Late Victorian Holocausts El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World
MIKE
DAVIS
V
Verso
London • New York
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Late Victorian Holocausts El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World
MIKE
DAVIS
V
Verso
London • New York
First published by Verso 2001 Copyright 2001 Mike Davis A1J rights reserved The moral rights of the author have been asserted Verso UK: 6 Mcard Street, London W l V 3HR US: 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-1606 Verso is the imprint of New L.cft Books ISBN 1 CS 5 L>,S 4 739 0 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue rccord for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Designed and typeset by Steven Hiatt San Francisco. California Printed and bound in the USA by R. R. Donnelly & Sons
Offended Lands ... It is s o m u c h , s o m a n y tombs, so m u c h m a r t y r d o m , so m u c h galloping of beasts in the star! N o t h i n g , n o t e v e n victorywill e r a s e t h e t e r r i b l e h o l l o w o f t h e b l o o d : n o t h i n g , n e i t h e r t h e sea, n o r t h e p a s s a g e of s a n d a n d t i m e , n o r the g e r a n i u m f l a m i n g u p o n the grave. - Pablo N e r u d a (1937)
Contents
ix
Acknowledgements Preface
1
A N o t e on Definitions PART I T h e G r e a t D r o u g h t ,
17 23
1876-1878
1 Victoria's G h o s t s
25
2 ' T h e P o o r Eat T h e i r H o m e s '
61
3 G u n b o a t s and Messiahs
91
117
PART II EL N i n o a n d t h e N e w I m p e r i a l i s m , 18 8 8 - 1 9 0 2 4 T h e G o v e r n m e n t o f Hell
119
5 S k e l e t o n s at t h e Feast
141
6 Millenarian Revolutions
177
PART III D e c y p h e r i n g E N S O
211
7 T h e Mystery of the Monsoons
213
8 Climates of H u n g e r
239
PART IV T h e Political E c o l o g y o f F a m i n e
277
9 T h e Origins of the Third World
279
..j
c
viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
10 India: T h e M o d e r n i z a t i o n o f P o v e r t y
311
11 C h i n a : M a n d a t e s R e v o k e d
341
12 Brazil: Race a n d C a p i t a l in t h e N o r d e s t e
377
Glossary
395
Notes
399
Index
451
Ac!
An ancient interest in clima fly on the wall at the June 19 Scale Global Climate Chan m i n e environmental histor) discuss state-of-the-art rese experience, a n d I thank th< w h a t was intended to be a f T h e outline for this b o o bcr 1998 at the conference by Nancy Peluso and Michs Balakiishnan generously of in its early stages. Kurt Cu Dan Monk a n d Sara Lipto Cheryl Murakami provided by Steve Hiatt, Colin Robir Books, while David Deis crt sett proofread the galleys w i b e r e d opportunities for resc T h e real windfalls in m y of m y companera, Alessandr Jack and Roisin; and the fric
v e «
Acknowledgements
An ancient interest in climate history was rekindled during the week I spent as a fly on the wall at the J u n e 1998 Chapman Conference, "Mechanism of MillennialScale Global Climate Change," in Snowbird, Utah. Listening to t h e folks w h o mine environmental history from the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Bermuda Rise discuss state-of-the-art research o n climate oscillations w a s a truly exhilarating experience, and I t h a n k the organizers for allowing a m e r e historian to kibitz w h a t was intended to be a family conversation. The outline for this b o o k was subsequently presented as a paper in September 1998 at the conference "Environmental Violence" organized at UC Berkeley by Nancy Peluso and Michael Watts. Vmayak Chaturvedi, T o m Brass and Gopal Balakrishnan generously offered expert and luminous criticisms of this project in its early stages. Kurt Cuffey spruced up s o m e of the physics in Chapter 7. Dan Monk and Sara Lipton, Michelle H u a n g and Chi-She Li, and Steve and Cheryl Murakami provided the essential aloha. The truly hard w o r k was done by Steve Hiatt, Colin Robinson, Jane Hindle and my o t h e r colleagues at Verso Books, while David Deis created the excellent maps and graphics and T o m Hassett proofread the galleys with care. A MacArthur Fellowship provided unencumbered opportunities for research and writing. The real windfalls in m y life, however, have been the sturdy love and patience of m y companera, Alessandra Moctezuma; the unceasing delight of m y children, Jack and Roisin; and the friendship of two incomparable rogue-intellectuals and
viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
raconteurs, David Rcid and Mike Sprinker. David t o o k precious t i m e off f r o m 1940s N e w York to help w e e d m y final draft. Mike introduced m e to t h e impressive w o r k of South Asian Marxist historians and provided a decisively i m p o r t a n t critique of the book's original conception. His death from a h e a r t attack in August 1999, after a long and apparently successful fight against cancer, was simply an obscenity. H e was o n e of the genuinely g r e a t souls of t h e American Left. As Jose Marti o n c e said of Wendell Phillips: "He w a s implacable and fiery, as are all t e n d e r m e n w h o love justice." I dedicate this b o o k to his beloved wife and co-thinker, M o d h u m i t a Roy, and t h a n k h e r for the courage she has shared w i t h al! of us.
The failure o 1876 to 1879 r much of Asia, tural society o the famine t h afflict the h u i r
It w a s the m o s t famous a n i " U n d e r a c r e s c e n d o of cri n e w l y retired president o f s o n Jesse left Philadelphia t h e trip was t o spend s o m e tied (after the fashion t h a t g e n t l e m a n . " P o o r Nellie, ii p r e f e r r e d red carpets, che< b i o g r a p h e r s h a s p u t it, " m \ m a n f u l l y e n d u r e d adulatio Folks back h o m e were thril a c c o u n t s of t h e " s t u p e n d o
Preface
The failure of the monsoons through the years from 1876 to 1379 resulted in an unusually severe drought over much of Asia. The impact of the drought on the agricultural society of the time was immense. So far as is known, the famine that ravished the region is the worst ever to afflict the human species. -John Hidore, Global Environmental Change
It w a s the m o s t f a m o u s and p e r h a p s longest family vacation in American history. "Under a crescendo of criticism f o r the c o r r u p t i o n of his administration," the newly retired president of the United States, Ulysses S. G r a n t , his wife Julia, and son Jesse left Philadelphia in spring 1877 for E u r o p e . T h e ostensible p u r p o s e of t h e trip w a s t o spend s o m e time w i t h d a u g h t e r Nellie in England, w h o was married (after t h e fashion t h a t H e n r y J a m e s w o u l d celebrate) t o a "dissolute English g e n t l e m a n . " P o o r Nellie, in fact, s a w little of h e r publicity-hungry parents, who preferred red carpets, cheering t h r o n g s and state banquets. As o n e of Grant's biographers has p u t it, " m u c h has b e e n said a b o u t how G r a n t , the s i m p l e fellow, manfully e n d u r e d adulation b e c a u s e it w a s his duty to d o so. This is nonsense." Folks back h o m e w e r e thrilled by New York Herald journalist J o h n Russell Young's accounts of t h e " s t u p e n d o u s dinners, w i t h f o o d and w i n e in e n o r m o u s quantity
viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
and richness, followed by brandy which the general countered with countless
engine, Grant's son Jesse j
cigars." Even more than her husband, Mrs. Grant - but for Fort Sumter, a
standing guard around the
drunken tanner's wife in Galena. Illinois - "could not get too many princely atten-
forcing them far from their
tions." As a result, "the trip went on and on and on" - as did Young's columns in
bad, calamity comes and t h
the Herald.1 Wherever they supped, the Grants left a legendary trail of gaucheries. In
Indeed the Grants' idyll along the river banks. " O u
Venice, the General told the descendants of the Doges that "it would be a fine city if they drained it," while at a banquet in Buckingham Palace, w h e n the visibly uncomfortable Q u e e n Victoria s horrified at a " t a n t r u m " by son Jesse) invoked her "fatiguing duties" as an excuse to escape the Grants, Julia responded: "Yes, I can imagine them: I too have been the wife of a great ruler." 2 In Berlin, the Grants hovered around the fringes of the great Congress of Powers as it grappled with the "Eastern Question" as a prelude to the final European assault on the uncolonized peoples of Africa, Asia and Oceania. Perhaps it was the intoxication of so much imperialist hyperbole or the vision of even m o r e magnificent receptions in oriental palaces that p r o m p t e d the Grants to transform their vacation into a world tour. With James Gordon Bennett Jr. of the New York Herald paying the bar tab and the US Navy providing much of the transportation, the ex-First Family plotted an itinerary that would have humbled Alexander the Great: up the Nile to Thebes in Upper Egypt, back to Palestine, then on to Italy and Spain, back to the Suez Canal, outward to Aden, India, Burma, Vietnam, China and Japan, and, finally, across the Pacific to California. •"igure Pi
I"hc C r a m s in U p p
V a c a t i o n i n g in F a m i n e L a n d Americans were particularly enthralled by the idea of their Ulysses in the land of the pharaohs. Steaming up the Nile, with a well-thumbed copy of Mark Twain's Jmiocents Abroad on his lap, Grant was bemused to be welcomed in village after village as the "King of America." H e spent quiet afternoons on the river reminiscing to Young (and thousands of his readers) about the bloody road f r o m Vicksburg to Appomattox. Once he chastised the younger officers in his party for taking unsporting potshots at stray cranes and pelicans. (He sarcastically suggested they might as well g o ashore and shoot s o m e "poor, patient drudging camel, w h o pulls his heavy-laden h u m p along the bank.") On another occasion, when their little steamer had to pull up for the night while the crew fixed the
that in a better time must I year all is parched and b a r the warmth of peasant ho* south of Siout (capital of I a r m e d themselves and hee ernor, the Americans were j o u r n e y to T h e b e s and t h e total and thousands were d "biblical disaster" for Hem and cracked. T h e irrigatin
PREFACE
STS
countered with countless - b u t for Fort Sumter, a :t t o o m a n y princely attenas did Young's c o l u m n s in
3
engine, G r a n t ' s son Jesse struck u p a conversation w i t h some of t h e b e d o u i n standing guard a r o u n d the campfire. T h e y c o m p l a i n e d t h a t "times are hard," forcing t h e m far f r o m their h o m e s . "The Nile has been b a d , and w h e n t h e Nile is bad, calamity c o m e s and the p e o p l e go away t o other villages." 3 Indeed t h e G r a n t s ' idyll was s o o n b r o k e n b y the increasingly g r i m conditions
ry trail of gaucherics. In
along the river banks. " O u r journey," r e p o r t e d Young, "was t h r o u g h a c o u n t r y
that "it would be a fine m Palace, w h e n the visibly " by son Jesse) invoked h e r ulia responded: "Yes, I can ler."2 In Berlin, the G r a n t s ?
owers as it grappled with
ean assault on the uncolow a s the intoxication of so >re magnificent receptions f o r m their vacation into a • York Herald paying the bar tation, the ex-First Family der the Great: up the Nile to Italy and Spain, back to iam, China and Japan, and, Figure Pi The Grants in Upper Hgypt
their Ulysses in the land of ibed copy of Mark Twain's : welcomed in village after *rnoons on the river remiout the bloody road f r o m •unger officers in his party icans. (He sarcastically sugle "poor, patient d r u d g i n g nlc") O n a n o t h e r occasion, it while the crew fixed t h e
that in a better time m u s t have b e e n a g a r d e n ; but the Nile not h a v i n g risen this year all is parched a n d barren." Although so far the G r a n t s had o n l y basked in the w a r m t h of p e a s a n t hospitality, there had b e e n widespread rioting in the area s o u t h of Siout (capital of U p p e r Egypt) a n d s o m e of theJe/Wim h a d r e p o r t e d l y a r m e d themselves a n d headed i n t o the sand hills. At t h e insistence o f the governor, the Americans w e r e assigned an a r m e d guard for t h e r e m a i n d e r of their j o u r n e y to T h e b e s a n d t h e First Cataract. H e r e the crop failure h a d b e e n nearly total and t h o u s a n d s w e r e dying f r o m f a m i n e . Young tried t o paint a p i c t u r e of t h e "biblical disaster" f o r Herald readers: "Today t h e fields a r e parched a n d b r o w n , and cracked. T h e irrigating ditches are dry. You see s t u m p s of t h e last season's
LATE V I C T O R I A N
4
HOLOCAUSTS
had received "instructions fr
ss the tropics and in north-
b e unrealistic. (Table P i displays a n array of estimates f o r famine mortality f o r
b u b o n i c plague, dysentery,
1876-79 a n d 1896-1902 in India, China and Brazil only.) A l t h o u g h t h e famished
i
v
»
viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
nations themselves w e r e the chief m o u r n e r s , there we're also c o n t e m p o r a r y E u r o p e a n s w h o u n d e r s t o o d t h e moral m a g n i t u d e of such carnage and h o w f u n damentally it annulled t h e apologies of empire. T h u s the Radical journalist William Digby, principal chronicler of the 1876 Madras famine, p r o p h e s i z e d o n t h e eve of Q u e e n Victoria's d e a t h that when "the p a r t played by t h e British E m p i r e in the n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y is regarded by the historian fifty years h e n c e , t h e unnecessary deaths of millions of Indians would b e its principal a n d m o s t n o t o r i o u s m o n u m e n t . " 1 6 A m o s t e m i n e n t Victorian, t h e f a m e d naturalist Alfred Russel Wal-
peacetime famine permanen so devastatingly t h r o u g h o u t w e i g h s m u g claims about tl m o d e r n grain m a r k e t s w h e r alongside railroad tracks or o in t h e case of C h i n a for the c especially f a m i n e relief, t h a forced "opening" to m o d e r n i
lace, the codiscoverer w i t h D a r w i n of t h e t h e o r y of n a t u r a l selection, passion-
W e n o t are dealing, in otf
ately agreed. Like Digby, h e viewed mass starvation as avoidable political tragedy,
n a n t b a c k w a t e r s of world h i
n o t "natural" disaster. In.a f a m o u s balance-sheet of t h e Victorian era, published
precise m o m e n t (1870-1914)
in 1898, h e characterized t h e famines in India and China, t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e s l u m
conscripted into a L o n d o n - o
poverty of t h e industrial cities, as "the m o s t terrible failures of t h e century."
17
But while t h e Dickensian s l u m remains in the world history c u r r i c u l u m , the f a m i n e children of 1876 and 1899 have disappeared. A l m o s t w i t h o u t exception, m o d e r n historians w r i t i n g a b o u t nineteenth-century w o r l d history from a m e t r o politan vantage-point have ignored the late Victorian m e g a - d r o u g h t s and f a m i n e s
t h e " m o d e r n w o r l d system,' r a t e d into its e c o n o m i c a n d Liberal Capitalism; indeed, rr cal application of the sacred twentieth-century economic
that engulfed w h a t w e n o w call t h e "third world." Eric H o b s b a w m , for example,
the g r e a t Victorian famines (
m a k e s n o allusion in his f a m o u s trilogy o n nineteenth-century history to the
the history of capitalist m o c
w o r s t f a m i n e s in p e r h a p s 500 years in India and China, although h e does m e n t i o n
Transformation.
t h e Great H u n g e r in Ireland as well as t h e Russian f a m i n e of 1891-92. Likewise,
"was the free m a r k e t i n g of g
the sole reference to f a m i n e in David Landes's The Wealth and Poverty of
" T h e actual
Nations
a m a g n u m opus m e a n t to solve the m y s t e r y of inequality b e t w e e n nations is the e r r o n e o u s claim that British railroads eased h u n g e r in India. I S N u m e r o u s
Failure of c r o p s , of course, m a d e it possible to send re p e o p l e wore u n a b l e to buy r
o t h e r examples could be cited of c o n t e m p o r a r y historians' curious neglect of
pletelv o r g a n i z e d market \\
such p o r t e n t o u s events. It is like writing t h e history of t h e late t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y
t i m e s small local stores h a d
w i t h o u t m e n t i o n i n g t h e G r e a t Leap Forward famine o r C a m b o d i a ' s killing fields.
n o w d i s c o n t i n u e d o r .swept ;
T h e g r e a t famines are the missing pages - t h e absent defining m o m e n t s , if y o u prefer - in virtually every overview of the Victorian era. Yet there are compelling,
s i t u a t i o n had b e e n fairly k e o f t h e c o u n t r y s i d e , includin e x c h a n g e I n d i a n s perished b
even u r g e n t , reasons for revisiting this secret history. At issue is n o t simply that tens of millions of p o o r rural p e o p l e died appall-
Polanyi, however, believed tl
ingly, b u t that they died in a m a n n e r , and for reasons, t h a t contradict m u c h of
aspects of late-nineteenth-cc
t h e conventional u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the e c o n o m i c history of t h e n i n e t e e n t h century. For example, h o w d o w e explain t h e fact that in t h e very half-century w h e n
even greater issue of cultura
STS
were also c o n t e m p o r a r y jch carnage and h o w funh e Radical journalist Wilmine, prophesized on the •.d by the British Empire in y years hence, the unnec.cipal and m o s t n o t o r i o u s turalist Alfred Russel Wallatural selection, passionivoidable political tragedy, e Victorian era, published la, together with the slum lures of the century." 1 r Id history curriculum, the J m o s t w i t h o u t exception, orld history from a m e t r o iega-droughts and famines H o b s b a w m , for example, .th-century history to t h e although he docs m e n t i o n line of 1891-92. Likewise, ItJi and Poverty of Nations
PREFACE
9
p e a c e t i m e f a m i n e p e r m a n e n t l y disappeared from W e s t e r n E u r o p e , it increased so devastatingly t h r o u g h o u t m u c h of t h e colonial world? Equally h o w do w e weigh s m u g claims a b o u t the life-saving b e n e f i t s of s t e a m t r a n s p o r t a t i o n and m o d e r n g r a i n m a r k e t s w h e n so m a n y millions, especially in British India, died alongside railroad tracks o r o n the steps of grain depots? A n d how d o w e a c c o u n t in t h e case of China f o r t h e drastic decline in state capacity a n d p o p u l a r welfare, especially f a m i n e relief, that s e e m e d to f o l l o w in iockstep with t h e empire's forced " o p e n i n g " to m o d e r n i t y by Britain and t h e other Powers? We n o t are dealing, in o t h e r words, w i t h "lands of f a m i n e " b e c a l m e d in stagn a n t b a c k w a t e r s of w o r l d history, b u t w i t h t h e fate of tropical h u m a n i t y at t h e precise m o m e n t (1870-1914) w h e n its labor a n d p r o d u c t s w e r e being dynamically conscripted into a L o n d o n - c e n t e r e d world economy. 1 9 Millions died, n o t outside t h e " m o d e r n world s y s t e m , " b u t in the very process of b e i n g forcibly incorpor a t e d into its e c o n o m i c a n d political structures. T h e y died in the g o l d e n age o f Liberal Capitalism; indeed, m a n y w e r e m u r d e r e d , as w e shall see, by t h e theological application of t h e sacred principles of Smith, B e n t h a m and Mill. Yet t h e only t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y e c o n o m i c historian w h o s e e m s t o have clearly u n d e r s t o o d that t h e great Victorian f a m i n e s (at least, in the Indian case) w e r e integral chapters in t h e history of capitalist m o d e r n i t y was Karl Polanyi in his 1944 b o o k The Great Transformation.
" T h e actual source of famines in the last fifty years," h e wrote,
"was the free m a r k e t i n g of grain c o m b i n e d w i t h local failure of incomes";
.. Yet there are compelling,
Failure of crops, of course, was part of the picture, but despatch of grain by rail made it possible to send relief to the threatened areas; the trouble was that the people were unable to buy the corn at rocketing prices, which on a free but incompletely organized market were bound to be a reaction to a shortage. In former times small local stores had been held against harvest failure, but these had been now discontinued or swept away into the big market.... Under the monopolists the situation had been fairly kept in hand with the help of the archaic organization of the countryside, including free distribution of corn, while under free and equal exchange Indians perished by the millions.20
: rural people died appall-
Polanyi, however, believed t h a t t h e emphasis t h a t Marxists p u t on t h e exploitative
that contradict m u c h of
aspects of late-nineteenth-century imperialism t e n d e d "to h i d e from o u r view t h e
[uality b e t w e e n nations lger in India. 18 N u m e r o u s orians' curious neglect of the late twentieth century r Cambodia's killing fields, defining m o m e n t s , if you
)ry of the n i n e t e e n t h cen-
even greater issue of cultural degeneration":
he very half-century w h e n
©
r i
viii
LATB
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
The catastrophe of the native community is a direct result of the rapid and violent disruption of the basic institutions of the victim (whether force is used in the process or not docs not seem altogether relevant ). These institutions arc disrupted by the very fact that a market economy is foisted upon an entirely differently organized community; labor and land are made into commodities, which, again, is only a short formula (or the liquidation of every and any cultural institution in an organic society.... Indian masses in the second half of the nineteenth century did not die of hunger because they were exploited by Lancashire; they perished in large numbers because the Indian village community had been demolished. 21
for, a n d h
c o n t e n t with, t i n
t h e only >< i l u t i o n o p e n t o c a p r o c e s s , e m p l o y s force as a p
T h e famines that Polanyi a n d trade circuits were p a r t m a t e l y a policy choice: to a c d o n i c phrase < "a brilliant w a ) prehensiveiv defeated well in e q u a t i o n s may b e more fas
Polanyi's f a m o u s essay has the estimable virtue of k n o c k i n g d o w n o n e Smithian
t h e h u m a n a g e n t s of such c
fetish after a n o t h e r to s h o w t h a t the r o u t e to a Victorian "new w o r l d o r d e r " w a s
t i o n of social a n d natural c o i
paved w i t h bodies of t h e p o o r . But h e simultaneously reified t h e " M a r k e t " as
imperative to consider the rc
a u t o m a t a in a way that has m a d e it easier for s o m e epigones t o visualize f a m i n e
a n d p o o r peasants attcmptc
rtal;e.... In truth want and disind n o observations would famines," adds Klein, "the mergistic effect of extreme PART
I
:nt if mutually reinforcing e can occur either t h o u g h ses or through an increase Malnutrition and i m m u n e jested, unsanitary environxposure and transmission, ss of disease and may have h food." 13 Moreover, when glected, m o d e r n infrastrucjir own right. India's "pecu:nt" - a " m o d e r n transport :al of advanced countries)" lmunities, insanitation and veloped' countries)" - prolerwise existed. 14
{olocaust, Inga Glendinnen ts: "If we grant that 'Holonisterly appropriate for the ves in the air, it is equally i and Dresden."" W i t h o u t * an equation between the )ook to show that imperial exact moral equivalents of y photographs used in this s.
T
h
e
Great Drought, 1876-1878
Vi
The more o n one feels that s and destructic
" H e r e ' s the n o r t h e a s t m o m m e m b e r of t h e Governor's C o o n o o r , on a day towards t M a d r a s G o v e r n m e n t were rc "I a m afraid that is not t h e was m a d e . " N o t the monsoon?'' r e j o If it is not, and if the m o n s o T h e British r u l e r s of Madras s o u t h w e s t m o n s o o n had a h p r e v i o u s s u m m e r . T h e Madi cipitation for all of 1876 in . t h e previous decade. 2 T h e g e n e r o u s w i n t e r rains. Desf
One
Victoria's Ghosts
The more one hears abour this famine, the more one feels that such a hideous record of human suffering and destruction the world has never seen before. - F l o r e n c e Nightingale, 1877
"Here's t h e n o r t h e a s t m o n s o o n at last," said Hon. R o b e r t Ellis, C.B., j u n i o r m e m b e r of the G o v e r n o r ' s Council, Madras, as a heavy shower o f rain fell a t C o o n o o r , o n a day t o w a r d s t h e e n d of O c t o b e r 1876, w h e n the m e m b e r s of t h e Madras G o v e r n m e n t w e r e r e t u r n i n g from their s u m m e r sojourn o n t h e hills. "I a m afraid that is n o t the m o n s o o n , " said t h e g e n t l e m a n to w h o m the r e m a r k was m a d e . "Not the m o n s o o n ? " rejoined Mr. Ellis. " G o o d God! It must be t h e m o n s o o n . If it is not, a n d if t h e m o n s o o n d o c s n o t c o m e , there will b e an a w f u l famine." 1 T h e British rulers of M a d r a s h a d every reason t o be apprehensive. T h e life-giving s o u t h w e s t m o n s o o n h a d already failed m u c h of s o u t h e r n and central India t h e previous s u m m e r . T h e Madras O b s e r v a t o r y w o u l d record only 6.3 inches of p r e cipitation f o r all of 1876 in c o n t r a s t to t h e annual average of 27.6 inches d u r i n g t h e previous decade. z T h e fate o f millions n o w h u n g o n the t i m e l y arrival o f g e n e r o u s w i n t e r rains. Despite Ellis's w a r n i n g , the g o v e r n o r of M a d r a s , Richard
[ viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
Grcnville, t h e D u k e of B u c k i n g h a m a n d Chandos, w h o was a g r e e n h o r n t o
T h e rise (of prices] was so e \ t
India and its discontents, sailed away on a leisurely t o u r of the A n d a m a n Islands,
well-known requirements, s o
Burma and Ceylon. W h e n he finally reached C o l o m b o , he f o u n d u r g e n t cables
m o u s f u t u r e gains, a p p e a r e d t i m e and n o t t o part with t h e
detailing the grain riots sweeping t h e so-called Ceded Districts of Kurnool, C u d -
It w a s a p p a r e n t to the G o v e n
dapah and Bellary in t h e w a k e of a n o t h e r m o n s o o n failure. Popular o u t b u r s t s
rapidly raising prices e v e r y w
against impossibly high prices w e r e likewise occurring in the Deccan districts
a n d railway transit, did n o t i
of the n e i g h b o r i n g Bombay Presidency, especially in A h m e d n a g a r a n d Sholapur.
d e n c y ... retail trade u p - c o u i
Having tried to survive o n roots while awaiting the rains, multitudes of peasants
w h i c h were b e y o n d the m e a i
and laborers w e r e n o w o n t h e move, fleeing a slowly dying countryside. 3
closed.'
As the old-hands at Fort St. George u n d o u b t e d l y realized, the semi-arid interior of India was p r i m e d for disaster. T h e w o r s e n i n g depression in world t r a d e
As a result, f o o d prices s o a
had been spreading misery a n d igniting d i s c o n t e n t t h r o u g h o u t c o t t o n - e x p o r t i n g
weavers, sharecroppers and |
districts of t h e Deccan, w h e r e in any case forest enclosures and t h e displacement
U07 pointed o u t a few m o m
of gram by c o t t o n h a d greatly reduced local f o o d security. T h e traditional system
t h a n of food." 8 T h e earlier as well as Lord Salisbury -
of household and village grain reserves regulated by complex n e t w o r k s of patrimonial
India, especially the railroad
obligation h a d b e e n largely supplanted since the Mutiny by m e r c h a n t
fiscal impact o f such " m o d e l
inventories and the cash nexus. A l t h o u g h rice and"wheat p r o d u c t i o n in the rest o f
also crushed t h e ryots. T h e i i
India (which n o w included b o n a n z a s of coarse rice f r o m the recently c o n q u e r e d
p o u n d e d by t h e depreciatio
Irrawaddy delta) had b e e n above average for the past three years, m u c h of t h e
Standard (which India had nc
1
surplus had b e e n exported t o England.' L o n d o n e r s w e r e in cifect eating India's
T h a n k s to the price explosh
bread. "It seems an anomaly," w r o t e a t r o u b l e d observer, "thai, w i t h h e r f a m i n e s
w a t e r e d districts like T h a n
on hand, India is able to supply food for o t h e r parts of t h e world." 1
food shortages.'"' Sepoys mc
T h e r e were o t h e r "anomalies." T h e newly constructed railroads, lauded as
i n g order in t h e panic-strick
institutional safeguards against f a m i n e , w e r e instead used by m e r c h a n t s to ship grain inventories f r o m outlying drought-stricken districts to central depots for hoarding (as well as protection f r o m rioters). Likewise the telegraph e n s u r e d
Indian YV
that price hikes were c o o r d i n a t e d in a t h o u s a n d t o w n s at once, regardless o f local supply trends. Moreover, British antipathy to price control invited a n y o n e
1 875 KS76
w h o had the m o n e y to j o i n in the frenzy of grain speculation. "Besides regular traders," a British official r e p o r t e d f r o m M e e r u t in late 187(5, " m e n of all s o r t s
1877
e m b a r k e d in it w h o had or could raise any capital; jewelers and cloth dealers
1878
pledging their stocks, even their wives' jewels, to engage in business and i m p o r t Source: Cornelius 187"-). [I. 127.
grain."* B u c k i n g h a m , n o t a free-trade f u n d a m e n t a l i s t , w a s appalled by the speed with which m o d e r n m a r k e t s accelerated r a t h e r t h a n relieved the f a m i n e :
JUL,.
\
e
T~
STS
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
v h o was a g r e e n h o r n to
27
The rise j of prices] was so extraordinary, and the available supply, as compared with well-known requirements, so scanty that merchants and dealers, hopeful of enormous future gains, appeared determined to hold their stocks for some indefinite time and not to part with the article which was becoming of such unwonted value. It was apparent to the Government that facilities for moving grain by the rail were rapidly raising prices everywhere, and that the activity of apparent importation and railway transit, did not indicate any addition to the food stocks of the Presidency ... retail trade up-country was almost at standstill. Either prices were asked which were beyond the means of the multitude to pay, or shops remained entirely closed.7
r of the A n d a m a n Islands, o, he found u r g e n t cables Districts of Kurnool, Cudfailure. Popular o u t b u r s t s ig in the Dcccan districts h m e d n a g a r and Sholapur. is, multitudes of peasants / i n g countryside. 3 alized, the semi-arid intedepression in world trade
As a result, food prices soared o u t of the reach of outcaste labourers, displaced
>ughout cotton-exporting
weavers, s h a r e c r o p p e r s and p o o r peasants. " T h e dearth," as T/ie Nineteenth Cen-
jres and the displacement
tury pointed o u t a f e w m o n t h s later, "was o n e of m o n e y and of l a b o u r rather
ty. T h e traditional system
than of food." 8 T h e earlier o p t i m i s m of mid-Victorian observers - Karl Marx
:omp!ex n e t w o r k s of pat-
as well as Lord Salisbury - a b o u t the velocity of e c o n o m i c t r a n s f o r m a t i o n in
the Mutiny by m e r c h a n t
India, especially the railroad revolution, had failed to adequately d i s c o u n t for t h e
t production in t h e rest of
fiscal impact of such " m o d e r n i z a t i o n . " T h e taxes that financed the railroads had
m the recently c o n q u e r e d
also crushed t h e ryots. T h e i r inability to p u r c h a s e subsistence was f u r t h e r com-
three years, m u c h of the
p o u n d e d by t h e depreciation of t h e r u p e e d u e to the n e w international Gold
tre in effect eating India's
Standard (which India h a d not adopted), w h i c h steeply raised the cost of imports.
;r, "that, with h e r f a m i n e s
Thanks to t h e price explosion, t h e p o o r b e g a n to starve t o death even in well-
the world." 5
watered districts like T h a n j a v u r in Tamil N a d u , " r e p u t e d to be i m m u n e to
icted railroads, lauded as
food shortages."* 1 Sepoys m e a n w h i l e e n c o u n t e r e d increasing difficulty in enforc-
sed by m e r c h a n t s t o ship
ing order in the panic-stricken bazaars and villages as f a m i n e engulfed the vast-
icts to central d e p o t s for T a b l e 1.1 I n d i a n W h e a t E x p o r t s to t h e UK,' 1875-78
se the telegraph ensured ns at once, regardless of
(iOOOs of Quarters)
:e control invited anyone 1875
culation. "Besides regular e 1876, " m e n of all sorts iwelers and cloth dealers
757
1877
1409 420
1878
ge in business and i m p o r t Source: Cornelius Walford, The Famines of the World, London 1879, p. 127.
.vas appalled by t h e speed lieved the famine:
A
m
1876
LATE V I C T O R I A N
v
HOLOCAUSTS
Deccan plateau. Roadblocks were hastily established to stem the flood of stickthin country people into Bombay and Poona, while in Madras the police forcibly expelled some 25,000 famine refugees. , u
India's Nero The central government under the leadership of Q u e e n Victoria's favorite poet, Lord Lytton, vehemently opposed efforts by Buckingham and s o m e of his dis-
j
trict officers to stockpile grain o r otherwise interfere with market forces. All
j
through the autumn of 1876, while the vital kharif crop was withering in the
I
fields of southern India, Lytton had been absorbed in organizing the i m m e n s e Imperial Assemblage in Delhi to proclaim Victoria Empress of India (Kaiser-iHind). As The Times's special correspondent described it, "The Viceroy seemed to have made the tales of Arabian fiction t r u e ... nothing was too rich, n o t h i n g too costly." "Lytton put on a spectacle," adds a biographer of Lord Salisbury (the secretary of state for India), "which achieved the two criteria Salisbury had set him six months earlier, of being 'gaudy e n o u g h to impress the orientals' ... a n d furthermore a pageant which hid 'the nakedness of the sword on which we really rely'" 1 ' Its "climacteric ceremonial" included a week-long feast for 68,000 officials, satraps and maharajas: the most colossal and expensive meal in world history.1- An English journalist later estimated that 100,000 of the Queen-Empress's subjects starved to death in Madras and Mysore in the course of Lytton's spectacular durbar.13 Indians in f u t u r e generations justifiably would r e m e m b e r him as their Nero. 1 '' Following this triumph, the viceroy seemed to regard the growing famine as a tiresome distraction from the Great Game of preempting Russia in Central Asia by fomenting war with the blameless Shcr Ali, the Emir of Afghanistan. Lytton, according to Salisbury, was "burning with anxiety to distinguish himself in a great war." 15 Serendipitously for him, the Czar was o n a collision course with Turkey in the Balkans, and Disraeli and Salisbury were eager to show the Union jack on the Khyber Pass. Lytton's warrant, as he was constantly reminded by his chief budgetary adviser, Sir John Strachey, was to ensure that Indian, not English, taxpayers paid the costs of what Radical critics later denounced as "a war o f deliberately planned aggression." T h e depreciation of the rupee m a d e strict parsimony in t h e non-military budget even m o r e urgent. 1 6
6
STS
D stem the flood of stickVladras the police forcibly
:n Victoria's favorite poet, nam and some of his dis; with market forces. All rop was withering in the i organizing the immense mpress of India (Kaiser-il it, "The Viceroy seemed dng was too rich, nothing her of Lord Salisbury (the criteria Salisbury had set press the orientals' ... and sword on which we really •long feast for 68,000 offiDensive meal in world hisi0 of the Queen-Empress's e course of Lytton's specy would remember him as
rd the growing famine as a dng Russia in Central Asia iir of Afghanistan. Lytton, languish himself in a great sion course with Turkey in how the Union Jack on the eminded by his chief budlian, not English, taxpayers 1 as "a war of deliberately ade strict parsimony in the
V I C T O R I A ' S G H O S T S 27
20
LATE V I C T O R I A N
AN
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ilia and self-lacerating dcspaii Although his possible psy t i o n " complained Salisbury t< it b e c a m e a cabinet scandal a 1877 for"allegedly attempting G e r m a n y . " As o n e of Salisbu a b s u r d a c o n t e n t i o n as it w a s of Simla," and it produced ; t h e Viceroy's ravings by a d a b o t h Lytton and his father ha able' m e m o r a n d u m , he c o n c ' W h e n a man inherits insan o t h e r , he has a ready-made commit.'"19 But in adopting a strict la n o t , could claim to be extras self to be standing on the she of A d a m Smith, w h o a c e n u d-vis the terrible Bengal d r o f r o m any other cause but th m e a n s , to r e m e d y the incom Figure 1.2 The Poet as Viceroy: Lytton in Calcutta, 1877
a t t e m p t s to regulate the pri< in t h e East India C o m p a n y
T h e 44-year-old Lytton, the f o r m e r minister to Lisbon, had replaced the Earl
was only repeating orthodox
of N o r t h b r o o k after the latter h a d honorably refused t o acquiesce in Disraeli's
prices, by stimulating impoi
machiavellian "forward" policy on the northwesc frontier. H e was a strange a n d
iours of the situation." H e i
troubling choice (actually, only f o u r t h on Salisbury's s h o r t list) t o exercise para-
to b e no interference of an
m o u n t authority over a starving s u b c o n t i n e n t of 250 million people. A writer,
of reducing the price of ioc
seemingly admired only by Victoria, w h o w r o t e "vast, stale p o e m s " and ponder-
to politicians of b o t h partie:
ous novels u n d e r the nom dc plume of O w e n Meredith, h e had b e e n accused o f
British public f o o t the bill i
plagiarism by b o t h S w i n b u r n e a n d his o w n father, Bulwer-Lytton ( a u t h o r of The
a cost that w o u l d b a n k r u p t
Last Days of Pompeii).17 Moreover, it was widely suspected that the n e w viceroy's
it h a d become a Utilitariar
j u d g e m e n t w a s addled by o p i u m and incipient insanity. Since a n e r v o u s break-
against d o g m a t i c faith in o n
d o w n in 1868, Lytton h a d repeatedly exhibited wild swings b e t w e e n m e g a l o m a -
dearth." 2 ' 1 Grain merchants,
!STS
VICTORIA'S
GHOSTS
nia and self-lacerating despair.'* Although his possible psychosis ("Lytton's mind tends violently to exaggeration" complained Salisbury to Disraeli) was allowed free rein over famine policy, it became a cabinet scandal after he denounced his o w n government in O c t o b e r 1877 for "allegedly attempting to create an Anglo-Franco-Russian coalition against Germany." As one of Salisbury's biographers has emphasized, this was "about as absurd a contention as it was possible to m a k e at the time, even from the distance of Simla," and it produced an explosion inside Whitehall. "Salisbury explained the Viceroy's ravings by admitting that h e was 'a little m a d ' . It was known t h a t both Lytton and his father had used opium, a n d when D e r b y read the 'inconceivable' m e m o r a n d u m , h e concluded that Lytton was dangerous and should resign: ' W h e n a m a n inherits insanity from one parent, and limitless conceit from t h e other, he has a ready-made excuse for almost any extravagance which he m a y commit.'"' 9 But in adopting a strict laissez-faire approach to famine, Lytton, demented o r not, could claim to b e extravagance's greatest enemy. H e clearly conceived h i m self to be standing on the shoulders of giants, or, at least, the sacerdotal authority of Adam Smith, w h o a century earlier in The Wealth of Nations had asserted (vwii-v/s the terrible Bengal drought-famine of 1770) that "famine has never arisen from any other cause but the violence of g o v e r n m e n t attempting, by improper means, to remedy the inconvenience of dearth." 2 0 Smith's injunction against state attempts to regulate the price of grain during famine h a d been taught for years in the East India Company's famous college at Haileyburv. 21 T h u s the viceroy 3on, had replaced the Earl
was only repeating orthodox curriculum w h e n he lectured Buckingham that high
I to acquiesce in Disraeli's
prices, by stimulating imports and limiting consumption,were the "natural sav-
tier. He was a strange and
iours of the situation." H e issued strict, "semi-theological" orders that "there is
hort list) to exercise para-
to be n o interference of any kind on the p a r t of Government with the object
million people. A writer,
of reducing the price of food," and "in his letters h o m e to the India Office a n d
stale poems" and ponder-
to politicians of both parties, he denounced 'humanitarian hysterics'." 22 "Let t h e
1, he had been accused of
British public foot t h e bill for its 'cheap sentiment,' if it wished to save life at
wer-Lytton (author of The
a cost that.would b a n k r u p t India." 2 ' By official dictate, India like Ireland before
ted that the new viceroy's
it had b e c o m e a Utilitarian laboratory w h e r e millions of lives w e r e wagered
ty. Since a nervous break-
against dogmatic faith in o m n i p o t e n t markets overcoming the "inconvenience o f
zings between megaloma-
d e a r t h . " " Grain merchants, in fact, preferred t o export a record 6.4 million cwt.
6
r
20
LATE V I C T O R I A N
AN
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of wheat to Europe in 1877-78 rather than relieve starvation in India. 25 Lytton, to b e fair, probably believed that he was in any case balancing budgets
private misgivings, Salisbury Lytton and publicly congratul
against lives that were already d o o m e d or devalued of any civilized h u m a n qual-
England ought t o pay tribute
ity The grim doctrines of T h o m a s Makhus, former Chair of Political Economy
his o w n advisers later protestc
at Haileybury, still held great sway over the white rajas. Although it was bad man-
emergency of t h e famine, S;
ners to openly air such opinions in front of the natives in Calcutta, Malthusian
C o m m u n i s m " t h e idea "that
principles, updated by Social Darwinism, were regularly invoked to legitimize
for the sake of a poor India." 3
Indian famine policy at h o m e in England. Lytton, who justified his stringencies t o
Like other architects of tl
the Legislative Council in 1877 by arguing that the Indian population "has a ten-
any precedent for the perman
dency to increase more rapidly than the food it raises from the soil," 26 most likely
KevzVw pointed o u t in 1877,
subscribed to the melancholy viewpoint expressed by Sir Evelyn Baring (after-
poor, either in British territoi
wards Lord Cromer), the finance minister, in a later debate on the government's
is said by medical men and ot
conduct during the 1876-79 catastrophe. "[E]very benevolent attempt made t o
L o n d o n feared that "enthusia
mitigate the effects of famine and defective sanitation serves but t o enhance the
a trojan horse for an Indian F
evils resulting from overpopulation." 2 7 In the same vein, an 1881 report "con-
sion of 1878-80 approvingly i
cluded that 80% of the famine mortality were drawn from the poorest 20% of
doctrine that in time of fainij
the population, and if such deaths were prevented this stratum of the popula-
probably lead to the doctrine
tion would still be unable to adopt prudential restraint. Thus, if the government
thus the foundation would b
gs w o r r y i n g over t h e b o d y
while in S h o l a p u r t h e district officer had w a r n e d his superiors in May 1875: "1
it, and h a d only t o r n o n e of
see no reason to d o u b t the fact stated to m e b y many apparently t r u s t w o r t h y wit-
;d that it w a s only f r o m the T h e sight and smell o f the Jt I did n o t stay to l o o k f o r a 3
i h a d b e e n freshly pickcd. ''
nesses and which m y o w n personal observation confirms, that in m a n y eases t h e assessments are only paid by selling o r n a m e n t s o r cattle." (As [aims Banaji comments, 'A h o u s e h o l d w i t h o u t cattle was a h o u s e h o l d on t h e verge o f extinction.") A h m e d n a g a r with P o o n a had b e e n the c e n t e r of the f a m o u s D e c c a n Riots in
Drs with t h e English o r edu-
M a y - J u n e 1875, w h e n ryots beat u p m o n e y l e n d e r s and destroyed d e b t records.' 8
. that starvation deaths w e r e
While British procrastination was sacrificing charity t o their savage god, t h e
ry mortality in o r d e r to dis-
Invisible H a n d , tens of t h o u s a n d s of these destitute villagers w e r e voting w i t h their feet a n d fleeing to H y d e r a b a d , w h e r e t h e Nazim w a s providing assistance t o
nguistic and administrative
famine victims. A large part of Sholapur w a s d e p o p u l a t e d before British officials
s of the harvest w a s lost in
m a n a g e d t o organize relief works. T h e n , as a horrified British j o u r n a l i s t discov-
\
V
I
36
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ered, they turned away anyone w h o was too starved to undertake hard coolie
he w a s lambasted by The Ecorn
labor. But even "the labour test imposed upon the able-bodied," the correspon-
that "it is the duty of the Gover
dent noted, "is found to be too heavy for their famished frames; the wages paid
convinced (according to Lord S
are inadequately low; in many districts all w h o are willing to w o r k do not find
money to save a lot of black fi
employment.... No arrangements have been made to preserve the cattle by pro-
Fourierism."' ; Temple's career
viding fodder or pasture lands. N o grain stores have been collected or charity
in 1877 the thoroughly cha
houses opened for the infirm and the aged." T h e only recourse for t h e young, t h e
his reputation for extravagance
infirm and the aged was therefore to attempt the long trek to Hyderabad - an
instrument of Lytton's frugalit
ordeal that reportedly killed m o s t of them. 3 9
could not have found "a m a n :
Widespread unemployment and the high price of grain, meanwhile, b r o u g h t
in f a m i n e management.""''' Ind
ved by anything he experienced during his lightning tour of southern India.
agrees that the transition f r o m c
O n the contrary, Lytton was convinced that Buckingham, like a fat squire in a
lowed a predictable pattern: " T
Fielding novel, was allowing the lower orders to run riot in the relief camps. After
implications for forms of p o p i
briefly visiting one of the camps, Lytton sent a letter to his wife that bristled with
solidarities and collective p o p u
patrician contempt b o t h for Buckingham and the famished people of Madras.
failure of the fc/wri/'|crop] s h o
"You never saw such 'popular picnics' as they are. T h e people in t h e m do no w o r k
Standing rabi crops soon b c c a m
of any kind, are bursting with fat, and naturally enjoy themselves thoroughly
storage pits of hoarders and b s
The Duke visits these camps like a Buckingham squire would visit his m o d e l
employing kfllii'-wielding muscl
farm, taking the deepest interest in the growing fatness of his prize oxen and
Heavy rains in September ai
pigs.... But the terrible question is h o w the Madras Government is ever t o get
India, but only at the price of a
these demoralized masses on to really useful work." 91
thousands of enfeebled peasan
In a bitter conference in Madras, Lytton forced Buckingham to reaffirm his
Modern research has shown t
complete allegiance to the cardinal principles of famine policy - "the sufficiency
predators, ensures an explosion
of private trade" and "the necessity of non-interference with private trade" -
the monsoon. T h e ensuing spif
and imposed his own man, Major-General Kennedy from Bombay, as Bucking-
of n o r m a l agricultural practice
ham's "Personal Assistant." In practice, it was a coup d'etat that deposed Bucking-
to planting a life-saving crop. Tf
ham's Council and installed Kennedy as supremo for famine administration with
animals were virtually extinct
orders to adhere to the strict letter of the Temple reforms."' Meanwhile, f r o m the
reported from the Madras Decc
remote corners of the Deccan, missionaries reported more unspeakable scenes.
become. I may mention, that in
"Recently, the corpse of a w o m a n was carried along the road slung to a pole like
supplies to distant villages on a
an animal, with the face partly devoured by dogs. T h e other day, a famished crazy
h u m a n animal is so low that it
w o m a n took a dead dog and ate it, near our bungalow." "This is not sensational
load of rice than a couple of bi_
writing," emphasized the Anglican correspondent. "The half of the h o r r o r s of this famine have not, cannot, be told. Men do not care to reproduce in writing scenes which have m a d e their blood run cold."" T h e Deccan's villages were also now rent by desperate internal struggles over the last hoarded supplies of grain. A social chain reaction set in as each class or caste attempted to save themselves at the expense of the g r o u p s below t h e m . As David Arnold has shown, collectively structured, "moral-economic" dacoities
fodder for cattle employed on t With their bullocks dead ai scratch at the heavy Deccan s o wives to the remaining ploughs mittees was bad, while that whi was instantly devoured by g r e a camp followers of drought. " T l
J
STS
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
35
Lcr him telegraph to England
(expropriations) against moneylenders and grain merchants tended to degener-
case; he may, by this means,
ate in the later stages of famine into inter-caste violence o r even a Hobbesian war
red in the minds of people at
of ryot against ryot. " T h e longer famine persisted the less crime and acts of violence bore the mark of collective protest and appropriation, and t h e m o r e they
-tical mind" was stubbornly
assumed the bitterness of personal anguish, desolation and despair."9'1 Sharma
lining tour of southern India,
agrees that the transition from communitarian action to intra-village violence fol-
ingham, like a fat squire in a
lowed a predictable pattern: "The change in the agricultural cycle h a d significant
i riot in the relief camps. After
implications for forms of popular action and solidarities. T h e t e m p o r a r y class
r to his wife that bristled with
solidarities and collective popular action which had been witnessed during the
famished people of Madras,
failure of the fe/ian/[crop] showed a declining tendency in the winter seasons.
ic people in them do n o work
Standing rabi crops soon became t h e objects of plunder, m o r e than granaries and
mjoy themselves thoroughly
storage pits of hoarders and banias. The zamindars had to guard their crops by
squire would visit his m o d e l
employing iat/ri-wielding musclemen." 9 5
atness of his prize oxen and
Heavy rains in September and October finally eased the drought in southern
JS Government is ever to get
India, but only at the price of a malaria epidemic that killed further hundreds of thousands of enfeebled peasants in the United Provinces as well as the Deccan.
