List of famines

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Depiction of victims of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1849

This is an incomplete list of known major famines, ordered by date.

Between 108 BC and 1911 AD there were no fewer than 1,828 major famines in China, or one nearly every year in one or another province; however, the famines varied greatly in severity.[1][2] There were 95 famines in Britain during the Middle Ages.[3][4]

Contents

[edit] List of famines

Date Event Location Death toll (estimate)
400–800 Famine in Western Europe associated with the Fall of Rome and its sack by Alaric I. Between 400 and 800 AD, the population of the city of Rome fell by over 90%, mainly because of famine and plague.[5] Western Europe
639 Famine in Arabia during the Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab Arabia
750's Spain[6]
800–1000 AD Severe drought killed millions of Maya people with famine and thirst and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that destroyed their civilization[7] Maya Empire
809 Frankish Empire[8]
875–884 Peasant rebellion in China inspired by famine; Huang Chao captured capital China
927–928 Caused by four months of frost[9][10] Byzantine Empire
1005 England[11]
1016 Famine throughout Europe[12] Europe
1022, 1033, 1052 Great famines in India, in which entire provinces were depopulated India
1064–1072 Seven years' famine in Egypt Egypt
1051 Famine forced the Toltecs to migrate from a stricken region in what is now central Mexico[13] Mexico (present day)
1097 Famine and plague France &10000000000100000000000100,000
1230 Famine in the Republic of Novgorod Russia
1229–1232 The Kangi famine, possibly the worst famine in Japan's history.[14] Caused by volcanic eruptions.[15] Japan
1235 Famine in England, 20,000 died in London alone England
1255 Portugal[16]
1275–1299 Collapse of Anasazi civilization, widespread famine occurred[17] United States (present day)
1315–1317 Great Famine of 1315–1317 Europe[18]
1333–1337 China[19]
1344–1345 Great famine in India India
1387 After Timur the Lame left Asia Minor, severe famine ensued Anatolia
1396–1407 The Durga Devi famine India[20]
1441 Famine in Mayapan Mexico[21]
1450–1454 Famine in the Aztec Empire,[22] interpreted as the gods' need for sacrifices.[23] Mexico (present day)
1460–1461 Kanshō famine in Japan Japan
1504 Spain[24]
1518 Venice Italy (present day)
1528 Famine in Languedoc France[25]
1535 Famine in Ethiopia Ethiopia
1567–1570 Famine in Harar, combined with plague. Emir of Harar, died. Ethiopia
1586 Famine in England which gave rise to the Poor Law system England
1601–1603 One of the worst famines in all of Russian history; famine killed as many as 100,000 in Moscow and up to one-third of Tsar Godunov's subjects; see Russian famine of 1601–1603.[26][27] Same famine killed about half Estonian population. Russia &100000000020000000000002 million
1618–1648 Famines in Europe caused by Thirty Years' War Europe
1619 Famine in Japan. During the Tokugawa period, there were 154 famines, of which 21 were widespread and serious.[28] Japan
1630–1631 Deccan Famine of 1630–32 (Note: There was a corresponding famine in northwestern China, eventually causing the Ming dynasty to collapse in 1644) India &100000000020000000000002 million
1648–1660 Poland lost an estimated 1/3 of its population due to the wars, famine, and plague Poland
1649 Famine in northern England England
1650–1652 Famine in the east of France France
1651–1653 Famine throughout much of Ireland during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland[29] Ireland
1661 Famine in India, when not a drop of rain fell for two years[30] India
1669 Famine in Bengal India
1670s and 1680s Plague and famines in Spain Spain
1680 Famine in Sardinia[31] Italy (present day)
1680s Famine in Sahel
1690s Famine throughout Scotland which killed 15% of the population Scotland
1693–1694 France &100000000020000000000002 million[32][33]
1695–1697 Great Famine of Estonia killed about a fifth of Estonian and Livonian population (70,000–75,000 people). Famine also hit Sweden (80,000–100,000 dead) The Swedish Empire, of which Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia where dominions at that time
