The end of 1800’s was characterized by mass emigration of Irish population to the United States of America. For many of them, it was the only way to survive. Such transfer of population was caused by a great variety of factors, namely resource, economic, and social ones.
One of the key reasons for Irish to leave their native land was the problem with resources. According to the documentary “The Great Famine,” in 1845, all citizens witnessed the greatest and the most terrible famine in the history of the state. Since all landowners cropped mostly potato since the climate and the soil were not appropriate for any other plants, a new plant disease made thousands of people starve to death. The government of the country represented by the Whigs, in its turn, refused to import food from other countries pursuing the free trade policy. More than that, almost all money were concentrated in the hands of a few landowners, while ordinary people had to rent land. Under the condition of famine, when the crops were very poor, many of them had no money to pay the lords and were forced to leave their homes.
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Apart from the above-mentioned factors, there were numerous social problems in the country. First, there was a harsh religious discrimination of Roman Catholics by wealthy Protestants. Moreover, due to the fact that most people did not have enough food and became homeless, a chain of epidemics affected almost the whole Irish population. Typhus, anemia, and pneumonia contributed to the deplorable condition of the state making those people who managed to survive leave their country.
Summing up, the emigration of Irish to the USA that started in the middle of the nineteenth century was caused by the resource, economic, and social problems. A huge part of the population, especially women and children, died of hunger and various diseases. Those who survived, seeing no other way out, left the country searching for a place to start a new life.
- “The Great Famine – Part 1 of 2 (BBC 1995).” YouTube, uploaded by Batrachious, 9 Oct. 2012