! Buckingham to reaffirm his
Modern research has s h o w n that extreme drought, by decimating their chief
n i n e policy - "the sufficiency
predators, ensures an explosion in mosquito populations u p o n the first return of
"erence with private trade" -
the m o n s o o n . The ensuing spike in malaria cases, in turn, delays the resumption
ly from Bombay as Bucking-
of normal agricultural practices. 96 But in 1878 there were other obstacles as well
d'etat that deposed Bucking-
to planting a life-saving crop. T h e fodder famine had been so extreme that plough
>r famine administration with
animals were virtually extinct in many localities. As The Timers correspondent
2
forms." Meanwhile, from the
reported from the Madras Deccan in July "To show how scarce the bullocks have
ed more unspeakable scenes.
become, I may mention, that in the Bellary district merchants send o u t their grain
g the road slung to a pole like
supplies to distant villages on carts drawn by m e n . The value of the labour of the
ie other day, a famished crazy-
h u m a n animal is so low that it is cheaper to employ half-a-dozen m e n to move a
low." "This is not sensational
load of rice than a couple of bullocks. The m e n , at any rate, can be fed, whereas
"The half of the horrors of care to reproduce in writing
fodder for cattle employed on the roads is not to be had at any price. With their bullocks dead and their farm implements pawned, ryots had t o scratch at the heavy Deccan soil with tree branches or yoke themselves or their
perate internal struggles over
wives to the remaining ploughs. M u c h of the seed grain distributed b y relief com-
taction set in as each class or
mittees was bad, while that which sprouted a n d pushed its way above the ground
: of the groups below them.
was instantly devoured by great plagues of locusts that, as in the Bible, were the
1, "moral-economic" dacoities
c a m p followers of drought. "The solid earth," according t o an American mission-
F LAT 1: V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
V
ary, "seemed in motion, so great were the numbers of these insects; c o m p o u n d s
the stores of grain to sell at c
and fields appeared as if they had been scorched with devastating fires after the
of t h e population. "Unless Sir
pests had passed.'" ;s By early 1878 famine accompanied by cholera had returned
Punjab, had insisted on taking
to m a n y districts, but relief grain stocks, in anticipation of a g o o d harvest, were
of the corrupt and incompct
depleted and prices as high as ever. Digby tells a grim story about the distress that
been depopulated." 1 " 2
lingered through the spring: "Three w o m e n (sisters) had married three brothers, and they and their families all lived in o n e large house, in H i n d u and patriarchal
But with equal justice t h e against the British administra
fashion. T h e whole household, on January 1, 1878, n u m b e r e d forty-eight per-
well as adjoining districts of t!
sons. Their crops failed, their money was gone, their credit was m'i. They tried
people in 1878-79. As Indian
to live on seeds, leaves, etc. and, as a consequence, cholera attacked them, and
toll was the foreseeable and a
f his officials, w h o bought up
his own district officers ("a more suicidal policy I cannot conceive," complained
52
LATE VI C "1 O R1A N HOLOCAUSTS
v i•
But the Government of India were now compelled to justify calling for a remission. The c North West Provinces were to with Sh ere Aii [the emir of Afg
stage rarely recover."
During all that dreary winter fall |n the desperate endeavor t o them on the straw which thatc ding. The winter was abnorm; ding beneath them, scantily ch dying and the dead were strev\ were tumbled into old wells. b> able relatives to perform the u single scanty meal. Husbands : of seeing' them perish by the death the Government of Indi; journals of the NorthAVest \v< to civilians under no circumsta they were dying of hunger. C misery around him. opened a i rimanded, threatened with de ately.1117
one), immediately and obsequiously vowed "to p u t t h e screw" u p o n the hard-hit
" N o t a whisper" of this m a
zamindars and their famished tenants. ("His H o n o u r trusts that t h e realizations
g o v e r n m e n t critic, Robert Kni
will equal the expectations of the G o v e r n m e n t s of India, b u t if they are dis-
mnii, visited Agra in February
appointed, his Excellency the Viceroy ... m a y rest assured rJmt it will not be for
indications of appalling tnisei
Figure 1.6 F a m i n e Victims, 1877
The original caption of this missionary photograph reads, "Those who have got to this
wrtnt of effort or inclination to put the necessary pressure on those who are liable for the
laudatory minute Irorn C o u p e
demand.") H e p r o m p t l y ordered his district officers and engineers to "discourage
his c o m m e n t , Lyiton blamed t
relief works in every possible w a y . . . M e r c distress is not a sufficient reason for
ness ol the people to leave t h e
opening a relief work." T h e point was to force the peasants to give m o n e y t o the
part at the local g o v e r n m e n t i r
g o v e r n m e n t , n o t the o t h e r way around. 1 0 5 W h e n starving peasants fought b a c k
Knighl replied, in t u r n , in an ec
(there were 150 grain riots in August and S e p t e m b e r o f 1877 alone), C o u p e r filled
" m u r d e r " to characterize offici
the jails and prisons. 106 As o n e dissident civil servant, Lt.-Col. Ronald O s b o r n e , w o u l d later explain to readers of The Contemporary Review, a m u r d e r o u s official deception w a s e m p l o y e d to justify the collections and disguise the h u g e c o n s e q u e n t casualties:
Do not accuse the Sr
STS
35
But ;he Government of India having decreed the collection of the land revenue, were now compelled to justify their rapacity, by pretending there was no famine calling for a remission. The dearth and the frightful mortality throughout the No: ih-West Provinces were to be preserved as a State secret like the negotiations wjrh Shere Ali [the emir of Afghanistan].... During all that dreary winter famine was busy devouring its victims by thousands.... [I]n the desperate endeavor to keep their cattle alive, the wretched peasantry fed them on the straw which thatchcd their huts, and which provided them with bedding. The winter was abnormally severe, and without a roof above them or bedding beneath them, scantily clad and poorly fed, multitudes perished of cold. The dying and the dead were strewn along the cross-country roads. Scores of corpses were tumbled into old wells, because the deaths were too numerous for the miserable relatives to perform the usual funeral rites. Mothers sold their children for a single scanty meal. Husbands flung their wives into ponds, to escape the torment of seeing them perish by the lingering agonies of hunger. Amid these scenes of death the Government of India kept its serenity and cheerfulness unimpaired. The journals of the North-West were persuaded into silence. Strict orders were given to civilians under no circumstances to countenance the pretence of the natives that they were dying of hunger. One civilian, a Mr. MacMinn, unable to endure the misery around him, opened a relief work at his own expense. He was severely reprimanded, threatened with degradation, and ordered to close the work immediatelv.1"7
5, "Those who have got to this
the screw" u p o n t h e hard-hit
"Not a whisper" of this m a n m a d e disaster reached t h e public until a notable
u r trusts that the realizations
g o v e r n m e n t critic, R o b e r t Knight, publisher o f the hidimi Econo»ri5t and States-
of India, but if they are dis-
man, visited Agra in February 1878. " H e w a s astonished to find all around t h e
: assured t/irtt it will not be for
indications of appalling misery." His public revelations p r o m p t e d a long, self-
re on those who arc liable for the
laudatory m i n u t e f r o m C o u p e r t h a t was lulsomely e n d o r s e d by t h e viceroy. In
and engineers to "discourage
his c o m m e n t , Lytton blamed the h o r r e n d o u s mortality m o r e on " t h e unwilling-
; is not a sufficient reason for
ness of the people t o leave their h o m e s t h a n by any w a n t of f o r e t h o u g h t on t h e
peasants to give m o n e y to the
p a r t of the local g o v e r n m e n t in providing w o r k s where t h e y might b e relieved."" 1 "
;tarving peasants f o u g h t back
Knight replied, in t u r n , in an editorial that for t h e first t i m e bluntly u s e d the t e r m
r of 1877 alone), C o u p e r filled
" m u r d e r " t o characterize official famine policy:
sborne, w o u l d later explain to
Do not accuse the Statesman of exaggerating matters. Accuse yourself. For long weary years have we demanded the suspension of these kists [land tax] when famine comes and in vain. With no poor law in the land, and the old policy once more set up of letting the people pull through or die, as they can, and with the ver-
ficial deception w a s employed sequent casualties:
Vi
LATE V I C T O R I A N
V1C
HOLOCAUSTS
nacular press which alone witnesses the sufferings of the people silenced by a cruel necessity, v.e and our contemporaries must speak without reserve or be partakers in the guilt of multitudinous murders committed by men blinded to the real nature of what we are doing in the country.109
f u n d " was iv\tved in IS77 by I from
making
the terrible m o r t a
aware that Radical m e m b e r s o: fund through a combination o f ture - embraced the plan w i t h
Indeed, "blind m e n " like Lytton and T e m p l e w e r e f o r t u n a t e that t h e y had
w i t h o u t harm to ruling classes
to face only the w r a t h of n e w s p a p e r editorials. T h e India of "supine sufferers"
from H u m e , w h o m he forced
which they governed in 1877 was still t r a u m a t i z e d by the savage t e r r o r that
income tax on t h e ground t h a
had followed the M u t i n y t w e n t y years earlier. Violent protest w a s e v e r y w h e r e
E u r o p e a n and Indian." His o v
deterred by m e m o r i e s of sepoys b l o w n a p a r t at t h e m o u t h s of c a n n o n s and
famine victims (that is. a n e w h
whole forests of peasants w r i t h i n g at t h e noose. T h e exception was in P o o n a
have inflamed t h e entire c o u n t i
where Basudeo Balwant P h a d k e and his followers, inspired by still robust M a r a t h a
Council of India. As an altern;
martial traditions, b r o k e w i t h the Sabha's m o d e r a t i o n . "The destruction caused
that w a s almost as regressive, r
d e p a r t i n g Liberal Viceroy 1 .f boughs or palm leaves. T h e
ered. Surveys by Cearense officials
was m a d e to enforce sanitary
over the next decade revealed t h e profundity of the seca's impact. In
ien confined to small scattered
Arneiros, the vertWorcs in 1881 "esti-
ition had lost the community
mated that 90 per cent of the in-
osure. Equally, for reasons that
habitants left the inunicipio during
he rural Nordeste. As a result,
t h e drought and that 50 per cent o f
smallpox in the same way that
those had n o t returned by August
srous cholera outbreaks. "The
1881, two winter seasons after it
ed Ceara in the middle of 1878
ended. In regard to the recovery of
3 Pessoa. Smith estimated that
the cattle industry, t h e provincial
the m o n t h s of November and
president reported in 1887 that in
that 100,000 had perished in
Figure 2.9 Rftirantes: C e a r a , 1877
a few areas herds w e r e beginning
e. "The Imperial government's
t o near their 1876 size. Within t h e
yas to send limited quantities of
Inhumans, there are many who believe that area never fully recovered from t h e
arried the epidemic as far afield
drought of 1877-79, a result of the havoc w r o u g h t on fortuncs'and herds and t h e
)te of the despair of the retiran-
general feeling of demoralization which ensued. The Great Drought, it is said, cast a long shadow.'"'''1 Indeed, Gilberto Freire explains, the "apocalyptic double sevens [1877]" became the "dramatic synthesis" in Brazilian m e m o r y of the conjoined tragedies of drought and underdevelopment. Yet s o m e sectors of the Nordeste's ruling class discovered that the "drought industry" w a s more profitable t h a n the declining regional staples of sugar and cotton. This was certainly true for Singlehurst, Brocklehurst and Company, the British merchant house in Fortaleza, which supplied vast quantities of provisions t o the government and transported thousands of retirantes to the Amazon on their coastal steamers. Likewise, big sugar planters profiteered from lucrative imperial grants for temporarily p u t t i n g drought
n of all relief in June 1879 and
refugees to work. A precedent w a s thus set for allowing the coroneis (the land-
m Recife, the great drought did
owners w h o dominated provincial and local politics in t h e Nordeste) to plunder
880, when the rains turned the
disaster aid. "Development" became simply a e u p h e m i s m for subsidizing a reac-
iree years. With 80 percent of
tionary social order, and over the next century vast sums of "drought relief" dis-
jorarily forced to scratch at the
appeared into the sertao without leaving b e h i n d a single irrigation ditch or usable
90
I ATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
reservoir for its long-suffering population. 9 5 T h e "double sevens, " however, did spell the b e g i n n i n g of t h e end t o slavery in Brazil. Land, cattle and free labor in t h e s e r t a o b e c a m e almost valueless c o m m o d ities d u r i n g the d r o u g h t , leaving slaves, in keen d e m a n d by Paulista coffee planters, as t h e m a j o r fungible asset of the fazendeiros. Selling slaves t o the s o u t h , like exporting free labor to t h e A m a z o n , g e n e r a t e d obscene prosperity amid g e n e r a l catastrophe. "The Baron Ibiapaba, J o a q u i m da C u n h a Freire, f o r example, profited greatly, being t h e principal exporter o f h u m a n cargo from b o t h Fortaleza and Mossoro. F r o m Fortaleza alone, h e w a s r e p u t e d t o have sold at least fifteen thou-
Gunl
sand slaves south." This s u d d e n revival o n a g r a n d scale o f t h e slave t r a d e , with all the brutal public spectacles that accompanied it, provoked e n o r m o u s public r e s e n t m e n t , particularly in Ceara w h e r e e m a n c i p a t i o n societies f o r m e d in virtu-
Previously o n e
ally every town. W i t h i n six years, popular agitation h a d n o t only e n d e d slavery in
now nothing at
Ceara, the first province t o do so, b u t sparked similar crusades across the N o r t h -
people live on h
east. F o u r years later, in the final twilight of the old Empire, slavery was abolished t h r o u g h o u t Brazil.*6
India, China a n d Brazil a c c o d r o u g h t of t h e 1870s had p r lands. Peasant producers, a s of t h e trade depression, w h i gave foreign creditors, alliec n e w o p p o r t u n i t i e s to tighter o u t r i g h t expropriation. P a u ] o f cheap plantation labor a s in t h e faith. A n d where n a t i \ subsistence crises in Asia a n c w a s resisted in m a n y cases I l o w e d by g u n b o a t s and m e s : In the K o r e a n case, the o ] d r o u g h t in n o r t h China exte breadbasket C h o l l a r e g i o n , w i t h the implementation o f
AUSTS
n n i n g of t h e end t o slavery in n e almost valueless c o m m o d n a n d by Paulista coffee plant•elling slaves to t h e s o u t h , like
Three
cene prosperity a m i d general lha Freire, for example, profargo f r o m b o t h Fortaleza and have sold at least fifteen thou-
Gunboats and Messiahs
scale of the slave trade, w i t h t, provoked e n o r m o u s public ion societies f o r m e d in virtu-
Previously one laughed at the state of one's heart;
h a d n o t only e n d e d slavery in
now nothing at all elicits joy or laughter. It is said that
ar crusades across t h e N o r t h -
people live on hope. I have no hope even of living.
Empire, slavery was abolished
-Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
India, C h i n a and Brazil a c c o u n t e d for the m o s t massive mortality, b u t the w o r l d d r o u g h t of t h e 1870s h a d p r o f o u n d and deadly impacts in at least a d o z e n o t h e r lands. Peasant p r o d u c e r s , as w e have seen, w e r e already reeling f r o m t h e i m p a c t of the t r a d e depression, which d e e p e n e d abruptly in 1877. D r o u g h t a n d f a m i n e gave foreign creditors, allied w i t h i n d i g e n o u s m o n e y l e n d e r s and c o m p r a d o r e s , n e w o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o tighten control over local rural e c o n o m i e s t h r o u g h debt o r outright expropriation. Pauperized countrysides likewise provided rich harvests of cheap p l a n t a t i o n labor as well as missionary converts a n d o r p h a n s t o be raised in the faith. And w h e r e native states retained their independence, t h e widespread subsistence crises in Asia and Africa invited a n e w wave o f colonial expansion t h a t was resisted in m a n y cases by indigenous millenarianism. El N i n o was thus followed by g u n b o a t s a n d messiahs as well as b y famine a n d disease. In t h e Korean case, the opportunist p o w e r was Japan. In a familiar pattern, t h e d r o u g h t in n o r t h C h i n a extended latitudinally across t h e Yellow Sea into Korea's breadbasket Cholla region. T h e ensuing f a m i n e and peasant u n r e s t coincided with t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of the "open d o o r " treaty t h a t Meiji J a p a n h a d e x t o r t e d
LATn V I C T O R I A N
92
HOLOCAUSTS
GUN
from Korea in 1876 and offered the Japanese a pretext for f u r t h e r prying o p e n
than one-third o f its normal
the H e r m i t Kingdom for economic exploitation. Thus Japanese envoy Hanabusa,
brief respite in the boreal sprii
meeting with wary Korean officials aboard a warship in November 1877, relent-
ary 1S79).' C r o p failure, exacc
lessly lobbied them to accept a debt of relief. 'After exchanging gifts they talked
eases, coincided with a costly
about the past year's drought. ' T h e Koreans said it was terrible and is equally
even elephants. 4 And, as in th
n the popular belief in rein-
est. Although the commercially sophisticated Dayaks g r e w or harvested c o m -
>ugh the countryside in 1877,
modities for the world market like rattan and gctah pcrca (indispensable in under-
: that he was 'Iran's incarna-
sea telegraph cables), they fiercely resisted sedentarization and plantation labor.
:nch" (widely believed to be
At last in 1877, h u n g e r gave the Dutch a m e a n s of coercion: "The rice barns w e r e
Thiep was able to unify the
empty and famine was imminent. In order to obtain m o n e y to buy rice, only t w o
announced that the Low Era
options were left to the Dayak: either to collect more getah perca (of which t h e
g h t . . . was being established,
producing tree was already b e c o m i n g extinct) or to sell one's labour to the Dutch,
acked French garrisons, only
w h o had been eagerly looking for 'hands' for at least t w o centuries. N o w ... t h e
not faze N a m Thiep, w h o in
Dutch finally had the labour to dig a canal linking the Kahayan River with Ban-
new c o m m u n i t y on Elephant
jarmasin and thereby to push the trade in forest products up to unprecedented levels. Even the m o s t remote parts of Borneo were n o w b e c o m i n g part of t h e
'aged fields and forests across
global economy, exposing the local population both t o n e w opportunities and t o
), for example, reported less
new risks."6
4 0
• 94
LATE V I C T O R I A N
T i
HOLOCAUSTS
GUN' R
But the drought was most life-threatening in the overcrowded and geograph-
cal connections t o wrest " t h r o t
ically isolated Residency of Bagelen in south-central Java, where crop disease
in Occidental's western plains
in 1875 had already depleted local grain reserves. The pressure of the so-called
clcarcd the tropical forests in t
Cultivation System or cidturrstelsel, which compelled villages t o cultivate export
sharecroppcrs, then by debt-bo
crops for the benefit of the Netherlands at the expense of their o w n subsistence,
has emphasized, sugar inexora!
was higher here, as measured by the proportion of acreage committed to exports, than anywhere else in Java. 7 Although in its death throes in 1877 - c o n d e m n e d
T h e w i d e s p r e a d fencing of l a n d
as "an impediment to private enterprise" - the cultuurstelsel h a d been crucial to
a landless p r o l e t a r i a t , f u r t h e r 1
the Netherlands' great economic revival in the earlier Victorian period. Remit-
s o n a i scarcity o f food, and incri
tances forcibly extracted from the Javanese peasantry had at one point provided fully one-third of state revenues. 6 Conversely, the system's pressures on local producers during the episodically dry years f r o m 1843 to 1849, vividly described
h e a l t h c o n d i t i o n s . Inevitably, s u t h e final result o f a complex o f e p i d e m i c s , to t h e absence o f h a n d che prices o f food c o m m c
in Multatuli's great anticolonial novel Max Havelaar (1860), had led to massive
i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , t r a d e d food i t e n
famine mortality and flight from the land. There was such distress that "in one
c l e a r e d of forest and the t r a d i t i
regency the population fell f r o m 336,000 to 120,000 and in another from 89,500 to 9000.'"
migrant farmers. The growing tion made die emergent l a b o u of storm, d r o u g h t or a p l a g u
Local officials in Bagelen, where cultuurstelsel methods still remained entrenched, feared that a disaster of similar magnitude was again at hand. W h e n
n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y omvard, t h Negros.11
they attempted to buy rice to counter speculation, they were severely censured a la Lytton by the Council of the Dutch East Indies for abandoning free-market rec-
Locust plagues, particularly
titude. Batavia also insisted that the famished peasantry punctually pay its annual
panion to the l o n g drought fix;
land tax. Villagers were thus forced to sell their cattle and other possessions to
relief effort by corrupt Spanis
the same merchants w h o hoarded the local grain supply. Again, as in south India,
in conjunction with low sugar
tens of thousands of them were cut d o w n by cholera before they could die of
numbers of hacienda day-labc
starvation. This conveniently allowed the Dutch to claim that epidemic rather
records suggest an island-wide
than famine was the cause of excessive local mortality. 10
rates rising as high as 50 percei
In the Philippines, the great drought struck hardest at the' western Visayas, especially the island of Negros, where the explosive growth of sugar monocul-
town of Villadolid. As in India not killed by the famine were s
ture had displaced traditional food self sufficiency. Just as the Philippines has b e e n
Negros's neighbor island, P;
often described as a "Latin American social formation in East Asia," likewise the
babaylan), also suffered massivi
Occidental province of Negros, whose population skyrocketed from 18,805 in
was conditioned by recent a ;
1855 to 308,272 in 1898, came to replicate most of the exploitative and unsustain-
well-being. In the 1850s .siiwm^
able characteristics of distant Caribbean sugar colonies. Former Spanish colonial
principal port of Iloilo a "dynai
officials and a r m y officers, as well as wealthy mestizo merchants, used their politi-
in size and importance." W i t h
alition of previously hostile
points o u t , "the division b e t w e e n t h e mainly French w e s t coast and mainly Kanak
:ai had emptied t w o sacks at
cast coast persists today.") 23
; w h a t w e used to have," Atai
A m o n g t h e eyewitnesses to t h e Katiak t r a g e d y w a s a survivor of a n o t h e r
Kanak patience was pushed
d e f e a t e d insurrection: Louise Michel, "the Red Virgin o f Paris." A l t h o u g h s o m e
rought-exacerbated depreca-
o f C o m m u n a r d s in penal exile o n New C a l e d o n i a j o i n e d the race w a r against
elds.
t h e Kanaks, Michel passionately s u p p o r t e d t h e Kanak struggle f o r "liberty a n d
i 1 878 by the drought of the k had to scarch even further ilantations were very temptbetween Noumea and Bou:o take their herds onto gov- > ttle arrived there starving in ematically destroying them, ure involved in constructing .naks wanted proper protecto a stock-raiser who made :>ur cattle, then I'll put up a
dignity." She translated s o m e of t h e h a u n t i n g w a r chants o f the rebel b a r d Andia
s in J u n e 1878, accumulated
Drought and Imperial Design in Africa
(killed w i t h Atai) a n d gave half o f her f a m o u s red scarf ("the red scarf of t h e C o m m u n e that I had h i d d e n from every search") to t w o native friends w h o j o i n e d t h e insurgents. As she explained in h e r Memoirs: The Kanakan insurrection of 1878 failed. The strength and longing of human hearts was shown once again, but the whites shot down the rebels as we were mowed down in front of Bastion 37 and on the plains of Satory. When they sent the head of Atai to Paris, I wondered who the real headhunters were; as Henri Roche- " fort had once written to me, "the Versailles government could give the natives lessons in cannibalism."2"1
ssaults on white h o m e s t e a d s In s o u t h e r n Africa, t h e g r e a t d r o u g h t b e c a m e the chief ally of P o r t u g u e s e a n d
:. 200 E u r o p e a n s w e r e killed
British aggression against still i n d e p e n d e n t African societies. The A n g o l a n coast
ithpiece La Nonvellc Calcdonie
has f a m o u s l y erratic rainfall, especially in t h e environmentally unstable region
•lanesians."" With reinforce-
a r o u n d Luanda, but t h e d r o u g h t that began in 1876 w a s exceptional b o t h in its
cenaries from coastal tribes,
d u r a t i o n , lasting until t h e early 1880s, and its scale, affecting populations as far
ain Riviere devastated m u c h
inland as t h e Huila highlands. 2 5 " T h e m a j o r i t y of inhabitants of this land a r e
:s," confiscating food stores,
m u m m i e s r a t h e r t h a n h u m a n beings," c o m p l a i n e d L u a n d a ' s medical officer in
sight, and h a n d i n g over their
1876. A year later it w a s n o t e d t h a t "the e x t r e m e w e a k n e s s of African porters
m s m a t i c Atai was killed in a
hired from t h e G o l u n g o Alto district resulted in f o u r t e e n deaths d u r i n g a four-
'-white hair was sent t o Paris
day m a r c h to Massangano"; while t h r o u g h o u t 1878 "five o r six people a day w e r e
lal r e g i m e had experienced a
r e p o r t e d dying from starvation in L u a n d a . " " As Jill Dias h a s shown, " t h e intensi-
linance with very great diffiwas truly staggering. In addi-
fication of external t r a d e pressures and colonial i n t e r v e n t i o n in A n g o l a from t h e
i
\
e
I
100
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
1870s onwards both influenced the growing severity of famine and disease and 27
c. u N 15
o r afterward." 7 2 A l t h o u g h n o n e of t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y articles o r letters to Nature
w e r e the recipients of p r o m i s ;
c o m m e n t e d o n this o d d coincidence of epochal aridity and record rainfall in dif-
received no g o v e r n m e n t aid v
ferent parts of the Pacific Basin, scientists a century later w o u l d suddenly g r a s p
o n l y a b o u t a t e n t h of those w
that it w a s the crucial key to t h e m y s t e r y o f the 1870s droughts. T h e full m e a s u r e of this global tragedy - Nature in 1878 called it "the m o s t
n o r t h e r n India w h e r e the c r o ; famine-induced deaths for eve
destructive d r o u g h t t h e w o r l d has ever k n o w n " - c a n only be guessed at. 71 (Writing t o a Russian correspondent a b o u t t h e British "bleeding" of India, Marx
Paramete
w a r n e d that "the famine years are pressing each o t h e r and in dimensions till n o w n o t yet suspected in Europe!") 7 1 In India, w h e r e 5.5 million t o 12 million died
AHe Pop u
despite m o d e r n railroads and millions of t o n s of g r a i n in commercial circulation,
Province
e m b i t t e r e d nationalist writers c o m p a r e d t h e callous policies followed by Calcutta
Madras Bombay North Western Mysore Punjab Hyderabad & Central Provinces
19 10 1H 5
Total
5H.
to t h o s e e m a n a t i n g f r o m Dublin Castle in 1846. T h e chief difference, as Indian National Congress leader R o m e s h D u t t later p o i n t e d o u t in his f a m o u s Open Letters to Lord Curzon, w a s that, instead of t h e 1 million Irish dead of 1846-49, "a p o p u l a t i o n equal t o t h e [whole] p o p u l a t i o n of Ireland h a d disappeared u n d e r the desolating breath of the f a m i n e of 1877." 75 T h e official British estimate of 5.5 million deaths w a s based on projections of "excess mortality" derived f r o m test censuses in the D e c c a n and Mysore r e p o r t e d by the Famine C o m m i s s i o n in 1880. It is u n d o u b t e d l y t o o low, since it excluded
S o u r c e : li.i Klein. " W h e n the R.iins L
any estimate of deaths in drought-afflicted native states like Hyderabad a n d the Central Province rajs. Nor, as Kohei W a k i m u r a has pointed o u t , does it include
T h e 1878-80 Famine C o m
the protracted famine mortality d u e to high food prices or the spike in malaria
relationship b e t w e e n m o d e r n i
deaths ( m o r e than 3 million in 1878-79) a m o n g the immune-suppressed popula-
in "life-saving" railroads and n
tions of the f a m i n e districts. "I think it likely," w r o t e a c o n t e m p o r a r y British offi-
as D i g b y pointed o u t in an act:
cial q u o t e d by W a k i m u r a , " t h a t s o m e p o r t i o n of t h e excessive mortality, recorded
rapidly [23%j w h e r e the distric
d u r i n g 1879, may have b e e n d u e to this c o n t i n u a n c e of high prices. And especially
no railways [21%]. This is a
I believe that m a n y very p o o r people, w h o lived w i t h difficulty during t h e last
direction." 7 " In a study of t h e
three years, had fallen into a low state of health which ... t o o k away their p o w e r
conclusion: "The population 1
to recover f r o m the attack of the fever disease prevailing so generally in t h e later
(such as Pattikonda) was high
m o n t h s of t h e year." 76
Nandyal) where t h o u g h transp-
Adding princely India to British statistics b u t n o t c o u n t i n g t h e famine's " m o r -
nities improved entitlement t o
tality s h a d o w " in 1878-79, historical d e m o g r a p h e r Ira Klein concluded t h a t at
in his study of Beflary, "The c
T G U N B O A T S AND
tCAUSTS
1 desert region, b e c a m e covhich w e r e never seen before y articles o r letters to Nature lity a n d record rainfall in dif• later w o u l d suddenly grasp )s droughts. t in 1878 called it "the m o s t
MESSIAHS
least 7.1 million had died. In his i m p o r t a n t 1984 study, Klein also c o m p a r e d ratios of relief to m o r t a l i t y (see Table 3.1). D e s p i t e Lytton's assertion t h a t ryots w e r e the recipients of p r o m i s c u o u s welfare, t h e vast m a j o r i t y of f a m i n e sufferers received n o g o v e r n m e n t aid whatsoever. "[A]ll over stricken India, relief reached only a b o u t a t e n t h of t h o s e w h o s e lives w e r e t h r e a t e n e d seriously. In t h e parts o f n o r t h e r n India w h e r e t h e crop w a s 'almost entirely lost' t h e r e were nearly eight famine-induced deaths for every p e r s o n w h o received relief." 77
n only b e guessed at. 73 (Writ-
Table 3.1
. "bleeding" of India, Marx
Parameters of the 1876-78 Famine in India
ler a n d in dimejwiois till n o w
(Millions)
5 million t o 12 miliion died
Affected Population
in in commercial circulation,
Average Number Receiving Relief
policies followed by Calcutta
Madras
19.4
.80
2.6
le chief difference, as Indian
Bombay
10.0
.30
1.2.
d o u t in his f a m o u s Open Let-
North Western
18.4
.06
.4
Mysore
5.1
.10
.9
Punjab
3.5
-
1.7
Hyderabad & • Central Provinces
1.9
.04
.3
58.3
1.3
7.1
on Irish dead of 1846-49, "a id h a d disappeared under t h e 5 was based on projections of
Total
Deccan and Mysore reported dly t o o low, since it excluded tates like Hyderabad and the 5 pointed out, does it include trices o r the spike in malaria immune-suppressed popula2 a c o n t e m p o r a r y British offi: excessive mortality, recorded of high prices. And especially vith difficulty during the last lich ... t o o k away their p o w e r ailing so generally in the later t c o u n t i n g t h e famine's "morr Ira Klein concluded that at
Source: Ira Klein, "When the Rains Failed," IESHR2\:2 (1934), pp. 199 and 209-11.
T h e 1878-80 Famine C o m m i s s i o n statistics revealed a surprisingly perverse relationship b e t w e e n m o d e r n i z a t i o n and m o r t a l i t y that challenged British belief in "life-saving" railroads and markets, fn b o t h t h e B o m b a y and M a d r a s Deccan, as Digby pointed out in an acerbic c o m m e n t a r y , "the p o p u l a t i o n decreased m o r e rapidly [23%] where t h e districts w e r e served b y railways t h a n where there were n o railways [21%]. T h i s is a p r o t e c t i o n against famine entirely in t h e w r o n g direction." 7 3 In a study of t h e K u r n o o l District, E. Rajasekhar came to a similar conclusion: " T h e p o p u l a t i o n loss [1876-78] in areas well served w i t h t r a n s p o r t (such as Pattikonda) w a s high c o m p a r e d to irrigated a r e a s (such as Sirvel a n d Nandyal) w h e r e t h o u g h t r a n s p o r t w a s ill-deveioped, b e t t e r e m p l o y m e n t o p p o r t u nities improved e n t i t l e m e n t t o food." 7 9 Likewise, as David W a s h b r o o k has s h o w n in his study of Bellary, " T h e death-toll was heaviest in t h e most commercially-
T i
112
CUN B
LATH V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
advanced taluks of the district (Adoni a n d Alur w h e r e nearly a t h i t d of the popu-
W h e n Indian nationalists a n d
lation was lost)."* In Madras, the m o r t a l i t y was o v e r w h e l m i n g l y b o r n e b y the
the e x p o r t c»f coolies, he h a u g h
lower castes a n d the untouchables: t h e Boyas, C h e n c h u s a n d Madas. Indeed,
tral."-s'' (During t h e next great d
0
Rajasekhar estimates that fully half of the Madigas w e r e wiped o u t in Kurnool.
sl
In t h e famine's epicenter in the Deccan districts of Madras Presidency, a fifth
forced migraiion from the C e n G a n j a m to' l i u r m a . f
of the population perished and the d e m o g r a p h i c aftershocks, including a contraction in cultivated acreage, w e r e felt for a g e n e r a t i o n . Rajasekhar argues t h a t the Chi
higher mortality a m o n g s t m e n and boys - largely d u e to the T e m p l e w a g e and epidemic conditions in the relief c a m p s - left t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n of peasants saddled with a higher, productivity-throttling ratio of d e p e n d e n t s to producers. In K u r n o o l , for example, "the slow agrarian expansion in the district d u r i n g the post-famine period is t o be attributed n o t t o the decline in the population p e r s e but t o changes in the age and sex c o m p o s i t i o n of families of p o o r and small peasants, t h e disruption of their family life and the c o n s e q u e n t g e n e r a l decline in the quality of their labour." Few of the f a m i n e survivors as a result w e r e in any position t o take advantage of the t e m p o r a r y recovery of agricultural prices. 7 " E v e n as late as 1905, one settlement officer w r o t e , " T h e survivors a m o n g t h e ryots w e r e impoverished, many doubtless h a d d e t e r i o r a t e d physically. A n e w g e n e r a t i o n has g r o w n up, but the m e m o r y of the G r e a t Famine still lives and has increased the dull fatalism of the ryots." 75
1854-64 Taming Rebellion 1861-78 Mu.-lim Rebellion 1877-78 Famine 1S88 Yellow River floods 1892-94 Famine 1894-95 Muslim Rebellion Total " ~ Source: Hang-Wei He, Dron^if in Son Kong 19S0, p. ; •!'). 1877 was China's driest y e a r the d e a t h toll ranged as high a s
In addition to their h e c a t o m b s of dead, south Indians w e r e also e m b i t t e r e d by
tion o f north China."" As we h
the exploitation of starvation to recruit h u g e armies of i n d e n t u r e d coolies - over
that 7 million had died through
480,000 f r o m Madras alone b e t w e e n 1876 and 1879 - for semi-slave labor u n d e r
according to the 1879 Report of
brutal conditions on British plantations in Ceylon, Mauritius, G u y a n a and Natal.
nine a n d a half to thirteen mil review of m o d e r n Chinese-Ian^
Table 3.2
University m e a n w h i l e h a s c o n i r
Demographic Change in Madras Famine Districts
3.3) o f Taiping a n d famine d c a
(Percent)
1872—1881 1872-1901
Bellary -20.34 3.89
Kurnool -25.80 -4.63
keep accurate records or condu Cuddapah -17.03 -4.41
Source: G. Rao and D. Rajasekhar, "Land Use Patterns and Agrarian Expansion in a Semi-Arid Region: Case of Rayalaseema in Andhro, 1886-1939," Economical Political Weekly (25 June 1994), Table 3, p. A-83.
crcpant figures in historical lite underestimation, since the high pox e p i d e m i c on t o p of malnuti in April and May 1879 after t h e T h e few local statistics avail estimates came f r o m missiona;
T G U N B O A T S AND
:AI' S T S
MESSIAHS
W h e n Indian nationalists and English humanitarians pressed Lytton to oppose
;rc nearly a third of the popu-
the export of coolies, h e haughtily replied that the government was "purely neu-
ivcrwhelmingly b o r n e by the
tral." 84 (During the next great drought-famine, in 1S96-97, there would be similar
henchus and Madas. Indeed,
forced migration from the Central Provinces t o Assam tea plantations, and from
were wiped out in Kurnool.* 1
Ganjam to Burma.) 85
: "of Madras Presidency, a fifth :ershocks, including a contrac-
T a b l e 3.3
>n. Rajasekhar argues that the
China: Mortality Estimates
due to the Temple wage and W . W . Rockhill
: next generation of peasants
A. P. H a r p e r (1880)
1854-64 T a i p i n g Rebellion
20.0 million
1861-78 M u s l i m Rebellion
1.0 million
8 million
ision in the district during the
1877-78 F a m i n e
9.5 million
13 million
tcline in the population per se
1888 Y e l l o w River floods
2.0 million
milies of p o o r and small peas-
1892-94 F a m i n e
1.0 million
sequent general decline in the
1894-95 M u s l i m Rebellion
rs as a result were in any posi-
Total
> of dependents t o producers,
>f agricultural prices. 74 Even as
40 million
.25 million 33.7 million
61 million
Sourcc: Hang-Wei He, Drought m North Chiim in (lit' Early Guang Xi< (1H76 -1&79) fin Chinese], Hung Kong 1980, p. 149.
rvivors a m o n g the ryots were ysically. A new generation has
1877 was China's driest year in t w o centuries, and official Chinese estimates of
till lives and has increased the
the death toll ranged as high as 20 million, nearly a fifth of the estimated population of n o r t h China.*" As we have seen, the British legation in Beijing believed
idians were also embittered by
that 7 million had died through the winter of 1877. "The destruction as a whole,"
>s of indentured coolies - over
according to the 1879 Report of the China Famine Relief Fund, "is stated to be from
'9 - for semi-slave labor under
nine and a half to thirteen millions," the estimate accepted by Lillian Li in her
Mauritius, Guyana and Natal.
review of modern Chinese-language scholarship: S7 I fang-Wei He at H o n g Kong University meanwhile has contrasted different c o n t e m p o r a r y estimates (see 'fable 3.3) of Taiping and famine deaths. Since overwhelmed officials were unable to
m i n e Districts
keep accurate records or conduct sample censuses, it is hard to evaluate the discrepant figures in historical literature. If anything, there m a y be a bias toward
Cuddapah -17.03
underestimation, since the highest monthly death tolls, f r o m a late-starting small-
-4.41
pox epidemic on top of malnutrition, dysentery and typhus, reportedly occurred in April and May 1879 after the famine was widely declared to have ended. 6 "
.rian Expansion in a Semi-Arid Region: tical Weekly (25 June 1994), Tabic 3, p.
T h e few local statistics available are extraordinary. T h e most reliable foreign estimates c a m e from missionaries working in the famine epicenter of Shanxi, i l
T 114
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
GUN
w h e r e T i m o t h y Richards, w h o circulated questionnaires t o local officials and Catholic priests, r e p o r t e d that one-third of the population in t h e n o r t h h a d died
Global m o r t a l i t y can o n l y j
r a t n a in a recent systematic r e
j
India and C h i n a points to a c
overrun the Egyptian gar-
redoubled by the moral defeat of Mahdists' claim to represent an incorruptible,
rviously, writes Holt, "trade
egalitarian c o m m u n i t y of belief. W h e n the courageous, non-Ta'aisha commis-
in and the import of grain
sioner of the treasury, Ibrahim M u h a m m a d 'Adlan, attempted to "shield the poor
by the famines. T h e military
from the exactions required by the overgrown military caste," refusing to provi-
e it amounted to feeding the
sion the Ta'aisha at all cost, he w a s promptly h u n g by the Khalifa. T h e Mahdia
since it was desired to win
i '
litted to the Mahdia." In the
was becoming a "government of hell." 60 Another of the Khalifa's prisoners, the Italian priest Rosignoli, recounted the gruesome and unequal struggle for survival in O m d u r m a n in 1888-89:
s and cut off the food supply -von easy fame defeating the
O m d u r m a n b e c a m e a s t a g e o n w h i c h horrible s c e n e s t o o k p l a c e . T h e M a h d i s t s had
: western Sudan, the famine
!
insulted t h e b e s i e g e d E g y p t i a n s in El O b c i d f o r e a t i n g dogs, donkeys, l e a t h e r and o t h e r filth. N o w they w e r e forced t o g o even f u r t h e r ; they a t e their o w n children.
Waal principally blames civil point there were more than
T h e rich w e r e able t o save t h e m s e l v e s by b u y i n g u p in t i m e stocks of dura, b u t for
lpaign they 'ate, drank, wore
the p o o r t h e r e w a s n o escape. F r o m 60 lire p e r a r d e h the price r o s e to 250. T h e emaciated c r o w d s w i t h b e s o t t e d eyes t h a t 1 have s e e n in the s t r e e t s of El O b e i d d u r i n g
:he armies are r e m e m b e r e d
t h e siege, 1 saw o n c c m o r e in even g r e a t e r n u m b e r s . T h e r e w e r e large m o b s search-
so complete that one of the
ing for any tiring m e r e l y to p r o l o n g their lives. T h e streets w e r e full of d e a d bodies
p of ruins." 58
and t h e r e w a s n o o n e to t h r o w t h e c o r p s e s i n t o t h e Nile o r e v e n to take t h e m to the
id in the great, bloated Mah-
area selected by t h e Khalifa to b e t h e c e m e t e r y . Today t h e r e a r e piles o f w h i t e n e d
Ohrwalder, "All the principal
b o n e s b e i n g t h e r e m a i n s of t h o s e w h o died d u r i n g the f a m i n e . Hyenas finding such
Karkoj have been destroyed, Haraz, Wad el Abbas and en, and children, under great
j
an a b u n d a n c e of f o o d c o n v e n e d i n large n u m b e r s and b e c a m e so d a r i n g t h a t they w a n d e r e d t h r o u g h t h e streets o f t h e city....
1 1
136
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
TIN; G
Children ran the risk of being kidnapped. One night we succeeded wrenching from the hands of a starving man, a boy who had raised the alarm by his desperate screams. On another occasion a girl ran to the Afahfeflma begging protection from her mother who had already devoured the smallest of her sons and had told the girl that this was to be her fate. The wretched woman was imprisoned and died insane a few days later. Mothers came to us offering their infants as their dried up breasts could offer them no substance. One day a woman came to Father Ohrwalder begging that he buy hers. He gave the woman some handfuls of dura and sent her away with God's blessings. The next day she reappeared with only rwo children, one having died of hunger. On the third day she was accompanied by one only. She was never seen again.61
Shukria, Aggalain, H a m m a d a , ; o n c e thickly-populated country likewise r e c k o n e d that the toll "Many tribes have disappeared i rifying stories, c o m p a r a b l e to ac into t h e prey of wild animals. has diminished, t h e n u m b e r of have b e c o m e so fearless that t h children and t h e sick, that is t h . rible invaders.""
A n o t h e r witness, Rudolf von Slatin, w h o served the Khalifa in various capacities,
C o m p a r a b l e tales also w e r e
w r o t e that "the majority of t h o s e w h o died b e l o n g e d r a t h e r to t h e m o v i n g p o p u -
w h e r e the drought-famine, as ii
lation t h a n t o the actual inhabitants of t h e town, for t h e latter h a d m a n a g e d to
b e c a u s e it began in the year 13
secret a certain a m o u n t of grain and the different tribes invariably assisted e a c h
C a t h e r i n e Coquery-Vidrovitch,
other.""' Like Father Rosignoli, h e titilated E u r o p e a n readers w i t h lurid a c c o u n t s
bend of the Niger River, in 188
of d a r w i n i a n spectacles in t h e streets of t h e Mahdi's starving capital:
and slaves. Starvation was also r i n d e p e n d e n t and militarily f o r r r
One night - it was full moon - I was going home at about twelve o'clock, when, near the Beit el Amana (ammunition and arms stores), I saw something moving on the ground, and went near to see what it was. As I approached I saw three almost naked women, with their long tangled hair hanging about their shoulders; they were squatting round a quite young donkey, which was lying on the ground, and had probably strayed from its mother, or been stolen by them. They had torn open its body with their teeth, and were devouring its intestines,whilst the poor animal was still breathing. I shuddered at this terrible sight, whilst the poor women, infuriated by hunger, gazed at me like maniacs. The beggars by whom I was followed now fell upon them, and attempted to wrest from them their prey; and 1 fled from this uncanny spectacle/''1
states of the S a h e l / S u d a n a n d denly rendered vulnerable by d r of M a h d i s t expansionism a b a t e nity t o turn the crisis to their o \ F r o m their t o e h o l d on t h e i aged by the British as a check c the first to act. " T h e Colony o f sion, "is able to serve m the f t Invoking "famine abandoned 1; s u m m e r of 1889 as staging a r
Conditions outside O m d u r m a n in t h e Nilotic countryside, if c o n t e m p o r a r y
•
witnesses are to b e believed, w e r e even m o r e appalling, "I t h i n k t h e Jaalin/' w r o t e von Slatin, " w h o are the m o s t i n d e p e n d e n t as well as t h e p r o u d e s t tribe in t h e
j
Sudan, suffered m o r e severely t h a n the rest; several f a t h e r s of families, seeing t h a t
I
escape from death w a s impossible, bricked u p the d o o r s of their houses, a n d , united w i t h their children, patiently awaited death. I have n o hesitation in saying t h a t in this way entire villages died out." In addition, h e added, " T h e Hassania,
Kritrean highlands and the T i g r declared under t h e "protection' pia h a s need of n o one; she s t r by r i n d e r p e s t of horses for his a large a r m y on t h e march, M< his t h r o n e from t h e Tigreans) > c o l u m n s . The fiery Empress T a j
Tt STS
THE GOVERNMENT
OF
HELL
icceeded w r e n c h i n g from
Shukria, Aggalain, H a m m a d a , and other tribes had completely died out, and the
; a l a r m b y his d e s p e r a t e
once thickly-populated country h a d become a desert waste." 6 4 Father Rosignoli,
begging protection
from
s o n s a n d h a d told t h e girl
likewise reckoned that the toll f r o m famine and disease was nearly incalculable:
i p r i s o n e d a n d died i n s a n e
"Many tribes have disappeared from the face of the Earth." Refugees told him ter-
s as t h e i r dried u p b r e a s t s
rifying stories, comparable to accounts from Ethiopia, of starving h u m a n s turned
to F a t h e r O h r w a l d e r b e g -
into the prey of wild animals. "Since the n u m b e r of m e n formerly h u n t i n g them
fuls o f dura a n d s e n t h e r i w i t h only t w o children, •mpanied b y o n e only. She
has diminished, the n u m b e r of wild beasts has increased a hundred-fold. They have become so fearless that they enter villages in large numbers t o devour the children and the sick, that is those unable to defend themselves against the horrible invaders." 65
halifa in various capacities,
Comparable tales also were being told in the savannas of western Africa,
ather to the moving popu-
where the drought-fa mine, as in t h e Sudan, was known as "Year Six" (Sanat Sita)
the latter had managed to
because it began in the year 1306 (1888) of the Muslim calendar. According to
)es invariably assisted each
Catherine Co query-Vidrovitch, there was a great famine in Walata along the
•eaders with lurid accounts
b e n d of the Niger River, in 1888-89 that took the lives of thousands of captives
;arving capital:
and slaves. Starvation was also reported in Katsina and Kano. 6 6 The m a j o r bloc of
o u t t w e l v e o'clock, w h e n ,
independent and militarily formidable societies remaining in Africa - the Muslim
saw s o m e t h i n g moving on
states of the Sahel/Sudan and t h e Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia - were sud-
o a c h e d 1 s a w three a l m o s t
denly rendered vulnerable by drought, famine a n d internal disorder. As the threat
b o u t t h e i r s h o u l d e r s ; they
of Mahdist expansionism abated, the European powers grasped at t h e opportu-
; lying on die ground, and
nity to t u r n the crisis to their own colonial advantage.
them. They had torn open nes.whilst the p o o r a n i m a l 1st t h e p o o r w o m e n , infuri-
From their toehold on the Eritrcan coast, the land-hungry Italians (encouraged by the British as a check on French ambitions in the Red Sea region) were
s b y w h o m I w a s followed
the first to act. "The Colony of Eritrea," wrote a contemporary Italian commis-
i t h e i r prey; a n d 1 fled f r o m
sion, "is able to serve in the f u t u r e as the vent of part of Italian emigration." Invoking "famine abandoned lands" as a pretext, they occupied Asmara in the s u m m e r of 1889 as staging area for the colonization of the drought-ravaged
untryside, if contemporary
Eritrean highlands and the Tigray plateau. T h e rest of Ethiopia, meanwhile, was
g. "I think the Jaalin," wrote
declared under the "protection" of Rome. (Menelik famously responded: "Ethio-
as the proudest tribe in the
pia has need of no one; she stretches out her hands to G o d alone.") 67 Deprived
thers of families, seeing that
by rinderpest of horses for his f a m o u s cavalry, and lacking provisions to sustain
doors of their houses, and,
a large army on the march, Menelik (who h a d utilized Italian support to wrest
have n o hesitation in saying
his throne f r o m the Tigreans) was initially forced to give way before the Italian
i, h e added, "The Hassania,
columns. T h e fiery Empress Taitou, "who c a m e close to accusingher husband of
t>
LATE V I C T O R I A N
138
HOLOCAUSTS
THE
treason," exhorted him to defend Ethiopia's sovereignty at all costs/ 8 With aston-
lace of drought and opprcssio
ishing patience and skill (as well as French arms), he eventually rallied his stricken
century's bloodiest bread riots
but valiant people to annihilate a large Italian expeditionary corps at Adwa on 1
worst drought in its modern h
March 1896. It was Europe's greatest defeat in Africa and the end of Prime Min-
tering of El Nino events - 189o
ister Francesco Crespi's dream of a "second Roman Empire" in the Land of the
lor this global agricultural cat
Queen of Sheba and Prester John.
the nineteenth century's most
Fin de Siecle Apocalypse? Ethiopians had little opportunity to celebrate, however. While Menelik's victori-
lorm of devastating floods in i ot the earth's population, m c world," was directly affected b
ous army was marching back to Addis Ababa, drought was again - for the third
Indeed, the century's end b
time in less than a decade - fastening its grip on the H o r n of Africa. 69 It was a
of humanity. For Europeans a
global curse. "The period 1895-1902," Sir John Elliot told the British Association
has written, "the wheel turnec
for the Advancement of Science in 1904, "was characterized by m o r e or less per-
the Panic of 1893 was replact
sistent deficiency of rainfall over practically the whole Indo-oceanic area (includ-
dence returned - not the s p o t
ing Abyssinia)." 70 More recently, a leading historian of the world grain trade has
had punctuated the gloom o f '
emphasized the extraordinary synchronization of crop failure across six conti-
as had not prevailed since ... t
nents:
spite of rattlings of arms a n d capitalism. In all of western 1:
[T] h e years 1896 a n d 1897 w e r e c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a b n o r m a l l y bad w e a t h e r t h r o u g h o u t widely dispersed w h c a t - p r o d u c i n g areas. W o r l d yield p e r acre (12.1 bushels) f o r t h e 1897 c r o p r e m a i n s the lowest ever r e c o r d e d . T h u s t h e r e w a s d r o u g h t in 1896 in India, Australia, t h e w i n t e r - w h e a t belt of t h e U n i t e d States, a n d N o r t h Africa,-while
as t h e good old days - the Edv For most
non-Europeans
excepted), on the other hand, ;
locusts a n d late rains r c d u c e d A r g e n t i n e yields. But w e a t h e r w a s w o r s e in 1897;
labor, concentration camps,
the rainfall distribution in the principal w h c a t - p r o d u c i n g areas w a s m o s t a b n o r m a l .
epidemic-disease dimension o
D r o u g h t o c c u r r e d in India, Australia, s o u t h e r n Russia, Spain, a n d N o r t h Africa;
In Asia, for example, the new
France h a d excessive rain at s e e d i n g t i m e . H e a v y rains a n d s t o r m s d u r i n g May a n d J u n e r e d u c c d yields in t h e D a n u b e Basin. A r g e n t i n a had locusts, d r o u g h t , frosts in N o v e m b e r , a n d rains at harvest. In C a n a d a t h e r e w e r e s u m m e r frosts, late h e a v y
Pandemic that eventually kill pest catastrophe (which also
rains, a n d even hail in s o m e areas.... O f all t h e i m p o r t a n t exporters, o n l y t h e U n i t e d
foundations of traditional so
States h a d a g o o d crop. 7 1
health and longevity standard: and. North America, they wet
Other cereals were equally affected, and a third wave of drought and famine,
h u m a n crisis, moreover, was ;
comparable in magnitude to the 1876-79 catastrophe, swept over India, n o r t h e r n
its Christian counterpart. "Ir
China, Korea, Java, the Philippines, northeast Brazil, and s o u t h e r n and eastern
famine like a sky full of vultu
Africa. H u n g e r also stalked the Upper Nile, where famished peasants ate dirt;
As a result, t h e fin de sieel
southern Russia, where Tolstoy w r o t e a b o u t the despair of the muzhiks in the
apocalyptic, with an explosic
T AUSTS
THE GOVERNMENT
rnty at all costs." s With astoneventually rallied his stricken
OF HELL.