1696–1697 Great Famine of Finland wiped out almost a third of the population[34] Finland, then part of Sweden proper
1702–1704 Famine in Deccan India &100000000020000000000002 million
1708–1711 Famine in East Prussia killed 250,000 people or 41% of its population[35] East Prussia &10000000000250000000000250,000
1709–1710 France[36]
1722 Arabia[37]
1727–1728 Famine in the English Midlands[38] England
1738–1756 Famine in West Africa, half the population of Timbuktu died of starvation[39] West Africa
1740-1741 Great Irish Famine (1740–1741) Ireland
1750–1756 Famine in the Senegambia region [40]
1764 Famine in Naples[41] Italy (present day)
1769–1773 Bengal famine of 1770,[42] 10 million dead (one third of population) India &1000000001000000000000010 million
1770–1771 Famines in Czech lands killed hundreds of thousands people Czech Republic (present day)
1771–1772 Famine in Saxony and southern Germany Germany
1773 Famine in Sweden Sweden
1779 Famine in Rabat Morocco[43]
1780s Great Tenmei Famine Japan
1783 Famine in Iceland caused by Laki eruption killed one-fifth of Iceland's population[44] Iceland
1783–84 Chalisa famine India &1000000001100000000000011 million[45]
1784 Widespread famine throughout Egypt[46] Egypt
1784–1785 Famine in Tunisia killed up to one-fifth of all Tunisians Tunisia
1788 The two years previous to the French Revolution saw bad harvests and harsh winters, possibly because of a strong El Niño cycle[47] or caused by the 1783 Laki eruption in Iceland.[48][49] France
1789 Famine in Ethiopia afflicted "amhara/tigray north"
1789–92 Doji bara famine or Skull famine India
1810, 1811, 1846, and 1849 Four famines in China China &1000000004500000000000045 million.[50]
1811–1812 Famine devastated Madrid[51] Spain &1000000000002000000000020,000[52]
1815 Eruption of Tambora, Indonesia. Tens of thousands died of subsequent famine Indonesia
1816–1817 Year Without a Summer Europe 65,000
1830–1833 Claimed to have killed 42% of the population Cape Verde &1000000000003000000000030,000[53]
1830s Tenpo famine Japan
1837–1838 Agra famine of 1837–38 India
1845–1857 Highland Potato Famine Scotland
1845–1849 Great Irish Famine killed more than 1 million people and over 1.5–2 million emigrated[54] Ireland &100000000015000000000001.5 million
1846 Famine led to the peasant revolt known as "Maria da Fonte" in the north of Portugal Portugal
1850–1873 As a result of Taiping Rebellion, drought, and famine, the population of China drop by over 60 million people[55] China
1866 Orissa famine of 1866 India &100000000010000000000001 million[56]
1866–1868 Finnish famine of 1866–1868. About 15% of the entire population died Finland, northern Sweden 150,000+
1869 Rajputana famine of 1869 India &100000000015000000000001.5 million[56]
1870–1871 Famine in Persia Iran (present day) &100000000020000000000002 million[57]
1873–1874 Famine in Anatolia caused by drought and floods[58][59] Turkey (present day)
1879 1879 Famine in Ireland. Unlike previous famines, this famine mainly caused hunger and food shortages but not much mortality. Ireland
1873–74 All mortality was avoided in the Bihar famine of 1873–74 India &100000000000000000000000
1876–1879 ENSO Famine in India, China, Brazil, Northern Africa (and other countries). Famine in northern China killed 13 million people. 5.25 million died in the Great Famine of 1876–78 in India India, China, Brazil, Northern Africa (and other countries).
1878-1880 Famine in St. Lawrence Island, Alaska[60] United States
1888–1892 Ethiopian Great famine. About one-third of the population died.[61][62] Conditions worsen with cholera outbreaks (1889–92), a typhus epidemic, and a major smallpox epidemic (1889–90). Ethiopia
1891–1892 Russia &10000000000375000000000375,000–500,000[63][64]
1896–1897 ENSO famine in northern China leading in part to the Boxer Rebellion China
1896–1902 ENSO famine in India[65] India
1907, 1911 Famines in east-central China China
1914–1918 Mount Lebanon famine during World War I which killed about a third of the population Lebanon
1915–1916 Armenian Genocide. Armenian deportees starved to death Armenia
1916–1917 Famine caused by the British blockade of Germany in WWI Germany
