the potato was the only crop that would flourish in these conditions. Due to these factors the potato became the basic food source for Irish peasants.During the Napoleonic Wars, the French isolated Great Britain; the English took advantage of Ireland’s resources. Over the next ten years, grain and livestock, exported from Ireland, fed the British army and the factory workers who produced war materials. England’s economy fell into a post-war depression after 1815, and created further problems among Irish farmers. “Wheat prices fell by one third promoting the London Parliament to pass the Corn Law. Thin legislation, ostensibly enacted to “save the farmer” excluded imported grain (except from captive Ireland) from the British Isles until the price of domestic cereals reached a profitable target price in the marketplace. Although the law led to continued growth in the export of grain from Ireland to England, guaranteed minimum prices favored the landlords and led to greater dependence on the potato.”Wars and rebellions were commonplace in seventeenth century Ireland. Sociopolitical conditions were yet another reinforcement that made the potato an ideal crop. “Potatoes were not easily trampled by calvary and did not require warehouses that could be burned by marauding armies.” Potatoes were ideal in their ease of preparation and long shelf life, good source of nutrition, as well as filling, when prepared with butter and milk. Potatoes were also ideal because they did not require more fuel or new utensils to prepare. In Ireland the common method of preparation boiling food and if stored in a cool dark place, could be kept for long lengths of time.III. British racism toward the Irish contributed to starvationSince the Norman Invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, the English took an attitude of racism toward the Irish. It was this viewpoint that hindered the Irish from receiving ad...
