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<
crop. But with the exception of a few clusters of the castor bean and some weary, drooping date palms, the earth gives forth n o fruit. A gust of sand blows over the
President. He believed that th
plain and adds to the somberness of the scene."' 5
half-civilized populations o f thajt .my authority deserved
Young, w h o had become as enchanted with Egypt's c o m m o n people as w i t h its ancient monuments, was appalled by the n e w British suzerains' c o n t e m p t u o u s
refused Badeau's request to J
attitude toward both. "The Englishman." he observed, "looks u p o n these people
ish.) A magnificent reception
as his hewers of wood and drawers of water, whose duty is to w o r k and to t h a n k the Lord when they are not flogged. They only regard these m o n u m e n t s [mean-
Hongzhang, China's senior s
while] as reservoirs from which they can supply their o w n m u s e u m s and for
Young confused with the T£
that purpose they have plundered Egypt, just as Lord Elgin plundered Greece."
cult negotiations with Japan
Young noted the crushing burden that the country's e n o r m o u s foreign-debt, n o w
t u r n e d out in Shanghai to c h
policed by the British, placed u p o n its poorest and n o w famished people. The ex-
"John Brown's Body" (Chin
President, for his part, was annoyed by the insouciant attitude of the local bureau-
w a s not Egypt. Young carliet
crats confronted with a disaster of such magnitude. 5
of their homes in Canton c o n t e m p t in their cxpressior
A year later in Bombay, Young found m o r e evidence for his thesis that "English influence in the East is only another n a m e for English t y r a n n y " While the
regard Sitting Bull or Red C I
Grants were marveling over the seeming infinity of servants at the disposal of
procession along Fifth Aveni
the sahibs, Young was weighing the costs of empire b o r n e by the Indians. "There
F.n route f r o m Tianjin t o
is n o despotism," he concluded, "more absolute than the government of India.
unrelenting heat" c o m p o u r
Mighty, irresponsible, cruel ..." Conscious that more than 5 million Indians by
tion ." Three years of drougl
official count had died of famine in the preceding three years, Young emphasized
terrible disaster in twcnty-oi
that the "money which England takes out of India every year is a serious drain
somewhere b e t w e e n S miliic
upon the country, and is a m o n g the causes of its poverty." 6
consular officials noted in t
Leaving Bombay, the Grant party passed through a Deccan countryside -
of improved weapons m o b s
"hard, baked and brown" - that still bore the scars of the worst drought in h u m a n
cal disturbance." 11 In his coi
memory. "The ride was a dusty one, for rain had not fallen since September, and
s o m e insolence that railroa<
the few occasional showers which usually attend the blossoming of the mango,
m a t t e r of famines, of whic
which had not appeared, were n o w the dread of the people, w h o feared their
c a m e to China, it would b e
coming to ruin the ripening crops." 7 After obligatory sightseeing trips to the Taj
tions. In America, there co' China, unless, as was hardl
Mahal and Benares, the Grants had a brief rendezvous with the viceroy, Lord
general. If the crops failed
Lytton, in Calcutta and then left, far ahead of schedule, for Burma. Lytton w o u l d
at a little extra expense in r
later accuse a drunken Grant of groping English ladies at dinner, while on the
f r o m one end of the c o u n t r
American side there was resentment of Lytton's seeming diffidence towards the
that he was personally in fa"
8
ex-president. Grant's confidant, the diplomat Adam Badeau, t h o u g h t that Lytton
0
PREFACE
^ TS
tor bean and some-weary,
h a d received "instructions f r o m h o m e not to pay too m u c h deference to the ex-
jst of sand blows over the
President. H e believed that the British Government was unwilling to admit to the half-civilized populations of the East that any Western Power was important, o r
5 c o m m o n people as with
that any authority deserved recognition except their own." (Grant, accordingly,
suzerains' contemptuous
refused Badeau's request to ask t h e US ambassador in London to thank the Brit-
"looks upon these people
ish.) 9
ty is to work and to thank
A magnificent reception in China compensated for Lytton's arrogance. Li
these m o n u m e n t s [mean-
Hongzhang, China's senior statesman and victor over the Nian rebellion (which
ir o w n m u s e u m s and for
Young confused with the Taiping), was eager to obtain American help in diffi-
Elgin plundered Greece."
cult negotiations with Japan over the Ryukus. Accordingly, 100,000 people were
ormous foreign debt, n o w
turned out in Shanghai to cheer t h e Grants while a local b a n d gamely attempted
famished people. T h e ex-
"John Brown's Body." (Chinese enthusiasm, however, was mainly official. This
titude of the local bureau-
was not Egypt. Young earlier noted the young mandarins w h o from the windows of their homes in C a n t o n "looked upon the barbarian w i t h a supercilious air, contempt in their expression, very much as o u r young m e n in New York would
ice for his thesis that "Eniglish tyranny." While the
regard Sitting Bull or Red Cloud f r o m a club w i n d o w as the Indian chiefs went in
:ervants at the disposal of
procession along Fifth Avenue.") 10
m e by the Indians. "There
En route from Tianjin to Beijing, the Americans were wearied by the "fiercc,
the government of India,
unrelenting heat" c o m p o u n d e d b y depressing scenery of hunger and desola-
than 5 million Indians by
tion." T h r e e years of drought and famine in n o r t h e r n China - officially the "most
: years, Young emphasized
terrible disaster in twenty-one dynasties of Chinese history" - had recently killed
ery year is a serious drain
somewhere between 8 million and 20 million people. 12 Indeed nervous American consular officials noted in their dispatches that "were it not for the possession
ty"6
i a Deccan countryside -
of improved weapons m o b s of starving people might have caused a severe politi-
e worst drought in h u m a n
cal disturbance." 13 In Iris conversations with Li Hongzhang, Grant lectured with
alien since September, and
s o m e insolence that railroads might have prevented such a catastrophe: "In the
blossoming of the mango,
matter of famines, of which he had heard so many distressing stories since h e
: people, w h o feared their
came to China, it would be a blessing to the people to have railway communica-
sightseeing trips to the Taj
tions. In America, there could be no famine such as had recently been seen in
>us with the viceroy, Lord
China, unless, as was hardly possible in so vast a territory, the famine became
, for Burma. Lytton would
general. If the crops failed in one State, supplies could b e brought from others
es at dinner, while on the
at a little extra expense in money and time. W e could send wheat, for instance,
ling diffidence towards the
from one end of the c o u n t r y to another in a few days." Li H o n g z h a n g responded
adeau, thought that Lytton
that he was personally in favor of railways and telegraphs b u t unfortunately "his
i
viiiLATBV I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
opinions on this w e r e n o t shared by s o m e of his colleagues."'"' T h e g r e a t Q i n g leader, of course, was engaging in heroic u n d e r s t a t e m e n t . India
1876-79
T h e Secret History of the Nineteenth Century After Beijing, Grant continued to Yokohama and Edo, t h e n h o m e across the
1896-1902
Pacific to a r a p t u r o u s reception in San Francisco that d e m o n s t r a t e d the dramatic revival o f his popularity in light of so m u c h r o m a n t i c and highly publicized globetrotting. T h r o a t cancer eventually precluded a n o t h e r assault o n t h e W h i t e H o u s e
India Total
and forced t h e ex-president into a desperate race to finish his f a m o u s Personal
China
1876-79
Memoirs. But n o n e of that is pertinent t o this preface. W h a t is g e r m a n e is a coin1896-190C
cidence in his travels that G r a n t himself never acknowledged, b u t which almost certainly m u s t have puzzled readers of Young's narrative: the successive encoun-
China Total
ters w i t h epic d r o u g h t and famine in Egypt, India and China. It w a s almost as if
Brazil
the Americans were inadvertently following in the footprints of a m o n s t e r w h o s e
1876-79 1896-190(
Brazil Total
colossal trail of destruction extended f r o m t h e Nile t o t h e Yellow Sea.
Total
As c o n t e m p o r a r y readers of Nature a n d other scientific j o u r n a l s w e r e aware, it was a disaster of truly planetary magnitude, with d r o u g h t and f a m i n e r e p o r t e d as
Source; Cf. William Digby, "Pros| of Famine, Delhi W96; Roland Sea 1901; Cambridge Economic Hufory < O/Jffi Century, Book Six, Assdidl on t 1972; Paul Cohen, Huron' in Tl Northeast Brazil. 1877-IS80." Ph. People ami Institutions, Baton Roi estimates.
well in Java, the Philippines, N e w Caledonia, Korea, Brazil, s o u t h e r n Africa and the Mahgreb. N o one had h i t h e r t o suspected that s y n c h r o n o u s e x t r e m e w e a t h e r w a s possible on the scale of the entire tropical m o n s o o n belt plus n o r t h e r n China and N o r t h Africa. N o r was there any historical record of f a m i n e afflicting so m a n y far-flung lands simultaneously. Although only the r o u g h e s t estimates of mortality could be made, it w a s horrifyingly clear t h a t the million Irish dead of
smallpox and cholera culle
1845-47 had been multiplied by tens. T h e total toll of conventional warfare from Austerlitz to Antietam and Sedan, according to calculations by o n e British j o u r -
w e a k e n e d . T h e European
nalist, w a s probably less than the mortality in s o u t h e r n India a l o n e . " Only Chi-
rapaciously exploited the c
na's Taiping Revolution (1851-64), the bloodiest civil w a r in w o r l d history with
m u n a l lands, a n d tap nove! from a m e t r o p o l i t a n persp
an estimated 20 million to 30 million dead, could boast as m a n y victims.
g l o r y was, f r o m an Asian c
But t h e great d r o u g h t of 1876-79 w a s only the first of three global subsistence
f u n e r a l pyre.
crises iii the second half of Victoria's reign. In 1889-91 d r y years again b r o u g h t f a m i n e to India, Korea, Brazil and Russia, although the w o r s t suffering w a s in
T h e total h u m a n toll c
Ethiopia and the Sudan, w h e r e perhaps one-third of t h e p o p u l a t i o n died. T h e n in
c o u l d not have been less t
1896-1902, the m o n s o o n s again repeatedly failed across t h e tropics and in north-
b e unrealistic. (Table Pi d
ern China. Hugely destructive epidemics o f malaria, b u b o n i c plague, dysentery,
1876-79 and 1896-1902 in
J
STS
.leagues.'
PREFACE 9
Tabic PI
The great Qing
Estimated Famine Mortality
nent. India
1876-79
:do, then h o m e across the 1896-1902
d e m o n s t r a t e d the dramatic tnd highly publicized globeissault o n the W h i t e H o u s e
India Total
• finish his f a m o u s Personal
China
1876-79
W h a t is g e r m a n e is a coinwledged, b u t which almost
1896-1900
rive: the successive encoun-
China Total
d China. It was almost as if
Brazil
10.3 million 8.2 million 6.1 million 19.0 million 8.4 million 6.1 million 12.2-29.3 million 20 million 9.5-13 million 10 million 19.5-30 million
Broomhall Bohr Cohen Cunniff
> the Yellow Sea.
Brazil Total
0.5-1.0 million n.d. 2 million
itific journals w e r e aware, it
Total
31.7-61.3 million
>tprints of a m o n s t e r w h o s e
ight and famine r e p o r t e d as
1876-79 1896-1900
Digby Maharatna Seavoy The Lancet Maharama / Seavoy Cambridge
Smith
Source; Cf. William Digby, "Prosperous"British India, London 1901; Arap Maharatna, The Demography of Famine, Delhi 1996; Roland Seavoy. Famine in Peasant Societies, New York 1986; The Lancet, 16 May 1901; Cambridge Economic History of India, Cambridge 1983; A.J. Broomhall, Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century, Book Six, Assault on the Nine, London 1988; Paul Bohr, Famine in China, Cambridge, Mass. 1972; Paui Cohen, History in Three Keys, New York 1997; Roger Cunniff, "The Great Drought: Northeast Brazil, 1877-1880," Ph.D. diss., University of Texas, Austin 1970; andT. Lynn Smith, Brazil: People and Justitutioiu, Baton Rouge, La. 1954. Chapters 3 and 5 have detailed discussions of these estimates.
Brazil, s o u t h e r n Africa and ichronous extreme w e a t h e r Dn belt plus n o r t h e r n China ord of famine afflicting so the roughest estimates of at t h e million Irish dead of conventional warfare from
smallpox a n d cholera culled millions of victims from t h e ranks o f t h e famine-
iations by o n e British jour-
w e a k e n e d . . T h e E u r o p e a n empires, t o g e t h e r w i t h Japan a n d the U n i t e d States,
:rn India alone.' 5 Only Chi-
rapaciously exploited t h e o p p o r t u n i t y to w r e s t n e w colonies, expropriate com-
: w a r in world history with
m u n a l lands, and t a p novel sources of p l a n t a t i o n and m i n e labor. W h a t s e e m e d
st as m a n y victims.
f r o m a m e t r o p o l i t a n perspective t h e n i n e t e e n t h century's final blaze of imperial
: of three global subsistence
glory was, from an Asian or African viewpoint, only t h e h i d e o u s light of a giant
91 dry years again b r o u g h t
f u n e r a l pyre.
t h e worst suffering was in
T h e total h u m a n toll of these three waves of d r o u g h t , famine a n d disease
i e population died. T h e n in
could n o t have b e e n less than 30 million victims. Fifty million d e a d might n o t
>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<
as an inadvertent "birth p a n g " o r no-fault "friction of transition" in t h e evolution
t o r s and colonial p r o c o n s u l s
towards market-based world subsistence. C o m m o d i f i c a t i o n of agriculture elim'Prisoners of Starvation'
inates village-level reciprocities that traditionally provided welfare to t h e p o o r d u r i n g crises. (Almost as if to say: "Oops, systems e r r o r : fifty million corpses.
. P a r t s I and 11 o f this b o o t
Sorry. We'll invent a f a m i n e code next time." )
narrative history. S y n c h r o n o
But markets, to play w i t h words, are always " m a d e . " Despite t h e pervasive ide-
tal stage for c o m p l e x social
ology that markets f u n c t i o n spontaneously (and, as a result, "in capitalism, t h e r e
Whitehall and t h e C o n g r e s
is n o b o d y on w h o m o n e can pin guilt o r responsibility, things j u s t h a p p e n e d t h a t
ages were nf epic p r o p o r t i o
way, t h r o u g h a n o n y m o u s mechanisms"), 2 2 they in fact have inextricable political
always grain surpluses elsc\
histories. And force -- contra Polanyi - is "altogether relevant." As Rosa Luxem-
tially rescued d r o u g h t victi
burg argued in her classic (1913) analysis of the i n c o r p o r a t i o n of Asian and Afri-
1889, was never the issue,
can peasantries into the latc-nineteenth-ceniury world market:
fangled c o m m o d i t y market t h e state (as inflected by p o p
Each new colonial expansion is accompanied, as a matter of course, by a relentless battle o f capital against the social and economic tics of the natives, who are also forcibly robbed of their means of production and lahour power. Any hope to restrict the accumulation of capital exclusively to "peaceful competition," i.e. to regular commodity exchange such as takes place between capitalist producer-countries, rests on the pious belief that capital... can rely upon the slow internal process of a disintegrating natural economy. Accumulation, with its spasmodic expansion, can no more wait for. and be content with, a natural interna] disintegration of noncapitalist formations and their transition to commodity economy, than it can wait
tics of states to relieve c r o p c o u n t e d against available rc w a s British India under vice Smithian d o g m a and cold E n g l a n d in the midst of h< t r a g i c example of Ethiopia f e w resources t o rescue his { m a n m a d e plagues.
.L—
e
STS
lit of i he rapid and violent . er force is used in the prostitutions are disrupted by n entirely differently orgamodifies, which, again, is y cultural institution in an he nineteenth century did ;hire; they perished in large n demolished. 2 '
PREFACE 9 for, and be content with, the natural increase of the working population. Force is the only solution open to capital; the accumulation of capital, seen as an historical process, employs force as a permanent weapon.... 21 T h e famines that Polanyi abstractly describes as r o o t e d in c o m m o d i t y cycles a n d trade circuits w e r e p a r t of this p e r m a n e n t violence. "Millions die" w a s ultim a t e l y a policy choice: t o accomplish such decimations required (in Brecht's sardonic phrase) "a brilliant way of organising famine." 2 *' The victims had t o b e comprehensively defeated well in advance of their slow w i t h e r i n g into dust. A l t h o u g h equations m a y be m o r e fashionable, it is necessary to pin names a n d faces t o
ocking d o w n o n e S m i t h i a n
t h e h u m a n agents of s u c h catastrophes, as well as to understand t h e configura-
ian "new world o r d e r " w a s
tion of social and n a t u r a l conditions that constrained their decisions. Equally, it is
sly reified t h e "Market" as
imperative to consider t h e resistances, large a n d small, by w h i c h starving laborers
pigones t o visualize f a m i n e
a n d p o o r peasants a t t e m p t e d to foil the death sentences p a s s e d by g r a i n specula-
transition" in the evolution
t o r s and colonial proconsuls.
ication of agriculture elimjvided welfare to t h e p o o r
'Prisoners of Starvation"
irror: fifty million corpses.
Parts I and II of this b o o k , accordingly, take u p the challenge of traditional
." Despite t h e pervasive ide-
tal stage for complex social conflicts that ranged from t h e infra-village level t o
narrative history. S y n c h r o n o u s and devastating d r o u g h t provided an e n v i r o n m e n resuli. "in capitalism, t h e r e
Whitehall and the C o n g r e s s of Berlin. Although crop failures and w a t e r short-
y, things just h a p p e n e d t h a t
ages were of epic p r o p o r t i o n - o f t e n the w o r s t in centuries - there w e r e almost
:t have inextricable political
always grain surpluses elsewhere in the nation or empire t h a t could have poten-
relevant." As Rosa Luxem-
tially rescued d r o u g h t victims. Absolute scarcity, except perhaps in Ethiopia in
•poration of Asian and Afri-
1889, was never the issue. Standing between life and d e a t h instead were new-
d market:
fangled c o m m o d i t y m a r k e t s and price speculation, on o n e side, and t h e will o f t h e state (as inflected by p o p u l a r protest), on t h e other. As w e shall sec, the capaci-
er of c ourse, by a relentless •f the natives, who are also bour power. Any hope to aceful competition," i.e. to MI capitalist producer-coun>n the slow internal process th its spasmodic expansion, ernal disintegration of noni economy, than it can wait
ties of states to relieve c r o p failure, and the w a y in which famine policy was disc o u n t e d against available resources, differed dramatically. At one e x t r e m e , there w a s British India u n d e r viceroys like Lytton, t h e second Elgin and C u r z o n , where Smithian d o g m a and cold imperial self-interest allowed h u g e grain exports t o England in t h e midst o f h o r r e n d o u s starvation. At the o t h e r e x t r e m e was t h e tragic example of Ethiopia's Menelik II, w h o struggled heroically b u t with t o o f e w resources t o rescue his people from a truly biblical conjugation o f n a t u r a l and m a n m a d e plagues.
viii
LATB
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
Seen from a slightly different perspective, the subjects of this book were
in the H o r n of Africa. l.ikewi
ground to bits between the teeth of three massive and implacable cogwheels
drought that devastated S h a r
of m o d e r n history. In the first instance, there was the fatal meshing of extreme
.sphere of influence in North <
events b e t w e e n the world climate system and the late Victorian world economy.
tising drought-famine and di<
This was one of the major novelties of the age. Until the 1870s and the creation of
Republic.
a rudimentary international weather reporting network there was little scientific apprehension that drought o n a planetary scale was even possible; likewise, until
But the agricultural popula gently into the N e w Imperial <
the same decade, rural Asia was not yet sufficiently integrated into the global
If resistance to famine in the 1
economy to send or receive economic shock waves from die o t h e r side of the
inglv local and riotous, with
world. T h e 1870s, however, provided n u m e r o u s examples of a n e w vicious circle
organization, it undoubtedly I
(which Stanley Jevons was the first economist to recognize) linking weather and
terror from the suppression <
price perturbations t h r o u g h the m e d i u m of an international grain market. 15 Sud-
The 1890s were an entirely d
denly the price of w h e a t in Liverpool and the rainfall in Madras were variables in
established the contributory i
the same vast equation of h u m a n survival.
lion, the Korean Tonghak m o
The first six chapters provide dozens of examples of malign interaction
zilian War of Canudos, as w t
between climatic and economic processes. Most of the Indian, Brazilian and Mo-
Africa. T h e millenarian mover
roccan cultivators, for example, w h o starved in 1877 and 1878 had already been
of t h e nineteenth century d c r
immiserated and made vulnerable to hunger by the world economic crisis (the
acuity of these subsistence a n
nineteenth century's "Great Depression") that began in 1873. T h e soaring trade
But what of Nature's role
deficits of Qing China - artificially engineered in the first place by British nar-
of d r o u g h t and does it have ;
colraficantes - likewise accelerated the decline of the "ever-normal" granaries
synchronous d r o u g h t - result
that were the empire's first-line defense against drought and flood. Conversely,
the principal tropical weather
drought in Brazil's Nordeste in 1889 and 1891 prostrated the population of the
of the nineteenth century. T h
backlands in advance of the economic and political crises of the n e w Republic
the late 1960s, w h e n Jacob Bj.
and accordingly magnified their impact.
equatorial Pacific Ocean, acti:
But Kondratieff (the theorist of economic "long waves") and Bjerknes (the
winds, was able t o affect rai:
theorist of El Nino oscillations) need to be supplemented by Hobson, Luxem-
the temperate latitudes. Rapi
burg and Lenin. The New Imperialism was the third gear of this catastrophic his-
1:1 Nino events), for example,
tory. As Jill Dias has so brilliantly shown in the case of the Portuguese in nine-
nous drought throughout v;
teenth-century Angola, colonial expansion uncannily syncopated the rhythms of
America. W h e n t h e eastern P
natural disaster and epidemic disease." Each global drought was the green light
tern reverses (called a La Nifi
for an imperialist landrush. If the southern African drought of 1877, for example,
occur in the same "teleconne
was Carnarvon's opportunity to strike against Zulu independence, then the Ethi-
and ocean temperature, whic!
opian famine of 1889-91 was Crispi's mandate to build a new Roman Empire
known as "El Nino-Southern
PR I-FACE
USTS
ubjects of this b o o k were
in the H o r n of Africa. Likewise Wilhelmine Germany exploited the floods and
and implacable cogwheels
drought that devastated Shandong in the late 1890s to aggressively expand its
e fatal meshing of extreme
sphere of influence in N o r t h China, while the United States was simultaneously
i Victorian world economy,
using drought-famine and disease as weapons to crush Aguinaldo's Philippine
he 1870s and the creation of
Republic.
)rk there was little scientific
But the agricultural populations of Asia, Africa and South America did not g o
ven possible; likewise, until
gently into the New Imperial order. Famines are wars over the right t o existence.
integrated into the global
If resistance to famine in the 1870s (apart from southern Africa) was overwhelm-
from the other side of the
ingly local and riotous, with few instances of more ambitious insurrectionary
iples of a new vicious circle
organization, it undoubtedly had m u c h to do with the recent memories of state
>gnize) linking weather and
terror from the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and the Taiping Revolution.
ational grain m a r k e t . " Sud-
T h e 1890s were an entirely different story, and modern historians have clearly established the contributory role played by drought-famine in the Boxer Rebel-
in Madras were variables in
lion, the Korean Tonghak movement, the rise of Indian Extremism a n d the Brapies of malign interaction
zilian War of Canudos, as well as innumerable revolts in eastern a n d southern
le Indian, Brazilian and Mo-
Africa. T h e millenarian m o v e m e n t s that swept the future "third world" at the end
and 1878 had already been
of the nineteenth century'derived m u c h of their eschatological ferocity from the
world economic crisis (the
acuity of these subsistence and environmental crises.
. in 1873. T h e soaring trade
But what of Nature's role in this bloody history? W h a t turns the great wheel
ie first place by British nar-
of drought and does it have an intrinsic periodicity? As we shall sec in Part III,
ie "ever-normal" granaries
synchronous drought - resulting from massive shifts in t h e seasonal location of
:ght and flood. Conversely,
the principal tropical weather systems - was o n e of the great scientific mysteries
rated the population of the
of the nineteenth century. T h e key theoretical breakthrough did not come until
crises of the new Republic
the late 1960s, when Jacob Bjerknes at UCLA showed for the first time how the equatorial Pacific Ocean, acting as a planetary heat engine coupled to the trade
waves") and Bjerknes (the
winds, was able to affect rainfall patterns throughout the tropics and even in
lented by Hobson, Luxem-
the temperate latitudes. Rapid warmings of the eastern tropical Pacific (called
>ear of this catastrophic his-
El Nino events), for example, are associated w i t h weak monsoons a n d synchro-
of the Portuguese in nine-
n o u s drought t h r o u g h o u t vast parts of Asia, Africa and northeastern South
syncopated the rhythms of
America. W h e n the eastern Pacific is unusually cool, on the other hand, the pat-
drought was the green light
tern reverses (called a La Nina event), and abnormal precipitation and flooding
ought of 1877, for example,
occur in the same "teleconnected" regions. T h e entire vast see-saw of air mass
idependence, then the Ethi-
and ocean temperature, which extends into the Indian O c e a n as well, is formally
•uild a n e w R o m a n Empire
known as "El Nino-Southern Oscillation" (or ENSO, for short).
£
-
4. \ ©
viiiL A T BV I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
T h e first reliable chronologies of El N i n o events, painstakingly r e c o n s t r u c t e d f r o m meteorological data and a variety of anecdotal records (including even the diaries of t h e conquistadors), w e r e assembled in the 1970s.27 T h e extremely pow4
-
. •
•
,
| • • •
-I '
, .-.-,
|
w o r l d market forces on n o n - E tury. We now have a far bett< c o t t o n p r o d u c e r s in Berar an< to t h e world e c o n o m y and v and flood. We also have m a g r decline of the Q i n g granary a India's cotton a n d wheat cxp< m e n t in nineteenth-century B Part IV is an ambitious a t t e b a c k g r o u n d forces that s h a p e
•WIN
SPR
: .SUM - ' AUT
WIN
-SPR
SUM '
198^1983:,
J 87-7-1878.
the last instance, died. If the c a b r u p t conjiinctural cconomi' trade recession), these penulti
1 8 7 7 / <1 9 8 2 ; v
r
processes: the perverse logic
Seasonal L-voSunon of SST-anomaljes in equatorial belt 0°-5°S, -180° to coast ofSouth Amenca ;
colonial revenue settlements, indigenous irrigation, i n f o r m a chapter-length overview o f
DURATION
the strategic contributions o f
Figure P2 Comparison of the 1877-78 and 1982-83 El Nino Events
maintaining British c o m m e r c w o r k on late-nineteenth-cent
erful 1982 El N i n o stimulated n e w interest in the history of t h e impacts of earlier events. In 1986 t w o researchers w o r k i n g o u t of a national weather, research laboratory in C o l o r a d o published 'a detailed c o m p a r i s o n of meteorological data from the 1876 and ] 982 anomalies that identified t h e first as a paradigmatic E N S O event: perhaps the m o s t p o w e r f u l in 500 years (see Figure P2). zs Similarly, the extraordinary succession of tropical d r o u g h t s and m o n s o o n failures in 1896-97 1899-1900, and 1902 w e r e firmly correlated to El N i n o w a r m i n g s of t h e eastern Pacific. (The 1898 Yellow River flood, in addition, w a s probably a La Nina event.) Indeed, the last third of the n i n e t e e n t h century, like the last third of the twentieth, represents an exceptional intensification of El N i n o activity relative t o the centuries-long mean. 2 * If, in t h e eyes of science, ENSO's messy
This is a "political ccolog of e n v i r o n m e n t a l history a n c lory of subsistence crisis p i o r Icncc: Food, Famine and Pcasin t e r m s and affiliations are p o : their ongoing w o r k as "polit; to express my indebtedness a easily recognize its influence Finally, 1 have tried to tak on famines as " e n g i n e s of hi: ines were forcing houses a n d
fingerprints
are all over the climate
e n s u r e d their o c c u r r e n c e in t
disasters of the Victorian period, historians have yet t o m a k e m u c h of this discov-
we today call t h e "third worl
ery. In t h e last g e n e r a t i o n , however, they have g e n e r a t e d a wealth of case-studies
and wealth i n e q u a l i t i e s - t h e
and m o n o g r a p h s t h a t i m m e a s u r a b l y d e e p e n o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e i m p a c t of
•t V ©
r
PREFACE
AUSTS
world m a r k e t forces o n n o n - E u r o p e a n agriculturalists in t h e late n i n e t e e n t h cen-
, painstakingly reconstructed
tury. W e n o w have a far b e l t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g of h o w s h a r e c r o p p e r s in Ceara,
il records (including even the
cotton p r o d u c e r s in Berar and p o o r peasants in w e s t e r n S h a n d o n g w e r e linked
1970s.27 T h e extremely pow-
to the world e c o n o m y and why t h a t m a d e t h e m m o r e vulnerable t o d r o u g h t and flood. W e also have m a g n i f i c e n t analyses o f larger pieces of t h e puzzle: t h e decline of t h e Q i n g g r a n a r y and flood-control systems, t h e internal s t r u c t u r e o f India's c o t t o n and w h e a t export sectors, t h e role of racism in regional developm e n t in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y Brazil, and so o n . Part IV is an a m b i t i o u s a t t e m p t t o mine this vast literature for insights into t h e b a c k g r o u n d forces t h a t shaped vulnerability t o famine a n d d e t e r m i n e d who, in ^ • v.
: j SUM
t h e last instance, died. If the early narrative sections of Parts I and II i n t r o d u c e d abrupt c o n j u n c t u r a l e c o n o m i c factors (like t h e e n d of the c o t t o n b o o m o r world
82—1983 ' ..
trade recession), these p e n u l t i m a t e chapters a r e c o n c e r n e d w i t h slower structural processes: t h e perverse logic of m a r k e t i z e d subsistence, t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f colonial revenue settlements, the impact of t h e n e w Gold Standard, t h e decline o f
180°. to coast of South America '.
indigenous irrigation, informal colonialism in Brazil, and so on. B e g i n n i n g with a chapter-length overview of t h e late Victorian e c o n o m i c o r d e r as a w h o l e - and t h e strategic c o n t r i b u t i o n s of the Indian and C h i n e s e peasantries, in particular, t o io Events
maintaining British c o m m e r c i a l h e g e m o n y - I offer critical s u m m a r i e s of recent w o r k on late-nineteenth-century India, China a n d Brazil.
story of the impacts of ear-
This is a "political ecology of f a m i n e " b e c a u s e it takes the v i e w p o i n t b o t h
a national w e a t h e r research ison of meteorological data
of e n v i r o n m e n t a l history and Marxist political e c o n o m y : an a p p r o a c h to the his-
irst as a paradigmatic E N S O
tory of subsistence crisis pioneered by Michael Watts in his 1983 b o o k , Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Nort/teni Nigeria/'
Figure P2). 28 Similarly, the
Although o t h e r umbrella
t e r m s and affiliations are possible, the fact t h a t Watts and his co-thinkers label
lonsoon failures in 1896-97 iio warmings of the eastern
their o n g o i n g w o r k as "political e c o l o g y " p e r s u a d e s m c t o d o the s a m e , if only
s probably a La Nina event.)
t o express m y indebtedness and solidarity ( T h o s e familiar w i t h Watts's b o o k will
the last third of t h e twenti-
easily recognize its influence in this work.) Finally, I have tried t o take on b o a r d David Arnold's indispensable emphasis
sJino activity relative to the
o n famines as "engines of historical transformation." 3 1 T h e great Victorian famints are all over t h e climate
ines were f o r c i n g h o u s e s a n d accelerators of t h e very s o c i o - e c o n o m i c forces that
3 make m u c h of this discov-
ensured their o c c u r r e n c e in t h e first place. A key thesis of this b o o k is t h a t w h a t
ted a wealth of case-studies
w e today call t h e "third w o r l d " (a Cold W a r t e r m ) J 2 is t h e o u t g r o w t h o f income
erstanding of the i m p a c t of
a n d wealth inequalities - t h e f a m o u s " d e v e l o p m e n t gap" - t h a t were s h a p e d m o s t
•i
e
viiiLATBV I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
decisively in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, w h e n the great non-European peasantries were initially integrated into the world e c o n o m y As other historians have recently pointed out, when the Bastille was being stormed, the vertical class divisions inside the world's m a j o r societies were not recapitulated as dramatic income differences between societies. The differences in living standards, say, between a French sans-ciilotte and Deccan farmer were relatively insignificant compared to the gulf that separated both f r o m their ruling classes. 33 By the end of Victoria's reign, however, the inequality of nations was as profound as the inequality of classes. H u m a n i t y had been irrevocably divided. And the famed "prisoners of starvation," w h o m the Internationale urges to arise, were as m u c h modern inventions of the late Victorian world as electric lights, Maxim guns and "scientific" racism.
