How it All Started
During the first half of the nineteenth century, the population of Ireland reached 8.5 million people. The Irish population became dependent on potatoes because the potato produced triple the amount of grain per acre and they could be sold for income. Then the disease known as phytophthora came to Ireland and spread through the country very fast, first causing the leaves to turn brown or black, then the same thing happened to the potatoes. It is believed that the blight was caused "by static electricity" , smoke from railroad locamotives or "mortiferous vapours" that rose from underground volcanoes but the fungus came from Mexico.
What is a Famine?
"A famine is an extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or large geographical area."
This is what the leaves and potatoes looked liked when they were infected with blight.