Irish. Because the famine areas are the poorest areas in Ireland, and these areas are Irish-speaking areas, the population actually using Irish has decreased greatly in a short time. In addition, famine almost destroyed Irish confidence in their mother tongue. From then on, they equated Irish with poverty and backwardness from the bottom of their hearts, and regarded the use of English as a sign of progress.

◎ Knowledge link ◎

The great famine prompted many Irish people to emigrate to Britain, Australia, the United States and other places. From independence to 1845, the United States accepted about1600,000 immigrants. During the period of 1845- 1855, the number of Irish immigrants was equal to all the people who moved to the United States in the past 70 years, of which 185 1 reached a peak of 2 1.9 million. John Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is a descendant of Irish immigrants, and his great-grandfather fled to the United States from 65438 to 0848.