The very words that rivet chi: of course, the m o s t dangcrou semantic time b o m b s waiting outset, detonating some of t\ clears a path for the narrative
El Nino This is the least controversia' its usage slides back and f o r t ! lated meanings nestled inside ter-current that slightly raise Peru every year n e a r Chiistm ally large warmings that occt strophic impacts on marine p desert (epic flooding); (3) t h e wide oscillation in air mass a r ern Oscillation (ENSO); (4) t h La Nina); and (5) a metonym i but, alas, not always - refer tc with drought in m u c h of th-
STS
w h e n the gre.u non-Euro•ld economy. As other hisas being stormed, the verwere not recapitulated as arences in living standards, re re relatively insignificant •uling classes.'' By the end is was as profound as the , divided. And the f a m e d *es to arise, were as m u c h
A
N ( ) t e
Q n
D e f i n i t
i o n S
ric lights, Maxim guns and
T h e very words that rivet this b o o k to the boilerplate of familiar ideology arc, of course, the most dangerous. Drought, famine and other t e r m s are like so many semantic time bombs waiting to g o off. Better t h e n to walk this minefield at the outset, detonating s o m e of the m o r e obvious booby traps, in the hope that it clears a path for the narrative that follows. El N i n o This is the least controversial but most confusing term. In scientific literature its usage slides back and forth, often without warning, between a scries of sublated meanings nestled inside of each other like Russian dolls: (l) the weak counter-current that slightiy raises sea temperatures off the coast of Ecuador and Peru every year near Christmas (hence El Nino, the Christ child); (2) the unusually large warmings that occur every three to seven years with sometimes catastrophic impacts on m a r i n e productivity (suppressed) and the Peruvian coastal desert (epic flooding); (3) the active ocean c o m p o n e n t of a vast, Pacific Basinw i d e oscillation in air mass and ocean t e m p e r a t u r e known as the El Nino-Southe r n Oscillation (ENSO); (4) the w a r m phase of ENSO (the cold phase is known as La Nina); and (5) a m e t o n y m for ENSO itself.1 In this book, El Nino will usually but, alas, not always - refer to (4), the ENSO w a r m extreme, which is associated w i t h drought in m u c h of the m o n s o o n tropics and n o r t h e r n China. ENSO, a
r LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
A X
clunky a c r o n y m , is the n a m e of the Great W h i t e W h a l e , the "secret of" the m o n -
but even natural water stora^
s o o n s " itself. P a r t III tells its s t o r y .
practices that lead to defores
Drought
devastating nineteenth-centiu scape d e g r a d a t i o n , the neglct
D r o u g h t is the recurrent duel b e t w e e n natural rainfall variability and agricul-
tion of c o m m u n a l labor, a n d /
ture's hydraulic defenses. It always has a m a n m a d e d i m e n s i o n a n d is never simply
This is why I a g r e e with Rohi
a natural disaster. Any d r o u g h t w i t h a significant agricultural i m p a c t is the prod-
l a n d m a r k study o f the early 1
uct of t w o processes, o p e r a t i n g at different temporalities. Meteorological drought
in themselves; they assume i
is usually defined by t h e percentage shortfall in a n n u a l m e a n precipitation for a
the e n v i r o n m e n t within diifc
given locality o r region. T h e definitions vary f r o m c o u n t r y to country, and in rela-
Marx on the historical specific
tionship t o socially defined " n o r m a l conditions." T h e present-day India Meteo-
a q u e s i i o n that will be f u n d a
rological D e p a r t m e n t , for example, defines a 60 p e r c e n t o r g r e a t e r deficiency in
did t h e colonial transformati-
local m e a n rainfall as "severe d r o u g h t , " roughly equivalent to " m o n s o o n failure."
which climatic factors could c
Yet w h a t is critical from an agricultural standpoint is less the total a m o u n t of rainfall t h a n its distribution relative to a n n u a l cycles. A well-distributed b u t sub-
Famine (Causality)
n o r m a l rainfall may do little d a m a g e to c r o p yield, particularly in areas like the
W h e t h e r or not crop failure 1
Indian Deccan or n o r t h China, w h e r e peasants cultivate millet a n d o t h e r drought-
starves, depends o n a host of
resistant crops, while a " n o r m a l " rainfall c o n c e n t r a t e d in the w r o n g m o n t h s can
ity decline), as N o b e l laureat
lead t o considerable crop loss. Historically, agricultural societies in areas of high
in isolated hunter-gatherer e
rainfall variability were usually well-adapted to cope w i t h severe single-year rain
society. Although distant obs<
deficits; m o s t , however, required massive inter-regional aid to survive two m o n -
ing g o v e r n m e n t ministers
s o o n failures in a row. T h e impact of deficient rainfall on food p r o d u c t i o n , moreover, depends on
lions killed off bv drought o r cntlv. From the 1860s, or eve
h o w m u c h stored w a t e r is available, w h e t h e r it can b e distributed to plots in a
by British administrators a n d
timely fashion, and, where w a t e r is a commodity, w h e t h e r cultivators can afford
s h o r t a g e s p e r s e , but c o m p l r :
t o p u r c h a s e it. Hydrological drought occurs w h e n b o t h natural (streams, lakes and
d r o u g h t ami c r o p failure.
aquifers) and artificial (reservoirs, wells, a n d canals) w a t e r - s t o r a g e systems lack,
T h e celebrated famine c c
accessible supplies t o save crops. It should be r e m e m b e r e d , of course, that local
FAD as an explanation of ma:
w a t e r supply is often i n d e p e n d e n t of local climate. T h e m o s t advantageous situ-
catastrophe, the official Re/'c)
ation occurs in regions like the Indo-Gangetic plain of n o r t h e r n India, w h e r e
that "supplies of food were a
snow-fed rivers whose w a t e r s h e d s largely lie outside the d r o u g h t z o n e can be
r e p e a t e d that severe privatio
t a p p e d for irrigation.
agriculture [arising from tin
Hydrological d r o u g h t always has a social history. Artificial irrigation systems
likewise concluded that " t h e
obviously d e p e n d u p o n sustained levels of social investment a n d labor upkeep,
city of food." C h i n e s e official
r
STS
A NOTE ON DEFINITIONS
ie, the "secret of the m o n -
19
but even natural water-storage capacity can be dramatically affected by human practices that lead to deforestation and soil erosion. As w e shall see, the most devastating nineteenth-century droughts were decisively preconditioned by landscape degradation, the neglect of traditional irrigation systems, the demobiliza-
all variability and agricul-
tion of c o m m u n a l labor, a n d / o r the failure of the state to invest in water storage.
lension and is never simply
This is why I agree with Rolando Garcia's assertion in Nature Pleads Not Guilty (a
ultural impact is the prod-
landmark study of the early 1970s Sahelian crisis) that "climatic facts are not facts
ities. Meteorological drought
in themselves; they assume importance only in relation t o the restructuring of
il m e a n precipitation for a
the environment within different systems of production." Garcia, after quoting
itry to country, and in rela-
Marx on the historical specificity of the "natural" conditions of production, poses
: present-day India Meteo-
a question that will be fundamental to discussion in this b o o k : "to w h a t degree
•nt or greater deficiency in
did the colonial transformation of the system of production change the way in
dent to " m o n s o o n failure."
which climatic factors could exert their influence?" 2
s less the total a m o u n t of A well-distributed but sub-
Famine (Causality)
articularly in areas like the
W h e t h e r or not crop failure leads t o starvation, and who, in the event of famine,
e millet and other drought-
starves, depends on a host of nonlinear social factors. Simple FAD (food availabil-
I in the w r o n g m o n t h s can
ity decline), as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen calls it, may directly lead to famine
II societies in areas of high
in isolated hunter-gatherer ecologies, but it is unlikely d o so in any large-scale
vith severe single-year rain
society. Although distant observers of the famines described in this book, includ-
al aid to survive t w o moti-
ing government ministers and great metropolitan papers, regularly described mil-
on, moreover, depends on
lions killed off by drought or crop failure, those on the scene always k n e w differently. From the 1860s, or even earlier, it was generally recognized in India, both
)e distributed to plots in a
by British administrators and Indian nationalists, that the famines were not food
filler cultivators can afford
shortages per sc, but complex economic crises induced by the market impacts of
natural (streams, lakes and
drought and crop failure.
vvater-storagc systems lack
T h e celebrated famine commissions were particularly emphatic in rejecting
^ered, of course, that local
FAD as an explanation of mass mortality. Thus in the a f t e r m a t h of the 1899-1902
le most advantageous situ-
catastrophe, the official Report on famine in the Bombay Presidency underlined
of n o r t h e r n India, where
that "supplies of food were at all times sufficient, and it c a n n o t be too frequently
: the drought zone can be
repeated that severe privation was chiefly due to the dearth of employment in agriculture [arising f r o m the drought]." Commissioners in neighboring Bcrar
Artificial irrigation systems
likewise concluded that "the famine was one of high prices rather than of scar-
estment and labor upkeep,
city of food." Chinese official discourse also treated famine as primarily a market
A
4. \
e
20
LATE VICTORIAN HOLOCAUSTS
p e r t u r b a t i o n , a l t h o u g h giving considerable attention as well t o t h e c o r r u p t i o n of local g r a n a r y officials and t h e delapidation of the t r a n s p o r t infrastructure. 3 In recent years, A m a r t y a Sen and M e g h n a d Desai have meticulously formalized this Victorian c o m m o n sense in t h e language of welfare e c o n o m i c s . Famine in their view is a crisis of "exchange entitlements" 'defined as "legal, e c o n o m i cally operative rights of access to resources that give control of f o o d " ) t h a t may or m a y n o t have a n y t h i n g to d o w i t h crop yields. "Famine," e m p h a s i z e s Sen, "is the characteristic of s o m e people n o t having e n o u g h food t o eat. It is n o t the characteristic of there n o t being e n o u g h f o o d to eat.' M In theoretical j a r g o n , the " e n d o w m e n t s " of different g r o u p s (ownership of land, labor, p o w e r a n d so on.) " m a p " to alternative "entitlement sets" of goods and services. People starve in a Senyan world w h e n their e n d o w m e n t s , for whatever reason, c a n n o t c o m m a n d or be exchanged f o r m i n i m a l calories to subsist, or, alternately, w h e n their enti-
A N
acquire and defend certain r i j ership through private propci that class and class struggle s hunger equation. At the sam scale, with the result that the figurations of class and intern for distinguishing different sp ally existing socialisms have c erty rights consequent on pc tion. The same can be said foi poor may be constitutive of 5 however, one needs to know 1 erty relations which mediate negotiated and fought over. S to its core.s
t l e m e n t m a p p i n g s shift disastrously against t h e m . Famine is t h u s a catastrophic social relation b e t w e e n unequally e n d o w e d g r o u p s t h a t m a y b e activated by war, depression or even s o m e t h i n g called " D e v e l o p m e n t " as well as by e x t r e m e clim a t e events. Most likely, of course, it is a c o n j u n c t u r e of different factors.
Famine (Mortality) " W h o defines an event as a 'fa
Critics have considerably s h a r p e n e d t h e teeth of this model. David Arnold,
p o w e r relations w i t h i n and be
for instance, has usefully w a r n e d against excessive d e m o t i o n of e n v i r o n m e n t a l
that m a s s starvation unto d e i
factors, especially t h e impacts of the n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e g a - d r o u g h t s . H e has
in favor of the b r o a d e r spec
also taxed Sen for ignoring mass extra-legal actions - riots, protests, rebellions -
and social b r e a k d o w n , e n c o n
that constitute populist appropriations of entitlement. Amarita R a n g a s a m i simi-
of f a m i n e . Local people, like 1
larly has r e m i n d e d us that famine " c a n n o t b e defined with reference t o the vic-
build definitional firewalls bet"
5
tims of starvation alone" In her view (and mine), the great h u n g e r s have always
tion. N o r do they f a t h o m the r
been redistributive class struggles: "a process in which benefits a c c r u e to o n e sec-
certified famines b u t cooly ign
tion of t h e c o m m u n i t y while losses flow t o the other." rt Perhaps, m o s t incisively, Michael Watts, discounting any "generic t h e o r y "
the infant morality on the pla: of f a m i n e that all t o o often rei
of such an " e n o r m o u s l y complex social and biological p h e n o m e n a , " sees the
T h u s , even w h i l e focusing
exchange-entitlement m o d e l as merely a logical first step in b u i l d i n g a fully his-
scale), we must acknowledge
torical a c c o u n t of f a m i n e in different social formations: 7
violence of malnutrition that s h a d o w of debilitation and di:
If famine is about the command over food, it is about power and politics broadly understood, which are embedded in a multiplicity of arenas from the domestic (patriarchal politics) to the nation/state (how ruling classes and subaltern groups
o
torically specific epidemiologi. raphers, famine a n d epidemic able. T h i s was recognized by
r
A NOTE ON
USTS
as well t o the c o r r u p t i o n of nsport infrastructure. 3 i have meticulously formalwelfare economics. Famine ^defined as "legal, economicontrol of food" ) that m a y amine," emphasizes Sen, "is gh food t o eat. It is n o t the ,"4 In theoretical jargon, t h e nd, labor, p o w e r and so on.) id services. People starve in er reason, c a n n o t c o m m a n d alternately, w h e n their enti-
DEFINITIONS
21
acquire and defend certain rights). In social systems dominated by capitalism, ownership through private property determines exchange entitlements, which is to say that class and class struggle shape the genesis and the outcomes of the property hunger equation. At the same time capitalism has develped unevenly on a world scale, with the result that there are national capitalisms (colored by differing configurations of class and international geopolitics) which provide the building blocks for distinguishing different species, and consequences, of subsistence crises. Actually existing socialisms have class and other interests, too, and perhaps other property rights consequent on political action and "socialistic" regimes of accumulation. The same can be said for pre-capitalisms for which the moral economy of the poor may be constitutive of some important entitlement claims. In all such cases, however, one needs to know how enforceable and legitimate are the legal and property relations which mediate entitlements and to recognize that all such rights arc negotiated and fought over. Such struggles are not peripheral to famine bur strike to its core. 8
amine is t h u s a catastrophic h a t may be activated by war,
Famine (Mortality)
t" as well as by e x t r e m e dire of different factors,
" W h o defines a h event as a ' f a m i n e , " ' writes Alexander d e Waal, "is a question o f
f this model. David Arnold,
p o w e r relations within and b e t w e e n societies." H e rejects t h e "Malthusian" idea
d e m o t i o n of environmental
that mass starvation u n t o death is "a prerequisite for t h e definition of famine"
.tury mega-droughts. H e has
in favor o f t h e b r o a d e r s p e c t r u m of m e a n i n g s , including hunger, destitution
- riots, protests, rebellions -
and social b r e a k d o w n , e n c o m p a s s e d within traditional African u n d e r s t a n d i n g s
it. Amarita Rangasami simi-
of famine. Local people, like his D a r f u r i a n f r i e n d s in t h e western S u d a n , do n o t
ed with reference to the vic-
build definitional firewalls b e t w e e n m a l n u t r i t i o n and f a m i n e , poverty and starva-
ie great hungers have always
tion. N o r d o they f a t h o m the m o r a l calculus o f wealthy countries w h o rush aid t o
:h benefits accrue to one sec-
certified f a m i n e s b u t cooly ignore t h e chronic m a l n u t r i t i o n responsible for half o f
5
the infant m o r a l i t y o n the planet. And they are rightly suspicious of a semantics mting any "generic theory" igical p h e n o m e n a , " sees the ;t step in building a fully his3ns:
7
t power and politics broadly if arenas from the domestic classes and subaltern groups
of famine t h a t all t o o o f t e n renders "ordinary" r u r a l poverty invisible. 0 Thus, even while focusing on "famines t h a t killed" ( a n d killed o n a gigantic scale), w e m u s t acknowledge that f a m i n e is p a r t of a c o n t i n u u m w i t h t h e silent violence of m a l n u t r i t i o n that precedes and conditions it, a n d with t h e mortality s h a d o w of debilitation a n d disease that follows it. Each f a m i n e is a unique, historically specific epidemiological event, and d e s p i t e the h e r o i c efforts of d e m o g raphers, f a m i n e and epidemic mortality are n o t epistemologically distinguishable. This w a s recognized by British medical authorities as far b a c k as the 1866
viii
LATB V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
famine in Orissa. "We think, it quite impossible to distinguish b e t w e e n the mortality directly caused by starvation, and that due to disease.... In t r u t h want a n d disease run so much into one another than no statistics and no observations would suffice to draw an accurate line." 10 "During the great famines," adds Klein, "the overwhelming majority of deaths resulted from the synergistic effect of extreme undernourishment on infection."" But famine synergizes w i t h disease in two different if mutually reinforcing modes. T h e "increase in mortality during the famine can occur either t h o u g h an increase in susceptibility to potentially fatal diseases or t h r o u g h an increase in exposure to t h e m or a combination of the two." l z Malnutrition and i m m u n e system suppression increase susceptibility while congested, unsanitary environments like refugee camps and poorhouses increase exposure and transmission. As we shall see, "famine camps were notorious centres of disease and may have killed with microbes as m a n y lives as they saved with food." 1 3 Moreover, w h e n basic sanitation and public health were so woefully neglected, m o d e r n infrastructures of commerce could b e c o m e deadly vectors in their own right. India's "peculiar amalgam of modernization and underdevelopment" - a " m o d e r n transport system, huge grain trade, high h u m a n mobility (typical of advanced countries)" combined with "poverty, undernourishment, low immunities, insanitation and high exposure to infection (typical of some "underdeveloped' countries)" - promoted higher mortality than probably would have otherwise existed. 1 "
Holocaust (Picturing) In her somberly measured reflections, Reading the Holocaust, Inga Glendinnen ventures this opinion about the slaughter of innocents: "If we grant that 'Holocaust,' the total consumption of offerings by fire, is sinisterly appropriate for the murder of those millions w h o found their only graves in the air, it is equally appropriate for the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden."' 5 W i t h o u t using her capitalization (which implies too complete an equation b e t w e e n the Shoah and other carnages), it is the burden of this b o o k to show that imperial policies towards starving "subjects" were often the exact moral equivalents of b o m b s dropped from 18,000 feet. The c o n t e m p o r a r y p h o t o g r a p h s used in this b o o k are thus intended as accusations not illustrations.
JSTS
iguish between the m< >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
HOLOCAUSTS
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
HOLOCAUSTS
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<
spent m o r e of its revenue on famine relief, an even larger proportion of the popu-
c a n n o t contemplate without
lation would b e c o m e penurious." 2S As in Ireland thirty years before, those with
players on either side of the
the power to relieve famine convinced themselves that overly heroic exertions
principle that India was to t
against implacable natural laws, whether of market prices or population growth,
house.
were worse than no effort at all. His recent biographers claim that Salisbury, the gray eminence of Indian policy, was privately tormented by these Malthusian calculations. A decade ear-
T h e 'Temple Wage' Over the next year, the gathe
lier, during his first stint as secretary of state for India, he had followed the advice
Madras Presidency through N
of the Council in Calcutta and refused to intervene in the early stages of a deadly
N o r t h Western Provinces. T :
famine in Orissa. "I did nothing for two months," he later confessed. "Before that
teau and Tamilnad plains (see
time the m o n s o o n had closed the ports of Orissa - help was impossible - and - it
in district after district sold t
is said - a million people died. The Governments of India and Bengal had taken in
roofs, the frames of their doc
effect n o precautions whatever.... I never could feel that I was free from all blame
the drought. W i t h o u t cssenti
for the result." Accordingly, he harbored a lifelong distrust of officials who "wor-
to take advantage of the little
shipped political economy as a sort of 'fetish'" as well as Englishmen in India
crops of rape and cumboo. A
.who accepted "famine as a salutary cure for over-population." 29 Yet, whatever his
September. 3 1
K
r"
VICTORIA'S
J STS
GHOSTS
35
'ation in India. 25
private misgivings, Salisbury had urged appointment of the laissez-faire fanatic
ny case balancing budgets
Lytton and publicly congratulated Disraeli for repudiating "the g r o w i n g idea that
any civilized h u m a n qual-
England o u g h t to pay tribute to India for having conquered her." Indeed, when
hair of Political Economy
his own advisers later protested the repeal of cotton duties in the face of the fiscal
Although it was bad man-
emergency of the famine, Salisbury d e n o u n c e d as a "species of International
is in Calcutta, Malthusian
C o m m u n i s m " the idea "that a rich Britain should consent to penalize her trade
irly invoked to legitimize
for the sake of a poor India." 30
justified his stringencies to
Like o t h e r architects of the Victorian Raj, Salisbury w a s terrified of setting
ian population "has a ten-
any precedent for the p e r m a n e n t maintenance of the Indian poor. As the Calcutta.
;om the soil," 26 most likely
Review pointed out in 1877, "In India there is no legal provision m a d e for t h e
i Sir Evelyn Baring (after-
poor, either in British territory, o r in the native states; [although] t h e need for it
d a t e on the government's
is said by medical m e n and others, to be exceedingly great." 3 1 Both Calcutta and
mevolent attempt m a d e to
London feared that "enthusiastic prodigality" like Buckingham's w o u l d become
serves b u t to enhance the
a trojan horse for an Indian Poor Law.32 In its final report, the Famine Commis-
'ein, an 1881 report "con-
sion of 1878-80 approvingly underscored Lord Lytton's skinflint reasoning: "The
l from the poorest 20% of
doctrine that in time of famine t h e poor are entitled to d e m a n d relief ... would
lis stratum of the popula-
probably lead to the doctrine that they are entitled to such relief at all times, a n d
te Thus, if the government
thus the foundation would be laid of a system of general poor relief, which w e
;er proportion of the popu-
cannot contemplate without serious apprehension...."'" None of the principal
y years before, those with
players on either side of the H o u s e of C o m m o n s disagreed with the supreme
lat overly heroic exertions
principle that India was to be governed as a revenue plantation, n o t an alms-
ices or population growth,
house.
gray eminence of Indian
The T e m p l e WageJ
calculations. A decade ear-
Over the next year, t h e gathering horror of t h e drought-famine spread from t h e
he had followed the advice
Madras Presidency through Mysore, the Bombay Deccan and eventually into the
the early stages of a deadly
North Western Provinces. The crop losses in many districts of the Deccan pla-
iter confessed. "Before that
teau and Tamilnad plains (see Table 1.2) were nothing short of catastrophic. Ryots
lp was impossible - and - it
in district after district sold their "bullocks, field implements, the thatch of the
dia and Bengal had taken in
roofs, the frames of their doors a n d windows" to survive the terrible first year of
at I was free from all blame
the drought. Without essential means of production, however, they were unable
trust of officials w h o "wor-
to take advantage of the little rain that fell in April-May 1877 to s o w emergency
'ell as Englishmen in India
crops of rape and cumboo. As a result they died in their myriads in August a n d
alation." 29 Yet, whatever his
September. 34
r
40 LATE VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
Table 1.2 Madras Presidency: Chief Famine Districts, 1877 District Bellary Kurnool Cuddapah Chinglepm Nellore North Arcot Coimbatore Madura Salem Tinnevelly
Population (Millions) 1.68
.98 1.35 1.34 1.38 2.02
1.76 2.27 1.97 1.64
Percentage of Crop Saved 6
6 18
18
25 25 25 25 33 37
Sourcc; From the report by Sir Richard Temple, in Rcpon of the Indian Famine Commission, 1S7S, Pan 1, Famine Relief, London 1880. p. 71.
Millions m o r e had reached the stage of acute malnutrition, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by
Figure 1.3 A Family in the Dec
h u n g e r e d e m a and anemia, t h a t m o d e r n health w o r k e r s call s k e l e t o n i z a t i o n . " Village officers w r o t e t o their superiors f r o m Nellore a n d o t h e r ravaged districts
n i n e M a h a r a s l u r a n districts
of the Madras Deccan that t h e only well-fed p a r t of t h e local p o p u l a t i o n w e r e the
all in Sholapur and Kaladgi.
pariah dogs, "fat as sheep," that feasted o n t h e bodies of dead children:
by exorbitant taxation a n d e r e p o r t e d that n o less than t h
[AJfter a couple of minutes' search, 1 came upon two dogs worrying over the body of a girl about eight years old. They had newly attacked it, and had only torn one of the legs a little, but the corpse was so enormously bloated that it was only from the total length of the figure one could tell it was a child's. The sight and smell of the locality were so revolting, and the dogs so dangerous, that I did not stay to look for a second body; but I saw two skulls and a backbone which had been freshly picked.3"
while in S h o l a p u r the distri see no reason t o doubt the finesses and w h i c h my own p. assessments a r c only paid b ) merits, "A h o u s e h o l d w i t h o u A h m e d n a g a r w i t h Poona h
Officials, however, were n o t eager to share such h o r r o r s with t h e English o r edu-
May -June 1875, when ryots
cated Indian publics, and the vernacular press charged t h a t starvation deaths w e r e
While British procrastiiiE
being deliberately m i s r e p o r t e d as cholera o r dysentery mortality in o r d e r t o dis-
Invisible H a n d , tens of t h o t
guise the true m a g n i t u d e of t h e famine. 3 7
t h e i r feet and fleeing to Hyd<
Conditions were equally desperate across t h e linguistic a n d administrative b o u n d a r y in the B o m b a y Deccan. Almost two-thirds o f the h a r v e s t w a s lost in
f a m i n e victims. A large p a r t m a n a g e d to o r g a n i z e relief •
r VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
J STS
35
-icts, 18 77 Percentage of Crop Saved 6 6 18 18
25 25 25 25 33 37 /fan fViMinc Commtaion, J878, Part
[nutrition, characterized.by
Figure 1.3 A Family in the Dcccan, 1877
rkers call skeletonization. 3 5 and o t h e r ravaged districts
nine M a h a r a s h t r a n districts affecting 8 million people, w i t h virtually n o crop at
ie local population w e r e t h e
all in S h o l a p u r and Kaladgi. T h e disaster befell a peasantry already g r o u n d d o w n
of dead children:
by exorbitant taxation and extortionate debt. In the A h m e d n a g a r r e g i o n officials reported t h a t n o less t h a n three-fifths of the p e a s a n t r y was "hopelessly indebted,"
>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<
the spectre of hunger even into districts where rainfall had been adequate. As
ity" of his character: "Sir Rich
a result, several million emaciated laborers and poor peasants overwhelmed the
reputation of having a mind s
relief works belatedly authorized by the Bombay and Madras governments.
m o m e n t change front and a d c
At the beginning of February, t h e lieutenant-governor of Bengal, Sir Richard
in the famine districts certainly
Temple, was sent south as plenipotentiary Famine Delegate by Lytton to clamp
than the Supreme Government
down on the "out of control" expenditures that threatened the financing of t h e
from that which h e himself pr«-
planned invasion of Afghanistan. Although the viceroy had also skirmished bit-
Although Victoria in her in
terly with Sir Philip Wodehouse, the governor of Bombay, over Calcutta's refusal
Indians that their "happiness, p
to subsidize large-scale relief works during the fall of 1876, his greatest indig-
objects of Our Empire,'" - " Tern
nation was directed at Buckingham for making "public charity indiscriminate"
guity about the government's '
in Bellary, Cuddapah and Kurnool, where one-quarter of the population was
of cost, is one which it is beyor
employed breaking stone or digging canals. ',D
debt and weight o f taxation cc
Temple was a shrewd choice as Lytton's enforcer. Earlier, in 1873-74, he had
soon become m o r e fatal t h a n
followed Salisbury's urgings and dealt aggressively with a drought that severely
that Temple everywhere in Iv
damaged the harvest throughout most of Bengal and Bihar. Importing half a mil-
in Lytton's conception was a s
lion tons of rice from Burma, he provided life-saving subsistence, both t h r o u g h
guardianship over a people ui
relief works and a "gratuitous dole," which forestalled mass mortality. Indeed,
Indian initiative or self-organize
the official record claimed only twenty-three starvation deaths. It was the only
sizes, "emergency relief, like d
truly successful British relief effort in the nineteenth century and might have b e e n
ients have the p o w e r to d e t e
celebrated as a template for dealing with future emergencies. Instead, Temple
perverse task was to make rc
came under withering fire f r o m London for the "extravagance" of allowing "the
zealously following his instru
scale of wages paid at relief works to be determined by the daily food needs
what Charles Edward Trevcly
of the labourer and the prevailing food prices in the market rather than by t h e
the Great Hunger (and, later, £
a m o u n t that the Government could afford to spend for the purpose." 4 1 In public,
the personification of free m a i
rf USTS
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
37
d to undertake hard coolie
h e was lambasted by The Economist for encouraging indolent Indians to believe
ble-bodied," the correspon-
that "it is the duty of the G o v e r n m e n t to keep t h e m alive." 42 Senior civil servants,
hed frames; the wages paid
convinced (according to Lord Salisbury) that it was "a mistake to spend so m u c h
willing to work do not find
m o n e y to save a lot of black fellows," denounced the relief campaign as "pure
) preserve the cattle by pro-
Fourierism." 43 Temple's career was almost ruined.
e been collected or charity
In 1877 the thoroughly chastened lieutenant-governor, "burning to retrieve
recourse for the young, the
his reputation for extravagance in die last famine," had b e c o m e the implacable
>ng trek to Hyderabad - an
instrument of Lytton's frugality. T h e viceroy boasted to t h e India Office that h e could not have found "a m a n m o r e likely, o r better able to help us save money
grain, meanwhile, brought
in famine management." 4 4 Indeed, The Times was soon marveling at the "pliabil-
ifall had been adequate. As
ity" of his character: "Sir Richard Temple, w h e t h e r righdy or wrongly, has the
• peasants overwhelmed the
reputation of having a mind so plastic and principles so facile that he can in a
and Madras governments,
m o m e n t change front and adopt most contradictory lines of policy. His course
n o r of Bengal, Sir Richard
in the famine districts certainly seems to bear this out, for h e is even more strict
)elegate by Lytton to clamp
than the Supreme G o v e r n m e n t in enforcing a policy which differs in every respect
:atened the financing of the
from that which he himself practised in Behar three years ago." 45
*oy had also skirmished bit-
Although Victoria in her message to the Imperial Assemblage had reassured
nbay, over Calcutta's refusal
Indians that their "happiness, prosperity and welfare" w e r e the "present aims and
of 1876, his greatest indig-
objects of O u r Empire," 46 Temple's brief from the Council of India left no ambi-
iblic charity indiscriminate"
guity about the government's t r u e priorities: " T h e task of saving life irrespective
rter of the population was
of cost, is one which it is beyond o u r power to undertake. T h e embarrassment o f debt and weight of taxation consequent on the expense thereby involved would
. Earlier, in 1873-74, he had
soon b e c o m e more fatal than the famine itself." Likewise, the viceroy insisted
vith a drought that severely
that Temple everywhere in Madras "tighten the reins." T h e famine campaign
Bihar. Importing half a mil-
in Lytton's conception was a semi-military demonstration of Britain's necessary
g subsistence, both through
guardianship over a people unable to help themselves, n o t an opportunity for
lied mass mortality. Indeed,
Indian initiative or self-organization. '7 If, as a m o d e r n authority on f a m i n e empha-
tion deaths. It was the only
sizes, "emergency relief, like development aid, is only truly effective if the recip-
:entury and might have been
ients have the power to d e t e r m i n e what it is and h o w it is used," Temple's
lergencies. Instead, Temple
perverse task was to m a k e relief as repugnant and ineffective as possible. 48 In
ravagance" of allowing "the
zealously following his instructions to the letter, he b e c a m e to Indian history
,ed by the daily food needs
what Charles Edward Trevelyan - p e r m a n e n t secretary t o the Treasury during
i market rather than by the
the Great H u n g e r (and, later, governor of Madras) - had b e c o m e to Irish history:
o r the purpose." 4 1 In public,
the personification of free market economics as a mask for colonial genocide. 49
V
VI
46LAI'i;V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
In a lightning t o u r of t h e f a m i s h e d countryside of t h e eastern Deccan, Temple The "1
purged a half million people f r o m relief w o r k and forced Madras t o follow Bombay's p r e c e d e n t of r e q u i r i n g starving applicants to travel to d o r m i t o r y c a m p s outside their locality for coolie labor o n railroad and canal projects. T h e deliberately cruel "distance test" r e f u s e d w o r k t o able-bodied adults and older children w i t h i n
Basal metabolism (adult)
a ten-mile radius o f their h o m e s . Famished laborers w e r e also prohibited f r o m
Temple ration in Madras (1877
seeking relief until "it w a s certified t h a t t h e y had b e c o m e indigent, destitute and
Buchenwald ration (1944)
capable of only a m o d i c u m of labour." 5 0 Digby later observed t h a t T e m p l e " w e n t
7-year-old child, approved diet t
to Madras w i t h t h e preconceived idea t h a t t h e calamity had b e e n exaggerated, that it w a s b e i n g inadequately m e t , and that, therefore, facts w e r e , unconsciously may be, squared w i t h this theory.... H e expected t o see a certain state of things, and h e saw t h a t - t h a t and n o n e other."
