Irish Ireland

In their long history of suffering, nothing was ever so terrible as what the Irish endured during the Great Potato Famine that struck the country in the 1840s and produced massive upheaval for several years. While countless numbers of Irish starved, the famine also compelled many to leave, and all the while, the British were exporting enough food from Ireland on a daily basis to prevent the starvation. Over the course of 10 years, the population of Ireland decreased by about 1.5 million people, and taken together, these facts have led to charges as severe as genocide.

Irish contributions to American life from corned beef and cabbage to submarines: These are just a few of the wonderful things that make America the warm-hearted, good-humored, flag-waving country that it has been for 250 years, and they all came from the grand green land of Ireland. Since Patrick Maguire stepped off the decks of Columbus’ Santa Maria ship in 1492 to drag his dinghy onto the shores of San Salvador, the Irish have had one foot in the muddy black soil and brilliant green grass of Ireland and one on the mountains and lakes and prairies of the Land of the Free.