The Great Famine also referred to as "The Great Hunger", that lasted between 1845 and 1849. The famine was caused by the potato blight (fungus) that was inadvertently brought over initially from North America to mainland Europe and had eventually made its way to Ireland during the summer of 1845. It was not unusual to have crops that failed and people thought that it was just an isolated event. What the eight million people who lived in Ireland at the time did not realise was that the potato crops would fail for the next four years and that the disaster would lead to the deaths and the emigration of millions of its peoples to strange, foreign and distant lands. The potato was the staple diet for the Irish people at the time and was the only food that was affordable for the masses. Certain grains such as oats and wheat were grown, but were exported by the government as were cattle and pork. In just four years, Irelands was on its knees.

Over a million of its population would die from disease and starvation and through forced emigration, Irelands' population was reduced by almost a further two million people.    The initial efforts to alleviate the problems brought on by the failure of the potato crop were slow to be organised. As was mentioned earlier, it was not unusual to have a potato crop fail. People lived on their reserves and shared with those that were better of. Many of them had also eaten their seed potatoes, therefore depriving themselves of their next harvest as well, but as the years went on and the crops kept on failing the world slowly became aware of the plight of the Irish people. The British government's reaction at first was slow and some members also suggested that the problem was in Ireland and should be left to sort out or let it run its course despite the fact that other crops continued to be produced and exported while the people were dying. To make matters even worse, some landlords began to evict those tenants who could not pay their rent, sending them wandering aimlessly from town to town in the search of food. The town of Skibbereenlocated in the West Cork region was particularly affected to the extent that it became the rallying point for international efforts to help out. The United States who despite being at war with Mexico at the time, dispatched two warships (the Jamestown and the Macedonian) laden with supplies to assist the starving population.

Eventually groups such as the Quakers, set up soup kitchens in order to try to save the population. Another attempt by the government to get the most out of the already starving and disease ridden Irish was to establish Work houses for the starving. It was felt that they would feel more worthy knowing that they were not accepting food for free.These houses were soon themselves overwhelmed by the new arrivals. Another project that was started by the government was building of roads all across the country side. A physically demanding endeavour at the best of times proved to be deadly to many of the starving and weak workers.    Most of those that left Ireland had the desire to sail for the United States, but due to availability on ships, their religion as well as the prices of the tickets being cheaper, forced many to once again settle on lands that were owned by the British in British North America (Canada). The major port of departure was Cobh.(which incidentally was also the last port of call for the ill-fated Titanic on her maiden voyage), from which ships of every size and description, including - due to their lack of space, hygiene, amenities and general treatment by their crews - the dreaded coffin ships - set sail for ports in far away lands.

If being torn away from ones home and country was not enough for those suffering people, the voyage to the land of 'salvation' proved fatal to many of those who were ill as well as those who were not. Once on the ships, the emigrants were forced to endure the open seas in often unsafe ships that were originally built for transporting cargo back and forth to the new continent.    Typhus and other diseases, due to the lack of hygiene, was ever-present and wreaked havoc amongst the passengers and crew alike on these ships. In 1847, of the almost 100,000 people that sailed for Quebec, 5282 died during the crossing and a further 3389 succumbed to illness once they had arrived and put on the quarantine island of Grosse Isle that was located just a few kilometres from Quebec City. Through bad practices lack of space that was brought on by the sheer amount of people arriving daily to the Quarantine Centre, the healthy were placed amongst the ill, exposing them to the deadly typhus. Many of those who had arrived were children who had lost their parents on the passage. Many of those worked their way east and west to other parts of Canada, but most of those that had come to Canada in order to break their yolk from the Empire eventually fulfilled their long time desire and made their way south and crossed.In 1847 alone, over 37,000 Irish had arrived in Boston and over 50,000 more to New York.

Upon their arrival to the United States the new immigrants were greeted by a government that was openly anti-Catholic and signs advertising jobs also said "No Irish Need apply". The conditions at the American quarantine stations were much better than at Quebec and those who w12 October, 2008passed through Quebec.
At first the only jobs available to the Irish were physical and often quite dangerous jobs such as building the countries railroads, mining, road building and construction. Over the years the Irish with their hard work and perseverance started becoming successful and affluent in their new land. They are now amongst the highest average income earners in America. Many of them went on to become business tycoons such as Henry Ford, great military men and politicians. The best know of whom is John F. Kennedy, who was elected in 1960, becoming the first Catholic Irish-American president of the United States. His grandfather had emigrated from New Ross, County Wexford, in 1847.

In Ireland, several museums have been built in order to commemorate this tragic period of Irish history. The first official one was the Famine Museum situated in Strokestow, County Roscommon, which was opened by then President Mary Robinson. Robinson remarked during the launching of the Museum in 1991, "It is in this part of the country that the folk memory of the period is the strongest." Most importantly of all, however, is the fact that the Strokestown estate (where the museum is now housed) gained notoriety during one of the worst years of the famine when the landlord, Major Denis Mahon, was assassinated by his tenants following his attempt to clear the estate of two-thirds of its poverty-stricken and starving population through assisted passage to Canada and mass eviction. The archive of Famine related estate documents is, conceivably, the best single archive of its type anywhere in Ireland.
    In cobh.(known as Queenstown during that period) Co. Cork, you could visit the queenstown story at Cobh Heritage Centre.which was built in order to preserve the memory of the two and a half million Irish that left their country from that port between 1848 and 1950. The total for Ireland during this period was over six million.