51
Minimum war ration, japan (19 Indian adult, subsistence (1985) Temple ration in Bengal (1874)
In a self-proclaimed B e n t h a m i t e " e x p e r i m e n t " t h a t eerily prefigured later Nazi
Survey of Bengal laborers (186:
research o n m i n i m a l h u m a n subsistence diets in c o n c e n t r a t i o n camps, T e m p l e
Indian male, approved diet (19!
cut rations for m a l e coolies, w h o m he c o m p a r e d t o "a school full of refractory
Voit-Atwatcr standard (1895)
children," d o w n t o one p o u n d of rice p e r d i e m despite medical t e s t i m o n y t h a t the ryots - o n c e " s t r a p p i n g fine fellows" - w e r e n o w "little m o r e - t h a n a n i m a t e d skeletons ... utterly unfit for any w o r k . " ( N o t i n g that felons traditionally received t w o p o u n d s of rice per day, o n e district official suggested that "it w o u l d be b e t t e r to s h o o t d o w n the w r e t c h e s t h a n t o p r o l o n g their m i s e r y in the w a y proposed. ")' z T h e s a m e reduced ration had b e e n i n t r o d u c e d previously by G e n e r a l Kennedy (another acerbic personality, " n o t personally popular even in his own department") 5 3 in the Bombay Deccan, and Madras's sanitary commissioner, Dr. Cornish, was "of the opinion that ' e x p e r i m e n t ' in that case [ m e a n t ] only slow, but certain starvation." Apart f r o m its sheer deficiency in energy, C o r n i s h pointed
Source: Caloric value of Temple rat JSIS-ISMI, Delhi 1985, p. 186 fn3 5; Buchenwalden 1 9 4 4 - 4 5 , " B H H C U U A C subsistence diet from Asok Mirra, Pinstrup-Andersen (cds.), Nutrition c Payne, "The Nature of'Malnutricior pcrforming heavy labor from C. Nutrition
frity]rh\li.«iTy in Aloiifm Bcng< M cColl om, .-W /i.< to ry o/ Nil Irilion, Bo famine calculated on the basis of 1 Ken'ov, July 1877).
out that the exclusive rice ration w i t h o u t t h e daily addition of protein-rich pulses (rto/), fish o r m e a t w o u l d lead t o rapid d e g e n e r a t i o n . " Indeed, as t h e lieutenant-
Temple, w h o three y e a r
governor was u n d o u b t e d l y aware, the Indian g o v e r n m e n t had previously fixed
Bengal famine at one and
the m i n i m u m shipboard diet of e m i g r a n t coolies "living in a state of q u i e t u d e "
d a i n e d the p r o t e s t s of C o r n
at twenty ounces of rice plus o n e p o u n d of dal, m u t t o n , vegetables and condi-
"irresponsibly" in his view,
ment. 5 5 In t h e event, t h e " T e m p l e w a g e , " as it b e c a m e k n o w n , p r o v i d e d less sus-
thing," he lectured, "must
tenance for h a r d labor than t h e diet inside t h e i n f a m o u s Buchenwald concentra-
disbursing t h e smallest s u m
tion c a m p a n d less t h a n half of t h e m o d e r n caloric standard r e c o m m e n d e d for
life." 56 H e c o m p l e t e d his c o
adult males by t h e Indian g o v e r n m e n t .
Charitable C o n t r i b u t i o n s A
•t, \ 6
T
39
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
USTS
:he eastern Deccan, T e m p l e
Table 1.3
ced M a d r a s to follow Bom-
The " T e m p ie Wage" in Perspective
/el t o d o r m i t o r y c a m p s out-
Caloric Value
Activity Level
il projects. T h e deliberately ts and older children within
Basal metabolism (adult)
1500
No activity
w e r e also p r o h i b i t e d from
Temple ration in Madras (1877
1627
Heavy labor
Dme indigent, destitute and
Buchenwald ration (1944)
1750
Heavy labor
•bserved t h a t T e m p l e " w e n t
7-year-old child, approved diet (1981)
2050
Normal activity
Minimum war ration, Japan (1945)
2165
Moderate activity
Indian adult, subsistence (1985)
2400
Moderate activity
Temple ration in Bengal (1874)
2500
Heavy labor
eerily prefigured later Nazi
Survey of Bengal laborers (1862)
2790
Heavy labor
icentration camps, T e m p l e
Indian male, approved diet (1981)
3900
Heavy labor
Voit-Atwater standard (1895)
4200
Heavy labor
aity had b e e n exaggerated, i, facts were, unconsciously ee a certain state of things,
"a school full of r e f r a c t o r y >ite medical t e s t i m o n y t h a t "little m o r e t h a n a n i m a t e d felons traditionally received ;ted that "it w o u l d b e b e t t e r zry in the w a y proposed.") 5 2 ously by G e n e r a l Kennedy ir even in his o w n departiry commissioner, Dr. Corp s e [ m e a n t ] only slow, b u t in energy, C o r n i s h pointed
Sourcc: Caloric value ofTcmpic ration fromSumit Guha, The .-igwruiu Economy of (he Bombay Occam, 1S1S-S941, Delhi 1985, p. I86fh35; Buchenwald ration from C. Richer, "Medicales sur lc camp de Buchenwald en 1944--45," BifliftinAcrt^ieMediritic 129 (1945), pp. 377-88; recommended Indian adult subsistence diet from Asok Mitra, "The Nutrition Situation in India," in Margaret Biswas and Per Pmstrup-Andersen (eds.), Nutrition and Development, Oxford 1985, p. 149; basal metabolism from Philip Payne, "The Nature of Malnutrition," ibid., p. 7; child diet and recommended calorics for Indian males performing heavy labor from C. Gapalan, "Undernutrition Measurement," in S. Osmani (cd.), Nutrition and Poverty, Oxford ] 992, p. 2; Rev. James Long's 1862 study of Bengali diets in Grcenough, Prospcrrily and Miscr\' in Modem Bengal, Oxford 1982, p. 80 fn94; Voit-Atwater tables discussed in Elmer McCollom.A History ofNutrition, Boston 1958, pp. 191-2; and the Temple ration during the 1874 Bengal famine calculated on the basis of 1.5 pounds of rice per day with condiments and dal (sec Edinburgh Rcvuw, July 1877).
lition of protein-rich pulses 5-1
Indeed, as t h e lieutenant-
Temple, w h o t h r e e years earlier had fixed the m i n i m u m ration during t h e
l m e n t had previously fixed
Bengal f a m i n e at o n e and one-half p o u n d s of rice plus dal, n o w publicly dis-
zing in a state of q u i e t u d e "
dained t h e protests o f C o r n i s h a n d o t h e r m e d i c a l officers. They erroneously, a n d
tton, vegetables a n d condi-
"irresponsibly" in his view, elevated public h e a l t h above public finance. "Every-
e k n o w n , provided less sus-
thing," h e lectured, " m u s t b e s u b o r d i n a t e d ... to the financial consideration o f
>us Buchenwald concentra-
disbursing t h e smallest s u m of m o n e y consistent with t h e p r e s e r v a t i o n of h u m a n
standard r e c o m m e n d e d for
life." 56 H e c o m p l e t e d his cost-saving expedition to M a d r a s by i m p o s i n g the A n t i Charitable C o n t r i b u t i o n s Act of 1877, w h i c h prohibited a t the p a i n of imprison-
ri 40
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
merit private reliei' d o n a t i o n s that potentially interfered with t h e market-fixing
people.Similarly, Temph
of grain prices. H e also s t o p p e d B u c k i n g h a m f r o m r e m i t t i n g o n e r o u s land taxes
t h e camps w a s to blame tl
in the f a m i n e distncts. In M a y after T e m p l e h a d r e p o r t e d back, the viceroy cen-
respect to e a t i n g the b r e a d
sured Madras officials for their "exaggerated impressions" of misery and "un-
any distance f r o m h o m e ; th
called for relief." 57 Temple m e a n w h i l e p r o c l a i m e d t h a t h e had put "the f a m i n e
submission t o even s i m p l e
u n d e r control." (Digby sourly responded t h a t "a f a m i n e can scarcely be said t o be
t h o s e who have seen o r p e i
adequately controlled w h i c h leaves o n e - f o u r t h of t h e people d e a d . " ) " T h e militarization of relief, followed b y t h e failure of the s o u t h w e s t m o n s o o n
t h a t the m a j o r i t y of t h e fa b o n e and s i n e w of the c o i
a n d a n o t h e r doubling of grain prices in t h e six m o n t h s f r o m t h e middle of 1S77,
c o m m i t t e d suicide: "Nor w
punctually p r o d u c e d lethal results. 59 Exactly as medical officials had w a r n e d ,
they brought upon themse
t h e "Temple w a g e " c o m b i n e d w i t h heavy physical l a b o r a n d d r e a d f u l sanitation
o f t e n of crime."" 6
t u r n e d the work c a m p s i n t o e x t e r m i n a t i o n camps. By t h e end of May horrified relief officials in Madras w e r e r e p o r t i n g t h a t m o r e t h a n half of t h e inmates w e r e t o o w e a k e n e d to carry o u t any physical labor whatsoever.
60
The Relief Strike
M o s t of t h e m w e r e
T h e s e calumnies, of c o u r s e
dead by the beginning of the terrible s u m m e r of 1877. As Temple's m o s t d o g g e d
o f Temple a n d Lytton, the
critic, Dr. Cornish, p o i n t e d o u t , m o n t h l y mortality was n o w equivalent t o an
B o m b a y D c c c a n (where t h e
annual death rate of 94 p e r c e n t . P o s t - m o r t e m examinations, moreover, s h o w e d
nized massive, Gandhi-like
that the chief cause of d e a t h - "extreme w a s t i n g of tissue and destruction o f t h e
T e m p l e added m o r e than h<
lining m e m b r a n e of the lower bowel" - w a s t e x t b o o k starvation, with f u l l - g r o w n
resistance." T h e m o v e m e n t
m e n reduced to u n d e r sixty p o u n d s in weight.^ 1 Mortality was similar in c a m p s
r e f u s e d orders to march t c
t h r o u g h o u t the Bombay Deccan, w h e r e cholera, spread by polluted w a t e r and
separated f r o m their wives ;
filth, accelerated the decimation. O n e official w r o t e t h a t o n e relief road p r o j e c t
sands more w h o left the ca
"bore the appearance of a battlefield, its sides being strewn w i t h the dead, the
merit by overseers.
dying and those recently attacked." 6 2 Jails ironically w e r e the only exception to this institutional mortality p a t t e r n , and they were generally preferred by the p o o r to the disease-ridden relief camps. An American missionary described h o w a g r o u p of weavers begged him to have t h e m arrested for n o n f u l f i l l m e n t of a contract. "We are very sorry, sir, b u t w e have eaten u p all the m o n e y y o u gave us, a n d w e have m a d e n o clothes. W e are in a starving condition, a n d if you will only send us t o jail w e shall get s o m e t h i n g
Temple estimated that b e charged themselves from C ceedings a sign ol "some m ing themselves out of e m orders of Government. T h ties and still more on arousi They wandered about in ba
to eat." It w a s an e m i n e n t l y sensible request. "Prisoners w e r e t h e best fed p o o r people in the country," and, accordingly, " t h e jails w e r e filled to overflowing." 6 3
T h e "relief strike," as it \
D u r i n g the Irish famine, Trevelyan h a d p r o t e s t e d t h a t the c o u n t r y ' s "greatest
vajanik Sabha (Civic Associ
evil" was n o t hunger, b u t " t h e selfish, p e r v e r s e a n d t u r b u l e n t character of t h e
p o s e d of p r o m i n e n t local i
T i
STS
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
41
id with t h e market-fixing
p e o p l e . " " Similarly, T e m p l e ' s ferocious r e s p o n s e t o reports of mass mortality in
l i t t i n g o n e r o u s land taxes
t h e camps w a s to b l a m e t h e victims: " T h e infatuation of these p o o r people in
ted back, the viceroy cen-
respect t o eating t h e b r e a d of idleness; their d r e a d of m a r c h i n g on c o m m a n d to
ions" of misery a n d "un-
any distance from h o m e ; their preference o f t e n f o r extreme privation r a t h e r than
t he had p u t " t h e f a m i n e
submission t o even simple and reasonable orders, can b e fully believed only by
; can scarcely be said t o b e
those w h o have seen o r personally k n o w n t h e s e things." 65 Moreover, h e claimed
eople dead.")
58
•f the s o u t h w e s t m o n s o o n from the middle of 1877,
j
t h a t the m a j o r i t y of t h e famine d e a d w e r e n o t t h e cultivating yeomanry, "the
'
b o n e and sinew of t h e country," b u t parasitic m e n d i c a n t s w h o essentially had c o m m i t t e d suicide: " N o r will m a n y b e inclined t o grieve m u c h for t h e f a t e which
ical officials h a d w a r n e d ,
they b r o u g h t u p o n themselves, a n d which t e r m i n a t e d lives of idleness and t o o
or. and dreadful sanitation
o f t e n of crime." 6 6
the e n d of May horrified 1 half of t h e i n m a t e s w e r e iver.
60
The Relief Strike
Most of t h e m w e r e
T h e s e calumnies, of course, i n f l a m e d Indians o f all classes. To the c o n s t e r n a t i o n
As Temple's m o s t d o g g e d
of Temple and Lytton, the famished peasants in relief c a m p s t h r o u g h o u t the
vas n o w equivalent t o an
Bombay D e c c a n ( w h e r e t h e sixteen-ounce r a t i o n had first b e e n introduced) orga-
iations, moreover, s h o w e d
nized massive, Gandhi-like protests against t h e rice reduction and distance test.
sue and destruction of t h e
Temple a d d e d m o r e t h a n h e realized to the imperial lexicon by calling it "passive
tarvation, w i t h f u l l - g r o w n
resistance." T h e m o v e m e n t began in January 1877, w h e n families o n village relief
ality w a s similar in c a m p s
refused orders to m a r c h to the new, militarized work c a m p s w h e r e m e n were
:ad by polluted w a t e r and
separated from their wives and children. T h e y w e r e subsequently j o i n e d by thou-
lat o n e relief road p r o j e c t strewn with the dead, t h e
tutional mortality p a t t e r n , isease-ridden relief camps, eavers begged h i m t o have are very sorry, sir, b u t w e 2 m a d e n o clothes. W e are jail w e shall get s o m e t h i n g
sands m o r e w h o left t h e camps in protest of t h e starvation wage a n d mistreatm e n t by overseers. Temple estimated that between 12 January and 12 March, 102,000 people discharged themselves from Government employ. He thought he traccd in their proceedings a sign of."some method and system." They imagined, by suddenly throwing themselves out of employ, they virtually offered a passive resistance to the orders of Government. They counted on exciting the compassion of the authorities and still more on arousing fears lest some accidents to human life should occur. They wandered about in bands and crowds seeking for sympathy.67
ers were the best fed p o o r e filled t o overflowing." 6 3
The "relief strike," as it was called, was sympathetically e m b r a c e d by the Sar-
hat the c o u n t r y ' s "greatest
vajanik Sabha (Civic Association) in Poona, a m o d e r a t e nationalist g r o u p com-
turbulent c h a r a c t e r of t h e
posed of p r o m i n e n t local m e r c h a n t s , a b s e n t e e landlords and professionals led
<9
f
LATE V I C T O R I A N
40
HOLOCAUSTS
tion of Indian anger since tl w e r e held, speeches were m called into requisition." T e n against any concession to " c self-interested objects." T h e ing to Digby, by the "obstin w o u l d go away anywhere r a ' repugnance to relief camps ^ Workhouses." Official m o r a o f the protest. T h e viceroy, n e e d e d in Bombay, and at th< by Temple. 7 1 In his original response t o earlier, l.ytton had protestec Figure 1.4 "Forsaken!": An Illustration from Digby's History by G a n e s h Joshi and Mahdcv Govinda Ranade. (Temple cautioned Calcutta that the articulate Ranade m i g h t bid to b e c o m e the "Deccan's Parnell".) 6 * In widely publicized memorials to G o v e r n o r W o d c h o u s e and General Kennedy, the Sabha w a r n e d of the h u m a n catastrophe that British churlishness was ensuring. In addition to pointing out that the n e w ration was only half of the traditional penal standard and thus sure to d o o m "thousands by t h e slow t o r t u r e of starvation," they focused attention on the g r o u p m o s t ignored by district officers: the children of famine villages. "It should be r e m e m b e r e d , " the Sabha w r o t e to Bombay, "that the same harsh policy which reduced the w a g e s drove away the smaller children from the works, w h o , till then, had been receiving their small dole in return for their n o m i n a l labour. T h e s e children, t h o u g h cast out by G o v e r n m e n t , will have a prior claim u p o n the affections of their parents, and m a n y h u n d r e d s of p o o r fathers and
c o n c e r n i n g India." 72 Now, a f asserted virtual omniscience Indians. The Indian press, 1: t h e t w o Tory governors. Lit t e d i o u s social gossip and r e g glish public of shocking ac< c a m p s . " Dissident j o u r n a l i s t a t w o - v o l u m e critical histor t h e Bombay Statesman's r c p r of the Irish f a m i n e as well a of old Indian h a n d s and Rac A r t h u r Cotton, J o h n Bright. 1 '1'inws's letters c o l u m n full of Although Lytton urged tl t h e g o v e r n m e n t was e m b a r i
m o t h e r s will stint themselves o u t of the p o u n d allowed to s u p p o r t their chil-
tary of state for India, Lord S
dren.
(An American missionary later p o i n t e d out t h a t a l t h o u g h a child could be
" b e a r i n g too h a r d on the p e o
fed for a pittance, "just for w a n t of these t w o cents a d a y h u n d r e d s and t h o u s a n d s
pulled on Lyt t o n ' s reins in e a
of children wasted away a n d are no more.") 7 0
tion on the discretion of the I
W i t h t h e support of the Sabha, the strike kindled t h e broadest d e m o n s t r a -
Lytton against t h e Liberals i
JSTS
VICTORIA'S
GHOSTS
tion of Indian anger since the Mutiny. "Meetings, i m m e n s e as regards numbers, were held, speeches were made, resolutions w e r e passed, a n d the telegraph wire called into requisition." Temple, in response, ordered Kennedy to "stand firm" against any concession to "combinations of workpeople formed with sinister o r self-interested objects." T h e local relief officers, however, w e r e unnerved, according to Digby, by the "obstinacy w i t h which persons almost in a dying condition would go away anywhere rather t h a n to a relief camp. T h e y seem to have felt the repugnance to relief camps which respectable p o o r in England have t o the Union Workhouses." Official morale seemed to be sapped by the dignity a n d courage of the protest. The viceroy, at any event, was convinced t h a t a firmer hand was needed in Bombay, and at the end of April W o d e h o u s e resigned and w a s replaced by Temple. 71 In his original response to Disraeli's proposal t o appoint h i m viceroy two years earlier, Lytton had protested his "absolute ignorance of every fact a n d question y
concerning India." 72 Now, after chastising b o t h Buckingham and Wodehouse, he asserted virtual omniscience over life and death j u d g e m e n t s affecting millions of
pic cautioned Calcutta that ;can's Parnell".) 6S In widely jcneral Kennedy, the Sabha hness was ensuring. In addi.alf of the traditional penal ;low torture of starvation," district officers: the children
Indians. T h e Indian press, however, was not as easily bridled or.humiliated as the two Tory governors. Little newspapers t h a t usually wasted newsprint with tedious social gossip and regimental sporting n e w s were n o w conduits to the English public of shocking accounts of rebellion and starvation within the relief camps. 73 Dissident journalists like William Digby in Madras (who later published a two-volume critical history of the government's response to the famine) and the Bombay Statesman's representative in the Deccan stirred troubling memories of ihe Irish famine as well as the Sepoy Mutiny. In England, moreover, a group
:>mbay, "that the same harsh
of old Indian hands and Radical reformers, including William Wedderburn, Sir
let children from the works,
Arthur Cotton, John Bright, Henry H y n d m a n a n d Florence Nightingale, kept The
in return for their nominal
Times's letters column full of complaints about Calcutta's callous policies.
lent, will have a prior claim ldreds of poor fathers and awed t o support their chillat although a child could be lay, hundreds and thousands
Although Lytton urged the India Office to hold fast against these "hysterics," the government was embarassed by the uproar. 7,1 Writing to Disraeli, the secretary of state for India, Lord Salisbury, expressed his own fear that the viceroy was "bearing too hard on the people." 75 With the p r i m e minister's approval, Salisbury pulled on Lytton's reins in early May, advising h i m "not to place too m u c h restriction on the discretion of the local government." In effect, while Disraeli defended
:d the broadest demonstra-
Lytton against the Liberals in Parliament, the viceroy w a s ordered t o give local
\
0
46
LAI'i;
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
VI
officials the loopholes they n e e d e d t o r e d u c e mass mortality w i t h higher rations and reduced workloads. This concession m o r e o r less t a m e d t h e P o o n a Sabha, whose o w n conservatives were w a r y o f t h e explosive potential o f t h e masses, but it was t o o little and t o o late to b r a k e t h e slide into a terminal p h a s e of starvation and epidemic disease. If rice harvests in B u r m a and Bengal in 1877 w e r e n o r m a l , and overall grain inventories sufficed to service t h e export d e m a n d , it w a s no solace to the 36 million rural Indians w h o m Calcutta a d m i t t e d in August 1877 were directly stalked by starvation. T h e w e a t h e r r e m a i n e d relentless. After a brief flirtation with the m o n s o o n in April, the skies cleared and t e m p e r a t u r e s sharply rose. In o n e of his e c o n o m i z i n g decrees t h e year b e f o r e , L y t t o n h a d drastically cut back the budget for m a i n t e n a n c e and repair of local w a t e r s t o r a g e . T h e result, as Digby emphasized in his history of t h e famine, w a s that precious rainwater was simply "run t o waste" in a needless "sacrifice of h u m a n lives." T h e furnaceh o t w i n d s that swept the Deccan added to the m i s e r y by e v a p o r a t i n g w h a t little F i g u r e 1.5 G r a i n S t o r e s in M a d r n
m o i s t u r e remained in the soil. T h e fields w e r e baked t o brick. 76 As w a t e r supplies dried u p o r b e c a m e polluted w i t h h u m a n waste, cholera
" m o d e r n t r a n s p o r t provided i
b e c a m e the scythe that cut d o w n h u n d r e d s of t h o u s a n d s of w e a k e n e d , skeletal
c a m p s b e c a m e crucibles for "c
villagers. T h e same El N i n o w e a t h e r s y s t e m that had b r o u g h t the d r o u g h t the
O b d u r a t e B o m b a y officials
previous year also w a r m e d w a t e r s in the Bay of Bengal, p r o m o t i n g the phy-
charges of a c o v e r u p in the j
topiankton b l o o m s that are the nurseries of the cholera b a c t e r i u m . A terrible
mortality. Even Florence Nigh
cyclone, which drowned p e r h a p s 150,000 Bengalis, b r o u g h t t h e p a n d e m i c ashore,
early 187S. 7 S The Sabha accorc and cattle in t h e fifty-four vil
T a b l e 1.4
in A u g u s t 1S77. "It perfected ;
Sabha E s t i m a t e s of F a m i n e M o r t a l i t y
and o t h e r t h r o u g h o u t the d r )
Prefamine Population
Present Population
Decline
Madhee and Mohol
24,581
15,778
36%
Indi
39,950
I'uliiks
faster than the g o v e r n m e n t c o survey techniques and statistic. B u c k i n g h a m , on the o t h e r a r o u g h census o f famine d e
Cattle Before Famine
20,905 Cattle Now
48% Declinc
that at least 1.5 million had al districts like Bellary, one-quar with high percentages of land,
Madhee and Mohol
16,561
5,470
67%
Indi
35,747
5,644
84%
o v e r w h e l m e d by 100,000 d r o i front of the t r o o p s guarding f every day m o t h e r s might be
F
USTS
lortality with h i g h e r rations ss t a m e d t h e P o o n a Sabha, potential of the masses, b u t erminal p h a s e of starvation iengal in 1877 w e r e n o r m a l , export d e m a n d , it w a s n o ta a d m i t t e d in August 1877 lined relentless. After a brief d and t e m p e r a t u r e s sharply fore, Lytton h a d drastically al w a t e r storage. T h e result, vas t h a t precious rainwater h u m a n lives." T h e furnacey by e v a p o r a t i n g w h a t little
Figure 1.5 Grain Stores in Madras, February 1877
t o brick. 76 vith h u m a n waste, cholera
" m o d e r n t r a n s p o r t provided the invasion r o u t e for disease," and t h e fetid relief
;ands of w e a k e n e d , skeletal
c a m p s b e c a m e crucibles for "cholera's great s y n e r g i s m w i t h malnutrition." 7 7
id b r o u g h t t h e d r o u g h t the
O b d u r a t e Bombay officials meanwhile c o n t i n u e d to o u t r a g e Indians and incite
iengal, p r o m o t i n g the phy-
charges of a coverup in the press b y refusing t o publish a n y estimate of rural
olera b a c t e r i u m . A terrible
mortality. Even Florence Nightingale was s n u b b e d when s h e requested figures in
o u g h t the p a n d e m i c ashore,
early 1878.7fi T h e Sabha accordingly decided t o c a r r y out its o w n census of people and cattle in the fifty-four villages comprising three
o f Sholapur district
in August 1877. "It perfected a n e t w o r k of school teachers, retired civil servants irtality
and other t h r o u g h o u t the dry districts, which gave it in s o m e areas b e t t e r data faster than t h e g o v e r n m e n t could p r o d u c e . " It w a s a trailblazing example of using
ion 3
Decline
survey techniques and statistics against the empire. 7 0 B u c k i n g h a m , on t h e other hand, complied w i t h public opinion a n d ordered
36%
a rough census of f a m i n e deaths. Reports from the M a d r a s districts indicated 5 ow
48%
t h a t at least 1.5 million had already died in t h e Presidency. In the driest Deccan districts like Bellary, o n e - q u a r t e r o f the p o p u l a t i o n perished, and in s o m e taluks
Decline
3
67%
4
84%
w i t h high percentages of landless laborers, m o r e t h a n one-third. S,J In M a d r a s city, o v e r w h e l m e d by 100,000 d r o u g h t refugees, f a m i s h e d p e a s a n t s d r o p p e d dead in front of t h e t r o o p s g u a r d i n g p y r a m i d s of i m p o r t e d rice, w h i l e "on a n y day and every day m o t h e r s m i g h t be seen in the streets ... offering children for sale." 81
i
LAI'i; V I C T O R I A N
46
HOLOCAUSTS
VI
(The Madras C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e helpfully suggested that Hogging p o s t s be
rare in Indian history, h u n g e r -
erected along the beach so that police could deter potential g r a i n thieves.) 82 In
m a d m a n dug u p and d e v o u r e d
the N o r t h Western Provinces, as we shall see, only desultory a n d punitive relief
son and ate part o f the bov."s~
was organized, "with the result that in spite of t h e a b u n d a n t w i n t e r c r o p s and the restricted area affected, in nine m o n t h s t h e mortality a m o u n t e d to over a million."" However, "the Malthusian overtones of f a m i n e policies a n d their disastrous
Down from Olympus Lvtton was kept well-informed spective, however, the most se
consequences," Ira Klein argues, "were experienced m o s t w o e f u l l y in Mysore,"
b u r d e n on the Indian Treasury
w h e r e the British C o m m i s s i o n of Regency later c o n c e d e d that fully o n e - q u a r t e r
divert another CIO million f o r t
of the population perished. 8 ' 1 Frugality b e c a m e criminal negligence as t h e chief
thusian spectacles as a largely r-
commissioner, f r o m "dread of spending t h e Mysore surplus," r e f u s e d life-saving
his r u l e s in May t o a c c o m m o d
expenditure; and then, after his inaction had b e c o m e a scandal, t u r n e d relief
e n o u g h in the s u m m e r to r e s u n
w o r k into a sadistic regime of punishing t h e starving. " O n t h e c o m m a n d of the
1877, shortly a l t e r the Great W
Viceroy to develop a famine policy, he d r e w u p a series of irrigation and o t h e r
will be wanting o n the part of
projects, m o s t so far from the famine stricken tracts that e m a c i a t e d victims had
calamity," Lytlon finally c a m e c
to walk a h u n d r e d miles or m o r e to t h e m . " " T h o s e w h o actually reached the
lavas to spend a f e w days inspe<
camps f o u n d t h e m fetid, disease-wracked boneyards w h e r e a majority of refugees quickly died. O n e official later recalled scenes o u t of D a n t e ' s Inferno:
T h i s was his first personal local English-language n e w s p a so l o n g in the distant c o m f o r t
T h e dead and d y i n g w e r e lying a b o u t o n all sides, c h o l e r a patients rolling a b o u t in the midst of p e r s o n s free of t h e disease; for shelter s o m e h a d c r a w l e d to t h e g r a v e s of an a d j o i n i n g c e m e t c t y and had lain t h e m s e l v e s d o w n b e t w e e n t w o g r a v e s as s u p -
played "merely t h e faintest iden have to c o n f r o n t inescapable fr-
p o r t for their w e a r i e d limbs; the c r o w s w e r e h o v e r i n g over b o d i e s t h a t still h a d a
aud M o n e g a r Choultry, sights t
spark, of life in t h e m . . . . The place s e e m e d t e n a n t e d b y n o n e b u t t h e dead and t h e
callous and h a r d e n e d , cannot \:
dying. In a few m i n u t e s I picked u p five bodies; o n e b e i n g that of a n i n f a n t w h i c h
dare not describe, and which a
its d y i n g m o t h e r had firmly clasped, i g n o r a n t of the child b e i n g n o m o r e ; the cholera p a t i e n t s w e r e lying .lbout u n h e e d e d by t h o s e a r o u n d ; s o m e p o o r children w e r e c r y i n g pitcously for w a t e r within the h e a r i n g of the c o o k s , w h o n e v e r stirred to w e t t h e lips of the p o o r things that were in t , .\-frcmis.... st '
sights must have been on t h e pause to imagine. In addition t o t h e hugely tu Madras was o u t r a g e d bv l.yttc
By the s u m m e r of 1877, as the f a m i n e in Mysore a p p r o a c h e d its terrible
raise relief' f u n d s in England. V
apogee, social order was preserved only by terror. W h e n d e s p e r a t e w o m e n and
in August) .soaring, but with hi:
their h u n g r y children, for example, a t t e m p t e d t o steal f r o m g a r d e n s o r glean
economics, the D u k e of Buckit
grain from fields, they w e r e "branded, t o r t u r e d , h a d their noses c u t off, a n d w e r e
last-ditch hope. It remained t o I
s o m e t i m e s killed." Rural mobs, in turn, assaulted l a n d o w n e r s a n d patels, pillaging
m e n t " (as it was called in thos<
their grain stores, even b u r n i n g their families alive. In o t h e r instances, extremely
of t h e crisis. " T h e Viceroy," e d
r J
V I C T O R I A ' S G H O S T S 35
STS
gested that flogging posts be
rare in Indian histo'ry, hunger-crazed individuals resorted to cannibalism. "One
potential grain thieves.)*2 In
madman d u g u p and devoured part of a cholera victim, while another killed his
desultory and punitive relief
son and ate part of the boy."87
: abundant winter crops and ality a m o u n t e d to over a mil-
Down from Olympus
policies and their disastrous
spective, however, the most serious escalation in the famine was the increasing
1 most woefully in Mysore,"
burden on the Indian Treasury. T h e failure of the 1877 m o n s o o n threatened to
tceded that fully one-quarter
divert another £10 million for the salvation of w h a t he viewed through his Mal-
ninal negligence as the chief
thusian spectacles as a largely redundant s t r a t u m of the population. Having bent
Lytton was kept well-informed of such grisly details. From his hardminded per-
: surplus/' refused life-saving
his rules in May to accommodate London's anxieties, the viceroy felt confident
>me a scandal, t u r n e d relief
enough in the s u m m e r to resume his campaign against profligate relief. In August
lg. "On the c o m m a n d of the
1877, shortly after the Great White Queen reassured the public that " n o exertion
:eries of irrigation and other
will be wanting on the part of m y Indian G o v e r n m e n t t o mitigate this terrible
s that emaciated victims had
calamity," Lytton finally came down from his seasonal headquarters in the Hima-
se w h o actually reached the
layas to spend a few days inspecting conditions in Madras.1
Is where a majority of refu>ut of Dante's Inferno:
This was his first personal exposure to the terrible reality of t h e famine. A local English-language newspaper editorialized that after domiciling himself for so long in the distant comforts of Simla, "the Indian Olympus," w h e r e he dis-
lera patients roiling a b o u t in n e h a d c r a w l e d to t h e g r a v e s n b e t w e e n t w o g r a v e s as sup-
played "merely the faintest idea of the extent of the calamity," Lytton would now have to confront inescapable truths. "There are, in the relief camps of Palaveram
g over b o d i e s t h a t still had a
and Monegar Choultry, sights to be witnessed, which even we, who have become
y n o n e b u t the d e a d and t h e
callous and hardened, cannot but look u p o n w i t h o u t a shudder; sights which we
•eing that of an i n f a n t w h i c h
dare not describe, and which an artist could n o t paint. W h a t the effect of these
lild b e i n g n o m o r e ; t h e cholnd; s o m e p o o r children w e r e oks, w h o never stirred to w e t
sights must have been on the sensitive and poetical mind of Lord Lytton. we pause to imagine."'11" In addition to the hugely unpopular Temple wage, the British c o m m u n i t y in Madras was outraged by Lytton's public denunciation of their recent efforts to
sore approached its terrible
raise relief funds in England. With both grain prices and famine deaths (157,588
When desperate w o m e n and
in August) soaring, but with his hands tied by the viceroy's various strictures and
steal from gardens or glean
economies, the Duke of Buckingham had embraced the philanthropic appeal as a
I their noses cut off, and were
last-ditch h o p e . It remained to be seen whether Lytton and his "Supreme Govern-
idowners and patels, pillaging
ment" (as it was called in those days) would yield to the overwhelming urgency
In other instances, extremely
of the crisis. "The Viceroy," editorialized the s a m e paper, "has now t h e opportu-
[.ATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
v i<
nicy, literally speaking, o f saving thousands of lives. Let him telegraph to England
iexpropriations! against money-
candidly, boldly, and fearlessly, the real facts of the case; he may, by this means,
ate in the later stages of famine
perhaps, remove the doubt n o w certainly engendered in the minds of people at
of ryot against ryoi. "The long<
horpc. as to the need of their charitable aid." yo
lena- bore the m a r k of collecti
In the event, the viceroy's "sensitive and poetical mind" was stubbornly
assumed the bitterness of p e r i
unm< >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<
thirty died from this disease. Fifteen others expired from what a relative called
trast to the south, the northci
'cold fever,' and in April only three persons remained." 9 9
ily would have provided a m p
T h e final blow against the Deccan peasantry was a militarized campaign to
But subsistence f a n n i n g in n v j
collect the tax arrears accumulated during the drought. Although some Liberal
recently converted into a c a p
critics, like Indian Daily News editor James Wilson in a speech in Sheffield in Octo-
Poor harvests and high price:
ber 1877, warned the British public that "millions had died for the pretended
that absorbed most of the re.
axioms of political e c o n o m y " and that the best famine prevention was "to relieve
inccs' cruder grain stocks like
Indians of paying Britain's debt," there was remarkably little censure of the gov-
districts in Bombay and Mai
ernment's decision to pick the pockets of paupers. 100 In the Kurnool district of
hedge against drought. The y
Madras, for example, "in 1879-80, coercive policies had to be employed for the
eted by richer zamindars, m<
recovery of as much as 78% of total collections." As D. Rajasekhar points out, the
producers. 1 " 5
resulting auction of lands in arrears may have been a windfall for rich peasants and moneylenders, who had already profited from famine-induced sacrifice sales of cattle and land mortgages, but it crippled the recovery of an agrarian economy that traditionally depended upon the energy of (now ruined) smallholders to bring cultivable wastes under plough. 1 " 1
Still, early and energetic o of' collection of the land tax r r province's executive. S i r G e o n enues. "The Lieutenant (love e m i n e n t of India is put at the reluctance that he makes a re;
'Multitudinous Murders'
But he sees no other course to ado
The year 1878 also saw terrible, w a n t o n mortality in n o r t h w e s t e r n India follow-
mass o( our revenue payers hi
ing the failure of the m o n s o o n in the s u m m e r of 1877 and a retrenchment of dry
Lytton. however, was still
weather in early 1878. Even m o r e than in the south, however, drought was con-
adventure and was again tins'
sciously m a d e into famine by the decisions taken in palaces of rajas and viceroys.
