As a New Zealander, I find myself one of the majority in my country who are descendants of either the English, Scottish or Irish. One of the main factors for these early settlers to come out to New Zealand and various other parts of the globe can be directly attributed to An Gorta Mór, meaning "the great hunger", which was the result of the Great Irish Potato Famine, and this became a watershed in the history of Ireland. It changed the country's demographic, political and cultural landscape forever. Between 1845 and 1852 the island's population dropped by 20–25 percent.Approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland resulting in the Irish Diaspora - the Irish emigrants and their decendants - which spread into countries such as the UK, USA, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and various states of the Caribbean and continental Europe. The Diaspora, roughly interpreted, consists of over 80 million people now existing worldwide claiming some sort of Irish descent, being over thirteen times the current population of the islands of Ireland.
Memorials throughout Ireland appear, immortalising the Great Famines' memory forever, including at Custom House Quays in Dublin, the thins sculptural figures, by artist Rowan Gillespie, who stand as if walking toward the emigration ships on the Dublin Quayside.
