Why had the potato become the staple diet in Ireland in the 1840s?

Why had the potato become the staple diet in Ireland in the 1840's The introduction of the potato in the sixteenth century heavily influenced Irish culture, including its agriculture and the fluctuation of its population. The reason the Irish became so dependant on the potato was due to the colonial system. When Britain was experiencing an industrial revolution, Ireland failed to do so due to a lack of natural resources such as iron ore and …

…British colonialism in Ireland and stated 20)'It is a frightful document against ourselves. One of the most melancholy stories in the whole world of insolence, rapine, brutal, endless slaughter and persecution on the part of the English master. There is no crime ever invented by eastern or western barbarians, no torture or Romans persecution or Spanish inquisition, no tyranny of Nero or Alva but can be matched in the history of England and Ireland.'