Why did so many people die during the Irish potato famine? Couldn’t they have imported food from the mainland?
In: 17
It wasn’t about the amount of food available. It was about the ability to buy it. Most Irish people lived on rented land, worked for the landlord, and ate the potatoes they could grow in their gardens.
When the potato crop failed they had no money to buy other food. Other food was still being grown, and exported, because that’s where the buyers were.
In other parts of Europe (including England) the potato crop also failed, but more people were involved in a cash economy, working and being paid in cash, so they just bought other food.
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