27. A Dark Chapter in Irish History
One of Ireland’s darkest moments occurred in the nineteenth century, in large part because of British misrule. England began colonizing Ireland in the twelfth century. Over time, the colonists exploited the island, dispossessed the natives of the best lands, and literally lorded it over the locals. By the nineteenth century, Ireland was an agricultural nation, populated by about eight million people who were amongst the poorest in the Western World. Most Irish were illiterate, life expectancy was short, and infant mortality was high.
A predominately Protestant Anglo-Irish hereditary ruling caste owned most of the land, which had been confiscated from the native Irish Catholics. Most landowners were absentee landlords who seldom visited their estates, but simply lived off their rents, often quite lavishly. Their tenants were poor Catholic farmers who scratched a subsistence living from plots that kept shrinking over the generations.