1916–1917 Winter famine in Russia Russia
1917–1919 Famine in Persia. As much as 1/4 of the population living in the north of Iran died in the famine[66] Iran (present day)
1917–1921 A series of famines in Turkestan at the time of the Bolshevik revolution killed about a sixth of the population[67] Turkestan
1921 Russian famine of 1921 Russia &100000000050000000000005 million[68]
1921–1922 1921–1922 famine in Tatarstan Russia
1921–1922 Famine in Volga German colonies in Russia. One-third of the entire population perished[69] Russia
1928–1929 Famine in Ruanda-Burundi, causing large migrations to the Congo Rwanda and Burundi (present day)
1928–1930 Famine in northern China. The drought resulted in 3 million deaths China
1932–1933 Soviet famine in Ukraine (Holodomor), some parts of Russia[70] and North Caucasus area. 1 to 3 million people may have died Soviet Union
1936 China &100000000050000000000005 million[71]
1940–1943 Famine in Warsaw Ghetto Occupied Poland
1941–44 Leningrad famine caused by a 900-day blockade by German troops. About one million Leningrad residents starved, froze, or were bombed to death in the winter of 1941–42, when supply routes to the city were cut off and temperatures dropped to −40 degrees.[72] Russia 1 million
1941–1944 Famine in Greece caused by the Axis occupation.[73][74] Greece &10000000000300000000000300,000
1943 Bengal famine of 1943 India
1943 Famine in Ruanda-Urundi, causing migrations to the Congo Rwanda and Burundi (present day)
1944 Dutch famine of 1944 during World War II Netherlands &1000000000002000000000020,000
1945 Vietnamese Famine of 1945 Vietnam 2 million
1947 Soviet Famine of 1947 Soviet Union &100000000010000000000001–1.5 million[75][76]
1958 Famine in Tigray Ethiopia &10000000000100000000000100,000
1959–1961 The Great Chinese Famine. According to government statistics, there were 15 million excess deaths. China &1000000000150000000000015–43 million[77]
1967–1970 Biafran famine caused by Nigerian blockade Nigeria
1968–1972 Sahel drought created a famine that killed a million people[78] Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso
1972–1973 Famine in Ethiopia caused by drought and poor governance; failure of the government to handle this crisis led to fall of Haile Selassie and to Derg rule Ethiopia &1000000000006000000000060,000[79]
1974 Bangladesh famine of 1974 Bangladesh
1975–1979 Khmer Rouge. An estimated 2 million Cambodians lost their lives to murder, forced labor and famine Cambodia
1980–1981 Caused by draught and conflict[79] Uganda &1000000000003000000000030,000[79]
1984–1985 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia Ethiopia
1991–1992 Somalian famine caused by drought and civil war[79] Somalia &10000000000300000000000300,000[79]
1996 North Korean famine.[80][81] Scholars estimate 600,000 died of starvation (other estimates range from 200,000 to 3.5 million).[82] North Korea &10000000000200000000000200,000 to 3.5 million
1998 1998 Sudan famine caused by war and drought Sudan &1000000000007000000000070,000[79]
1998–2000 Famine in Ethiopia. The situation worsened by Eritrean-Ethiopian War Ethiopia
1998–2004 Second Congo War. 3.8 million people died, mostly from starvation and disease Democratic Republic of the Congo
2000–2009 Zimbabwe's food crisis caused by Mugabe's land reform policies[83] Zimbabwe
2003 Famine in Sudan/Darfur (Darfur conflict) Sudan
2005 2005 Malawi food crisis Malawi
2005-2006 2005–06 Niger food crisis Niger
2006 2006 Horn of Africa food crisis Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya
2008 Myanmar food crisis. Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma's major rice-producing region.[84] Myanmar
2008 North Korean food crisis[85][86] North Korea
2008 Horn of Africa food crisis[87][88] Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya
2008 Afghanistan food crisis[89] Afghanistan
2008 Bangladesh food crisis[90] Bangladesh
2008 East Africa food crisis[91] East Africa
2008 Tajikistan food crisis[92] Tajikistan
2009 Kenya food crisis[93] 10 million Kenyans face starvation.[94] Kenya
2010 Sahel food crisis [95] Sahel
2011 Horn of Africa[96] Somalia and neighboring countries
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] See also

