In addition to the internal, geopolitical division of Ireland, several other important factors have further complicated and delayed the resolution of the modern Irish identity. One of these complicating factors is the existence of the Irish diaspora, the millions of Irish emigrants and their descendants who live outside of Ireland but claim Irish or part-Irish nationality. The large dispersion of the Irish people began during the Great Famine of 1845 when a large portion of the population emigrated to avoid starvation. The amount of Irish emigrants began to decline only toward the end of the twentieth century when Ireland finally became a legitimate global economic power. During this time, significant populations of Irish immigrants established themselves in the United States, Britain, Australia, and other parts of Europe, in decreasing order of population size. Moreover, because so many of these emigrants settled in the United States, some analysts argue that Ireland has inevitably turned into “an American country located on the wrong continent” (Gilroy 1993, xxii). Over time, each geographic population developed their own hybrid ideas of nationalism as a synthesis of their current environment, notions of displacement by the other (Britain), imaginary nostalgia for “the homeland,” and distorted understandings of the condition of the country. Given the enormous size of the diaspora compared to Ireland’s present population size, one cannot ignore its existence or its influence upon modern Irish nationalism. Though disparities exist between the “homeland” and the diasporan ideologies on Irish nationalism, there must exist some underlying themes that remain true to both the global and local Irish communities.