In recent centuries, almost the entire planet has been experiencing a demographic boom. Our country’s population has tripled, the United States has 32 times more people, and the United Arab Emirates has 2,323 times more. And only in Ireland are there 3 million fewer people than two hundred years ago. This is the only country whose population has not grown, but has decreased by a third. And the reason for this was not a bloody war or a terrible epidemic. One of the most densely populated European territories lost over a million people, and even more left for the New World forever.
Potato Island
Today’s Ireland is positioned as a developed European country with a prosperous standard of living. But demographic chronicles claim that these lands preserve the memory of a tragedy that has been going on for two centuries. Ireland is the only country in Europe that has not regained its population since the 1840s. And it even continues to lose residents, although not as rapidly as before. At the dawn of the 19th century, at least eight million people lived in one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. Today, this figure does not exceed 5,000,000, including Northern Ireland. It turns out that the population has almost halved in two centuries.
How did this happen? The reason is that the Irish economy of that era was based on one agricultural crop, potatoes. This vegetable made up the entire daily diet, and not only that: the Irish ate potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, fed livestock, and paid off with root vegetables to landlords. In poor families, potatoes were more than food. Rather, the main and only way to survive. The Irish climate is ideal for growing potatoes. Humidity, mild winters, and fertile lands all combined to guarantee rich harvests. Peasants rented plots from English lords for huge fees, and one acre of land fed a large family all year round. There were no alternatives to potatoes: grain was exported, and meat also went abroad.
Potato disaster
All European farmers were aware of the danger of the phytophthora fungus to the potato crop. For an unknown reason, the pathogen became more active in the 40s of the 19th century. People were suffering and dying of hunger all over Europe. But in one tiny Ireland, a million people died, in the rest of the European countries, a hundred thousand. The reason is clear: The Irish have the highest dependence on potatoes. Given the chain in which this valuable vegetable was embedded, livestock deprived of food also suffered. Harvests of other vegetables could not cover the rent to English landowners. But potatoes occupied a third of all cultivated land in Ireland. The tragedy was also spurred on by the political doctrine of the British authorities towards the country’s economy.
The second reason for the mass deaths was the indifferent non-interference in the island’s economy. The UK refused to give starving people free bread and at least some other products, not wanting to risk the stability of the market. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. Most of the measures taken by the British authorities, rather for show, looked ridiculous. It is known that a scientific commission sent to the county of Limerick “studied” the causes of the fungal lesion and issued absolutely useless advice: it is more effective to ventilate potato beds by digging side holes.
The second measure is the import of the so-called “Indian grain” to Ireland, corn. However, it was not distributed to those in need but sold at low prices. It turned out that the starved, exhausted Irish were forced to earn their meals on difficult community service. By 1847, the situation was catastrophic. The harsh winter deprived the peasants of the opportunity to even do community service for food, the available canteens were closed, and the landlords increased the rent for the land. Typhoid fever and cholera joined all the other misfortunes. At best, people died in charitable workhouses.
Why has the population never recovered?
For the desperate Irish, there was only one way to survive emigration. Over the past five years, one and a half million people have left the state. About five thousand ships crossed the Atlantic on a flight. People rushed to the New World in order not to die, and they were ready for anything. At least 5,000 died in shipwrecks. By 1850, there were as many Irish in New York as there were in Dublin. Almost two centuries have passed since that tragedy. The famine is long gone, the economy has recovered, and the standard of living has become high. At the same time, Ireland is considered the only European country with a smaller population than in the 19th century.
The reason is due to several factors. Historically, emigration has become a cultural tradition. For generations, the Irish have lived with the idea that great opportunities are only overseas. Going to America, Australia, and England was considered a mandatory stage of growing up and personal growth. Even in the comfortable living conditions of the 20th century, the population outflow continued. The demographic model itself has also changed. The Irish get married later and are in no hurry to procreate. Before the potato famine, the family traditionally raised 10 children, but after that tragedy, everything changed dramatically. For generations, the memory of how there was nothing to eat, not to mention the numerous offspring, has been preserved.
The nature of land use has also changed. The situation with the death of potatoes provoked the entry of large farms into the agricultural market, not in favor of small farms. The land was concentrated in the hands of a much smaller number of owners, which allowed a much smaller number of people to live and survive. Villages were deserted, and young people moved to cities or even abroad. At the same time, emigrants have brought their own distinct phenomenon to the United States. The self-organization of the Irish immigrants allowed them not only to survive but to stand out in a new society for themselves. For a couple of decades, newcomers have been able to join the country’s political elite.
