CatastropheThe 1840s

Catastrophe in the 1840s

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters, narrowed to the 1840s — 2 of them, drawn from 2 nations, all of it in 1845. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
2
Nations
2
Earliest
1845
Latest
1845

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Europe

    Ireland

    The Great Famine (An Gorta Mór)

    Potato blight destroyed Ireland's staple crop from 1845; about a million people died and a million more emigrated, and the population fell sharply even as food continued to be exported amid an inadequate British relief effort.

    Era: Union, Famine and the National Movement

    Sources: Irish Potato Famine: Date, Cause & Great Hunger · HISTORY, The Great Hunger: The History of An Gorta Mór · The Irish Memorial, Philadelphia

  2. Europe

    United Kingdom

    The Great Irish Famine

    Potato blight and an inadequate, laissez-faire government response caused mass starvation in Ireland, killing roughly a million people and forcing about a million more to emigrate.

    Era: Empire, industry, and the Victorian age

    Sources: The Great Famine · UK Parliament, Great Famine (Irish history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica