Ireland Famine

Social Studies IIGroup A

Isaiah Graves, Alacia Morehead, Vanesha Ware

Teacher

Ms. Tatum

June 13, 2011

What are famines?Famines are extreme shortages of food that

cause people to die of starvation.

Characteristics and Effects Famine can be defined as the catastrophic disruption of the social, economic, and

institutional systems that provide for food production, distribution, and consumption. Famines not only kill masses of people, they also destroy livestock, which people depend upon as food and for their livelihood, extending the impact.

Famines also have a very strong impact on demographics. Mortality is concentrated among children and the elderly. A consistent demographic fact is that in all recorded famines, male mortality exceeds female. Possible reasons for this include greater female resilience under the pressure of malnutrition, and that women are more skilled at gathering and processing wild foods and other fall-back famine foods. Famines therefore leave the reproductive core of a population—adult women—less affected compared to other population categories, and post-famine periods are often characterized a "rebound" with increased births. Even though famines reduce the size of the population significantly, in fact even the most severe famines have rarely dented population growth for more than a few years. The mortality in China in 1958–1961, Bengal in 1943, and Ethiopia in 1983–1985 was all made up by a growing population in just a few years. Of greater long-term demographic impact is emigration: Ireland was chiefly depopulated after the famine of the 1940s by waves of emigration.

It has been observed that periods of extensive famine can lead to a reduction in the number of reported female children in some cultures. Demographers and historians have debated the causes of this trend and some believe that parents deliberately select male children, through the process of infanticide, as they are perceived as being more valuable to society. Others have suggested that biological processes may be at work

Causes In biological terms, a population beyond its regional carrying capacity causes famine. While

the operative cause of famine is an imbalance of population with respect to food supply, the actual extent of famines depend on a combination of political, economic, and biological factors. Famines can be exacerbated by poor governance or inadequate logistics for food distribution. In some modern cases, it is political strife, poverty, and violence that disrupts the agricultural and food distribution processes.

The devastations brought on by famines are not accountable to one single event in a region. Rather, famines are brought on by an accumulation of events and policies that carry both “natural” and “artificial” characteristics. Floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other such disasters are part of the “natural” causes which are out of human control and oftentimes can lead to famines. On the other hand, wars, civil strife, government’s poor management of resources, and other similar events are viewed as the “artificial” causes which may also aid towards developing famine within a region. These events, both natural and artificial, do not generally work in isolation from one another. It is the combination of these causes which, over time, progressively erodes the capacity of countries and regions to deal with what could otherwise be "short-term shocks" to the land and its economy.

There is a particularly strong relationship between droughts, the subsequent demise of agriculture, and famines. However, droughts in many well-developed countries do not contribute to famines. On the other hand, a drought coupled with over populated areas, already existing inability to feed masses of people, and poor healthcare facilities easily tips the scales towards the mass devastations which result from famines in many developing countries. Poor healthcare and sanitation facilities brings about additional problems of diseases such as meningitis, malaria, and cholera. Under-nourished people are naturally more susceptible to these diseases and this only adds to the many factors which cause death and suffering in famine stricken regions.

While famines may appear to be similar across the globe, the policies from which they may attain relief differ immensely according to their governments, regions and the intensity and length of the famines. One “optimal solution” cannot be identified as the main means to cure the region that is affected.

Irish Potato Famine

Historical InformationThe Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1849 began as a

natural disaster but grew in severity due to social and political causes with the “actions and inactions” of the Whig government, headed by Lord John Russell. Divisions between Protestants and Catholics within British rule placed many restrictions on Irish Catholics. Under strictly enforced Penal Laws, Catholics, who were mostly Irish, were prevented from entering professions and from purchasing land. Along with it being illegal for Catholics to purchase land, it was also illegal for them to have an education, to speak or be taught in Gaelic, to hold office, vote, join the army, deal in trade, or practice their religion. Due to this form of discrimination, almost half the Irish population was forced to rent out small plots of land from “absentee British Protestant landlords.”

The peasants began to grow potatoes on their small plots of land as they could grow triple the amount of potatoes on the land compared to grain; an acre growing potato crops was able to feed a family for a year. It was estimated that about half of Ireland’s population was dependent on potatoes for survival and the crop provided approximately 60 percent of the nation’s food needs. In the summer of 1845, Ireland was struck with “potato blight” (Phytophthora infestans) and crops began to fail. Within six months there were large scale food shortages and by the following year, 1846, famine was a full grown epidemic throughout the land. Ironically in the initial year of the famine, although potato crops had failed, Ireland’s British lords were producing grain for export.

The Irish Potato Famine was the culmination of a social, biological, political, and economic catastrophe. In the colonial context of Ireland's domination by Britain, the root cause of the famine was perceived by many to be British policy. Certainly, the response of the British government was slow and inadequate. As diseases brought on by the famine worsened in the late 1840s, the British government began to implement changes to their laissez-faire economic policies and attempted to provide aid. By late 1847, soup kitchens and more grain began entering into Ireland, although they were poorly distributed and initially did very little to help.

The immediate after-effects of the famine continued until 1851. Much is unrecorded, but various estimates suggest that between five hundred thousand and more than 1 million people died in the years 1846 to 1849 as a result of hunger or disease. Also within a period of a decade, 1845-1855, it is estimated that close to two million people emigrated as a means to escape the devastations of the Irish Potato Famine.

Referenceshttp://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Irish_Potato_Faminehttp://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/

famine/http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/

entry/Famine#Characteristics_and_effectshttp://www.ohiohistory.org/

historyworksohio/timeline/timeline_display.cfm?ID=391