Irish Canadians
The first waves of Irish immigrants took place between 1763 and 1880. when ten thousand Irish immigrants arrived on the Island. From 1800 to 1850, "10,000 immigrants from every county in Ireland" had settled in Prince Edward Island and represented 25% of the Island population by 1850.
Irish Americans
Irish speakers continued to arrive in large numbers throughout the 19th century, particularly after the Famine. There was a certain amount of literacy in Irish, as shown by the many Irish-language manuscripts which immigrants brought with them. In 1881 "An Gaodhal" was founded, being the first newspaper in the world to be largely in Irish. It continued to be published into the 20th century, and now has an online successor in "An Gael", an international literary magazine. A number of Irish immigrant newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries had Irish language columns.