Couper's appeal out of h a n c
Thus in the remote and beautiful valleys of Kashmir, British officials blamed "the
ham's stubborn, paternalist p
criminal apathy of the Maharaja and the greed of his officials, w h o b o u g h t up
his o w n district officers ("a m
o
rCAUST.S
VICTORIA'S
GHOSTS
rs of these insects; compounds
the stores of grain to sell at extravagant prices" for the starvation of a full third
with devastating fires after the
of the population. "Unless Sir Robert Egerton, then Lieutenant-Governor of the
•anied by cholera had returned
Punjab, had insisted on taking the transport and supply service out of the hands
pation of a good harvest, were
of the corrupt and incompetent Kashmir Government, the valley would have
im story about the distress that
been depopulated.
rs) had married three brothers,
But with equal justice the s a m e criminal charges could be (and were) lodged
ouse, in Hindu and patriarchal
against the British administration in the N o r t h Western Provinces and Oud, as
.78, numbered forty-eight per-
well as adjoining districts of the Punjab, where famine killed at least 1.25 million
;heir credit was nil. They tried
people in 1878-79. As Indian historians have emphasized, this staggering death
:e, cholera attacked them, and
toll was the foreseeable and avoidable result of deliberate policy choices. In con-
-ed from what-a relative called
trast to the south, the northern harvests were abundant in 1874-76 and ordinar-
ied." w
ily would have provided ample reserves to deal with t h e kharif deficit in 1878.
was a militarized campaign to
But subsistence farming in many parts of the North Western Provinces had been
ought. Although some Liberal
recently converted into a captive export sector to stabilize British grain prices.
in a speech in Sheffield in Octo-
Poor harvests and high prices in England during 1876-77 generated a demand
ns had died for the pretended
that absorbed most of the region's wheat surplus. Likewise, most of the prov-
nine prevention was "to relieve
inces' cruder grain stocks like millet were commercially exported to the famine
kably little censure of the gov-
districts in Bombay and Madras Presidencies, leaving local peasants with no
ts.i&0 In the Kurnooi district of
hedge against drought. The profits from grain exports, meanwhile, were pock-
es had to be employed for the
eted by richer zamindars. moneylenders and grain merchants - not the direct
is D. Rajasckhar points out, the
producers.'" 1
en a windfall for rich peasants
Still, early and energetic organization of relief and, above all, the deferment
i famine-induced sacrifice sales
of collection of the land tax might have held mortality to a m i n i m u m . Indeed the
covery of an agrarian economy
province's executive, Sir George Couper, implored Lytton to remit that vear's rev-
(now ruined) smallholders to
enues. "The Lieutenant-Governor is well aware of the straits to which the Government of India is put at the present time for money, and it is with the utmost reluctance that he makes a report which must temporarily add to their burdens. But he sees no other course to adopt. If the village communities which f o r m the great
r in northwestern India follow-
mass of o u r revenue payers be pressed now, they will simply be ruined."""
.877 and a retrenchment of dry
Lytton, however, was still bogged down in the logistics of his Afghanistan
.th, however, drought was con-
adventure and was again unswayed by images of destitute villages. He rejected
n palaces of rajas and viceroys,
Couper's appeal out of hand. T h e lieutenant-governor had none of Bucking-
-lir, British officials blamed "the
ham's stubborn, paternalist pity for the people, and, to the disgust of some of
>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
J
VICTORIA'S GHOSTS
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<
by the famine," Kavshalya Dublish explains, led Basudeo to "vow to destroy Brit-
sionals were e x e m p t ) in t a n d c
ish power in India by m e a n s o f an a r m e d rebellion." Betrayed by a c o m p a n i o n
Bombay (where t h e cost ot sail
while organizing a raid on the treasury to b u y arms, t h e "Maratha Robin H o o d "
After the purge, H u m e joir
was deported and died in prison - "the father of militant nationalism in India" -
to Lytton that w a s led by We.dc
in 1883.110 His abortive 1879 conspiracy s t o o d in a similar relationship to t h e holo-
for Indian sanitary reform h a d
caust of 1876 -78 as did the Young Ireland uprising of 1848 to the Great H u n g e r
chief chronicler, w o u l d also re
of 1846-47: which is t o say, it w a s b o t h postscript a n d prologue.
ances in Liberal politics. In d c press and the H o u s e of C o m t r
Famine and Nationalism
policies like the salt tax, not n,v
N o Englishman u n d e r s t o o d this point m o r e clearly than Lytton's secretary of
advocated a new policy based <
agriculmre, Allan Octavian H u m e . O d d m a n o u t in a Tory g o v e r n m e n t that
lure, n e w spending on irrigatic
scorned Indian aspirations to self-government, H u m e (whose father was a well-
of rural banks, a n d a progressi
known Scottish Radical MP) was deeply s y m p a t h e t i c to the grievances of the
campaigner against the salt t had required the c o n s t r u a i o r
Hindu and Muslim elites. Even m o r e unusual, he h a d sensitive a n t e n n a e t u n e d j
salt works, occupicd by a polu
of Basudeo's plot, h e ' " b e c a m e convinced," according t o William W e d d e r b u r n , a
j
by policemen all night: w o r k n
leader of the parliamentary opposition o n India, " t h a t some definite action was
j
salt in their p o c k e t s . . . . " " '
called to counteract the g r o w i n g unrest a m o n g t h e masses w h o suffered d u r i n g
|
T h e India opposition's c.m
the famine."" 1 T h e first step w a s t o resist the viceroy's punitive and incendiary
!
r a t h e r than "imperial" stratcg
scheme to foist the costs of f a m i n e relief entirely o n t h e shoulders of the p o o r .
|
in t h e thinking o f such Liber
;
the p l a t f o r m of m o d e r a t e nat
to the rumblings of revolutionary discontent a m o n g the poor. In the a f t e r m a t h
Originally advocated by Lord N o r t h b r o o k , the idea of a " f a m i n e insurance
J
STS
} the people silenced by a cruel i ithout reserve or be partakers men blinded co the real nature
V I C T O R I A ' S G H O S T S 35
f u n d " was revived in 1877 by H a m i l t o n a n d Salisbury t o pre-empt t h e Liberals f r o m m a k i n g the terrible mortality in India an issue in the next election. L y t t o n ^ aware that Radical m e m b e r s of t h e H o u s e o f C o m m o n s favored financing t h e f u n d t h r o u g h a c o m b i n a t i o n of wealth taxes a n d reductions in military expendi-
were fortunate that they had "he India of "supine sufferers" zed by the savage t e r r o r that inlent protest was everywhere : the m o u t h s of c a n n o n s and T h e exception was in P o o n a inspired by still robust M a r a t h a ition. " T h e destruction caused isudeo to "vow to destroy Britm." Betrayed by a c o m p a n i o n is, the "Maratha Robin H o o d " nilitant nationalism in India" imilar relationship t o the holo; of 1848 t o the Great H u n g e r :iid prologue.
ture - e m b r a c e d the plan with t h e proviso t h a t f u n d i n g b e entirely regressive, w i t h o u t h a r m to ruling classes o r the army. H e v e h e m e n t l y opposed a proposal f r o m H u m e , w h o m h e forced t o resign, t h a t w o u l d have imposed a m o d e s t i n c o m e tax "on the g r o u n d that it w o u l d affect the higher income g r o u p s , b o t h European and Indian." His o w n preference w a s for a f a m i n e tax o n potential famine victims (that is, a n e w land cess on t h e peasantry) - a measure t h a t w o u l d have inflamed the entire c o u n t r y a n d was t h e r e f o r e rejected by Salisbury and t h e Council of India. As a n alternative, Lytton a n d John Strachey drafted a s c h e m e t h a t was a l m o s t as regressive, reviving a h a t e d license tax o n petty t r a d e r s (professionals w e r e exempt) in t a n d e m with brutal hikes in salt duties in M a d r a s a n d Bombay (where the cost of salt w a s raised f r o m 2 to 40 a n n a s per maund). 1 1 2 After t h e purge, H u m e joined t h e small b u t influential chorus o f opposition t o Lytton that was led b y W e d d e r b u r n , C o t t o n a n d Nightingale (whose campaign for Indian sanitary r e f o r m had b e e n snubbed b y the viceroy). Digby, t h e famine's chief chronicler, w o u l d also r e t u r n to England in 1880 t o champion Indian grievances in Liberal politics. In d o z e n s of t o w n m e e t i n g s , as well as in t h e L o n d o n press and t h e H o u s e of C o m m o n s , they a r g u e d that selfish and disastrous British policies like the salt tax, n o t nature, had paved t h e way for t h e Madras famine, and
rly than Lytton's secretary of t in a Tory g o v e r n m e n t that .me (whose father w a s a welltetic to the grievances of the had sensitive a n t e n n a e tuned n g the poor. In the a f t e r m a t h ing to William W e d d e r b u r n , a that s o m e definite action was
advocated a n e w policy based on reductions in g r o u n d rent and military expenditure, new spending on irrigation a n d public health, cheap credit t h r o u g h a system of rural banks, and a progressive f a m i n e f u n d . Nightingale was a particularly fiery c a m p a i g n e r against t h e salt tax, w h o s e e n f o r c e m e n t , she reminded audiences, had required the c o n s t r u c t i o n of a literal police state: "A tower c o m m a n d s t h e salt works, occupied by a p o l i c e m a n all day. M o a t s s u r r o u n d the works, patrolled by policemen all night; w o r k m e n a r e searched t o prevent t h e m f r o m carrying o f f salt in their pockets...." 1 1 3
s masses w h o suffered during
The India opposition's emphasis on a "civilizing" (as Nightingale called it)" 4
roy's punitive and incendiary
rather than "imperial" strategy in India c o r r e s p o n d e d closely with a parallel shift
n the shoulders of the poor, idea of a "famine insurance
in the t h i n k i n g of s u c h Liberal p u n d i t s as J o h n Stuart Mill, and converged w i t h t h e p l a t f o r m of m o d e r a t e nationalists like D a d a b h a i N a o r o j i and R o m e s h C h u n -
64
LATn V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S GUN
der Dutt, w h o t h o u g h t that Indian h o m e rule within the E m p i r e could best be
sion of Afghanistan. The t r u i
achieved through collaboration with h u m a n i t a r i a n English Liberals. Steeped in
Salisbury thinks that we are t
Millsian political economy, N a o r o j i and D u t t laid indigenous f o u n d a t i o n s for what
t h a n we absolutely need. A m
a h u n d r e d years later w o u l d b e called the "theory of u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t " with
in a certain sense and to a c e i
their sophisticated critiques of Britain's "drain of wealth" f r o m India. Although
a d v a n t a g e of t h e present situ;
their most f a m o u s essays, Naoroji's Poverty and Un-British Rule m India (1901) and
be able to r e f o r m o u r tariff w
D u t t ' s Famines in India (1900) and his t w o - v o l u m e Economic History of British India
Indeed, f r o m 1877 to 1881
(1902 and 1904), w o u l d be p r o d u c e d in the a f t e r m a t h of the 1896-1902 holocaust,
r e d u c e cotton g o o d s tariff* o
their basic polemical strategy - m o w i n g d o w n the British w i t h their o w n statis-
l o n g t o expose such an e g r e g
tics - was already d i s c o m f o r t i n g Lytton and his council. Indeed on the eve of
p a i g n in 1880 Gladstone r c p e
the famine in 1876, Naoroji had read his l a n d m a r k paper, " T h e Poverty of India"
t h e pledge b e e n kept?" he t h i
(later reprinted as a pamphlet), t o a crowded m e e t i n g of t h e Bombay Branch
g i v e n . T h e pledge has utterly
of the East India Association. T h e Parsi m a t h e m a t i c i a n and f o r m e r professor of
It h a s been s p e n t upon the r u
Gujarati at University College L o n d o n demolished t h e self-serving rhetoric a b o u t "free trade" that the g o v e r n m e n t used t o mask India's tributary relation t o England. "With a pressure of taxation nearly double in p r o p o r t i o n t o that o f England, f r o m an income of one-fifteenth, and an exhaustive drain besides, w e are asked to c o m p e t e with England in free trade?" It was, h e said, "a race b e t w e e n a starving, exhausted invalid, and a s t r o n g m a n with a h o r s e to ride on." 115
T h e intrigues over the f m a n i p u l a t i o n o f the royal cc " m a n o e u v r e s s u r r o u n d i n g th c o n t r o l l e d by t h e Strachcy t f r o m Salisbury, w h o s e worri. partisan. "Strachey will also <
Such intellectually formidable critics were a m a j o r a n n o y a n c e to Calcutta.
" w h a t I have talked a good c
Although the g o v e r n m e n t w a s able t o steamroll t h e passage of the license and
sion on Famine measures in t
salt taxes, Lytton w a s forced to reassure t h e Indian and English publics in his usual
lion quacks. T h e y will u n d o t
long-winded fashion of their benevolent purpose:
t h e Presidency o f Cotton, t h
l'lie sole justification for the increase which has just been imposed upon the people ol India, for the purpose of insuring this Empire against the worst calamities of a future famine ... is the pledge we have given that a sum not less than a million and half sterling ... shall be annually applied to it.... [T)he pledges which my financial colleague was authorized to give, on behalf of the Government, were explicit and full as regards these points. For these reasons, it is all the more binding on the honour of the Government to redeem to the uttermost, without evasion or delay, those pledges, for the adequate redemption of which the people of India have, and can have, no other guarantee than the good faith of their rulers. 116
the Parliamentary campaign o p p o n e n t s ' clothes through w a y " ) of irrigation as a fan w a s safely e n t r u s t e d to Lt. C India Council a n d brother t o himself or his sibling. Convc r e p o r t until J u n e 1880."" " T h e establishment of th carried o u t as a political cxci
But t h e viceroy w a s lying t h r o u g h his elegant whiskers. F a m i n e insurance was
m e a s u r e d response to one o
a cynical facade for raising taxes t o r e d e e m c o t t o n duties and finance t h e inva-
of India. G e n e r a l Strachey p
T AUSTS
VICTORIA'S
GHOSTS
in the Empire could best be
sion of Afghanistan. T h e truth can be found in Lytton's c o r r e s p o n d e n c e : "Lord
English Liberals. Steeped in
Salisbury thinks that w e are trying by o u r p r e s e n t m e a s u r e t o get m o r e revenue
igenous foundations for w h a t
t h a n we absolutely need. A n d ' w r i t i n g to you confidentially, I c a n n o t deny that,
of u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t " with
in a certain sense and t o a certain extent, this is quite t r u e . But if w e d o not'take
'ealth" f r o m India. Although
advantage of the present situation ... for screwing up the revenue, w e shall never
riii'sh Rule in India (1901) and
b e able to r e f o r m o u r tariff which grievously n e e d s reform." 1 1 7
onomic History of British India
Indeed, from 1877 t o 1881, the ' whole a c c u m u l a t e d f u n d was u s e d cither t o
i of t h e 1896-1902 holocaust,
reduce c o t t o n goods tariff o r for t h e Afghan war." It did n o t take t h e Liberals
British w i t h their o w n statis-
l o n g to expose such an egregious deceit, and d u r i n g his f a m o u s Midlothian cam-
mncil. Indeed o n the eve of
paign in 1880 Gladstone repeatedly stirred t h e crowds against Tory perfidy, "l ias
aper, " T h e Poverty of India"
t h e pledge b e e n kept?" h e t h u n d e r e d . "The taxation w a s levied. T h e pledge was
ting of the Bombay Branch
given. T h e pledge has utterly been broken. T h e m o n e y has been used. It is gone.
cian and f o r m e r professor of
It has b e e n spent u p o n t h e ruinous, unjust, destructive w a r in Afghanistan." l l s
i e self-serving rhetoric a b o u t
T h e intrigues over the f a m i n e f u n d w e r e paralleled by the g o v e r n m e n t ' s
ia's tributary relation to En-
m a n i p u l a t i o n of the royal commission to investigate t h e disaster. A l t h o u g h t h e
in p r o p o r t i o n to that of En
" m a n o e u v r e s s u r r o u n d i n g the creation of the Famine C o m m i s s i o n w e r e mainly
austive drain besides, we are
controlled by the Strachey brothers," its i m p e t u s seems t o have c o m e directly
is, he said, "a race b e t w e e n a h o r s e to ride on." 115 ajor annoyance to Calcutta, e passage of the license and id English publics in his usual
f r o m Salisbury, w h o s e worries, in the face of a Liberal resurgence, w e r e strictly partisan. "Strachey will also explain to you," h e w r o t e L y t t o n in N o v e m b e r 1877, " w h a t I have talked a g o o d deal t o him a b o u t - the necessity of s o m e commission on F a m i n e measures in the f u t u r e , in o r d e r to save ourselves f r o m the Irrigation quacks. They will u n d o u b t e d l y make a s t r o n g fight: for I observe that u n d e r the Presidency of C o t t o n , they have been beginning s o m e sort of L e a g u e ... for
en imposed upon die people tinst the worst calamines of sum not less than a million ']he pledges which my finan^ Government, were explicit ; all the more binding on the ist, without evasion or delay, he people of India have, and eir rulers." 6
t h e Parliamentary campaign." It was suggested that the viceroy c o u l d steal his o p p o n e n t s ' clothes t h r o u g h a h a r m l e s s e n d o r s e m e n t ("provided it could pay its way") of irrigation as a famine .safeguard. T h e presidency of the commission w a s safely entrusted t o Lt. General Sir Richard Strachey, w h o as m e m b e r of t h e India Council and b r o t h e r to Lytton's finance chief was unlikely to find fault with himself o r his sibling. Convened in early 1878, t h e c o m m i s s i o n did n o t submit a r e p o r t until J u n e 1880. n '' "The establishment of the Famine C o m m i s s i o n , " w r i t e s one historian, "was carried o u t as a political exercise t o produce a favourable report, r a t h e r than as a
>kers. Famine insurance was
m e a s u r e d response t o o n e of the m o s t significant p r o b l e m s of the G o v e r n m e n t
duties and finance the inva-
o f India. G e n e r a l Strachey p r o t e c t e d his b r o t h e r ' s policies...." 1 2 0 T h e whitewash,
[ \
LATE VICTORIAN HOLOCAUSTS
58
however, w a s not: unanimous. T w o of the commissioners - t h e old India h a n d
f a m i n e relief a n d injunctions
J a m e s Caird and Madras civil servant H. Sullivan - dissented a l o n g lines similar
n o t uniform." ; - T Just as C a l c i
to Buckingham's policies in 1876-77. T h e y urged the g o v e r n m e n t to b u y and
f a m i n e fund ( " t h e r e was no le
store grain in the m o s t famine-prone districts, and in the f u t u r e to relieve the
G o v e r n m e n t of India and t h e
weak and infirm in their h o m e villages. Boih of these c o m m o n s e n s e r e c o m m e n -
exclusively d e v o t e d to famine
dations were subjected to scalding criticism by the majority w h o , instead, reaf-
to "ill directed a n d excessive <
firmed
Lytton's policy of d o r m i t o r y work camps and distance, task a n d w a g e
tests, s u p p l e m e n t e d as need be by poorhouses. Although the c o m m i s s i o n recog-
Convinced, however, t h a t b r i n g revolution on the tide,
nized that t h e "essential problem was .shortage of w o r k rather t h a n f o o d / ' the
valve for Indian discontent. F
majority clung to the Benthamite principle that relief should be bitterly punitive
to Ireland's v i o l e n t republica
in order to discourage dependence u p o n t h e g o v e r n m e n t . '21
nidation of a m o d e r a t e h o r n
T h e report, as intended, categorically absolved the g o v e r n m e n t of any responsibility for the horrific mortality As Carol H e n d e r s o n emphasizes, "The 1878 Famine C o m m i s s i o n set the t o n e for the [future] g o v e r n m e n t response by asserting that the main cause of famine was d r o u g h t 'leading to the failure of the food 1
crops on which the subsistence of the population d e p e n d s . ' " " In his 1886 critique of the commission, H. M. H y n d m a n caustically observed t h a t famines "ate looked u p o n as due to 'natural laws,' over which h u m a n beings have n o control whatever. We attribute all suffering u n d e r native g o v e r n m e n t s t o native misrule; ,2
our own errors we father on 'Nature'." ' Naoroji likewise t h o u g h t " h o w strange it is that the British rulers d o not see that alter all they themselves arc the m a i n cause of the destruction that ensues f r o m droughts; t h a t it is t h e drain of India's wealth by t h e m that lays at their own d o o r the dreadful results of misery, starvation, and deaths of millions.... Why blame poor N a t u r e w h e n t h e fault lies at your own door?" 12 ' 1 The report convinced a majority of Parliament (and s o m e gullible m o d e r n historians) that energetic measures were being taken to prevent f u t u r e catastrophes. Just as misleading promises cloaked the misappropriation of the f a m i n e fund, deliberate confusion s e e m s to have b e e n sown a b o u t the a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s of the commission. C o n t r a r y to the popular belief that the c o m m i s s i o n had legislated an obligatory "famine code," the report was surprisingly toothless and only a d u m b r a t e d "general principles" c o n f o r m i n g to Utilitarian orthodox}'. "By the mid-1880s, s o m e four or five years after the Famine Report was published, m o s t of the provinces had famine codes but, a p a r t from a reliance o n public w o r k s for
l o c u t o r t o a British Liberal g o of the Tories t o rule in 1 8> d e p a r t i n g Liberal Viceroy 1 .<: N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s in Decern t h e delegates, w r i t e s McLanc a f t e r m a t h of a series of fail o v e r military expenditure, v< to t h e civii services, nationali Naoroji m e a n w h i l e w e n t d e r b u r n called it a "flanking Michael D a v i u ' s Irish Natioi d m a n was already w a r n i n g existed." H u m e . Naoroji a n d w a g e r i n g India's future prec^ A.s the violent reaction to ir w a r n e d them, however, t h e ; g o i s m and the N e w Imperial w e r e already incubating in tl
VICTORIA'S GHOST'S
\ USTS
59
sioners - the old India hand
famine relief and injunctions about interfering with the grain trade, they were
dissented along lines similar
not uniform.'
the government to buy and
famine f u n d ( there was no legal contract," Temple argued in 1S90, "between the
Ji
Just as Calcutta had reserved in fine print the right to loot the
in the future to relieve the
G o v e r n m e n t < .f India and the Indian people to the effect that the Fund should b e
e c o m m o n sense recommen-
exclusively devoted to famine purposes"), so t o o it refused to bind itself by code
majority who, instead, reaf-
to "ill-directed and excessive distribution of charitable relief." 12,i
ind distance, task and wage
Convinced, however, that such famines were not only inevitable but would
ough the commission recog-
bring revolution on the tide, H u m e again t o o k up agitation for a political safety-
work rather than food," the
valve for Indian discontent. Fearing the rise of Maratha o r Bengali counterparts
if should be bitterly punitive
to Ireland's violent republican brotherhoods, he proposed the pre-emptive orga-
ment. 121
nization of a moderate home-rule m o v e m e n t that could act as a unified inter-
e government of any respon-
locutor to a British Liberal government. T h e issue became urgent w i t h the return
•son emphasizes. "The 1878
of the Tories to rule in 1885, and H u m e (with considerable sympathy f r o m
/ernment response by assert-
departing Liberal Viceroy Lord Ripon) engineered the foundation of the Indian
ing to the failure of the food
National Congress in December with himself as general secretary. T h e mood o f
1
depends.'" " hi his 1886 cri-
the delegates, writes McLane, "was somber and restrained. They gathered in the
y observed that famines "are
aftermath of a series of failures to obtain reforms. In the recent controversies
iman beings have no control
over military expenditure, volunteering, impartial justice, and Indian admission
v'ernments to native misrule;
to the civil services, nationalists had made few gains." 127
:evvise thought "how strange
Naoroji meanwhile went to England to r u n for Parliament in L o n d o n - Wed-
hey themselves arc the main
derburn called it a "flanking movement" - with the aid of radical-Liberals a n d
that it is the drain of India's
Michael Davitt's Irish National Land League. Although their friend H. M. Hyn-
.iful results of misery, starva-
dman was already warning that "the time has gone for imploring, if it ever
Jature when the fault lies at
existed," H u m e , Naoroji and the distinguished membership of the Congress were wagering India's future precisely on a principled appeal to English conscience. 12 *
(and some gullible modern
As the violent reaction to Irish home rule over the next few years should have
n to prevent future catastro-
warned t h e m , however, the age of Gladstone a n d j . S. Mill was giving way to jin-
ippropriation of the famine
goism and the New Imperialism. New famines, terrible beyond all apprehension,
i about the accomplishments
were already incubating in the loam of India's growing poverty.
l a t t h e commission had legis.rprisingly toothless and only tilitarian orthodoxy. "By the Report was published, most reliance on public works for
\
e
'The Po
Hisiory contains n< of things, and if p the whole region r
India was not a l o n e in its dist a t t e n t i o n in E n g l a n d , tens c North-West Province of Ce} p a r a b l e horrors, meanwhile, Java and Borneo, the Visayas. n o r t h e a s t Brazil. Across t h e "characterized by the most records began." ENSO's a t i r S o u t h e r n Oscillation whose c e n t r a l Pacific, played havoc ago, Chile, standardized stati 1876 to the lowest ever r e c b a r o m e t e r s b e g a n to soar ii 1877 (3.7 standard deviations a n o m a l i e s was vast, with rec land." Likewise sea surface a
Two
"The Poor Eat Their Homes'
History contains no record of so terrible and distressing a state of things, and il "prompt measures of relief be not instituted the whole region must become depopulated. — G o v e r n o r of Shanxi, 1877
India was n o t alone in its distress. Although t h e i r fate a t t r a c t e d surprisingly s c a n t attention in England, tens of t h o u s a n d s died f r o m h u n g e r and c h o l e r a in t h e N o r t h - W e s t Province of Ceylon, especially in J a f n a p a t a m and Kadavely. 1 C o m parable h o r r o r s , m e a n w h i l e , w e r e reported f r o m n o r t h China. Korea, s o u t h e r n Java and Borneo, the Visavas, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Angola, S o u t h Africa a n d northeast Brazil. Across the vast Indo-Pacific region, b a r o m e t e r readings w e r e "characterized by t h e m o s t e x t r e m e d e p a r t u r e s from n o r m a l p r e s s u r e ... since records b e g a n . " E N S O ' s a t m o s p h e r i c half, t h e huge a t m o s p h e r i c see-saw of t h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation w h o s e f u l c r u m was n e a r the International D a t e Line in t h e central Pacific, played havoc w i t h meteorological records everywhere. In Santiago, Chile, standardized station pressure p l u m m e t e d f r o m near n o r m a l in A u g u s t 1876 to t h e lowest ever recorded in September, while, conversely, in D j a k a r t a b a r o m e t e r s b e g a n t o soar in September, r e a c h i n g an all-time h e i g h t in A u g u s t 1877 (3.7 standard deviations above the m e a n ) . "The spatial extent o f t h e pressure anomalies w a s vast, w i t h records occurring in L e b a n o n , Australia a n d N e w Z e a land." Likewise sea surface and n i g h t t i m e m a r i n e air t e m p e r a t u r e s f r o m O c t o b e r
0 <9
T
62
I.ATIi V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
1877 to March 1878 were the highest in history. The notoriously fickle East Asian
"I' llli v
syl\ una, South Wales, Saxo
Monsoon and the usually reliable Arabian Monsoon (whose rainfall over the
the door of tropical agriculti
watershed of the Blue Nile in the Ethiopian highlands becomes the annual Nile
den .and for key tropical a n d
flood) disastrously failed to reach their n o r m a l latitudes. T h e apparent return to
agricultural exports as railro;
more normal conditions in late 1877 abruptly yielded to a secondary surge of El
the Mtez Canal shortened t h e
Nino conditions in early 1878 as pressure again plunged in Santiago and rose in
T h e result everywhere was ir
Djakarta. In Brazil's Nordeste drought persisted well through the fail of 1879.-
cultural incomes. World m a r their cost of production in m Millions of cultivators o n wehs of world trade were tin tions whose origins were as n Algeria, Egypt (which plunge well as in Angola, Quecnslai orchestrated the conversion c production d u r i n g the Amei return of Southern cotton ex] tivators in poverty and debt (
The " (I'ctvetuag USA
Figure 2.1 T h e Global D r o u g h t , 1876-78
The impact of El Nino drought was amplified by the worst global recession of the nineteenth century. "The intoxicating economic expansion of the Age of
ISfiO 1865
80 I1'
187(1
vl
Source: Adap'.c-iltroin Da L-iVnontiK i7r.«oi;v Kc'ncir <-
Capital," writes Eric Foner, "came to a wrenching halt in 1873." T h e puncture
Tropical sugar producers
of a speculative bubble in American railroad stocks (symbolized by the collapse
were likewise hammered by
of New York's Jay Cooke and Company) rapidly bccame a worldwide crisis t h a t
pean beet sugar, while More:
"ushered in an entirely new business environment, one of cutthroat competition
declined in the face of nev
and a relentless downward price spiral." 3 T h e massacre of fictitious capital o n
the opening of the Suez Cai
Wall Street was punctually followed by the fall of real prices o n Manchester's
together with stockraisers, fa
Cotton Exchange and soaring u n e m p l o y m e n t in the industrial centers of Penn-
as well as "the unbending o n
r
USTS
'THE
POOR
11.YV I M H f R
HOMES'
63
otoriously fick-le East Asian
sylvania, South Wales, Saxony and Piedmont. Deflation was soon a wolf at
n (whose rainfall over the
the door of tropical agriculturalists as well. T h e abrupt decline in metropolitan
Is becomes the annual Nile
demand for key tropical and colonial products coincided with a vast increase in
les. T h e apparent return to
agricultural exports as railroads opened the American a n d Russian prairies a n d
I to a secondary surge of El
the Suez Canal shortened the distances between Europe, Asia and the Antipodes.
ged in Santiago and rose in
T h e result everywhere was intensified competition and the p l u m m e t i n g of agri-
through the fall of 1879.1
cultural incomes. World market prices of cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar fell to their cost of production in many regions, or even below it."* Millions of cultivators only recently incorporated into market networks o r webs of world trade were thus whip lashed by long-distance economic perturbations whose origins w e r e as mysterious as those of the weather. In western India, Algeria, Egypt (which plunged into bankruptcy in 1876), and northeast Brazil, as well as in Angola, Queensland, Fiji and Samoa, where Lancashire interests had orchestrated the conversion of vast acreages of subsistence agriculture to cotton production during the American Civil War, the b o o m had collapsed with t h e return of Southern cotton exports, stranding hundreds of thousands of small cultivators in poverty a n d debt (see Table 2.1.).5 Table 2.1 T h e " C o t t o n Famine" and After ( P e r c e n t uge of R a w C o t t o n i m p o r t s by t h e UK) USA
f the worst global recession
Egypt
Brazil
India
1860
80
3
1
15
1865
19
21
6
50
1870
54
12
5
25
Source: Adapted f r o m David Surck.m, "Knij; C o t t o n : Monarch or Pretender?", l-cano»iicHutoiyRi-vien'6\:l
(Feb. 1TOS). p 123.
nic expansion of the Age of halt in 1873." T h e puncture
Tropical sugar producers in Brazil, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies
(symbolized by the collapse
were likewise h a m m e r e d by falling prices and the rising competition of Euro-
:ame a worldwide crisis that
pean beet sugar, while Morocco's traditional exports of grain, wool and leather
ne of cutthroat competition
declined in the face of new competition f r o m Australia and India following
;acre of fictitious capital on
the opening of the Suez Canal. In the Cape, wheat f a r m e r s and w i n e growers,
real prices on Manchester's
together with stockraisers, faced "the cold winds of free trade and indebtedness"
; industrial centers of Penn-
as well as "the unbending orthodoxy of imperial finance in the shape of the Stan-
'
64
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
r
HOLOCAUSTS
c,
uNB<
i |
dard Bank." 6 Chinese tea producers likewise had to deal with the sudden rivalry
!
followed by a m a j o r interver
of Assam and Ceylon, while Japan chipped away at China's monopoly on Asian
J
budget and forced the Q i n g t
silk exports. By 1875 agrarian unrest and rioting, on the largest scale since the
!'
great crisis of 1846-49, were spreading across the glohe.
forced to resume the r a m p a n that the Taiping had tried to c T h e scale and intensity o f
I. China
m o s t scrupulous "Golden At
The failure of the rains, two years in a row, throughout the basin of the Yellow
thanks to epic grain fraud by 1
River produced a drought-famine of extraordinary magnitude, overshadowing
conspirators, as well as the se;
even the disaster in the Indian Deccan. Yet it took m o n t h s for accurate reports to
it quickly b e c a m e a cataclys
make their way to Beijing, and f u r t h e r long months for a sclerotic bureaucracy
famously described as "a m a i
to organize relief campaigns for the five hardest hit provinces. Even then, rescue
|
that even a ripple is sufficient
grain moved slowly, if at all, through a series of deadly transport bottlenecks.
|
was a tsunami, n o t a ripple.