139
face of drought and oppression; Italy, where the soaring price of ilour led to t h e i
century's bloodiest bread riots; and Australia, which lost half of its sheep in t h e
Jitionary corps at Adwa on 1
worst drought in its m o d e r n history. 7 - We n o w know that an extraordinary clus-
:a and the end of Prime Min-
tering of El Nino events - 1896/97, 1899/1900 and 1902 - was largely responsible
\ Empire" in the Land of the
for this global agricultural catastrophe. T h e wet intermission of 1898, perhaps the nineteenth century's most powerful La Nina, b r o u g h t its own h o r r o r in t h e f o r m of devastating floods in the basin of t h e Yellow River. Perhaps one quarter of the earth's population, mostly in what would b e c o m e known as the "third
*ver. While Menelik's victori-
world," was directly affected by ENSO-related dearth.
ight was again - for the third
Indeed, the century's end became a radical point of division in t h e experience
he H o r n of Africa. 0 " It was a
j
of humanity. For Europeans and their N o r t h American cousins, as David Landes
>t told the British Association
j
has written, "the wheel turned" in 1896 and the depression that h a d started w i t h
acterized by m o r e or less per-
|
the Panic of 1893 was replaced by a new b o o m . "As business improved, confi-
ole Indo-oceanic area (includ-
dence returned - n o t the spotty, evanescent confidence of the brief booms t h a t
. of the world grain trade has crop failure across six conti-
irmally b a d w e a t h e r t h r o u g h icld p e r acre (12.1 bushels) for
had punctuated the g l o o m of the preceding decades, but a general euphoria such i
as had not prevailed since ... the early 1870s. Everything seemed right again - in
!
spite of rattlings of a r m s and m o n i t o r y Marxist references to the 'last stage' of
1
capitalism. In all of western Europe, these years [1896-1914] live o n in m e m o r y
I
as the good old days - the Edwardian era, la belle epoque.";i
. t h e r e w a s d r o u g h t in 1896 in
|
For m o s t non-Europeans (Japanese and southern cone Latin Americans
tates, a n d N o r t h Africa, while
!
excepted), on the other hand, this was a new dark age of colonial war, indentured
w e a t h e r w a s w o r s e in 1897;
i
labor, concentration camps, genocide, forced migration, famine and disease. T h e
ing areas w a s m o s t a b n o r m a l ,
i
sia, Spain, a n d N o r t h Africa; 5 and s t o r m s d u r i n g May and
Pandemic that eventually killed m o r e than 15 million people, while the rinder-
nad locusts, d r o u g h t , frosts in
pest catastrophe (which also affected the East Indies) destroyed the economic
:re s u m m e r frosts, late heavy ant e x p o r t e r s , only t h e U n i t e d
epidemic-disease dimension of famine was m u c h more lethal than in the 1870s. In Asia, for example, the new subsistence crises coincided with the Third Plague
!
foundations of traditional society throughout eastern and southern Africa. As health and longevity standards dramatically rose in the industrial cities of Europe and N o r t h America, they were collapsing t h r o u g h o u t Africa and Asia. This vast
wave of drought and famine,
i
h u m a n crisis, moreover, was aggressively exploited by the New Imperialism a n d
rie, swept over India, northern
its Christian counterpart, "Europeans," one African told a missionary, "track
zil, and southern and eastern
famine like a sky full of vultures."
-e famished peasants ate dirt;
As a result, the fin de si eele in the non-European world careened toward the
despair of the muzhiks in the
apocalyptic, with an explosion of millenarian revelations, uprisings and messi-
»
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
H O L O C A U S T STHEG
ahs. Everywhere desperate cultures set their calendars to End Time. Many Muslims, for example, believed that the conclusion of the thirteenth Koranic century (1785-1882) would be promptly followed by the end of the w o r l d . " In India it was widely expected that the m o n t h of Kartik in the Sambat year 1956 (November 1899) would "initiate an age of affliction and catastrophe for India and the world." 75 Similarly in north China, insurgent peasants embraced the White Lotus sect's prediction of an approaching world calamity, associated with the t u r n i n g of a Buddhist kalpa, which "meant the elimination of existing society and the coming to power of the Eternal Mother." 76 Most Chinese also believed that the year 1900, because of "the fateful conjunction of an eighth intercalary m o n t h
Skel
i.s comprised fully ,ing canals in the P o o n a and e p e a s a n t r y led to an unprel a single year in the Mahaf o r every seven rural inhabi>y the double droughts. 8 *
gical as any f u n d a m e n t a l i s t presented a hardened impene as far as it should in meetrvice and legislatures." In a / e m e n t along Irish lines, he ion, restored aristocratic preously, pitted Muslim against imine from b e i n g used as a nprecedented scale through rials to publicly attribute the b e r of the Legislative CounI of over-taxation, he was (in t o u g h C u r z o n ' s o w n appetite s, h e lectured starving villagincial position of India in the to serious criticism; but any eakened the fibre and demorguilty of a public crime." 8 9 Bengal civil service, sarcasti-
S K E L E T O N S AT T If E F E A S T
163
1 6-1
LATE V I C T O R I A N
SKEL
HOLOCAUSTS
cally commenced, "With famine following famine in nearly every province of
struggle alone, for the though'
India, and desolating plague everywhere, w h o will deny that we have at last found
on South Africa."'"
a truly 'Imperialist' Viceroy?" 90 Just before N e w Year's, Curzon d e m o n s t r a t e d his
T h e most substantial i n t e
doctrinaire imperialism by cutting back rations that he characterized as "danger-
Tnpeka: 200,000 bags of grain
ously high" and stiffening relief eligibility by reinstating the despised Temple
Populists. (American relief o
"tests." This led to a brief skirmish with local authorities, who worried that bud-
Aimir promptly taxed the s h
getary retrenchment in the face of such universal suffering might spark rebellion,
f r o m sympathetic Native Ann
but Curzon quickly imposed his will. In the Bombay Presidency alone, the gov-
t
In Britain, w h e r e the old g u a
e r n m e n t boasted that the tests had deterred 1 million people from relief.91 Like
nized into the Indian Famine I
Lytton twenty years before, C u r z o n would b e c o m e the architect of a "brilliantly
h o p e was a m o n g the non-Fabi
organized famine."
imperialists) a n d the left w i n g
Curzon was responding to n e w stringencies dictated by the secretary of state
little Marxist party, the Social
for India, Lord George Hamilton. Financing of the Boer War t r u m p e d any "phil-
cal organization which never
anthropic romanticism" in India. Two years earlier, with the N o r t h w e s t Frontier
(Typical of the SDF's courage
in upheaval, the secretary had in fact offered famine aid to Elgin, b u t n o w " H a m -
tish branch to t h e otherwise c
ilton not only did not approach the Treasury for such a grant but also prevented
I
Africa in 1902: "While on all si
Curzon from seeking it. T h e wars in China and South Africa m a d e him m o r e
in horrible array of all possibl
conscious of the Indian obligation with regard to the Imperial wars than of his
the windows o f the SDF a trai
responsibility to relieve the distress of the famine-stricken people." While refus-
in war, deaths in concentratic
ing appeals to organize a famine charity in England, the secretary pressured
unemployed in Britain, the far
Curzon to launch a War Fund in India so that its patriotic subjects could help
i
defray Kitchener's expenses in the Transvaal. T h o u g h he did n o t interfere w i t h
i
the viceroy's plan to build a hugely ornate Victoria Memorial M o n u m e n t in
tion and evictions in Ireland." Meanwhile, Curzon conti for adjusting f a m i n e relief t o
Calcutta, he urged the most ruthless Lyttonian vigilance in policing the relief
!
uifi's Nash was revolted by tl:
works. 92
j
their "buried hoards of grai
Meanwhile, the English public's famed philanthropic instinct had dried u p as
"figments of the Secretariat's
completely as the Deccan's streams and wells. As Herbert Spencer w a r n e d of the
corner of Gujarat where t h e
"rebarbarization" of the English spirit by rampant jingoism, the popular press
he described t h e human con
ignored the new Indian holocaust to focus almost exclusively on t h e unexpectedly
used to discourage "umvorth
difficult struggle to subdue the Boers. 93 "So far as the London Press and periodicals are concerned," complained a m e m b e r of the Fabian Society, "India m i g h t almost have been non-existent." 9 '' A desultory Mansion House f u n d for Indian
H e r e , in B r o a c h , where f o r s< India was m e t e d o u t , the s t a r e n t " e l e m e n t , o n which t h e
famine victims raised barely 7 percent of the Lord Mayor's parallel War Fund
w i t h a v e n g e a n c c , but w h e n
for South Africa. 95 "India," w r o t e an American missionary, "now would have to
d o u b t if the r e s u l t will be p i
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
UJSTS
FEAST
165
in nearly every province of
struggle alone, for the thoughts of every Englishman in the world w e r e centered
:ny that we have at last found
on South Africa." 96
•'s, Curzon demonstrated his
T h e m o s t substantial international aid came not f r o m London but f r o m
he characterized as "danger-
Topeka: 200,000 bags of grain "in solidarity with India's farmers" s e n t by Kansas Populists. (American relief organizers were incensed w h e n British officials in
jtating the despised Temple
Ajmir promptly taxed the shipment.) 97 T h e r e were also notable contributions
rities, w h o worried that bud-
from sympathetic Native American tribes and Black American c h u r c h groups." 8
ffering might spark rebellion,
In Britain, where the old guard of Wedderburn, Naoroji and D u t t (now orga-
iy Presidency alone, the gov-
nized into the Indian Famine Union) were m o r e isolated than ever, t h e only ray o f
o n people from relief. 91 Like
hope was a m o n g the non-Fabian socialists (the Fabians by and large were staunch
the architect of a "brilliantly
imperialists) and the left wing of the labor movement. 9 9 Indeed, H y n d m a n ' s feisty little Marxist party, the Social Democratic Federation, was the only British politi-
ated by the secretary of state
cal organization which never wavered in its attention to India's f a m i n e victims.
5oer War t r u m p e d any "phil-
(Typical of the SDF's courageous anti-imperialism was the response of one Scot-
with the N o r t h w e s t Frontier
tish branch to the otherwise delirious celebration of the British victory in South
aid to Elgin, but n o w "Ham-
Africa in 1902; "While on all sides of the street the harlot, Capitalism, was decked
ch a grant but also prevented
in horrible array of all possible and impossible colours, there was projected from
outh Africa m a d e him more
the windows of the SDF a transparency of five feet, giving the statistics of deaths
:he Imperial wars than of his
in war, deaths in concentration camps, the n u m b e r s of paupers, t h e number o f
tricken people." While refus-
unemployed in Britain, the famine deaths in India, and the famine deaths, emigra-
and, the secretary pressured
tion and evictions in Ireland.") 100
patriotic subjects could help jgh he did not interfere with
Meanwhile, C u r z o n continued to implement his "truly imperialist" policies
>ria Memorial M o n u m e n t in
for adjusting famine relief to stringencies of the Boer War finances. T h e Guard-
igilance in policing the relief
ian's Nash was revolted by the government's obsession with relief cheaters a n d their "buried hoards of grain and ornaments," which he believed were only "figments of the Secretariat's imagination." Writing f r o m a drought-devastated
ropic instinct had dried up as
corner of Gujarat where the population was "really and truly famine-stricken,"
erbert Spencer w a r n e d of the
he described the h u m a n consequences of the cruel distance and poverty tests
t jingoism, the popular press
used to discourage "unworthy" relief applicants:
«:lusively on the unexpectedly h e London Press and periodi-
H e r e , in Broach, w h e r e f o r s o m e w e e k s t h e h a r s h e s t t r e a t m e n t that I h a v e seen in
; Fabian Society, "India might
India w a s m e t e d o u t , t h e state o f the p o p u l a t i o n b e g g a r s d e s c r i p t i o n . T h e "deter-
insion House f u n d for Indian
r e n t " e l e m e n t , o n w h i c h t h e B o m b a y G o v e r n m e n t lay s u c h stress, has h a d full piay
:d Mayor's parallel War Fund
w i t h a v e n g e a n c e , b u t w h e n t h e h i s t o r y of t h e f a m i n e c o m e s t o be s u m m e d up, I
ssionary, "now would have to
d o u b t if t h e result will b e p a r a d e d as a s u c c e s s . T h e n e t e f f e c t of it o n t h e w o r k s
!
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THE G
has b e e n semi-starvation, sickness, and a n appalling d e a t h rate, a n d in t h e villages,
It is an o m i n o u s fact that w l i
s t a r v a t i o n o n a w h o l e s a l e scale a m o n g s t t h e people w h o w e r e " d e t e r r e d " by t h e
m i n i m u m w h i c h assumes t h a
h a r s h n e s s of the tests, f r o m g o i n g u p o n t h e w o r k s / " '
a c h of the p e o p l e w h o m u s t
As Nash discovered in his visits to dozens of relief camps across n o r t h e r n
t h e famine c a m p s .
Indian sun - c h o l e r a is o n t i n
India, inmates were treated with open contempt and denied resources - shelter,
It has been a race b e t w e e n
fuel, blankets and clothing - that the Famine Code had prescribed as essential
s c o r e s of t h o u s a n d s of t h e r e
to their survival. Moreover, a draconian system of measured labor and output, based on the British belief in the existence of organized shirking, kept nutrition
T h e 'Song of Famine'
below subsistence levels. Wages were paid in cash to gangs of thirty according
N o t all the victims of C u r z o r
to work quotas calibrated by what British administrators believed should b e a
i m m e n s e grain stores piled u
strenuous nine-hour o u t p u t by healthy adult males. Emaciated drought victims
c o n d e m n e d thousands of rcf
were, of course, seldom able to meet these unrealistic expectations, and, as a
streets. Moreover, the u n p r c
result, their wages were reduced according to the shortfall in their labor. For the
massive contamination of w ;
weakest relief recipients in the Bombay Presidency, which again, as in 1877, set
diarrhea and, above all, c h o h
the standard for Benthamite severity, the wage was a "penal m i n i m u m " equiva-
like a destructive wave o v e r
lent to fifteen ounces of food: less than the infamous Temple wage and only one-
peasantry a l i k e . A s Ira Klei
half the ration received by prison convicts. At a c a m p that Nash visited outside
of 1896-1900 w a s famine-inc
Poona, 1,100 inmates received the penal minimum; 900, the m i n i m u m ; and only
the terrible year 1900, when i.
180, a wage between the m i n i m u m and the maximum. "It should be explained,"
In the midst of this c a n i i
Nash told his readers, "that about a third of the recipients of t h e m i n i m u m and
governments, decided to d e j
the penal m i n i m u m were children, and their wages in the case of the lowest class
neighboring native states. O f
came to only 4.5 annas [43% of m i n i m u m ] for the week. Seeing also that m o r e
lived in native states and 42 m
than half the adults are w o m e n , 1 think it must be admitted that the punishment
C u r z o n unquestionably u n d c
is indiscriminate as well as severe." 101
hundreds of thousands of dc;
Although relief officials angrily denied charges by Indian nationalists that they
literally microscopic, were p t
were wantonly starving drought refugees to death, Nash pointed to "the enor-
subsidized rulers. If, in some i
m o u s death-rate at the camps where the penal m i n i m u m has b e c o m e the prevail-
of Kholapur or Princc Ranjit
ing standard." In a n y case, it is c u r i o u s if t h e p e n a l m i n i m u m to-day is w o r k i n g o u t so differently from t h e 1-lb. r a t i o n in t h e g r e a t f a m i n e of 1877. i d e s c r i b e d that r a t i o n in o n e o f
m o r e humanitarian, prc-Briti o t h e r s - their p o w e r subvent famished subjects. 1 " 7 The w o
m y letters as r a t h e r m o r e g e n e r o u s t h a n t h e o n e u n d e r discussion, a n d I a m c o n -
a bottom-line m a n like Cut-
firmed
southeast Rajputana, where t
in this view b y w h a t I have l e a r n e d since.
tions meanwhile in the sixty-
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
USTS
th rate, and in the villages, ho were "deterred" by the
FEAST
167
It is an o m i n o u s fact t h a t whilst t h e m i n i m u m is b e i n g c u t d o w n by a q u a r t e r - a m i n i m u m w h i c h a s s u m e s t h a t o n l y 15 oz. of solid f o o d a d a y will go i n t o t h e stomach o f t h e p e o p l e w h o m u s t w o r k nine h o u r s b e t w e e n t h e rising and s e t t i n g of an Indian s u n - c h o l e r a is o n the m a r c h in K h a n d e s h and G o d h e l p if c h o l e r a attacks
lief camps across n o r t h e r n [ denied resources - shelter, had prescribed as essential
the famine camps.
It has been a race between cholera and starvation, a grand hunt of death with scores of thousands of the refugees at the famine camps for quarry.103
neasured labor and output, zed shirking, kept nutrition
The 'Song of Famine'
o gangs of thirty according
Not all the victims of Curzon's cost-cutting w e r e in the countryside. Despite t h e
rators believed should be a
immense grain stores piled up at the docks, t h e stringencies of relief in Bombay
Emaciated drought victims
condemned thousands of refugees from the countryside t o starve openly in t h e
istic expectations, and, as a
streets. Moreover, the unprecedented fall in well levels and watertables led to
ortfall in their iabor. For the
massive contamination of water supplies and the explosive spread o f dysentery,
which again, as in 1877, set
diarrhea and, above all, cholera. From the middle of April 1900 cholera "swept
a "penal m i n i m u m " equiva-
like a destructive wave over the whole country," massacring city-dwellers a n d
Temple wage and only one-
peasantry alike.104 As Ira Klein writes, "Probably half of the increased mortality
np that Nash visited outside
of 1896-1900 was famine-induced, and famine's influence certainly prevailed in
?00, the m i n i m u m ; and only
the terrible year 1900, when recorded death-rates were 96.6 per mille." 105
m. "It should be explained,"
In the midst of this carnage, the viceroy, breaking precedent w i t h previous
ipients of the m i n i m u m and
governments, decided to deport refugees w h o had fled into British India f r o m
n the case of the lowest class
neighboring native states. Of an estimated 85 million d r o u g h t victims, 43 million
week. Seeing also that m o r e
lived in native states a n d 42 million were u n d e r direct British administration. 106 As
imitted that the punishment
Curzon unquestionably understood, deportation was a virtual death sentence for hundreds of thousands of desperate people. T h e 688 native states, s o m e of t h e m
' Indian nationalists that they
literally microscopic, were puppet governments with dependent economies a n d
Nash pointed to "the enor-
subsidized rulers. If, in s o m e notable instances, native princes (like t h e Maharajah
n u m has b e c o m e the prevail-
of Kholapur or Prince Ranjitsinh of Jamnagar, the f a m o u s cricket hero) upheld more humanitarian, pre-British traditions of dignified relief and tax forgiveness,
is working out so differently scribed that ration in one of ier discussion, and I am con-
others - their power subvented by the Raj - simply t u r n e d their backs on their famished subjects. 107 T h e worst offenders included Indore, where t h e maharaja, a bottom-line man like Curzon, vetoed all relief expenditures, a n d Bundi, in southeast Rajputana, where the rajah let half his subjects starve to death. Conditions meanwhile in t h e sixty-four tiny statelets that comprised the Central India
168
L A T E VIC l O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
SK ! I
At the first village at w h i c h \ ceased their n o i s y clanking
.
w e have u n d e r s t o o d its n a t i n shall hear so frequently n< <w t h e voices a r e t h o s e of c h i l J i c t h a t is heard in the p l a v g r o u n . t h i n g harsh a n d weak and s h r O h ! look at t h e poor little o u t their w i t h e r e d hands t o v t h e i r arms, l i v e r y part of t h e t h r o u g h t h e b r o w n skin t h a s u n k e n that o n e might t h i n k
•MM*--
s w a r m on t h e i r lips and e y e s ,
181
" M a h a r a j a h ! M a h a r a j a h ! " all song. There are some who a n M a h a r a j a h ! " as they stretch tl
If Loti was filled with admirathe suffocating third- and foi
Figure 5.9 Villagers, R a j p u t a n a 189?.
away their last coppcr coin c Agency were simply described as "unspeakable." 1US
m a d e an unfettered grain m a
Although nearly a million villagers eventually died in the native and British-
children crying from hunger:
administered sectors of Rajputana, grain traders earned immense profits as they shifted rice and millet stocks f r o m the countryside to the cities. Foreign observ-
liven n o w t h e r e are four w.iu,
ers were shocked by the obscene contrast. An American missionary, for example,
daily, but n o o n e will give ;in\
wrote of his repulsion at the sight of vast quantities of grain, imported by specu-
f e w grains o n which they m i reserved for t h e inhabitants >
lators, sitting on railroad sidings under armed guard. "At many of the railway
pay.' 1 1
stations I saw thousands of fat pigeons gorging themselves with grain from the loaded wagons on the siding, while apathetic native officials stood by and saw the
For those without the price pealing f o r aid in the w i n t e r
in s o m e instances, t h e i r o w n local consuls. W h e n Louis Klopsch of The
stimates place the n u m b e r of
Herald, for example, b e g g e d US Secretary o f State Hay for naval h e l p to ferry
:old w e a t h e r will u n d o u b t e d l y
grain t o Shandong, h e w a s b r u s q u e l y t u r n e d away with t h e explanation t h a t
from the bitter Siberian winds,
every available t r a n s p o r t w a s n e e d e d for the invasion of t h e Philippines. 11
Christian
>ld. "Probably n o place in the
T h r o u g h o u t 1898, moreover, t h e foreign menace s e e m e d to g r o w day b y
x in this g e n e r a t i o n , has there
day. While Beijing w a s distracted by the f l o o d disaster a n d an a c c o m p a n y i n g
t Shan Tung." 1 1
cholera epidemic, L o n d o n and Berlin negotiated the n o t o r i o u s A n g l o - G e r m a n
:he universal belief a m o n g the
A g r e e m e n t , which a c k n o w l e d g e d British h e g e m o n y in t h e lower Yangzi Valley in
k b l e . "Breaches of t h e -Yellow
r e t u r n for t h e recognition of a G e r m a n s p h e r e of influence in the n o r t h China
; as a c o n s e q u e n c e of embez-
plain. Japan, France a n d Russia i m m e d i a t e l y d e m a n d e d c o m p a r a b l e concessions.
ranks.... T h e censors in their
At t h e s a m e time, Christian proselytism in C h i n a was intensifying so rapidly (a tri-
X administration of t h e Yellow
pling of P r o t e s t a n t missionaries, f o r example, b e t w e e n 1890 and 1908) that it was
ulprit, t h e pro-Catholic h e a d o f
widely perceived as a "religious invasion." 1 5 A n d , m o r e subtly but n o less alarm-
ility, b u t w a s restored t o p o w e r
ingly, centrifugal 'world m a r k e t f o r c e s w e r e b e c o m i n g visible at the village level.
lalf-drowned peasantry, accord-
I m p o r t e d m a c h i n e - s p u n c o t t o n y a r n from India wrecked havoc o n t h e handi-
j g h t back, at foreign insistence,
T
182
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ties. T h e foreign powers cxcrte
crafts of Shandong and other northern provinces, while the purchasing p o w e r of
inmate the movement, and it n
"cash" (China's popular copper coinage) plunged in tandem with China's wors-
following the execution of t h e
ening balance of trade. ("1900 saw ... the worst depreciation in the cash sector in the entire period 1890-I910.")
16
punctually followed by renev. e
T h e r e was universal apprehension in north
T h e failure of the spring" r-iii
China that Qing sovereignty was being dismantled piecemeal, and with it t h e tra-
gasoline. "The drought was grc
ditional rights and safeguards of the people including imperial c o m m i t m e n t s to
"For the first t i m e since the gi e
flood control and famine relief. T h e esoteric doctrines of the Boxer m o v e m e n t
been planted in any part of ru
were thus underlain by astute popular perceptions of imperialism. As the veteran
stances the spring rains are a h r
missionary and pioneer sociologist of Chinese rural life, Arthur Smith, reminded
almost wholly lacking. The grc
British readers prone to dismiss the c o m m o n people as ignorant and supersti-
in."" Idled peasants and agricu
tious: "No shrewder people than the Chinese are t o be found u p o n this planet or perhaps any other."
local boxing g r o u n d s where t h
17
tancy combined with spirit p o s
Disaster, moreover, had manufactured rebellion t h r o u g h o u t Chinese history.
underground W h i t e Lotus s e e
W h e n rivers broke their levies o r changed their channels, a traditional adage
Chiping hsien in western
warned that "the old died and the young became bandits," 18 T h u s officials were hardly surprised w h e n flood distress fused with perceptions of foreign conspiracy
during the floods and now w
to produce a significant local uprising in the neighborhood of W o Yang in north-
of " m o r e than 800" of these
ern Anhui as well as widespread violence in northern Jiangsu.
19
In the traditional
wrote the local magistrate t o
bandit country of western H e n a n (especially Baofeng, Lushan and Linru coun-
bers of the poor have increase
ties) where "water works were in poor repair and thus unable t o blunt the harsh-
to b e Boxers. T h e majority of
est effects of geography and climate," a Robin.Hood army of 10,000 terrorized
livelihood." Later, after behea
foreigners and Qing alike. As Elizabeth Perry has pointed o u t , these unusually
Yihctuan, a n o t h e r mandarin c
disciplined brigands were scrupulously respectful of the poor and shared with
of the movement: "These Bo?
them the impressive ransoms from missionary kidnappings. (A decade later, fol-
'Little Pock-Mark'Gao, both • any property o r other means
lowing a new round of natural disaster, the famous outlaw Bai Lang would assume c o m m a n d of these indomitable Henanese farmer-brigands.)
sheng, who also has been cxc
20
All of it was ordered confiscai
More menacingly, the anti-Christian "Spirit Boxers" - direct progenitors of the
T h e government's inabilit
1899 "Boxers United in Righteousness" (Yihetnan) - began to spread like wildfire
m o u n t a credible relief elfo
throughout the stricken districts of western Shandong, where t h e fall harvest had
share food with the poor, o
been drowned and the soil subsequently remained too wet to plant winter wheat.
masses themselves must take
A martial arts movement of poor peasants, agricultural laborers and unemployed
of sources," C o h e n writes, "i
canal bargemen that combined the attributes of predatory social banditry with
history accounts, and the r e p
the defensive role of traditional village militias, the Spirit Boxers were quickly
spread and intensification o f
embroiled in escalating conflicts with b o t h Christian villagers and local authori-
< "ft
T
MILLENARIAN
jsts
REVOLUTIONS
18 3
.le the purchasing power of
ties. The foreign powers exerted e n o r m o u s pressure on the Q i n g court to exter-
:andem with China's wors-
minate the movement, and it might well have b e e n contained in December 189S,
reciation in the cash sector rsal apprehension in n o r t h
following the execution of the three principal leaders, if flooding had not been punctually followed by renewed drought. 2 1
:cemeal, and with it the tra-
T h e failure of the spring rains in 1899 was like throwing a match into a pool of
l imperial c o m m i t m e n t s to
gasoline. "The drought was great a n d practically universal," w r o t e Arthur Smith.
ies of the Boxer movement
"For the first time since the great f a m i n e in 1878 n o winter w h e a t to speak of had
imperialism. As the veteran
been planted in any part of n o r t h e r n China. U n d e r the m o s t favorable circum-
ife, Arthur Smith, reminded
stances the spring rains are almost invariably insufficient, b u t that year they were
le as ignorant and superstib e found u p o n this planet -
almost wholly lacking. T h e g r o u n d was baked so hard that n o crops could be put in." zz Idled peasants and agricultural laborers by the tens of thousands flocked to local boxing grounds where they imbibed the p o t e n t new doctrine of Boxer mili-
throughout Chinese history,
tancy combined with spirit possession and invulnerability rituals derived f r o m the
hannels, a traditional adage
u n d e r g r o u n d White Lotus sect. 23
andits." 18 T h u s officials were
Chiping hsien in western Shandong, which had been literally u n d e r water
jptions of foreign conspiracy
during the floods and n o w was h a m m e r e d by drought, was the reputed home
jrho'od of W o Yang in north-
of "more than 800" of these boxing associations. "The weather in m y region,"
In the traditional
w r o t e the local magistrate to Beijing, "has been exceptionally dry and the num-
:ng, Lushan and Linru coun-
bers of the p o o r have increased. W h e n these p o o r people assemble they all claim
ius unable to blunt the harsh-
to be Boxers. T h e majority of these Boxers are p o o r people without any means of
id army of 10,000 terrorized
livelihood." Later, after beheading s o m e of the "Eighteen Chiefs" of the original
pointed out, these unusually
Yihetuan, another mandarin corroborated the plebeian, hunger-driven character
of the poor and shared with
of the m o v e m e n t : "These Boxers are mostly homeless people.... Van Shuqin and
mappings. (A decade later, fol-
'Little Pock-Mark' Gao, both of w h o m have already been executed, did not have
IOUS outlaw Bai Lang would
any property or other means; ... the twelve households connected with Xi De-
farmer-brigands, f "
sheng, w h o also has been executed, altogether owned [a mere] 140 mu of land.
:rs" - direct progenitors of the
All of it was ordered confiscated and sold at auction." 2,1
n Jiangsu.
19
- began to spread like wildfire
The government's inability; variously t h r o u g h insolvency or corruption, to
)ng, where the fall harvest had
m o u n t a credible relief effort, together with frequent refusal of the rich to
too wet to plant winter wheat,
share food with the poor, only confirmed the core Boxer conviction that the
airal laborers and unemployed
masses themselves m u s t take responsibility for China's salvation. "A wide range
predatory social banditry with
of sources," Cohen writes, "including gazetteers, diaries, official memorials, oral
h e Spirit Boxers were quickly
history accounts, and the reports o f foreigners, indicate a direct link between the
ian villagers and local authori-
spread and intensification of the Boxer movement, beginning in late 1899, and
184
[.ATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
M I i.!. I7.
growing popular nervousness, anxiety, unemployment, and hunger occasioned
famously analyzed by G e o r g e
by drought." Tiedemann, another eminent historian of the uprising, agrees when
that propelled the French p e a s
Cohen adds: "It was this factor [drought-famine], m o r e than any other, in my
a similarly desperate adventun
judgment, that accounted for the explosive growth b o t h of the Boxer movement
diary entries gain particular {
and of popular support for it in the spring and s u m m e r of 1900."25
as she gradually realizes t h a t
Joining the Boxers, moreover, was a sure way of filling one's belly. Everywhere
fate, like that of her peasant i
the movement was active it patriotically cajoled or, if necessary, simply expro-
hinges upon the course of t h e
priated surplus food from merchants and rich peasants. More violently, it seized
Thus, from the last rain:
and divided the foodstocks of Christian villages and missions. Wangiio gongbao,
t c m b e r 1898 t h r o u g h the t e r r
the missionary newspaper founded by T i m o t h y Richard, warned that while the
ing spring of 1900. she charted
"weak topple in the roadside ditches ... the stronger b e c o m e outlaws [and] advo-
ing popular unease and the ii
cate dividing the wealth a m o n g rich and poor." 2 " Indeed, most accounts agree,
anti-foreign insults and inciden
the radical slogan "equal division of grain" was central to the explosive growth of
the early s u m m e r of 1899, t h
the Boxer uprising. Although some historians have claimed that this slogan only
quently could b e heard to t
meant to target Christians and foreigners, Qi Qizhang asserts that - at least by
west, but the monsoons nevt
1900 in Hebei - it included "wealthy households in general." He cites such official
the mountains. " T h e south c i t
notations as "they c o m m a n d e d the rich households to all give grain, but w h e n
been closed again and die sh
, still cast t h e longest s h a d o w
j i
d o any g o o d . " Over t h e next season the absence of a n o r m a l protective s n o w cover killed what little wheat actually germinated. w
h e relevant m e m o r y was the m e m b e r of the large Oberlin proselytizing in Shanxi since
Figure 6.3 Captured Boxer Rebel
As h u n g e r spread, villagers b e g a n to m a k e increasingly grim c o m p a r i s o n s j
to 1877-79, w h e n at least one-third of the province's population h a d perished.
es of those millions of d e a t h s
R u m o r s arrived of foreign plots a n d atrocities. " T h e m o s t terrifying tale of all was
:e indissolubly identified with
o n e that asserted t h a t foreign ships seized off t h e China coast were f o u n d to b e
r u m o r and fear, alloyed w i t h
carrying grisly cargoes of h u m a n eyes, blood, a n d female nipples." 31 ( C o h e n cites
:>xer adoption of a p a n t h e o n
a n o t h e r widespread r u m o r that Christians w e r e poisoning wells.) 32 By March
recall le grand peur of 1789,
1900, Boxers w e r e clandestinely organizing in Taiyuan, t h e provincial capital,
T i 186
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
:
M I LLE
u n d e r t h e tolerant eye of t h e n e w anti-foreign g o v e r n o r , Yu Sien. Two m o n t h s later, as starvation b e c a m e dramatically visible e v e r y w h e r e in Shanxi, villagers b e g a n t o attack well-fed C h i n e s e Christians and "foreign devils" at missions. Buddhist priests w a r n e d peasants t h a t t h e d r o u g h t w o u l d .continue as long as Christians openly defiled Chinese traditions. T h e fearful Oberlin missionaries, in t u r n , held their o w n three-day-long p r a y e r m a r a t h o n for r a i n . " In J u n e , t h e m o n s o o n rains b e g a n t o b r e a k the d r o u g h t in m u c h of the n o r t h China plain, b u t t h e loess highlands of Shanxi and Shaanxi r e m a i n e d h o t a n d arid. R a i n m a k i n g processions w e r e t r a n s f o r m e d into ever larger a n d m o r e militant patriotic demonstrations. Boxers n o w p a r a d e d o p e n l y u n d e r t h e i r slogan, "Supp o r t t h e Qing, Kill the Foreigners." S o m e t i m e s t h e y chanted: "See the rain does n o t c o m e / T h e sky is as brass / F o r e i g n b l o o d m u s t b e spilt / O r the season will pass." 34 O n 28 J u n e , Price w r o t e in h e r diary: "For m o n t h s w e have been anxious b e c a u s e of d r o u g h t and feared t h e suffering that w o u l d probably c o m e u p o n the
Figure 6.4 One of the Dead in
people, n o t thinking it w o u l d b e of any special m e a n i n g o r m e n a c e to us. T h e past t w o m o n t h s have m a r k e d s u c h changes that w e felt the pressure f r o m lack of rain nearly as keenly as t h o u g h starving." 3 5 •
To the millions of d e a t h s 1897 and 1901 w e r e added
A few w e e k s later, after foreign attacks o n the T a k u forts, the dowager-empress
t h e e x t e r m i n a t i n g armies ol
declared w a r o n Great Britain, Germany, France, t h e United States, Japan, Italy,
by the Kaiser t o emulate t h
Austria, Belgium, and Holland. "For forty years," s h e says, "I have Iain o n brush-
E v e n the missionaries rcscu
w o o d and eaten bitterness b e c a u s e of t h e m . " In response to h e r edict, Eva Price,
a n d ferocity o f t h e vengeanc
her h u s b a n d and forty-two o t h e r missionaries w e r e p r o m p t l y slaughtered by Yu Sien's b a n n e r m e n .
56
As oral histories gathered in the late 1940s and early 1960s b y PRC historians have c o r r o b o r a t e d , the Boxer Uprising w a s an extraordinarily broad-based, p o p u lar m o v e m e n t . "Sympathy for t h e Boxer cause a p p e a r e d almost universal in the
has seemed," complained A n o r t h e r n China for the expr< as m a n y violations as possible ments."^ Writing in The
Contempor
villages of the n o r t h China plain," and "county after c o u n t y reported b o x i n g
d c r e d Chinese floating in t h
r o u n d s as n u m e r o u s as 'trees in a forest.'" 3 7 By contrast, last-minute Manchu sup-
sandbars. One sight was p a r t
p o r t f r o m the cabal a r o u n d t h e dowager-empress w a s wavering and ineffective, while t h e commercial elites of t h e Yangzi delta, u n t o u c h e d by f a m i n e , acquiesced in foreign intervention w i t h little risk of popular censure. In t h e end, the courage of t h e Boxers and Red L a n t e r n s (their female c o u n t e r p a r t s ) , a r m e d with little m o r e t h a n sticks and m a g i c charms, was magnificent b u t of little avail in stationary battles against t h e c o m b i n e d forces of t h e Great Powers.
Hard by a spot named Koh S Accustomcd by this time to which the soil of the gravcyn have glided carelessly past th articulate voice to tell. A tar name of civilization while h
astal plantation belt withjt
providing t h e m
with
nd, tools or real m e a n s of idependent survival.
The
-cline in the export earnigs of sugar at the same m e depressed employment, "housands drifted into the iterior, where they joined is sharecroppers,-day-laborC (London still firmly coner resources were jealously it resumed after 1888, there nd. As in 1877, the officials n blockading roads against sertanejos, however, chose ks" being built by Cicero at
two decades of spiritual peregrination he w a s repeatedly arrested, abused and deported by various local authorities - a persecution that only increased his sanctified stature a m o n g the sharecroppers and landless laborers of the sertao."14 During the 1888-91 drought, Conselheiro h a d settled followers o n two abandoned fazendas n o r t h of Salvador. He also supported local market w o m e n in their struggle against n e w municipal taxes, condemning the Republic - which had replaced Christ with C o m t e - "for trying to deliver the people back i n t o slavery." After an assassination a t t e m p t by the Bahian police in early 1893, h e decided to move his rapidly g r o w i n g congregation to the m o r e remote locality o f Canudos, 435 miles inland from Salvador. Here, in the center of the high sertao, was a ruined fazenda on fertile land, well defended-by rugged mountains a n d watered by seasonal rivers and reliable springs. Within eighteen m o n t h s Canudos had burgeoned into a self-sufficient, drought-resistant city of 35.000 people - "a mudwalled Jerusalem" in da Cunha s condescending phrase - that stunned visitors with its relative prosperity (river banks "planted in vegetables, corn, beans, watermelons, squash, cantaloupes, sugar cane, arrowroot, and potatoes") as well as its religious fervor. Although its population was a broad ethnic cross-section of the sertao, the c o m m u n i t y ' s civic and military leadership tended to be drawn from such previously outcast groups as the descendants of fugitive slaves, f o r m e r cangacciros (outlaws) and the remnants of the aboriginal Kiriri people, whose last
itly, by Mario Vargas Llosa)
two chiefs would die fighting to defend Canudos. 4 5
, unforgiving Catholicism"
For da C u n h a and c o n t e m p o r a r y Brazilian intellectuals imbued w i t h the arro-
dox by the traditional stan-
gant liberalism of C o m t e and Spencer, this secession from Republican modernity
impresario of miracles, nor
could only be the "objectivization of a t r e m e n d o u s insanity." In fact, as Levine
i sacraments. He may have
points out, "few joined Conselheiro capriciously or because they w e r e seduced by
e was not its "messiah." His
a crazed magician." Instead, like Joaseiro, Canudos was a rational response to the
tracts, focusing on peniten-
relentless chaos of d r o u g h t and depression. In t h e face of the inability of the state
rpretation of the recurrent
to develop, o r even slow the decline, of the sertao, it exemplified the practicality
192
LATE V I C T O R I A N
: MILL E
HOLOCAUSTS
of a self-organized, "socialist" alternative, even if its official ideologv was Marian and monarchist. And, despite the calumnies of his enemies, Conselheiro did n o t regiment belief or impose a cult discipline. "Those w h o wanted to remained
;
panic swept the coastal cities,
j
ship of "the fearsome i n f a n t n
1
in constant touch with neighboring communities; they came a n d went at will. People visited Canudos, did their business, and left. Many conselJiriristas worked outside the community every day. They were not prisoners. They came to C a n u -
t h r o u g h an arid countryside rr egy of Abbade, Cesar's large,
1
J
cannons, launched a rash fro.
! I
decision reminiscent of Custe:
dos to preserve their Catholicism, not to exchange it for a cult o r deviant sect."*"
In the end, the very primitive The settlement itself became lured. Whole battalions were dark cave." The defenders a m t prods, and broken household :
As recent histories have emphasized, there was n o "rebellion in the backlands" (the English title of da Cunha's account), only an attempt at peaceful withdrawal into millenarian autonomy. Like earlier qnilombos (slave republics) in the N o r d este, however, Canudos's simple desire to be left alone in peace was perceived as a dire threat to social order. O n the one hand, the holy city drained the surplus of cheap labor otherwise available to local oligarchs like the legal owner of Can-
Cesar's supposedly crack trc
udes, the Baron of Jeremoabo, Bahia's most powerful fazendeiro. O n the o t h e r
Catolica. For the consclheiris
hand, Canudos signified successful resistance to the n e w order that the Paulista
government in Rio de Janeir-
elites and their republican allies were attempting to impose across Brazil. Like
the very legitimacy of the Re]
Joaseiro, it also contradicted t h e church's project of subduing backlands Catholi-
ghost of Morcira Cesar ( " W h i the Consclheiro!"), a fourth e?
cism. As a result, Conselheiro's premature experiment in a "Christianity of the base" was denounced by Salvador's savants as "communism," by the ultramon-
!
est military exertion since the
tane bishops as a "political religious sect," and by the federal government as "sedi-
i
Conscripts were told that the)
tious monarchism." T h e Jeremoabos and other big landowners demanded Canu-
•
devil." 51 T h e "final assault" b e g
dos's p r o m p t destruction.' 17
was a war of extermination, h
untry like a cancer; expenses new revenue were unproducght a living in the Indies, and 5 to 13,676 in J905. Deputies alarming, dangerous or criti0-1 news of widespread crop general economic collapse.'"
p o w e r in the o u t e r islands (the D u t c h , like t h e Americans in Mindanao, were still
I t h e Residency of S e m a r a n g ,
t h e First W o r l d War.)" 5 Moreover, "Ethics" d i d little t o reduce t h e exploitation,
died in a f a m i n e t h a t contrib-
o r increase the food-security, of ordinary Javanese. T h e i r real impact, rather, w a s
'rom t h e end of 1899 o r early
t o shift g o v e r n m e n t investment toward t h e pacified o u t e r islands in s u p p o r t o f
laissez-faire colonial policy. T h e so-called "Ethical Policy," as crafted b y Alexander Idenburg - variously, the m i n i s t e r of colonies and governor-general of Java - w a s supposedly based o n a n e w trio of priorities; education, irrigation a n d e m i g r a tion. T h e debate t h a t p r o d u c e d t h e Ethical Policy has o f t e n been favorably c o n trasted t o t h e o b d u r a t e conservatism of t h e E d w a r d i a n Raj. In practice, however, the r e f o r m s in Java w e n t h a n d in hand w i t h t h e military consolidation of D u t c h m o p p i n g u p local resistance in t h e Moluccas and N e w Guinea u n t i l the eve o f
as again battered by d r o u g h t
Royal D u t c h Shell a n d o t h e r private interests w h o w e r e exploiting lucrative oil
: people," w r o t e local officials,
a n d r u b b e r bonanzas. 6 6
lie in several regions dared not
In the Philippines, d r o u g h t again b r o u g h t famine t o Negros's i n f a m o u s s u g a r
ilds." 61
plantations in 1896-97, t h e n r e t u r n e d t o devastate agriculture on Luzon, P a n a y
ic evidence that village subsis-
and o t h e r big islands from 1899 t o 1903. 67 C l i m a t e stress was alloyed with w a r -
rrupt exploitation of t h e peas-
fare, poverty and ecological crisis. T h u s t h e first phase of drought-famine c o i n -
:nt system, and the appropria-
cided with a national uprising against t h e Spanish, while t h e s e c o n d overlapped
free-market system that D u t c h
patriotic resistance t o US recolonization. T h e independence m o v e m e n t itself,
ts ideologues had claimed that
moreover, w a s s p u r r e d by the g r o w i n g crisis o f food security since mid-century,
.ance b e t w e e n export and sub-
w h e n Spain ( p r o d d e d by Britain) h a d l a u n c h e d an a m b i t i o u s campaign to develop
actually "represented a m a j o r
exports and commercialize agriculture. Traditional f o r m s of c o m m u n a l l a n d
ural resources." Rice c o n s u m p -
o w n e r s h i p and subsistence-oriented p r o d u c t i o n had b e e n violently dismantled in
>\ while p o o r villagers b e c a m e
favor of rice and s u g a r m o n o c u l t u r e s o p e r a t e d by pauperized smallholders a n d
6
ind grain merchants. ' It is not
debt-shackled sharecroppers. (Spanish a n d mestizo haccndcros, like u b i q u i t o u s
I to t h e S e m a r a n g f a m i n e in the
Chinese grain m e r c h a n t s and m o n e y l e n d e r s , w e r e m e r e l y links in a l o n g chain o f
ig peasants for n o t b e i n g able to
exploitation ultimately controlled by distant British a n d American trading c o m -
m o r e compulsion w a s required
panies.) Moreover, as the e x p o r t b o o m g e n e r a t e d a d e m a n d for n e w plantation
dash from socialist and Calvin-
t h e silting of river beds, m o r e i n t e n s e f l o o d i n g , and g r a d u a l aridification of t h e
mplified in the official reaction
lowlands. 6 "
land, L u z o n ' s interior foothills w e r e rapidly deforested, leading b y the 1890s t o
ivestigation into " t h e declining
In addition, as K e n D e Bevoise has s h o w n , living standards a n d public h e a l t h
o m 1902 t o 1905 a n d published
h a d b e e n u n d e r m i n e d by the ecological c h a i n reaction set in m o t i o n by t h e
t h e a b a n d o n m e n t of a strictly
arrival o f t h e r i n d e r p e s t virus i n t h e late 1880s. "Arguably the single g r e a t e s t
< I »
198
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
: MILLE
catastrophe in the nineteenth-century Philippines," rinderpest killed off most of
openly acknowledged in corres^
the draft animals on Luzon and forced farmers to drastically reduce the extent
itary strategy. " T h e result is in
of cultivation, aggravating malnutrition and debt. Meanwhile, "untilled land that
"many people will starve to d e
returned to scrub or vegetation provided favorable breeding conditions for both
Brigadier General Jacob Smith t
locusts and anopheline mosquitos.... In lieu of its preferred blood meals [cattle],
ing wilderness." 72 Famine, in tu
A. Minimus blaviorstris increased its human-biting rate, setting off seasonal epi-
favored the reconcentration c;
demics that made it difficult for the labor force to w o r k even the reduced a m o u n t
"and everything else that rode i
of agricultural acreage." T h u s debilitated by malaria and impoverished by the
course, it was impossible to dis
i
Twentieth-Century Reperc
grain supplied by patrons who, in turn, were enriched by the ivory trade. N o w
This generation of disaster fbr
f village patrimonialism, the
village economies of t h e early 1890s with the "picture of widespread stagnation
skeletons" was flight to the
a n d decay" thirty years later: the decline in crop diversity and output, the cessa-
rs, w h e r e congestion favored
tion of inter-African trade, and the forced dependence o n mine labor or urban
e population. As ethno-histo-
migration. "By 1939 virtually all vestiges of African economic independence have
idy of the Uzigua region, this
been shattered, African cultivators have b e c o m e tied to a world m a r k e t over
ished a nightmare biological
which they have no control, and a pattern of underdevelopment has been firmly
- the constant brush-clearing
e s t a b l i s h e d . T h e colonial state, moreover, deeply entrenched itself in the social
tick-borne epizootics to take
inequalities unleashed by drought-famine and epidemic disease. The "traditional"
•-ch they still rule m o r e than a
chiefs of the late colonial period w e r e often little more than officially sanctioned
gs coalesced into a w a r of lib-
ing [than missionary conversions]," writes Charles Ambler of Kenya after 1898,
vultures w h o had fattened themselves on c o m m u n a l disaster. "Even more strik-
ialists into the sea. Insatiable
"was the way that the individuals w h o m the British recognized as 'chiefs' were
nd W h i t e point out, coincided
able to accumulate p o w e r during the famine. Despite sometimes violent local
*eded all previous Portuguese
hostility, a n u m b e r of such m e n w e r e able t o expand substantially b o t h their live-
amines, taxation to be paid in
stock herds and their circles of dependents a n d clients.... O n e w o m a n from a
feeding their own families....
poor background pointed to this process of accumulation with some bitterness:
the tax obligation threatened
' W h e n the people w h o had gone away came back those rich who h a d remained
"
97
In May 1897, C a m b u e m b a
plantations and disrupted river
tried to keep those returning from owning anything."' 100 The fin d e siecle famines had comparable repercussions in the rest of the non-
Tin; m
T ZZA
LATIi
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
off poor laborers and impovei
Western world. In India, as we have seen, peasant indebtedness and land alien-
yet another position, arguing
ation soared and caste lines hardened during the long droughts. During famine
remarkable continuity in t h e
peasants were typically caught in a scissors between the falling Value of their
ants] in the years between t h e
assets and soaring food prices manipulated by middlemen who doubled as grain
China scholars have e n g a g
merchants and usurers, in pre-British India, without an effective land market in
tion and si ratification in the Yc
operation, the livelihood of the moneylenders had been tied t o the survival of
social surveys undertaken in tl
the peasant household. However, "the decline in the solidarity of the village
emergence of an aggressive si
community in the Deccan - partly connected with the decline in the social and
labor and fully oriented to t h t
economic standing of the traditional officials such as the patels, desais and des-
had begun to exploit disasters
mukhs - reduced the strength of the customary sanctions with which the villages
persuasively argues, .huge s t r u
once could threaten the mnias." 101 Alter the British commodified property rights, moreover, famine became a powerful opportunity for the accumulation of land and servile labor. State enforcement of debt collection through the decisions of
centrifugal effects of partible i j
lure in any genuine sense. Ci
distant and hostile courts a m o u n t e d to (in Banaji's stinging phrase) "an a r m i n g
no competition-driven d y n a m
10
of the moneylenders." - T h e parasite, in effect, no longer needed to save its host. Indeed, as Sumit Guha has s h o w n in the case of the Bombay Deccan, middlemen
control, and so o n - preventec
•
gation systems o r new cultiva
of all kinds, including rich peasants with a greater appetite for land than the mer-
advantage of a labor surplus
cantile castes, could now profit from the destruction of the independent cultiva-
was thus something of a s t a g farming. The m o s t successful
tor. Rich peasants and roving cattle dealers also exploited hard times to buy cattle
to slide back d o w n into the s
1
cheap in drought-stricken regions and sell t h e m dear in unaffected areas. '"
The key structural trend, r a t e
There has been brisk debate, however, about h o w such famine-driven asset
the growing percentage of th
redistribution affected agrarian class structures. Banaji, for instance, has argued
labor to supplement the o u t p i
that famine "proletariani/.ed" vast n u m b e r s of small cultivators in the Deccan, i
subsistence. T h e s e "semi-pro!
j
retained their o w n tiny plots
proletarianized." " Likewise Charlesworth has pointed to the "vast increase in
f
"rich" neighbors. 11 "
tenancy in Bombay Presidency between 1880 and 1920," w i t h the 1897-1902
|
H u a n g thus joins with Ind
Maharastran famines setting "the seal on the stratification process" by driving
I
ianization" as t h e dominant s
the poor ryots to the wall "while a stratum of rich peasants consolidated their
I
subsistence crises. "In using t h
while Arnold has retorted that real rural capitalism, based on the competitive capitalization of cultivation, was an illusion and that famine victims were only "semil !
newly 'dominant' position in village life."
