A History question, The irish came here because of the potato famine,?

Question

Potatoes however were brought there from the Americas AFTER christopher columbus.What did the irish eat before they had potatoes ?

thomas f must hae a bad day , he completely misunderstood the question.It was not meant to be negative in any way

Answer 1

It is true that the potatoe was brought back to Europe from America and that the Irish, like most europeans of the time had a diet which consisted of a variety, albeit bland, selection of foods. That all changed in during the period of 1700-1800. The potatoe famine was due to several economic reasons. The most important was land ownership. At the time, the majority of farm land in Ireland was owned by English landlords, who lived in Britain, and was farmed by Irishman who were paid by the landlords in crops and money; mostly it was paid in crops. The soil in Ireland was ideally suited for growing potatoes compared to the soil in England, Wales, or Scotland. Becasue of this, the majority of the crops grown in Ireland were potatoes which were sold/traded on the european markets for money (which could be used to buy grain) or for other crops directly. When the crops failed, there were no potatoes to sell or trade, and since the majority of the farmland was engaged in potatoe farming, there wasn't enough grain to sustain the population; hence the famine.

ps
this was done WITHOUT Wikipedia

Answer 2

The pre-Columbian Irish had a varied agriculture but one of their chief crops was turnips. The potato almost completely replaced other crops once it was introduced, largely because of the ease of growing them compared to some more labor intensive vegetables and tubers. Becoming a mono-agricultural society made the potato famine far worse than it would have been had the Irish merely used them in addition to other crops that would not have been susceptible to the blight that wiped out the potatoes.

Answer 3

Before the potato, was introduced in Ireland, the people lived off of regular foods such as beef , poultry, and grain. The English brought the potato to Ireland as a cheap foodstuff that the peasents could live on, while the rest of the agricultural produce (beef, grain, poultry) could be shipped to England.

When the potato famine hit, only the potato crop failed; all the food stock was unaffected.
The English however, continued to export this food stock, while 3/4 of Ireland starved to death.

This lead to mass death and mass immigration.

As you can see, as a commentor of that period observed - "God created the potato blight, but the English created the famine."

Answer 4

stuff everyone else ate in europe before potatoes came from Peru (namely though others had different kinds) when potatoes came all countries but france took to them (france thought they were scariligeious) however the potatoe thrived in Irish conditions and quickly came dependent on them. yadda yadda then the potatoe famine

Answer 5

Well most died of starvation or they ate anything they could get there hands on, but I see you alomst take pleasure in the question that undermines millions of horrible deaths to adults and children that nearly wiped out an entire nation - I do believe in one question you have brought smug to a whole new level you must be so proud.

Answer 6

in part yes. but, they came here because they were poor and wanted a better life,like all the other people who come many were illegal , still coming till a few years back. no one said any thing much about ALL the ILLEGALS from Europe. They eat mostly barely,oats, in a gruel.

Answer 7

Cereal grains, wheat, barley, rye

Answer 8

bread