The Irish Famine Atlas

 

From 1845 to 1849 the potato blight sweeping across Europe caused a mass famine in Ireland. Ireland suffered much more than other European countries mainly due to the inadequate respone to the famine in Ireland by the British parliament in London. As a result of the famine around one million people died in Ireland and one million people emigrated. Overall the famine caused Ireland's population to decrease by a devastating 20%-25%.

The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine is an ongoing project by Irish broadcaster RTE to draw together historical records and research into the period known in Ireland as the Great Famine. The project includes an interactive map which allows you to visualize the effect of the famine on the Irish population.

Before and after the Great Irish Famine: an interactive map allows you to directly compare the Irish population from before and after the famine. A slide control on the map allows you to swipe between a choropleth map of the Irish population in 1841 and a map of the population in 1851, Swiping between the two maps reveals the stark effect of the famine on the population of Ireland. It shows that there were very few places in Ireland where the famine didn't have a devastating effect on the local population.

You can explore the effect of the Irish Famine on individual parishes in Ireland on the Irish Famine Project website. The Irish Famine Project's interactive map allows you to explore in more detail the effect of the Irish Famine on the population of every parish in the country. If you select a parish on the map you can view details on the parish's pre-famine and post-famine population and the overall percentage fall in the population.

The map uses data from a wide number of sources, including the 1841 and 1851 census. If you click on the 'more information' link in a parish's information window you can view a more detailed breakdown of the pre- and post-famine population. This includes details on the drop in the local male and female population.