Chalter 13: The Famine

Question 1

Tenant farmers

Answer 1

• these farmers rented a farm, often less than tn acres, from a landlord
• most tenant farmers lived in great poverty. They practised subsistence farming
• the main crop grown was the potato but tenant farmers also ate meat and other vegetables

Question 2

Cottiers

Answer 2

• This group worked for tenant farmers and rented a small patch of land from them on which to build a house. Renting a conacre to cottiers was a widespread practice but was kept a secret from land lords to avoid paying extra rent
• The cottiers diet relied only on the potato

Question 3

What was subsistence farming?

Answer 3

They grew enough just food to pay their rent and feed their family

Question 4

What was a conacre?

Answer 4

The name given to a patch of land rented by a cottier

Question 5

Why were lazy beds used and what were they?

Answer 5

They were used because in the west of Ireland the soil was often thin and of poor quality. Lazy beds were done by laying a potato seed along a piece of turf, then covering it with another layer of turf.

Question 6

Why was the potato the staple food?

Answer 6

• it is highly nutritous
• many potatos can be grown in a relatively small patch of land
• the potato crop is suited to the damp Irish climate

Question 7

Why was the arrival of the potato blight so disastrous?

Answer 7

It was very heavily relied on and there was only one type

Question 8

When did the potato blight arrive in Ireland?

Answer 8

1845

Question 9

What was the potato blight?

Answer 9

It was a fungus that attacked the potato while it grew in the ground. It rotted the potato and made it inedible.

Question 10

What was the worst year of the famine?

Answer 10

1847 (Black’ 47)

Question 11

What was done to alleviate the suffering of the famine?

Answer 11

• work schemes were set up (building of famine roads)
• workhouses were set up to clear the roads of starving people
• indian maize was imported

Question 12

Why was the distribution of indian maize not helpful?

Answer 12

There were no instructions on how to cook it, as a result many people starved and the maize gained the sinister nickname: Peel’s Brimstone

Question 13

What were the results of the famine?

Answer 13

-the population was halved, approximately 1 million people died and a futher 3 million emigrated, mainly to Britain or the US but so many oeople died on the journey to the States the ships transporting them became know as coffin ships
-Irish emigrants suffered discrimination in the places they arrived
-the use of the Irish langauge was greatly diminished because the place where it was the strongest was the west, which was also the place where the famine struck the hardest
-there was an increase in political activism. Many people were angry at the goverments response to the famine. Anger led to calls of a republic and the setting up of the IRA
-subdivision came to an end. Before the land would be divided equally between all the sons. This left a lot of people relying on a small patch of land for their food. After the famine land was left to the oldest son. This meant the younger sons were forced to emigrate.
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