1. The Irish Potato Famine 1845-1850
an Gorta Mór
The Irish Potato Famine

2. P. infestans
Phytophthora infestans causes the serious potato disease known as blight
Blight - any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts

3. Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food
Usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality.
Food shortages in a population are caused either by a lack of food or by difficulties in food distribution; it may be worsened by climate fluctuations and by extreme political conditions related to oppressive government or warfare.

4. Famine
Some elements make a particular region more vulnerable to famine. These include:
Poverty
Inappropriate physical infrastructure
Inappropriate social infrastructure
A suppressive political regime
A weak or under-prepared government

5. Famine One of the proportionally largest historical famines was
that of the Great Famine in Ireland.
It began in 1845 because of potato disease and occurred even as food was being shipped from Ireland to England.

6. Ireland’s Great Famine
ranks among the worst tragedies in the sweep of human history. Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases.

7. Ireland’s Great Famine
By 1855, more than two million more fled Ireland to avoid a similar fate. This decimation of her population makes Ireland’s Great Hunger both the worst chapter in the country’s history, and arguably, the single worst catastrophe in 19th century Europe.

8. Famine to Freedom: The Great Irish Journey
Famine to Freedom: The Great Irish Journey