NCERT · Class 10 · Social Science · History: The Making of a Global WorldHow did the introduction of potatoes change the lives of the poor in Europe?

The introduction of the humble potato significantly transformed the lives of the poor in Europe. It allowed them to eat better and live longer because it was cheap, nutritious, and easy to grow in poor soils. In Ireland, the poorest peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.