105
not m e a n to suggest that it w a
(Indeed, Sir John Strachey took Social
Darwinist "hope and encouragement" f r o m the fact that famine mortality in the late 1890s spared rich peasants while decimating the poor.)"* Sumit Guha, on the other hand, claims that the social pyramid of the Bombay Deccan was "flattened" not steepened since he believed that the famine had simultaneously killed
,
anization, as if those represent |as in Mao], but rather to chs a peasant society7 and e c o n o m tiation and intense populatioi
MILLENARIAN
usts
idebtedness and land alienig droughts. D u r i n g famine n the falling value of their c m e n w h o doubled as grain : an effective land market in been tied to the survival of ;he solidarity of the village the decline in the social and as the patels, desais and destions with which the villages ommodified property rights, for the accumulation of land .ion through the decisions of stinging phrase) "an arming onger needed to save its host. Bombay Deccan, middlemen ppetite for land than the mern of the independent cultivaloited hard times to buy cattle \r in unaffected areas. 103 low such famine-driven asset maji, for instance, has argued lall cultivators in the Deccan, based on the competitive capmine victims were only "semi-
REVOLUTIONS
207
off poor laborers and impoverished more prosperous ryots. 107 Kaiwar stakes o u t yet another position, arguing that "despite famines and epidemics there was a remarkable continuity in the composition of both groups [rich and poor peasants] in the years b e t w e e n the 1850s and 1947." 10s China scholars have engaged in a symmetrical debate over famine, immiseration and stratification in the Yellow River plain. In his careful review of the village social surveys undertaken in the 1930s and 1940s, Philip H u a n g has pointed to the emergence of an aggressive s t r a t u m of "managerial" peasants, employing wage labor and fully oriented t o the market, w h o at least f r o m t h e crisis o f 1898-1900 had begun to exploit disasters as "business opportunities in rags." Yet, as H u a n g persuasively argues, h u g e structural obstacles - including the lack o f capital, t h e centrifugal effects of partible inheritance, the decline of state investment in flood control, and so on - prevented rich peasants from undertaking capitalist agriculture in any genuine sense. Capital-labor ratios did not increase, a n d there was n o competition-driven dynamic of investment in farm machinery, fertilizers, irrigation systems or n e w cultivation techniques. 109 Wealthier peasants simply took advantage of a labor surplus to enlarge the scale of family cultivation. "There was thus something of a stagnated equilibrium between managerial and family farming. T h e most successful family peasants became managerial farmers, only to slide back down into the small-peasant economy within a few generations." The key structural trend, ratcheted upwards by drought, flood and famine, was the growing percentage of the rural population that desperately sought wagelabor to supplement the output f r o m farms that were n o w too small to generate subsistence. These "semi-proletarians" ranged from full-time day-laborers who retained their own tiny plots to p o o r peasants who worked seasonally for their "rich" neighbors.""
>inted to the "vast increase in id 1920," with the 1897-1902 atification process" by driving ch peasants consolidated their d, Sir John Strachey took Social tct that famine mortality in the ; the poor.)'
06
Sumit Guha, on
the Bombay Deccan was "flatmine had simultaneously killed
•4 V
H u a n g thus joins w i t h Indian historians like Arnold w h o see "semi-proletarianization" as the d o m i n a n t structural o u t c o m c of the late-nineteenth-century subsistence crises. "In using the t e r m 'semi-proletarianization,' he explains, " I d o not mean to suggest that it was transitional to capitalism and complete proletarianization, as if those represented s o m e inevitable stage of historical development [as in Mao], but rather to characterize a process of social change distinctive of a peasant society and economy u n d e r the combined pressures of social differentiation and intense population pressure, w i t h o u t the outlet and relief provided
208
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
M I L L. f
by d y n a m i c capitalist d e v e l o p m e n t . " 1 " ( T i c h e l m a n m a k e s a similar point a b o u t Indonesia in t h e late n i n e t e e n t h century, w h e r e u n d e r the pressure of t h e coloj
nial export regime "class differentiation in t h e village t o o k n o t so m u c h t h e f o r m of proletarianization as of p a u p e r i z a t i o n . " " 2 ) Unlike W e s t e r n Europe, w h i c h
I '
had such p o w e r f u l u r b a n g r o w t h : e n g i n e s s u p e r c h a r g e d by the products a n d cons u m p t i o n s of wealthy colonies, Asia had n e i t h e r b u r g e o n i n g cities n o r overseas colonies in which t o exploit t h e labor of its s u p e r n u m e r a r y rural poor. T h e spectacular g r o w t h of e n t r e p o t p o r t s like B o m b a y a n d Shanghai was c o u n t e r b a l a n c e d by the decline of interior cities like L u c k n o w and Xian. In relative t e r m s , u r b a n
,
Under-resourced families typ livestock, had to rely cxdusiv and poor landowners often fa of" two or three kilometers bf always had to look for supplei btisv seasons was at the cost example of a Suide county v themselves our at one time oi pe rcent hired out full-time.... in the Suide-Mizhi counties p r available workforce in 1942.115
d e m o g r a p h y in India a n d n o r t h China (only 4.2 percent of t h e population) s t o o d still (or even slightly declined) for t h e entire'Victorian e p o c h . " 3 Even t h e coolie trade - the estimated 37 million laborers sent a b r o a d f r o m India, China, Malaya
| i
and Java in the. n i n e t e e n t h and early t w e n t i e t h centuries - did little to ease the crisis of undercapitalization in the Asian countryside.
I
Did the tens of millions of peasants w a r e h o u s e d by the late-Victorian w o r l d e c o n o m y in the p u r g a t o r y o f marginal p e t t y - c o m m o d i t y p r o d u c t i o n c o m e to constitute a social force in their o w n right? Likewise, u n d e r w h a t conditions did
Suide's most important and w weaving. Cotton growing ha Wuding River, but under t h e opium poppies.... The radical petition from foreign textiles ; destroyed the folk textile indu • tradition lived on in Suide's pc; easy to push forward a "mass i
"semi-proletarianization," r e p r o d u c e d by f a m i n e a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l instability,
As Keating explains, Mao's
lead t o n e w f o r m s of protest and resistance? T h e clearest evidence of a j u n c t u r e
of t h e great d r o u g h t - f a m i n e s ,
b e t w e e n the collective experience of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y f a m i n e and twentieth-
w h o m t h e stabilization of t h e
century revolutionary politics, as o n e m i g h t expect, c o m e s f r o m the insurrection-
so m u c h chronic disaster a n d
ary seedbed of n o r t h China. In 1941-42 a C o m m u n i s t research t e a m led by Chai
i
Shufan carefully surveyed the impact of t h r e e g e n e r a t i o n s of w a r and disaster on the regions of n o r t h e r n Shaanxi that had b e c o m e the fortress of t h e Eighth R o u t e
i
A r m y after its f a m o u s 1937 L o n g March. H e r e the d r o u g h t catastrophes of 1877 and 1900 had been repeated in the "Great N o r t h w e s t Famine" of 1928-31 (3 million t o 6 million dead), w i t h each famine p r o d u c i n g abrupt increases in poverty, landlessness and d e p e n d e n c e o n wage labor. (Landlordism, so central a peasant grievance in the Yangzi Valley and s o u t h e r n China,was a m u c h m o r e variable and locally specific issue t h a n e n v i r o n m e n t a l insecurity in n o r t h China.) Pauline Keating s u m m a r i z e s t h e t e a m ' s analysis of t h e "poverty trap t h a t was m a k i n g the p o o r poorer." It is a paradigmatic description - w o r t h q u o t i n g at s o m e l e n g t h of H u a n g ' s "semi-proletarian" condition:
I
issue.
7 \usts
makes a similar point a b o u t Jer the pressure of the coloc took not so m u c h the f o r m ; ike
Western Europe, which
ged by the products and conjrgeoning cities n o r overseas merary rural poor. T h e spechanghai was counterbalanced Xian. In relative terms, u r b a n
MILLENARIAN
REVOLUTIONS
209
Under-resourced families typically farmed the least fertile land and, n o t owning livestock, had ro rely exclusively on nightsoil to manure their land. Both tenants and poor landowners often farmed several small plots and had to traipse distances of two or three kilometers between them. Like poor farmers all over China, they always had to look for supplementary employment, and their odd-jobbing during busy seasons was at the cost of their own crops. The 1942 survey team gave the example of a Suide county village in which 31 percent of all poor farmers hired themselves out at one time or another to other farmers each year, and another 31 percent hired out full-time.... The Communist survey team estimated that farming in the Suide-Mizhi counties provided full-time employment for less than half of the available workforce in 1942.llS
cent of the population) stood .ian epoch. 113 Even the coolie ad from India, China, Malaya ituries - did little to ease the id by the late-Victorian world nmodity production c o m e t o se, under what conditions did and environmental instability, dearest evidence of a j u n c t u r e :entury famine and twentieth:, comes f r o m the insurrectionmist research team led by Chai
Suide's most important and widespread sideline industry was cotton spinning and weaving. Cotton growing had once been well established in places east of the Wuding River, but under the warlords most farms were turned from cotton to opium poppies.... T h e radical reduction of cotton growing, combined with competition from foreign textiles and the collapse of trade during the civil war, all but destroyed the folk textile industry.... Still, because a strong spinning and weaving tradition lived on in Suide's peasant households, the Communists found it relatively easy to push forward a "mass movement" of spinning cooperatives here.11* As Keating explains, M a o ' s "Yenan Way," conceived in t h e historic epicenter o f the g r e a t d r o u g h t - f a m i n e s , w a s a strategic response t o a poor p e a s a n t r y f o r w h o m the stabilization of t h e n a t u r a l and social conditions of p r o d u c t i o n , a f t e r so m u c h chronic disaster and w a r , had b e c o m e a revolutionary life-and-death issue. 117
^rations of war and disaster on he fortress of the Eighth Route i drought catastrophes of 1877 r
est Famine" of 1928-31 (3 mil-
ng abrupt increases in poverty, idlordism, so central a peasant ina,was a much m o r e variable curity in north China.) Pauline )verty trap that was m a k i n g the vorth quoting at s o m e length -
\
o
T
D ec^
di t>
PART
III
Decyphering ENSO
T h e Myst
Each veil lifted revej a chain of inter-loc meteorological equi
T h e search for t h e cause of t h an e x t r a o r d i n a r y scientific d e t N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation ( E h m e t e o r o l o g y for almost a c e n t had h a r p o o n e d t h e beast at fir jubilation over t h e discovery ol and tropical d r o u g h t soon t u r s u n s p o t correlations evaporate early twentieth c e n t u r y - bas< o r g a n i z e d by a f e w "strategic c rological data a n d disclosed the k n o w n as the S o u t h e r n Oscill; the C a p t a i n Ahab of the Indiar 1920s t h a n his research prograi dictions. After d e c a d e s of d e n
Seven
The Mystery of the Monsoons
Each veil lifted revealed a multitude of others. They perceived a chain of inter-locking and interdependent mysteries, the meteorological equivalent of DNA and the double helix. -Alexander Frater, Chasing the Mmisoou
T h e search f o r the cause of the global d r o u g h t s of t h e 1870s and 1890s became an extraordinary scientific detective story. W h a t we n o w u n d e r s t a n d as the El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation (ENSO) was the elusive great w h i t e whale of tropical m e t e o r o l o g y for a l m o s t a century. C o n t e m p o r a r y science, t o be s u r e , believed it had h a r p o o n e d the beast at first sight during t h e famines of 1876-78. But initial jubilation over the discovery of t h e sun's s u p p o s e d control over m o n s o o n rainfall and tropical d r o u g h t soon t u r n e d into perplexity and frustration as celebrated sunspot correlations evaporated in a chaotic statistical fog. Heroic efforts in t h e early t w e n t i e t h century - based o n the p r e m i s e that w e a t h e r like geopolitics is organized by a few "strategic c e n t e r s of action" - b r o u g h t m o r e o r d e r to meteorological data and disclosed the existence of a vast Indo-Pacific seesaw of air mass k n o w n as t h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation (SO). But n o s o o n e r h a d Sir G i l b e r t Walker, t h e Captain Ahab of t h e Indian Meteorological Service, s i g h t e d the S O in the late 1920s t h a n his research p r o g r a m w a s capsized b y its o w n epistemological contradictions. A f t e r decades of demoralization, t h e h u n t w a s finally revived and car-
2 14
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ried to a stunning conclusion in the l"960s by an aged Viking warrior of weather science, Jacob Bjerknes. Before recounting this saga in some detail, it may be helpful to first p u t the m o n s t e r itself into clearer view. For the nonscientific reader, especially, it is best to know something about the solution before we have even fully encountered the mystery. In the first iteration (which means robbed of all the complex beauty, beloved by geophysicists, of Kelvin waves and delayed-oscillators), the m o d e r n theory of ENSO might be summarized as follows: World climate (the oceans, atmosphere and ice surfaces acting together) is driven by the excess of solar energy received in equatorial latitudes. Climate, indeed, is just the time-averaged precipitation and wind patterns created by the poleward redistribution of this energy. 1 But the tropical regions, where oceans and atmosphere are m o s t tightly coupled, do not accumulate heat evenly. Tropical solar energy is moved by surface winds and ocean currents into several equatorial storage systems. T h e easterly trade winds, for instance, drive the w a r m surface waters of the equatorial Pacific westward. A "cold tongue" (the Pacific Dry Z o n e ) forms off South America where cold water upwells to replace the strippedaway surface layer, while w a r m water pools around the "maritime continent" of Indonesia-Australia. This Warm Pool, with its atmospheric companion, the Indo-Australian Convergence Zone (IACZ), is the most p o w e r f u l of the earth's regional heat engines (the others are the Amazon Basin and equatorial Africa) and sustains the largest organized system of deep convection: the transfer of energy from ocean to atmosphere t h r o u g h condensation and release of the latent heat of water vapor. Indeed, it can be imagined as a kind of cloud factory where the w a r m e s t surface waters on the globe daily manufacture untold thousands of towering cumulonimbus clouds. T h e El Nino or w a r m phase of the ENSO occurs when t h e trade w i n d s subside or reverse direction and the W a r m Pool with its vast canopy of tropical thunderstorms moves eastward into the central Pacific, around the International Date Line. Correlatively, the n o r m a l "downhill" pressure gradient b e t w e e n t h e South Pacific High and the IACZ that drives the trade winds reverses itself. T h e sudden fall of barometers over the east-central Pacific (as measured in Papeete) a n d their simultaneous rise over the maritime continent (as measured in Darwin) is the "Southern Oscillation." Global wind circulation, meanwhile, reorganizes itself
1
AUSTS
T H G MYSTERY
id Viking warrior of w e a t h e r
OF T H E
NON-EL
Jay be helpful to first p u t t h e
WALKER
MONSOONS
215
NINO
CIRCULATION
fic reader, especially, it is best 200mb pressure
have even fully e n c o u n t e r e d Q
jed of all rhe complex beauty, ayed-oscillators), the m o d e r n
surface •^i^sure e surfaces acting together) is wind patterns created by t h e
COLD T o
POOL
'W
equatorial latitudes. Climate, :
Indian 0c e . «»
Wv - : V
Pacific Occau
\ "
opical regions, w h e r e oceans ccumulate heat evenly. Tropian currents into several equar instance, drive rhe w a r m sur'cold tongue" (the Pacific Dry EL
ipwells to replace the stripped-
WALKER
md the "maritime continent"
NINO CIRCULATION 200mb pressure
atmospheric c o m p a n i o n , the 1
most powerful of the earth's
^( H P
i Basin and equatorial Africa) ,'p convection: the transfer of /
sation and release of the latent a kind of cloud factory where nufacture untold t h o u s a n d s of
/
'M
m
Arlace
pressure
WARM POOL
hid it} it Ocaati
Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocva it
urs when the trade winds subts vast canopy of tropical thunaround the International Date
Figure 7.1 El Nino as Eastward Shift of the Warm Pool
re gradient b e t w e e n the South rids reverses itself. T h e sudden measured in Papeete) and their is measured in Darwin) is the meanwhile, reorganizes itself
\ cf
Ti 2 1 6
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
T H E M 'i
a r o u n d t h e lACZ's n e w location, massively shifting rainfall p a t t e r n s t h r o u g h o u t the tropics and parts of t h e higher latitudes. The jet streams are displaced equatorward, pushing w e a t h e r systems into a n o m a l o u s latitudes. T h e "El N i n o "
t
aspect of E N S O results from t h e s u b s e q u e n t w a r m i n g of the Pacific off E c u a d o r and P e r u d u e t o t h e cessation of trade-wind-driven upwelling. Usually observed by f i s h e r m e n near Christmas, h e n c e El N i n o o r "Christ child." T h e central tropical Indian O c e a n also catches a fever, w h i c h affects the strength a n d path o f the
/
.
.. ..>
m o n s o o n s . In big events, the n o r m a l g e o g r a p h y of aridity a n d rainfall in the I
equatorial Pacific is reversed as t h u n d e r s t o r m s flood the hyper-arid deserts of
\ l
RIC
,\\:
rial Pacific Ocean. "It s o o n ided t h e m o s t potential in
Southern
itionsj, in that it displayed
[North-east Australia rainfall (Derby and Halls Creek in Western Australia, 7
elations with climatic con-
stations in n o r t h Australia, 20 t h r o u g h o u t Q u e e n s l a n d ) ] + 0.7 [Charleston pres-
s s u r f a c e . " " Walker clearly
sure] + 0.7 [New Z e a l a n d t e m p e r a t u r e (Wellington, D u n e d i n ) ] + 0.7 [Java rain-
Oscillation Index ( D e c e m b e r - F e b r u a r y )
=
[Samoa pressure]
+
ie g r e a t tropical convection
fall] + 0.7 [ Hawaii rainfall (12 stations)] + 0.7 [South Africa rainfall (15 stations,
:ted by t h e S o u t h e r n Oscil-
J o h a n n e s b u r g the m o s t n o r t h e r n ) ] - [ D a r w i n pressure] + [Manila pressure]
and in 1928 he p r o p o s e d an
- [Batavia pressure] - [South-west Canada t e m p e r a t u r e (Calgary, E d m o n t o n ,
in n o r t h e a s t Brazil. T h e r e
Prince Albert, Qu'Appelle, Winnipeg)] - [ S a m o a t e m p e r a t u r e ] - 0.7 [Brisbane
as well as scientific circles,
t e m p e r a t u r e ] - 0.7 [Mauritius t e m p e r a t u r e ] - 0.7 [South American rainfall (Rio
>f any theoretical m o d e l for
Argentina, of which Bahia Blanca is the s o u t h e r n m o s t ) ] 5 1
de Janeiro and 2 stations s o u t h o f it in Brazil; 3 in Paraguay, Montevideo; 15 in
: centers of w e a t h e r action,
Jiik
•t \ c
T
2J0
LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U M S
the
i\r
rology: in yet unsuspected large-scale temperature fluxes in the equatorial Pacific
tion ... provides for an incr
Ocean.
the causc of the Walker Ci
Bjerknes and the ENSO Paradigm
classical example of positive tion: should the easterly trac
Forty years after Walker described the Southern Oscillation, Jacob Bjerknes at
which, in turn, will further si
UCLA began to look at the problem f r o m an oceanographic as well as meteo-
equatorial Pacific increase f r
rological point of view. Bjerknes, then in his late sixties, was a legendary figure
Ecuadorean/Peruvian coast
who during the First World War, collaborating with his father, had revolutionized
pression of wind-driven upw
meteorology with the m o d e r n "frontal" theory of h o w mid-latitude weather is
live intensification of the trat
determined by the clash of polar and h u m i d air masses (analogous in their view
i n g in the cast. In either state
to the collision of armies on the Western Front). Their "Bergen School" was the
a powerful feedback loop tha
fount both of physics-based dynamical meteorology and m o d e r n weather fore-
(El Nino and La Nina, respec
casting. 52 In the 1960s, moreover, Bjerknes was o n e of the relatively few meteo-
over, is a real transfer of air
rologists attentive to recent breakthroughs in understanding ocean heat circula-
sure), via intensified or w e a
tion and internal wave behavior.
regions and the equatorial PJ
Building on the correlation discovered by the Dutch meteorologist Hendrik
T h e great perturbations ir
Berlage in the 1950s between the time series of the SO index and sea surface
a n d self-sustained: they do n c
temperatures off Peru, and using International Geophysical Year (1957-58) data
exogenous forcings. The esse
that "provided, for the first time, observations of large-scale oceanic w a r m i n g
is that "changes in oceanic cc
extending across the equatorial Pacific beyond the dateline in association with
changes in atmospheric conci
an El Nino event," Bjerknes argued that the SO and El Nino were the respective
the trade winds to strcngther
atmospheric and oceanic expressions of solar energy cycling in powerful pulses
tion changes that produce, a r
through a coupled ocean-atmosphere system." (The t e r m ENSO was first used
Nino or La Nina occurs." c o r
by Rasmusson and Carpenter in 1982 to characterize Rjcrknes's unified interac-
rings or a taut violin string vit
tion.)5'1
oscillation of the coupled oc
0 Theory
e n e r g y in t h e f o r m o f a wavelike b o d y of w a r m water (a "Kelvin wave") that Roxburgh:1790s Blanford: 1880 Blanford: 1880 Lockyer and Lockyer: jwoo
j I i
weakens t h e trade winds. T h e slackening or cessation of t h e trade w i n d s , in turn, j !
Hildebrandsson: 1899 Walker: 1920s Bjerknes: 1960s Philander: 1980s
sloshes e a s t w a r d against South America. As t h e equatorial t h e r m o c l i n e flattens, t h e disappearance of t h e n o r m a l e a s t - w e s t s u r f a c e t e m p e r a t u r e g r a d i e n t f u r t h e r simultaneously releases W a r m P o o l w a t e r eastward while allowing w a r m surface w a t e r s t o a c c u m u l a t e off equatorial S o u t h America. 6 2 The complexity of causal feedbacks, of course, m a k e s it difficult t o disentangle the u l t i m a t e initiat-
(
ing factor. T h e idea of westerly wind b u r s t s across t h e International Date L i n e that trig-
I
g e r Kelvin waves in t h e t h e r m o c l i n e w a s first i n t r o d u c e d by W r y t k i in 1975.
j
Research in t h e mid-1990s, a r m e d w i t h data f r o m the Tropical O c e a n Global
!
A t m o s p h e r e ( T O G A ) m o n i t o r i n g system, has tied t h e s e bursts t o unusually s t r o n g instances of an intraseasonal (30- t o 50-day) a t m o s p h e r i c fluctuation in t h e
Wyrtki: 1980s
j
Cane and Zebiak: 1986 ??
I !I
tropics k n o w n as Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). T h e M J O interannually waxes and w a n e s in strength, with peaks in El N i n o years. Researchers a r e uncertain w h e t h e r t h e s e intensifications of t h e Madden-Julian are powered b y rising sea surface t e m p e r a t u r e (and are thus predictable) o r are simply stochastic. Moreover, j u s t as E N S O creates weather, it is in t u r n modified b y weather.
d Bjerknes's t h e o r y u p o n a
,
Although t h e heat reservoir model explains h o w El Ninos in general evolve, "part of the reason for irregularity in t h e ENSO cycle in t e r m s of frequency, duration
elaxation events" that arose
i
and a m p l i t u d e of w a r m and cold events m a y ... be attributed to t h e nonlinear
in-average p o o l i n g of w a r m
interaction of higher frequency w e a t h e r variability with l o w e r f r e q u e n c y ocean-
rid ocean, t h e Pacific is com-
a t m o s p h e r e d y n a m i c s . " " On the timescale of El Nino events, w e a t h e r (including
nd a shallow surface layer of
t h e feedback effects of powerful s t o r m systems and tropical cyclones) is statisti-
>etween the w o is k n o w n as
cally "noise." To m a k e forecasters' lives m o r e difficult, ENSO, like all nonlinear
; a trade-wind-driven pile-up
d y n a m i c systems, also probably i n c o r p o r a t e s a n i m p o r t a n t quotient of determin-
3nsequent d e e p e n i n g of the
istic chaos.^
because it is unable to export
W y r t k i also clarified the physics of w h a t h a p p e n s w h e n t h e S o u t h e r n Oscilla-
>ol f u n c t i o n s like a planetary
tion dips far b e l o w t h e x-axis of t h e graph. As t h e system "relaxes" at the end of
>erature increases over large
a w a r m event (often w i t h the a b r u p t return o f t h e trade w i n d s and t h e explosive
e n e r g y t o potentially p o w e r
cooling of t h e eastern Pacific), it tends to o v e r s h o o t its m e a n state. T h e El Nino phase is rapidly followed by its inverse m i r r o r image: t h e cold phase t h a t Prince-
1
L. ATli V I C T O R I A t N
HOLOCAUSTS
ton's George Philander labeled La Nina in a f a m o u s 1985 article. D u r i n g a La
[ -1 and bei
Nina event, unusually s t r o n g (easterly) trade winds recharge the heat c o n t e n t of "I i j ;
the W a r m Pool while the IACZ retreats w e s t w a r d over Indonesia to the e d g e of the Indian Ocean. T h e e x t r e m e climate p h e n o m e n a a c c o m p a n y i n g La N i n a arc opposite in sign b u t usually c o m p a r a b l e in m a g n i t u d e t o those associated w i t h Ll Nino, so that d r o u g h t s are o f t e n followed b y severe floods as in China in 1897- 98
i ] --
MU
u
or 1997-98." Wyrtki's revision, of course, was n o t t h e end o f d e b a t e a b o u t the d y n a m i c s of El N i n o ( f u n d a m e n t a l aspects of which still elude researchers), b u t it does punctuate the passage f r o m t h e heroic days o f first c a p t u r i n g E N S O in the n e t s of
«J L^
03 U, 5J
-z\ . 1 8 6 0
1 N70
tsso
1<M0
l50
•1 i
analysis to an era of m a t u r e t h e o r y in which the construction of complex predictive models, using data f r o m T O G A arrays in the equatorial Pacific, has b e c o m e possible. In 1986 t w o oceanographers, M a r k C a n e and Stephen Zebiak, encapsulating Bjerknes's key variables in a simple atmosphere-ocean-coupled m o d e l , successfully forecast t h e 1986-87 El Nino. A decade later, several m o d e l s (although not C a n e and Zebiak's this time) correctly predicted the onset of the 1997 -98 event, a l t h o u g h its surprising intensity a n d spectacularly sudden ending (in May 1998) led s o m e E N S O m o d e l e r s to g r a d e their efforts as "mediocre." Still, the basic physics underlying E N S O is n o w firmly u n d e r s t o o d . "El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation variability," declares a leading researcher, "is the first great c o u p l e d atmosphere-ocean-biota puzzle that h u m a n k i n d has solved." 6 ''' Multidecadal Regimes?
Figure 7.5 C h a n g e s in liNSO /
sity of warm e v e n t s from 192 differences in t h e relative p e r c that ENSO oscillates b e t w e e n multidecadal scale? II so. t h e i tory in the tropics and north ( S o m e researchers think t h
A m o n g the problems that remain, perhaps the highest priority is u n d e r s t a n d i n g
t e m p o r a l .structures. R,ismuss
500-year events m a y have elationship b e t w e e n ENSO :ycle has been s p e e d i n g u p imple, there have b e e n only rage of once every 42 years,
Eight
ve recently o c c u r r e d within e n t El N i n o of 1990-95: the :ords. T r e n b e r t h a n d Hoar,
Climates of Hunger
. condition d u r i n g the 1990s e historical record, and is a lar hypothesis is t h a t m u c h s is stored in an expanded e r n tropical Pacific Ocean, rvents. An e n h a n c e d ENSO h r o u g h which global w a r m -
Where is the all-powerful white man today? He came, he ate, and he went. The important thing is to stay alive.... If you survive, who knows? It may be your turn to eat tomorrow Your son may bring home your share. -Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People
After the cycle of t h e seasons itself, ENSO is t h e most i m p o r t a n t s o u r c e of global climate variability. N o o t h e r interannual e n v i r o n m e n t a l p e r t u r b a t i o n has such amplitude o r far-reaching impact, capable of bringing hardship to a quarter of t h e h u m a n race on five continents. Although certainly n o t the only harbinger of catastrophic d r o u g h t o r flood, it is the m o s t f r e q u e n t and t h u s far t h e most predictable. 1 Instructed by t w o great El Nihos (1982 and 1997) in a single generation, social as well as e n v i r o n m e n t a l scientists are beginning t o appreciate ENSO's impact o n w o r l d h i s t o r y In a t t e m p t i n g to visualize El N i n o historically, however, it is far easier t o surmise its existence t h r o u g h teleconnected d r o u g h t s a n d floods than to directly observe its feverlike outbreak in the eastern tropical Pacific. If its t h e a t e r of influence includes the ancient, densely p o p u l a t e d agrarian heartlands of Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Java, C h i n a and Peru, the region of its origination is a vast, obscure oceanic d e s e r t with scarcely a sprinkling of inhabited islands. With g r o w i n g claims and counter-claims a b o u t El N i n o ' s impact on civilization, how
\
V
[30
L A T E V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T StheG
can we discern and authenticate its fingerprints in history?
between 1900 and 1963, cspe< In addition, ENSO never
Teleconnection and Causality
even eccentric, historical even
Walker and his contemporaries sought the influence of the Southern Oscillation
to events, no t w o ENSO evei
on rainfall in different regions of the globe w i t h o u t knowing what actually linked
cessation." 1 In the language
and equally large signals of
or overturning in surface h e a t i n g Moreover, because there is a "multiplicity of interaction modes" between ,
ENSO, major circulation regimes a n d other periodic variabiles, the possible effects outside the tropical Pacific are quite complex.* Indeed the major ENSO telecon-
vil's staircase" in fractal ter-
i
three to seven years, b u t as individual systems of selective interaction between
jations, and its geography is r time. Teleconnections, for
nections must be seen n o t as simple climate "switches" t u r n e d on a n d off every
.
the Southern Oscillation and o t h e r independent variables thai can amplify o r diminish its influence. ENSO is the enabling o r necessary condition, but rarely
NSO can be analogized to a
by itself a sufficient cause. For example, El N i n o w a n n i n g contributed to the
itreams and semi-continent-
!
>usly in some periods than in
;
great 1993 flood in the upper Mississippi Valley by strengthening the subtropical
!
jet stream and shifting s t o r m tracks southward, but the extraordinary spring and
icy also fluctuate over longer il power and organization of
s u m m e r rainfall required in addition a continuous supply of moisture provided
o strong/weak states of the
by low-level flow f r o m the Caribbean. T h e conjuncture of these t w o indepen-
the last chapter. Teleconnec-
dently variable conditions was t h e true "cause" of the exceptional precipitation
n 1879-1899 and again after
that, interacting with unwise floodplain land use, produced $35 billion in flood
.972-3,1982-83 and 1997-98
damages. 7
tterns. Conversely, they were ided to be most contracted"
'
Peter Webster and his colleagues, in a comprehensive review of ENSO-monsoon simulations, have usefully suggested a heuristic m o d e l for understanding
T LATE V I C T O R I A N
141
HOLOCAUSTS
c i
In these entangled m o d e s . : impulses interact on longer scales with regional climate p id tics, which, depending o n j can either amplify or decrea. signal from the Pacific. Ever
simple E
complex
tangled
- B N S O '/•'•,'
M
- the M o n s o o n
C
. = other system (e.g. E u r a s i a n snow-cover, Siberian H i g h , etc.)
D
- internal errors
the same tropical forcing, e x t r ical responses can vary dramai T h u s the strength of the ENS( connection to the Indian m o i d e p e n d s upon interdecadal i in Eurasian snow-cover, w h r
Possible relationships between ENSO and other climatic systenis. Adapted from Webster, et a], i IW8) F i g u r e 8.1 T e l e c o n n e c t i o n as .Selective Interaction
teleconnection to western 1 America is modulated by p understood 20- to 30-year o
the causal complexity of these teleconnections. In a simple system, an El Nino
lions in the N o r t h Pacific." S o r
(La Nina) impulse directly modifies another system, for example, the South Asian
m a t e researchers, moreover, b
or East Asian monsoon. A change in one circulation compels a change in the
that "forecasts based on estab
other. "Relative to the g r o w t h of internal errors, the influence is linear and the
[ENSO ] teleconnections, even
system highly predictable." Such simplicity in causation was the object of Walk-
considered highly statistical!'
er's thirty-year quest', but nature is seldom so obliging. More likely is a complex
nificant, could fail or even rc
hierarchy where ENSO and the m o n s o o n are iinked through another variable like
sign in the f u t u r e due to dc
Eurasian snowfall. "Within the complex hierarchy the m o n s o o n may feed back
time scale climate variability.'
on the ENSO system through the third system or vice versa." Error growth can
recent "decoupling'' of" ENSC
easily b e c o m e nonlinear, thus diminishing predictability. Least predictable would
the Indian monsoon, as we
be a tangled hierarchy where "each system interacts with the other, and the rout-
see, is a dramatic case in point
ing of the interaction is difficult to decipher." T h e South Asian monsoon, for
To summarize, then, the p
instance, might have important feedback effects on ENSO, perhaps even some-
regulated over time in two difi
times acting as the "detonator" of El N i n o / w a r m phases. In such chaotic circum-
is conditioned by low-frequen
stances - with three or m o r e variables free to blow their h o r n s independently
cal Pacific (like the PDO a n d
- it is impossible to define which p h e n o m e n o n is the "precursor" of the other,
regimes appear t o follow one-
and determinism is essentially lost. (Probabilistic prediction, however, may still be
o t h e r hand (and independent,'
possible, especially if one of the linkages is dominant over time.) 3
specific teleconnections seem.' cal Pacific is in-phase or out-ol
T
]
JS'l'S
Cl.J M A T E S O F
MUNCIiR
In these entangled modes, ENSO impulses interact on longer timescale.s with regional climate period-
(a) precedent
conditioning
changes in ocean base state (PDO, etc.)
icities, which, depending on phase,
(multi decadal oscillations)
can either amplify or decrease the signal from the Pacific. Even with
tangled
(b) strong/weak
regime
'switch'
the same tropical forcing, extratrop£ i # > Cycle
ical responses can vary dramatically.
(3-5 years)
T h u s the strength of the ENSO teleman High, etc.)
connection to the Indian m o n s o o n
(c) conseciMnt
depends u p o n interdecadal trends in Eurasian snow-cover, while t h e iprcd from Webster, et aJ. (1998)
nwdulation
other indepenagjritclimate variables
teleconnection to western N o r t h America is modulated by poorly (1)
understood 20- to 30-year oscillai simple system, an El Nino
tions in the North Pacific/'Some cli-
for example, the South Asian
mate researchers, moreover, believe
Dn compels a change in the
that "forecasts based on established
ie influence is linear and the
| ENSO | teleconnections, even those
tion was the object of Walk-
considered highly statistically sig-
ng. More likely is a complex
nificant, could fail or even reverse
through another variable like
sign in the future due to decadal
the monsoon may feed back
time scale climate variability." T h e
ice versa." Error growth can
recent "decoupling" of ENSO and
>ility. I.cast predictable would
the Indian monsoon, as wc shall
with the other, and the routi South Asian monsoon, for
MONSOON EPOCHAL VARIABILITY
(2)
\
TUOPICAL ATLANTIC j DIPOLE i
- strength /coheroicc of teleconnection -
INDIA
RAINFALL
SAHEL
rainfall
Figure 8.2 Two Modes of ENSO/ Teleconnection Regulation
see, is a dramatic case in point. 1 " To summarize, then, the pattern and intensity' of ENSO leleconncctions are
i ENSO, perhaps even some-
regulated over time in t w o different ways. On o n e hand, the amplitude of ENSO
iases. In such chaotic circum-
is conditioned by low-frequency variability in the background state of the tropi-
w their horns independently
cal Pacific (like the P D O and its u n n a m e d sisters). "Strong" and " w e a k " ENSO
the "precursor" of the other,
regimes appear to follow one a n o t h e r at roughly 20- to 40-year periods. On the
idiction, however, may still be
other hand (and independently of ENSO regime), the statistical significance of
nt over t i m e . /
specific teleconnections seems to depend on w h e t h e r the signal f r o m the tropical Pacific is in-phase o r out-of-phase with other, slower oscillations. T h u s , as wc
T 164
LATE V I C T O R I A N
c I
HOLOCAUSTS
Table 8.1
m o r e turbulent and unprcd
Teleconncctions in Five Major El Nino Events 1877-78
1899-1900
1972-73
1982-83
like to call the "signal/noise 1997-98
D*
d
-
D
D
D
D
d
D**
d
D
D
D
D**
D** D*
D
d
d
Yangzi
F
-
-
F
F
S o u t h Africa
D
d
0
D
D
_
_
India
D**
Indonesia
D
Philippines
d
Australia
D
North China
East
Africa
f
D* d ID1V02)
D (1898 La Nina?)
E N S O variability) correspond To understand, therefore specific "climates of h u n g e r a n d northeast Brazil, we ne< variables. A survey of r e c e n t : opportunity to rediscuss s o m droughts - is followed by a to establish E N S O chronolo^ hostage to progress in a d y n a
H o r n o f Africa
d
d
D
Sahel
d
D
D D
-
[Mediterranean]
d
-
D** D**
D
d
-
[Russia]
d
D**
-
d
Nordeste
D
d
D
D
D
S o u t h Brazil
?
•}
_
F
-
gies become m o r e
fine-tunec
Regional ENSO Climatol INDIA
"Unlike the West where the > consists of a triad: the Cold !
D=inccnsc drought; d=mocierate drought; F = i i u e n s e flooding; **=most'severe in century; *=second most severe. Brackets-possible telcconnection only.
f r o m January to May and the
Sourcc: Collated f r o m research in this book; Glantz, Currents of Change, pp. 65, 70-72.
tember." 1 J D r o u g h t in the si early withdrawal) in the c r u
shall sec, monsoon epochs and tropical Atlantic dipoles modulate the impact of
to 90 percent of rainfall foi
ENSO events on rainfall in India and the Sahel, respectively. Figure 8.2 is a conceptual cartoon of these two different modes of modulation: one "precedent"
^
drought-prone regions, d e p e
(or "upstream") and the other "consequent" (or "downstream") to ENSO heat-
]
m o n s o o n . ) "When the n u m l
storage release events.
I
is normally low, and/or t h e
j
extended periods, there will
More broadly, these manifold interactions and overdeterminations ensure a distinctive global pattern during each event. It is extremely unlikely that all the
the Deccan Plateau in the rail
independent variables co-determining ENSO's regional impacts will ever line up
arid plains of Rajasthan and l
twice in the exactly the same way, although synchronicity and coherence are
1
driven fluctuations in the n
increased by the power of the initial event (see Table 8.1). Finally, the f u r t h e r the
revealed, more than two-thir
rmal rainfall epoch.'
even more dramatically, the subdued El Nino cycle from 1922 to 1972. The final
0
iil to produce serious droughts
bars register the delinkage of Indian rainfall a n d ENSO in the 1990s. Stu b large-
above-normal mode. T h e situ-
scale data, however, cannot reveal crucial regional variations. T h e devastating
the historical record." Recent
drought of 1896-97 in central India, for instance, is masked by positive rainfall
adient driving the m o n s o o n , is . record. At the same time, the
anomalies elsewhere. Indeed, as Ramasamy Suppiah demonstrated in a pathbreaking 1989 study of
Varm Pool) has moved further
El Nino's impact on Sri Lanka, national climate statistics are artifacts that need
lifting monsoon-blocking sub-
to be resolved into finer-grained temporal and spatial patterns. Looking at ENSO
frorn India toward Indonesia,
influence f r o m the perspective of Sri Lanka's constituent "rainfall fluctuation
d confounded meteorological
regions," with their distinct, orographically determined seasonal relationships to
id 1997. Researchers are now
m o n s o o n circulation, he discovered decisive correlations that are obscured at t h e
warming has broken the link
national aggregate level. "Relationships are n o t clear in the first i n t e r m o n s o o n
If
and northeast m o n s o o n seasons if Sri Lanka is considered as a single unit. Yet
,t trend (also possibly driven by
the relationships are clear b e t w e e n the rainfall of the different regions and t h e
•venting m o n s o o n failure."
20
1
248
LATH
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
C
L.
;
I
seasonal S o u t h e r n Oscillation Index." Although the overall effect of El N i n o on
history's most catastrophic Yz
Sri Lanka is increased rainfall, t h e regional patterns range f r o m positive t o nega
larger variability" and " f r o m ;
tive d e p e n d i n g on rainfall season and time-lagged correlation t o the SO. 21 Sup
ters."- 7 This m a y have involv
n are unlikely. Famines in
age about thirty years, similar to India; while in more equatorial countries, like
>e drought-stricken regions
Singapore or Indonesia, they tend to be only a decade or so in duration. 5 1
market prices for rice that
The ENSO signature is particularly vivid in Philippine history where it h a s
ants. Since the 1960s, more-
often been associated with rural unrest and peasant revolution. Although there
l of Indonesia's hardwood
is no tradition of local reseach comparable t o Berlage's Southern Oscillation
ith an increased
time series for Indonesia, the teleconnection m a y be very robust (with a reversed
frequency
254
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
signal in the case of northern Luzon). T h e International Research Institute for
CI
cidence was indeed a f u n d a n
Climate Research data set, for example, shows a 95 percent correlation between
records with those of India, [
El Nino events and below-average rainfall, with the m o s t severe droughts in 1941,
w i t h regard to the prevalent
1915,1902-03. 1983 and 1912. T h e period of national revolt and US colonial occu-
that severe droughts occur a
pation, 1897-1915, was also the most environmentally turbulent in the last 200
M o d e r n research has s h o w n ,
years, with seven significant El Nino droughts as well as severe La Nina-related
fall over most of Australia f
flooding in 1910.5i
lation of drought with E N S
T h e commercially important plantation island of Negros has been especially
Victoria, where tremendous
vulnerable to the ENSO cycle, with eight of nine famines in the second half of
industry during the El Nirio
the nineteenth century coinciding with El Nino events." In the twentieth cen-
1918 and 1958. At such t i m e s
tury, adds Lopez-Gonzaga, the conjugation of periodic drought and volatile sugar
surprisingly," Ann Young exp
prices has produced so much h u n g e r that Negros "became known world-wide as
droughts. At the end of t h e
the Philippines' 'Ethiopia.'" Negros's rich tradition of messianic and class-based
engulfed Victoria and parts o
resistance movements, however, has ensured that deprivation did not go unchal-
lia over a three-day period fi
lenged. During the terrible 1982-83 El Nino drought, for example, thousands of
enced gales of dust, fire ball
unemployed Negrense sugarworkers flocked to the b a n n e r of the communist
so intense that the fowls r o t
New People's Army "By mid-1985, many of the haciendas and the upland settle-
the sclerophyll flora of easti
ments in the south-central towns of Negros were identified as NPA Ted liberated
regional firestorms like the A
zones.'" 5 1
T h e environmental hist a r
Drought and flood disasters have also episodically sharpened agrarian discon-
stood, but El Nino droughts
tent on other islands. T h e most recent crisis was in the winter of 1997-98 w h e n
episodic migration and i n t e r
90 percent of the Philippines experienced moderate to extreme drought. Nearly
nation of drought and killin
a million people suffered the early stages of starvation as the impact of crop fail-
nights) forced tens of thousa
ure was magnified by the East Asian financial crisis." T h e archipelago is also fre-
desperate search for food a n t
quently in the direct path of typhoons spawned in abnormal numbers by the
gold mine at Porgcra in ihe c
w a r m i n g of the eastern equatorial Pacific. T h e typhoon rains and tropical storms
d a m a g e to forests on the w e s
that battered Luzon and Mindanao during the El Nino s u m m e r of 1972 have been described as "the worst natural disaster in Philippines history." 5 "
ENSO is also the major o ably, the rest of Melanesia, z o n e move eastward, "there i
AUSTRALIA
AND
OCEANIA
temperature, for saltier t h a n
As we have seen, c o n t e m p o r a r y observers interpreted the synchronous droughts
shortage." in strong lil Nine
in Australia and India in 1877 as a correlation having almost oracular signifi-
disastrous impacts on taro ir;
cance. Ten years later, in a review of historical data, Sir Charles Todd, govern-
double. The La Nina effect is
m e n t astronomer and meteorologist for South Australia, confirmed that the coin-
t h a t track in the direction o f
.USTS
C L I M A T E S O F H U N G E R251
onal Research Institute for
cidence was indeed a fundamental meteorological relationship. "Comparing o u r
ercent correlation between
records with those of India, I find a close correspondence or similarity of seasons
ost severe droughts in 1941,
with regard to the prevalence of drought, and there can be little or no doubt
evolt and US colonial occu-
that severe droughts occur as a rule simultaneously over the two countries." 57
ly turbulent in the last 200
Modern research has shown, however, that while mean surface pressure and rain-
1 as severe La Nina-related
fall over most of Australia fluctuate with the Southern Oscillation, the correlation of drought wiib ENSO is strongest in New South Wales and northern
Negros has been especially
Victoria, where tremendous losses were sustained by agriculture and the wool
-nines in the second half of
industry during the El Nino events of 1877, 1884, 1888, 1897, 1899, 1902, 1915,
n t s . " In the twentieth cen-
1918 and 1958. At such limes, vast areas b e c o m e an antipodean Dust Bowl. "Not
c drought and volatile sugar
surprisingly," Ann Young explains, "the most severe w i n d erosion occurs during
came known world-wide as
droughts. At the end of the 1895-1903 drought a h u g e series of dust storms
.f messianic and class-based
engulfed Victoria and parts of N e w South Wales, Queensland and South Austra-
privation did not go unchal-
lia over a three-day period from 11 to 13 November 1903. Many places experi-
:, for example, thousands of
enced gales of dust, fire balls, lightning, and darkness during the day that was
banner of the communist
so intense that the fowls roosted." 5 " El Nino also orchestrates the fire cycle in
endas and the upland settle-
the sclerophyll flora of eastern Australia, which episodically climaxes in great
ntified as NPA 'red liberated
regional firestorms like the Ash Wednesday disaster of 16 February 1983. The environmental history of Papua N e w Guinea/Irian Jaya is poorly under-
sharpened agrarian discon-
stood, but El Nino droughts and La Nina floods are probably prime movers of
he winter of 1997-98 when
episodic migration and intercultural violence. In 1997, for example, the combi-
to extreme drought. Nearly
nation of drought and killing frost (from colder temperatures during cloudless
>n as the impact of crop fail-
nights) forced tens of thousands of highland farmers to trek to the lowlands in a
;
The archipelago is also ffe-
desperate search for food and water. The shortage of w a t e r also forced the huge
abnormal numbers by the
gold mine at Porgera in the central highlands to shut d o w n , and fires did terrible
ion rains and tropical storms o s u m m e r of 1972 have been s history." 5 "
damage to forests on the western side of the island. 5 " ENSO is also the m a j o r control over rainfall in New Caledonia and, presumably, the rest of Melanesia. As the Warm Pool and its associated convergence zone move eastward, "there is a tendency for local colder than average sea surface temperature, for saltier than average sea surface salinity and consistent rainfall
:d the synchronous droughts
shortage." In strong El Nino years, riverflows decline by more t h a n half (with
'ing almost oracular signifi-
disastrous impacts on taro irrigation systems), while d u r i n g La Nina events they
3, Sir Charles Todd, govern-
double. T h e La Nina effect is sometimes catastrophically reinforced by typhoons
alia, confirmed that the coin-
that track in the direction of N e w Caledonia during cold event years. 40
T 164
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
cI
As the most important variable in the ecological metabolism of the tropical Pacific, ENSO has also deeply shaped Polynesian history. In N e w Zealand, the
28 inches - is slightly more t h j
north and east coasts of the conn try including most of the urban population, are
tion and soil dryness conspin m o s t researchers now believe
vulnerable to El Nino drought, while higher than average rainfall occurs along
Nordeste protrudes well i n t o
the west and south coasts of the South Island. All the island g r o u p s near the
tropical high."" < "This is the :
International Date Line, meanwhile, are subject to drastic rainfall variation as the
vides the brilliant, transparen
Warm Pool shuttles back and forth in the course of the ENSO cycle. The South-
b e e n inspired by the 'luar d o :
ern Oscillation likewise determines the geography of tropical cyclone activity in
W h a t has m o s t decisively
the Pacific and "island communities east of the Date Line [like Tahiti] experience
j
high risk of damage during ENSO events."*1
:
ever, is not the climate's meat sertao, for example, expcrieiK
El Nino is the major control on agricultural o u t p u t and water supply in the
compared to n o r t h China, thi
Hawaiian Islands. During w a r m events, the subtropical jet stream intensifies
tal instability. Moreover, "eve
and moves southward, leaving Hawai'i on the anticyclonic side in a region of
concentrated during the w e t
strong subsidence. The colder sea temperatures in the north-central Pacific likewise reduce evaporation and p r o m o t e subsidence. 62 "Nearly all m a j o r statewide
constant but its starting p o m i
Hawaiian droughts have coincided with El Nino events," with the driest years
agricultural calendar, may va reduction of total rainfall b y
in 1877, 1897, 1926 and 1919."' The recurrent droughts from 1982-83 onwards
j
the rainy season is delayed f
played a major role in the decline and evenmal shutdown of m o s t of the state's
i
believe that if the rains don't
rest, the Amazon, is much
standing waves (troughs and ridges) eastward. The influence on t h e Nordeste's
gh the sertao is certainly not
rainfall, however, seems to be very sensitive to the exact timing of the onset
mean annual precipitation -
of the El Nino, and not all w a r m phases bring droughts. 7 0 Nonetheless, rainfall
ci.i;
266
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
records from Fortaleza (which date back to 1849) show that the ten driest January to-July periods have all been synchronized to strong El Ninos. 71 In addition, t h e r e seems to be a strong inverse relationship between El Nino (La Nina) d r o u g h t (wet) incidents in the Nordeste/Amazonas and unusually wet (dry) episodes in southern Brazil that is analogous to the dipolar relationship b e t w e e n n o r t h China and the Yang/.i Valley.
