My family was in Ireland. 1817 wasn’t much different than 1617.

Heck no, Ireland was going gangbusters in the later part of those 200 years! [0] It's what came shortly after -- around 1845 -- that erased all the progress.

> No matter what degree of culpability should be assigned to Britain, the consequences of the famine to Ireland are indisputable: it broke the nation in half. At a million or more fatalities, it was one of the deadliest famines in history, in terms of percentage of population lost. A similar famine in the United States today would kill almost forty million people. Only the famine of 1918-22 in the Soviet Union may have been worse.

> Within a decade of the blight another two million fled Ireland. Many more followed in subsequent decades, inexorably driving its population down. The nation never regained its footing. As late as the 1960s its population was half what it had been in 1840.

> Today Ireland has the melancholy distinction of being the only nation in Europe, and perhaps the world, to have fewer people within the same boundaries than it did more than 150 years ago.

-- Transcribed from the book "1493" by Charles C. Mann.

[0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IrelandEuropePopulat...

> At a million or more fatalities, it was one of the deadliest famines in history, in terms of percentage of population lost

That accounts to 20-25% of the population, including emigration [0]

I found out the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon under Ottoman rule during 1915-1918 was much worse : 50% of the population (of 400 000) died. [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_Mount_Lebanon

The Turkish government instigated the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon during the time they were also committing the Armenian Genocide.

When few noticed, Adolf Hitler seems to have taken it heart[0]:

> "Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter -- with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It's a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me."

> "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

[0] http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hitler.html

Wow, thats seriously disgusting to read.

I've been quite aware of the history but to read how he takes inspiration of cruelty makes it even more disgusting.

(Oh, and yes I'm fully aware a number of others like the French terror reign, Pol Pot, Rwanda, China, former Yugoslavia, Japan/China, India/minorities, a number of colonies of Western countries, natives of south and north America but for some reason the Armenians seems to go unnoticed. Thanks for reminding.)

There are historical famines with as much as 90% fatalities among local populations. Losses of 20-50% are relatively common.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines

That's a fascinating fact as an Irish descendant in America of emigrants who left because of the famine, but I have to wonder if it's cherry picked. Is the same true of any number smaller than 100?

If I don't get an answer, I'll try to find some demographics numbers and figure it out tomorrow.