Why Irish Left Ireland

During the 19th century in Ireland, the living conditions of the Irish people changed dramatically with the cause of a natural disaster known as the potato famine. The potato famine was a huge factor which caused the Irish to migrant into England where they became impoverished by the British government. Irish people were recognized as "Seasonal Migrants", this meant that they would migrate to England during particular seasons for agricultural purposes. They would often plant potatoes in Ireland and leave to grow during the summer, then they would migrate to England to partake in summer harvesting. After the season is finished, most Irish go back to Ireland so they can harvest their own land. The affects of the Potato Famine in 1822 caused "seasonal" Irish to stay in England after two years of crop destruction. "Fames" is the Latin word for hunger which generally is described as severe shortage of food and poverty which can be inevitable to droughts, floods, wars and very miserable people. Irish had to put up with these conditions for up to two years. The potato famine "eliminated an important food source and increase the urgency for repeal of the "Corn Laws" .

One of the main reasons the Irish fled from Irieland into London was because of the Potato Famine in 1846. The Potato Famine in Ireland lasted four devastating years killing up to as many as one million people. It began with a blighted potato crop, infested with disease and rotted farmland. People starved and those who ate the rotten crops grew sick and infected their entire village with diseases such as cholera and typhus.

Most landlords evicted up to a thousand peasants, others were rich enough to pay for their tenants to emigrate into another English-speaking country like America or England. Although some Irish were free to emigrate out of Ireland, one third otf the people on the ships (known as "Coffin ships" died from disease and starvation just the same. The population in Ireland significantly dropped from 8-million to 5-million due to emigration and the lives loss caused by starvation, deisease and homelessness. England was nothing like paradise for Irish immigrants. The Irish were religiously and racially persecuted and did not receive fair opportunities because of their differences. The Irish in London became the source of cheap and fast labor.