The Great Irish famine By Sam Sen and

The Great Irish famine By Sam, Seán and Diarmaid

Main reasons • Population in Ireland had increased from 2. 5 million in 1740 to 8. 5 million. • Irish people depended on potatoes for food. • In 1845 a blight called phytophthora arrived in the south east and spread through the country • The British government did not provide enough help.

Potato blight • Irish people only had potatoes to eat. • Millions of people died of hunger. • Phytophthora was the blight that caused potatoes to rot. • This is what it looks like

Emigration • People emigrated to America • They had to pay three pounds for a ticket • Lots of people died of diseases on the coffin ships • If they died they would be thrown off the ship

HELP!!! • Lord Trevelyan noticed how people were suffering and sent corn and meal to Ireland • Soup kitchens were set up by quakers to give food to starving people • Relief commissions started

Evictions • People who didn’t have enough money to pay their rent were thrown out of their houses. • There houses were first locked so they couldn’t go back in. • Then they burnt and demolished their house. • Eviction left hundreds of thousands of people without work, food and money.

Black 47 • 1847 was known as black 47 because it was the worst year of the famine. • People didn’t want to spend what little money they had on potato seeds in case the crop failed again. • The blight had actually gone at this stage but it was the third year in a row without a potato crop

Effects • • It caused death. People had no food to eat Millions of people were killed People were thrown out of their houses.

Thank you • Thanks for watching