72
!
Moithern So
|
!:l Nino Yea:
j
IS96
|
1915 1982
Although the droughts of 1877-79 and 1888-91 were the most severe as m e a -
1918
sured at Fortaleza, recent data from the International Research Institute shows
1958
the 1896-97 drought, which accompanied the War of Canudos, was also excep-
1905
tionally intense by twentieth-century standards (see Table 8.3). Moreover, general
1930
drought conditions persisted almost unbroken until 1907 and then, after a few
1902
humid years, resumed with the sharp El Nino spikes in 1915 and 1918 (respec-
1925
tively, the second hand fourth m o s t severe rainfall anomalies in the last century)."
1972
Indeed, the three decades f r o m 1888 to 1918, as elsewhere, constitute an epoch of
!
Souivc: IRI. ibid
extraordinary environmental turmoil in the Nordeste. El Nino droughts have also played destructive roles in the history of Andean
I
ulate that major discontinuiti
and Amazonian cultures. As the research of C. Caviedes has shown, the phasing
like counterpart sites in coast
of droughts on the altiplano of Bolivia and Peru, as well as the outer A m a z o n Basin (centered around Manaus), is synchronized with ENSO. 'Although the inter-annual precipitation variability in the Altiplano is not as large as in n o r t h e r n Peru, there are years when the winter dryness extends into spring and s u m m e r ,
i
1925-26 and 1982-83 bl Nino
i
nia: during the former, forest f ping and killing "thousands of W h e n Amazonia, the Altip
cially pronounced during the years when northern Peru is struck by ENSO epi-
c m Cone is anomalously wet.
71
sodes." ' Southern Peru's most severe m o d e r n droughts were in 1940-41 a n d In Amazonia, Caviedes has demonstrated that Manaus's rainfall is severely reduced by El Nino blocking of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. 7 6 ENSO, in fact, may be the chief climatic regulator of A m a z o n Basin ecology, producing t h e periodic droughts and accompanying wildfires (as in 1998) which are the m a j o r natural "disturbance regime." Even in the absence of fire, El Nino events, which lengthen the A m a z o n dry season, have stunning impacts on forest productivity and resultant carbon fluxes. A recent study of 1982-93 satellite data suggests that powerful w a r m events can temporarily transform the A m a z o n Basin f r o m a m a j o r net CO z source to a net sink of comparable magnitude - a p h e n o m e n o n
plies (drought in Amazonia, 11
'
thus producing droughts. It has been demonstrated that these droughts arc espe-
1956-58, with the later leading to near-famine and widespread agrarian u n r e s t / 5
with planetary biogeochcmic;
!
2.6 million square kilometers
rth Atlantic Oscillation. The , wet s u m m e r s that are assofamine in European history,
SOLI ice: SEC the description nf'the Volga drought-belt in O r l a n d o l-'ig«, Peasant Russia, Civil U'
and trouble-shooters, a unique national system of grain price stabilization, large
Huai Yellow River junction,
crop surpluses, well-managed granaries storing more than a million bushels of grain in each of twelve provinces, and incomparable hydraulic infrastructures.
m a n d ol reconstruction effo
14
In contrast, moreover, t o
T h e capstone of Golden Age food security was the invigilation of grain
government d u r i n g the high
prices and supply trends by the emperor himself. Although ever-normal granaries
lion through a broad prograi
were an ancient tradition, price monitoring was a chief innovation of the Qing.
lion and waterborne transpc
"Great care was exercised by the eighteenth-century Emperors in looking over
o u t , the eighteenth century
the memorials and price lists in search of inconsistencies." On the fifth of every
on Hood control and canal c
dern' England." 59 Similarly,
terms g r e w faster than that of Europe throughout the eighteenth c e n m r y dra-
: conditions associated with
matically enlarging its share of world income by 1820.
sonal crafts, shrinking farm
The usual stereotype of nineteenth-century economic history is that Asia
i even m o r e widespread in
stood still while the Industrial Revolution propelled Britain, followed by t h e
4. «
294
LATK V I C T O R I A N
THl:
HOLOCAUSTS
O R1(i
United States and eventually the rest of Western Europe, down the path of highStand
speed GNP growth. In a superficial sense, of course, this is true, although the
Dollars p
data gathered by Bairoch and Maddison show that Asia lost its preeminence in
Western
the world economy later than most of us perhaps imagine. T h e future Third World, dominated by the highly developed commercial and handicraft econo-
1400
mies of India and China, surrendered g r o u n d very grudgingly until 1850 (when
1820
1034
it still generated 65 percent of global GNP), but then declined with increasing
1950
4902
430
rapidity through the rest of the nineteenth century (only 38 percent of world
Source: Lu Aiguo, Clinni mu/ r/jt-
GNP in 1900 and 22 percent in 1960).64
derived f r o m Maddison).
T a b l e 9.3
relevant question is nor s o
Shares o f W o r l d M a n u f a c t u r i n g O u t p u t , 1750-1900
in England, Scotland and Be
(Perccnt)
Europe UK
teenth-century world econo
1750
1800
1830
1860
1880
1900
23.1
28.0
34.1
53.6
62.0
63.0
1.9
4.3
9.5
19.9
22.9
18.5
As Marx liked to point o
t h e new conditions of p r o d i
Tropics
76.8
71.2
63.3
39.2
23.3
13.4
very bloody business. The k
China
32.8
33.3
29.8
19.7
.12.5
6.2
by market competition as th
India
24.5
19.7
17.6
8.6
2.8
1.7
a n d a Lancashire-imposed s; Indian opium imports had s
Source: Derived f r o m R. R. T o m l i n s o n , "Economics: T h e Periphery," in A n d r e w Porter (ed.), The Oxford History of the firin'ili Empire: The Nineteenth County, O x f o r d I''1'!), p. 69 (Table 3.8).
percent of its silver stock o t rapid economic growth in .
The deindustrialization of Asia via the substitution of Lancashire cotton
f r o m about 1780 or 1800 orn
imports for locally manufactured textiles reached its climax only in the decades
to move over into a fast lai
after the construction of the Crystal Palace. "Until 1831," Albert Eeuerwerkcr
was met by a military as wel
points out, "Britain purchased more 'nankeens' (cloth manufactured in Nanking
ing imperial capital. Japan,
and other places in the lower Yangzi region) each year than she sold British-man-
proves the rule.
ufactured cloth to C h i n a . B r i t a i n exported 51 million yards of cloth to Asia in
The use of force to conl Rosa Luxemburg argued) i:
1831; 995 million in 1871; 1413 million in 1879; and 2000 million in 1887." But why did Asia stand in place? The rote answer is because it was weighted
paved the way for Cobden.
down with the chains of tradition and Malthusian demography, although this
tions, resorted to gunboat:
did not prevent Qing China, whose rate of population increase was about the
simultaneous British triump
same as Europe's, from experiencing extraordinary economic g r o w t h through-
w i t h japan's yielding to Pet-
out the eighteenth century. As Jack Goldstone recently argued, China's "stasis"
Asian economic autonomy
is an "anachronistic illusion that come[s] f r o m reading history backwards."
67
The
in the second half of the i
T
JSTS
TH H ORIGINS
Dollars per Capita GDP/(Pojuilation in Millions)
sia lost its preeminence in
Western Europe
magine. T h e f u t u r e Third
n declined with increasing (only 38 percent of world
29 5
WORLD
S t a n d i n g i n Place: C h i n a v s . E u r o p e
, this is true, although the
cial and handicraft econo-
THIRD
T a b l e 9.-4
pe, down the path of high-
•udgingly until 1850 (when
OF THIi
China
1400
430
(43)
500
(74)
1820
1034
(122)
100
(342)
1950
4902
(412)
454
(547)
Sourcc: Lu Aiguo, Ciiiurt and the Global Economy S m a ' I.S-to, Helsinki 2000, p. 56 ( T a b l e 4.1 as derived f r o m Maddison).
relevant question is not so m u c h why the Industrial Revolution occurred first
1750-1900
in England, Scotland and Belgium, but why other advanced regions of the eighteenth-century world economy failed to a d a p t their handicraft manufactures t o
1880
1900
6Z.0
63.0
22.9
18.5
As Marx liked to point out, the Whig view of history deletes a great deal o f
23.3
13.4
very bloody business. T h e looms of India a n d China w e r e defeated not so m u c h
12.5
6.2
by market competition as they w e r e forcibly dismantled by war, invasion, opium
2.8
1.7
and a Lancashire-imposed system of one-way tariffs. (Already by 1850, imposed
the new conditions of production and competition in the nineteenth century.
Indian o p i u m imports had siphoned 11 percent of China's money-supply and 13
ipiiery," in A n d r e w P o n e r
percent of its silver stock out of the country.) tiK Whatever the internal brakes oil
'citlury, Oxford 1990, p. 69
rapid economic g r o w t h in Asia, Latin America or Africa, it is indisputable t h a t .tion of Lancashire cotton
from about 1780 or 1800 onward, every serious attempt by a non-Western society
climax only in the dccades
to move over into a fast lane of development or to regulate its t e r m s of trade
1831," Albert Feuerwerker i manufactured in Nanking r than she sold British-manon yards of cloth to Asia in
was met by a military as well as an economic response f r o m London or a competing imperial capital. Japan, prodded by Perry's black ships, is the exception that proves the rule. The use of force to configure a "liberal" world e c o n o m y (as Marx and later
000 million in 1887™
Rosa Luxemburg argued) is w h a t Pax Britannica was really about. Palmerston
• is because it was weighted
paved the way for Cobden. T h e Victorians, according t o Brian Bond's calcula-
demography, although this
tions, resorted to gunboats on at least seventy-five different occasions." 0 T h e
ion increase was about the
simultaneous British triumphs in the Mutiny and the "Arrow" War in 1858, along
economic growth through-
with Japan's yielding to Perry in the same year, were t h e epochal victories over
ltly argued, China's "stasis"
Asian economic a u t o n o m y that m a d e a Cobdenite world of free t r a d e possible
7
g history backwards."'' The
in the second half of the nineteenth century. (Thailand had already conceded
1 Z96
NATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THE
ORI(
a 3 percent tariff in 1855).711 T h e Taiping Revolution - "more revolutionary in its aims than the Meiji Restoration, insisting on gender equality and democratiz ing literacy" - was a gigantic attempt to revise that verdict, and was, of course, defeated only thanks to the resources and mercenaries that Britain supplied t o the embattled Qing. 71 This is not to claim that the Industrial Revolution necessarily depended u p o n the colonial conquest or economic subjugation of Asia; on the contrary, the slave trade and the plantations of the New World were much more strategic streams of
TURKEY
liquid capital and natural resources in boosting the industrial take-off in Britain. France and the United States. Although Ralph Davis has argued that the spoils of Plessy contributed decisively to the stability of the Georgian order in a n age of revolution, the East India Company's turnover was small change compared to the great trans-Atlantic flow of goods and capital. 72 Only the Netherlands, it would appear, depended crucially u p o n Asian tribute - the profits of its brutal culturrstelscl - in financing its economic recovery and incipient industrialization between 1830 and 1850. Paradoxically, m o n s o o n Asia's most important " m o m e n t " in the Victorian
Figure 9.1
World System
Source: S. Saul, SluiJi« in B n ' i
i m p o r t s and overseas investn Denmark, the potential "sci
world economy was not at the beginning of the epoch, but towards its end. " T h e
threatened the entire s t r u c t u
full value of British rule, the return on political investments first made in the
starving Indian and Chinese
eighteenth century," write Cain and Hopkins in their influential history of Brit-
a generation they braced tin
ish imperialism, "was not realised until the second half of the nineteenth century,
ing England's continued fina
when India bccame a vital market for Lancashire's cotton goods and when other
tive industrial decline. As Gic
specialised interests, such as j u t e manufacturers in D u n d e e and steel producers in
Indian balance of payments
Sheffield, also greatly increased their stake in the sub-continent." 7 3 The coerced
Britain's world-scale process*
levies of wealth from India and China were not essential to the rise of British
of world finance."''"'
hegemony, but they were absolutely crucial in postponing its decline.
T h e operation of this c r u h u g e annual surpluses in hei
T h e Late Victorian World Economy
to sustain equally large defi
-continent."'"' The coerced
Britain's world-scale processes of capital accumulation and of the City's mastery
ential to the rise of British
of world finance."75
ning its decline.
T h e operation of this crucial circuit was simple and ingenious. Britain earned huge annual surpluses in her transactions w i t h India and China that allowed her to sustain equally large deficits with the United States, Germany and the white
n from 1873 to 1896 (what
Dominions. True, Britain also enjoyed invisible earnings from shipping, insur-
Ireat Depression"), the rate
ance, banking and foreign investment, but w i t h o u t Asia, which generated 73 per-
of both labor and capital in
cent of British trade credit in 1910, Anthony Latham argues, Britain "presumably
ed to old products and tech-
would have been forced to abandon free trade," while h e r trading p a r t n e r s would
ind the United States forged
have been forced to slow their o w n rates of industrialization. The liberal world
cal industries. Since British
economy might otherwise have fragmented into autarkic trading blocs, as it did
V
V
T i
298
L AT i:. V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
later during the 1930s: The United States and industrial Europe, in particular Germany, were able to continue their policy of tariff" protection only because of Britain's surplus with Asia. Without that Asian surplus, Britain would no longer have been able to subsidise their growth. So what emerges is that Asia in general, but India and China in particular, far from being peripheral to the evolution of the international economy at this time, were in fact crucial. Without the surpluses which Britain was able to earn there, the whole pattern of international economic development would have been severely constrained.7'1
T11 (: o r f e;
classes of London and the 11 on railroad debentures and Ir tors. and its institutional r c p r behind the flag o f empire a n d money. If British rule in India investment."*' As Hobsbawm this goldmine escape from Br But how, in an age of fair conquerer's suddenly prccari< and India was forccd-marchec
India, of course, was the greatest captive market in world history, rising f r o m third to first place among consumers of British exports in the quarter century
and irrigation policies that cc tion at the price of their o w r
after 1S70.77 "British rulers," writes Marcello de Cecco in his study of the Victo-
of the new public finance stri
rian gold standard system, "deliberately prevented Indians from becoming skilled
/xoHomist and finance m e m b e
mechanics, refused contracts to Indian firms which produced materials that
rule. The opening of the Suez
could be got from England, and generally hindered the formation of an autono-
reduced the transport costs
rts in the quarter century 3 in his study of the Victo ians from becoming skilled 1 produced materials that ie formation of an autono/ernment stores policy that ucts and by the monopoly • ort trade," India was forced and noncompetitive indusUK's finished cotton goods railway equipment, books Britain avoided "having to Mtal in the countries where I financiers were not com•. Imperial outlet was always
and irrigation policies that compelled farmers to produce for foreign consumption at the price of their own food security. This export drive was t h e hallmark of the n e w public finance strategy introduced by James Wilson - f o u n d e r of The Economist and finance m e m b e r of t h e Council of India - in t h e first years of direct rule. The opening of the Suez Canal and the g r o w t h of s t e a m shipping drastically reduced the transport costs of b u l k commodity export from the subcontinent. As a result India's seaborne foreign trade increased m o r e ' t h a n eightfold between 1840 and 1886.*- In addition to o p i u m cultivation in Bengal, new export monocultures of indigo, cotton, wheat a n d rice supplanted millions of acres of subsistence crops. Part of this production, of course, was designed to assure low grain prices in the metropolis after the debacle of English agriculture in the 1870s. Between 1875 and 1900, years that included the worst famines in Indian history, annual grain exports increased f r o m 3 million to 10 million tons: a quantity that, as Romesh Dutt pointed out, was equivalent to the annual nutrition ol' 25 million people. By the turn of the century, India was supplying nearly a filth of Britain's wheat consumption as well as allowing London grain merchants to speculate during shortages on the Continent."'"'
.tier strata. T h e climatc-dettd the subsequent decline ol in England and Wales from dian army and civil service fortunes of Britain's landed naking their case for a hegc/ere returned to the middle
But Indian agriculture's even m o r e decisive contribution to t h e imperial system, from the East India C o m p a n y ' s first illegal shipment of opium to Canton, was the income it earned in the rest of the Eastern Hemisphere. Especially in the 1880s and 1890s, the subcontinent's p e r m a n e n t trade and current accountimbalances with Britain were financed by its trade surpluses of opium, rice and cotton thread vis-a-vis the rest of Asia. Indeed England's systematic exploitation of India depended in large part u p o n India's commercial exploitation of China.
4, \ 9
T 308
LATK V I C T O R I A N
THl:
HOLOCAUSTS
O R1(i
This triangular trade b e t w e e n India, China and Britain had a strategic economic
Moreover, in t h e later niuete
in t h e bazaar." 3 0 As in Berar, fabled profits w e r e a c c o m p a n i e d by a progressive d e t e r i o r a t i o n in the social condition o f t h e direct producers. As early as Teqiple's c o m m i s s i o n e r s h i p there w a s c o n c e r n over t h e depletion of local grain stocks b y t h e high levels of exports and district officers r e p o r t e d g r o w i n g immiseration a m o n g t h e tenantry. 3 1 Even m o r e than in the c o t t o n districts, t h e N a r m a d a w h e a t b o o m was built u p o n precarious climatic and ecological foundations. As T. Raghavan has emphasized, t h e soaring export d e m a n d o f the 1880s had b e e n a c c o m m o d a t e d by t h e expansion of cultivation into areas of inferior soil, traditionally d e v o t e d to hardy millets, w h e r e harvests were strictly d e p e n d e n t upon t h e unusual cycle of g o o d m o n s o o n s f r o m 1884 to 189-!.32 Moreover, commercialization was a c c o m p a n i e d by ecological crisis as t h e railroad ravaged t h e forests of t h e Satpuras for lumber, and commercial w h e a t acreage a b s o r b e d p a s t u r e lands t h a t traditionally fed Narmada's cattle. "By 1883-84 the price of grass h a d risen e n o r m o u s l y " a n d bullocks w e r e b e c o m i n g t o o expensive for m a n y cultivators to maintain. T h e subsequent aders in grains speculated 3ort districts, like Saugor. d t o subsistence g r a i n s /
7
.licies had inexorably laid a .t created famine, wrecked 2
:es t o bankruptcy." * O n c e
m a n u r e s h o r t a g e (aggravated by t h e rising cost of charcoal and t h e necessary resort to cattle droppings as fuel) increased t h e pace of soil exhaustion and further reduced productivity. Finally, using the excuses that N a r m a d a w a s "not subj e c t to f a m i n e " and t h a t local t o p o g r a p h y m a d e dams a n d canals t o o expensive to build, t h e g o v e r n m e n t neglected irrigation works that m i g h t have safeguarded t h e rural p o p u l a t i o n in the event o f drought. 3 3
nt drained capital f r o m the
Mass vulnerability t o disaster as a result w a s b e c o m i n g acute in 1887 when the
r a i u m of m a l g u z a r s w h o ,
g o v e r n m e n t u n d e r t o o k a drastic r e s e t t l e m e n t of the C e n t r a l Provinces' revenues.
is of the pre-British village
Tabic 10.1
wilder and grain m e r c h a n t ,
•Wheat Iixports from the Central Provinces
acquired direct o w n e r s h i p
(Millions of Rupees)
imates that "by 1889 m o r e
1886-91
3.4 7.2 14.9 16.6
1891-96
4.3
1871-76
Provinces since s e t t l e m e n t
1876-81
f the revenue on land sold
1881-86
is almost entirely parasitic, gation or f a r m e q u i p m e n t ,
Sourcc: From Haretly, Imperialism and Free Trade, p. 347 (Table 4).
eir villages, and w e r e thus
©
T 320
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
I N D I A : T l I f:
Taxes (and, by automatic adjustment, rents) v ere reassessed on the basis of spec-
T h e y were generally i n d e b t c
ulative land values inflated by the b o o m : in some cases this amounted to a 50
p r o d u c e at a l o w m a r k e t p r i
percent increase. Believing that "the brisk export trade would last forever," moneylenders accommodated the malguzars' pleas for m o r e credit. Then, as Nar-
cases, the s h a h u k a r s
finance
f r o m the z a m i n d a r s ' i h r c s h i i ants were r o b b e d not o n l y b
mada exports reached an all-time height in IS 1 '1-92, their British buyers suddenly
s h a h u k a r - t r a d e r s . It m n v als
switched to more attractive sources: a deluge of cheap grain f r o m the Argentine
o r d e r to h a v e control o u th
Indeed, adds Bipan Chandra, the British merely "skimmed cash crops oil' the surface of an immobilized society.' M7
The Colonial State
578 and the refusal of Calny doorsteps. ' 2 iuts, oilseeds and tobacco, cultivation in Bengal and j have offered small farmofit from world markets. 4 3
It was the state itself, as Naoroji and Dutt had argued in their pioneering critiques, that ultimately ensured that no productivity-raising benefit could flow from export booms to direct producers. O n the expenditure side, a colonial budget largely financed by taxes on farm land returned less than 2 percent to agriculture and education, and barely 4 percent to public works of all kinds,
rier interior regions, went
while devoting a full third to the a r m y and police.' 18 " W h e n all is said and done,"
of food security. As Ragha-
observe two of the "new economic historians," "[British] India spent on public
-.y, financial entanglements
works at a lower rate than the underdeveloped countries, and at a level similar to
jses of peasant differentia-
the Princely States. Moreover, unlike the o t h e r sectors, where expenditures rose
of landholding in terms of
over time, in India they peaked in the early 1880s and declined thereafter." Compared to a progressive and independent Asian nation like Siam, which spent t w o
:s primarily grown for the ) was famously lucrative, ; were caught in a seasonal hat forced them to hypothfluctuations.) to merchants s accumulation, sugarcane majority of the peasants to a year to year basis. It was -servicing crop, rather than l a special role in the smallI century.'" 15 v'es or productivity-raising icreasingly caught in a pin-
shillings per capita on education, famine relief and public health, the Raj's investm e n t in " h u m a n capital" (one penny per person or 4 percent of all expenditures) was a miserable pittance.'1'5 Even more to the point, Vasant K.mvar citcs what he considers to be the typical example of a village in the late ninetcenth-ccntury Bombay Deccan where the government collectcd nearly 19.000 r u p e e s annually in taxes but returned only 2,000 rupees in expenditure, largely on official salaries and a r u n d o w n school. 50 O n the extractive side, Ricardian principles glossed the relentless fiscal erosion of producers' subsistence. In t h e o r y designed to transform ryots and zamindars into modernizing market-oriented farmers o n the English model, the revenue settlements instead subjugated t h e peasantry to the local despotism of moneylenders and nouveaux riches landowners. " T h e gap b e t w e e n British legal theory and Indian local practice was immense." 5 1 By making the revenue demands too
T
' j
324
LATE V I C T O R I A N
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I
INDIA:
I'll !•
In the late-nineteenth-cen cess of revenue collection b e yards'. In order 10 eat f r o m b o r r o w money t o pay o(F t h e at half of the current market est. 1 ' If ihe peasant was u n a rates of interest ballooned t< which came before me," w r o i sued for 900 rupees, principal w o r t h of grain, borrowed a f W h e n ryots balked at payi t h e m with the deadly efficiei Col. Osborne, emphasized i n ica] in its character" that " t o simply an enigma ... a piece • imprison.") 5 " Lord Elgin's lai Figure 10.2 "Gods in the Countryside"
a fifth of the land in the Bon eylenders": b o t h indigenous
high and inflexibly fixing them to the estimated average produce of the land with
Famine Commission of 190
scant regard for climate variation, the British "made it certain that a n u m b e r of
revenue system "expected tin
the designated revenue-payers would lose their titles every year." "The creditor-
"their plans did not promot
my. ther hand, the railroads - a
experts on Indian agricultural history.
kers and locomotive build-
Por his part, Ian Stone has claimed that, despite some serious deficiencies, the
priorities. Public works in
canals brought relative prosperity and immeasurably greater food security to mil-
s of military control and,
lions of northern farmers. 9 7 Elizabeth W h i t c o m b e , on the o t h e r hand, has argued
he eve of the 1876 famine,
the canals which replaced well irrigation in the Doab were little short of an eco-
1 in military installations in
logical disaster. They might have produced short-term bonanzas in wheat and
•ainage. ("Our soldiers' bari the finest in the world.")
92
0) thirteen times as much o n lobby led by Sir Arthur ; 1876-77 famine: "Now we of magnificent Works [rail•e so utterly worthless in the /ing by the side of them." 9 3
cane, but at huge, unforeseen social costs. W i t h o u t proper underground drainage, for example, the capillary action of irrigation brought toxic alkali salts to the surface, leading to such extensive saline efflorescence (locally called rc/i) that the superintendent of the Geological Survey w a r n e d in 1877 that once-fertile plains were on the verge of becoming a "howling wilderness." Indeed, fifteen years later, it was estimated that somewhere b e t w e e n 4,000 a n d 5,000 square miles of farmland - an i m m e n s e area - was blighted by salinity "with 'valuable' crops isolated in clumps upon its surface." fJB
the railroads that "depleted
In addition, wherever flush irrigation was practiced side by side with tradi-
mdicrafts" as an underlying
tional well irrigation, t h e new system u n d e r m i n e d the old. In some places, rising
n g Parliament to appoint a
cases, the water tables fell and wells became brackish and unpotable. As Stone
water tables or lateral seepage f r o m irrigated fields led to well collapses; in other
i Indian government's exor-
concedes, peasants' efforts to save their wells f r o m collapse by lining t h e m with
e for the recent famine, but
brick were opposed by landowners - many of t h e m moneylenders - w h o feared
r proposal for a comprehen-
any improvement that might make tenants m o r e economically independent.
r India, Lord Salisbury, reaf-
"This was especially so in Rulandshahr, where the Settlement Officer noted that
: hunger and would continue
the proprietors 'not only failed to improve their property, but their policy had
a result, only about a fifth of
been directly and actively designed to prevent and obstruct improvements. It
id its way to major irrigation
is almost universal practice for landlords to prevent their tenants from making
i the Punjab and the North-
masonry and half-masonry or, in extreme cases, earthen wells.""*'
ils watered commercial crops
Canal embankments, moreover, by blocking natural drainage a n d pooling
ial returns to the government
water in swamps, created ideal breeding environments for anopheline mosqui-
ve been in comparison to the
tos. The canal districts, consequently, became notorious f o r their extraordinary
ercent of the cropped area of
incidences of malaria, India's m o s t deadly epidemic disease. 100 T h e r e is little
the Ganges and J u m n a Rivers
d o u b t that death and debilitation w e r e greatly abetted by t h e British reluctance t o
3 3 -1
LATE V I C T O R I A N
I N D I A : T H F£
HOLOCAUSTS
devote resources to rural public health and, after vector theory was firmly estab-
crops. H , s Alternately, as Kaiwa
lished, to mosquito eradication. 101
irrigated fields [altogether] a n
Whitcombe's principal criticism, however, is that (contra Stone) export-oriented canal agriculture, by accelerating the marginalization of kharif crops, actually made producers more vulnerable to famine. "Generally speaking, canal irrigation did, and could do, little to decrease the ravages of scarcity by expanding the sources of staple food supply; indeed its effect seemed to be the reverse, to contract them - a process which tended to worsen with the stimulus of the export trade in grains, particularly wheat, beginning in the late 1870s.'
MO2
Simi-
larly, canal construction was based less o n long-term developmental objectives like food security than upon expectations of quick returns f r o m a state-controlled monopoly. "Canals may n o t protect against famines," Sir. T h o m a s Higham, chief irrigation engineer for the Punjab told the 1901 Irrigation Commission, "bur they '
irrigation works [in the w h o l 41,150 acres, b u t only 457 acr< If, then, "even the best c h a "most of the people were fo debt," the situation was mucl' ditional well a n d tank irrigatk states as well as the old Mog\ in British India who sank w e punitively taxed 12 rupees p e r generating irrigation in the C disregard for t h e small-scale, ;
may give an enormous return on your money."' 03 "Revenues," declared an early g o v e r n m e n t report, "should b e the end a n d aim ,0 1
of all canal administration." " (In House of C o m m o n s hearings after the 1877 disaster, Sir Arthur Cotton complained that the secretary of state always treated the question of life-saving irrigation as if he "were a shopkeeper in London or a merchant in Manchester who was considering w h e t h e r he should open 10
another shop or another mercantile house.") '" But, as W h i t c o m b e emphasizes, "where works were most urgently required, viz. in the Central Provinces and in the Deccan tracts of Bombay and Madras, any expectation of profitability was frankly out of the question." T h e 420,000 square miles devastated by the 1899-1900 drought, mostly in the Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces, contrasted with the less than 100,000 acres of canal-irrigated farmland in the
the hydraulic backbone of ag early medieval period. 112 T h e I irrigation system which "the pt Yet modern studies of "ind elsewhere in m o n s o o n Asia ha of t h e system, o n one hand, a: and-efhciency (output per u n systems, according to many n lems of salinization and m o s complexes and are generally natural resources; (2) have m o : equitable in t e r m s of opportui
same area.""' Farmers meanwhile railed against exorbitant water rates, and their protests were echoed by dissident m e m b e r s of the civil service. "There is nothing more urgently needed," wrote the veteran administrator C. j. O'Donnell, "than a scientific water supply in a country so often stricken by d r o u g h t as India, but 'Imperialist' wisdom, lost in dreams of 'broadening the basis of taxation,' makes irrigation hateful to the very persons w h o ought to be most interested in its success."
a result of perverse water-pri
ught as India, but 'Impcrial-
Although such founts of ignorance about India as The Times sometimes por-
f taxation,' makes irrigation
trayed native irrigation as nonexistent, British Army engineers generally mar-
irested in its success." 107 T h e
veled at the skill with which previous generations had configured water conserva-
een times the assessment of
tion to the needs of semi-arid India: 116
nation for anything but cash
336
LATE V I C T O R I A N
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jI N D I A :T H E
N
[11 n o o t h e r part o f the w o r l d has s o m u c h b e e n d o n e b y ancient native rulers for the
" H o w is it that t h e r e are so in;
d e v e l o p m e n t o f the resources o f the country. T h e further s o u t h o n e goes, a n d the
w h i c h has o f t e n t o depend o n
further the o l d H i n d o o polity w a s r e m o v e d f r o m the d i s t u r b i n g influence o f foreign c o n q u e s t , the m o r e c o m p l e t e a n d elaborate w a s the s y s t e m o f a g r i c u l t u r e a n d irrig a t i o n w o r k s connected w i t h it.... E v e r y available s o u r c e o f s u p p l y w a s utilised, a n d
sad misgiving h a s otten suggesi g r e a t o r so p o w e r f u l , yet had n
w o r k s in advance o f s u p p l y have b e e n executed, for tanks [reservoirs] have b e e n
w h i c h show themselves in s t o r
very generally constructed, not o n l y for g e n e r a l rainfall, but for exceptional rain-
necessities of m a n . " 1 - '
fall.... Irrigation f r o m rivers a n d channels, o r b y these a n d c o m b i n e d , w a s also carried o n . 1 1 7
O n t h e eve o f the great f a m ignored c o r r e s p o n d e n c e on t h i
T h e neglect of this magnificent legacy, moreover, was the subject of peren-
able observers, disagreeing w i t !
nial complaint by b o t h Indian and English critics of the g o v e r n m e n t in Calcutta.
the subsidization of traditional,
As far back as 1785, E d m u n d Burke h a d indicted t h e East India C o m p a n y for
focus o n careful watering a n d
allowing native irrigation t o fall into decay, thereby ensuring h i g h e r famine mor-
Octavian H u m e (later the f o u r
tality d u r i n g droughts. As Richard Grove has s h o w n , Burke's line of criticism was
g o v e r n m e n t , as an alternative r
expanded by William Roxburgh, t h e East India C o m p a n y s u r g e o n and pioneer
to u n d e r t a k e a c r a s h p r o g r a m
and the European allies u p o n w h o m they increasingly depended.
capital use, or technological ii
North China, by contrast, was a world apart. T h e largest economy of inde-
so central to the highly c o m r
pendent peasants on earth, its historical gentry had been decimated, first by
Pearl River deltas were periph
the Mongol invasions, and then by the rebellions that had b r o u g h t the Ming to
H u a n g argues that the hat
power. T h e Qing, in turn, supported smallholder agriculture as the preferred
frequency of natural disaster
fiscal base for their centralized state while freeing the peasantry from the heavy
structures and land-tenure pat
burdens of forced labor imposed by the Ming. In contrast to the later fiasco of
we have seen, annual rainfall
the ryotwari system in British India, Qing policies - like the freezing of corvee
the exception rather than t h e
revenues in 1713 and state-insured protection against drought and flood, as well
generally too marginal to a IT I
as the appreciation of copper currency in the mid-1700s - greatly benefited the
mental instability of agricuhi
freehold peasant majority. As even Wittfogel in his famous disquisition on "Orien-
monolithic character of the :
tal despotism" was forced to concede, peasant landownership in n o r t h e r n China
imperial state.^
was a massive historical fact.
1
Landlordism, of course, was far from extinct, but it remained a subordinate
If to most foreigners the cu mized China's inability to m o t
relation of production in the Yellow River provinces, preponderant only in pock-
of China's epochal achieverm
ets or within the periphery of cities. 2 In contrast to the late-nineteenth-century
journalist who. as we saw eui
Yangzi delta, where Philip H u a n g estimates that 45 to 100 percent of the culti-
relief and the Boxer aficnuat I
vated land (depending on the hsien) was leased from landlords, only 18 percent
well as Confucian virtues in t
of the cropland in the Yellow River plain was rented. 3 In Shaanxi or Hebei at the
poor, "there is a complete abs
end of the Qing dynasty four out of every five males worked primarily on their
Shensi roadsides one finds s o n
own family farm; in the s o u t h e r n province of Jiangxi, on the o t h e r hand, the ratio
v ictims, but here are very fev>
of tenants to freeholders was exactly the inverse.'' Instead of urban absentees,
calamity like a (amine or a flo
"managerial farmers," employing hired hands in addition to family labor, tended
acres, but they often remain u
to be the agricultural elite in the north. (At the time of the Boxer Rebellion only
one ever seems t o desire m o n
4.2 percent of the n o r t h e r n population lived in large cities, one of the lowest
again." Moreover, Nichols dist
rates of urbanization in the world.) 5 Because wealthier peasants supported larger
in the. mandarin suppression o
households, however, per capita income differentials tended to be small, while
culture of irreverent political :
diet (40 percent sweet potatoes, 31 percent vegetables and 28 percent grain), as
In "hidden Shensi,'" w h e n
CHINA: MANDATES
ST S
REVOKED
3 59
century, induced by opium
Sidney Gamble discovered in his famous 1920s study of T i n g hsu:n in Hebei, dif-
inated in the anti-Confucian
fered little except in quantity between most rural income group-;."
iulses threatened landlord as
Although these farms are o f t e n described as the first shoots of rural capi-
i of the Taiping wars, espe-
talism, H u a n g has shown that n o r t h e r n managerial farms "resembled capitalist
•mic growth and bankrupted
enterprises only in their use of wage labor: they clearly failed to generate any real
lower Yangzi merchant elites
advances in labor productivity, whether t h r o u g h economies ol scale, increased
ly depended.
capital use, or technological improvement." Likewise, the elite kinship networks
he largest e c o n o m y of inde-
so central to the highly commercialized economies of t h e lower Yangzi or t h e
ad been decimated, first by
Pearl River deltas were peripheral in the m o r e egalitarian north
lat had brought the Ming to
H u a n g argues that the harsher northern environment and relatively greater
agriculture as the preferred
frequency of natural disasters were crucial factors in differentiating its social
he peasantry f r o m the heavy
structures and land-tenure patterns from the south. 7 In a climate z o n e where, as
;ontrast to the later fiasco of
we have seen, annual rainfall variability exceeded 30 percent and irrigation was
- like the freezing of corvee
the exception rather than the rule, average rates of r e t u r n on agriculture were
ist drought and flood, as well
generally too marginal to attract substantial merchant capital. But the environ-
•1700s - greatly benefited the
mental instability of agriculture was counterbalanced by the deeply anchored
amous disquisition on "Orien-
monolithic character of the smallholder social order supported by a towering
ownership in northern'China
imperial stale. 8
>ut it remained a subordinate
mized China's inability to modernize, to others they represented the very essence
If to m o s t foreigners the cultural and ecological landscapes o! the north epito;s, preponderant only in pock-
of China's epochal achievement as a civilization. Francis Nichols, the American
:o the late-nineteenth-century
journalist who, as we saw earlier, traveled t o Zian in 1901 to report on famine
15 to 100 percent of the cuiti-
relief and the Boxer aftermath for the Clirisfimi Herald discovered Jeflersonian as
3m landlords, only 18 percent
well as Confucian virtues in the Shaanxi yeomanry. Although the peasants were
id. 3 In Shaanxi or Hcbei at the
poor, "there is a complete absence of that condition that we call 'poverty' ... By
ales worked primarily on their
Shensi roadsides one finds some professional beggars, most ol w h o m are opium-
pd, on the other hand, the ratio
victims, but here are very few 'unemployed,' except as the result of a universal
Instead of urban absentees,
calamity like a famine or a flood. Shensi farms seldom contain m o r e than 3 o r 4
ddition to family labor, tended
acres, but they often remain in t h e possession of one family for generations. N o
ne of the Boxer Rebellion only
one ever seems to desire more land or hold it solely for the purpose of selling it
large cities, one of the lowest
again." Moreover, Nichols discovered that Q i n g despotism, supposedly embodied
thier peasants supported larger
in the mandarin suppression of all free speech, was belied by a rambunctious civil
tials tended to be small, while
culture of irreverent political gossip and scalding public criticism. 9
ables and 28 percent grain), as
In "hidden Shensi," where h e temporarily swelled the foreign population,
«
3-14
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
CHIN
Nichols was overwhelmed by die cultural and agronomic continuity of con-
population g r o w t h at constai
temporary peasant life with ancient H a n civilization. As a courageous critic of
teenth century. By the 1780s
imperialist calumnies against the Chinese, he is easily forgiven for romanticizing
what Murray (borrowing f r o
peasant traditionalism as well as for failing to recognize the changed relations
librium trap" in which incre
of production that were partly responsible for hideous starvation during the
crop yield. W i t h average cult
1899-1901 drought. Everywhere in Shaanxi, the declining economic and ecologi-
an acre, even the most intern
cal viability of smallholder agriculture over the course of the nineteenth century
caloric m i n i m u m of grain t o i
was expressed by increased peasant dependence u p o n cash crops like opium and
crops' higher value per unit o
cotton. Nichols's admirable farmers were almost universally entrapped in a hope-
est strata of t h e peasantry. 12
less system of petty commodity production on subminimal plots that annually
Commercialization on t h e
wagered household survival on tickle market prices and rainfall patterns. At the
than an exercise in optimal re
m manufactured imports.
sold to purchase food and pay taxes, not used to accumulate capital or land. As
;>posed to traditional inter-
Murray emphasizes, "land use tended to shift from grain crops t o cash crops
Zian were imported cotton
when population density reached the point that average holdings w e r e too small
•lassachusetts"), these were
to supply adequate subsistence grains.... M a n y families [were only] able to sur-
Df the world market upon
vive on plots too small for subsistence f a r m i n g because of the higher value of cash crops. Most counties with a high level of commercialization also had grain deficits, and their residents depended on complex trade networks." 1 3 The Wei Valley case was probably typical of the logic of subsistence cash-cropping throughout north China. "From their differing perspectives, C h a o Kang,
izheng in the late sixteenth \-kind into cash taxes, had
Philip Huang, and R a m o n Myers have all s h o w n that faced with diminishing farm
mmigration and high fertil-
size, the vast majority of peasants were able to sustain their livelihoods only
m to rebuild populations in
by the ability to intensify, to t u r n to subsidiary occupations, and to switch to
ecially Henan, Shaanxi and
cash crops."1'5 Huang, in particular, cautions against the c o m m o n assumption of
ted land had been depopu-
development theorists that such peasants, simply because of their dependence on
" partible inheritance gener-
commodity networks, were suddenly t r a n s f o r m e d into the competitive, incipient
:>f the European alternatives
capitalist subjects of neoclassical economics. "This kind of market involvement
bsorb supernumery agricul-
should not be mistaken for entrepreneurial marketing, n o r should such peasant
ldard of living w i t h i n tradi-
ique. it study of Shaanxi's densely
J
behavior be mistaken for profit-maximizing rationality. Theirs was the rationality of survival, not of profit maximization." Moreover, H u a n g offers a useful distinction between the "survival-driven commercialization" so c o m m o n in north
jrtality in 1877-78 and again
China and the "extraction-driven commercialization" in the more class-stratified
new world crops (especially
Yangzi Delta, where peasants w e r e forced into the market primarily to earn rent
lamation in accommodating
payments to landlords and interest payments t o moneylenders. 1 5
346
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUST'S
C H I i\
North China peasants, within the limits of a relatively uniform ecology, embraced several alternative systems of cash crop subsistence. T h r o u g h o u t the Yellow River plait:, for example, villages commonly sold wheat to the cities o r distilleries (like those around Linqing on the Grand Canal) and used the cash to buy coarse grains - millet, sorghum and buckwheat - for their own diet. Likewise in Shandong, along the route of the Jiaozhou-Jinan railroad, tobacco monoculture supplanted grain production on much of the best farmland. Peanuts were commercially important by the eve of the Boxer uprising in southern Hebei as well as in the semi-arid foothills just north of the Great Wall. 1 * Opium cultivation, meanwhile, was a primitive f o r m of import substitution, embraced, despite its theoretical illegality, by magistrates and merchants throughout northwest and southwest China. In Shanxi the governor had sponsored opium cultivation as early as 1852 in a desperate attempt to bolster revenues and peasant incomes. Poppies quickly supplanted so m u c h grain acreage that missionaries, like the American Presbyterian Dr. Elkins, blamed the extreme famine mortality of 1877 -78 on the opium b o o m . ' 7 In the Wei Valley o p i u m got a later
F i g u r e 11.1 H o m e C o t t o n S p i n n S p i n n i n g c o t t o n y a r n was o f t e n t
start, becoming a major commercial crop only after 1870, when fiscally strapped county governments began to encourage its export to other parts of n o r t h e r n China. Once established, however, its growth was dramatic. By 1890, opium had become the livelihood of a majority of the peasantry in the eastern counties of the valley.1 s For marginal peasants everywhere in China, however, the most important cash crop was cotton. It had t w o principal virtues. In the first place, there was huge, relatively stable internal demand. Second, peasants could add value by processing cotton as spun yarn and woven fabric. Moreover, from the merchant standpoint, rural surplus labor was more rationally exploited at h o m e than in the workshop. "Once the marginal product of labor fell below the subsistence wage," Madeleine Zelin explains, "it became more economical for merchants to contract or purchase goods from household producers than to produce t h e m themselves using hired labor. Surplus labor was thus retained at home, w h e r e the peasant and his family, wishing to garner whatever they could f r o m their residual productivity, were willing to work for less than subsistence wages. T h e system was possible because the equipment needed to produce yarn, cloth, and other handicraft items was relatively cheap, and problems of marketing were solved by the dense
n e t w o r k of rural markets in p Originally the north C h i r Yangzi textile revolution, excl winters, however, gave pcasar concentrate on spinning a n c Smith's famous account of V" sionary marveled at the g r i n loom weavers: "In some regi machines exiled from the W t m e m b e r s of a family to take the wife takes u p the task till damp, unventilated, and unvvl As in pre-industrial Europe icred on the Yellow River Dell of cereal acreage to cotton ir laneously, new world crops less labor for higher yields, al
rs
STSC H I N A : M A N D A T E S
REVOKED
3 59
lively uniform ecology, istence. T h r o u g h o u t the wheat to the cities or disand used the cash to buy eir own diet. Likewise in ad, tobacco monoculture land. Peanuts were cornsouthern Hebei as well as n of import substitution, s and merchants throughgovernor had sponsored ?t to bolster revenues and h grain acreage that misamed the extreme famine
F i g u r e 11.1 H o m e C o t t o n S p i n n i n g
i Valley, opium got a later
S p i n n i n g c o t t o n y a r n w a s o f t e n the m a r g i n o f s u r v i v a l o n u n d e r s i z e d f a r m plots.
