The Great Famine of 1845

The Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and immigration in Ireland, between 1845 and 1852. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more immmigrated from Ireland.causing Ireland's population to drop by about 25%. The cause of famine was the potato blight, and although much of Europe was affected by the loss of potato crops, the impact in Ireland was great as a third of the population was dependent of the potato for food. There are a host of other factors that keep this a subject of hot debate, one being that while the Irish people were starving to death, food was being exported from Ireland to Great Britain.