The failure of the Irish potato crop in 1845, 1846 and 1848, due to potato blight had disasterous consequences for the people of Ireland, many of whom relied on this staple crop. More than a million died of starvation and disease, and by 1856 over two and a half million had been forced to emigrate. The crisis was worsened by unsympathetic landlords who often continued collecting rents. The famine had far-reaching effects: mass emigration became a way of life and many rural communities, particularly in the far west, were decimated.
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