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How Britain Starved Ireland...On Purpose
It was St Patrick’s Day last week, and while most people around the world enjoyed the promotions on pints, I can’t help thinking about potatoes. You see, the Irish diaspora is the way it is today mainly due to the Irish Potato Famine. Here’s the rundown:
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Blight: 🤢
19th Century Irish were heavily dependent on potatoes as their staple food.
A disease called Blight affected their potato crops, which led to mass starvation and mass migration overseas.
This is the simplified story you often hear.
Whilst many Irish starved to death, as Blight disease attacked their main food, they were also under attack by a parasite called the British.
The British: 💲
As Britain became the richest country at that time, neighbouring Ireland was kept extremely poor.
The British saw the Irish as “the other” and were seen as “lazy”, “barbaric” and “barely human”.
Almost all the land in Ireland was owned by English landlords who’ve never even been to Ireland and extracted exorbitant rents.
The Irish farmlands were used to graze sheep, pigs and cattle, which were all exported to Britain.
Any wheat and grain harvested were also shipped to Britain.
Ireland was run just like any other British colony.
It was under these circumstances that the Irish could only rely on the hardy potato and were hit hard when the potato perished.
When the famine was raging over Ireland, Irish beef, mutton, pork, and grains were still being exported to Britain. That was enough food to feed the entire Irish population at that time.
The British government allowed the famine to happen. They were adamant that laissez-faire (free-market being left alone) would solve the problem on its own.
But of course, the famine only got worse.
Fearing an uprising from the Irish, the British, instead of sending more food to end the hunger, sent troops instead.
Today, over 150 years after the famine, Ireland’s population still has not reached pre-famine level. The current population is almost 5 million. In 1840s Ireland, the population was around 8 million. The free market does regulate itself, but what good does the regulation bring if it doesn’t take human wellbeing as a key performance indicator?
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