An diaspóra — where your people went

Trails of the Irish

Ireland's greatest export was always its people. Follow the trails: monks to the Alps, slaves to Iceland, soldiers to France and Spain, coffin ships to New York, sheep-farmers to the Pampas. Tap a trail for its story.

70 million+people worldwide claim Irish descent — more than ten times the island's population.

40%of all Irish-born people were living abroad in 1890.

8.2 → 4.4 millionthe island's population fall from 1841 to 1911.

35 million+Americans report Irish ancestry — the second-largest reported ethnic group, after German Americans.

Arcs are schematic. Figures are commonly cited estimates — each story links to its source.

Choose a trail

Where did your people go?

Tap any glowing point on the map — or pick from the list — to read that journey's story.

All trails

The ports they left from

What the town histories on this site record about emigration through Irish ports, each from the town's own Wikipedia article:

Cobh (Queenstown) — the port of departure for 2.5 million of the 6 million Irish who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950, and for many transported to penal colonies in Australia. On 11 April 1912 it was the Titanic's last port of call.
Derry — during the Great Famine vast numbers of Donegal's people emigrated, chiefly through the port on the Foyle.
Kinsale — the Virginia trading fleet made the harbour its safest destination in wartime.
Dingle — earlier travellers: in the Middle Ages pilgrims sailed from here for Santiago de Compostela.

Only what the sources state is given here; ports whose articles give no emigration figures are not guessed at. How the counties emptied, census by census → · The Irish place names they took with them → · Emigration, decade by decade → · Famous Irish-born emigrants →