Great Irish Famine

During the years of the Irish Famine, Ireland produced enough food, flax and wool not only to feed and clothe its nine million people, but enough for eighteen million.[103] Historians argue that in this sense the famine was artificial, not caused by a shortage of food but by the British government's choice not to close the ports as had been done in previous Irish crop blights; as John Mitchell put it, "The Almighty sent the potato blight... but the English created the famine". Records show that Ireland exported food during the Famine