| Ireland's History |
| 1800 - 1900 |
| History - Part 4 |
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1800 Act of Union politically unites Ireland and Britain.
1823 Daniel O'Connell founds the Catholic Association in order to gain political equality for Catholics.
1829 The Act of Emancipation entitles a certain number of (wealthy) Catholics to voting and becoming MPs.
1845 – 1851 The Great Famine
A blight hits the potato crop, which is the staple food for millions of people in Ireland. The prices go up, but farmers are poor and already high in debts, and can hardly afford the |
potatoes available. Their debt growing even higher, they are evicted by the landlords or sent to work in workhouses.
While millions of Irish people are starving, the country is still forced to export its harvests of wheat, its dairy products and its cattle, which could feed the entire population. As a result, mass emigration begins, which will last for the next 100 years.
1879 – 1882 The Land War
The potato crop begins to fail again and Ireland prepares to face another famine. Charles Stewart Parnell, the son of a Protestant landowner from Wickow, and MIchael Davitt, a Fenian, form the Land League, aiming at gaining lower rents and better working conditions for tenants.
1881 The Land Act grants tenants the right to possess their own land and establishes fairer rents. |
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