The worst famines in human history

Top 8 most terrible famines in history

1. Great Famine in China (1959-1961)

The Great Famine in China (1959-1961).

The Great Famine in China is the worst famine in human history. Historically, the famine started in 1959 and continued until 1961. This was not a disaster caused by a drought or a plant virus that wiped out crops or anything like that; This famine was the result of the 'Great Leap Forward', a period in which millions of Chinese farmers were forced to become miners.

The plan to switch from farming to mining did not even create a productive steel industry. Instead, inexperienced miners tried melting metal in clay furnaces and produced mostly worthless piles of low-quality metal. As a result, people in one-third of China's provinces faced food shortages, and by 1961, about 30 million people had starved to death.

2. Famine in China in 1907

Famine in China in 1907.

According to the 'Encyclopedia of Disaster Relief', the Chinese Famine of 1907 was the second worst in history, roughly equal to the Great Famine of China that began more than half a century later. This disaster preceded Communism and the Great Leap Forward, during the Qing Dynasty, but unlike the 1959 Famine, was largely caused by an environmental disaster.

Heavy rains and floods during the 1906 growing season wiped out over 40,000 square miles of cropland in Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu provinces, and Chinese farmers learned to grow imported crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, and the use of new techniques such as terrace farming, better irrigation, and grain storage. However, that was not enough to stop the famine, and by early 1907, about 4 million people were starving. Food riots broke out across the country, and starving people congregated in overcrowded refugee camps, where diseases like smallpox raged and killed more people.

Ultimately, the famine killed an estimated 25 million people and also contributed to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, not because the Qing caused the famine but because of their failure to manage the disaster.

3. Famine of the Skull (1788-1794)

Skull Famine (1788-1794) in India.

A famine in 18th century India became known as the 'Skull Famine'. According to the Journal of Medieval History, the famine of 1791 was so named because, at worst, the victims were not buried, and their skulls scattered across the ground.

Trong giai đoạn 1788-1794, nạn đói đã ảnh hưởng đến hầu hết Ấn Độ, gây ra bởi một loạt các đợt hạn hán xen kẽ và các sự kiện thời tiết El Nino nghiêm trọng, tình trạng có thể kéo dài đến 8 năm. Đến năm 1792, 600.000 người đã chết trên khắp 167 quận ở Ấn Độ. Những người chết phần lớn được cho là do hạn hán, nhưng những đợt mưa dữ dội trong khoảng thời gian ngắn cũng được ghi nhận. Điển hình, vào tháng 10/1791, lượng mưa đã giảm sâu chỉ trong ba ngày, điều kiện tồi tệ đến mức ở một số tỉnh, có tới 1/3 số ngôi làng bị bỏ hoang. Vào thời điểm nạn đói kết thúc, khoảng 11 triệu người dân ở Ấn Độ đã chết.

4. Nạn đói Bengali năm 1770

Nạn đói Bengali năm 1770.

During the 18th century, British colonization was the cause of many famines on the Indian subcontinent. In fact, according to the Journal of Medieval History, there were at least 12 different famines between 1765 and 1858. At that time, the prevailing theory among the colonists was that the famine was which is good because they control the population - that is, the poor population in India.

The 1770 famine occurred after the monsoons that hit India in 1768 left the rice fields arid. Already arid conditions were made worse by a drought that affected most of Bengal and lasted for at least six months. Contemporary reports say that one-third of the population of Purnea province has starved to death and many of them have not fled to Nepal. By the end of the famine of 1770, 10 million people had died.

5. Famine in Persia (1917-1919)

Famine in Persia (1917-1919).

In 1917, the British decided to invade Iran and then went on to cause a famine that killed between 8 and 10 million people. The famine in Iran (Old Persia) began when the British deliberately bought only local food reserves and put it all in storage, leaving the locals with nothing to eat. Records released at the time asserted that this was because the British needed food to supply troops stationed in Iran, Iraq and Russia.

All of this is made worse by widespread drought and disease, affecting crops and making already scarce food even more scarce. At the height of the famine, local newspapers reported, thousands of people died every day, and unburied corpses filled the streets and alleys of Tehran.

6. Famine in Russia (1921-1922)

Famine in Russia (1921-1922).

According to the Warwick Center for Modern Records, by the early 1920s, famine was raging throughout the nascent Soviet Union, and although human cruelty played an important role, it was not. is intentional genocide.

The famine of 1921-1922 was not caused by simple circumstances. Instead, a number of disparate factors came together in a terrifying fortuitous fashion, starting with drought and subsequent crop failure of several key crops. That alone might not cause too much devastation, but the country is also reeling from its involvement in a series of wars including World War I, the Russian Civil War, and the Russian Revolution of 1917.

War always comes with economic costs, but war occurring within a country's borders can have devastating consequences including damage to civilian property and destruction of farms. and livestock. At that time, the grain and seeds of the poor farmers were also controlled, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to grow.

7. Great Famine in Europe (1315-1317)

Great Famine in Europe (1315-1317).

There is no real data on how many people died in the Great Famine that raged in Europe between 1315 and 1317. According to historian Lynn Harry Nelson, at the time, there were many people living in the area. Western Europe is so much that, even in good years, it is difficult to grow enough food to feed them. This means that even a small bend in the system can lead to a cascade of events that can trigger starvation.

And that's exactly what happened in 1315 when heavy rains rotted seed stores and made it harder to grow next year's crops. The decrease in production leads to widespread food insecurity. The next growing season was the same, and then there was food shortages everywhere. Things were so bad that people abandoned starving children and elderly people so that the family could continue to live. No one is really sure how many people died during the Great Famine, but historians are pretty sure that number is in the 'millions'.

8. Bengal Famine of 1943

The Bengal Famine of 1943.

The Bengal famine of 1943 didn't kill as many people as some of the famines of the time, but the International Journal of Research in Public Leadership (IJSPL) still calls it 'one of the worst man-made famines ever'. out recorded in human history'. Like the famine of 1770, the Bengal famine of 1943 had its roots in colonialism. In fact, the data shows that there was a lot of rain during the worst times of the famine, despite the Japanese capture of Burma (which supplied rice to parts of India) and several epidemics across the country. crops have caused minor food shortages.

Mostly, the disaster seems to stem from wartime inflation and panic shopping, along with government-ordered appropriations and tax increases. And because the British feared that the Japanese would invade India and confiscate their food, they also confiscated large quantities of rice just to avoid falling into enemy hands. All of this drives up prices, making food too expensive for the poorest Bengalis. Historians believe that around 3 million people died during the Bengal Famine of 1943.