1. Famines in
History
By Laura Faber

2. What is a Famine?
 Extreme scarcity or shortage of food

3. The Great  Worst on Record
Chinese Famine  Lasted 3 years
 1958-1961
 Statistics
of deaths
are disputed
 Between 15-43 million
people were killed
including lost births
 One of the least
understood events in
human history
 Came at a time
when China thought
it was ending its
famine cycle

4. Chinese Famine  Second worst in
of 1907 history
 Brief but deadly
 24 million people
were killed
 In a matter of
months
 Could be first-worse
since it exceeds the
lowest reported
death toll from the
Great Chinese
Famine

5.  Lasted 6 years
Indian Famine  Between 1896-1902
 Worstfamine in
Indian history
 Considered the
most disastrous
famine of that time
 19 million people
killed
 Caused by
 Shortage of food
grans
 Escalating prices

6.  Lasted 5 years
Bengal Famine of  1769-1773
1770  Famine was blamed
on the British East
India Company’s
rule
 For greedy principals
 Caused about 10
million deaths
 About 1/3 of the
population
 Affected the lower
portion of India

7.  Believed to have
been caused by the
Russian Famine of
hard times during
1921 World War I
 Between 5 – 10
million deaths

8.  Also known as the
Great Irish Famine Irish Potato Famine
 Took place
between 1845-1852
 Caused by potato
disease that
destroyed crops
 One million people
died
 Another million
emigrated

9.  Food Scarcity causes
 Increased food prices
 Decrease in consumption of other
goods & services
 Increase in unemployment
 Decrease in income
 Decrease in government income
 Government makes decision
 Increase aid to starving
 Remove tariffs on foreign goods

10. Famine Myths Actual Causes
 Not enough food  Not a result of a
singular cause
 Too many people
 Long series of
social, political and
 Bad weather economic
processes and
policies
“It’s not the rains, it’s the rulers. … drought
has not been as devastating to Ethiopians as
their own autocratic governments.” – Bill

11. Works Cited
Bird, D. [Web log message]. Retrieved from
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-worst-droughts-and-famines-i n-
history/drake-bird
Chang, G. H., & Wen, G. J. (1997). Communal dining and the Chinese
Famine of 1958-1961. Chicago Journals, 61(1), 1. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/452319?uid=37396
40&ui d=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101117304371
Charles M, E. (1977). The politics of hunger: The soviet response to
famine, 1921. Europe-Asia Studies, 29(4), 506. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966813770841
1152
Kte'pi, B. (n.d.). Chinese famine (1907). Retrieved from
http://sageereference.com/abstract/disasterrelief/n31.xml
Murphy. (2005, August 19). Underlying causes of famine. Retrieved from
http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/underlying-causes-of-
famine/
The History Place. Irish potato famine. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/begins.
htm