the USA exported the blight to Ireland, so it seems to have been the proximate cause of the famine.
I read the article. It stated that
The origin of the fungal organism responsible, Phytophthora infestans, has been traced to a valley in the highlands of central Mexico, and the first recorded instances of the disease are in the United States, with the sudden and mysterious destruction of potato crops around Philadelphia and New York in early 1843. Within months, winds spread the rapidly reproducing airborne spores of the disease, and by 1845 it had destroyed potato crops from Illinois east to Nova Scotia, and from Virginia north to Ontario.
It then crossed the Atlantic with a shipment of seed potatoes ordered by Belgian farmers. They had been hoping that fresh stock would improve their yields. Unhappily, it brought the seeds of devastation.
The "USA" didn't do squat. I don't know where the author got his info, but if it's correct, it sounds like people at the time didn't know exactly the cause of the problem, and weren't aware that that particular shipment of potatoes were infected.
Blaming England seems equally ridiculous.
Just from reading your citation, the English government's response to the potato famine crisis was pathetic. They deserve a lot of blame. |
