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I was always taught that one of the reasons for the Irish Potato Famine were that the English (feudal overlords at the time) forced the Irish to grow potatoes f
by marcus_holmes 3y ago
I was always taught that one of the reasons for the Irish Potato Famine were that the English (feudal overlords at the time) forced the Irish to grow potatoes for export.
Not unusual; the British did the same with sheep in Australia to feed the British wool industry which caused ecological mayhem here too.
- username332211 3y agoThat doesn't make sense. Potatoes have never been a particularly good cash crop. What they are marvelous at is subsistence agriculture. In their own lands the feudal overlords had eliminated both feudal overlordship and subsistence agriculture trough some incredibly unpopular land reforms - the highland clearances of Scotland and the enclosure acts of England. Basically they told the peasants the land is now property of the feudal overlord and that they should get a job. For various political reasons nobody wanted to do the same in Ireland.