lol
The Irish weren't persecuted. At least, not in the common sense of the word. British yoke, indeed.
I expect you're one of those people that sympathises with the IRA, right? Freedom fighters, not terrorists, eh?
As a matter of historical fact, the Irish were treated far worse in the US than they were in their native Ireland. It is amazing to think that with all the persecuting us dastardly Brits were doing of the poor, down-trodden Irish people, that Ireland *still* managed to become the most densely populated country in Europe.
Irish emigration
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I'm not sure what dictionary you are using, so here's one for you:
The Irish WERE persecuted, their land was confiscated and they suffered for their religion.
From the primary school link you provided:
From the wiki:
What did Cromwell do? I'm glad you asked:
Oh, and let's see those figures in context, shall we:
And, just because the emigrants were treated poorly in Ireland doesn't preclude them being treated as bad or worse in the countries to where they emigrated.
At no point did I sympathize with the IRA (nice deductive fallacy of the hasty generalization variety).