The Qing had refused t o build railroads or telegraphs out of the rational fear that they would inevitably b e c o m e w e a p o n s of foreign economic and ideologi-
'TKN THOUSAND
cal penetration. 7 As a result, a year or m o r e elapsed before the first meager ship-
T h e monsoon stalled over G
MEN
IK
ments of silver or grain arrived in many famine counties. Millions died in the
1876, drowning those provin
meantime and large tracts of countryside were depopulated. Such immobility
as far as the Korean border \
was construed by resident Westerners as the very essence of a stagnant civiliza-
a u t u m n harvests were totally
tion; in reality, it was a rupture with China's efficient famine relief campaigns of the eighteenth century or even the previous decade. Drought was a grim finale to a quarter-century of extraordinary natural and
Mayers carefully monitored t •
Office on the development o concern with the failed s u m
social violence. Massive flooding in the 1850s had driven millions of peasants
year-old emperor, his father a
from their homes, many of them into the arms of the rebel armies - Taiping,
next day 100,000 tacls were a
Triad, Red Turban and Nian - that came within a hairsbreadth of destroying
Henan. Utile else was noiec
the Qing dynasty in the 1860s. The last insurgents (Muslim fundamentalists in
d o n g borrowed 30,000 tacls
Shaanxi and Cansu) were defeated only in 1S72, and the accumulated economic
then, shortly be lore Chrisim
damage since the founding of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
of tribute grain. Any d o u b t s
in 1851 was colossal. During the brief interlude of Confucian reform - the so-
the beginning of winter, wi-
called Tongzhi Restoration - that followed the defeat of the Taiping, there were
den!)' appeared in the streets
several attempts to return to eighteenth-century state paternalism, most notably
(Chcngchow) a n d even Shar
during the 1867-68 drought-famine in the Beijing region, which was energetically
confirmed - w e r e chilling.
relieved with official soup kitchens and rice surpluses from the s o u t h / But the
In eastern Shandong, w h
Restoration's domestic phase was short-lived. Continuing and costly civil wars
d r o u g h t of fall 1876. the dc:
against Nian rebels in the n o r t h and Moslem insurrectionists in the northwest,
o w n homes:
r
' 1 i l l ; P O O R BAT T H E I R
.us i s
HOMES'
65
deal with the sudden rivalry
followed by a major intervention in Central Asia, f u r t h e r drained the imperial
China's monopoly on Asian
budget and forced the 0 ' i i g to slash nonmilitary expenditures. Beijing was also
n the largest scale since the
forced to resume the rampant sale of offices, a major source of t h e corruption
>be.
that the Taiping had tried to extirpate. The scale and intensity of the 1876-78 drought would have sorely tested t h e most scrupulous "Golden Age" administrations of the previous century. Now,
lout the basin of the Yellow
thanks to epic grain fraud by hundreds of c o r r u p t magistrates and their merchant
magnitude, overshadowing
conspirators, as well as the seasonally unnavigable condition of the Grand Canal,
onths for accurate reports to
it quickly became a cataclysm. T h e small cultivator of north China has been
s for a sclerotic bureaucracy
famously described as "a man standing permanently u p to his neck in water, so
provinces. Even then, rescue
that even a ripple is sufficient to drown him." 9 But the drought that began in 1876
eadly transport bottlenecks,
was a tsunami, not a ripple.
phs out of the rational fear sign economic and ideologi-
'TEN THOUSAND
before the first meager ship-
T h e m o n s o o n stalled over G u a n g d o n g and Fujian in the spring a n d summer of
MEN
HOLES'
Dunties. Millions died in the
1876, drowning those provinces in rain and flood, while all of n o r t h e r n China
populated. Such immobility
as far as the Korean border was parched by drought. Most of the s u m m e r a n d
ssence of a stagnant civiliza-
autumn harvests were totally lost. At the British Legation, Chinese Secretary W
lt famine relief campaigns of
Mayers carefully monitored the Imperial Gazette and reported back to the Foreign Office on the development of the ensuing famine. The first evidence of official
of extraordinary natural and
concern with the failed s u m m e r m o n s o o n was on 22 J u n e 1876 w h e n the five-
driven millions of peasants
year-old emperor, his father and uncle oversaw sacrifices and prayers for rain. T h e
T the rebel armies - Taiping,
next day 100,000 taels were allocated for d r o u g h t relief in Hebei, Shandong a n d
a hairsbreadth of destroying
Henan. Little else was noted until early October, when the governor of Shan-
; (Muslim fundamentalists in
dong b o r r o w e d 30,000 taels for soup kitchens from his customs revenue, and
d the accumulated economic
then, shortly before Christmas, w h e n Beijing suddenly diverted a large quantity
ily Kingdom of Great Peace
of tribute grain. Any doubts a b o u t the gravity of the famine were removed at
7
Confucian reform - the so-
the beginning of winter, when tens of thousands of threadbare refugees sud-
•at of the Taiping, there were
denly appeared in the streets of Tianjin (Tientsin), Yantai (Chefoo), Z h e n g z h o u
ite paternalism, most notably
(Chengchow) and even Shanghai. 10 The stories they told - which missionaries
gion, which was energetically
confirmed - were chilling.
ises from the south." But the
In eastern Shandong, where three dry years had preceded t h e full-fledged
itinuing and costly civil wars
drought of fall 1876, the desperate peasantry were reported to b e eating their
rrectionists in the northwest,
own homes:
T Till- !'()(
LATH V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
In t h e s u m m e r t h e great cry o f i f o r very lite. H a v i n g finished t h e ' b a r k , b u c k w h e a t stalks, t u r n i p le a n d sieve the d u s t off. W h e n t h e t h e i r timber, a n d it is reported <j ( s o r g h u m stalks i f r o m the r n n f . I~n
f u e l ... [then| t h e v sell their clot
Drought flooding
With t h e onset of winter, " t h e
Locusts
'.Yel.l
ow
the price curve of fuels f o l l o w to b u r n what was left of their h< ary S a m u e l Wells Williams w a s "people like spectres hovering <: pyres for themselves out of t h e W h e n there w a s nothing lef
H h uO pP Ee h11
«vCr»uMv ,. :V SZLCHWAN
/ vP TT r ^T ^^ X^ 'mu , h^ a^ ^
. r - W ' - v - ^ ' S NG VNHUW vV-:;..: /• HangzhguCilliHKI'A^e;
flee s o u t h w a r d t o t h e cities of Ji crowdingo together in giant unci o o chou," reported t h e Welsh t u b dug. In each pit as many as 240 s u c c u m b e d within six weeks, le ish consul at Yantai wrote at tl elforts in the drought-stricken kitchens in l-tti 1 Isien still c o n t their m o n e y is n o w exhausted that district has p u t out a Procl more, but I lear with no eflect. trict Magistrate is t o cope with There is considerable debat an explicit "moral economy," • but ion, operated d u r i n g fond s Some of the strongest evideno
I• • / • ".-
• . .jT ..
;: ;:fj_j
1
jr.. " "
—:— ' 0
••' ' .'—•
. . I '
250
Based on l S T ^ m a p by W.Mayci^Gl^ncSL-'Secrciar)' of British Legation, Peking.
Figure 2.2 F a m i n e in C h i n a , 1876-78
t> a
500mi.
in Shandong, w h e r e peasant vv< tions, suggestive of customary magistrates. In o n e hsiai (com house ... took possession of it. c
run
P O O R HAT T H E I R
HOMES'
<3 7
In the s u m m e r ihe g r e a t cry of" the m a s s of t h e p e o p l e w a s f o r rain, rain. N o w it is f o r very life. H a v i n g finished their c o m , they eat g r a i n - h u s k s , p o t a t o stalks, a n d e l m bark, b u c k w h e a t stalks, t u r n i p leaves and grass s e e d s , which t h e v gather in t h e fields a n d sieve t h e dust off. W h e n these a r e e x h a u s t e d , t h e y pull d o w n their h o u s e s , sell their timber, and it is r e p o r t e d e v e r y w h e r e that m a n y eat t h e r o t t e n k a o l i a n g reeds ( s o r g h u m stalks • f r o m t h e roof, a n d t h e dried leaves of w h i c h t h e v usually b u r n for fuel ... [ t h e n ] they sell t h e i r c l o t h e s a n d c h i l d r e n . "
With the onset of winter, "the caloric deficit w a s aggravated by the cold, since the price curve of fuels followed that of g r a i n . P e a s a n t s had no choice but to burn what was left of their h o m e s for w a r m t h . The tamed American missionary Samuel Wells Williams was haunted for the rest of his life by the image of "people like spectres hovering over the ashes of their b u r n t houses, a n d making pyres for themselves o u t of the ruins of their temples."" W h e n there was n o t h i n g left to fuel a fire, those peasants who chose not to flee southward to the cities of Jiangsu resorted to the extraordinary stratagem of crowding together in giant underground pits. "In the eastern suburb of Ch'ingchou," reported the Welsh missionary T i m o t h y Richard, "four such pits were dug. In each pit as- many as 240 people huddled for w a r m t h . One-third of these succumbed within six weeks, leaving eagerly sought-after vacancies." M T h e British consul at Yantai w r o t e at the e n d of the winter about the collapse of relief efforts in the drought-stricken counties of Shandong. "The Government soup kitchens in 1-tu Hsien still continue to deal out a scanty relief, but it is sad that their money is now exhausted and they will soon close.... |T|he Magistrate of that district has put out a Proclamation exhorting the wealthy to subscribe once more, but 1 fear with n o effect. O n e can readily understand how powerless a dis trict Magistrate is to cope with a gigantic evil like this."'1"' There is considerable debate amongst historians about the extent to which an explicit "moral economy," with ritualized traditions of protest and redistribution, operated during food scarcities in societies outside of Western Europe. Some of the strongest evidence comes from missionary accounts of the famine in Shandong, where peasant w o m e n organized highly theatricalized demonstrations, suggestive of customary precedents, against greedy gentry a n d dishonest magistrates. In one Jisic/i (county), "a band of w o m e n marched to a rich man's house ... t o o k possession of it, cooked a meal there, and then marched to the next
LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
68
c,
uNB<
house for the next meal" and so on. In a n o t h e r locality, a n g r y peasant w o m e n c o n f r o n t e d a venal magistrate w h o had been p o c k e t i n g relief f u n d s f r o m Beijing: One hundred women one day, each carrying her kitchen cleaver and board, went to the Yamen and sat down in the courtyard. The underlings asked them their business. They said they wished to speak to the magistrate.... As soon as he appeared, one of the women chosen as spokesman cried out, "The magistrate who steals the money of the poor instead of giving it when they are dying of starvation deserves to be choppcd into pieces like this!" Then the hundred choppers beat a refrain on the boards, and all the women chanted in chorus: "He who steals the money of the poor deserves to be choppcd into pieces like this!"16
Such militant self-organization, however, was g e n e r a l l y ' o n l y possible in the early phase of famine, before starvation b e g a n to dissolve the social fabric o f the village and, eventually, of the e x t e n d e d family itself. By spring 1877 the d r o u g h t stricken hsien of S h a n d o n g w e r e already partially d e p o p u l a t e d b y death and emigration. "At Chikien, a village of 200 families," w r o t e a missionary t o the Shang-
F i g u r e 2.3 A M o i h e r Selling H e r <
hai Courier, "I found that thirty families h a d pulled d o w n their h o u s e s to sell the timber and thatch for food; thirty' families had gone away, and t w e n t y individuals
executing famine-driven bandi
were dead f r o m starvation. At Kiang-kia-low, with a p o p u l a t i o n o f thirty to forty
starvation in the 'sorrow cagc^
families, forty-seven individuals h a d died of starvation. At Li-kai-chwang, o u t of
' According to Richard," r e p o r t
100 families, formerly well off, thirty p e r s o n s were already d e a d of starvation.
only 43,000 taeis (about £14,0(
At Po-wang, out of sixty families forty persons w e r e dead, and sixty gone away.
pittance Ibr such a calamity." 2
At Masoong, out of forty families forty individuals had perished." 1 7 In a single
reached only 20 t o 40 percent
hsien it was reported that m o r e t h a n 100,000 d e p e n d e n t s were sold into servitude
Mayers in Beijing observed, t h
to contractors from the south, a l t h o u g h the g o v e r n m e n t later nullified all forced
inulated since t h e end of the "I
sales of w o m e n and children d u r i n g t h e famine. 1 S T h e Italian missionary Father
expansion in C e n t r a l Asia o r i
di Marchi described the h e a r t b r e a k i n g calculus of d e s p e r a t i o n t h a t pitted family
increasingly had t o borrow f r
h o n o r against survival in the stricken villages of S h a n d o n g . "In a village, entirely
The crucial c u s t o m s revenue f
Pagan, w h e r e 1 went to distribute relief, all t h e w o m e n , except t w o very old ones,
21 million tacl loan, raised t h r
and all the children of b o t h sexes had b e e n sold." O n the other h a n d , in a n o t h e r
used t o pay oil" exists of the c<
village that he visited, m a n y of t h e families had c o m m i t t e d suicide to "avoid the
most of" the provincial govern
ignominy of b e g g i n g . " "
the d r o u g h t . As t h e imperial
T h e provincial authorities s e e m e d hopeless. T h e y w e r e far m o r e efficient in
1877, w h a t financial reserves
T aus
rs
' T H E P O O R EAT T H E I R
HOMES-
69
cality. a n g r y peasant w o m e n keting relief f u n d s from Bei-
:hen cleaver and board, went erlings asked them their busi:e ^s soon as he appeared, "he magistrate who steals the : dying of starvation deserves ;d choppers beat a refrain on : who steals the money of the
generally only possible in the issolve t h e social fabric of the f. By spring 1877 t h e droughte p o p u l a t e d by death and emi)te a missionary to the SJidng-
Figure 2.3 A Mother Selling Her Children to Buy Food, Chin-Kiang, 1877
d o w n their houses t o sell the : away, and t w e n t y individuals
executing famine-driven bandits b y the thousands, usually by "slow, agonizing
a p o p u l a t i o n of thirty t o forty
starvation in the ' s o r r o w cages,'" than in distributing relief in the countryside. 2 0
tion. At Li-kai-chwang, o u t of
"According t o Richard," reported T/ie Ttmes's c o r r e s p o n d e n t , "they have allotted
•e already dead of starvation.
only 43,000 taels (about £14,000) f o r the w h o l e of these eight districts - a mere
:re dead, and sixty g o n e away
pittance for such a calamity." 21 Missionaries estimated t h a t official relief efforts
Is had perished." 1 7 In a single
reached only 20 to 40 percent of the afflicted population in five provinces.'' As
dents were sold into servitude
Mayers in Beijing observed, the Empire was b r o k e . J ' The revenue s u r p l u s accu-
i m e n t later nullified all forced
mulated since the end of the Taiping civil w a r had been expended o n imperialist
T h e Italian missionary Father
expansion in Central Asia or in building coastal forts a n d arsenals. T h e empire
desperation that pitted family
increasingly had to b o r r o w f r o m foreign p o w e r s at extortionate interest rates.
landong. "In a village, entirely
T h e crucial c u s t o m s revenue for 1877 and 1878, for example, was collateral for a
nen, except t w o very old ones,
21 million taef loan, raised t h r o u g h the H o n g k o n g and Shanghai Bank, that was
Dn the o t h e r h a n d , in a n o t h e r
used to pay off costs of the c o n q u e s t of Xinjiang. 2- ' Left t o fend f o r themselves,
m m i t t e d suicide t o "avoid the
m o s t of t h e provincial g o v e r n m e n t s were already b a n k r u p t by the beginning o f t h e d r o u g h t . As the imperial censors p o i n t e d o u t in an angry n o t e in August
ley w e r e far m o r e efficient in
1877, w h a t financial reserves r e m a i n e d w e r e p r o m p t l y l o o t e d by c o r r u p t relief
I.ATE VICTORIAN H O L O C A U S T S
70
Till- l><)
officials. 25 N o r w e r e t h e r e any hidden resources in the countryside t o c o m p e n s a t e
and Jiangsu. d r o u g h t was acce
for official penury. O n a local level w h e n g o v e r n m e n t assistance w a s desultory,
plagues of locusts. In total. m<:
peasants had traditionally relied on blood-oath
(Iniihui) and m u t u a l
-in an area larger than France.'
loan societies. D u r i n g the terrible S h a n d o n g w i n t e r of 1876-77. however, village
fraternities
tuent was legendary (missionary
m u t u a l i s m collapsed, b r i n g i n g p e r m a n e n t discredit t o the societies that failed to
m a n e m missionaries to c h r o n i c
save their members. 2 6
told Beijing that m o r e than half overrun with 70.000 r e f u g e e s / 2
N o t surprisingly s o m e f a r m e r s preferred t o fight for their survival. Far m o r e than in caste-divided India, a proliferation of heterodox religious sects and
ism, brigandage a n d the death o
u n d e r g r o u n d anti-Qing traditions offered Chinese peasants a cultural matrix for
afflicted counties. 1 J In Lushan 1
organizing and legitimating agrarian insurrection. In s o u t h w e s t e r n Shandong,
lion, t h e p o o r peasants and hiboi
towards the end of the d r o u g h t , "a certain Z h u Ahen-Guo, w h o m a d e a living
k n o w n as Mn^jiVni^) rose en m a s ;
as a healer, claimed t o b e a descendant of t h e Ming ruling h o u s e and rose in
unwilling to provide relief t h e
rebellion.... Poor folks f r o m the region rallied to his banner, a n d held o u t for
the g r a i n to the poor. This act
almost a m o n t h b e f o r e d r e n c h i n g rains c a m e a n d his followers dispersed to r e t u r n
and t h e n u m b e r s o f participants
to their n o w cultivable fields." 27
large contingent o f g o v e r n m e n t
More commonly, entire villages fled towards the wealthy t o w n s of the s o u t h .
Likewise, it w a s almost a ye<
This organized system of village migration and collective b e g g i n g was k n o w n
n a t i o n of the m a g n i t u d e of th<
as t'ao-fang, and was clearly distinguished in law and popular tolerance f r o m ordi-
refused overtures o f aid from t l
nary (criminal) vagabondage. 2 * Faced w i t h the "threat of an aimlessly wander-
scntativcs, F. Bailer and George
ing peasantry, with all the consequences t h a t this entailed," the g o v e r n m e n t tried
the f o r t y counties that lined t h e
to channel and r e g i m e n t migration with t h e help of t h e urban e l i t e s . A l t h o u g h
zation. was staggering. "! l u m a i
Beijing was s u r r o u n d e d by checkpoints d u r i n g the famine, the wealthy g e n t r y in
"lay a l o n g roads. O n the average
the cities of Kiangsu were ordered to keep their gates open to h o n e s t r e f u g e e s
lives a n d even a small one lost s
f r o m the n o r t h . T h e people f r o m S h a n d o n g were carefully registered at u r b a n
dispose of dead bodies, was t o •
shelters and issued c o u p o n s for rice g r u e l , used clothing, even basic medical
thousand-men holes'; dead chil
care. Later, after the d r o u g h t abated, they w e r e given travel stipends to r e t u r n to
weakened h u m o r s were often fi
their h o m e s w h e r e magistrates o f t e n provided loans of seed and oxen to ensure
stupid f r o m the fulness of m a n
resumption of the agricultural (and fiscal) cycle. But w h e n , at times, the exodus
villages and towns. '"
f r o m the n o r t h b e c a m e t o o o v e r w h e l m i n g o r uncontrollable, as a l o n g the Shandong-Kiangsu b o r d e r in 1877, t h e Qing had n o q u a l m s a b o u t s e n d i n g in troops to
S l-l A N X t: T !-! [• U N S !' H A K A P, L.
t u r n back o r even massacre t h e refugees. 3 0
But t h e famine's macabre clima
While the t u r m o i l in S h a n d o n g was diverting official attention, famine w a s
erished. landlocked province as 1
rapidly spreading t h r o u g h o u t Shanxi and t h e greater p a r t of Shaanxi, Hebei and
million. D r o u g h t h a d been entrc
H e n a n , as well as t h e n o r t h e r n counties of Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu. In H e b e i
populated s o u t h w e s t e r n prefect
L
' T H E P O O R 1- A T T H E I R H O M E S '
•) C A U S T S
71
i the countryside to compensate
and Jiangsu, drought was a c o mipanied, as it is "so frequently, by devastating
i m e n t assistance was desultory,
plagues of locusts. In total, m u r e than 90 million people suffered from h u n g e r
fraternities (iwi/tm) and mutual
in an area larger than France.
In Henan, where popular anti-Christian senti-
ter of 1876-77, however, village
ment was legendary (missionaries called it "heartless Henan"), there were no per-
dit to the societies that failed to
m a n e n t missionaries to chronicle the progress of the famine, b u t the governor
iht for their survival. Far more
overrun with 70,000 refugees. ; ; Other vernacular accounts described cannibal-
;ieterodox religious sects and
ism, brigandage and the death of more than a third of the population in the m o s t
e peasants a cultural matrix for
afflicted counties. 33 In Lushan hsien, a renowned h e a r t h of banditry and rebel-
told Beijing that m o r e than half the harvest had been lost and t h a t Kaifeng was
>n. In southwestern Shandong,
lion, the p o o r peasants and laborers w h o maintained the irrigation system (locally
Ahen-Guo, w h o m a d e a living
known as tangjiang) rose en masse. "In the face of recalcitrant landlords who w e r e
Ming ruling house and rose in
unwilling to provide relief, the trtiigjiVuig opened local granaries and distributed
to his banner, and held out for
the grain to the poor. This act propelled o t h e r peasants to join the movement,
his followers dispersed to return
and the n u m b e r s of participants reached tens of thousands. Only by calling u p a large contingent of government troops could the riot be quelled. " J J
he wealthy towns of the south,
Likewise, it was almost a year before t h e foreign c o m m u n i t y had any appre-
collective begging was known
ciation of the magnitude of the famine in Shaanxi (Shcnsi). Provincial officials
nd popular tolerance from ordi-
refused overtures of aid from the British Inland Mission, but allowed two repre-
'threat of an aimlessly wander-
sentatives, F. Bailer and George King, to m a k e a brief visit." T h e mortality in
entailed," the government tried
the forty counties that lined the great Wei River valley, the crucible of Han civili-
) of the urban elites. 2 " Although
zation, was staggering. "Human skeletons," recounted a later provincial history,
tc famine, the wealthy gentry in
"lay along roads. O n the average a large county lost b e t w e e n 100,000 and 200,000
• gates open to honest refugees
lives and even a small one lost some 50,000 or 60,000. T h e only possible way to
re carefully registered at urban
dispose of dead bodies, was to dig huge holes, which today arc still called, 'ten-
d clothing, even basic medical
thousand-men holes'; dead children were thrown into water wells.""' Hunger-
•ven travel stipends to return to
weakened farmers were often finished off by the packs of wolves - "gorged and
ns of seed and oxen to ensure
stupid f r o m the fulness of many ghastly meals" - that prowled t h e outskirts of
•ut when, at times, the exodus
villages and towns. 37
.".ontrollable, as along the Shanalms about sending in troops to
SHANXI: THE
UNSPEAKABLE
But the famine's macabre climax was in neighboring Shanxi (Shansi), an impovg official attention, famine was
erished, landlocked province as big as England and Wales with a population of 15
ater part of Shaanxi, Hebei and
million. Drought h a d been entrenched here since 1875, b u t the province's densely
ei, Anhui and jiangsu. In Hebei
populated southwestern prefectures had b e e n temporarily able to mitigate f o o d
I.ATE V I C T O R I A N '
HOLOCAUSTS
shortages with imports f r o m the Wei Vallev. The total crop failure in the latter was effectively a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of peasants in neighboring Shanxi.J!f Again the Qing bureaucracy responded with excruciating sluggishness. At the beginning of 1877, a censor complained about corruption in the administration of relief in Shanxi, and later Beijing issued a decree postponing the collection of land taxes. But it was only in March, a full year after the failure of the rains, that a sudden series of urgent appeals in the Imperial Gazette revealed that the granaries of s o u t h e r n Shanxi were empty and the peasants were n o w living off pellets of dirt or the corpses of their dead neighbors. 39 As Governor Li Hon-nien emphasized in his obituary-like report, entire social strata had been .wiped out f r o m the b o t t o m up: The drought with which the province has been visited for several years in succession has resulted in a famine of an intensity and extent hitherto unheard of. As . autumn advanced into the winter the number of those in need of relief increased daily, until at last they could be counted by millions. The lower classes were the first to be affected, and they soon disappeared or dispersed in search of subsistence elsewhere. Now the famine has attacked the well-to-do and the wealthy, who find themselves reduced to greater misery as each day goes by, and they, in their turn, are dying off or following those who have migrated elsewhere. In the earlier period of distress the living fed upon the bodies of the dead; next, the strong devoured the weak; and, now, the general destitution lias arrived at such a climax that men devour those of their own flesh and blood.'1" All of Beijing's belated efforts to move grain into the loess highlands had been frustrated by the breakdown of the transportation system. The condition of the Grand Canal, inland north China's all-important lifeline to the rice surpluses of the Yangzi Valley, was especially distressing. "The most extensive and important canal in the world," wrote a correspondent to the New York Times, "it is n o w for hundreds of miles unnavigable, its old channel grass-grown and incumbered with the rotting hulks of hundreds of the imperial junks which formerly brought their annual tribute of grain to the capital."'" Rivers that once fed w a t e r to the canal had been cut off by the realigned Yellow River or silted-up through government neglect. As a result, water levels in the canal fell drastically with the onset of the drought, and only desultory efforts were m a d e to dredge sections of the canal or,
r
l LI S T S
"I H E P O O R EAT T H E I R
HOMES'
>tal crop failure in t h e latter usands of peasants in neighi d e d with excruciating slugined a b o u t c o r r u p t i o n in t h e ; issued a decree p o s t p o n i n g h, a full year after t h e failure t h e Imperial Gazette revealed and the peasants w e r e n o w id neighbors. 3 9 As G o v e r n o r entire social strata h a d b e e n
i for several years in succesent hitherto unheard of. As e in need of relief increased The lower classes were the rsed in search of subsistence .0 and the wealthy, who find ;s by, and they, in their turn, :ewhere. In the earlier period i; next, the strong devoured :d at such a climax that men
the loess highlands had been iystem. T h e condition of the eline to the rice surpluses of lost extensive and i m p o r t a n t Jew York Times, "it is n o w for - g r o w n and i n c u m b e r e d w i t h which formerly b r o u g h t their t o n c e fed w a t e r t o t h e canal .lted-up t h r o u g h g o v e r n m e n t .stically with the onset of the •edge sections of the canal or,
Figure 2.4 Guguan Pass: "The way was marked by the carcasses of men and beasts.
