The event usually called “the Potato Famine” (the Irish Great Famine) took place mainly from 1845 to 1849 , with its worst years between 1846 and 1848.

Quick Scoop

  • Historians generally date the Irish Potato Famine to 1845–1849 , when repeated failures of the potato crop caused mass starvation and disease.
  • The first major potato blight hit Ireland in 1845 , destroying a large part of the harvest.
  • The famine conditions were most severe in 1846–1847 , when successive failures and poor relief policies led to huge suffering.
  • Many scholars consider the broader crisis to have lasted into the early 1850s , as population loss through death and emigration continued even after the worst crop failures ended.

A tiny bit of context

The famine is often called the Great Famine or Great Hunger because around one million people died and another one to two million emigrated , reshaping Ireland’s society and its global diaspora. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.