The Irish famine of 1879 was the last main famine in Ireland. Unlike the earlier Great Famines of 1740–1741 and 1845–1852, the 1879 famine (sometimes called the "mini-famine" or an Gorta Beag) caused hunger rather than mass deaths and was largely focused in the west of Ireland.
The famine is in part attributed to the economic effects of the Long Depression (1873–1879/1899). The most severely affected area was the province of Connacht. By the end of 1879, newspapers were reporting severe distress amongst tenants in all parts of Ireland traditionally dependent on the potato, with only 1.4 tons produced per statute acre (3.5 tons per hectare) in County Mayo, the lowest in a decade and under half the previous year's harvest. Despite the relatively small scale of this famine, its appearance caused widespread panic among the Irish people. Many of the adults of the period had experienced the Great Famine of 1845–1852 as children and were terrified that their families faced a repeat of the widespread deaths, and in particular a repeat of "Black '47". An increase in emigration occurred, as did a move from foodless parts of rural Ireland into major cities and towns. However, the population moves proved temporary. With the re-appearance of the harvest in 1880, many of those who had fled to urban centres repopulated the areas they had left.
The famine caused relatively few deaths due to the efforts at famine relief. The politicians Charles Stewart Parnell of the Home Rule League and Mich
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