7 A
LATH VIC TORIAN HOLOCAUSTS TIL
PO(
alternately, t o send grain in small flotillas up the drought-shallowed and treacherously silted Yellow River. W i t h tribute rice s h i p m e n t s held up in t h e south, the g o v e r n m e n t for the first time t u r n e d towards the w h e a t surpluses of M a n c h u r i a / ' A l t h o u g h M a n c h u r i a n f a r m e r s responded with h u g e s h i p m e n t s of grain, its progress t o w a r d s the centers of mass starvation in H e n a n , Shaanxi and Shanxi w a s fatally impeded by a succession of t r a n s p o r t bottlenecks. T h e first was in t h e port o f Tianjin itself. As R. Forrest, the British consul in Tianjin and c h a i r m a n of t h e Famine Relief C o m m i t t e e , complained:"ln N o v e m b e r 1877, this aspect of affairs was simply terrible.... Tientsin w a s i n u n d a t e d with supplies f r o m every available port. T h e Bund w a s piled m o u n t a i n high w i t h grain, the G o v e r n m e n t s t o r e h o u s e s w e r e full. All possible m e a n s of t r a n s p o r t i n g it w e r e c o m m a n d e e r e d a n d the watercourses w e r e crowded w i t h boats, the roads w e r e blocked w i t h carts." '4 O t h e r bottlenecks slowed the progress of the relief grain across the N o r t h China Plain despite w a r n i n g s that the p o p u l a t i o n of s o u t h e r n Shanxi "bids fair to b e c o m e absolutely extinct."' 5 T h e t r a n s p o r t crisis reached a n i g h t m a r i s h crescendo in G u g u a n Pass, the n a r r o w m o u n t a i n gateway t o s o u t h e r n Shanxi. C o n s u l Forrest travelled up the 130-milc-long m o u n t a i n trail t o sec the chaos for himself:
quence of the Famine" W h e n Richard, dressed as a C h
Frightful disorder reigns supreme ... filled with [an enormous traffic of] officials and traders all intent on getting their convoys over the pass. Fugitives, beggars and thieves absolutely swarmed ... camels, oxen, mules and donkeys ... were killed by the desperate people lor the sake of their flesh (while the grain they were meant to be carrying into Shansi rotted and fed the rals of Tientsin). Night travelling was out of the question. The way was marked by the carcases of men and beasts, and the wolves, dogs and foxes soon put an end to the sufferings of any (sick) wretch who lay down ... in those terrible defiles.... No idea of employing the starving people in making new or improving the old roads ever presented itself to the authorities.... Gangs of desperadoes in the hills terrorised the travellers.... In the ruined houses the dead, the dying, and the living were found huddled together ... and the domestic dogs, driven by hunger to feast on the corpses everywhere to be found, were eagerly caught and devoured.... Women and girls were sold in troops to traffickers, who took the opportunity of making money in this abominable manner, and suicide was so common as hardly to excite attention.
m e m i n t o Shanxi l a t e r that season, a n d the representative of the Bapti; of the c a t a s t r o p h e , " thought lie w c lion. It h a d scarcely rained for t i n empty f o r years or h a d been looti g o v e r n m e n t , ' crushed bvj the costs e O lims and H a n , had n o f u n d s left t o i devoured every blade o f grass t h a t countryside had been t r a n s f o r m e d ; storms. " T h a t people pull down t h roots and carrion, clay and refuse w e r e n o t e n o u g h to m o v e one's p i t o n the roadside, or o f d e a d torn b y n e w s w h i c h has reached us, within i e a t e n up, is so fearful as to make o n
T USTS
'THE POOR
EAT T H E I R
HOWES'
ght-shallowed and treacher-
"1
IP"
the government for the first n a / 3 Although Manchurian s progress towards the cenxi was fatally impeded by a
J:
n the port of Tianjin itself,
•//
rv
irman of the Famine Relief ispect of affairs was simply m every available port. T h e vernment storehouses were nmandeered and the waterblocked with carts."-" O t h e r cross the North China Plain Shanxi "bids fair to b e c o m e a nightmarish crescendo in :hern Shanxi. Consul Forrest the chaos for himself:
Figure 2.5
"Suicides in C o n s e -
q u e n c e of t h e F a m i n e "
F i g u r e 2.6 " T h e Living Strive for the Flesh o f the D e a d "
W h e n Richard, dressed as a Chinese, crossed over the 4,OOii loot-high escarp: n o r m o u s traffic o f j officials
m e n t into Shanxi later that season, 1,000 people were starving to death every day,
pass. Fugitives, b e g g a r s and
and the representative of the Baptist Missionary Society, "aghast at the magnitude
id d o n k e y s ... w e r e killed by
of the catastrophe," t h o u g h t he was witnessing a scene f r o m the Book of Revela-
h e grain t h e y w e r e m e a n t to
tion. It had scarcely rained for three winters. Many county granaries had been
sin). Niglu travelling w a s o u t ; of m e n a n d beasts, and the
empty for years or h a d been looted by venal magistrates, while the provincial
lgs of any (sick > w r e t c h w h o
government, crushed by the costs of the recent genocidal civil war b e t w e e n Mus-
•loying t h e s t a r v i n g p e o p l e in
lims and Han, had no funds left to finance relief. Locust plagues, meanwhile, had
;d itself to t h e a u t h o r i t i e s . , . .
devoured every blade of grass that had escaped the drought, and the once fertile
Hers.... In t h e r u i n e d h o u s e s
countryside had been transformed into an ochre desert shrouded by howling dust
.i t o g e t h e r ... a n d the d o m e s e r y w h e r e to be f o u n d , w e r e
storms. "That people pull down their houses, sell their wives and daughters, cat
ire sold in t r o o p s t o trafiick-
roots and carrion, clay and refuse is news which nobody wonders at.... If this
his a b o m i n a b l e m a n n e r , a n d
were not e n o u g h to move one's pity, the sight of men and women lying helpless on the roadside, or of dead torn by hungry dogs and magpies, should do; and the news which has reached us, within the last few days, of children being boiled and eaten up, is so fearful as to make o n e shudder at the thought." 1 ^
L AT li V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
THL
Indeed, the c o r r e s p o n d e n c e of Q i n g officials c o n f i r m s that "children aban44
doned by their parents ... w e r e taken to secret locations, killed and consumed." '
PO<
it was believed t o b e the epiccn because "eight o u t o f every t e n
Richard later discovered h u m a n m e a t b e i n g sold openly in the streets and h e a r d
tion o f grain. "See that poor w
stories "of parents exchanging y o u n g children because they Could not kill a n d
Taylor, "he has p a r t e d with his hi
eat their own." Residents - w h o everywhere w e n t a r m e d with spears and s w o r d s
own clothing and bedding, a n d
for self-protection - also "dare n o t g o t o t h e coal-pits for coal, so necessary for
tion, a n d all for o p i u m . . . . It is tl
w a r m t h and cooking, for b o t h m u l e s and o w n e r s had disappeared, having b e e n
misery, unparalleled in ... any o i
eaten.
,M9
(Richard, on the o t h e r hand, w a s s t r u c k by " t h e absence of the r o b b e r y
of the rich" amongst so m u c h death.)
50
T h e o t h e r E u r o p e a n witness to the catas-
In London, m e a n w h i l e , a C h i dines, Mathesons, Reids, and o t
trophe, the R o m a n Catholic Bishop of Shanxi, c o n f i r m e d Richard's m o s t disturb-
ing t h e catastrophe as " w i t h o u t
ing observations in a letter t o the p r o c u r a t o r of the Lazarist Fathers (later q u o t e d
c o m m i t t e e circulated a b o o k i e
in The Times): "Previously, people had restricted themselves to cannibalizing t h e
H e n a n peasants c o m m i t t i n g sui
dead; n o w they are killing t h e living for f o o d . T h e h u s b a n d devours his wife, t h e
relief o f the Bulgarian victims <
parents eat their children'or t h e children eat their parents: this is n o w the every-
starving Madras, w e r e more p o p
day news." 51
China missions acclaimed "fanii
Almost t w o years after t h e d r o u g h t - f a m i n e had b e g u n , on 10 May 1878, the British ambassador in Beijing r e p o r t e d to t h e foreign minister, Lord Salisbury that while recent rains had i m p r o v e d the situation in Hubei, there was little sign of relief in H e n a n o r Shanxi:
the g o s p e l . " " Here was an archi whole [northern j provinces w h t eral Missionary Conference in Christian Church t o evangelize tagc o f what A r t h u r Smith t e n -
The letters of the missionaries who remain there are merely stereotyped accounts of the same painful sights endlessly repeated. Every imaginable horror that famine can give rise to is said to have occurred on a large scale. One would prefer to hope that the extent of the disaster might he overestimated, if the numbers of destitute immigrants who may now be seen dying of want at the gates and in the streets oi Peking itself, and the unusual prevalence of malignant fevers in the capital, did not bear witness to its reality. I heard yesterday, upon good authority, that as many as 7,000,000 persons in all are computed to have died in this famine. The Province of Shansi alone is said to have lost 5,000,000 of inhabitants in the lust winter. If the drought should continue, it will not improbably become depopulated altogether." These reports of the h o r r o r s in Shanxi w e r e eventually circulated a r o u n d the world by cable and later published at l e n g t h in China's Millions, t h e f a m o u s British missionary m o n t h l y " H a r r o w i n g eye-witness accounts of famine conditions," its editor H u d s o n Taylor w r o t e , "were n e e d e d to b r i n g h o m e to people's imaginations what w a s h a p p e n i n g . " Shanxi particularly preoccupied Christians b e c a u s e
distribution of f u n d s by brave a added the British consul the sair dozen wars."'* G u o Songtao, CI by British gloating over their f. endorse the relief c a m p a i g n / ' ' (' as G u o SongLao probably expec complaining about the recidivi so m u c h philanthropy in S h a r disappointing.... [A]ftcr thirteen bered about thirty converts.")'" In t h e United States, the far Wells Williams m a d e a public indemnity extorted f r o m China sibie t o rescue t h o s e in Shansi."
T ' T H E P O O R EAT 1 H E I R
CAUSTS
HOMES'
confirms that "children aban-
it was believed to b e t h e epicenter of the o p i u m evil, w h e r e the masses starved
45
because "eight o u t of every ten s m o k e d o p i u m " and h a d a b a n d o n e d the cultiva-
d o n s , killed and consumed."
openly in t h e streets and heard
tion of grain. "Sec that p o o r w r e t c h with t h e emaciated frame," editorialized
;cause they could n o t kill and
Taylor, "he has p a r t e d with his land, his h o u s e , his f u r n i t u r e , his children's and his
a r m e d with spears and swords
'
o w n clothing and bedding, and either sold his wife o r hired her o u t for prostitution, and all for o p i u m . . . . It is t h e source of poverty, w r e t c h e d n e s s , disease, a n d
1-pits for coal, so necessary for : had disappeared, having b e e n
i
:>y "the absence of t h e robbery
I
E u r o p e a n witness t o the catas-
!
misery, unparalleled in ... any o t h e r country." 5 3 In L o n d o n , m e a n w h i l e , a C h i n a Famine Relief Fund w a s organized by the Jardines, Mathesons, Rcids, and o t h e r ancient pillars of t h e opium t r a d e . Describ-
ifirmed Richard's m o s t disturb-
ing the catastrophe as " w i t h o u t parallel in t h e history o f t h e world," the L o n d o n
e Lazarist Fathers (later quoted
c o m m i t t e e circulated a b o o k l e t by a C h i n e s e artist depicting grisly scenes o f
hemselves t o cannibalizing the
H e n a n peasants c o m m i t t i n g suicide or e a t i n g their d e a d neighbors. 5 1 Although
: husband devours his wife, the
relief of t h e Bulgarian victims o f Turkish atrocities, followed by appeals to aid
• parents: this is n o w the every-
starving Madras, w e r e m o r e p o p u l a r front p a g e philanthropies, s u p p o r t e r s of t h e China missions acclaimed " f a m i n e relief as a heaven-sent o p p o r t u n i t y to spread
id begun, o n 10 May 1878, the
!
the gospel." 5 5 H e r e w a s an a r c h i m e d e a n lever, it was believed, to o p e n the "nine
reign minister, Lord Salisbury,
w h o l e [ n o r t h e r n ] provinces w h e r e darkness reigns unbroken." 5 " I n d e e d the G e n -
\ in Hubei, there w a s little sign
eral Missionary C o n f e r e n c e in Shanghai in 1877 issued a f a m o u s call for " t h e Christian C h u r c h to evangelize China in t h e present generation," taking advantage of w h a t A r t h u r Smith t e r m e d t h e " w o n d e r f u l o p e n i n g " of famine. 5 7 " T h e
•e merely stereotyped accounts imaginable horror that famine rale. One would prefer to hope ed, if the numbers of destitute t the gates and in the streets of jnt fevers in the capital, did not ;ood authority, that as many as in this famine. The Province of -itants in the last winter. If the :ome depopulated alrogerhcr. , -
distribution of f u n d s by brave a n d judicious m e n e n g a g e d in the [relicf| w o r k , " added t h e British consul the s a m e year, "will d o more t o o p e n China to us than a dozen w a r s . " " G u o Songtao, China's first minister to Britain, a l t h o u g h repulsed by British gloating over their f a m i n e - g e n e r a t e d "openings," f o u n d it politic to endorse the relief c a m p a i g n . ( T h e famine-induced harvest of "rice Christians," j
as G u o S o n g t a o probably expected, was short-lived, and missionaries were s o o n
{
complaining a b o u t t h e recidivism of their converts. " T h e spiritual results o f so m u c h p h i l a n t h r o p y in Shansi," wrote o n e around 1890, "have been very disappointing.... [A]fter thirteen years of w o r k the Baptist Mission only n u m bered a b o u t thirty converts.") 6 0
entually circulated a r o u n d the iia's Millions, the f a m o u s British
In the United States, the f a m o u s missionary and p i o n e e r sinologist S a m u e l
:>unts of f a m i n e conditions," its
Wells Williams m a d e a public appeal to Congress to r e t u r n a p o r t i o n of t h e
•ing h o m e t o people's imagina-
indemnity extorted from China i n 1859. A l t h o u g h "it s e e m s to b e nearly impos-
preoccupied Christians because
sible to rescue t h o s e in Shansi," h e wrote, " t h e famishing in and a r o u n d Tsinan,
L....
T
7a
f
LATH V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
Schan Chau, The Chau, and Westerly can and o u g h t t o be accessible." A bill was accordingly drafted by a sympathetic congressman. But missionary humanitarianism and even American trade interests w e r e overriden by the backlash o f the Far West against the supposed "yellow peril" of i m m i g r a n t labor. Starting in the sandlots of .San Francisco in 1876, anti-Chinese violence h a d spread like a wildfire through the depressed towns and railroad c a m p s of the W e s t e r n states. In Congress, as a result, "the prejudice against the C h i n e s e was t o o strong; S e n a t o r Hamlin reported the bill unfavorably, alleging that t h e starving w o u l d all b e dead
P
C
ter in 'hovels m a d e of m u d ar cold weather 400-600 died ec because so m a n y thousands < clothes long b e f o r e for food.'' 1 biological m o m e n t u m that ex b o u n d a r i e s of starvation petkilled Europeans and Qing r city-dwellers in Beijing and T i stricken districts o f Fujian in 1
before the money could reach t h e m in China."" ; T h e other powers were as unrelenting as the United States in their collection of indemnities from starving China. Meanwhile,
i
fragmentary
reports b e g a n to
reveal the famine's terrible toll in Shaanxi, Hebci a n d H e n a n , w h e r e , as w e have seen, fierce anti-foreignism had discouraged missionary contact. It wasn't until early 1879, for example, that Europeans g o t a first-hand glimpse of conditions in Henan when W. Hillier, another British consul w o r k i n g o n behalf of China Famine Relief, passed t h r o u g h the province en r o u t e to distribute 2,000 taels of silver in Shanxi. In south H e n a n the land had already r e t u r n e d to cultivation, and angry crowds, shouting insults and anti-foreign slogans, threatened Hillier in the streets; but in the north, w h e r e d r o u g h t still reigned, living h u m a n beings remained an u n c o m m o n sight in a silent landscape: Many towns and villages were almost empty.... [Wc heard] nothing but the echo of our own footsteps as we hurried through ... cities of the dead. We had the curiosity to enter into one of these houses, but the sight thai awraited us there gave us both so terrible a shock thai wc went into no more.... We gave up talking much about the things we had seen. The misery was too deep to lie discussed. Only in some homes were the dead in coffins or bricked in by their families - to foil the certain alternative of being exhumed and eaten by starving neighbors."2
cities until it finally arrived in s A l t h o u g h the m o n s o o n har e s u m p t i o n of n o r m a l agricu Writing to the British ambassa. or even thousands, of villages and t h a t only 30 percent of th< peasants were afraid of the vi< that they had secretly hidden; > T h o s e w h o did m a n a g e to s o against their famished neighbc 1879, "a new h o r r o r then clain to e n j o y eating again 'a pestil harvest was gathered, and t h e . indulgence in u n a c c u s t o m e d and decayed." In this way f a n parts of north C h i n a until t h e
II. Brazil Meanwhile, half a globe a w a ;
Recognizing that if relief grain could not get t h r o u g h t o t h e m , they m u s t
relentless sun a n d cloudless :
go t o it, entire villages continued t h r o u g h o u t the w i n t e r of 1878-79 to desert
s m o o t h - t o p tablelands and ro<
their homes in desperate migrations t o w a r d provincial capitals and, especially, the
is dramatically orchestrated b
great entrepot of Tianjin. Unwittingly they were t r a d i n g starvation for the deadly
so radically b e t w e e n seasons c
epidemics being incubated in fetid relief camps a n d shanty towns. "A h u n d r e d
Fuclydcs da C u n h a in his e p i c
thousand refugees [mainly from Shaanxi] h a d flocked into T i a n j i n , finding shel-
an a r d u o u s ride f r o m the coa:
• T i l l ! P O O R I-AT T H E I R
USTS
to be accessible." A bill was But missionary humanitaria n by the backlash of the ligrant labor. Starting in t h e ence had spread like a wildps of the Western states. In lese was t o o strong; Senator ie starving would all be dead
HOMES
79
ter in 'hovels m a d e of m u d and millet stalks,' b u t typhus b r o k e out a n d in the cold w e a t h e r 400-600 died each night." T h e i r plight w a s all the m o r e pitiful because so m a n y t h o u s a n d s of t h e m were virtually naked, having sold their clot hes long before for f o o d . " This epidemic p h a s e of t h e famine h a d a microbiological m o m e n t u m t h a t extended mortality f a r b e y o n d t h e spatial o r social b o u n d a r i e s of starvation p e r se. T h u s the t y p h u s b r o u g h t by famine refugees killed Europeans and Q i n g nobles as well as t e n s of t h o u s a n d s o f plebeian city-dwellers in Beijing a n d Tianjin." 1 Likewise, cholera, incubated in t h e floodstricken districts of Fujian in 1876, w o r k e d its w a y n o r t h t h r o u g h China's coastal
ited States in their collection agmentary reports began to id H e n a n , where, as w e have .nary contact. It wasn't until -hand glimpse of conditions working on behalf of China te to distribute 2,000 taels of tady returned to cultivation, ;n slogans, threatened Hillier reigned, living h u m a n beings
cities until it finally arrived in s o u t h e r n japan. 6 5 Although t h e m o n s o o n had finally r e t u r n e d t o Shanxi in s u m m e r 1878, the r e s u m p t i o n of n o r m a l agriculture, as in t h e Deccan, w a s incredibly difficult. Writing to t h e British ambassador, T i m o t h y R i c h a r d explained that "in hundreds, o r even thousands, of villages seven-tenths of t h e p o p u l a t i o n are already dead." and that only 30 percent of the n o r m a l a m o u n t o f grain h a d been sown. 0 ' 1 Some peasants w e r e afraid of t h e violence that m i g h t result if they revealed seed corn t h a t they had secretly h i d d e n ; while others w e r e simply t o o sick or w e a k t o work. T h o s e w h o did m a n a g e t o sow a c r o p t h e n f a c e d the challenge of g u a r d i n g it against their famished neighbors. A n d when c r o p s were finally harvested again in 1879, "a n e w h o r r o r t h e n claimed m o r e victims. A m o n g t h o s e who h a d survived to enjoy eating again 'a pestilence o f dysentery beat out t y p h u s as s o o n as the
:cardj nothing but the echo of he dead. We bad the curiosity /aitcd us there gave us both so ve up talking much about the iscussed. Only in some homes ;s - to foil the certain alterna-
harvest was gathered, a n d the s t o m a c h s of t h e p e o p l e were inflamed by t o o great indulgence in u n a c c u s t o m e d foods.' Fields of millet s t o o d unharvested, sagged a n d decayed." In this w a y famine a n d its allied diseases continued t o decimate p a r t s of n o r t h China until the b e g i n n i n g of 1880 o r even later.'' 7 II. B r a z i l Meanwhile, half a globe away t h e interior of Brazil's N o r d e s t e b a k e d tinder a
through t o t h e m , they must
relentless s u n and cloudless sky. T h e scrtao is a high, rolling plain b r o k e n by
; winter of 1878-79 to desert
s m o o t h - t o p tablelands and rocky m o n a d n o c k s o f d e c o m p o s i n g granite. Rainfall
.rial capitals and, especially, the
is dramatically o r c h e s t r a t e d by El N i n o and f e w landscapes change their aspect
•ading starvation for the deadly
so radically b e t w e e n s e a s o n s or w e t and dry years. " N a t u r e h e r e rejoices," w r o t e
ind shanty towns. "A h u n d r e d
Euclydes da C u n h a in his epic Os Sertocs, "in a play of antitheses.""* W h e n , after
:ked into Tianjin, finding shel-
an arduous ride f r o m t h e coastal Ceara capital of Fortaleza, the f a m e d Harvard
T 80
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
uNB<
c,
geologise Louis Agassiz and his wife first glimpsed the rainsoaked sertao in April 1868, they were flabbergasted by its lushness. Expecting a wasteland, they instead beheld a "verdant prairie ... beautifully green." 69 Yet w h e n H e r b e r t Smith, the "special famine correspondent" for Scribner'5 Magazine, looked down upon the Ceara interior a decade later, it was all antithesis: "a dry, cheerless desert, scorched with heat." As many as 500,000 sertanejos had just perished from hunger and MARA
smallpox. 70 (Da Cunha noted ghoulishly that under such conditions the bodies of
i1
A ()
dead m e n and horses were exquisitely mummified by the extreme aridity "without any unseemly decomposition.") 7 1 T h e drought in the Nordeste began six months after the failure of the s u m m e r m o n s o o n in India. (Indian droughts, as we shall see, tend to "lead" El Nino warmP I A I i
ings of the tropical eastern Pacific by a season, while Brazilian secas "lag" by one, sometimes.two seasons.) "Vague r u m o r s of a drought," according to Smith, had first reached the coast in February 1877.72 The unease was greatest in Ceara, where the previous year's harvest after scanty winter rains had been meager, but there was also concern about agricultural conditions in the high sertao of Paraiba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. By March, the dreaded "drought winds" - the steady, dessicating northeastcrlics - controlled the weather, and wor-
O
n
I
A
ried bishops ordered prayers ad pretendam pluviam in all the churches. "Most scrtanejos," writes historian Roger Cunniff, "crossed the narrow line between h o p e B A
for a belated winter and total despair during the first t w o weeks of April. Having already lost two plantings in the false winters of January and March, they fearfully refrained from casting what remained of their dwindling supplies when light rains appeared, lest they have nothing at all for the long treks which were already beginning, or to sustain themselves for the long m o n t h s of drought most were
f
11
now sure were upon them." 7 1 Later, some savants would claim that the drought had been "due to the extreme deforestation which had been provoked by the increasing cultivation of M l X A S G li R A l\S>
cotton." 7 ' 1 Certainly the collapse of the cotton b o o m had immiserated m u c h of
\ 100 /
the backland population, and they n o w began to w a n d e r in search of work or
• V 200 kin. . , '
subsistence of any kind. Some huddled around the handful of marginally prosperous market towns in the river valleys that drain the high sertao, while others, often in extended-family groups, migrated hundreds of kilometers. The fazen-
Figure 2.7 Northeast. Brazil: Tlic <
deiros (ranchers), for their part, ordered their vflgnciros to take part of the cattle
±
AUSTS
* T H E P O O R EAT T H E I R
he rainsoaked sertao in April ting a wasteland, they instead (et w h e n Herbert Smith, the '.zine, looked down u p o n the Iry, cheerless desert, scorched it perished from h u n g e r and such conditions the bodies of by the extreme aridity "withfter the failure of the s u m m e r tend to "lead" El Nino warmvhile Brazilian seals "lag" by drought," according to Smith, unease was greatest in Ceara. sr rains had been meager, but ns in the high sertao of Paravlarch, the dreaded "drought itrolled the weather, and worn all the churches. "Most serh e n a r r o w line between hope st t w o weeks of April. Having anuary and March, they feardwindling supplies when light long treks which were already months of drought most were ought had been "due to the y the increasing cultivation of >m had immiserated m u c h of w a n d e r in search of work or e handful of marginally prosthe high sertao, while others, eds of kilometers. T h e f a z e n eiros to take part of the cattle
Figure 2.7 Northeast Brazil: The Grande Seca, 1876-78
HOMES'
ft 1
LATE V I C T O R I A N
82
HOLOCAUSTS
THE
P<
to the more h u m i d serras or across the sertao to Piaui, where the rains hadn't
were utterly unfamiliar with c
failed, while slaughtering the rest for hides and tallow. In some places, they shared
tion of 1824 guaranteed subsi;
this windfall of beef with the poor; in others, the poor simply took what they
tanejos had few advocates. Bri
needed without permission. Sertanejos, "the most honest m e n in the world,"
Herbert Spencer) had made ra
began to rustle cattle, even pillage fazendas.
In Quixeramobim, the poor briefly
servatives followed a church hi
seized power, warning that "they do not have to die of hunger knowing that in
punishment to Brazil for accej
the houses of the rich are m o n e y and food." 75
tury." ("Against God," t h u n d e r on famine relief, "there is n o v
THE SCOURGED
ONES
Precious m o n t h s , as a resuf
But charity and riot only postponed starvation until mid-summer. Then, accord-
the Conservative Estelita - sh
ing to Smith, "good m e n t u r n e d away and cried in their hearts to God." Even for-
tanejos suddenly descending o
merly well-off fazendeiros traded their slaves for grain and deserted their dying
this point, there was virtually i
ranches for the towns. 76 T h e poor n o w foraged the skeletonal caatingfi (thorn
b e c o m e impractical to ship f o
forest) for xiqtic-xique cactus, the heart of the carnauba palm, even the roots of
cases of all the animals in relic
the pao de moco, ordinarily used by ranchers to poison anthills. ("The refugees,
to Taua and o t h e r interior m u i
desperate f r o m h u n g e r after their long march, and not knowing the plant's toxic
of it raised by Ccaran migrant
character, cooked and ate it. A few h o u r s later, they were completely blind.") 77
ipalities. It made depressingly
In July and August, corpses began to appear by roadsides and abandoned home-
T h e last hope of preventiru
steads; by September and October, dozens were dying daily and beriberi was ram-
action by the minister for in
pant in the fetid refugee camps on the outskirts of towns like Acaracu, Ico and
imperial government was also
Telha. If the population of the sertao, especially in Ceara, were to survive in place
chose to play the role of Sir
until the winter, food had to be i m p o r t e d in massive quantity.7R
trophe. He authorized limite
T h e commercial grain trade was as hopelessly unequal to this task as in India
took control of relief expendi
or China. A handful of opportunist merchants gouged spectacular profits with-
cial presidents. Meanwhile, as
out relieving any of the hunger of the interior. "Small supplies of provision came
ing farfetched schemes for dev
in from other provinces and were sent to the interior towns on the backs of
out of the desertified interic
horses; but often the animals died on the way, or the caravans were robbed. In
the Cariri Valley in southeast)
some places, where they had n o horses, provisions were b r o u g h t in on men's
Grande do Norte. Far from n
shoulders. T h e few baskets of mandioca-meal, obtained in this way, were retailed
generalized the immiseration
by the merchants at fabulous prices - frequently eight or ten times above the normal - so that only the rich could buy." Since most local governments, apart
T h e masses o f h u n g r y p e o p
from the wealthy p o r t of Recife, w e r e already bankrupt before the onset of
i n t o regions t h a t had e s c a p e d
drought, responsibility for the emergency passed to the provincial presidents, some of w h o m , like the recently appointed president of Ceara, Caetano Estelita,
e
it h a d been c o n v e r t e d into a T h e roving c a t t l e moved i n t o
^AUSTS
Piaui, where the rains hadn't
' T H U P O O R RAT T l 1 111 R H O M E S '
were utterly unfamiliar with conditions in the backlands. Although the constitu-
>w. In some places, they shared
tion of 1824 guaranteed subsistence as a right to every Brazilian citizen, the ser-
- poor simply t o o k what they
tanejos had few advocates. British utilitarianism and social darwinism (above all,
st honest m e n in the world,"
Herbert Spencer) had m a d e r a m p a n t inroads in Liberal thinking, while the C o n -
aixeramobim, the poor briefly
servatives followed a church hierarchy that pie ached that the drought "was G o d ' s
die of hunger knowing that in
punishment to Brazil for accepting the materialistic ways of the nineteenth century." ("Against God," thundered a Conservative leader d u r i n g a legislative debate on famine relief, "there is no virtuous insurrection.") 79 Precious months, as a result, were lost in abstract philosophical debates before
til mid-summer. Then, accord-
the Conservative Estelita - shocked by the horde of indisputably famished ser-
their hearts to God." Even for-
tanejos suddenly descending on Fortaleza - began to send aid into the interior. By
grain and deserted their dying
this point, there was virtually n o pasturage or water left for cargo horses so it h a d
the skeletonal caatinga (thorn
become impractical to ship food directly from the coast. (The Cearaise reported
nauba palm, even the roots of
cases of all the animals in relief pack trains dying in futile attempts t o deliver f o o d
oison anthills. ("The refugees,
to Taua and other interior municipios.)* 1 The president instead sent money, m u c h
i not knowing the plant's toxic
of it raised by Cearan migrants in the rest of Brazil, to t h e besieged sertao munic-
hey were completely blind.")''
ipalities. It made depressingly little impact on the massive subsistence crisis.
jadsides and abandoned home-
The last hope of preventing a fatal stampede toward t h e coast was truly heroic
ring daily and beriberi was ram-
action by the minister for imperial affairs, Antonio da Costa Pinto. Since t h e
3f towns like Acaracu, Ico and
imperial government was also laboring under a heavy deficit, Costa Pinto instead
Ceara, were to survive in place
chose to piay the role of Sir Richard Temple, turning m e r e disaster into catas-
r quantity."
trophe. He authorized limited food shipments to the Nordeste b u t otherwise
.nequal to this task as in India
took control of relief expenditure away f r o m the formerly a u t o n o m o u s provin-
auged spectacular profits with-
cial presidents. Meanwhile, as legislators in Rio wasted J u n e and early July debat-
-nall supplies of provision came
ing farfetched schemes for developing the sertao, drought refugees were spilling
nterior towns on the backs of
out of the desertified interiors of Ccara and P e r n a m b u c o towards oases like
r the caravans were robbed. In
the Cariri Valley in southeastern Ceara, Triunfo in Pernambuco a n d Acu in Rio
ons were brought in on men's
Grande do Norte. Far from mitigating the crisis, Cunniff points o u t , this simply
tained in this way, were retailed
generalized the immiseration to areas where the rains h a d not failed:
y eight or ten times above the most local governments, apart bankrupt before the onset of :d to the provincial presidents, lent of Ceara, Caetano Estelita,
The masses of hungry people and cattle carried the destruction of the drought into regions that had escaped the meteorological effects. Triunfo complained that it had been converted into a "cattle ranch for the abuse of the poor by the rich." The roving cattle moved into the agrcstc regions "... smashing the cane, manioc and
84
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
o t h e r crops, a n d r e d u c i n g t o t h e last d e g r e e of m i s e r y and despair t h e class t h a t lives exclusively f r o m a g r i c u l t u r a l labor." H u m a n r e f u g e e s as well c o n s u m e d a n d d e s t r o y e d crops, quickly r e n d e r i n g t h e t r a d i t i o n a l a g r i c u l t u r a l hills a n d brcjos n e a r l y as d e s p e r a t e for f o o d as t h e d r o u g h t regions.
