between 1846 and 1854 about a million Irish died of starvation.During that time,more than one and a half million Irish left their country. Others left because they were not allowed to worship as they wanted.There were other good reasons why so many Irish left their homeland. The main reason was the potato famine. For years,the potatoes would not grow in Ireland.They had a disease and because of this many people died of starvation.