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[edit] Main article lists

[edit] Other articles

[edit] References

  1. ^ China: Land of Famine
  2. ^ "Heaven, Observe!" – TIME
  3. ^ Famines through history.
  4. ^ Poor studies will always be with us
  5. ^ A Brief History of Population
  6. ^ Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages
  7. ^ The Great Maya Droughts: Water, Life, and Death
  8. ^ The Ninth Century
  9. ^ Treadgold, Warren T. (1997), A history of the Byzantine state and society, Stanford University Press, p. 480, ISBN 9780804726306, http://books.google.com/books?id=nYbnr5XVbzUC&pg=PA480 
  10. ^ Kazhdan, Aleksandr Petrovich; Wharton, Annabel Jane (1985), Change in Byzantine culture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, University of California Press, p. 27, ISBN 9780520051294, http://books.google.com/books?id=qlU37xo9LeUC&pg=PA27 
  11. ^ 1005: The People's Chronology
  12. ^ Famine – LoveToKnow 1911
  13. ^ The Facts of Malnutrition and Famine
  14. ^ Farris, William Wayne (2009), Japan to 1600: a social and economic history, University of Hawaii Press, p. 116, ISBN 9780824833794, http://books.google.com/books?id=oEkewem1LBYC&pg=PA116 
  15. ^ Ó Gráda 2009, p. 17
  16. ^ Portugal > History and Events
  17. ^ Collapse: Chaco Canyon
  18. ^ The Great Famine and the Black Death
  19. ^ Projects and Events: 14th Century
  20. ^ Bidar District Important Historical Events
  21. ^ Welcome to The Human Past
  22. ^ Trigger, Bruce G. (2003), Understanding early civilizations: a comparative study, Cambridge University Press, p. 387, ISBN 9780521822459, http://books.google.com/books?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&pg=PA387 
  23. ^ Davíd Carrasco (1998), Daily life of the Aztecs: people of the sun and earth, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 199, ISBN 9780313295584, http://books.google.com/books?id=ybEHUMVr1dgC&pg=PA199 
  24. ^ Land and Society in Golden Age Castile
  25. ^ The Dimension of Famine
  26. ^ Boris Feodorovich Godunov
  27. ^ Russia before Peter the Great
  28. ^ A Chronology of Japanese History
  29. ^ BBC – Northern Ireland – A Short History
  30. ^ The 17th Century
  31. ^ Italian States in the Seventeenth Century
  32. ^ Appleby, Andrew B. (1980), "Epidemics and Famine in the Little Ice Age", Journal of Interdisciplinary History (The MIT Press) 10 (4): 643–663, doi:10.2307/203063, JSTOR 203063. 
  33. ^ Ó Gráda, Cormac; Chevet, Jean-Michel (2002), "Famine And Market In Ancient Régime France", The Journal of Economic History 62 (03): 706–733, doi:10.1017/S0022050702001055, PMID 17494233. 
  34. ^ Finland timeline
  35. ^ The Dimension of Famine.
  36. ^ The Little Ice Age in Europe
  37. ^ Climatic fluctuation and natural disasters in Arabia between mid-17th and early 20th Centuries
  38. ^ Epidemics and Famine in the Little Ice Age
  39. ^ Len Milich: Anthropogenic Desertification vs ‘Natural’ Climate Trends
  40. ^ Searing, James F. (2003), West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce: The Senegal River Valley, 1700-1860, Cambridge University Press, p. 132, ISBN 9780521534529, http://books.google.com/books?id=1P_4AzEdGgUC&pg=PA132 
  41. ^ Naples and Sicily -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  42. ^ FAMINE ()
  43. ^ The locust plague
  44. ^ Haze Famine (Icelandic history)
  45. ^ Grove, Richard H. (2007), "The Great El Nino of 1789–93 and its Global Consequences: Reconstructing an Extreme Climate Event in World Environmental History", The Medieval History Journal 10 (1&2): 80, doi:10.1177/097194580701000203 
  46. ^ ScienceDaily: Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt, Study Shows
  47. ^ Grove, Richard H. (1998), "Global Impact of the 1789–93 El Niño", Nature 393 (6683): 318–319, doi:10.1038/30636. 
  48. ^ Wood, C. A. (1992), "The climatic effects of the 1783 Laki eruption", in Harrington, C. R. (ed.), The Year Without a Summer?, Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Nature, pp. 58–77 
  49. ^ Neumann, J. (1977), "Great Historical Events that were Significantly Affected by the Weather: 2, The Year Leading to the Revolution of 1789 in France", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 58 (2): 163–168, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1977)058<0163:GHETWS>2.0.CO;2, ISSN 1520-0477. 