81
c,
uNB<
in Ceara reluctantly agreed t o at imperial expense to the p n off t o Recife, w h e r e they w e n shipment to Rio and the labc
In the Inhamuns sertao in southwestern Ceara, the leading oligarchs, the Feitosas, had temporarily quieted panic with food imports from unafflicted Piauf, while the provincial g o v e r n m e n t provided some relief work for the poor. By June, however, even the well-to-do were ready to flee. "A prominent citizen of Saboeiro, Captain Salustio Ferrer, wrote on J u n e 12 that migration was a b o u t the only course left open to most of the inhabitants of that municipio, since it was becoming increasingly difficult to find water. Many leaders of the community, he added, were forming a caravan to depart for Piaui in the following month. 'Grave must have been our sins,' Captain Ferrer w r o t e of the seca, 'to have deserved such horrible punishment.'" By mid-summer the region was almost deserted: only an estimated 10 percent of the population - some of t h e m now cangacerios - grimly attempted to wait out the drought on their ruined farms and fazendas. "A large
expressed misgivings about sc in Rio dragged his feet in re mi native policy t o control an inv ulation from 25,000 to 130,00' structed for the hordes investi allotted to those unable to w o : taleza, however, denounced tl replaced by a new, more c o n s e continued the dole and public instead to the strategy of d e p thousands were debarked, u s u was n o t enough coastal shippii
number," writes Billy Jaynes Chandler, "went to Piaui, particularly those w h o had some resources, while others sought refuge in Ipu, the Cariri and Fortaleza."* 2 As the population of the sertao n o w drew closer to the humid zona de mata, the sugar planters and urban merchants were forced to weigh difficult alternatives. T h e frightened elites vacillated over whether to divert the rctirantes ("more wild beasts than rational h u m a n beings") to the labor-hungry Amazon, and thereby risk losing part of their surplus workforce, or allow t h e m into the cities where, mixing with slaves and poor artisans, they might pose an insurrectionary threat. In Fortaleza, the pharmacist Rodolfo Theofilo kept a famous diary that chronicled the growing presence of desperate backlanders. "The sad procession," he wrote, "paraded along the streets of the capital at all hours.... Real animated skeletons, with skin blackened by the .dust from the roads and stuck to their bones, held out their hands begging f r o m everyone they met." A wave of looting and theft by the refugees was countered by bourgeois vigilantism and lynching that "went unpunished because the retirante was considered a leprous d o g w h o was going to stain the land." 83
F i g u r e 2.8 E x o d u s f r o m t h e 5
Frightened by the strange a r m y of ghostlike sertanejos, the Liberal opposition
\
r AUSTS
' T H E P O O R EAT T H E I R
HOMES' 85
ry and despair die class that "ugees as well consumed and cultural hills and brcjos nearly
in Ceara reluctantly agreed to support a Conservative plan t o ship the retirantes at imperial expense to the provinces of A m a z o n a s and Para. O t h e r s were sent off to Recife, where they were loaded together with slaves on packets for transshipment to Rio and the labor-hungry southeast. Large landowners, however,
a, the leading oligarchs, the
expressed misgivings about such a massive exodus of workers, a n d Costa Pinto
n p o r t s from unafflicted Piaui,
in Rio dragged his feet in remitting the promised subsidies. Grasping at an alter-
relief work for the poor. By
native policy to control an invasion that w o u l d eventually swell Fortaleza's pop-
:e. "A prominent citizen of Sa-
ulation from 25,000 to 130,000, President Estelita "ordered rough shelters con-
that migration was about the
structed for the hordes investing [the city] a n d a dole of both m o n e y and food
f that municipio, since it was leaders of the community, he i the following m o n t h . 'Grave le seca, 'to have deserved such was almost deserted: only an :hem now cangacerios - grimly 1 farms and fazendas. "A large
allotted t o those unable to work." Costa Pinto and his Conservative allies in Fortaleza, however, d e n o u n c e d this as a waste of money. Estelita, as a result, was replaced by a new, m o r e conservative appointee, Joao Aguiar, who promptly discontinued the dole a n d public works. W i t h Costa Pinto's support, he returned instead to the strategy of deporting the sertanejos to t h e rainforests. Although thousands were debarked, usually in overcrowded and squalid conditions, there was not enough coastal shipping to keep up w i t h the influx of refugees into For-
iui, particularly those w h o had the Cariri and Fortaleza." 82 er to the humid zona de mata, ced to weigh difficult alternato divert the retirantes ("more i labor-hungry Amazon, and , or allow them into the cities might pose an insurrectionary Dfijo kept a famous diary that landers. "The sad procession," 1 at all hours.... Real animated the roads and stuck to their 2 they met." A wave of looting ^eois vigilantism and lynching considered a leprous d o g w h o tanejos, the Liberal opposition
Figure 2.8 Exodus from rhe Sertao
86
I.ATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
'THE P O '
taleza and Recife. Meanwhile, on the r i m of the sertao, a h u m a n d a m was a b o u t
by o t h e r s , pieces o f leather, a n
to b u r s t / 4
horror!""' A trader told Smith "i store, that he m i g h t eat them." I-
THE EXODUS TO THE
far as Rio by retirantes. s s
COAST
By N e w Year's Day 1878 p e r h a p s 50,000 had died in Ceara, several tens of t h o u -
A f t e r a starving m o b l o o t e d
sands m o r e in other provinces of the N o r t h e a s t . For a long, terrible year, t h e
classes locked themselves in t h
majority of the sertao's people had clung to the land, waiting for t h e winter rains
p o u n d e d the chaos by cutting c
to w o r k magic. In J a n u a r y it rained for a f e w days, raising spirits as well as a few
and p o w e r finally passed f r o m
blades of grass. Farmers scattered s o m e of t h e seeds they h a d carefully g u a r d e d
to t h e Liberal Party. Equally,op
t h r o u g h m o n t h s of hunger. But the skies cleared a n d t h e first planting shriveled.
example of the Lytton adminis
Scribner's correspondent Smith, w h o arrived at the e n d of the year, interviewed
Ceara w i t h strictly "scientific Br;
scores of survivors a b o u t w h a t h a p p e n e d next.
out, h a d been eloquently o u t l i n Andre Rcboucas t h e previous O
First of March, and no rains. Government aid almost withdrawn. No food left in the villages; no hope for the starving peasants. Then, as by one impulse, a wild panic caught them. Four hundred thousand, they deserted the sertao and rushed down to the coast. Oh! it was terrible, that mad flight. Over all the roads there came streams of fugitives, men and women and little children, naked, lean, famine-weak, dragging wearily across the plains, staining the rocky mountain-paths with their bleeding feet, begging, praying at every house for a morsel of food. They were famished when they started. Two, three, four days at times, they held their way; then the children lagged behind in weakness, calling vainly to their panic-wild fathers; then men and women sank and died on the stones. I have talked with men who came from the interior with the great exodus; they tell stories of suffering to wring one's heart; they tell of skeleton corpses unburied by the road-side, for a hundred thousand dead (some say a hundred and fifty thousand) were left by the way."1
nic Institute in Rio: Although he insisted thai the gc relief to every citizen, he a g r c in the form of a dole. There w: relief with charity. Citing the employment on public works a j He was guided by the example drought in India, which had b e which he had just read in the Jo "Motivated primarily by fea president of Ceara, Jose de AI p o w e r to A m a z o n a s and Para
T h e reiirada to the coast o v e r w h e l m e d provincial resources. In t h e drought-fam-
deport retirantes. "Consciously
ine's epicenter, the state of Ceara, almost total social collapse had occurred by the
in India, he ordered local relief
spring of 1878. "The treasury w a s empty, c o m m e r c e nonexistent, and over a hun-
labor and to give relief only ir
dred t h o u s a n d refugees clogged the t o w n s o n and n e a r the coast.... Outlaw b a n d s
sands of retirantes were reloc
r o a m e d the backlands, t h r e a t e n i n g to displace completely the
civil
w h e r e they toiled in construct!
authority." 811 "It is horrible to see," w r o t e t h e f u t u r e "saint of j o a s e i r o t h e priest
buco as well as C e a r a , the sertai
Cicero R o m a o Batista, "that t h e despair of h u n g e r has led t h e indigent p o p u -
of t h e m never completed) t h a
lation t o eat cows that have died of carbuncle, k n o w i n g , and saying, that they
port. Although t h e ration in th<
will soon die from eating t h e m , and eating horses, dogs, cane already c h e w e d
m a n i o c flour and o n e liter of a
fragmented
' T H E P O O R EAT T H E I R H O M E S '
:AUSTS
t a o , a h u m a n dam was a b o u t
87
,
by others, pieces of leather, and anything else they c a n find. It is h o r r o r u p o n
i j
horror!" S 7 A trader told Smith " t h a t a r e f u g e e asked p e r m i s s i o n to kill rats in his store, t h a t h e might eat t h e m . " H o r r i f y i n g r u m o r s of cannibalism w e r e relayed as far as Rio by re ti ran tes. ss
n Ceara, several tens of thou-
After a starving m o b looted t h e municipal m a r k e t i n Fortaleza, t h e middle
For a long, terrible year, the
classes locked themselves in their big houses. President Aguiar, w h o had com-
d, waiting for the w i n t e r rains
,
p o u n d e d t h e chaos by cutting off relief, had fled the p r o v i n c e in eariy February,
raising spirits as well as a few
a n d p o w e r finally passed f r o m t h e defeated a n d bitterly divided Conservatives
i s they had carefully guarded
r o the Liberal Party. Equally o p p o s e d to Estelita's dole, t h e Liberals extolled t h e
.d t h e first planting shriveled.
i
example of t h e Lytton a d m i n i s t r a t i o n in India and p r o p o s e d to restore order in Ceara w i t h strictly "scientific British m e t h o d s . " T h e i r a p p r o a c h , as Cunniff points
e n d of the year, interviewed
o u t , had b e e n eloquently outlined b y the f a m o u s e n g i n e e r and Liberal ideologue Andre Reboucas the previous O c t o b e r d u r i n g a three-day debate at t h e Polytechwithdrawn. No food left in the by one impulse, a wild panic :he sertao and rushed down to . the roads there came streams ked, lean, famine-weak, draguntain-paths with their bleed[ of food. They were famished they held their way; then the
•
I
• their panic-wild fathers; then c talked with men who came ies of suffering to wring one's road-side, for a hundred thou/ere left by the \vay.ss
i
nic Institute in Rio: Although he insisted that the government had a constitutional obligation to render relief to every citizen, he agreed with the rising sentiment that it should not be in the form of a dole. There was, he said, a lamentable Latin tendency to conlusc relief with charity. Citing the "immortal" Richard Cobden ... he urged salaried employment on public works as the most efficient and morally appropriate remedy. He was guided by rhe example of the British government's handling of the severe drought in India, which had begun in 1876 and was still in progress, an account of which he had just read in the journal des Economtitcs.s' "Motivated primarily by fears o f revolution and epidemic," t h e n e w Liberal president of Ceara, J o s e de A l b u q u e r q u e , s t e p p e d u p t h e shipments of laborp o w e r to A m a z o n a s and Para, in some cases allowing local elites to forcibly
.esources. In the drought-fam-
d e p o r t retirantcs. "Consciously following the example o f t h e British g o v e r n m e n t
al collapse had occurred by the
in India, h e ordered local relief c o m m i t t e e s t o begin p r o j e c t s suitable to unskilled
;e nonexistent, and over a hun-
labor and to give relief only in exchange for labor." In Fortaleza, t e n s of t h o u -
lear t h e coast.... O u t l a w bands
sands of retirantes w e r e relocated to m a k e s h i f t w o r k camps o u t s i d e the city,
mpletely the f r a g m e n t e d civil
j
w h e r e they toiled in c o n s t r u c t i o n gangs of o n e h u n d r e d . Elsewhere, in P e r n a m -
e "saint of Joaseiro," the priest
j
b u c o as well as Ceara, t h e s e r t a n e j o s provided labor a r m i e s f o r the railroads ( m o s t
;er has led the indigent popu-
i
of t h e m never c o m p l e t e d ) t h a t t h e Liberals h o p e d to build with imperial sup-
nowing, and saying, that they
j
p o r t . A l t h o u g h the r a t i o n in t h e c a m p s - "one-half k i l o g r a m of m e a t , o n e liter o f
is, dogs, cane already chewed
!
m a n i o c f l o u r and o n e liter of a vegetable daily" - was a b a n q u e t c o m p a r e d to t h e
88
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c,
uNB<
Temple wage, the living conditions w e r e fully as deplorable as in the Deccan. 5 0 "The refugees," reported Smith, "were huddled t o g e t h e r a b o u t Fortaleza and Aracaty, barely sheltered from t h e s u n in h u t s of b o u g h s or p a l m leaves. T h e camps were filthy t o the last degree; n o a t t e m p t w a s m a d e t o enforce sanitary rules." 91 Before t h e famine, smallpox o u t b r e a k s h a d b e e n confined t o small scattered pockets of the sertao, and m o s t of the p o p u l a t i o n h a d lost t h e c o m m u n i t y resistance that c o m e s from surviving regular exposure. Equally, for reasons that remain unclear, vaccination was u n c o m m o n in the r u r a l N o r d e s t e . As a result, the squalid w o r k c a m p s provided "virgin soil" for smallpox in t h e s a m e way that the Indian camps h a d given full scope t o m u r d e r o u s cholera outbreaks. " T h e greatest h o r r o r of t h e d r o u g h t , " smallpox, reached Ceara in t h e middle of 1878 after having ravaged t h e Paraiban capital of J o a o Pessoa. S m i t h estimated that one-third of the population of Fortaleza died in t h e m o n t h s o f N o v e m b e r and D e c e m b e r 1878 alone; while A l b u q u e r q u e testified t h a t 100,000 h a d perished in
Figure 2 . 9 Rctiranto: C e a r a , 1877
Ceara by the end of 1879, including his o w n wife. " T h e Imperial g o v e r n m e n t ' s only response to t h e emergency," says Cunniff, "was t o send limited quantities of
Inhumans, there a r e many w h o I
w e a k vaccine." Cearense refugees subsequently carried t h e e p i d e m i c as far afield
d r o u g h t of 1877-79, a result of th
as Belem and Rio de Janeiro.'' 2 A popular p o e t w r o t e of the despair of t h e retiran-
general feeling of demoralizatioi
tes trapped b e t w e e n starvation and disease:
cast a l o n g shadow." 9 1 Indeed, Gilberto Freire expl
Let us march on and face Thirty thousand epidemics Cold, Dropsy, Which no one can escape. Those who go to the lowlands Die of the epidemic, Those who stay in the sertao Go hungry every day.9'
became the " d r a m a t i c synthesis" of d r o u g h t and u n d e r d e v e l o p r m class discovered that the "drough ing regional staples o f sugar a n d Brocklehursr and Company, the I plied vast quantities o f provision: of retirantcs to the A m a z o n on tl ers profiteered f r o m lucrative in
Although the g o v e r n m e n t ordered a cessation of all relief in J u n e 1879 and
refugees to work. A precedent v
thousands of rerirantes w e r e forcibly expelled from Recife, t h e g r e a t d r o u g h t did
owners w h o d o m i n a t e d province
n o t actually e n d until the b e g i n n i n g of March 1880, w h e n the rains t u r n e d the
disaster aid. " D e v e l o p m e n t " beca
sertao green for t h e first t i m e in m o r e t h a n t h r e e years. W i t h 80 p e r c e n t of
tionary social order, and over t h e
the herds destroyed, even fazendeiros w e r e temporarily forced t o scratch at the
appeared into the s e r t a o without
" T H E P O O R EAT T H E I R
CAUSTS
HOMES'
89
deplorable as in the Deccan. 9D
e a r t h for their subsistence. Much o f
together about Fortaleza and
t h e sertao never completely recov-
>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<
bad this year.' Hanabusa asked if they would like to get some Japanese rice." T h e
rious forest fires. Writing Iron-
Koreans made a deliberately uninterpretable reply, but Hanabusa renewed his
ist 1 lenry Forbes described loc
solicitations at a meeting in Seoul several weeks later. "Please send this message
ously ignite.
to your government.... Since coming into your country we have b e e n entertained with many dishes by your g o v e r n m e n t officials, and 1 thank you very much. But w h e n I think of hungry people even this sweet food will not go into my stom-
T h e parched s u r f a c e of the g i i n g f r o m f o u r t o five feet i n n u m b e r s of t h e forest-trees I
ach." W h e n his hosts replied that Korea was "too small" to undertake the recipro-
s m a l l trees in exposed p l a c e s
cal obligation of supplying Japan with rice during a famine there, Hanabusa reas-
all kinds failed, while d e v a s t a
sured t h e m that such a situation would never arise. Within a decade, however,
s o f r e q u e n t in t h e forest a n d i
the commercial export of rice from southern Korea to Japan during a drought
in constant f e a r of their villag
would b e c o m e a revolutionary grievance amongst hungry peasants in the Cholla provinces. 1
t h e natives, f o l l o w i n g their s u s o u n d of g o n g s and the c l a t t e s p r i n k l e t h e m ; t h e rain a f t e r ;
In Vietnam the coincidence of drought-famine and cholera was a bellows that fanned the embers of peasant anti-colonial resistance into millenarian revolt.
O n Borneo/Kalimantan, :
With the killing in 1872 of Tran van Thanh, the leader of the populist Dao Lanh
send to the Dutch, long frust
sect, the French believed they had pacified their new colony. "Unfortunately," as
independent Dayak c o m m u r
Reynaldo Ileto points out, "they had not reckoned on the popular belief in rein-
est. Although the commerci
carnation." As the threat of famine spread panic through the countryside in 1877,
modities lor the world markt
another Dao Lanh apostle, N a m Thiep, announced that he was Trail's incarna-
sea telegraph cables), they fi<
tion and "that the time had c o m e to expel the French" (widely believed to be
At last in 1877, hunger gave tl
responsible for this conjugation of disasters). "Nam Thiep was able to unify the
e m p t y and famine was immii
Dao Lanh groups and m o u n t a rebellion in 1878. He announced that the Low Era
options were left to the Day<
was ending, and that the reign of the Emperor of Light... was being established.
producing tree was already b<
Peasants a r m e d with b a m b o o spears and amulets attacked French garrisons, only
w h o had been eagerly lookii
to be driven back decisively by rifle fire. But this did not faze N a m Thiep, w h o in
Dutch finally h a d the labour
1879 proclaimed himself a living Buddha and built a new c o m m u n i t y on Elephant
jarmasin and thereby to p u s
Mountain, in the region of the Seven Mountains." 2 In the Dutch East Indies, meanwhile, drought ravaged fields and forests across two-thirds of the vast archipelago. Batavia (Jakarta), for example, reported less
levels. Even the most rcmot global economy, exposing t h new risks."6
T UJSTS
GUNBOATS AND MESSIAHS
93
:ext for further prying open
than one-third of its n o r m a l rainfall from May 1877 t h r o u g h February 1878 (a
is Japanese envoy Hanabusa,
brief respite in the boreal spring w a s followed by six m o r e dry m o n t h s until Janu-
p in November 1877, relent-
ary 1879).3 Crop failure, exacerbated by coffee blight and other fungoid plant dis-
exchanging gifts they talked
eases, coincided with a costly rinderpest epidemic that decimated buffalo, pigs,
: was terrible and is equally
even elephants.' 1 And, as in the 1990s, El Nino was synonymous with vast, myste-
get some Japanese rice." T h e
rious forest fires. Writing from t h e normally luxuriant Sundas, the British natural-
but Hanabusa renewed his
ist Henry Forbes described local foreboding as the landscape seemed to spontane-
:r. "Please send this message
ously ignite.
try we have been entertained I thank you very much. But d will not go into m y stomal!" to undertake the recipro:
T h e p a r c h e d s u r f a c e o f t h e g r o u n d b r o k e u p i n t o ravine-like cracks, w h i c h , extending f r o m f o u r to five feet in d e p t h and t w o t o t h r e e in b r e a d t h , d e s t r o y e d g r e a t n u m b e r s of the f o r e s t - t r e e s by encircling a n d s n a p p i n g o f f t h e i r r o o t . S h r u b s and small t r e e s in e x p o s e d places w e r e simply b u r n e d u p in b r o a d p a t c h e s . . . . C r o p s o f
amine there, Hanabusa reas-
all k i n d s failed, w h i l e d e v a s t a t i n g fires, w h o s e origin could s e l d o m b e t r a c e d , w e r e
. Within a decade, however,
so f r e q u e n t in t h e f o r e s t a n d in t h e g r e a t alang-alang fields, t h a t the p o p u l a t i o n lived
a to Japan during a drought
in c o n s t a n t fear o f t h e i r villages a n d even of t h e i r lives a n d s t o c k . It w a s in vain chat
ungry peasants in the Cholla
t h e natives, f o l l o w i n g t h e i r s u p e r s t i t i o u s rites, c a r r i e d t h e i r c a t s in p r o c e s s i o n , to t h e s o u n d o f g o n g s a n d t h e c l a t t e r i n g o f rice blocks, t o the n e a r e s t streams t o b a t h e a n d s p r i n k l e t h e m ; t h e r a i n a f t e r s u c h a c e r e m o n y o u g h t to h a v e c o m e , b u t it did not. 5
and cholera was a bellows tance into millenarian revolt,
On B o r n e o / K a l i m a n t a n , according to H a n Knapen, the drought was a g o d -
ler of the populist Dao Lanh
send to the Dutch, long frustrated by their inability to subordinate the ruggedly
v colony. "Unfortunately," as
independent Dayak communities that controlled vast tracts of valuable rainfor-
>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
USTS
G U N B O A T S AND
MESSIAHS
Dvercrowded and geograph-
cal connections to wrest "through usury, terror, or purchase" vast tracts of land
al Java, where crop disease
in Occidental's western plains f r o m pioneering Panayan peasants w h o had first
he pressure of the so-called
cleared the tropical forests in the 1850s. They were replaced first by immigrant
1 villages to cultivate export
sharecroppers, then by debt-bonded wage laborers." As Violeta Lopcz-Gonzaga
se of their own subsistence,
has emphasized, sugar inexorably became an ecology of hunger:
reage committed to exports, hroes in 1877 - condemned urstelsel had been crucial to ter Victorian period. Remity had at one point provided tern's pressures on local pro5 to 1849, vividly described f
(1860), had led t o massive
as such distress that "in one and in another from 89,500 el methods still remained de was again at hand. W h e n
The widespread fcncing of land and the emergence of the haciendas, landlords, and a landless proletariat, further led to rural indebtedness, widespread poverty, seasonal scarcity of food, and increasingly low level of nutrition and seriously adverse health conditions. Inevitably, such conditions led to high mortality rates which were the final result of a complex of factors ranging from hunger, natural calamities and epidemics, to the absence of health services. Outside sugar, trading was minimal and the prices of food commodities very high. With the limited development of infrastructure, traded food items hardly reached the interior areas which had been cleared of forest and the traditional subsistence patches of the natives or the small migrant farmers. The growing commitment of agriculture to sugarcane production made the emergent labouring class vulnerable to hunger with the onslaught of storm, drought or a plague of locusts. In fact, from die second half of the nineteenth century onward, the scourge of hunger frequently struck the people of Negros.12
ley were severely censured a abandoning free-market rec-
Locust plagues, particularly devastating to rice crops, were the constant com-
try punctually pay its annual
panion to the long drought from 1876 to 1878. In the absence of any organized
tie and other possessions to
relief effort by corrupt Spanish authorities, the astronomical rise in rice prices
>ply. Again, as in south India,
in conjunction with low sugar prices and high u n e m p l o y m e n t c o n d e m n e d large
era before they could die of
numbers of hacienda day-laborers and poor townspeople to starvation. Parish
i claim that epidemic rather
records suggest an island-wide excess mortality of at least 10 percent, with the
ty.10
rates rising as high as 50 percent in the town of Hinigaran and 30 percent in the
dest at the western Visayas,
town of Villadolid. As in India and Java, m a n y of those w h o were weakened b u t
^ growth of sugar monocul-
not killed by the famine were subsequently picked off by cholera a n d malaria. 13
st as the Philippines has been
Negros's neighbor island, Panay, the sacred capital of Visayan shamanism (the
>n in East Asia," likewise the
fxilwykji), also suffered massive mortality d u r i n g the drought. Again, starvation
skyrocketed from 18,805 in
was conditioned by recent a a b r u p t deterioration in economic a u t o n o m y a n d
le exploitative and unsustain-
well-being. In the 1850s smrtmay textiles sustained a rich trade that m a d e Panay's
ties. Former Spanish colonial
principal port of Uoilo a "dynamic commercial e n t r e p o t . . . second only to Manila
> merchants, used their politi-
in size and importance." Within twenty years, however, local textile production
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
C UN n
w a s d e s t r o y e d a n d o n c e - p r o s p e r o u s P a n a y w e a v e r s w e r e uuito p e o n s o n t h e s u g a r
Aguilar explains how the su]
p l a n t a t i o n s of N e g r o s . As M i c h a e l Billig explains, t h e p r o c e s s w a s e x p e d i t e d b y a n
of t h e d r o u g h t , t o g e t h e r w i t h i
extraordinary representative of free t r a d e imperialism:
!
d e m i c that f o l l o w e d in its w a k e to a d i s i n t e g r a t i n g colonial s t a i
In 1855 Iloiio was officially opened to foreign commerce, and the next year the British sent a vice-consul, Nicholas Loney, to the city. Loney was to be the single most potent force in bringing d o w n the (loilo textile industry and building u p the Ncgros sugar industry. Aside from being vice-consul, h e was the commcrcial agent for British firms and an indefatigable purveyor of British goods. H e pursued a local mission of substituting cheaper, machine-made British textiles for the locally made ones and encouraging the production of sugar as a profitable return cargo.... T h e fledgling sugar industry, unlike the older textile business, was thoroughly dependent on foreign capital. Loney lent as m u c h P75.000 at a time at the low rate of 8 percent (compared to the 30-40 percent of the moneylenders) and h e provided state-of-theart milling equipment at cost, under the condition that the Loney & Ker Company be the sole purchaser of the produce.... [He] was ... remarkably successful in his mission. UoiJo's textile exports to Manila dwindled from 141,420 piezas in 1863, to 30,673 in 1864, to 12,700 in 1869, to 5,100 in 1873.M
a t e r of r e s i s t a n c e . " By t h e lat< b o t h P a n a y a n d N e g r o s (in a r r e f u g e s of j o a s e i r o a n d C a n u < d r a w n into a u t o n o m o u s a r t n e t j
b a b a y l a n s like P a n a y ' s Clara T i
|
to b e t h e 'Virgin M a r y , ' " o r I w o r k e r k n o w n as O i o s B u h a w i ing. D e s p i t e b r u t a l r e t a l i a t i o n S p a n i s h p o w e r essentially c o l h a n d t h e i r f o l l o w e r s to c o n f r o i A m e r i c a n s a d e c a d e later. 17 T h e Kanaks o f N e w C a l e d and hunger, m a d e a desperate
T h u s t h e r u i n e d w e a v i n g villages o f P a n a y like t h e i r sister t o w n s in N e g r o s ,
f r o m French oifcm.s- a n d penal a
h a d f e w r e s o u r c e s t o resist c r o p failure a n d price i n f l a t i o n . T h e r e c o r d s o f t h e
nia in 1853 h a d b e e n a s i n g u k
A u g u s t i n i a n s , cited b y F i l o m e n o Aguilar, n o t e t h e c o r p s e s s t r e w n i n t h e s t r e e t s
y e a r s , " writes M v r i a m D o r n o
of San J o a q u i n in 1877, w h i l e " o r a l t r a d i t i o n a m o n g s h a m a n s o f P a n a y r e c o u n t
the M e i a n e s i a n s w e r e d i s p o s e
' t h r e e y e a r s ' of d r o u g h t a n d f a m i n e t h a t r a v a g e d this t o w n a n d left p e o p l e d y i n g
j
i n t o t h e m o u n t a i n o u s interio?
of s t a r v a t i o n a n d thirst, as all t h e rivers a n d s p r i n g s h a d d r i e d u p . " As in K o r e a a n d
j
a p p e a r , the l-Vench e m p l o y e d
V i e t n a m , f a m i n e p r o d u c e d a r e s u r g e n c e o f f o l k m e s s i a n i s m , in t h i s case in m a g i -
which meant that Melanesian
cal r a i n - m a k i n g c o m p e t i t i o n w i t h t h e S p a n i s h friars. 1 5
ited reserves w h i c h in fact wc infertile zones n o t favoured b
According to the lore, people sought help from the parish priest, but he failed to
j
"basic f a c t o r in t h e great n a t i \
induce rain. Desperate in his inability to alleviate the disaster, the curate advised the town [San Joaquin] leaders to call upon a bafcaytaii known as Estrella Bangotbanwa, w h o ordered that seven black pigs be butchered, shaved, and covered with black cloth. She then took a black pig from the convent to the plaza, where she pressed its m o u t h to the ground until it gave a loud squeak. Suddenly, the sky t u r n e d dark and a heavy downpour followed.'"
| j
as d i d t h e F r e n c h practice o f
j \ j
T h e " N e w I m p e r i a l i s t s " of t h e h u m i l i a t i o n of 1871 t h r o u g h t h u g e t h e f t s of K a n a k s u b s i s t e licans h a u g h t i l y d e c r e e d t h a t the F r e n c h g o v e r n m e n t a p p r o Ultimately, a " d i s a s t r o u s d
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GUNBOATS AND
MESSIAHS
97
were indio peons on the sugar
Aguilar explains h o w the supernatural impotence of the Spanish priests in face
e process was expedited by an
of the drought, together with the inability o f officials to contain the cholera epi-
sm:
demic that followed in its wake, "inspired the shamans t o mount direct challenges to a. disintegrating colonial state, converting the whole of the Visayas into a the-
ce, and the next year the Britlcy was to be the single most •y and building up the Negros he commercial agent for BritJs. He pursued a local mission for the locally made ones and erurn cargo.... The fledgling horoughly dependent on forat the low rate of 8 percent i and he provided state-of-theit the Loney & Ker Company remarkably successful in his om 141,420 piezas in 1863, ro
ater of resistance." By the late 1880s, thousands of peasants and aborigines in both Panay and Negros (in a movement strikingly analogous to the millenarian refuges of Joaseiro and Canudos in c o n t e m p o r a r y northeast Brazil) had withdrawn into a u t o n o m o u s armed communities in the mountains led by p r o m i n e n t babaylans like Panay's Clara Tarrosa, "an eighty-year-old woman ... w h o claimed to be the 'Virgin Mary,'" or Negros's Ponciano Elopre, a transvestite miracleworker known as Dios Buhawi (the Waterspout God) for his/her skill in rainmaking. Despite brutal retaliations, including massacres and summary executions, Spanish power essentially collapsed in the island interiors, leaving the babaylons and their followers to confront the more ruthless, usurper colonialism of t h e Americans a decade later. 17 The Kanaks of N e w Caledonia, also stirred to rebellion by El Nino drought and hunger, m a d e a desperate bid in 1878 t o jiberate the interior of their island
their sister towns in Negros,
from French colons and penal concessionaires. T h e French invasion of New Caledo-
inflation. The records of the
nia in 1853 had been a singular catastrophe for Kanak society. "In less than t w o
corpses strewn in the streets
years," writes Myriam Dornoy, "... the local chiefly system was destroyed, a n d
lg shamans of Panay recount
the Melanesians were disposessed of nine-tenths of their best land and pushed
lis town and left people dying
into the mountainous interior. Assuming t h a t the Melanesians would soon dis-
rad dried up." As in Korea and
appear. the French employed the policy they had used in Algeria - re/oHlement —
ssianism, in this case in magi-
whicli meant that Melanesians were regrouped arbitrarily and stationed on lim-
. IS
ited reserves which in fact were infringed on little by little, or were situated in infertile zones not favoured by the colons." This indigenous land shortage ( t h e
parish priest, but he failed to lisaster, the curate advised the 3\vn as listrella Bangotbanwa, aved, and covercd with black le plaza, where she pressed its Jenly, the sky turned dark and
"basic factor in the great native insurrection in 1878") aggravated tribal conflict, as did the French practice of replacing village chiefs with their o w n sycophants. The "New Imperialists" of the Third Republic - intent on exorcising the national humiliation of 1871 through colonial conqucst - continued the Second Empire's huge thefts of Kanak subsistence spacc. W h e n the natives protested, the Republicans haughtily decreed that "the native is n o t the o w n e r of the land, and w h e n the French government appropriates land, it just takes back its o w n land." 18 Ultimately, a "disastrous drought at the e n d of 1877" (New Caledonian agri-
A
\ 9
1
GUN 98
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
tion to thousands of casualties culture, as w e shall see in Chapter 8, is highly vulnerable to ENSO) combined with French arrogance generated a crisis that enablied Chief Atai in the La Foa Valley of central Grande Terre to bring together a coalition of previously hostile tribe. 19 (In a meeting with French Governor Olry, Atai had emptied two sacks at his feet; one full of soil, the o t h e r of pebbles. "Here is w h a t we used to have," Atai explained, "and here is w h a t you are leaving us!")20 Kanak patience was pushed beyond all limits, as Martyn Lyons explains, by the drought-exacerbated deprecations of European cattle of precious y a m and taro fields. The livestock problem had been severely aggravated in 1878 by the drought of the previous year. This meant that cattle and other livestock had to search even further afield than usual for adequate fodder, and the native plantations were very tempting targets for hunger-stricken animals. The territory between Noumea and Bouloupari was especially dry, and graziers were allowed to take their herds onto government property hear Ourail, for a small fee. The cattle arrived there starving in an area of flourishing native fields, and set about systematically destroying them. Colons did all they could to avoid the capital expenditure involved in constructing effective enclosures. Their attitude was that if die Kanaks wanted proper protection, they should build their own. One Kanak replied to a stock-raiser who made such a suggestion: "When my taros go and eat up your cattle, then I'll put up a fence."*1 Following the arrest of several traditional chiefs in June 1878, accumulated Kanak anger erupted in a succession of ferocious assaults on white homesteads and g e n d a r m e posts. Caught by complete surprise, 200 Europeans were killed and panic spread ro N o u m e a where the settler mouthpiece La Notivelk Caledonia called for a "war of extermination against all Melanesians." 22 With reinforcem e n t s f r o m Indochina and the aid of Kanak mercenaries f r o m coastal tribes, French colonnes mobiles under the celebrated Captain Riviere devastated m u c h of the central region: burning "hundreds of villages," confiscating food stores, destroying irrigation systems, killing warriors on sight, and handing over their w o m e n as booty to the pro-French tribes. T h e charismatic Atai was killed in a surprise attack and his head with its m a n e of snow-white hair was sent to Paris to b e scrutinized by savants. Although "the colonial regime h a d experienced a very severe s h o c k and had only reasserted its dominance with very great difficulty," t h e cost of defeat t o t h e rebel Kanak tribes was truly staggering. In addi-
native New Caledonians were | of G r a n d e Terre in favor of pla points out, "the division bctweei east coast persists today,")J< A m o n g the eyewitnesses t o defeated insurrection: Louise M of C o m m u n a r d s in penal exile the Kanaks, Michel passionate!) dignity." She translated some o f (killed with Atai) and gave h a l f C o m m u n e that I h a d hidden f r o r the insurgents. As she explained T h e Kanakan Insurrection o f
I
h e a r t s w a s s h o w n o n c e again, I m o w e d d o w n in f r o m of Bastion h e a d of Atai to Paris. 1 w o u d e r c c f o r t h a d once w r i t t e n to me, " t h i s o n s in c a n n i b a l i s m . " "
D r o u g h t and Imperial Desigr In s o u t h e r n Africa, the great dw British aggression against still in» has famously erratic rainfall, esp around Luanda, b u t the drought duration, lasting until the early inland as the Huila highlands." 5 m u m m i e s rather than human b< 1876. A year later it was noted i hired f r o m the Golungo Alto dis day m a r c h to Massangano"; while reported dying from starvation ir fication of external trade pressun
GUNBOATS AND MESSIAHS
lUSTS
99
t i o n t o t h o u s a n d s of casualties a n d the d e p o r t a t i o n o f their surviving leaders,
lerable to ENSO) c o m b i n e d
native N e w Caledonians w e r e p e r m a n e n t l y u p r o o t e d from the rich west coast
icd Chief Atai in t h e La Foa
o f G r a n d e Terre in favor of plantations, r a n c h e s and p e n a l colonies. (As Lyons
>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 <
African societies, whose populat
Despite the world trade recession, Angola's export econ-
words, "an explosive situation w
omy had found several profitable niches for rapid g r o w t h directly at the expense
drought of 1876-79 was the i n
of African grazing and subsistence farming.
