Seventeenth-Century Spread of the Potato in Europe

Timeline

1. 1651–1655Western and southern Ireland (Connaught, Munster) · ConnachtBy the early 1650s potatoes were widely grown in rural households across Ireland, especially in the west and south. Land confiscations and food shortages caused by Cromwell's military occupation (1649–1653) accelerated adoption of the potato as an alternative staple, its high yield on poor soils offsetting the risk of grain crop failures. Irish farmers' dependence on the potato ran far deeper than in other parts of Europe, setting the dietary pattern for the next two centuries.
2. 1652–1658Dutch Republic · Low CountriesThe Dutch Republic's horticultural tradition encouraged experimental potato cultivation, and agricultural publications and botanical gardens (such as the Leiden Botanical Garden) recorded the growth characteristics of different varieties. Potatoes here were used mainly as pig feed or supplementary food for the urban poor; wartime agriculture affected by the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War promoted its status as an emergency crop, but grain still predominated.
3. 1655–1660England · EnglandThe English naturalist John Gerard had long described the potato in his writings, yet in the 1650s it was still regarded as a curiosity of horticulture rather than a field crop. After the Restoration (1660) the potato appeared more commonly in the gardens of English country estates. France showed marked cultural resistance to the potato at the same time, with some regions believing it poisonous or a cause of leprosy; French adoption remained low until Parmentier's promotion in the 18th century.