  50. ^ Fearfull Famines of the Past
  51. ^ Carr, Raymond (2001), Spain: a history, Oxford University Press, p. 203, ISBN 9780192802361, http://books.google.com/books?id=DzfRAgr5TAAC&pg=PA203 
  52. ^ Reader, John (2005), Cities, Atlantic Monthly Press, p. 243, ISBN 9780871138989, http://books.google.com/books?id=ZjNUoFvcvI4C&pg=PA243 
  53. ^ Ó Gráda 2009, p. 22
  54. ^ The Great Famine in Ireland, 1845–1849
  55. ^ Ch'ing China: The Taiping Rebellion
  56. ^ a b Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III (1907), The Indian Empire, Economic (Chapter X: Famine, pp. 475–502, Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. P. 486–487, 1 map, 552. 
  57. ^ The Great Persian Famine of 1870-1871
  58. ^ Zürcher, Erik Jan (2004), Turkey: a modern history (3 ed.), I.B.Tauris, p. 72, ISBN 9781850433996, http://books.google.com/books?id=qaC24BFy4JQC&pg=PA72 
  59. ^ Mitchell, Stephen (1995), Anatolia: land, men, and Gods in Asia Minor (reprint ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 145, ISBN 9780198150299, http://books.google.com/books?id=pUYtwuve40kC&pg=PA145 
  60. ^ The St. Lawrence Island Famine and Epidemic, 1878–80, Arctic Anthropology
  61. ^ Famine Hunger stalks Ethiopia once again – and aid groups fear the worst
  62. ^ El Niño and Drought Early Warning in Ethiopia
  63. ^ The History of International Humanitarian Assistance
  64. ^ Spiridovich, Alexander. Revolutionary movement in Russian. Ed. 2. (Russian)
  65. ^ Late Victorian Holocausts
  66. ^ Global Connections . Timeline
  67. ^ Famine perspectives from past and present
  68. ^ World's worst natural disasters since 1900
  69. ^ The German Colonies on the Volga River – Famine Years
  70. ^ The NDSU Libraries: Germans From Russia
  71. ^ Natural Disasters and Hazards – Historical Events Timeline
  72. ^ 900-Day Siege of Leningrad
  73. ^ Famine and Death in Occupied Greece, 1941–1944
  74. ^ Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: daily life in occupied Europe, by Robert Gildea, Anette Warring, Olivier Wieviorka, Berg Publishers 2007
  75. ^ The 1947 Soviet famine and the entitlement approach to famines, Cambridge Journal of Economics
  76. ^ Nicholas Ganson, The Soviet Famine of 1946-47 in Global and Historical Perspective [1]. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. (ISBN 0-230-61333-0)
  77. ^ Peng Xizhe (彭希哲), "Demographic Consequences of the Great Leap Forward in China's Provinces," Population and Development Review 13, no. 4 (1987), 639-70.
    For a summary of other estimates, please refer to this link
  78. ^ Famine Casts Its Grim Global Shadow, TIME
  79. ^ a b c d e f Ó Gráda 2009, p. 24
  80. ^ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/august97/korea_8-26.html
  81. ^ http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr990802.html
  82. ^ Bruce Cumings: We look at it and see ourselves
  83. ^ Famine plagues Zimbabwe
  84. ^ Food crisis looms in Myanmar, International Herald Tribune
  85. ^ North Korea at risk of famine, says U.N., CNN.com
  86. ^ The Next Great North Korean Famine, TIME
  87. ^ Ethiopia facing new famine with 4.5 million children in danger of starvation , Telegraph
  88. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (May 17, 2008). "Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/africa/17somalia.html. Retrieved May 8, 2010 .
  89. ^ Food crisis leaves Afghans desperate, msnbc.com
  90. ^ Food Crisis Looms in Bangladesh, International Business Times
  91. ^ In-depth | Food Crisis: Status and Impacts, IRIN
  92. ^ Tajikistan: Almost One-Third of the Population Is in Danger of Going Hungry This Winter, EurasiaNet
  93. ^ National Food Emergency Grips Kenya. 20 Jan 2009.
  94. ^ Starvation and Strife Menace Torn Kenya. The New York Times. February 28, 2009.
  95. ^ Drought threatens African humanitarian crisis. Channel 4, 2010, July 01
  96. ^ UN expected to declare famine in south Somalia. 20 July 20-11.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

Media related to famines at Wikimedia Commons

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