The Irish famine of 1740–1741: famine vulnerability and "climate migration"

摘要

The "Great Frost" of 1740 was one of the coldest winters of the eighteenthcentury and impacted many countries all over Europe. The years 1740–1741 havelong been known as a period of general crisis caused by harvest failures,high prices for staple foods, and excess mortality. Vulnerabilities, copingcapacities and adaptation processes varied considerably among differentcountries. This paper investigates the famine of 1740–1741 in Ireland applyinga multi-indicator model developed specifically for the integration of ananalysis of pre-famine vulnerability, the Famine Vulnerability AnalysisModel (FVAM). Our focus is on Ireland, because famine has played a moreoutstanding role in Irish national history than in any other Europeancountry, due to the "Great Famine" of 1845–1852 and its long-termdemographic effects. Our analysis shows that Ireland was alreadyparticularly vulnerable to famine in the first half of the eighteenthcentury. During and after the experience of hardship in 1740–1741, many Irishmoved within Ireland or left the country entirely. We regard migration as aform of adaptation and argue that Irish migration in 1740–1741 should be consideredas a case of climate-induced migration.