70, w h e n fiscally strapped 3 other parts of n o r t h e r n natic. By 1890, opium had in the eastern counties of
network of rural markets in place by the early Qing." 1 '' Originally, the n o r t h China plain had been simply a periphery to the lower Yangzi textile revolution, exchanging raw c o t t o n for cotton cloth. T h e northern winters, however, gave peasant households a long slack time in which they could concentrate on spinning and weaving for household use and sale. In Arthur
•ever, the most important i the first place, there was its could add value by procover, from the merchant doited at h o m e than in the low the subsistence wage," .1 for merchants to contract produce them themselves h o m e , where the peasant f r o m their residual produc:ages. T h e system was poscloth, and other handicraft g were solved by the dense
Smith's famous account of Vi/lnge Life in Clmm (1899), the Shandong-based missionary marveled at the grim dedication of north China's peasants-cum-handloom weavers: "In s o m e regions every family owns a l o o m (one of the clumsy machines exiled from the West a century ago) and it is not u n c o m m o n for the members of a family to take turns, the husband weaving until midnight, when the wife takes up the task till daylight (often in cellars two-thirds underground, damp, unventilated, and unwholesome)." 2 0 As in pre-industrial Europe, a vast system o f cotton handicrafts emerged, centered on the Yellow River Delta, which, in turn, stimulated the further conversion of cereal acreage to cotton in counties as far away as the loess plateaux. Simultaneously, new world crops like maize and sweet potatoes, which demanded less labor for higher yields, allowed producers to devote m o r e land and labor to
4 H
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
all phases of cotton "production. Thus by the middle of the eighteenth ccntury,
C 111 N A
in face of the threats of d r o u j
north China was second only to the lower Yangzi in cotton cultivation, which
a mid-nineteenth-century m a g
replacing grain, occupied an estimated 20-30% of all agricultural land." 21 It was
sown land was dedicated to cc
not rare to find counties near river or canal transport, as in s o u t h e r n and central
rely entirely on hiring out a n d l
I lebei, where 80 to 90 percent of the population derived its principal subsistence
fronted with natural disaster ar
from trading cotton cloth (sold as far away as Korea) for millet. Indeed for poorer
Micro-commercialization it
peasants forced to lease land, "there was often no choice at all: once rental t e r m s
m a d e disasters (often intcracti
on land that could g r o w cotton came to be set according to the market potential
inflation and m o n e t a r y specula
of that crop, no tenant could really afford to g r o w cereals." 22 In good years, therefore, cash cropping allowed basically "sub-subsistence" farms to survive in great numbers. Although cotton required twice as much labor
from grain production made a directly dependent upon the g and subsistence cereals. Folk
per »IH as sorghum or millet, this was not a problem in an "involuted" e c o n o m y
1880 of factory-produced i m p o
where labor was abundant and land was scarce. But cotton cultivation in n o r t h
from 98 percent of China's c o
China "cut both ways," as H u a n g has emphasized in his study of the H e b e i -
in 1900. and c o t t o n merchants
northwest Shandong region. "The smallholder found that, t h o u g h his returns
duction into salesmen of forci
became higher, so too did his expenses. T h e risks f r o m namral or man-made
meanwhile increased from 21
disaster were thus correspondingly greater." Whereas millet and s o r g h u m depend
pounds in 1905.2,1 The most s\
upon the late s u m m e r monsoon, cotton requires ample rainfall or irrigation in
value in a single year - occurre
ihe spring: "a relatively dry season at best, with only 10-15 percent of the total
"A peasant spinner," H u a n g
annual precipitation." To the extent that households derived increasing subsis-
whelming advantage of a teel
tence f r o m the sale of cotton or cotton handicrafts, their survival was mortgaged
could be outproduced by as n
more precariously than before against ENSO fluctuations. "Drought in the spring
spindle. The result was a proch
could bring total disaster to a household completely dependent on cotton." 2 1
raw cotton." 2 " it was not s u r p r
The b o o m - b u s t cycle of cotton production also reinforced social stratifica-
of such cheap thread. Thus a S
tion, enlarging the ranks of poor peasants or laborers dependent upon seasonal
in 1901 "accounted l o r [ t h e c h i
or p e r m a n e n t wage labor. Since partible inheritance dissolved m o s t village-level
that the United States was a n
concentrations of wealth after a generation or two, the growth of a rich peasant
the country f r o m which the t h
class in n o r t h China in the Victorian era was less dramatic than the accumulation
shook his head dubiously. 'The
of mendicancy and instability below. Unlike the Yangzi Delta, agrarian immisera-
brought such a long distance.'
tion in the North was not counterbalanced by the consolidation of big mercantile
from better factory-made y a r r
or agrarian capital. In drought-ravaged n o r t h e r n Shaanxi, where survivors of the
for a n o t h e r generation, the col
Long March would regroup in 1935, "it could be said that socioeconomic differ-
repercussions for the poorest s
ences within the region were really a matter of varying depths of poverty." 24 Reli-
Esherick in his study of tl
ance on the market only exacerbated the radical nakedness of these pauper layers
have seen, argues that wester:
ST S
" the eighteenth century,
C H I N A : M A N D A T E S R E V O K E D359
in face of the threats of drought and flood. H u a n g cites the apprehensions of
otton cultivation, which
a mid-nineteenth-century magistrate in a Shandong c o u n t y where most ot ihe
gricultural land." 21 It was
sown land was dedicated to cotton. "The rich do not store grain, and the poor
s in southern and central
rely entirely on hiring out and the board that c o m e s with w a g e labour. Once con-
J its principal subsistence
fronted with natural disaster and bad harvests, they are at a complete loss. VJ '
millet. Indeed for poorer
Micro-commercialization in addition added new exposures t o such man-
e at all: once rental terms
made disasters (often interacting with the natural) as c o m m o d i t y cycles, price
ig to the market potential
inflation and monetary speculation. The diversion of so m u c h cultivable acreage
als."22
from grain production made tens of millions of formerly a u t o n o m o u s peasants
asically "sub-subsistence"
directly dependent u p o n the grain trade and the price ratio between cash crops
uired twice as much labor
and subsistence cereals. Folk textiles, meanwhile, faced the competition after
1 an "involuted" economy
1880 of factory-produced imports from India and Japan. Handspun yarn declined
otton cultivation in north
from 98 percent of China's consumption in 1876 to little more t h a n 40 percent
i his study of the H e b e i -
in 1900, and cotton merchants w e r e transformed from peddlers of domestic pro-
1 that, though his returns
duction into salesmen of foreign yarn. India's export to Asia, principally China,
om natural or man-made
meanwhile increased from 21.3 million p o u n d s in 1878 to nearly 300 million
nillet and sorghum depend
pounds in 1905.26 T h e most spectacular surge in yarn imports - 40 percent in
pie rainfall or irrigation in
value in a single year - occurred, ominously enough, b e t w e e n 1898 and 1899.27
10-15 percent of the total
"A peasant spinner," Huang emphasizes, "simply could not overcome the over-
derived increasing subsis-
whelming advantage of a technology by which, according to one estimate, h e
d r survival was mortgaged
could be outproduced by as m u c h as 8,000 percent by a worker using a power
:>ns. "Drought in the spring
spindle. T h e result was a product so cheap it sometimes sold close to the cost of
.ependent on cotton." 2 1
raw cotton." 2 3 It was not surprising that rural Chinese w e r e baffled by the origin
reinforced social stratifica-
of such cheap thread. T h u s a Shaanxi spinner whom Francis Nichols interviewed
s dependent upon seasonal
in 1901 "accounted for j the cheapness of American cotton thread] by the theory
dissolved most village-level
that the United States was an island not far from China. W h e n I told him that
ne growth of a rich peasant
the country from which the thread came was 18,000 h f r o m the plain of Sian, he
natic than the accumulation
shook his head dubiously. 'The thread would cost more,' he said, 'if it had to be
z\ Delta, agrarian immisera-
brought such a long distance.'" 2 ' J Although h a n d l o o m weaving, which benefited
solidation of big mercantile
from better factory-made yarn, would struggle on against machine competition
anxi, where survivors of the
for another generation, the collapse of cotton spinning in the 1890s had profound
i that socioeconomic differ-
repercussions for the poorest strata of north China peasants.
lg depths of poverty." 2 ' 1 Reli-
Esherick in his study of the social origins of the Boxer movement, as w e
dness of these pauper layers
have seen, argues that western Shandong b e c a m e the seedbed of revolt in the
350
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
e n I N.
late 1890s precisely because of its combined vulnerability to natural disaster and
lightening of control over tax
foreign textile imports. T h e changed course of the Yellow River after 1855 and
[emperor]." ! ' 1 O n the eve of" ti
the consequent silting up of the Grand Canal, combined with an increased fre-
surplus of 70 million taels, b u
quency of flood and drought, had made the depressed regions along the Shan-
paigns or squandered by c o r n
dong-Hcbei and S h a n d o n g - j i a n g s u - H e n a n borders ever more dependent on
took the throne in 1796, the (
cotton handicrafts for sheer survival. "Too isolated and too lacking in alternative
ing chronic. T h e turning poii
resources to enjoy any of the stimulative effects that the treaty p o r t economies
ter-prone border region of v
sometimes generated in their more immediate hinterlands," western Shandong
drought or flooding of the H i
was economically devastated in the 1890s by the loss of its traditional markets
war (1796-1804) against the V
to factory-made Indian cotton yarn and cloth.1,0 T h e imports w e r e the dragons'
ity (rcn/nioj in a b o u t 120 yea
teeth, sown by the world market, that eventually grew into peasant insurrection.
reserves. 5 " "The food supply ]
Depletion of the Granaries
n u m b e r s of troops ": a diversic Taiping, Nian a n d Muslim civ:
The commercialization of subsistence in north China was only weakly supported
Immensely cosily flood ca
by long-distance grain trading. T h e raw cotton and cotton handicrafts, wheat,
teenth century, also conspircc
tobacco and opium g r o w n by poor peasants were principally exchanged within
There were no less than sevei
"cellular" local markets usually coinciding with county boundaries or, m o r e
and the final Yellow River cata
rarely, with the north China regional system."'1 T h e r e was an insufficient two-
ruprion, lost agricultural incor
way flow of goods between the periodically grain-deficit north and the surplus-
bined with the expense of t h e
producing Yangzi Valley to protect against harvest shortfalls on a large scale.
conditions, these floods left th
As late as 1900, the inter-regional trade of farm products was only 7 percent
of course, followed in the 18>i
of total empire-wide production. 5 -' Regular long-distance grain trading was con-
course of the Daqing River (o
fined to east-west corridors within southern China - for example, from Sichuan
the Yellow .Sea to t he Gulf of 1
and Hunan down the Yangzi River, or from Guangxi to Guangdong - where
Beijing's all-important revenue
economic specialization was most developed. By contrast, the flow of grain
T h e Qing fiscal system, as
from south to north, frequently against the gravity of market prices, requited
price inflation rooted in C h i r
the heavy lifting of the imperial tribute system. Ironically, as n o r t h e r n peasants
exchange perturbations lhai f
increasingly staked their survival on cash crops, they became, if anything, m o r e
Standard in the 1870s. Despite
dependent on the state's capacity to ensure the inter-regional redistribution of
erosion by maintaining a favoi
grain outside of market mechanisms. And this depended, in the first place, o n the
mated that the real value of ku
empire's fiscal health."
Golden Age of ihc 1750s to th
by fixi M i n g , s o m e m o r e recent ; -is a silt-laden a n d c o m p a r i n g t h i s since."1
Traveling in 1923 through n o t Marchers, Lowdermilk was st eroded the landscape into bad! led t o the substitution of pastu caily burn oil" s h r u b cover to o; groundspacc. in t h e region w a s feet deep.'" u Erosion on this scale led u m e n t load carried downstream had conveyed rich loess sik t o the nineteenth century. howev
eer>. T h u
The Crisis of River Conservancy
corresponding expansion in the servancy. Soaring costs were a
Sedimentation in the Yellow River Delta is a problem in hydraulic control that
rampant corruption • especially
dwarfs the challenge ol all other civilized rivers except perhaps the modern Mis-
in revetments) that ultimately sj
sissippi. Twentieth-century measurements show that each cubic meter of river
bed also generated bitter s o d a
water carries an astonishing h u n d r e d pounds of silt in suspension. "Approxi-
"Newer, higher dikcv" Vermee;
mately one and one-half billion tons of loess are eroded annually in the Yellow
protected flood-prone areas. 'J'
River basin. Half of that a m o u n t settles out of suspension as the river slows d o w n across the floodplaiu, and half of it is carried to the sea."
95
(Alternately, before
capitals, but the countryside \\ spread conversion, usually illega
construction of the post-Liberation upstream dam system, the Yellow had a 40
river's pressure against its levet
percent silt content at flood stage.) yfi Deposited on the nearly flat north China
breach. 11)0
plain, the sediment will either force the river into chaotic and rapidly changing meanders like a great writhing snake or, if the channel is constricted by h u m a n
inevitably, despite the most experts, the defenses would fail ;
engineering, will lead to the rapid buildup of the riverbed high above the plain. 97
likely in a major La Nina year. A
Although the mandarin engineers of the Yellow River Conservancy developed
thousands of villages, as m 189
extraordinary expertise in using the diked power of the river to scour deeper and
1.500 such Hoods have been rec
faster channels, sedimentation eventually overcame their most ingenious efforts
China's "ordinary" disasters a n
at streamlining the flow.
Every few centuries, however, c
There were, in fact, two warring schools about h o w to tame the Yellow River.
action (including hoth Hood c o r
One school of river managers wanted to confine the river between high, nar-
oi the plain that the river wouh
rowly spaced levees to maximize its channel-deepening power and emancipate
1'hus eight times in written his
more fioodplain for tillage, while the oilier advocated lower levees set live to ten
path to the sea, moving hundre
kilometers apart. "These two strategies," Charles Greer writes, "represent m o r e
Bohai and back a g a i n / ' " These •
than different technical approaches to controlling the river. Their roots lie in
tiibuting the costs of Hood cot
different philosophical outlooks. Needham associates the construction of close,
indeed, have determined the f a n
strong dikes with a Confucianist tendency to curb nature, analogous ro the reli-
In 1800, the Yellow River Hoc
ance by this school of thought on strict ethical codes for shaping h u m a n behav-
necr Pan Jixtin between 1577 an.
ior. He associates widely separated, low levees with the Taoist approach of let-
Dodgen points out, the river "h;
ting nature follow its own course." 9 8 Even the Taoists, however, were ultimately
it had never been held in one c
forced to respond to the rising bed with higher levees and revetments, as well as
engineering." 1 " 2 It was the singu
more cutoffs, overflow basins, drainage canals and polders. This inexorable construction program in turn required a g r o w i n g a r m y of
hydraulic cycle, which in its fina the costs of dike construction, i
r
•
CHINA: MANDATES REVOKED
STS
lized f a n n i n g in the north
.W, 7
hired labor (the Qing had abolished the Mings' hated corvec), specialist river troops and their overseers. Thus the hydraulic evolution of the river produced a corresponding expansion in the scale, complexity and financial burden of its Conservancy. Soaring costs were aggravated by "excessive bureaucratization" and
i in hydraulic control that t perhaps the m o d e r n Miseach cubic meter of river t in suspension. 'Approxided annually in the Yellow >ion as the river slows down sea." 95 i Alternately, before ystem, the Yellow had a 40 [he nearly flat north China laotic and rapidly changing rel is constricted by h u m a n •rbed high above the plain. 97 ver Conservancy developed he river to scour deeper and their most ingenious efforts
rampant corruption (especially in the p r o c u r e m e n t of t h e sorghum stalks used in revetments) that ultimately sped the system toward collapse."" T h e rising river bed also generated bitter social conflict everywhere along the Yellow's course. 'Newer, higher dikes," Vermeer writes, "diverted the flood problem to less well protected flood-prone areas. T h e city walls might offer protection for county capitals, b u t the countryside was left to its own devices." Likewise the widespread conversion, usually illegal, of polders a n d reservoirs to fields increased the river's pressure against its levees and exacerbated the chance of a catastrophic breach. 100 Inevitably, despite the most arduous efforts of the Conservancy's hydraulic experts, the defenses would fail after an unusually heavy s u m m e r m o n s o o n , most likely in a m a j o r La Nina year. Angry brown waters would engulf hundreds, even thousands of villages, as in 1898 o n the eve of the Boxer Rebellion. More than 1,500* such floods have been recorded since the time of the Han: they are north China's "ordinary" disasters and a major cause of its chronic peasant unrest. Every few centuries, however, cumulative sedimentation, modulated by human
nv to tame the Yellow River, he river between high, narning power and emancipate d lower levees set five to ten reer writes, "represent more the river. Their roots lie in es the construction of close,
action (including both flood control and war), would so reshape the topography of the plain that the river would break free into a completely different channel. T h u s eight times in written history the Yellow River has radically switched its path to the sea, moving hundreds of miles f r o m the Yellow Sea to the Gulf of Bohai and back again. 101 These epochal changes of channel, by regionally redistributing the costs of flood control, have had complex political repercussions: indeed, have determined the fate of dynasties.
nature, analogous to the reli-
in 1800, the Yellow River flood-control system, redesigned by the great engi-
es for shaping h u m a n behav-
neer P a n j i x u n b e t w e e n 1577 and 1589, was m o r e than 200 years old. As Randall
h the Taoist approach of let-
Dodgen points out, the river "had gone longer without a change of course, but
sts, however, were ultimately
it had never been held in one course for so long by dint of h u m a n labor and
:es and revetments, as well as
engineering." 1 0 2 It was the singular misfortune of the Qings that this inescapable
>olders.
hydraulic cycle, which in its final stages entailed almost geometrical increases in
required a growing army of
the costs of dike construction, reached its crisis point in coincidence with eco-
368
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
CHIN A
HOLOCAUSTS
nomic recession and tKe most c nineteenth century, more than increasingly desperate efforts t( tot.dly without parallel in t h e Chapter 9, the Q i n g treasury \v to purchase o p i u m from British the costs of the O p i u m Wars, ; tribute from the middle Yangxi As early as 1837, Conservan expenditures o n reinforcement withstand high water. In the ex cident with the First Opium \ neous effort t o contain both ii "the cost to the state in social d repair funds was immense. C o the state's already weakened ft: bai ren."1"'1 For another decade, troops and engineers gamely si becoming wilder each year. "It in 1S51, 1852 and 1853 that t h e began to waver. Concerned w i t state slowed the pace of repair. rebels." 1 "' While Beijing was thus divei tiel. hijacked the course of the Honan and Shandong, drownin of acres of fertile farmland. Flc porunion workers, in turn, swel bandits" who controlled a vast new course of t h e Yellow. (Mo: "poor peasants o r ex-peasants worked-out soil, harsh winters floods.")"'" The alliance of the ' Figure i 1.4 T h e G r a n d C a n a l a n d t h e Yellow River
switching catastrophe might h a
CHINA: MANI)\n-:s
RliVOKI.I)
STS
nomic recession and the most destructive civil war in history. Already by the early nineteenth century, m o r e than 10 percent of the Imperial budget was devoted to increasingly desperate efforts to control the p a t h of the Yellow River, "an expense totally w i t h o u t parallel in the eighteenth century." 10 '' Thereafter, as wc saw in Chapter 9, the Qing treasury was rapidlv emptied by the forced outflow of silver to purchase opium from British India, the depletion of the Yunnan c o p p e r mines, the costs of the O p i u m Wars, and, finally, the Taiping catastrophe, which cut off tribute from the middle Yangzi provinces for almost a decade. As early as 1837, Conservancy officials had warned Beijing that, despite huge expenditures on reinforcement, m a n y of the dikes in H e n a n were t o o weak to withstand high water. In the event, the three successive floods of 1841-43, coincident with the First O p i u m War, dealt crippling blows to the Qing's simultaneous effort to contain both imperialism and the river. As Dodgen points out, "the cost to the state in social disruption, lost agricultural income, and relief and repair funds was immense. C o m b i n e d with the expense of the Opium War arid the state's already weakened fiscal condition, these floods left the state treasury barren." 10 ' 1 For another decade, during the last years ol" the Daoguang emperor, troops and engineers gamely struggled to restore control over a river seemingly becoming wilder each year. "It was not until a second scries of floods took place in 1851, 1852 and 1853 that the Qing's c o m m i t m e n t to Yellow River conservancy began to waver. Concerned with the growing scopc of the Taiping Rebellion, the state slowed the pace of repairs and redirected funds to the struggle against the rebels." 105 While Beijing was thus diverted, the Yellow in 1855 broke free of its old channel, hijacked the course of the Daqing River, and poured downgrade through Honan and Shandong, drowning hundreds of thousands of peasants and millions of acres of fertile farmland. Flood refugees, ruined farmers arid displaced transportation workers, in turn, swelled the ranks of the Nian rebels and local "Turban bandits" w h o controlled a vast swathe of territory from the Huai River to the new course of the Yellow. (Most of the Nian, Jonathan Spence points out, were "poor peasants or ex-peasants struggling to survive in a bleak environment of worked-out soil, harsh winters, and unstable river systems subject t o appalling floods.")106 T h e alliance of the Taiping and Nian in the a f t e r m a t h of t h e channelswitching catastrophe might have d o o m e d the Qing had n o t a simultaneous civil
T LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOI.O*
\USTS
CM I N A :
the Yellow River basins, has be< spike in locally reported disastci
Abdicating Hydraulic ContrThe Tongzhi Restoration's faih epic battle between regional el were delighted hv the n o r t h e r r them of their traditional b u r d e i llood damage. O n the other sicl by the early l<S8()s the channel h become chaotic and almost im] appeared that rhe river gods h a c banks in Henan a n d returned t o Figure 11.5 Yellow a n d Yangtzi Regions Disaster R e p o r t i n g
to have resisted government recji
Source: B. Si.wis. "GndinK Famines in China," in Garcia and Usaidcr.i. 117-
Shandong officials lobbied Beijii province's political weight was
war amongst the Taiping leaders in Nanking fatally splintered rhe Kingdom of
governor-general.... Altera yeai
Heavenly Peace.
returned to continue its devastat
Fighting desperately for its survival on multiple fronts, meanwhile, the Empire
T h i s political decision to k e e p
was powerless to control nature in the Yellow River plain, Only after the defeat
plain, Eshei ick points out. reflect
of the Taipings in 1865 could Beijing focus again on the complex, almost over-
over inter-regional resource, f l o w
whelming, problem of the unleashed Yellow River. Arguing that neglect of the
by the Jiangnan commercial e l i u
hydraulic infrastructure had been a principal cause of the Taiping and Nian
tribute from the (Irand Canal t o
revolts, the Qing hero Z e n g Guofan m a d e "repair of old waterworks and the
sequences ol the Yellow River's c
construction of new and improved systems ... a cardinal point in Restoration
of the Wen River that led the (
planning." His expensive schemes for forcing the Yellow back into its old chan-
during El Nino droughts. Period
nel and for'developing new irrigation in eastern 1 lebei, however, collided with
the Canal were no solution s i n o
other equally ambitious plans for military modernization and the reconquest of
traffic along the Canal began its s
Central Asia. The Manchu generals, not surprisingly, were a m o r e powerful lobby
proceed along the stretches vuln
wer 400-fold a n d
tural reformers in the loess region echoed Wang's recommendations about peas-
River. 12 ' Irrigation, in tandem \
ant-managed irrigation while specifically warning against large-scale, centrally
try, was the m o s t important
managed projects that encouraged official corruption, pitted upstream against
reforms just as it was the prir
downstream villages, and were ultimately unsustainable. T h e r e is considerable
"Green Revolution."
evidence, moreover, that Shaanxi's eighteenth-century governors authorized sig-
Yet real environmental stab
nificant investment in wells, irrigation and drainage under the direct supervision
hydraulic control has been a c h
of energetic hsien magistrates. 119 The result in many cases was a 200 percent to 300 percent increase in the o u t p u t of grain and cotton.
120
Central Asia: at the cost of e n o cling. Indeed, by the 1990s, the
In the tumult of the nineteenth century, irrigation subsidies were more o r less
and electric p u m p s had both di
abandoned. The predictable consequences were a sharp decline in agricultural
reach the Bohai Sea most of tl
productivity and a concomitant increase in vulnerability to drought and flood.
the Beijing region. The n o r t h e
Murray points to Ching-yang, traditionally the richest county in the entire Wei
out a doubt the country's m o .
Valley, where "agriculture was crippled" by the late nineteenth century as a result
f u r t h e r breakneck economic e:
of the deterioration of the irrigation system. "A similarly depressing scene was
cycle only magnifies the danget
revealed in the 1882 history of Hua-chou, located in the southeastern sector of
has opted for the ultimate "C
logy of the sertao was ill-suited
error, they eventually adapted a semi-nomadic swidden style of agriculture: two
s. "As a matter of fact," Kenneth
years of cultivation followed by eight years o f fallow a n d cattle-grazing.' 2 But
;ood for cattle," but was adapted
population pressure eventually forced thousands into t h e dry sertao or caatinga
the zona da mata by the sugar
- characterized by shallow rocky soils and spiny cacti - where ownership was
:ant forage was notoriously low.
unestablished or where they squatted at the pleasure o f the big fazendeiros
i
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
whose g u n m e n might remove them at will. 13 After the termination of legal squatting in 1850, most n e w i m m i g r a n t s to
B R A Z I L : RACE
AN
T h e lives of all the dwellers o f rions of the seasons, but n o n e t e n c e f a r m e r . In N o v e m b e r a m
the sertao simply became parcciros (sharecroppers) on fazenda land. Although
ing from the previous season, j
the backlands were still popularly identified with the picturesque figure of the
a s h e s of t h e p r e v i o u s crop; i f ,
free-ranging vaqueiro, the great majority of the population by midcentury were
m o v e to a n e w location. W h e t
threadbare subsistence farmers, parceiros or migratory agregados (day-laborers).
p l a n t his s e e d s a n d hope f o r t h
"In the mid-nineteenth century," estimates Levine, "certainly less than 5% and
In seasons o f relatively light r a i
probably less than 1% of the rural population owned land."'1'1 T h e s e poor jerrmic-
soil in s i r e a m b c d s ] were b c t r e i
jos, unlike the slaves of the zona de mata, were nominally free m e n , but access to land and water was as tenuous as the life of a laborer confronted by the capangas of an angry landowner. T h e most powerful fazendeiro in each rural muni-
t h e risk of l o s i n g their crops t o w i t h o u t w a r n i n g with heavy lo t h e seedlings h a d taken firm \ s p r o u t e d o n l y t o w i t h e r as t h e
cipio typically held the rank of "coronel" in the old imperial Guardia Nacional,
a g a i n , and if nccessary, a t h i r d
and the system of boss-controlled voting and elite violence, which originated in
p a t i e n c e , h e w o u l d plant t i m e
the coastal sugar plantations then spread to the fazendas, b e c a m e known as coro-
s e e d for food u n t i l the h a r v e s t .
nelismo. It was the "essential partner to economic exploitation, allowing landlords
A t intervals, t h e rain would fail
to squeeze the maximum possible surplus from their work-force, eliciting sub-
f u l harvest i m p o s s i b l e . Only th
io»iic.s of Indian Famines, L o n d o n 191-1, p. 57. 48. De Waal, p. 32. 49. "Although n o o n e p e r s o n can b e b l a m e d for t h e deficiencies o f the relief policies, Trevelyan p e r h a p s m o r e t h a n any o t h e r individual r e p r e s e n t e d a system o f response w h i c h increasingly was a m i x t u r e of m i n i m a l relief, p u n i t i v e q u a l i f y i n g criteria, a n d social r e f o r m " ( C h r i s t i n e Ksneaiy, This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine, 18-15-52, D u b l i n 1994, pp. 349-50). 50. Cf. Rao, p. U S , a n d C u r r i e , p. 47. 51. Digby, p. 52. 52. Ibid., pp. 85 a n d 135. 53. A n o n y m o u s , " T h e I n d i a n F a m i n e : H o w Dealt w i t h in W e s t e r n India," Wcsmmtstcr Review, Jan. 1878, p. 145.
404
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
54. Q u o t e d in " I n d i a n F a m i n e s , " Eiiifilnirg/i R e n e w , July 1877, p. 80. O f all c o m m o n cereals, rice is t h e m o s t i n c o m p l e t e in a m i n o acids. S e e d i s c u s s i o n of r u r a l diet a n d p r o t e i n deficiencies in Paul G r e e n o u g h , Prosperity and Misery in Modern Bengal, O x f o r d 1982, p. 70 passim. 55. S. P a r t r i d g e , m e d i c a l i n s p e c t o r of e m i g r a n t s , in Indian Economist, 1 5 O c t . 1870, p. 45 (cited in D a d a b h a i N a u r o j i , Poverty and Un-British Rulcin India, L o n d o n 1901, p. 25). 56. Q u o t e d in " T h e Indian F a m i n e : H o w D e a l t w i t h in W e s t e r n India," p. 145. C o r n i s h h o i s t e d T e m p l e by his o w n p e t a r d by p u b l i s h i n g in parallel c o l u m n s T e m p l e ' s c o n t r a s t i n g v i e w s o n n u t r i t i o n r e q u i r e m e n t s in t h e 1874 a n d 1876 f a m i n e s - s e e his a c c o u n t in The Times, 18 M a y 1877. 57 Digby, pp. 55, 74 -5, 85, 113, a n d 135; a n d Bhatia, p. 96. F o r T e m p l e ' s p o i n t o f view, see The Story of My Life, vol. 1, L o n d o n 1896, esp. 2 8 9 - 9 4 . 58. Digby, vol. 2, pp. 247 a n d 252. 59. Kohei W a k i m u r a , " F a m i n e s , E p i d e m i c s a n d M o r t a l i t y in N o r t h e r n I n d i a . 1870-1921," in T i m D y s o n (ed.), India's Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Disease And Socicty, L o n d o n 1989, pp. 2 8 5 - 6 ( o n g r a i n prices). 60. The Times, 9 July 1877. 61. Digby, vol. 2, pp. 2 0 3 - 4 . 62. Digby, p. 26. 63. Rev. A. R o w e , Every-Day Life m India, N e w York 1881, p p . 3 4 7 - 8 . 64. Q u o t e d in Kerbv Miller, Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus America, N e w York 1985, p. 283.
P a r a d i g m . " Science 2 7 4 (20 D e c . 199< 78. Cecil W o o d h a m - S m i t h , Elorctu 79. Digby, pp. 3 6 1 - 5 ; and R i c h a r d T h a n a District. B o m b a y , 1823 - 1 8 8 7 , 80. W j s h b r o o k , " T h e C o m m e r c i ; .•isiiin Studies 28:1 (1994), p. 131; a n d 81. Digby. vol. 2. p. 148. 82. K a t e C u m e , "British C o l o n i a l T r e e T r a d e ' in t h e B o m b a y , B e n g a l (1991), p 4.3. 83. L o v e d ay. p. 6(J, 84. C f Ira Klein, " W h e n the R a i n s IESHR 21:2 (1984). p. 195; and C h a r JS7rt -IS pp. x x - x x i x . 85. Klein, p. 195. 86. Elliot, p. 42. 87. Klein, pp. 1 9 6 - 7 . 88. Victoria's s p e e c h in The Eeonon SlJ. A clipping f r o m August 1877 ii 90. I b i d .
to North
65. R o w e , pp. 204 a n d 3 7 2 - 3 . 66. Q u o t e d in " T h e Indian F a m i n e : H o w D e a l t w i t h in W e s t e r n i n d i a , " p. 153. 67. Digby, p. 340. 68. S. M e h r o t r a , " T h e P o o n a S a r v a j a n i k S a b h a : T h e Early P h a s e ( 1 8 7 0 -1880)," IFSHR 3 (Sept. 1969), pp. 305 a n d 310. 69. Q u o t e d in D i g b y , p p . 3 4 1 - 2 . L y t t o n ' s g r a n i t e face t o w a r d s India's s t a r v i n g c h i l d r e n in t h e s e m o n t h s - like T e m p l e ' s r e p u d i a t i o n o f h i s o w n "excessive c h a r i t y " in 1874 - perh a p s n e e d s t o b e seen in a t o r m e n t e d p s y c h o l o g i c a l c o n t e x t : p e r h a p s b i s f a t h e r ' s ( B u l w e r L y t t o n ' s ) c r u e l a t t a c k s o n his " u n m a n l y r e p i n i n g " a f t e r t h e d e a t h o f h i s little son in 1871 ( H a r l a n , p. 205). 70. R o w e . p. 345. 71. Digby, p. 283. 72. H a r l a n , p. 214. 73. " T h e S a b h a h u m b l y s u b m i t s t h a t n o small p o r t i o n of t h e s u c c e s s f i n r e s t o r i n g r a t i o n s a n d r e d u c i n g d e a t h s ] is d u e t o t h e a t t i t u d e o f c o m p l a i n t a n d w a t c h f u l n e s s t a k e n u p b y the native a n d E u r o p e a n p r e s s . . . . " L e t t e r t o T e m p l e , 16 M a y 1877, q u o t e d in Digby, p. 3 5 5 . 74. L y t t o n in a l e t t e r t o Sir L o u i s Mallet (11 J a n . 1877), q u o t e d in A m b i r a j a n , p. 93. 75. Q u o t e d in B r e n n a n , p. 97. 76. Digby, pp. 1 4 8 - 5 0 a n d 3 6 1 - 2 .
77. Ira Klein, "Imperialism, Ecology and Disease: Cholera in India, 1850-1950," IESHR 31:4 (1994), pp. 495 and 507; David Arnold, "Cholera Mortality in British India, 1817-1947" in Dyson, p. 270; and Rita Colwell, "Global Climate and Infectious Disease: The Cholera
91. M a r y Lutyens, T/ie Lyltonj in 1 m e n t , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , describe* set, f u l l y alive to t h e g r a v e s i t u a t i o n t h e m " (Rej'ort on the Buckingham Can 2[aj, Greiiville P a p e r s , S T G India). 92. D i g b y . pp. 2 0 6 - 2 3 . 93. Rev. J. C h a n d l e r q u o t e d in D i g 9-1. D a v i d A r n o l d , " F a m i n e in P. 1876 -78," .5i(/j son ' cd.'i, Faiia Historic^ 77. Klein. W h e n t h e Rains Failed," 78. Will:.nn Digby, " F a m i n e P r e v c n His Life a-:,I Weil:. L o n d o n 1900, p p . 79. Raja>ekhar. "Famine:- and P e a s , 80. W a s lib rook. p. 141. 81. Rajasekhar. p. 134. 82. Ibid . pp. 142 a n d 150 q u o t e ) . 83. R a o and R a j a s c k h a r . p. A-82. 84. Figures f r o m H u g h Tinker, A b seas, IS5C ! 920. O x f o r d 1974, pp. 4 9 85. Srivastava, p. 226. 86. Z h a n g J i a c h e u g . Z h a n g Xiang( D u r i n g the Recent 500 Years," in Ji Historical Times. Beijing W88, p. 4< Bureaucracy aii.i Famine, p. 30 ( " t h e was u n d o u b t e d l y t h a t of 1876-79" fn44 (official e s t i m a t e ) ; and C a h i i l , that 12 percent o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n c Perspective." Popidatum and Develop 87. Report of the China Famine Rcli tion: Food, Famine, and the C h i n e 687. T h i s is the s a m e range o! m o r 76V 88. Thi> is based o n articles in Ch tury, Book Si,v. p. 181. 89. Ibid . p. LSI: Sooihill. p. 101. P t h r o u g h o u t nine a f f e c t e d province, p. 103). 90. A r n o l d , p. 21. SI. B u r k e , p. 23. 92. M i e g e , p. 443. 93. L u i s Felipe de A i c n c a s t m ( e d . 1997, p. 312. 94. S e v m o u r D r e s c h e r . "Braziliai Scott, et al. (eds.), A M i n o i t of Slav, 95. Q u o t e d in d e C a s t r o , p. 53. 96. C u n n i f f , p. 283. 97. A m p M a h a r a t n a . The Demog 1996.
usts
NOTtS
J4. O x f o r d 1969, p. 147. i: Social and Cultural Origins of 10, pp. 69-^0. >ndon 1908, p. 35. m u t a t i o n in Egypt, 1798-1882,"
leteoroJogicaf Magazine, Octobcr 'Vance (1871-1919),
vol. 1, Paris
1979, p. 202. 'opiclist Protest, Colonial Eneoun-
•1. 3, Paris 1962, pp. 383-4, 403, •cc E d m u n d Burke 111, Prelude to >0-1912, C h i c a g o 1976, p. 22. d, L o n d o n 1879, p. 19.
art Firih, " S a m o a n P l a n t a t i o n s : et al. (eds.), Plantation Workers: Kiladis and Diaz, p. 1040. !a scqiiin en Mexico, Xalap3 (Ver.)
/inter in San Francisco, the first
ifio E p i s o d e a n d a Yellow Fever J I n t e r n a t i o n a l C l i m a t e a n d HisN i n o Events," in R. Bradley a n d
larxand
Friedrich EngeLs on Colo-
413
75. R o m e s h C h u n d e r D u t t , Open Letters to Lord Curzon, C a l c u t t a 1904, pp. 3 - 4 . 76. Kohci W a k i m u r a , " F a m i n e s , Epidemics a n d M o r t a l i t y in N o r t h e r n India, 1870-1921," in T i m D y s o n fed.), India's Historical Demography, L o n d o n 1989, pp. 288-90. 77. Klein, " W h e n the Rains Failed," p p . 199 a n d 210. 78. William Digby, " F a m i n e P r e v e n t i o n Studies," i n Lady H o p e , General Sir Arthitr Cotton: His Life and Work, L o n d o n 1900, pp. 3 6 2 - 3 . 79. Rajasekhar, " F a m i n e s a n d Peasant Mobility," p. 132. 80. W a s h b r o o k , p. 141. 81. Rajasekhar, p. 134. 82. Ibid., pp. 142 and 150 (quote). 83. Rao a n d R a j a s e k h a r , p. A-82. 84. Figures f r o m H u g h T i n k e r , A New System of Slavery: The Export of Indian Labour Overseas, 1S30-1920, O x f o r d 1974, pp. 49 a n d 305. 85. Srivastava, p. 226. 86. Z h a n g J i a c h e n g , Z h a n g X i a n g o n g and Xu Siejiang, " D r o u g h t s and F l o o d s in C h i n a D u r i n g t h e R e c e n t 500 Years," in J i a c h e n g (ed.), T h e Reconstruction of Climate in China for Historical Tunes, Beijing 1988, p. 46 (driest year); H a n g - W e i H e , pp. 3 6 - 7 ( q u o t e ) ; Will, Bureaucracy and Famine, p.- 30 ("die w o r s t d r o u g h t in N o r t h C h i n a ' s p r e m o d e r n h i s t o r y w a s u n d o u b t e d l y that o f 1876-79"); A. B r o o m h a l l , China's Open Century, Book Six, p. 4 6 6 fn44 (official e s t i m a t e ) ; a n d Cahill, p. 7. Susan C o t t s Wakins a n d Jane M e n k e n e s t i m a t e t h a t 12 p e r c e n t o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n d i e d in five n o r t h e r n p r o v i n c e s ( " F a m i n e s in Historical Perspective," Population and Development Review 11:4 (Dec. 1985), p. 651.) 87. Report of the China Famine Relief Fund, S h a n g h a i 1879, p. 7; a n d Lillian Li, "Introduction: F o o d , F a m i n e , a n d t h e C h i n e s e State," J o u r n a l of Asian Studies, 41:4 ( A u g . 1982), p. 687. T h i s is t h e s a m e r a n g e o f m o r t a l i t y earlier q u o t e d by T a w n e y in his f a m o u s study (p. 76). 88. This is b a s e d o n articles in Clu'jw's Millions u s e d by A. B r o o m h a l l , China's Open Century, Book Six, p. 181. 89. Ibid., p. 181; Soothill, p. 101. Richard, it s h o u l d b e n o t e d , believed t h a t d i e death toll t h r o u g h o u t n i n e a f f c c t e d provinces w a s s o m e w h e r e b e t w e e n 15 a n d 20 m i l l i o n (Soothill, p. 103). 90. A r n o l d , p. 21. 81. Burke, p. 23. 92. Miege, p. 443. 93. Luis Felipe de A l e n c a s t r o (ed.), Historia da vida privada no Brasil: Imperio, Sao Paulo, 1997, p. 312. 94. S e y m o u r D r e s c h e r , "Brazilian Abolition in C o m p a r a t i v e Perspective," in Rebecca Scott, et al. (eds.), Abolition of Slavery in Brazil, D u r h a m , N.C. 1988, p. 32. 95. Q u o t e d in de C a s t r o , p. 53. 96. Cunnift", p. 283. 97. A r u p M a h a r a t n a , Tlie Demography cf Famines: An Indian Historical Pespective, D e l h i 1996.
414
[.ATI-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
Notes to Chapter 4 R. A n a t a s e q u o t e d in H a r o l d M a r c u s , The Life and Times of Menelik II, O x f o r d 1975, pp. 136-7. 1. Cf. A v n e r Offer, The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation, O x f o r d 1989, p p 85, 89; D a n M o r g a n , Merchants of Grain, N e w York 1979, csp. pp. 3 2 - 6 ; a n d Carl Solberg, The Prairies and the Pampas: Agrarian Policy in Canada and Argentina, 1880-1930, Stanford, Calif. 1987, esp. p. 36. 2. Eric Stokes, The Peasant and the Raj, C a m b r i d g e 197S, p. 275. 3. Q u o t e d in Neit C h a r l e s w o r t h , "Rich P e a s a n t s and P o o r P e a s a n t s in Late N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y M a h a r a s h t r a , " in D e w e y a n d H o p k i n s (eds.), p. 108. 4. C h r i s t o p h e r Baker, An Indian Rural Economy, 1880-1955: The Tamilnad Countryside, B o m b a y 1984, p. 13 5. 5. G i l b e r t Fite, The Farmers' Frontier, 1865-1900, N e w York 1966, p. 96. 6. T h e N o r d e s t e w a s an e x c e p t i o n : the i m p r o v e m e n t in w e a t h e r c o u l d n o t m a k e u p for t h e d e c l i n e in t h e e a r n i n g s o f s u g a r a n d c o t t o n . Recession o n t h e coast, m o r e o v e r , t u r n e d i n t o d e p r e s s i o n in t h e hinterlands.- "In the s e r t a o , even f o r m e r l y i n d e p e n d e n t c o w h e r d s r e v e r t e d t o m a r g i n a l activities, selling g o a t hides and w o r k i n g f o r p i t i f u l w a g e s o n the r a n c h e s o f large l a n d o w n e r s . B a n k r u p t agriculturalists sold Or a b a n d o n e d their l a n d and m o v e d to cities" {Levine, p. 37). 7. See D o n a l d Meinig's brilliant studies of b o n a n z a w h e a t b e l t s a n d rainfall m o d i f i c a tion t h e o r i e s , " T h e E v o l u t i o n o f U n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d E n v i r o n m e n t : C l i m a t e a n d W h e a t C u l t u r e in t h e C o l u m b i a P l a t e a u , " Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 16 (1954); a n d On the Margins of the Good Earth: The South Australian Wheat Frontier, 1869-1884, C h i c a g o 1962. (It s h o u l d be n o t e d t h a t S o u t h Australia's climatic b o o m - b u s t cycle w a s in a n t i p h a s e t o m o s t o t h e r regions, w i t h h u m i d years in the late 1870s a n d severe d r o u g h t in t h e early 1880s. Unlike e a s t e r n Australia, its w e a t h e r has little c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h E N S O . ) 8. J o n a t h a n Rabat), Bad Land: An American Romance, N e w York 1996, p. 208. H e r e f e r s to the d r o u g h t of 1917 20 t h a t b r o k e t h e w a r t i m e w h e a t b o o m in e a s t e r n M o n t a n a . 9. Meinig, On the Margins, p. 207. 10. See "Filtered N o r m a l i s e d M o n t h l y A n o m a l i e s of M S L P a n d SST Since 1871," in R o b Allan, J a n e t t e Lindcsay and D a v i d Parker, HI Nino Souther n O.urili'atioii a n d Climate Variahiiity, C o i l i n g w o o d , Vic. 1996, pp. 188 -201. 11. P e a k g r a i n prices in t h e p r e - D e p r e s s i o n United States ( w h i c h r e f l c c t global, n o t j u s t local, h a r v e s t c o n d i t i o n s ) - e . g . , 1891-92, 1897-98, 1908-09, 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 a h d 1924-25 - c o r r e lated t o o b s e r v e d El N i n o events (price t r e n d f r o m Wilfred M a l e n b a u m , The World Wheat Economy, 1885-1939, C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1953, p. 29). 12. Fite, pp. 108-9 a n d 126-7. D r o u g h t in 1892-93 again p r o d u c e d g r e a t distress t h r o u g h o u t t h e G r e a t Plains. T h e f a m o u s h u n g e r - f i g h t e r Louis K l o p s c h , t h e p u b l i s h e r o f N e w York's The Christian Herald, r e p o r t e d i n c r e d u l o u s l y f r o m N e b r a s k a t h a t " t h e r e w a s really a f a m i n e in o n e of t h e richest a g r i c u l t u r a l r e g i o n s of t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s " a n d that t h o u sands f a c e d d e a t h f r o m cold o r s t a r v a t i o n unless t h e y received i m m e d i a t e relief ( q u o t e d in C h a r l e s Pepper, Li/e-Worfe of Louis Klopsch: Romance of a Modern Knight of Mercy, N e w York
1910, pp, 245-6). 13. Florescano a n d Swan, pp. 57 a 14. Bhatia, pp. 16S-9. 15. Digby. Prosperous British India, 16. Bhatia, pp. 172-8. 17. C a r o l H e n d e r s o n , "Life in t h e R a j a s t h a n , " Ph.D. diss., C o l u m b i a 18. N a v t e j Singh, Starvation a n d C British Punjab, IS58-1W1, New D e l 19. Ibid. 20. D i g b y c o n s i d e r e d this an acci British India, p. 129). 21. " H u m e to E v e r y M e m b e r o f M o u l t o n , "Allan O. H u m e a n d t h M a s s e l o s (cd.), Struggling and R u b 1987, p. 11. 22. F o r an 1888 a c c o u n t of d e p o ' L a n d in China a n d t h e C o n d i t i o n the Royal Asiatic Society (for 1888), : 23. Allan, Lindesay a n d Parker, p p 24. C f . , T. L. Bullock (consul at C. Manchester Geographical Society, 1A P r o b l e m s in C h i n a , " Proceedings, A> 1137-8; Alvyu A u s t i n , Saving Chini 1986, pp. 36-8; A. l i r o o m h a l i , C/t; d i c a t e d in New York Times. 5 MaiRiver Systems, a n d A n t h r o p o g e n i and J e r r y Meliilo, Asian Change in t 212. 25. Flan W o o - K e o u . llistoiyof Ke>. 26. G e o r g e l . e n s e n . Balance of I IS84-1SW, vol. 1, Tallahassee 1982 27. H a n W o o K e o u , pp. 404 13. 2S. R i c h a r d Robbins, jr., Famine in 29. Ibid., pp. 12- 13 a n d 170-71. 30. L.eroy Vail a n d I.andeg W h i t t Quclimane District, M i n n e a p o l i s 19 31. D e n i s , p. 351. 32. G r a c i l i a n o R a m o s , Barren Live. 33. A r t h u r Dias, The Brazil of Todt 34. R a l p h Delia C a v a , Miracle at Jc, 35. J a m e s M c G i n n , People of the Pi son. W i s . 1995, p. 89. 36. R i c h a r d P a n k h u r s t , The Histor
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•tl 5
1910, pp. 2 4 5 - 6 ) . 13. F l o r e s c a n o a n d S w a n , p p . 57 a n d 1 1 3 - 1 4 . •f Mcnelik
11, O x f o r d 1975, p p .
14. B h a t i a , p p . 1 6 8 - 9 . 15. Digby, Prosperous British / n d i a , L o n d o n 1901, p. 129. 16. B h a t i a , pp. 1 7 2 - 8 .
-prctalion,
O x f o r d 1 9 8 9 , p p 85,
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The
S t a n f o r d , Calif.
17. C a r o l H e n d e r s o n , " L i f e in t h e L a n d of D e a t h : F a m i n e a n d D r o u g h t in A r i d W e s t e r n R a j a s t h a n , " P h . D . diss., C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y 1989, p. 42. 18. N a v t e j S i n g h , S t a m u t o n a m i Colonialism: A S t u d y of Famines in the Nineteenth British Punjab,
1858-1901,
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N e w D e l h i 1996, pp. 8 9 - 9 1 .
>. 2 7 5 .
19.
•r P e a s a n t s i n L a t e N i n e t e e n t h -
20. D i g b y c o n s i d e r e d t h i s an a c c u r a t e estimate o f total f a m i n e m o r t a l i t y
18.
British
Ibid. ("Prosperous"
India, p. 129).
21. " H u m e t o E v e r y M e m b e r o f t h e C o n g r e s s P a r t y " (16 Feb. 1 8 9 2 , q u o t e d in E d w a r d >55: The
TrtmilnnrJ
Countryside,
M o u l t o n , ' A l l a n O . H u m e a n d t h e I n d i a n N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s : A R e a s s e s s m e n t , " in J i m M a s s e l o s ( e d . ) , Struggling
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1987, p. 11.
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o n the coast, moreover, t u r n e d
L a n d in C h i n a a n d t h e C o n d i t i o n o f t h e R u r a l P o p u l a t i o n , " Journal
>rmerly i n d e p e n d e n t c o w h c r d s
the Royal Asiatic
of the China
Branch
>rking f o r p i t i f u l w a g e s o n t h e
23. A l l a n , L i n d e s a y a n d P a r k e r , pp. 1 8 8 - 9 1 .
Id o r a b a n d o n e d t h e i r l a n d a n d
24. Cf., T. L. B u l l o c k ( c o n s u l a t C h e f o o ) , " T h e G e o g r a p h y o f C h i n a , " The Journal
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ittle c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h E N S O . )
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27. H a n W o o - K e o u , p p . 4 0 4 - 1 3 . 28. R i c h a r d R o b b i n s . J r . , Famine in Russia:
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29. Ibid., p p . 1 2 - 1 3 a n d 1 7 0 - 7 1 .
)9, 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 a n d 1 9 2 4 - 2 5 - c o r r e -
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:d M a l e n b a u m , The World
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N e b r a s k a t h a t " t h e r e w a s really
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416
[.ATI-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
eth Century, Addis Ababa 1986, pp. 62- L
67. Richard P a n k h u r s ! . 7 G e r a r d n Benito, P a l e o c n v i r o n m e N o r t h e r n Ethiopia." Ouatcniary R, 70. Sir J o h n Elliot, "Address to t h Meieorologi'eal Magazine -165 (Oct. 1 71. M a l e n b a u m . pp. 178-9. 72. F o r a discussion of d r o u g h t ai ' T h e D r y S u m m e r o n the U p p e r t^ Tolstoy's o b s e r v a t i o n s o n the a g r a F a m i n e e n Russie e n 1898" i w a s j: In M i l a n , the a r m y massacred 80 I
37. W i l l i a m J o r d a n , The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1996, p. 36. 38. M c C a n n , p. 89. 39. P a n k h u r s t , pp. 59 and 91-2. 40. H o l g c r Weiss, ' " D y i n g Cattle': S o m e R e m a r k s o n t h e I m p a c t of C a t t l e Epizootics in t h e C e n t r a ! S u d a n D u r i n g t h e N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y . " African Economic History 26 (1998). p. 182.
41. R i c h a r d P a n k h u r s t , Economic Hisuvy
of Ethiopia,
1800-1935,
Addis Ababa 1968, pp.
216-20.
