citationpod
patreon
The Irish Holocaust
🕑 Added 2021-03-17 13:36:13 +0000 UTCThe Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór [anˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), also known as the Great Hunger, the Great Starvation, the Famine (mostly within Ireland) or the Irish Potato Famine (mostly outside Ireland),[1][2] was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852.[3] With the most severely affected areas in the west and south of Ireland, where the Irish language was dominant, the period was contemporaneously known in Irish as An Drochshaol,[4] loosely translated as "the hard times" (or literally "the bad life"). The worst year of the period was 1847, known as "Black '47".[5][6] During the Great Hunger, about 1 million people died and more than a million fled the country,[7] causing the country's population to fall by 20%–25%, in some towns falling as much as 67% between 1841 and 1851.[8][9][10] Between 1845 and 1855, no less than 2.1 million people left Ireland, primarily on packet ships but also steamboats and barks—one of the greatest mass exoduses from a single island in history.[11][12]
Comments
Claire Nollet
It's rumored that my ancestor, James McMahon, left Ireland so he wouldn't have to become a "souper."
Kevin
PS If you need a replacement host after Heath murders Eli for whatever joke he just made about the Dublin Zoo, I'm totally available. I am also from and live in New Jersey so you won't lose that punching bag.
Kevin
It's always true, even if it's not! Be proud of that shit!
Kevin
Given who you guys are, I'm surprised you skipped over the "Rumors" ::Cough::Fuck Religious People ::Cough:: that protestant soup kitchens setup to feed the starving Irish would only feed them if they converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. The families who were desperate enough to agree were ostracized in society and giving the moniker "Soupers" and even had to be protected by British soldiers from other Catholics on occasion. Here's a fun fact not in the article which I am adding to it: Rich English Chef Alexis Soyer who set up a soup kitchen in Dublin would supplement his costs by allowing other rich people to come in and watch the poor and starving eat for 5 shillings. (To add insult to injury, The Dublin Zoo cost 6 shillings for admission at the time).
Julie Haynes
Loved this podcast. My maternal ancestor, John Toomey, was from Meath - and immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1800s. The family story was that he had to leave to avoid being hung by the British - but not sure if that's true.
