"How the Irish Famine changed New York City forever"

"Thanks to emigration triggered by the Famine, people born in Ireland comprised almost one third of the total population of New York by 1855. The city was changed forever - but how? Anelise Hanson Shrout explains.

In the decade following the 1845 appearance of the potato blight, over 900,000 Irish emigrants entered the port of New York. By 1855 Irish-born New Yorkers comprised almost one third of the city's total population. By the end of the nineteenth century New York was the largest urban Irish settlement in the world. This Famine immigration fundamentally changed the institutional, social and political character of the city."

Thanks to emigration triggered by the Famine, people born in Ireland comprised almost one third of the total population of New York by 1855. The city was changed forever - but how? Anelise Hanson Shrout explains.

In the decade following the 1845 appearance of the potato blight, over 900,000 Irish emigrants entered the port of New York. By 1855 Irish-born New Yorkers comprised almost one third of the city's total population. By the end of the nineteenth century New York was the largest urban Irish settlement in the world. This Famine immigration fundamentally changed the institutional, social and political character of the city.