42. J a m e s M c C a n n , From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: A Rural History, 1900-1935, Philadelphia 1987, pp. 73-4. 43. Chris Prouty, Empress Taytu and Mendifc II, L o n d o n 1986, p. 101. 44. P a n k h u r s t , The History of Famine, pp. 7 1 - 2 a n d 100. 45. M a r c u s , Menelik II, pp. 135, 139 a n d 143 fn2. 46. H a g g a i Erlich, Ethiopia and Eritrea During the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography of Ras Alula, 1875-1897, East Lansing 1982, p. 141. 47. P a n k h u r s t , Histoty of Famine, pp. 74-85 a n d 96; a n d Economic History, pp. 2 1 6 - 2 0 . M c C a n n (People of the Plow) q u e s t i o n s a c c o u n t s of cannibalism, "since n o s u c h practices have b e e n r e p o r t e d from r e c e n t f a m i n e s of e q u a l o r g r e a t e r severity" (p. 90). 48. P a n k h u r s t , The History of Famine, pp. 87-8. 49. Ibid., p. 91. 50. H a r o l d Marcus, A History of Ethiopia, Berkeley 1994, p. 94. 51. A. D o n a l d s o n Smith, " E x p e d i t i o n t h r o u g h Somaiiland to Lake R u d o l f , " GeogmpJitea! Journal 8 (1896), p. 127. 52. P a n k h u r s t , The Histoiy of Famine, pp. 86-9, 105. 53. Marcus, p. 143. 54. F a t h e r J o s e p h O h r w a l d e r (edited by F. W i n g a t e ) , Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp, L o n d o n 1897, p. 283. 55. P. H o l t , The Mahdist State in the Sudan: 1S81-1S98, O x f o r d 1958, pp. 157-60. 56. Ibid., pp. 160 and 165-7. 57. Ibid., pp. 171-3. See also A u g u s t u s Wylde, Modern Abyssinia, L o n d o n 1901, p. 106. 58. A l e x a n d e r D e Waal, Famine that Kill.-;: Darfur, Sudan, 19S4-19&5, O x f o r d 1989, pp. 63-4. 59. O h r w a l d e r , p. 306. 60. H o l t , pp. 174-5. 61. C. Rosignoli, " O m d u r m a n d u r i n g t h e Mahdiya," Sudayi Notes and Records 48, Khart o u m 1967, p. 43. 62. R u d o l f Slatin Pasha, Fire and Sword in the Sudan, L o n d o n 1897, p. 274. 63. ibid., p. 273. 64. Ibid., pp. 274-5. 65. Rosignoli, Sudan Notes, p. 42. 66. C a t h e r i n e C o q u e r y - V i d r o v i t c h , "Ecologie e t historie e n A f r i q u e n o i r e , " Histoire, economic et societe 16:3 (1997), p. 501;
73. D a v i d Landes, The Unbound Pirn Western Europe from i 7 >0 to the (' 74. Elizabeth Isichei. A Histoiy of 75. D a v i d A r n o l d . " T o u c h i n g the: Subaltern Studies 5 (1987). p. 74. 76. Hsherick, p. 300; and David 1 1989, pp. 152-3 ( q u o t e ) . 77. A r t h u r Smith. China in COUVK. China's Open Century, Booh Seven, j; 7S. Delia Cava, p. 55. 79. C h a r l e s A m b l e r , Kenyan Com 1988, p. 3. 80. J o h n Lonsdale, " T h e E u r o p e a and S a n d e r s o n , p. 692.
Notes to Chapter 5 The q u o t e appears in I I. M. Hynci 1. "Presidential Address at I .uci Koinesh Chmider Out!. New Delhi 2. Loveday, p. 65. 3. Michelle M c A l p i n , "Price (1860-1947), in D h a r n v a K u m a r 19S3, pp. 886 -H. See also Sir J o h n . 4. Augustin Filon, l.'lndc d ' a i e c o n o m i q u c ci la vie publique," F 5. R a s h m i P a n d e . The Vicerova/ 6. P r e m a n s u k u m a r Bandyopac 231.
i
n o t hs
jsts
67. Richard P a n k h u r s r , The Ethiopians, O x f o r d 1998, pp. 183-9. 68. Marcus, pp. 92-3. 69. O n t h e !S96 d r o u g h t - f a m i n e in E t h i o p i a , see C o q u e r y Vidrovitch, p. 503. For a recent o v e r v i e w oi Ethiopian c l i m a t e history, see Maria M a c h a d o , A l f r e d o P e r e z - G o n z a l e z a n d G e r a r d o Benito, " P a l c o e n v i r o n m e n t a l C h a n g e s D u r i n g the Last 4000 years in t h e Tigray, N o r t h e r n E t h i o p i a , " Qua ternary Research 49 (1998), pp. 312-21. 70. Sir J o h n Elliot, ' A d d r e s s to the Sub-section C o s m i c a l Physics," r e p r i n t e d in Symou's Meteorological Magazine 465 ( O c t . 1904), p. 147. 71. M a l e n b a u m , pp. 178-9. 72. For a discussion o f d r o u g h t a n d d e a r t h in U p p e r Egypt a n d t h e Sudan, s e e A. Milne, " T h e D r y S u m m e r o n t h e U p p e r Nile," Scottish Geographical Magazine 16 (1900), pp. 89-91. Tolstoy's o b s e r v a t i o n s o n t h e a g r a r i a n crisis that b e g a n with t h e 1896-97 c r o p failures ("La F a m i n e e n Russie e n 1898") w a s p u b l i s h e d in La Revtte socialiste (Paris), 1898, pp. 129-42. In Milan, t h e a r m y m a s s a c r e d 80 b r e a d rioters o n 8 May 1898 ( s e c Offer, p. 220).
the Early Fourteenth Century,
Impact of Cattle Epizootics in •i Economic History 26 (1998), p. >-1935, Addis A b a b a 1968, pp. ypia: A Rural History, 1900-1935, 16, p. 101.
73. David i andes, The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present, C a m b r i d g e 1969, p. 231. 74. Elizabeih Isichei, A History of African Societies to 1S70, C a m b r i d g e 1997, p. 293. 75. David A r n o l d , " T o u c h i n g the B o d y : Perspectives on t h e I n d i a n Plague, 1896-1900," Subaltern Studies 5 (1987), p. 74. 76. Esherick, p. 300; a n d David Little, Understanding Peasant C h u m , New H a v e n , C o n n . 1989, pp. 152-3 (quote). 77. A r t h u r S m i t h , China in Convtdsion, vol. 1, E d i n b u r g h 1901, p. 219; and A. Broomhall, China's Open Century, Book Seven, p. 3 0 6 . 78. Delia Cava, p. 55. 79. Charles Ambler, Kenyan Communities in the Age of fmperiaiism, New H a v e n . C o n n . 1988, p. 3. 80. J o h n Lonsdale, " T h e E u r o p e a n S c r a m b l e a n d C o n q u e s t in African H i s t o r y , " in Oliver a n d S a n d e r s o n , p. 692.
r
or Africa: A Political Biography of
1 Economic History, pp. 216-20. >alism, "since n o s u c h practices er severity" (p. 90).
>. 94. d to Lake R u d o l f , "
-n Years' Captivity
417
Geographical
in the iVlahdi's
ford 1958, pp. 157-60.
Notes to Chapter 5
yssinifl, L o n d o n 1901, p. 106. m, 1984-1985, O x f o r d 1989, p p
T h e q u o t e a p p e a r s in H . M. H y n d m a n , 7'he Jjfmfcniptcy of India, L o n d o n 1SH6, p. vi. 1. "Presidential Address at L u c k n o w C o n g r e s s , " (Dec. 1899) in R o m e s h C h u n d e r D u l l , Romesh Chunder Dutt, N e w Delhi 1968, p. 202. 2. Loveday, p. 65. 3. Michelle McAlpin, "Price M o v e m e n t s a n d Fluctuations in E c o n o m i c Activity (1860-1947). in D h a r m a K u m a r (ed.), Cambridge Economic History of India, C a m b r i d g e 19S3, pp. 8 8 6 - 8 . See also Sir J o h n Strachey, India, L o n d o n 1894, pp. 184-5. 4. A u g u s t i n Filon, " L ' I n d e d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i d ' a p r e s les ecrivains indiens: L La Situation e c o n o m i q u e e t la vie p u b l i q u e , " Revue des deux mondes, N o v . - D e c . 1899, p. 381. 5. R a s h m i P a n d e , The Viceroyalty of Lord Elgin II, Patna 1986, p. 131. 6. P r e m a n s u k u m a r B a n d y o p a d h y a y , Indian Famine and Agrarian Problems, Calcutta, p. 231.
tidan Notes and Records 48, Khatidon 1897, p- 274.
; e n A f r i q u e noire," Histoire, econ-
4
418
[.ATI-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
7. T h e s t e e p decline of British a g r i c u l t u r e is vividly illustrated by t h e c o n t r a s t b e t w e e n t h e h a r v e s t of 80 million b u s h e l s in 1884 a n d t h e m e a g e r 37 million bushels h a r v e s t e d in 1895 (Marcello de C e c c o , The biternational Gold Standard: Money and Empire, N e w York 1984, p. 25). 8. T h u s in an O c t o b e r 1896 l e t t e r t h e c o l l e c t o r of G o d a v a r i c o m p l a i n e d t h a t d e s p i t e a b o u n t i f u l locaL l u r v e s t , g r a i n prices " d e p e n d a l m o s t entirely on t h e c o n d i t i o n in o t h e r p a r t s of India" ( q u o t e d in A. S a t y a n a n a r a y a n a , " E x p a n s i o n of C o m m o d i t y P r o d u c t i o n a n d Agrarian M a r k e t , " in L u d d e n [1994], p. 207). S a t y a n a n a r a y a n a p r o v i d e s a u s e f u l overview of t h e c o m p l e x d e b a t e o n t h e d e g r e e of i n t e g r a t i o n a n d a u t o m a t i c price m o v e m e n t in local, n a t i o n a l and i n t e r n a t i o n a l m a r k e t s by t h e late n i n e t e e n t h century. 9. G. Chesney, F a m i n e a n d Controversy," The Nineteenth Century, M a r c h 1902, p p . 479 (preexisting d r o u g h t in C e n t r a l Provinces a n d R a j p u t a n a ) a n d 481 (price o f millet). 10. The Times, 18 J a n . 1897. 11. Q u o t e d in B. Bhatia, " T h e ' E n t i t l e m e n t A p p r o a c h ' t o Famine Analysis," in G. Harrison (ed.), Famine. O x f o r d 1988, pp. 39-40. 12. M o u l t o n , p. 1 7. 13. Bandyopadheay, p. 140. 14. Spectator, 30 Jan. 1897. 15. " F r o m A h m e d n a g a r , " 16 Oct., in New York Times, 22 Nov. 1896. 16. M a r g a r e t D e n n i n g , Mosaics from India, C h i c a g o 1902, pp. 168-9. 17. "Sir Edwin Arnold o n t h e F a m i n e in India," r e p r i n t e d from t h e Nort/i American Review (March 1897) in t h e Review of Reviews, April 1897, p. 459. 18." "Pestilence and F a m i n e in India," Spectator, 16 Jan. 1897, p. 81. 19. S. N. Kulkarni, Famines, Droughts and Scarcitics in India (Relief Measures and Policies), Allahabad 1990, p. 1(S; a n d H a r i Srivastava, The History of Indian Famines, A g r a 196S, pp. 205 a n d 226; Bandvopadhyay, pp. 14-16. 20. Bandyopadhvay, ibid. 21. Ibid., p. 231. 22. Ibid., p. 39. 23. As C u r r i e p o i n t s o u t , m o s t o f the a p p a r a t u s of t h e N e w P o o r Law of 1834 w a s i m p o r t e d into India, except " u n d e r n o r m a l conditions, t h e r e w a s no c o m m i t m e n t t o the m a i n t e n a n c e of ilu- ' d e s e r v i n g ' p o o r " (p. 4 9 ) . 24. Singh, p. 110 25. G e o r g e L a m b e r t , India, The Horror-Stricken Empire, Elkhart, ind. 1898, p. 144. 26. Loveday, pp. ,S8-9. 27. L a m b e r t , pp. 99-100. 28. Pepper, p. 59. 29. Ibid., pp. 318-19. 30. G. T h o m a s , History of Photography in India, 1840-1980, P o n d i c h e r r y 1981, p. 28. For a British h o w l of p r o t e s t against "misleading" f a m i n e p h o t o g r a p h s , see j . Rees, " F i g h t i n g t h e F a m i n e in India," The Nineteenth Century, M a r c h 1897, pp. 358-61. 31. Sir A n d r e w Eraser, Among Rajas and Ryots, L o n d o n 1911, pp. 111-25. 32. J o h n McLane, /ndtan Nationalism and the Early Congress, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1977, p. 71. 33. O n Tilak a n d t h e Irish, see FI. Brasted, "Irish Models a n d the Indian N a t i o n a l C o n -
g r e s s , 1870-1 '22." in Masseio.s. [ 34. E. Pratt. "India and H e r Pri 35. Mcl.ane. p. 29. 36. H. ftirdwood. "The R e c e n t (er G e o g n t f / n \ . S o c i e t y . 1S9S, pj: Bihar: Cava a n d Shnhabad distri< 37. Rajnnrnv.m C l u n d a v a r k . i r . in T e r e n c e R . m g e r and Paul SLic 38. F. B. S n m h . Florence Sigh11 >: 39. Ira Klein. "Urban D e v e l o p i Studies 20:4 < 1 1, p. 748. 40. Radhik.i F.urmsubban a n d f S u j a t a Parel a n d Alice T h i n n e r ( 41. Klein, p. 734. 42. See the Spectator, 16 J a n n . i r 43. O n unrest o v e r grain prices the Body: Slate Medicine an:< p. 226 (he is w r i t i n g about KS99 -1 9 5 . See figures in 'I'he Times tI .o 96. Scott, p. 153. 97. Ibid. 9S. Eddy, p. 25. 99. O n Naoroji's and D u n ' s di: t u r n towards t h e Socialists, see i\ a n d J. K. Gupta, Life and Wotk of H 1986), pp. 240-44, 318-19 a n d e w i t h i n t h e Indian National C o n g ? ish Christian socialists and i m p e r 1877-1914, P r i n c e t o n , N.J., esp. p
Fabianism and Colonialism: The I. 1988. 100. R a y m o n d Challinor, The O S D F ) . At the 1904 A m s t e r d a m ( " G r e a t Britain w i t h the mark o f ( i n c l u d i n g H y n d m a n , Jaurcs, Lu> of t h e Indian f a m i n e dead, t h e n £
STS
ltd Agrarian Pro Menu, pp. 193 tries Lyall in 1898) w a s m a d e (1901), p. 135. r Central Provinces, 1820-1920, •Ha, L o n d o n 1898, pp. 129-30. ffed at by J. Rees in The Nine'se n o t radically different t h a n ' L o n d o n itself w e r e collected ' o u l d t h i n k it o t h e r t h a n a sad
•., N e w York 1938, p. 295. (August 1897), pp. 3 7 9 - 8 2 zd equally s h o c k i n g a c c o u n t s w e r e left o u t in t h e o p e n , t o ly t h e s e p e o p l e w e r e e x p o s e d I w a s t o l d t h a t they h a d b e e n ; t o remain under observation i p t o m s of c o n t a g i o u s disease lad lain t h e r e for t h r e e o r f o u r :re all the next f o r e n o o n . Pos. t o t h e inhospitable s h e l t e r of o n each individual b u n d l e , a n d 'ith b a t t a l i o n s of flies g o r g i n g Klopsch f o u n d the "indescrib5 relate ( q u o t e d in Pepper, pp. 3. 64-7. ly's Work. L o n d o n 1898, p. 203. iitan 23:3 (July 1897). f a m i n e of 1877 killed s o m e t e n t t h e p r e s e n t o n e will p r o b a b l y
)igby, "Prosperous" British India, der 1977, pp. 1 - 3 . R a m a g e is a in All-India S u m m e r M o n s o o n 57-301.
mbay Presidency, 1899-1902, vol.
NOTES
1, B o m b a y 1903, p. 114. 77. R a m a g e , p. 4. 78. Pierre Loti, India, English translation by G e o r g e Inman, L o n d o n 1995, pp. 145-6. 79. Bombay, Report, vol. 1, p. 3. SO. V a u g h a n Nash, The Great Famine and Its Causes, L o n d o n 1900, p. 12. 81. Scott, pp. 142-3. 82. Frederick L a m b , Tfie Gospel and the Mala: The Story of the Hyderabad Wesleyan Mission, M y s o r e 1913, p. 49. 83. Scott, pp. 31-2. 84. Singh, pp. 113-1S. 85. Bombay, Report, vol. 1, pp. 3 a n d 83 (artisans a n d mill w o r k e r s ) . 86. C h a r l e s w o r t h , " R i c h Peasants a n d Poor Peasants," pp. 1 1 0 - 1 1 . 87. M c L a n e , pp. 26-7. 88. C . J . O ' D o n n e l l , T/ie Failure of Lord Curzon, L o n d o n 1903, pp. 37-41. 89. Q u o t e d in C. R a m a g e , p. 5. 90. O ' D o n n e l l , p. xviii. 91. Nash, p. 171. 92. Bandyopadhyay, pp. 6 3 - 7 and 226. 93. B e r n a r d S e m m e l , Tfie Liberal Meal find the Demons of Empire, Baltimore 1993, p. 109. "Never since t h e C r i m e a n War, n e v e r perhaps s i n c e t h e d e a t h o f Castlereagh in 1822," w r o t e D u t t , "has I m p e r i a l i s m b e e n so r a m p a n t in E n g l a n d ; n e v e r have the h i g h e r instincts o f h u m a n i t y and justice, o f respect towards rival nations, a n d fairness t o w a r d s s u b j e c t nations, b e e n at a l o w e r e b b " ( q u o t e d in R o m e s h C h u n d e r D u t t , RomcsJt C/tunder Dntt, N e w Delhi 1968, p. 63). 94. S. T h o r b u r n , Problems of Indian Poverty, Fabian Tract N o . 110, L o n d o n , M a r c h 1902, p. 226 (he is w r i t i n g a b o u t 1899-1901 95. See figures in The Times ( L o n d o n ) , 17 Feb. 1900. 96. Scott, p. 153. 97. Ibid. 98. Eddy, p. 25. 99. O n N a o r o j i ' s a n d D u t t ' s d i s e n c h a n t m e n t w i t h British Liberalism a n d t h e f o r m e r ' s t u r n t o w a r d s the Socialists, see Masani. pp. 201, 4 0 0 - 4 0 2 a n d 432; Dutt, p p . 6 2 - 3 and 79; a n d ). K. G u p t a , Life and Work of Komcsh Chunder Dutta, CIE, C a l c u t t a 1911 ( r e p r i n t e d D e l h i 1986), pp. 240-44, 3 1 8 - 1 9 and especially 458. O n d e m o r a l i z a t i o n and l a c k o f direction w i t h i n t h e Indian N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s d u r i n g the f a m i n e s , see M c L a n c , pp. 130-31. On British Christian socialists a n d imperialism, sec P e t e r d ' A . Jones, The Christian Socialist Revival J877—J9J4, P r i n c e t o n , N.J., c s p pp. 198-205; a n d o n Fabian imperialism, s e e Francis L e e , Fabianism and Colonialism: The Life and Political Thought of Lord Sydney Olivier, L o n d o n 1988. 100. R a y m o n d ChaJlinor, The Origins of British Bolshevism, L o n d o n 1977, p. 15 (Falkirk SDF). At t h e 1904 A m s t e r d a m C o n g r e s s of t h e Socialist I n t e r n a t i o n a l , w h i c h b r a n d e d " G r e a t Britain with t h e m a r k of s h a m e for its t r e a t m e n t of I n d i a , " a t h o u s a n d d e l e g a t e s (including H y n d m a n , J a u r e s , L u x e m b u r g and L e n i n ) s t o o d in silence in c o m m e m o r a t i o n o f t h e Indian f a m i n e d e a d , t h e n gave Naoroji a r a p t u r o u s a p p l a u s e w h e n h e declared t h a t
csBntfoc^tose
"T 42Z
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
the liberation of India from hunger and the drain of wealth "rests in the hands of che working classes. Working men constitute the immense majority of the people of India, and they appeal to the workmen of the whole world, and ask for their help and sympathy " (Masani, pp, 431-2). 101. Nash, pp. 179-80. 102. Ibid., pp. 19-33. 103. Ibid., pp. 19, 173 and 181. 104. Bombay, Report, vol. 1, p. 91 105. Klein, p. 752. 106. Ibid., p. 54. 107. On Kholapur, see Merewether, pp. 27-8. 108. Goradia, pp. 71-4 and 146. 109. Scott, pp. 113-14. 110. Loti, pp. 171-2. 111. Ibid., p. 172. 112. Kuldeep Mathur and Nirajajayal, Drought, Policy and Politics, New Delhi 1993, p. 63. 113. Scott, p. 107. 114. "The outturn of crops which was in the previous year 27,710,258 Indian maunds fell in 1899-1900 to 1,174,923 Indian maunds" (R. Choksey, Economic Life in the Bombay Gujarat [1800-1939], Bombay 1968, p. 171). 115. Ibid; and Scott, pp. 107-8. Choksey estimates that about half of the cattle (or 800,000 head) in Gujarat perished (p. 176). 116. Sherwood Eddy, India Awakening, New York 1911. p. 24. 117. Scott, ibid. 118. Quoted in Pepper, pp. 82-3. 219. Vasant Kaiwar, "The Colonial State, Capital and the Peasantry in Bombay Presidency," Modern Asian Studies, 28:4 (1994), p. 813. 120. Bombay, Report, p. 100. 121. Choksey, p. 44. 122. Eddy, ibid. 123. Klein, "When the Rains Failed," p. 205. 124. J. C o e , " C o n g r e s s and the Tribals in Surat District in t h e 1920s," in Masselos, pp. 60-62. 125. "A lady w r i t i n g f r o m A h m e d a b a d , " q u o t e d in ibid., p. 36. 126. Choksey, p. 44.
127. Bombay, Report, p. 95. 128. Nash, pp. 9-10. 129. David Hardiman, "The Crisis of Lesser Pattdars: Peasant Agitations in Kheda District, Gujarat, 1917-34," in D. Low (ed.), Congress and the Raj, London 1977, pp. 55-6. 130. Baker, p. 231. 131. Ibid., p. 198. 132. Bombay, Report, pp. 5-6. 133. Tim Dyson, "On the Demography of South Asian Famines - Part 1," Population Studies 45 (1991), pp. 16 and 22.
134. Dutt, Romesh C/mnder Dutt, i 135. A r u p M a h a r a u i a , The Dcmo^ 1996. p. 15 (Table 1.1); Stein. T h . . p . 173. 136. Speech to t h e Legislative C
Cambridge History of India, 3:3), C.i 146. Bandyopadhyay, pp. 192 a n d . 147. S u m i t Sarkar, Modern India: 1 148. W a k i m u r a , p. 301; and C h o k
149. Report of the Indian Famine C Rains Failed." p. 204 fr.33.
N o t e s to C h a p t e r 6 T h e e p i g r a p h a p p e a r s in F u c l v d c s S a m u e l P u t n a m . C h i c a g o 1944, p.
1. Pepper, Lije- Work of Lotus Klo I.
Francis Nichols. 77nong/i /7i82 a m 38. S m i t h , vol. 2. p. The Ja C h i n a in the 1930s. w i c the hoio b s e r v e r s for t h e i r b u n ; . m e a n d r< 39. E,|. Dillon, " T h e hmesc VV Times, 27Jan. 1901 40. Ibid. 41. J o s e p h Page. The /\; uihit 1972, pp. 26-7. 42. Vera Kelsey, Seven Keys to lire 43. R o b e r t Levitie, \'.:/e of' Fear: 1S93-1S97, Berkeley 19^2. pp. 3 4 - J 44. Levinc, pp. 193-2(1 i and 229. 45. ibid., pp. 139, 151 .md 1 59 6 46. Ibid., pp. 1 3 2 - 3 and 229-31. 47. Ibid., pp 142- 6. 4S. O n the d r o u g h t in 189,S ai: L o n d o n 1971. p. 41. According t o 1 tute f o r Climate Prediction (Univt the N o r d e s t e h a d a rainfall a n o n next m o s t severe d r o u g h t 1191 5) n t h r o u g h 1906 w e r e in the driest h i c m ' ' ' m o n t h , ( d a t a b a s e at iri.ucsd.e 49. L.evine, pp. I 64-5. 50. Ibid., p. 177. 51. Ibid., p. 178. 52. Da C u n h a , p. 475 53. Leviue. p. 19(1. 54. Delia Cava, ibid. 55. I.evine, p. 1-IS. 56. Delia Cava, p. 89. 57. (.'.. Kim and H a n - K v o Kim, i 1967, pp. 116-17. 5S. P i e r r e van d e r Eng. "The R e rions in Economic Historv 1902. p p . 5C). Furnivall, p. 232. 60. See R. Elson, " T h e Famine i a i m s t a n c e s . " Review of Indonesian 61. H u g e n h o l z , pp. 17S 9 62. R. Elson. " F r o m States' t o d u c t i o n in M i d - N i n e t e e n t h Ccnti:
i STS
'a g e n e r a l .Top failure in t h e to t h e i n u n d a t i o n .
xperioiee, rim/ M_yf/t, N e w York
t History, 2'i:3-4 (1987), p. 54. p r o v i d e Klopsch w i t h a trans> India. C h i n a , " in C . Blakeslee (ed.), ry," Ph.D. diss., P r i n c e t o n UniS1-1868, Paris 1961, p. 127. e of Bai Lang, a C h i n e s e Brig-
luote); T i e d e m a n n , p. 156. r M o v e m e n t and T h e i r Characn t h e s a m e issue. Liao Yizhong existence o f any "anti-feudal" H e b c i (pp. 186-7). lie in Revolutionary Fiancc, N e w
ssionary Family During the Boxer rah Alice (Trover) Young, letter y G r a h a m Center. crions t o t h e d r o u g h t in t h e Bei-
Letters and Diaries of Charles and (letters of Sept. a n d O c t . 1899). urn, L o n d o n 1904, pp. 6, 85, 195
NOTES
425
a n d 244 (song). 35. Price, p. 224. 36. Austin, p. 75. 37. Fsherick, pp. xv-xvi, 282 and 2 9 1 - 2 . 58. S m i t h , vol. 2. p. 716. T h e J a p a n e s e , in c o n t r a s t t o the b a r b a r i t i e s of t h e i r a r m i e s in C h i n a in t h e 1930s, w e r e t h e h o n o r a b l e exception, a n d were p r a i s e d by all i n d e p e n d e n t o b s e r v e r s for t h e i r h u m a n e and r e s p e c t f u l t r e a t m e n t o f Chinese civilians. 39. F.J. Dillon, " T h e C h i n e s e Wolf a n d the E u r o p e a n Lamb," e x c e r p t e d in t h e New York Times, 2 7 J a n . 1901. 40. Ibid. 41. J o s e p h Page, The Revolution That Never Was: Northeast Brazil, 1955-1964, N e w York 1972, pp. 26- 7. 42. Vera Kelsey, Seven Keys to Brazil, N e w York 1941. p. 172. 43. R o b e r t Levine, Vale of Tears: Revisiting the Canudos Massacre in Northeastern Brazil, 1893-1897, Berkeley 1992, pp. 34-8. 44. Levine, p p . 1 9 3 - 2 0 3 a n d 229. 45. Ibid., pp. 139, 151 a n d 159-61. 46. Ibid., pp. 132-3 a n d 229-31. 47. Ibid., p p 142-6. 48. O n t h e d r o u g h t in 1898 and 1900, see C h a r l e s Wagley, An /ntroriuction to Brazil, L o n d o n 1971, p. 41. A c c o r d i n g to historical statistics f r o m the I n t e r n a t i o n a l R e s e a r c h Instit u t e for C l i m a t e P r e d i c t i o n (University o f California, San Diego), t h e 1897-98 d r o u g h t in t h e N o r d e s t e h a d a rainfall a n o m a l y o f -8.15 c m / m o n t h . In t h e f o l l o w i n g century, t h e n e x t m o s t severe d r o u g h t (1915) m e a s u r e d - 3 . 3 c m / m o n t h . M o r e o v e r , all y e a r s f r o m 1897 t h r o u g h 1906 w e r e in t h e driest historical tercile a n d h a d rainfall a n o m a l i e s o f at least - 1 . 4 c m / m o n t h , ( d a t a b a s e at i r i . u c s d . e d u / h o t _ n i n o / i m p a c t s / n s _ a m e r / i n d e x ) . 49. Levine, pp. 164-5. 50. Ibid., p. 177. 51. Ibid., p. 178. 52. Da C u n h a , p. 475. 53. Levine, p. 190. 54. Delia C a v a , ibid. 55. Levine, p. 148. 56. Delia C a v a , p. 89. 57. C. K i m a n d H a n - K y o Kim, Korea and the Polities of Imperialism, 1876-1910, Berkeley 1967, pp. 116-17. 58. Pierre v a n d c r Eng. " T h e Real D o m e s t i c P r o d u c t of I n d o n e s i a , 1880-1989," Explorations in Economic H\stoiy 1992, pp. 355 a n d 358. 59. Furnivall, p. 232. 60. See R. Elson, " T h e F a m i n e in D e m a k and G r o b o g a n in 1849-50; Its C a u s e s and Circ u m s t a n c e s , " Review of htdonesian and Malaysian Affairs 19:1 (1985). 61. H u g e n h o l z , pp. 1 7 8 - 9 62. R. E l s o n , " F r o m 'States' to State: T h e C h a n g i n g R e g i m e o f Peasant E x p o r t Prod u c t i o n in M i d - N i n e t e e n t h C c n u i r y J a v a . " in J. L i n d b l a d (ed.). Historical Foundations of a
L A T 11 V I C T O R I A N
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National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s-l90s, A m s t e r d a m 1996, p. 128. . 63. Ricklefs, pp. 124- 5. 64. H u g c n h o l z . ibid. 65. H . Dick, " T h e E m e r g e n c e o f a N a t i o n a l E c o n o m y , 1808-1990s," in Linblad, p. 36. 66. Ritklefs, pp. 151 3. 67. M a r t i n e z Duesta, p. 260, 6S. Ken D e Bevoisc, Agents of Apocalvpsc: Epidemic Disease in the Colonial Philippines, P r i n c e t o n . N.j. P->95, pp. 6 0 - 6 2 a n d 447. 69. Ibid., pp. -11-2 a n d 158-60. 70. Ibid., p p 63-6, 177 a n d 181-2. 71. Ibid., p. 65. 72. Brian Linn. Guardians of Empire: The US Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940, C h a p e l Hill, N . C . 1997, p. 14. 73. Dc Bevoise. pp. 13 a n d 65; see also M a t t h e w S m a l l m a n - R a y n o r a n d A n d r e w Cliff, " T h e Philippines I n s u r r e c t i o n a n d the 1902-04 C h o l e r a E p i d e m i c : P a r t I - E p i d e m i o l o g i cal D i f f u s i o n Processes in W a r , " Journal of Historical Geography 24:1 (1998), pp. 6 9 - 8 9 . 74. Billig. p. 159. 75. Violeta L o p e z - G o n z a g a a n d Michelle D e c e n a , " N e g r o s in T r a n s i t i o n : 1899-1905," Philippine Studies 38 (1990), p. 112. 76. McCoy, pp. 120-22. 77. Robin Palmer, " T h e A g r i c u l t u r a l H i s t o r y of R h o d e s i a , " in P a l m e r a n d P a r s o n s , p. 223. 7S. S. N i c h o l s o n , " T h e H i s t o r i c a l C l i m a t o l o g y of Africa," in W i g l e y , pp. 262-3. 79. J o h n Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, N e w York 1998, p. 587. 80. C o i p i e r y - V i d r o v i t c h , pp. 495 a n d 502; A. Milne, " T h e D r y S u m m e r o n t h e U p p e r Nile." Scoffi.di Geogra/>liieal Magazine 16 (1899), pp. 89-90; a n d Q u i n n , 'A S t u d y o f S o u t h e r n O s c i l l a t i o n - R e l a t e d C l i m a t i c Activity," p. 144. 81. O n t h e d r o u g h t - f a m i n e in S w a z i l a n d in 1896-97, s e e Neil P a r s o n s a n d R o b i n P a l m e r , " I n t r o d u c t i o n : Historical B a c k g r o u n d , " in P a l m e r a n d P a r s o n s (eds.), The Roots of Rural Poverty in Centraland Southern Ajrica, Berkeley 1977, p. 17. 82. T. O. Ranger, K n o l l in Southern Rhodesia, 1896-7. L o n d o n 1967, p. 148. 83. J o h n llifle. Famine in Zimbabwe, pp. 2 1 - 3 0 . 84. C h a r l e s Ambler, The Great Famine in Central Kenya 1897-1900, N a i r o b i 1977, pp. 122-8 a n d 143. ( O n the p l a g u e a n d t h e railroad, see P e t e r C u r s o n a n d Kevin M c C r a c k e n , Plague in Sidney: Tfie Anatomy of an Hpideintc. K e n s i n g t o n , p. 31.) 85. H.J. M a c k i n d e r . The First AscaU of Mount Kenya, e d . K. M i c h a e l B a r b o u r , L o n d o n 1991, pp. 82-5. T h i s a c c o u n t w a s never p u b l i s h e d in t h e a u t h o r ' s lifetime, its e d i t o r explains, t o p r e v e n t d i s c l o s u r e o f an atrocity: eight of t h e e x p e d i t i o n ' s SwahiSi p o r t e r s w e r e e x e c u t e d at M a c k i n d e r ' s o r d e r (pp. 22-3). 86. 87. cent 88. 89.
A m b l e r , ibid. D. Low, "British East Africa: T h e E s t a b l i s h m e n t o f British Rule, 1895-1912," i n VinH a r l o w et al. (eds.), History of East Africa, vol. 2, O x f o r d 1965, pp. 4 - 5 . Marcia W r i g h t , "East Africa, 1870-1905," in Oliver a n d S a n d e r s o n , p. 576. Isichei, p. 454; a n d A m b l e r , p. 146.
90 91. 92. and t 93.
: ow, pp. 16-17. M a c k i n d e r , p. 99. Frederick C o o p e r . From Sla Mstai Kenya, /vw I >. Ne i o\v, pp. 1 K) i i .
94. ibid., p. I t 1; and W r i g h t , p. 95. Limes G i b l i n . The Politics of P h i l a d e l p h i a 1992, pp. 90 9 ) . | u 96. I .eroy Vail a n d L a n d e g W h One!; 'laneDi.urief, M i n n e a p o l i s 1 97. Allen a n d B a r b a r a I s a a c m a t Valle-. ISW-IV2I, Berkeley 1976. f. 98. I hid., pp. 134-42. 9 9 . Palmer, ibid. 100. \ m b l e r . p. 149. 101. r o m l i n s o n , p. 195. 102. [airu.s lianaji, "Capitalist D o in t h e Late 19th C e n t u r y , " in G y a r India. I )elhi 199-1, p. 123. 103. Sunlit C u b a , The Agrarian E( 104. I'anaji, pp. 1 2 3 - 4 ; A r n o l d . " [ 105. < ;harl9. •; and Pari. Papers. C h i n a No. 2 veen El N i n o Event and A t m o . Kyle a n d C . C h a n g (eds.), Pro\ W e s t e r n Pacific M e t e o r o l o g y 39. ie Yellow River Runs Dry and its Z . Yang et al., " Yellow River's 79:48 (1 D c c . 1998), p. 592. stern China During the Colder
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pp. 3001—6. 61. A n d r e w S c u r m a n a n d Nigel T a p p e r , The Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand, M e l b o u r n e 1996, pp. 3 6 7 - 7 0 . 62. P a o - S h i n C h u , " H a w a i i a n D r o u g h t a n d t h e S o u t h e r n O s c i l l a t i o n , " Inter. J. Climatol. 9 (1989), p. 628. 63. T h o m a s S c h r o e d e r , " C l i m a t e C o n t r o l s , in M a r i e S a n d e r s o n (ed.), Climate and Weather in Hawaii, H o n o l u l u 1993, p. 17. 64. " S u m m a r y o f D r o u g h t A r o u n d t h e W o r l d , A u g u s t - S e p t e m b e r 1998," N a t i o n a l D r o u g h t Mitigation Center. 65. A n t o n i o M o u r a a n d j a g a d i s h S h u k l a , " O n t h e D y n a m i c s of D r o u g h t s in N o r t h e a s t Brazil: O b s e r v a t i o n s , T h e o r y a n d N u m e r i c a l E x p e r i m e n t s w i t h a G e n e r a l C i r c u l a t i o n M o d e l , " J o u r n a l of the Atmospheric Sciences 34 • D e c e m b e r 1981), pp. 2653 ( q u o t e ) and 2654. 66. W e b b , p. 44. 67. V e r n o n Kousky, " F r o n t a l I n f l u e n c e s o n N o r t h e a s t Brazil," Monthly 1 0 7 ( 1 9 7 9 ) , pp. 1140-53.
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68. H a l l , pp. 16-17. 69. G i l b e r t W a l k e r , " C e a r a (Brazil) F a m i n e s a n d t h e G e n e r a l Air M o v e m e n t , " Beitr. z. Phys.derfreien Atmosphare 14 (1928), pp. 8 8 - 9 3 . 70. Cf. J o s e G a s q u e s a n d A n t o n i o M a g a l h a c s . " C l i m a t e A n o m a l i e s a n d T h e i r I m p a c t s in Brazil D u r i n g t h e 1982-83 E N S O E v e n t , " in G l a n t z , K a t z a n d K r e n z , pp. 3 1 - 2 ; a n d P a o Shin C h u , "Brazil's C l i m a t e A n o m a l i e s a n d E N S O , " in M i c h a e l G l a n t z , R i c h a r d K a t z , and N e v i l l e N i c h o l l s (eds.), Telcconnt'ctions Linking Worldwide Climate Anomalies, C a m b r i d g e 1991, pp. 5 6 - 6 1 . 71. Cf. R o d o l f o T e o f i l o , A Scca de 1915, F o r t e i e z a 1980, 129-31; a n d Kiladis a n d D i a z , pp. 1038-40. 72. P a o - S h i n C h u , pp. 6 4 - 5 . 73. S e e Kiladis a n d Diaz, ibid.; a n d d a t a a t i r i . u c s d . e d u / h o t _ N i n o / i i n p a c t s / n s _ a m e r / index.html. 74. C . C a v i e d e s , " T h e Effects of E n s o l i v e n t s in S o m e Key R e g i o n s o f t h e S o u t h A m e r i can C o n t i n e n t , " in Stanley G r e g o r y (ed.), Recent Climate Change, L o n d o n 1988, p p . 2 5 2 - 3 a n d 264. 75. C a r l o s Malpica, Croniea del Hambreen
e! Pen;, Lima 1966, pp. 1 6 1 - 3 .
76. C a v i e d e s , ibid. 77. G r e g o r y Asner, Alan T o w n s e n d a n d B o b b y Braswell, "Satellite O b s e r v a t i o n o f El N i n o E f f e c t s o n A m a z o n Forest P h e n o l o g y a n d P r o d u c t i v i t y , " Geophysical Research Letters 27:7 (1 April 2000), p. 981. 78. B e t t y M e g g e r s , "Archeological E v i d e n c e for t h e I m p a c t of M e g a - N i n o E v e n t s on A m a z o n i a D u r i n g t h e Past T w o Millennia," Climaric Change 28 (1994), p. 330. 79. Allan, L i n d e s a y a n d P a r k e r , p. 65. 80. M i g u e l G o n z a l e z , " P r o b a b l e R e s p o n s e of t h e P a r a n a River D e l t a ( A r g e n t i n a ) ;o F u t u r e W a r m t h a n d Rising Sea I .evel," f Coast. Res. Spec. Issue 17 (1995), pp. 219-20. 81. J o s e R u t l l a n t a n d H u m b e r t o F u e n z a l i d a , " S y n o p t i c A s p e c t s o f t h e C e n t r a l Chile R a i n f a l l Variability A s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e S o u t h e r n O s c i l l a t i o n , " International Journal of Cli-
\
6
matology 11 . pp. 3 8 6 - 9 1 . 134. T. B a u m g a r t n e r et al., " T h e R e c o r d i n g o f I n t e r a n n u a l C l i m a t i c C h a n g e b y H i g h R e s o l u t i o n N a t u r a l S y s t e m s : T r e e - R i n g s , C o r a l Bands, Glacial Ice Layers, and M a r i n e Varves," Geophysical Monograph 55 (1989), pp. 1 - 1 4 .
Notes to Chapter 9 T h e e p i g r a p h is f r o m Isaacs, Scratches on Our Minds: American N e w York 1958, p. 273.
Images of China and
India,
1. F o r a typically cavalier view, s e e R o l a n d Lardinois, " F a m i n e , E p i d e m i c s and M o r t a l ity in S o u t h India: A R e a p p r a i s a l o f t h e D e m o g r a p h i c Crisis of 1876-187S." Economic and Political Weekly 20:111 (16 M a r c h 1985), p. 454. 2. E m m a n u e l Le R o y L a d u r i e , Tmcs of Feast, Times of Famine: A History of Climate Since the Year 1000, G a r d e n City, N.Y. 1971, p. 119. 3. R a y m o n d W i l l i a m s , Problems in Materialism and Culture, L o n d o n 1980, p. 67. 4. W h e n it s e r v e d t h e i r i n t e r e s t s , o f c o u r s e , t h e British c o u l d s w i t c h e p i s t e m o i o g i e s . In t h e case of l a t e - n i n e t e e n t h - c c n t u r y C h i n a , for e x a m p l e , t h e British a n d t h e i r allies p r i m a r ily b l a m e d Q i n g c o r r u p t i o n , n o t d r o u g h t , f o r t h e m i l l i o n s o f f a m i n e d e a t h s . 5. K u e h , pp. 4 - 5 . 6. J a r e d D i a m o n d , Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, N e w York 1997, pp. 4 2 4 - 5 . 7. R e 1743-44: " a n o t h e r e x c e p t i o n a l p e r i o d in the e a s t e r n h e m i s p h e r e , w h i c h c o r r e s p o n d s w i t h Q N El N i n o of 1744, a l t h o u g h c o n d i t i o n s w e r e m o r e m a r k e d l y d r y in t h e east in 1743" ( W h e t t o n a n d R u t h e r f u r d , pp. 2 4 3 - 6 ) . 8. " T h e first Q i n g e m p e r o r e n v i s i o n e d e v e r - n o r m a l g r a n a r i e s in c o u n t y scats, c h a r i t y g r a n a r i e s in m a j o r t o w n s , a n d c o m m u n i t y g r a n a r i e s in t h e c o u n t r y s i d e . E v e r - n o r m a l g r a n a r i e s w e r e t o b e m a n a g e d by m e m b e r s of t h e m a g i s t r a t e ' s staff, w h o w e r e d i r e c t e d to sell, l e n d , o r give a w a y g r a i n in t h e s p r i n g a n d t o m a k e p u r c h a s e s , collect loans, a n d solicit c o n t r i b u t i o n s in the a u t u m n " ( P i e r r c - E t i e n n e Will a n d R. Bin W o n g [ w i t h J a m e s Lee, J e a n O i a n d P e t e r P e r d u e ] , Nourish the People: The State Civilian Granary System in China, 1650-1850, A n n A r b o r , Mich. 1981, p. 19). 9. Will, Bureaucracy and Famine, C h a p t e r s 7 a n d 8. 10. Ibid., pp. 86 and 189. 11. J o h n Post, Food Shortage, Climatic Variability, and Epidemic Disease in Prcindusirial Europe: The Mortality Peak in the Early 17
28. F o o d s e c u r i t y in t h e m i d e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y may h a v e c o n s u m e d 10 p e r c e n t o f a n n u a l Q i n g r e v e n u e . A s W o n g e m p h a s i z e s , " F o r a s t a t e t o s p e n d such s u m s f o r this p u r p o s e o n a r e g u l a r basis f o r w e l l o v e r a c e n t u r y is likely u n i q u e in t h e early m o d e r n w o r l d " ( " Q i n g G r a n a r i e s a n d L a t e I m p e r i a l History," in Will a n d W o n g , p. 477). 29. S a n j a y S h a r m a , " T h e 1837-38 F a m i n e in U.P.: S o m e D i m e n s i o n s of P o p u l a r A c t i o n , " fESHR 30:3 (1993), p. 359.
(man Sodelics, N e w York 1997, ;rn hemisphere, which correm o r e m a r k e d l y d r y in t h e east
30. Bhatia, p. 9. 31. D a r r e n Z o o k , " D e v e l o p i n g I n d i a : T h e H i s t o r y of an I d e a in t h e S o u t h e r n C o u n t r y side, 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 9 0 , " P h . D . diss., U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a , B e r k e l e y 1998, p. 158. T h e Raj w a s built u p o n m y t h o l o g y a n d h a l l u c i n a t i o n . As Z o o k p o i n t s o u t , t h e British u n i v e r s a l l y a t t r i b u t e d t h e r u i n s s c a t t e r e d t h r o u g h t h e Indian c o u n t r y s i d e to t h e d e c a d c n c e o f native civiliz a t i o n s , w h e n , in fact, m a n y w e r e d i r e c t m e m o r i a l s t o t h e v i o l e n c e of British c o n q u e s t (p. 157).
n a r i e s in c o u n t y s e a t s , charity :ountryside. E v e r - n o r m a l grab's staff, w h o w e r e d i r e c t e d to hases, collect l o a n s , a n d solicit . Bin W o n g [ w i t h J a m e s Lee, 'thai! G r a n a r y System in China,
32. S u g a t a Bose a n d A y e s h a jalal, Modem
South Asia, Delhi 1999, p. 43.
33. A s h o k Desai, " P o p u l a t i o n a n d S t a n d a r d s o f Living in Akbar'.s ' L i m e , " IFSfIR (1972), p. 61.
9:1
34. C h e t a n Singh, " F o r e s t s , P a s t o r a l i s t s and A g r a r i a n Society in M u g h a l I n d i a , " in D a v i d A r n o l d a n d R a a c h a n d r a G u h a (eds.), Nature, Culture, Imperialism: Essays on the Flnvironmental History of South Asia, D e l h i 1996, p. 22. 35. H a b i b u l K o n d k e r , " F a m i n e Policies in Pre-British India a n d t h e Q u e s t i o n of M o r a l E c o n o m y , " South Asia 9:1 ( J u n e 1986), pp. 2 5 - 4 0 ; a n d K u l d e e p M a h r u r a n d N i r a j a j a y a l , Drought, Policy and Politics, N e w D e l h i 1993, p. 27. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , c o n t e m p o r a r y d i s c u s s i o n of f a m i n e h i s t o r y b e f o r e 1763 h a s b e e n c o n t a m i n a t e d by H i n d u - v e r s u s - M u s l i m b i c k e r i n g . See, f o r e x a m p l e , t h e a p p a r e n t a n t i - M u s l i m bias in M u s h t a g Kaw, " F a m i n e s in K a s h m i r , 1 5 8 6 - 1 8 1 9 : T h e Policy o f t h e M u g h a l and A f g h a n Rulers," JESHR 33:1 (1996), pp. 59-70.
•idemic Disease in Prcindustrial 5, p. 30. indong During the Qianlong based on Q u i n n chronology. on the o t h e r hand, remained i as w e l l as f a m i n e relief.
36. C . Blair, Indian Famines, L o n d o n 1874, pp. 8 - 1 0 . 37. D a v i d H a r d i m a n , " W e l l I r r i g a t i o n in G u j a r a t : S y s t e m s o f U s e , H i e r a r c h i e s of C o n -
in Will a n d W o n g , p. 76.
J L
V
V
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\USTS 62. K e n n e t h P o m e r a n z , "A F l i g h to " E . H . R . F o r u m : R e - t h i n k i n g
i r o l , " Economic and Political Weekly, 20 J u n e 1998, p. 1537. 38. C o m m i s s i o n q u o t e d in W. R. A y k r o y d , The Conque.< of Famine, L o n d o n 1974, p. 51. S e e also J o h n Richards, The Mughal Empire (The New Cambridge History of India, 1:5), C a m b r i d g e 1993, p. 163. 39. Bagchi, p p . 1 1 - 1 2 a n d 27.
63. P o m e r a n z , " T w o W o r l d s o f ' a n d i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n in a C h i n e s e the Global Economy. L o n d o n 1999, ; 64. S e e S. Patel, " T h e E c o n o m i c a n d O u t l o o k , EconomicJournal. M; u r e s for the a g g r e g a t e n o n - E u r o p < dison,)
40. J. M a l c o l m , A Memoir of Central India, vol. 1, L o n d o n 1931, p. 7, q u o t e d in D. E . U. Baker, Colonialism in an Indian Hinterland: The Central Provinces, 1820-1920, D e l h i 1993, p. 28.
41. Baker, p. 52. 42. J. R i c h a r d s a n d M i c h e l l e McAIpin, " C o t t o n C u l t i v a t i n g a n d L a n d C l e a r i n g in t h e B o m b a y D e c c a n a n d K a r n a t a k : 1 8 1 8 - 1 9 2 0 , " in Richard T u c k e r a n d J. R i c h a r d s (eds.), Global Deforestation and the Nineteenth-Century World Economy, D u r h a m 1983, pp. 71 a n d 74.
65. A l b e r t F e u e r w e r k e r , The Ch 32 -3. 66. P a u l B a i r o c h . " C e o g r a p h i c a T r a d e , f r o m 1 8 0 0 - 1 9 7 0 . " Journal c C.h'en cites 1866 a s the b e g i n n i n g C h i n a (p. 64).
