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Article: Famine? What famine?(Ireland reluctant to commemorate the Great Famine)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 24, 1995
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BETWEEN 1845 and 1851 about 1.5m Irish people died of starvation and disease. Another 1m or so emigrated to America, many perishing on board the so-called "coffin ships", or in squalid compounds set up to house migrants on the east coast of the United States soon after they arrived. Seeing that Ireland is among the most fertile and rainy countries in Europe, the Great Famine beggars belief. How on earth could such a catastrophe have been allowed to happen? How could hundreds of thousands of people starve to death in the open air and in bothans (huts), while large amounts of grain and cattle continued to be shipped to England?
It seems strange that not many people in ...