From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
boycott
is a
protest
where the protesters do not buy a
product
or give money to a
company
. Instead of buying a certain product, they might also buy another, very similar product from a different company.
The word was made during the
Irish Land War'
. It comes from the name of Captain
Charles Boycott
. Boycott was in charge of looking after the land of a
landlord
in
County Mayo
,
Ireland
. In 1880, the
tenants
(those who
rented
) wanted their rent lowered. Boycott refused, and threw them out of the land they had rented. The Irish Land League then proposed that instead of becoming
violent
, everyone in the community should stop doing business with Captain Boycott. The captain was soon isolated. No one helped him with the
harvest
, no one worked in his
stables
or his house. Local businessmen no longer traded with him, the
postman
no longer delivered his post.
To get his harvest done, he had to hire 50 people from other counties, the counties
Cavan
and
Monaghan
. They were escorted to and from their work by 1000 policemen. Of course, this cost far more than what the harvest was worth.