43. Ibid. 44. N a s h , p. 92. 45. G r e e n o u g h , Prosperity and Misery, p. 59. 46. C . W a l f o r d , " T h e F a m i n e s o f t h e W o r l d : P a s t a n d P r e s e n t , " J o u r n a l of the Statistical Society 41:13 (1878), pp. 4 3 4 - 4 2 . I cite W a l f o r d e l s e w h e r e f r o m t h e e x p a n d e d 1879 b o o k v e r s i o n o f this article.
67. J a c k C o l d s t o n e , "Review o f C of World History 2:1 (Spring 2 0 0 0 ) , 68. C a r l T r o c k i , Opium, Empire a
47. M i c h a e l W a t t s , Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria, B e r k e ley 1983, pp. 4 6 2 - 3 . T h i s " n e g o t i a t i o n , " o f c o u r s e , is t w o - s i d e d a n d m u s t i n c l u d e c l i m a t e s h o c k as a n i n d e p e n d e n t variable. 48. W a t t s , pp. 267 a n d 464. 49. H a n s M e d i c k , " T h e P r o t o - I n d u s t r i a ] F a m i l y E c o n o m y a n d t h e S t r u c t u r e s and F u n c t i o n s of P o p u l a t i o n D e v e l o p m e n t u n d e r t h e P r o t o - I n d u s t r i a l S y s t e m , " i n P. Kricdte et al. (eds.), Industrialization Before Industrialization, C a m b r i d g e 1981, p. 45.
70. S e e O ' R o u r k e and W i l l i a m s t
69.
71. H i s t o r i a n s traditionally c o n t s t o n e suggests, t h e m o r e s i g n i f i c a r if C h i n a ' s old i m p e r i a l regime, iik a n d n o t fifty y e a r s later, what t h model army had begun f o r m a u o i b e e n a b l e to e o l o n i z e Korea a n d '1 ( C o l d s t o n e , ibid.).
50. Ibid., pp. 4 4 - 5 . 51. Lewis, Growth and Fluctuations, p. 189. 52. C i t e d in Clive Dewey, " T h e E n d o f t h e I m p e r i a l i s m of Free T r a d e , " p. 35.
72. "India w e a l t h supplied t h e f i and o t h e r s , f u s t t e m p o r a r i l y in l b a f t e r 1783, leaving Britain nearly 1" « r e a i F r e n c h w a r s f r o m 1793" < R Trade. Leicesier 1979, pp. 5 5 6).
53. K e n n e t h P o m e r a n z , The Making of a Hinterland: State, Society, a n d Economy in Inland North China, 1S53-1937, B e r k e l e y 1993. 54. P a u l B a i r o c h , " T h e M a i n T r e n d s in N a t i o n a l E c o n o m i c Disparities S i n c e t h e I n d u s trial R e v o l u t i o n , " in Paul B a i r o c h a n d M a u r i c e L e v y - L e b o y e r (eds.), Disparities in Economic Development Since the Industrial Revolution, L o n d o n 1981, p. 7. 55. Paul B a i r o c h , " I n t e r n a t i o n a l I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n Levels f r o m 1 7 5 0 - 1 9 8 0 , " in Journal European Economic History 11 (1982), p. 107. 56. F r i t j o f T i c h e l m a n , The Social Evolution of Indonesia, T h e H a g u e 1980, p. 30.
73. P Cain a n d A. H o p k i n s . /•>* L o n d o n 1993, p. 334. 74. For a r e c e n t review, see Y o u UK a n d G e r m a n y . 1873 -96,"Journ d a i l y pp. 511 a n d 516. 75. G i o v a n n i A n i g h i . The Long, Times, L o n d o n 1994, p. 263.
of
57. P r a s a n n a n P a r t h a s a r a t h i , " R e t h i n k i n g W a g e s and C o m p e t i t i v e n e s s in E i g h t e e n t h C e n t u r y Britain a n d S o u t h I n d i a , " Past and Present 158 (Feb. 1998), pp. 8 2 - 7 a n d 105-6. 58. D u t t , cited in Eddy, p. 21. 59. Philip H u a n g , The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1990.
76. A. L a t h a m . The Internationa 1978, p. 70. L a t h a m , it should b e in I n d i a , a r g u i n g t h a i the s u b c o n c l i m a t i c faccors, n o t to any deiet< 'Asian S t a g n a t i o n : Real or Relut
1350-1988,
60. W o n g , p. 38. 61. F. W. M o t e , Imperial China, 900-1800,
C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1999, p. 941.
i
4. o
Brian B o n d , Victorian M i l i t a r
T
NOTES
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[Famine,
4 43
62. K e n n e t h P o m e r a n z . "A H i g h S t a n d a r d o f L i v i n g a n d Its I m p l i c a t i o n s , " c o n t r i b u t i o n t o "E. H . R. F o r u m : R e - t h i n k i n g 18th C e n t u r y C h i n a , " I n t e r n e t , 19 Nov. 1997.
L o n d o n 1974, p. 51.
ige Histoiy of India, 1:5), Cam-
63. P o m e r a n z , " T w o W o r l d s of T r a d e , T w o W o r l d s of E m p i r e : E u r o p e a n S t a t e - M a k i n g a n d I n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n in a C h i n e s e M i r r o r , " in D a v i d S m i t h et a h , States a n d Sox-ereignty in the Global Economy, L o n d o n 1999, p. 7 8 ( m y e m p h a s i s ) .
1931, p. 7, q u o t e d in D. E. U.
64. See S. P a t e l , " T h e E c o n o m i c D i s t a n c e B e t w e e n N a t i o n s : Its O r i g i n , M e a s u r e m e n t a n d O u t l o o k , Economic Journal, M a r c h 1964. ( T h e r e is s o m e d i s c r e p a n c y b e t w e e n his figu r e s f o r t h e a g g r e g a t e n o n E u r o p e a n w o r l d a n d t h e l a t e r e s t i m a t e s of B a i r o c h a n d M a d dison.)
•ices, 1820-1920,
Delhi 1993, p.
65. A l b e r t F e u e r w e r k e r . The Chinese Heononty, 1870-1949, A n n A r b o r , M i c h . 1995, p p . 32-3. 66. Paul B a i r o c h , " G e o g r a p h i c a l S t r u c t u r e a n d T r a d e B a l a n c e of E u r o p e a n Foreign T r a d e , from 1 8 0 0 - 1 9 7 0 , " J o u r n a l of European Economic History 3:3 ( W i n t e r 1978), p. 565. C h ' e n cites 1866 as t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e s e r i o u s p e n e t r a t i o n o f i m p o r t e d textiles i n t o C h i n a (p. 64).
n g a n d L a n d C l e a r i n g in t h e u c k e r a n d J. R i c h a r d s (cds.), ny, D u r h a m 1983, pp. 71 a n d
:sent," J o u r n a l of the
67. J a c k G o l d s t o n e , " R e v i e w of D a v i d Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations," Journal of World History 2:1 ( S p r i n g 2000), p. 109. 68. C a r l T r o c k i , Opium, Empire a n d the Global Political Feonomy, L o n d o n 1999, p. 98.
Statistical
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69. Brian B o n d , Victorian Military Campaigns, L o n d o n 1967, p p . 3 0 9 - 1 1 . ;try i»i Northern Nigeria,
70. See O ' R o u r k e a n d W i l l i a m s o n , p p . 53-4.
Berke-
71. H i s t o r i a n s t r a d i t i o n a l l y c o n t r a s t d i e Meiji a n d T o n z h a n g r e s t o r a t i o n s , b u t as G o l d s t o n e s u g g e s t s , t h e m o r e significant c o m p a r i s o n is b e t w e e n t h e T a i p i n g s a n d J a p a n . " W h a t if C h i n a ' s o l d i m p e r i a l r e g i m e , like J a p a n ' s , h a d c o l l a p s e d in t h e m i d n i n e t e e n t h century, a n d n o t fifty y e a r s later, w h a t t h e n ? W h a t if t h e e q u i v a l e n t o f C h i a n g K a i - s h e k ' s n e w m o d e l a r m y h a d b e g u n f o r m a t i o n in t h e 1860s a n d n o t t h e 1920s? W o u l d j a p a n still h a v e b e e n a b l e t o c o l o n i z e K o r e a a n d T a i w a n ? W h a t w o u l d have b e e n t h e Asian s u p e r p o w e r ? " ( G o l d s i o n c , ibid.).
ded and m u s t include climate
and the Structures and Funca! S y s t e m . " in R Kriedte et al. >81, p. 45.
72. " I n d i a w e a l t h s u p p l i e d t h e f u n d s t h a t b o u g h t t h e n a t i o n a l d e b t back f r o m the D u t c h a n d o t h e r s , first t e m p o r a r i l y in t h e i n t e r v a l o f p e a c e b e t w e e n 1763 and 1774, a n d finally a f t e r 1783, l e a v i n g Britain nearly f r e e f r o m o v e r s e a s i n d e b t e d n e s s w h e n it c a m e to facc t h e g r e a t F r e n c h w a r s f r o m 1793" ( R a l p h Davis, The Industrial Revolution and British Overseas Trade, L e i c e s t e r 1979, p p . 5 5 - 6 ) .
' Free T r a d e , " p. 35. Society, and Economy in inland ic Disparities Since t h e Indus-
73. P. C a i n a n d A. H o p k i n s . British /mperiahsm: innovation a n d /-.vpansion, L o n d o n 1993, p. 334.
r (cds.), Disparities in Economic 7
I6SS-19i4,
74. For a r c c e n t review, s e e Y o u n g G o o - P a r k , ' D e p r e s s i o n a n d Capital F o r m a t i o n : T h e UK a n d G e r m a n y , 1 8 7 3 - 9 6 , " J o u r n a l oj' European Economic Histoiy 26:3 ( W i n t e r 1997), e s p e cially pp. 511 a n d 516.
T o m 1750-1980," in J o u r n a l of le H a g u e 1980, p. 30. j m p e t i t i v e n e s s in E i g h t e e n t h 1998), pp. 8 2 - 7 a n d 105-6.
75. G i o v a n n i Arrigbi, The Long Twentieth Century: Money, P o w e r and the Origins of Our Times, L o n d o n 1994, p. 263. 76. A. L a t h a m , The Jnteniationai Economy and the Undeveloped World, 1865-1914, London 1978, p. 70. L a t h a m , it s h o u l d b e n o t e d , is n o t o r i o u s l y a p o l o g i s t i c for British c o l o n i a l i s m in India, a r g u i n g t h a t t h e s u b c o n t i n e n t ' s "relatively low g r o w t h overall is d u e largely t o c l i m a t i c f a c t o r s , n o t t o a n y d e l e t e r i o u s effect o f British c o l o n i a l policy" ( S e e A. L a t h a m , "Asian S t a g n a t i o n : R e a l o r Relative?", in D e r e k A l d c r o f t a n d R o s s C a t t e r a l l (eds.), Rich
t in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988,
s. 1999, p. 941.
Jl
BTKMJI
444
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iVatioits - Poor Nations: The Long-Ran Perspective. C h e l t e n h a m 196, p. 109). 77. Robin M o o r e , "Imperial India, 1858-1914," in A n d r e w P o r t e r (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, O x f o r d 1999, p. 441. 78. Marcello de Cecco, The International Gold Standard: Money mid Empire, N e w York 1 ''84, p. 30. 79. Ravi Palat, et al., " I n c o r p o r a t i o n of S o u t h Asia," p. 185. A c c o r d i n g t o these a u t h o r s , the a p p a r e n t exceptions to Indian d e i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n in fact proved t h e r u l e : c o t t o n spinn i n g w a s integral to t h e p r o d u c t i o n of an e x p o r t s u r p l u s f r o m the C h i n a t r a d e w h i l e j u t e m a n u f a c t u r e w a s a n "island of British capita! ... initiated, o r g a n i z e d , a n d c o n t r o l l e d by British civil servants and m e r c h a n t s " (p. 186). 80. Ibid., pp. 37-8. 81. J. Stamp, British Incomes and Property, L o n d o n 1916, p. 36. 82. Cain a n d H o p k i n s , pp. 338-9. 83. Eric H o b s b a w m , Industry and Empire: An Economic History of Britain Since 17f0, L o n d o n 1968, p. 123. 34. T h e s a m e q u e s t i o n , of c o u r s e , could be a s k e d of I n d o n e s i a , w h i c h in t h e late ninet e e n t h c e n t u r y g e n e r a t e d a l m o s t 9 p e r c e n t of t h e D u t c h n a t i o n a l d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t . See A n g u s M a d d i s o n , " D u t c h I n c o m e in a n d f r o m I n d o n e s i a , 1700 1938," Modern Asian Studies 23:4 (1989), p. 647. 85. Eric Stokes, " T h e First C e n t u r y of British C o l o n i a l Rule in India: Social R e v o l u t i o n o r Social Stagnation?" Past and Present 58 (Feb. 1873), p. 3 51. 86. D i e t m a r R o t h e r m u n d , An Economic History of India, N e w York 1988, p. 36; D u t t , Open Letters, p. 48. 87. Lu Aiguo, China and the Global Ecoiiomv Since 1840, Helsinki 2000, pp. 34, 37 a n d 39 (Table 2.4). 88. j . W W o n g , Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War (1856-1S60) in China, C a m bridge 1998, pp. 390 and 396. T h e British lea i m p o r t s f r o m China, w h i c h o p i u m also financed, w e r e the s o u r c e of the lucrative tea d u t y that b y m i d - c e n t u r y a l m o s t c o m p e n sated f o r t h e cost of the Royal Navy (pp. 350 -55). 89. Lu Aiguo, p. 36. 90. L a t h a m , The International Economy, p. 90. India (including B u r m a ) also e a r n e d i m p o r tant i n c o m e f r o m rice e x p o r t s t o the D u t c h East Indies. 91. Ibid., pp. 409 -10. See also M. G r c e n b e r g , ftritish Trade and the Opening of China, C a m bridge 1951, p. 15. 92. L a t h a m , pp. 453-4. 93. Ibid., pp, 81-90. After J a p a n ' s victory in 1895, h o w e v e r , its textile e x p o r t s b e g a n to c r o w d India a n d Britain o u t o f t h e C h i n e s e m a r k e t (p. 90). 94. Cain a n d H o p k i n s , p. 425. 95. J e r o m e C h ' e n . Stare Econoinic Polices of the Ch 'ing Government, 1S40-189J, N e w York 1980, p. 116. 96. L a t h a m , ibid.
98. Historians have yet to .ldch s t u d i e s have e v e r b e e n madi .if tl Reflections o n t h e Economic Fit: History 23:4 | D e c . 1963 j. p. < o3 >.
97. J o h n H o b s o n , " T h e Military-Extraction G a p and t h e W a r y T i t a n : T h e Fiscal Sociology of British D e f e n s e Policy, 1870-1913," J o u r n a l of European Economic History 22:3 ( W i n t e r 1993), p. 480.
for Modernization: A Histoncal Pet
99. Bohr, p. 24. 100. Michelle McAlpin, " P ' i c c I D u m a r ted.), Cambridge Economic 101. J o h n M c G u i r e , " T h e W o r l . o f t h e Indian N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s :V«ft'onai Congress and the Political 102. Nash, p. 8 8 . 103. McAlpin, " P r i c e M o v e m e n t 104. Bandyopadhyay, /ndid'i Earn 105. D e Cecco, pp. 62 and 74. "1 v i e w of the fact t h a t the I n d i a n c o u n t r y had a t r a d e surplus yeai substantial credit balance" p. 74) 106. Krishnendu Ray, "Crhes. C i J u l y 1994), pp. 9 2 - 3 . By 191 > t h e lion (ibid.). 107. Dieter R o t h e r m u n d . " T h e I pp. 9 8 - 9 . 108. Wilkinson, p p . 34. 41 1 . 5 2 . 109. Wright. T h e Last Stand of C 110. C h ' e n , p. 120. 111. Aiguo, p. 48. 112. Wilkinson, p p . 34, 41 i. 52 113. Lewis, p. 216. 114. C h a r l e s w o r t h , pp. 13 and 2. 115. T o m l i n s o n , " E c o n o m i c s : T I 16. Q u o t e d in Bipan C h a n d r a , m e n l , " Review 1-1:1 (Winter 1 1 117. Bagehi. p. 27. 1 IS. William I ,avely and R Bin p a r a i i v e Study of Population D \ 57:3 (Aug. 1998), pp. 714-4*. 119. Esther B o s e r u p , The Cond Change Under Population Pressure, 120. Angus M a d d i s o n , Chinese L also Z h a n g Kaimiti, " T h e l. v o l u P o p u l a t i o n C h a n g e s , 1840 1949, 121. P o m e r a n z , p. 121. 122. G e r n e t , p. 560.
;sts
NOTES
I 1996, p. 109). / P o r t e r (ed.), The Oxford His9, p. 441. Money and Empire, N e w York 5. A c c o r d i n g to these a u t h o r s , t proved the rule: t o r t o n spina m t h e China trade while j u t e o r g a n i z e d , a n d c o n t r o l l e d by
36. History> of Britain
Since 17JO,
Dnesia, w h i c h in t h e late nineational d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t . See 700-1938," Modern .Asian Stwiule in India: Social Revolution N e w York 1988, p. 36; D u t t , eisinki 2000, pp. 34, 37 a n d 39 u (1856-1860)
in Clnna, C a m -
a m C h i n a , which o p i u m also m i d - c e n t u r y almost c o m p e l l ing B u r m a ) also e a r n e d i m p o r and the Opening of Clnna, C a m -
er, its textile e x p o r t s b e g a n to
'entment, 1840-1895,
N e w York
: W a r y T i t a n : T h e Fiscal Soci'.uropean Economic History
22:3
4-15
98. H i s t o r i a n s have yet t o address C h i - m i n g H o u ' s c o m p l a i n t in 1963 t h a t " n o serious studies have e v e r b e e n m a d e of t h e effects oi s u c h w a r s o n the C h i n e s e e c o n o m y " ( " S o m e Reflections o n t h e E c o n o m i c H i s t o r y o f M o d e r n C h i n a , 1840-1949," Journal of Economic History 23:4 [Dec. 1963], p. 603). 99. Bohr, p. 24. 100. Michelle McAlpin, "Price M o v e m e n t s and F l u c t u a t i o n s in E c o n o m i c Activity," in D u m a r (ed.), Cambridge Economic History of India, p. 890. 101. J o h n M c G u i r e , " T h e W o r l d E c o n o m y , the C o l o n i a l State, a n d the E s t a b l i s h m e n t of the Indian N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s , " in I. S h e p p e r s o n a n d Colin S i m o n s (cdsA, The Iwiian National Congress and the Political Economy of India, 1885-1985, Avebury 1988. p. 51. 102. Nash, p. 88. 103. McAlpin, "Price M o v e m e n t s , " ibid. 104. Bandyopadhyay, Indian Famine, p. 130. 105. De C e c c o , pp. 62 a n d 74. "[Indians] c o n s i d e r e d fiscal p r e s s u r e to be u n d u l y high, in v i e w of t h e fact t h a t t h e Indian g o v e r n m e n t ' s b u d g e t was every year in s u r p l u s a n d t h e c o u n t r y h a d a t r a d e s u r p l u s year a f t e r year; in a d d i t i o n to w h i c h t h e g o v e r n m e n t had a substantial credit b a l a n c e " (p. 74). 106. K r i s h n e n d u Ray, "Crises, C r a s h e s a n d S p e c u l a t i o n , " Economic awl Political Weekly (30 July 1994), pp. 9 2 - 3 . By 1913 t h e G o v e r n m e n t of India's a c c o u n t in L o n d o n w a s £136 million (ibid.). 107. D i e t e r R o t h e r m u n d , " T h e M o n e t a r y Policy o f British Imperialism," IESHR 7 (1970), pp. 98-9. 108. W i l k i n s o n , pp. 34, 4 1 - 3 , 52. 109. W r i g h t , The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism, p. 166. 110. C h ' c n . p . 120. 111. Aiguo, p. 48. 112. W i l k i n s o n , pp. 34, 4 1 - 3 , 52. 113. Lewis, p. 216. 114. C h a r l e s w o r t h , pp. 13 a n d 22. 115. T o m l i n s o n , " E c o n o m i c s : T h e Periphery,'' p. 6 8 (Table 3.7). 116. Q u o t e d in Bipan C h a n d r a , "Colonial India: British versus Indian Views of Developm e n t , " Review 14:1 ( W i n t e r 1991), p. 102. 117. Bagchi, p. 27. 118. William Lavely a n d R. Bin W o n g , 'Revising t h e Malthusian Narrative: T h e C o m parative Study of P o p u l a t i o n D y n a m i c s in Late Imperial C h i n a , " Journal of .Asian Studies 57:3 (Aug. 1998), pp. 714 -48. 119. E s t h e r Boserup, The Conditions of Agricultural Growth; 'I'he Economics of Agrarian Change Under Population Pressure, C h i c a g o 1967. 120. A n g u s M a d d i s o n , Chinese Economic Peformance in the Long Run, Paris 1998, p. 39. See also Z h a n g Kaimin, " T h e Evolution o f M o d e r n C h i n e s e Society f r o m the Perspective o l P o p u l a t i o n C h a n g e s , 1840 -1949," in Frederic W a k e m a n and W a n g Xi (eds ), China's Quest for Modernization: A Historical Perspective, Berkeley 1997. 121. P o m e r a n z , p. 121. 122. G e r n e t , p. 560.
446
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
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123. M a r t i n Heijdra, " T h e S o c i o - E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t of M i n g Rural C h i n a (1368-1644)," Ph.D. diss., P r i n c e t o n University 1994, pp. 50-56; and M o t e , pp. 905 6. 124. M o t e , p. 906. 125. P o m e r a n z , " T w o W o r l d s of T r a d e , " pp. 8 1 - 3 . 126. Patrick. O'Brien, " I n t e r c o n t i n e n t a l T r a d e a n d T h i r d W o r l d D e v e l o p m e n t , " journal of World History (Spring 1997), p. 91. 127. H a r d i m a n , "Well Irrigation in G u j a r a t , " p. 1 533. H e is c h a r a c t e r i z i n g the conclusions of Anil A g a r w a l and Sunita N a r a i n (Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall and Potential of India '> I'radi tional Water Harvesting Systems, D e l h i 1997). 128. Feuerwerkcr, p. 21. 129. M a d d i s o n , Clmieje Economic Performance, p. 30. 130. As the g e o g r a p h e r J o s h u a Muldavin has e m p h a s i z e d , e c o n o m i c a n d ecological pove r t y are n o t equivalent: H o u s e h o l d s with identical levels o f e c o n o m i c poverty can have e x t r e m e l y different levcis o f vulnerability t o climatic instability o r disaster ("Village Strategies f o r Maintaining S o d o - E c o l o g i c a l Security in the p o s t - M a o Era," unpublished paper, U C L A D e p a r t m e n t o f G e o g r a p h y , 1998).
Notes to Chapter 10 T h e q u o t a t i o n in the e p i g r a p h is f r o m R o m e s h C h u n d e r D u t t , Open Letters to Lord Curzon, C a l c u t t a 1904, p. 27. 1. M a d d i s o n , Chinese Economic Performance, p. 67. Revisionist a t t e m p t s to claim an increase in p e r capita i n c o m e in Victorian India despite a n u n d e n i a b l e collapse in life e x p e c t a n c y are dealt with, r a t h e r devastating!)', by Irfan H a b t b in " S t u d y i n g a Colonial E c o n o m y — W i t h o u t Perceiving C o l o n i a l i s m , " Modem Asian Studies 19:3 (1985), pp. 368-74. 2. H . M . H y n d m a n , The Awakening of Asia, L o n d o n 1919, p. 22. 3. B. T o m l i n s o n , The Economy of Modern India, 1860 -1970, C a m b r i d g e 1993, p. 31. 4. S u m i t G u h a , ' I n t r o d u c t i o n , " in G u h a (ed.), Groivtli, Stagnation or Decline.- Agriculttfrai
Productivity in British India, Delhi 1992, pp. 45-6, 5. Kingslcy Davis, Population of India and Pakistan, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1951, p. S. M e a s u r e d f r o m the " g o o d decade" of t h e 1880s to 1911-21, Irfan H a b i b (Tabic 2, p. 373) iinds t h a t m a l e life expectatancy declined by 22 percent. 6. L a x m a n Satya, " C o t t o n a n d F a m i n e in Berar, 1850-1900," Ph.D. diss., Tufts University 1994, pp. 50 and 155. See also P e t e r I i a r n e t t y , /mperiali'sni a n d Free Trade: Lancashire and India in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, Vancouver 1972. 7. Dewey, " T h e End of t h e I m p e r i a l i s m of Free T r a d e , " p. 51. 8. Stanley W o l p e r t , A New Histoiy of India, O x f o r d 1989, p. 248. 9. Satya, pp. 21-7, 36-7, 50-51, 72, 155, 162, 188-90 a n d 333; a n d " I n t r o d u c t i o n " t o b o o k version (Cotton and Famine in Bcrar, 1850-1900, Delhi 1997), p. 25. 10. Satya, p. 182 (export); a n d Vasant Kaiwar, " N a t u r e , P r o p e r t y and Polity in C o l o n i a l B o m b a y , " Journal of Peasant Studies 27:2 (Jan. 2000), p. 7 (acreage). 11. Satya, p. 182.
12. 13. 14. 1 5. 16.
{ ".harleswort.1i, p. 8 !. Satya. pp. 6<s and 2^s. Ibid., p. 200 Ibid., pp. 1-4S. 281 2 a n d 29c T i m l.Kson. "The H i s t o r i c
India's Historical Demography: Sti 181-2. 17. David W a s h b r o o k . " T h e O : d u c t i o n , Subsistence and R e p r o d Studies 28:1 .1994 . p. 131. 18. Ibid., pp. 137 and 161. In a n t t o r b a d onlv half the drv land aci a n d Social Stratification in R u r a l H o p k i n s [eds.], p p 70-72). 19. Davit! W a s h b r o o k . The Fa 1870-4920, C a m b r i d g e l"7(i, p. 69. 20. W a s h b r o o k . " C o m n i c r c i a l i x 21. Ibid., p. 146. 22. Richards a n d McAlpin. p. 8 3 23. Waslihruok. " C o m m e r c i a l l y 24. As elsewhere in India. Britisl d i t i o n a l tenure o f Mogul or (in t English squirearchy. T h e ranks o f rible repression t h a t followed 185 o n e case, even cruciiicd bv vengcf 25. O n the credit system a n d i " M a i g u z a r s and Peasants: T h e N3) in J o h n Barry, Rising
T h e d e f i n i t i o n in t h e e p i g r a p h is f r o m G . Dia et al., " D r o u g h t a s a Social P h e n o m e n o n in N o r t h e a s t e r n B r a z i l , " i n R o l a n d o G a r c i a a n d J o s e E s c u d e r o , Drought T h e Roots of Catastrophe,
and M a n , Volume 3:
O x f o r d 1986, p. 106.
Tide, 1. C f . B r a d f o r d B u r n s , A History
of Brazil,
n d 5 0 - 5 1 . in a s i g n i f i c a n t dis-
F r a n k , Capiraiisni a n d Underdevelopment
n a r g u e s t h a t t h e "crisis o f t h e
Brazil,
:alities, a n d w a s n o t p r i m a r i l y
and Histories,
B e r k e l e y , Calif. 1970, p. 102; A n d r e G u i l d e r
in Latin America:
Historical
Studies
N e w Y o r k 1967, p p . 1 6 2 - 4 ; a n d E m i l i a V i o t t a d a C o s t a , The Brazilian
of Chile
and
Empire:
Myths
2. N a t h a n i e l L e f f , " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t in B r a z i l , 1 8 2 2 - 1 9 2 3 , " in S t e p h e n
Haber
C h a p e l H i l l , N . C . 1985, p p . 2 1 - 4 .
( e d . ) , H o w L a t i n America Fell Behind,
S t a n f o r d , C a l i f . 1997, p p . 1, 3 5 ; a n d W a r r e n
Dean,
456
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAl
.sts
" T h e Brazilian E c o n o m y , 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 3 0 , " in Leslie Bethall ied.). The Cambridge History ot' Latin Amenea, vol. 5 (KS70-1930), C a m b r i d g e 1986, p. 685.
33. Leff, " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m c 34. j . Galloway, " T h e Last Years Hispanic American Historical Re vie 3 5 . Q u o t e d in J o s e p h Love, Crafi nia and Brazil, S t a n f o r d , Calif. I9f
3. J a i m e Reis, " H u n g e r in t h e N o r t h e a s t : S o m e H i s t o r i c a l Aspects," in S i m o n M i t c h e l l (ed. \ The Logic of Poverty: The Case of the Brazilian Northeast. L o n d o n 1981, pp. 5 0 - 5 2 . 4. C a i n a n d H o p k i n s , p. 298. 5. S t e p h e n H a b e r a n d H e r b e r t Klein, " H u n g e r in t h e N o r t h e a s t : S o m e H i s t o r i c a l Aspects," in Elabcr (ed.), p. 251; a n d Alan M a n c h e s t e r . British Preeminence in Brazil: Its Rise and Decline, C h a p e l Hill, N . C . , p p . 3 3 7 - ^ 0 . 6. B e r t h a Becker a n d C l a u d i o Egler, Brazil: A New Regional Power in the World-Economy, C a m b r i d g e 1992, p. 32. 7. D e a n , p. 708.
37. W e b b , pp. 6 8 , 81. In t h e t \ a d o p t e d as a f o r a g e c r o p ideally s 38. C h a n d l e r , The Feitosas, pp. 12
8. S t e p h e n H a b e r , " F i n a n c i a l M a r k e t s a n d I n d u s t r i a l D e v e l o p m e n t s , " in F l a b e r (ed.), p. 151. 9. R u t h a n n e D e u t s c b , " B r i d g i n g t h e A r c h i p e l a g o : Cities a n d R e g i o n a l E c o n o m i e s in Brazil, 1870-1920," P h . D . diss., Yale U n i v e r s i t y 1994, p. 190.
40. W e b b , p. 115. 41. W e b b s u m m a r i z e s G u i m a r a t secas (1949), pp. 8 5 - 8 .
10. Levine, Vale of Tears, p. 55. 11. Q u o t e d in David J o r d a n , New World Regionalism, 12. D e a n , p. 708.
42. Allen J o h n s o n , Sharecroppers o tation, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1971, pp. i ; 43. C u n n i f f , p p . 14-15, 25 a n d 28-
T o r o n t o 1994, p. 3 5 .
13. Left', p. 53^1. 14. C a i n a n d H o p k i n s , p. 303. 15. Ibid., pp. 3 0 3 - 4 .
39. Ibid., p. 137.
44. L c v i n e . p . 4 3 .
16. D e u t s c h , p. 167. 17. D e a n , p. 723; a n d W i n s t o n Fritsch, Externa! Consrmints on Economic JSSV-2930, L o n d o n 1988, p. 3.
45. C u n n i f f , p. 37. 46. H a m i l t o n d e M a t t o s M o n r e i i 1850 e 1889, Brasilia 1980, pp. 1 5 7 Policy in
Brazil,
18. D e a n , p. 696. 19. N a t h a n i e l Leff, Underdevelopment and Development in Brazil, vol. 1, L o n d o n 1982, p. 7. 20. D e u t s c h , pp. 3 - 5 . In J e f f r e y W i l l i a m s o n ' s w e l l - k n o w n 1960s s t u d y o f r e g i o n a l i n e q u a l ity in t w e n t y - f o u r m a j o r c o u n t r i e s , t h e p o l a r i z a t i o n b e t w e e n Brazil's N o r t h e a s t a n d its C e n t e r - S o u t h w a s the m o s t e x t r e m e . (See t h e d i s c u s s i o n in " R e g i o n a l I n e q u a l i t y a n d t h e P r o c e s s o f N a t i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t : A D e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e P a t t e r n s , " in I.. N e e d l e m a n (ed,). Regional Analysis: Selected Readings, B a l t i m o r e 196S, pp. 110-15.) 21. Left", " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t , " p. 35. 22. D e u t s c h , p. 86. 23. Leff, " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t , " p. 35. 24. Levine, p. 55. 25. Led, " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t , " pp. 27, 3 5 - 6 . 26. Eul-Soo P a n g , PCCLAS Proceedings 8 ( 1 9 8 1 - 8 2 ) , p. 2. 27. Levine, p. 49. 28. Leff, " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t , " p. 39; a n d D e u t s c h , p. 163. 29. G e r a l d G r e e n f i e l d , " T h e G r e a t D r o u g h t a n d I m p e r i a l D i s c o u r s e in I m p e r i a l Brazil," Hispanic American Historical Review 72:3 (1992), p p . 385 a n d 396. 30. G r e e n f i e l d , " M i g r a n t B e h a v i o r a n d Elite A t t i t u d e s , " p. 83. 31. E u l - S o o P a n g , Bahia in the First Brazilian 32. Ibid., p. 56.
36. Sir Richard B u r t o n , v i s i t i n g t. r u n 66 k i l o m e t e r s a l o n g the S a o f a i l i n g r a n c h e s ( H a l l , Drought and
Republic, Gainesville, Fla. 1979, p. 62.
47. H a l l , p. 17. 48. C u n n i f f , pp. .33-4. 49. H a l l , p. 3. 50. C u n n i f f , pp. 55, 61; Webb, p p . 51. C h a n d l e r , p p . 131-2. 52. C u n n i f f , pp. 6 5 - 6 . 53. 51. 5 5. 56. 57. 58.
H a l l , p. 4. Cunniff', p. 80. W e b b . p. 116. Ibid., p. 83. H a l l , p. 36. Cunniff, 87-93.
59. 60. 61. 62.
Ibid., p. 96. C u n n i f f , 104-6 M o n t e i r o , p. 47. Ibid., pp. 1 2 9 - 3 3 a n d 191-3.
63. C u n n i f f , p. 102. 64. D e a n , p. 690. 65. Mall, p. 5. 66. " . . . o n e i n d i c a t i o n of how litt; ing s u f f e r e d by t h e d e s p e r a t e l y h u t by T h e o p h i l o a c e n t u r y earlier" ( F
0. o n t o 1994, p. 35.
hits on Economic Policy in
Brazil,
frazil, vol. 1, L o n d o n 1982, p. 7. 1960s s t u d y o f r e g i o n a l inequalw e e n Brazil's N o r t h e a s t a n d its in " R e g i o n a l I n e q u a l i t y a n d the ' a t t e r n s , " in L. N e e d l e m a n (ed.), 0-15.)
x 163. il D i s c o u r s e in I m p e r i a l Brazil," d 396. >. 83. nesville, Fla. 1979, p. 62.
33. Leff, " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t , " p. 39. 34. J. Galloway, " T h e Last Years o f Slavery o n t h e S u g a r P l a n t a t i o n s of N o r t h e a s t Brazil." Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (Nov. 1971), fn54. 35. Q u o t e d in J o s e p h Love, Crafting the Third World: Theorizing Underdevelopment in Rumania and Brazil, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1996, p. 163. 36. Sir R i c h a r d B u r t o n , visiting t h e s e r t a o in 1867, described o n e vast f a z e n d a t h a t used t o r u n 66 k i l o m e t e r s a l o n g t h e Sao Francisco river divided i n t o s c o r e s of i m p o v e r i s h e d a n d failing r a n c h e s (Hall, Drought and Irrigation, p. 33). 37. W e b b , pp. 68, 81. In the t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y , palma, a spineless c a c t u s , w o u l d b e a d o p t e d as a f o r a g e c r o p ideally s u i t e d to t h e a r i d i t y of the s e r t a o (pp. 8 4 - 5 ) . 38. C h a n d l e r , The Feitosas, pp. 1 2 9 - 3 0 . 39. Ibid., p. 137. 40. W e b b , p. 115. 41. W e b b s u m m a r i z e s G u i m a r a e s D u q u e ' s l a n d m a r k study, Solo e agua no poligono das secas (1949), pp. 8 5 - 8 . 42. Allen J o h n s o n , Sharecroppers of the Sertao: Economics and Dependence OH A Brazilian Phi n tation, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1971, pp. 17, 4 7 - 8 . 43. C u n n i f f , pp. 1 4 - 1 5 , 25 a n d 2 8 - 9 . 44. Levine, p. 43. 45. CunnifF, p. 37. 46. H a m i l t o n d e M a t t o s M o n t e i r o , Crise agaria e luta de classes: o Nordeste brasileiro entrc W0 e 1889, Brasilia 1980, pp. 157-63. 47. Hall, p. 17. 48. C u n n i f f , pp. 3 3 - 4 . 49. Hall, p. 3, 50. C u n n i f f , pp. 55, 61; W e b b , pp. 112-13. 51. C h a n d l e r , pp. 1 3 1 - 2 . 52. C u n n i f f , pp. 6 5 - 6 . 53. Hall, p. 4. 54. C u n n i f f , p. 80. 55. W e b b , p. 116. 56. Ibid., p. 83. 57. Hall, p. 36. 58. C u n n i f f , 87-93. 59. Ibid., p. 96. 60. C u n n i f f , 104-6 61. M o n t e i r o , p. 47. 62. Ibid., pp. 129-33 a n d 191-3. 63. C u n n i f f , p. 102. 64. D e a n , p. 690. 65. Hall, p. 5. 66. "... o n e i n d i c a t i o n o f h o w little t i m e s have c h a n g e d lies in t h e r e p o r t s o f r o o t p o i s o n ing s u f f e r e d b y the d e s p e r a t e l y h u n g r y in 1970, r e m i n i s c e n t o f t h e g r a p h i c a c c o u n t s g i v e n by T h e o p h i l o a c e n t u r y earlier" ( H a l l , p. 12).
A A b b a d e j o a o 192 A f g h a n w a r s 28, 30, 142 A f r i c a : 12: i m p e r i a l i s m and 1 2 - 1 3 , 126, 137-8, 2 0 0 ; l o n g - t e r m e f f e d r o u g l u - f a m i n c s 204-5 A l g e r i a 106 A n g o l a 12, 9 9 - 1 0 0 A r g e n t i n a 120 A r n o l d , David 1 5 Asia, d e v e l o p m e n t c o m p a r e d w i l l f i u r o p e 292-6 A u s t r a l i a , c l i m a t o l o g y of 254 5
B B e n g a l 36, 44 B e n n e t t , James G o r d o n 2 B i h a r 36 B j e r k n e s , Jacob 13, 2 3 0 - 1 B l a n f o r d , H e n r y 2 1 7 - 2 0 , 225-6 B o e r W a r 163-5
Index
A
B o m b a y P r e s i d e n c y i66, 173, 175, 336
A b b a d e , J o a o 192
B o r n e o 93
A f g h a n w a r s 28, 30, 142
B o x e r R e b e l l i o n 13, 1 7 7 - 8 8 , 3 5 0
Africa; 12; i m p e r i a l i s m a n d 12-13, 101-3,
Brazil: 12; British i n i l u e n c e 291,
126, 137-8, 200; l o n g - t e r m e f f e c t s of
377-80-1; c l i m a t o l o g y o f 256-60;
drought-famines 204-5
c o t t o n b o o m 80, rd 1 4 2 , 1 4 6 - 7 , 1 5 1 - 2
G i i g u a n Pass 73 4
: d e c l i n e of a g r i c u l t u r e 119-20
G u j a r a t 165, 170-72, 339
156-8, 1 6 6 - 7 I n d i a n M u t i n y 13, 54 I n d i a n N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s 145, 148. 162
:s: 6, 4 4 - 5 , 49, 79, 88, 108, 128-9, 50, 174, 203
H
C a e t a n o 83
H a w a i ' i , c l i m a t o l o g y o f 256
lndo-Australian Convergence Zone
: 1 1 , 138; c l i m a t o l o g y of 2 6 4 - 5 ;
H a w t h o r n e , Julian 154-6
g h t - f a m i n e o f 1888-82 127-33;
H e b e i 280
Dutch East Indies
g i l t - f a m i n e of 1895-1902 138;
H e n a n 182
I n d u s t r i a l R e v o l u t i o n 296
n c o l o n i a l i s m a n d 12-13, 137-8
H i l d e b r a n d s s o n , H u g o 226
I n h a m u n s s e r t a o 84
development compared with
H u b e i 76
I n t e r - t r o p i c a l C o n v e r g e n c e Z o n e 257
292-6; and possible E N S O
H e n a n 71, 77
I r e l a n d 31, 32
cts 2 6 8 - 9 ;
H o b s b a w m , Eric 8
i r r i g a t i o n : n e g l e c t by t h e R a j 331-40;
214-5, 228 I n d o n e s i a : c l i m a t o l o g y 253; see also
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
462
n e g l e c t in Brazil 309-10, 3 9 1 - 3 Italy: a n d Ethiopia 12-13, 137-8;
HOLOCAUSTS
L u x e m b u r g , Rosa 10-11, 103
M o z a m b i q u e 126
Lytton, Lord: policies as viceroy a n d
M y s o r e vi. 46, I 10
f a m i n e 28-33; a n d U,S. G r a n t 4 - 5 ;
J
N M
-ViUjiccfv IK), 2 1 9
124-5; o p e n i n g to W e s t e r n t r a d e
Mackinder, H a l f o r d 2 0 1 - 2 , 227
N a o r o j i . D a d a b b a i 55-6, 58, 59,
295-6
Madden-Julian Oscillation 233
J a p a n : G r a n t ' s visit 6; and Korea 91-2,
Java 94 Jevons, Sir Stanley 2 2 2 - 3
M a d r a s : f a m i n e of 1876 8, 25-8, 33, 38, 39, 112-13
Poveriv ami Uti-Brilish Rule in N d e b e l e 201 NIegros " I -7
J i a n g s u 67
Mahdists 133-8
N e t h e r l a n d s 92 4, 196 -7. 296,
Joshi, G a n e s h 42
Malthus, T h o m a s 32, 46, 306
N e w C a l e d o n i a 979; c l i m a t o l o g
J o a s e i r o 188-90, 194
M a o t s e - t u n g 208-9, 2 5 0 - 5 1 , 282 markets: acceleration o f f a m i n e a n d
255-0 N i c h o l s . Francis 177-8
K
26-7; g r o w t h of w o r l d 9-12, 15,
N i g e r i a , f a m i n e in colonial 1 5, 2
K a s h m i r 51
119-22, 182, 2 8 9 - 9 0 ; t h e o r y of 8 - 1 0 ,
N i g h t i n g a l e , F l o r e n c e 43, 45, 55
Kenya 2 0 0 - 2 0 3
382
Kiangsu 70
Marxism 15
Kipling, R u d y a r d 156
Marx, Karl 27, 222, 295
Kitchener, Lord 135
Mayers. W 65,
N o r t h Africa, a n d ENSO e v e n t s N o r t h America 120 22; and E N events 260-62 N o r t h W e s t e r n provinces (India
Knight, R o b e r t 53
Medick, H a n s 289
KondratiefT 12
Menelik II 11, 129-32
O
Korea 13; J a p a n a n d 91-2, 124-5, 195;
Mexico, and E N S O e v e n t s 260 61
o p i u m trade 77. 300, 305, 322, 3
Michel, L o u i s e 99
O p i u m Wars 12, 291. 300 302
Tonghak. Revolution 125, 195 Kueh, Y. 280
millenarian r e v o l u t i o n s 92, 140-41.
L
missionaries; a c c o u n t s of f a m i n e 48, 49,
177-88; 2 0 7 - 9
Ladurie, E m m a n u e l Le Roy
Times of Feast, Times of Famine 280 laissez-faire 31, 38, 48, 56, 3 97, 3 8 2 - 3
Lancet, The 174 Landes, David
Wen fth and Poverty of Nations 8 La N i n a ( E N S O Cold Phase) 13,15 Li H o n g z h a n g : 5 - 6 Lockyer, N o r m a n 220, 224 L o d , P i e r r e 168-9
P Pacific Decadal Oscillation 236
67-9, 76, 135 6. 144, 147. 168, 1K4-6:
Pacilic Dry / o n e 214
evangelism 77, 181; f a m i n e relief by
P e r n a m b u c o 83
42, 7 7 - 8 m o n s o o n s 2 5 - 6 ; failure o f 6, 33, 44, 142, 159-60; M o r o c c o 107-8, 114 m o r t a l i t y f r o m f a m i n e s 7 - S , 44-7, 7 5 - 6 , 108, 1 10-15, 146, 149, 152, 153-8, 168. 171-5 M o t e , F. W. 308
P e r u , a n d E N S O events 25') P h a d k e . Uasudeo Ralwant 54 " P h i l i n d u s " 219 Philippines 94-7, 198-200; d i m . 253 4 P o l a n y i . Kail 1'he Great Transformation 9 - 1 political ecology: 15; 280-92
T INDEX
STS
losa 10-11, 103 policies as viceroy and -33; and US. Grant 4-5;
Mozambique 126
population growth 175, 306-9
Mysore 33, 46, 110
Pomeranz, Kenneth 293, 3 07-9, 372 Portugal 12; colonial policy in Angola 99-100; in Mozambique 126, 204-:
N
lalford 201-2, 227
Nature 6, 110,219
Price, Eva 184-6
Naoroji, Dadabhai 55-6, 58, 59, 165
proletarianization 206-9
Poverty and Un-British Rule in India 56
n Oscillation 233 ne of 1876 8, 25-8, 33, 38,
Punjab 51, 123, 338
Ndebele 201 Negros 94-7
Q
Netherlands 92-4, 196-7, 296, 304
- 8
>mas 32, 46, 306 ; 208-9, 250-51,282 deration of famine and wth of world 9-12, 15, 82, 289-90; theory of 8-10,
New Caledonia 979; climatology of 255-6 Nichols, Francis 177-8
R
Nigeria, famine in colonial 15, 288
Radicals 43, 54, 59
Nightingale, Florence 43, 45, 55
railroads 8, 26, 27, 142,319, 332
North Africa, and ENSO events 267
Ranade, Mahdev Govinda 42
North America 120-22; and ENSO
Rand, W. C. 150, 151
events 260-62
7, 222,295 i5,
Quinn, William 271-3, 275-6
Rajputana 168
North Western provinces (India) 33, 51
relief camps (India) 37-^41, 46-7, 144,
O
relief strike (India, 1877)41 -3
opium trade 77, 300, 305, 322, 346
Richard, Timothy 67, 69, 75, 79
Opium Wars 12, 291, 300-302
Romao, Cicero 86-7, 188-9194
147-8, 157-8, 166-7
is 289 1,129-32 ENSO events 260-61 ise 99
Russia: drought-famine of 1891 125-6
revolutions 92, 140-41, >07-9 accounts of famine 48, 49,
P
ENSO events and 269-70
Pacific Decadal Oscillation 236
Rwanda 204
. 135-6, 144, 147, 168, 184-6;
Pacific Dry Zone 214
S
sm 77, 181; famine relief by
Pernambuco 83
Sabha (Civic Association) 41-3, 45
•5-6; failure of 6, 33, 44, 142, 17-8, 114 oni famines 7-8, 44-7, 75-6, i-15, 146, 149, 152, 153-8, 168.
Peru, and ENSO events 259
Sahel, and ENSO events 267-8
Phadkc, Basudeo Bahvant 54
Salisbury, Lord 28, 31, 32-3, 36, 43
"Philindus" 219
Sen, Amartya 251
Philippines 94-7, 198-200; climatology
Shaanxi 71, 177-8, 365,374
253—4 Polanyi, Karl T/ic Great Transformation 9-11
308
political ecology: 15; 280-92
Shandong 65, 67-8,70, 178, 182, 363,364 Shanxi 71-9, 114, 177,363-4 Shona 201
L ATU V I C T O R I A N
464
S m i t h , A d a m 31
HOLOCAUSTS
United States: anti-Chinese m o v e m e n t
The Wealth of Nations 31
78; f a m i n e relief d o n a t i o n s 165; a n d
Social D a r w i n i s m 32 Social D e m o c r a t i c F e d e r a t i o n 148, 165
P h i l i p p i n e s 13, 198-200 Utilitarianism 31,38, 287
S o u t h e a s t Asia: c l i m a t o l o g y 2 5 2 - 6 S o u t h e r n Africa 101 -3, 126; a n d E N S O events 262-3
V Victoria, Q u e e n 2, 8, 28, 30, 37, 47, 141,
Slrachey, Sir J o h n 28. 57
150-51
Strachey, Sir Richard 57 Sudan 133-8
V i e t n a m : p e a s a n t r e v o l t in 92
S u p p i a h , R a m a s a m y 247 W T
W a l k e r , Sir G i l b e r t 213, 226-30, 2 5 7
T a i p i n g R e v o l u t i o n : 13, 64, 113, 296
Wallace, Alfred Russel 8
T a m i l N a d u 27, 120
W a r m P o o l 214, 232
T a n g a n y i k a 204
Watts, Michael Silent Violence 15, 288
tax c o l l e c t i o n d u r i n g f a m i n e s 5 0 - 4 , 56-7, 148,153 T a y l o r , H u d s o n 76
W e d d e r b u r n , W i l l i a m 54, 55, 59, 165 w h e a t b o o m 119, 1 2 0 - 2 2
t e l e c o n n e c t i o n s 240- 5
Will, P i e r r e - E t i e n n e 281
T e m p l e , Sir Richard 3 6 - 4 3 , 317
W i l l i a m s , S a m u e l W e l l s 67
"Temple wage" 38-40
W y n k i , Klaus 231-4
T h i r d W o r l d , d e v e l o p m e n t o f 15-16,
Y
288-310
Yangzi Valley 208, 249, 2 9 2 - 3
T i l a k , Bal G a n g a d h a r 148, 151
Yellow River h y d r a u l i c c o n t r o l 3 6 6 - 7 5
T o n g h a k Rebellion 13, 125, 195
Young, J o h n Russell 1 - 2 , 3 - 4
T o n g z h i R e s t o r a t i o n 64 Z
U
Z e b i a k , S t e p h e n 234
Uganda 203-4
Z h i l i 2S1
U n i t e d P r o v i n c e s 174
Z u l u l a n d 12, 101-3