The Irish History Podcast’s third installment in the Great Famine series – life in Ireland on the brink

This is the third installment of the Irish History Podcast’s Great Famine series. The Great Famine is the most important event in modern Irish history. It changed Ireland, and indeed, the world forever. While one million perished from starvation and disease, our ancestors also struggled to survive.

Read more: Rents, riots and volcanoes – Ireland on the brink of the Great Hunger

In 1845 the population of Ireland was heading towards 9 million with many people surviving on a diet of potatoes. This has led many to claim that the island was over-populated, and, so, that was the cause of the Great Famine.

This is not true.

In this podcast I head to a remote village of Inver in County Mayo to investigate exactly how many people lived in Ireland in 1845, what was their standard of living, and whether the people were healthy on the eve of the Great Famine. The answers are surprising to say the least.

Read more: Storm brought salvation during the Great Famine to a Kerry community

* Fin Dwyer is a historian, author, and creator of the Irish history podcast. Over the last seven years, he has been creating free podcasts which makes Irish history accessible to new audiences. He has covered diverse topics from the Middle Ages to the modern history. He is currently focusing on the story of the Great Hunger. With over three million individuals downloads, the show is one of Ireland's most popular podcasts. You can find his podcast oniTunes.

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