early 1820s (probably arising o u
was influenced by it."
the Z u l u Mfccane - the violent r c A commcrcial "boom" in rubber and, to a lesser extent, in coffee, produced a fever of gathering and marketing these products among Africans in most parts of Angola. European trade and agriculture expanded within rhc colonial enclaves centered on Luanda, Benguela and Mossamedes. New pockets of white settlement and farmland sprang up in the Porto Amboim hinterland and the Huila highlands. The slave trade also increased as a result of the rapidly rising demand for labour by Sao Tome planters eager to benefit from the island's cocoa "boom." Finally the initiation of a more vigorous programme of colonial expansion led to the beginnings of military occupation of Kongo, Luanda and the Ovimbundu highlands.28
under Shaka - its desperate enci In the Eastern Cape and N a simultaneous crash of wool exp recounted how in the Cape, "hit: service in exchange for the b a t h o u g h less dependent upon \v< ture of drought, cattle disease of course, climate shocks were
During a previous severe drought in the late 1860s, the Portuguese themselves
Ciskei and Transkei," Morris w r
had been forced to retreat from plantations and forts in frontier regions like the
natives and cattle, and the land v
edge of the Huila highlands. Now, with the emergence of drought- and-fam-
had b r o u g h t the frail native e c o
ine-related epidemics of smallpox, malaria, dysentery and sand jiggers, colonial
trespass and cattle theft were u n
troops m a d e unprecedented headway against weakened populations in Kongo and to the east and south of Kwanza. Likewise, Dias adds, " T h e debilitating effects of hunger and disease in the decade of the 1870s m a y g o far towards explaining why the social and political tensions generated by the spread of white plantations did not explode in revolt within the Portuguese enclave." Thereafter, the extension of the plantation system and the consolidation of colonial power in the Angolan interior were carefully synchronized to the sinister rhythm of drought and disease, as in 1886-87, 1890-91, 1898-99, 1911 and 1916." The drought was an even m o r e important turning point in the highveld and its borderlands, where it sounded the deathknell of Xhosa, Zulu and even, temporarily, Boer independence. South Africa'sseemingprosperity in the early 1870s, fueled by the diamond and w o o l booms, barely concealed the emergent ecological crisis as too many people and cattle competed for reliably watered grazing land. T h e relief of the veld with its innumerable rain shadows creates an intricate mosaic of rainfall variation as well as a complex schedule of ripening of pasturage: an environmental formula for interminable friction b e t w e e n pastoral communities. T h e ceaseless encroachment of Europeans u p o n the r a n g e resources of
failed and the n u m b e r of m e n north, "the Pedi kingdom begai the result of natural increase, t h N o r was Zululand - the g i m m u n e . "Despite the absence "this kingdom su fie red from tl Many of the well-watered secti< elevated fiats were infected witi the Z u l u herds after Cetsliwayo" to settlement. Primitive agricult the population of perhaps a thii such centers as the royal Kraal a drought of 1877 a n d the wintc against the fertile lands bctwecr Rivers, which had been a s u b j e a T h e drought crisis, which w well as increasing t h e tensions
.Ausrs
G U N B O A T S A N D M E S S I A H S 109
y of famine and disease and
African societies, whose populations were surging, generated, in Donald Morris's
:ssion, Angola's export econ-
words, "an explosive situation which the next drought might spark off." 30 And the
owth direcrly at the expense
drought of 1876-79 was the most ruinous since the i n f a m o u s arid spell of the early 1820s (probably arising out of back-to-back El Nino events) that had given the Zulu M/ecmic-the violent redistribution of grazing territories and homelands
(tent, in coffee, produced a ng Africans in most parts of lin the colonial enclaves cen:kets of white settlement and ind the Huila highlands. The lg demand for labour by Sao >a "boom." Finally the initiaision led to the beginnings of >undu highlands.28
u n d e r Shaka - its desperate energy." In the Eastern Cape and Natal, European stockraisers were battered by the simultaneous crash of wool export prices and the dying off of their herds. Nature recounted h o w in the Cape, "hitherto well-to-do colonists" had to go into "menial service in exchange for the barest necessities of life." 32 T h e Transvaal Boers, though less dependent upon world markets, were still h a r d hit by the conjuncture of drought, cattle disease and a growing shortage of land. For Africans, of course, climate shocks were magnified by their economic marginality. "Both
is, the Portuguese themselves
Ciskei and Transkei," Morris writes, "were greatly overcrowded with Europeans,
t s in frontier regions like the
natives and cattle, and the land was overgrazed and failing. [The] ruinous drought
rgence of drought- and-fam-
h a d brought the frail native economy to the edge of collapse, and complaints of
iry and sand jiggers, colonial
trespass and cattle theft were unending."' 3 In Basutoland, "two-thirds of the crop
kened populations in Kongo
failed and the n u m b e r of men seeking work doubled in a year," while, further
Dias adds, "The debilitating
north, "the Pedi kingdom began to suffer from increased pressure o n resources,
ie 1870s may go far towards
the result of natural increase, the influx of refugees and recurrent drought." 3 4
erated by the spread of white
Nor was Zululand - the greatest surviving redoubt of African power -
tuguesc enclave." Thereafter,
i m m u n e . "Despite the absence of European settlers," explains Donald Morris,
isolidation of colonial power
"this k i n g d o m suffered from the same land shortage as the other territories.
;ed to the sinister rhythm of 2
>9, 1911 and 1916. '
Many of the well-watered sections were hilly and stony, o t h e r grassy slopes and elevated flats were infected with lung sickness and red-water fever had ravaged
ing point in the highveld and
the Zulu herds after Cetshwayo's coronation, and the tsetse fly barred broad belts
f Xhosa, Zulu and even, tem-
to settlement. Primitive agriculture made inefficient use of what remained, and
y prosperity in the early 1870s,
the population of perhaps a third of a million Zulus was thickly clustered about
icealed the emergent ecologi-
such centers as the royal Kraal at Ulundi while other sections were deserted. T h e
I for reliably watered grazing
drought of 1877 and the winter months thus sent a wave of pressure surging
n shadows creates an intricate
against the fertile lands between the headwaters of the Buffalo and the Pongola
:hedule of ripening of pastur-
Rivers, which had been a subject of dispute with the Transvaal since 1861."31
iction b e t w e e n pastoral com-
The drought crisis, which weakened b o t h African a n d Afrikaans societies as
IS u p o n the range resources of
well as increasing the tensions between t h e m , was an undisguised blessing to
102
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
imperial planners in L o n d o n . Since 1875, Disraeli and his colonial secretary, Lord C a r n a r v o n , had b e e n c o m m i t t e d to a " C o n f e d e r a t i o n S c h e m e " t h a t envisioned a
u
c,
NB<
C a r n a r v o n a n d Frere s e n t i n g the military organization
single British h e g e m o n y over t h e s o u t h e r n c o n e of Africa. " C a r n a r v o n ' s design,",
British soldiers w e r e annihilat
according to Cain a n d Hopkins, "was to t u r n central Africa and M o z a m b i q u e
in t u r n , with a "systematic <
into labour reserves for the m i n e s and f a r m s of t h e south." 3 6 T h e discovery of
cattle in areas which the Z u
the great Kimberley d i a m o n d pipes had overnight m a d e S o u t h Africa a m a j o r
the economic foundations o f
arena for capitalist investment, b u t the British were stymied by t h e lack of control
cide c a m e close to being a d o
over African labor, a p r o b l e m t h a t was considered insuperable as l o n g as militarily
w h e l m e d as m u c h by f a m i n e J
i n d e p e n d e n t African societies continued to exist on the p e r i p h e r y of t h e d i a m o n d
t h e example o f Isandhlwana,
fields.37 T h u s from his arrival in South Africa in March 1877, C a r n a r v o n ' s special
of t h e Light Brigade, inspired
high c o m m i s s i o n e r Sir Bartle Frere (a f o r m e r g o v e r n o r of Bombay) m o v e d w i t h
a n d , even m o r e ominously f
extraordinary energy t o i m p o s e British p o w e r on t h e d r o u g h t - w e a k e n e d Bantus
u n d e r the t o u g h leadership <
and Boers alike.
t h e i r i n d e p e n d e n c e at M a j u b j
Within a year h e had raised the Union J a c k over the Transvaal as well as ruth-
era! wealth.
lessly crushed a last-ditch defense of Xhosa i n d e p e n d e n c e by Sarhili's Gcaleka in the Transkei: the ninth a n d last of die C a p e - X h o s a wars. C a p e troops in 1878
N o r t h Africa's 'Open T o m
also p u t d o w n a rebellion, "sharpened by drought," a m o n g the m i x e d race G r i q u a
Disraeli's N e w imperialism \v
along the lower O r a n g e River. 38 Frere's full attention then focused o n a lightning
i m p a c t of the p o o r n o r t h e a s t
campaign against Cetshwayo's Zulu k i n g d o m . A l t h o u g h loyal allies of the British
1877 was not felt until the b e g
in their conflict with the Boer republics, t h e powerful Z u l u kept a "spiritual fire"
Asia and n o r t h China. In o n e
b u r n i n g a m o n g Africans - "the vision of an a r m e d and defiant black n a t i o n " -
ilium, the flood crest in 1877 1
that Frere was d e t e r m i n e d t o extinguish. 39
third of the c r o p area could
In final talks before t h e British invasion, the anguished a n d betrayed Z u l u
already reeling f r o m collapsin
m o n a r c h discerned a sinister connection b e t w e e n the high c o m m i s s i o n e r ' s per-
d c m i c and overtaxation. C o t
fidy and the d r o u g h t that w a s devastating his herds:
A m e r i c a n South to world tra sion/' 1 After t w e n t y years o f b
"What have I done or said to the Great Mouse of England?... What have I done to the Great White Chief?"
the khedive was forced to d e f ; Franco-British D u a l Control C
"I feel the English Chiefs have stopped the rain, and the land is being destroyed,"
w r o t e Rosa L u x e m b u r g l a t e r
"The English Chiefs arc speaking. They have always told me that a kraal of blood cannot stand, and I wish to sit quietly, according to their orders, and cultivate the land. I do not know anything about war, and want the Great Chiefs to send me the rain." J0
consideration of the financial lished that allowed E u r o p e a n smallholders, t h u s overriding was g u a r a n t e e d f o r life. U n d e Icctors, with m o n e y l e n d e r s f o
G U N B O A T S AND MESSIAHS
.Ausrs
103
id his colonial secretary, Lord
Carnarvon and Frere sent the British army instead. Arrogantly underestimat-
>n Scheme" that envisioned a
ing the military organization and valor of Cetshwayo's regiments, 1,600 crack
Africa. "Carnarvon's design,"
British soldiers were annihilated at Isandhlwana in 1879. T h e Empire struck back,
tral Africa and Mozambique
in turn, with a
le south." 36 The discovery of
cattle in areas'which the Zulus had not evacuated and ... the destruction of
systematic strategy of the burning of homes, t h e seizure of
: made South Africa a major
the economic foundations of Zululand." Indeed, Michael Lieven claims, "Geno-
.•tymied by the lack of control
cide came close to being adopted as official policy."41 Although t h e Zulu, over-
superable as long as militarily
whelmed as much by famine as by firepower, eventually surrendered in July 1879,
the periphery of the diamond
the example of Isandhlwana, Britain's greatest military disaster since the charge
rch 1877, Carnarvon's special
of the Light Brigade, inspired b o t h the Sotho and Pede to protracted resistance,
•nor of Bombay) moved with
and, even more ominously for Carnarvon's grand design, gave t h e Afrikaners
he drought-weakened Bantus
under the tough leadership of Paul Kruger t h e military confidence to retrieve their independence at Majuba Hill in 1881 and assert control of t h e Rand's min-
the Transvaal as well as ruth-
eral wealth.
ldence by Sarhili's Gcaleka in »a wars. Cape troops in 1878
North Africa's 'Open Tombs'
among the mixed race Griqua
Disraeli's New Imperialism was more successful in Egypt, where t h e full h u m a n
n then focused on a lightning
impact of the poor northeast African rains of autumn 1876 and t h e low Nile of
ough loyal allies of the British
1877 was not felt until the beginning of 1878, when famine was receding in south
ful Zulu kept a "spiritual fire''
Asia and north China. In one of the most dramatic Nile failures in half a millen-
d and defiant black nation" -
nium, the flood crest in 1877 had been six feet below average and m o r e than onethird of the crop area could not be irrigated.' 2 The drought struck a peasantry
nguished and betrayed Zulu the high commissioner's per-
already reeling from collapsing export prices, high indebtedness, a rinderpest epidemic and overtaxation. Cotton prices, already depressed by the return of the American South to world trade, slumped f u r t h e r with the world trade depression."iJ After twenty years of being "an interest milk cow for European investors,"
jland? ... What have I done to
the khedive was forced to default in 1876, surrendering control over revenues to a Franco-British Dual Control Commission. " N o w the claims of European capital,"
tic land is being destroyed."
wrote Rosa Luxemburg later, "became the pivot of economic life and the sole
told me chat a kraal of blood :heir orders, and cultivate the e Great Chiefs to send me the
consideration of the financial system."'1'5 A system of Mixed Tribunals was established that allowed European creditors to directly attach the property of peasant smallholders, thus overriding the ancient Egyptian-Islamic tradition that tenancy was guaranteed for life. Under extreme European pressure, regiments of tax collectors, with moneylenders following them "like a vulture after a cow," imposed a
104
LATU V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
reign of terror throughout the Nile Valley. Peasants w h o hid cattle or resisted t h e confiscation of their property were brutally flogged in front of their neighbors/ 5 Wilfred Blunt, traveling t h r o u g h Egypt on the eve of the famine, was shocked by the misery that the .European creditors were creating in the countryside. "It
c u N B
were driven to satisfy their c r a \ Faced with death, or at lea: 1877 British sources m Aswan Upper Egypt owing to pcasan
was rare in those days to see a m a n in the fields with a turban on his head,
These were the phantoms t h a t
or m o r e than a shirt on his back.... The principal towns on market days w e r e
sent 2,000 cavalry to quell the
full of w o m e n selling their clothes and their silver o r n a m e n t s to the Greek usu-
where, according to Juan Cole,
rers, because the tax collectors were in their village, w h i p in hand." 4 5 T h e British
to k n o w how to think of the pc
consul in Cairo w r o t e to London that peasants were so desperate to escape t h e
of t h e sort described by Hric
tax collector that they were simply giving their land away. "Many of the p o o r e r
Sohag and Girga employed a rfc
classes of native, calculating that they could not obtain from the produce of the
ants oppressed by the state's
land sufficient to pay the increased demands, offered their lands gratis to any person w h o would relieve t h e m of it and pay the newly imposed tax."'' 7
In the Maghreb, meanwhih in t h e terrible heat of 1877. I-
Despite the failure of the Nile and widespread reports of starvation in the
reported from O r a n in the wc
s u m m e r of 1878, tax collectors continued to mercilessly bastinado the peasantry.
were among the Constantinoi
In Lower Egypt, where the drought "hurt peasants badly," widespread foreclo-
1880, then resumed with t h e
sures transformed a stratum of smallholders into impoverished day laborers on
hatcheff, who passed through
the latifundia of Ottoman-Egyptian nobles. 48 The Times opined t h a t boasts of tri-
population has been trying t o
u m p h a n t revenue expeditions to the Delta "sound[ed] strangely by the side of
sivcly o n boiledfcenYuuz[ a noxi
the news that people are starving by the roadside, that great tracts of c o u n t r y
mize the famine were belied
are uncultivated, because of the physical burdens, and that the farmers have sold
and the governor-general was
their cattle, the w o m e n their finery, and that the usurers are filling the m o r t g a g e
fall 1878, when it was reporu
offices with their bonds, and the courts with their suits of foreclosure."' 19
(in the south of Medea and o;
In Upper Egypt, where ecology confined farmers to a single annual crop,
and of the region around Ban
the confiscation of cattle, grain reserves, seed corn and agricultural tools in the
the disaster in the countryside
wake of the drought was literally murderous. In early 1879, a special commis-
trolled commerce in North Af
sioner investigating famine conditions between Sohag and Girga "reported that the n u m b e r who had died of starvation and as a result of the w a n t of sufficient
In t h e m o s t d r o u g h t - s t r i c k e n i
food was not less than ten thousand.... H e added that all this was the direct result
p o o r at best. T h e loss of s e e d <
of poverty arising f r o m over-taxation." 50 Alexander Baird, a frequent winter tour-
w h i l e , the lack o f w a t e r a n d g
ist w h o had been conscripted to help organize an i m p r o m p t u British relief effort,
r i o r tribes w e r e f o r c e d to sell
confirmed the acuity of famine in the Girga area. "It is almost incredible the dis-
E x p o r t s of s h e e p d o u b l e d w h i r i a , w h i c h h a d e x p o r t e d 17,9?
tances travelled by w o m e n and children, begging from village to village.... T h e
e x p o r t e d 143,198 h e a d b e t w e t
poor w e r e in some instances reduced to such extremities of h u n g e r that they
a n s liquidated t h e i r only r e a l <
u s r s
' h o hid cattle or resisted t h e
GUNBOATS AND
MESSIAHS
10 5
w e r e driven t o satisfy their cravings with the r e f u s e and g a r b a g e of t h e street." 5 1
n f r o n t of their neighbors. 4 5
Faced w i t h death, o r at least i m m i s e r a t i o n , s o m e p e a s a n t s revolted. "In late
of t h e famine, w a s shocked
1877 British sources in Aswan a n d Luxor u n d e r l i n e d t h e hazards o f traveling in
iting in the countryside. "It
U p p e r Egypt o w i n g t o peasant banditry, especially b e t w e e n Sohag a n d Girga."
with a turban on his head,
T h e s e w e r e t h e p h a n t o m s that h a u n t e d the G r a n t s ' trip t o Thebes. W h e n Cairo
o w n s on m a r k e t days were
sent 2,000 cavalry t o quell t h e robberies, t h e outlaw f a r m e r s t o o k to the hills
r n a m e m s to the G r e e k usu-
w h e r e , according t o J u a n Cole, t h e y u n f u r l e d a b a n n e r o f social revolt. "It is h a r d
whip in hand."" 6 T h e British
t o k n o w h o w t o t h i n k of t h e p e a s a n t b r i g a n d a g e of 1879 except as social b a n d i t r y
i so desperate to escape t h e
o f the sort described by Eric H o b s b a w m . T h e bandit g a n g o p e r a t i n g b e t w e e n
away. "Many of t h e p o o r e r
S o h a g a n d Girga e m p l o y e d a r h e t o r i c of social justice, v o w i n g to u n i t e those peas-
lin f r o m t h e p r o d u c e of t h e
ants oppressed by t h e state's overtaxation and b r u t a l t r e a t m e n t of its subjects." 5 2
=d their lands gratis to any vly imposed tax." 47
In the Maghreb, m e a n w h i l e , Algeria's fields and vineyards simply b u r n e d u p in the terrible h e a t o f 1877. Half of rhe g r a i n harvest w a s lost a n d famine w a s
reports of starvation in the
r e p o r t e d f r o m O r a n in t h e west t o C o n s t a n t i n e in t h e e a s t . " T h e w o r s t scenes
ssly bastinado the peasantry,
w e r e a m o n g the Constantinois, w h e r e d r o u g h t and h u n g e r persisted until early
badly," widespread foreclo-
1880, t h e n r e s u m e d w i t h t h e b a d harvest o f 1881. T h e Russian traveler Tchi-
ipoverished day laborers o n
hatcheff", w h o passed t h r o u g h t h e Mila area, w a s horrified t o find t h a t "the p o o r
nes opined that boasts of tri-
p o p u l a t i o n has b e e n trying t o survive for m o r e than t w o m o n t h s a l m o s t exclu-
ed] strangely by the side of
sively on boiled kcrioua [a noxiously bitter w i l d a r u m ] . " Official a t t e m p t s to mini-
that great tracts of c o u n t r y
m i z e the famine w e r e belied by t h e flood o f skeletal r e f u g e e s i n t o t h e towns,
id that the f a r m e r s have sold
a n d the g o v e r n o r - g e n e r a l w a s forced to ackowledge t h e gravity o f t h e crisis i n
rers arc filling the m o r t g a g e
fall 1878, w h e n it w a s reported in Situations ofjicielles t h a t "the tribes of T i t t e r i
its of foreclosure."' 9
(in the s o u t h of M e d e a and of Aumale), t h o s e of Bordj-Bou-Arreridj, of H o d n a
=rs to a single annual crop,
a n d of t h e region a r o u n d Batna and Tebessa, w e r e entirely w i t h o u t food." 5 '' B u t
a n d agricultural tools in the
the disaster in the c o u n t r y s i d e w a s a windfall t o the Marseille interests who c o n -
irly 1879, a special commis-
trolled c o m m e r c e in N o r t h African livestock products.
ag and Girga "reported that ;ult of the w a n t of sufficient t all this was the direct result iaird, a frequent w i n t e r tourp r o m p t u British relief effort, t is almost incredible t h e dis-om village t o village.... T h e emities of h u n g e r t h a t they
tn the most drought-stricken regions, the harvest was utterly lost; elsewhere it was poor at best. The loss of seed ensured a poor yield the following year as well. Meanwhile, the lack of water and grass threatened to decimate the native herds; the interior tribes were forced to sell their animals to livestock dealers ac dirt-cheap prices. Exports of sheep doubled while wheat and barley exports fell by half; likewise Algeria, which had exported 17,996 head of beef in the three years from 1874 to 1876, exported 143,198 head between 1877 and 1879. In order to avoid starvation, Algerians liquidated their only real wealth: their livestock.55
T 7a
LATH
VICTORIAN HOLOCAUSTS
fiPC
in his magisterial history of colonial Algeria, Charles-Robert A g e r o n has s h o w n h o w the d r o u g h t of 1877-81 b a t t e n e d u p o n and, in t u r n , accelerated t h e general t e n d e n c y of indigenous pauperization. After the defeat o f t h e M u q r a n i uprising of 1871-72, t h e Third Republic relentlessly extended t h e scope of colon capitalism t h r o u g h massive expropriations of c o m m u n a l land, enclosures o f forests and pastures, persecution of t r a n s h u m a n c e , and the r a t c h e t i n g u p of land revenues. Indian tax extortion paled next t o annual charges that s o m e t i m e s confiscated m o r e than a third of t h e market-value of native land. 56 In the Kabylia, angry p o e t s sang that "the taxes rain u p o n u s like repeated b l o w s , the p e o p l e have sold their fruit trees and even their clothes." 5 7 E n v i r o n m e n t a l disaster simply s h o r t e n e d the distance to an "Irish solution" of a fully pauperized a n d c o n q u e r e d countryside. Some architects of French policy, q u o t e d by A g e r o n , w e r e keenly aware of t h e potentially revolutionary consequences of such c o m p l e t e dispossession of the native population. " T h e greatest danger for Algeria," w r o t e B u r d e a u during a n o t h e r h u n g i y d r o u g h t in 1891, "is t h e e m e r g e n c e of an indigent proletariat, an a r m y of dcclasses w i t h o u t h o p e o r land, eager for b r i g a n d a g e and insurrection.""
c uNBc
and t h e great locust plague w h i wiped o u t . B\ spring 1878, desperate fei selling t h e m for a few days' si one) Miege estimates that 75 p e manner. Moreover, as grain pric g r u b b i n g for roots; s o m e even t were o t h e r instances where f o r i farms t o m e r c h a n t s for a single foreclosures and alienation of la lomatic corps, w h o used their c strict adherence t o "the principl< D u r i n g the s u m m e r of 1878, the interior and s o u t h of M o r o t h o u s a n d s of p e o p l e bolted f o r grain supplies. As the w o r r i e d reported t o his coreligionists in 1
In the end, Algerians could only be t h a n k f u l that the drought-fa m i n e of 1877-81, unlike its terrible predecessor in 1867-68, failed to unleash massive epidemic mortality. T h e r e was n o such succor across t h e Atlas, w h e r e b o t h h u n g e r and disease were as p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y devastating as in the Deccan o r t h e sertao. T h e ancient k i n g d o m of M o r o c c o was convulsed by its w o r s t e c o n o m i c and envir o n m e n t a l crisis in centuries: its c o u n t r y s i d e was t u r n e d into "an o p e n t o m b . " O n c e again, d r o u g h t p u m m e l e d a peasantry already b r o u g h t to its knees by t h e world m a r k e t . As Jean-Louis Miege has s h o w n , the E u r o p e a n d e m a n d for M o roccan grain and wool, which had f u e l e d a sustained export b o o m b e g i n n i n g in the 1840s, collapsed during the 1870s in t h e face of lower-cost c o m p e t i t i o n . By the fall of 1877, w h e n d r o u g h t b e g a n its seven-year-long siege of t h e countryside, the e c o n o m y was already in steep decline, bled by a g r o w i n g t r a d e deficit, h u g e debt b o r r o w e d f r o m England t o pay w a r indemnities to Spain, a n d a depreciating currency that translated into r u n a w a y d o m e s t i c inflation. Between 1875 and 1877 Moroccan real i n c o m e fell by half while t h e relative b u r d e n of agricultural taxation g r e w ever m o r e o n e r o u s . F a r m e r s a n d h e r d s m e n thus h a d t o face the d r y w i n t e r of 1877-78 (there w a s n o rain at all in s o u t h e r n parts of t h e arable belt),
IT]he pauper population of M about one-third of its entire in! famished Jewish and Moorish fai to see some of them - mere liv except in articles of food, and c do. Thev are selling their clothe the terrible scenes of misery - p bones they find in the streets, am make your heart ache. Raise a f out in rice at the wholesale brok< gland/ 1 Six m o n t h s later, American and ( roadsides," while t h e British c o n : sources were unconsidered " u n e lation o f Sous and o f Haha has • India, C h i n a and Brazil, p r o d u c e ripe for the spread o f disease. C)
.Ausrs
GUNBOATS AND MESSIAHS
107
harles-Rob'ert A g e r o n has
and the g r e a t locust plague which followed, w i t h much of their w e a l t h already
id, in turn, accelerated the
w i p e d out. 5 9
the defeat of t h e M u q r a n i
By spring 1878, desperate jellahiti
were either eating t h e i r starving herds or
:xtended t h e scope of colon
selling t h e m f o r a f e w days' supply of grain (cows for five francs, sheep for
mal land, enclosures of for-
one). Miege estimates t h a t 75 p e r c e n t of the nation's livestock disappeared in this
1 t h e r a t c h e t i n g u p of land
manner. Moreover, as grain prices soared, the poorest villagers were r e d u c e d to
aarges t h a t s o m e t i m e s con-
g r u b b i n g f o r roots; s o m e even tried t o subsist u p o n the p o i s o n o u s y e r n e e . There
ative land. 56 In the Kabylia,
w e r e o t h e r instances w h e r e f o r m e r l y p r o s p e r o u s s o u t h e r n peasants t r a d e d their
repeated blows, the people
f a r m s to m e r c h a n t s for a single b a g of grain. T h e makhzan's
v i r o n m e n t a l disaster simply
foreclosures a n d alienation of land w e r e successfully o p p o s e d by the foreign dip-
efforts t o prevent
r pauperized and c o n q u e r e d
lomatic corps, w h o used their c o n t r o l over credit and relief supplies t o d e m a n d
ed by A g e r o n , w e r e keenly
strict a d h e r e n c e to "the principle o f free trade."""
of such c o m p l e t e disposses,-
D u r i n g the s u m m e r of 1878, as starvation b e c a m e e n d e m i c , vast p o r t i o n s of
for Algeria," w r o t e Burdeau
t h e interior and south o f M o r o c c o were virtually d e p o p u l a t e d as " h u n d r e d s of
rgence of an indigent prole-
t h o u s a n d s of people b o l t e d for t h e nearest p o r t " and t h e security o f imported
;er for brigandage a n d Lnsur-
grain supplies. As t h e w o r r i e d M o g a d o r c o r r e s p o n d e n t o f the Jewish
World
r e p o r t e d t o his coreligionists in Britain: that t h e d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of ailed t o unleash massive epije Atlas, w h e r e b o t h h u n g e r in t h e Deccan or t h e sertao. its w o r s t e c o n o m i c and envi• r n e d into "an o p e n t o m b . " / b r o u g h t t o its knees by the : E u r o p e a n d e m a n d for Mo:d export b o o m b e g i n n i n g in f lower-cost competition. By
[T]he pauper population of Mogador, always disproportionately large, forming about one-third of its entire inhabitants, is being rapidly increased by numerous famished Jewish and Moorish families from the adjacent districts. It is a fearful sight to sec some of them - mere living skeletons.... There is no business now doing, except in articles of food, and consequently the working classes have nothing to do. They are selling their clothes and furniture to obtain food.... If you could see the terrible scenes of misery - poor, starving mothers, breaking and pounding up bones they find in the streets, and giving them to their famished children - it would make your heart ache. Raise a few pounds if you can, and if you can do so lay it out in rice at the wholesale brokers, and have it shipped by the steamers leaving England.61
o n g siege of the countryside, a g r o w i n g trade deficit, h u g e
Six m o n t h s later, American and G e r m a n consuls reported " t h o u s a n d s dead by the
:S to Spain, and a depreciating
roadsides," while the British consul, Sir John D r u m m o n d Hay, whose intelligence
ation. Between 1875 and 1877
sources w e r e u n c o n s i d e r e d "unexcelled," w r o t e in April 1879 that "half t h e popu-
2 b u r d e n of agricultural taxa-
lation of Sous and of H a h a has died of starvation." T h e flight to t h e coast, as in
n e n t h u s h a d t o face t h e dry
India, China and Brazil, p r o d u c e d unsanitary c o n c e n t r a t i o n s of enfeebled people
l e r n parts of the arable belt),
ripe for t h e spread of disease. Cholera, the universal s c o u r g e of f a m i n e refugees
7 108
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c,
u NB<
in this period, first appeared in Fez and Marknes at the end of Jul)' 1878. By Sep-
Wales, a quarter o f the animals ]
tember it was decimating inland cities as well as ports; in Marrakech an estimated
of Polynesia, meanwhile, expei
1 percent of the population was reported to be perishing daily. W h e n the cholera
plantations cobbled together n
epidemic finally subsided in December, its place was promptly taken by typhoid,
11877-78) of the nineteenth cct
which killed off the Italian and Portuguese consuls and a number of prominent
to hire themselves out as coolies
European and Jewish merchants, as well as tens of thousands of weakened com-
where missionaries in turn r e p
moners.
54
1S77 did huge e c o n o m i c d a m a g of Mexico itself, where the rair
The crisis continued until the winter of 1879/80, when nearly normal rainfall allowed the resumption of agriculture after eighteen months of complete depen-
the circum-Mediterranean, final
dence on grain imports from Marseille and Gibraltar. Drought returned, how-
as well as locusts, which also pla But in the classic El Nino p a t t
ever, in 1881 (an El Nino year) and worsened in 1882 when the south was again rainless while precipitation in the north was barely one-quarter of normal. The
fall in one band of regions w i t h
British consul, in a dismal repetition of his earlier reports, described "harvests
battered by a rare typhoon, w l
completely lost, livestock dying and the famished population again reduced to
winter in two centurics. 6 " W h i l
eating poisonous roots." A second emptying-out of the mountains and country-
vesting the greatest wheat crop
side likewise produced a new epidemic crucible in the cities that was exploited
California's Central Valley w o r t
this time by smallpox, which raged through 1883. However, Morocco's long
while the heavy rains that inurj
ordeal by famine and disease, as Miege emphasizes, was not without "winners."
contributed indirectly (through
"The crisis of 1878-1885 hastened the rise of the commercial and landed capital-
infamous yellow fever epidemic
ism that dominated the future of the country.... The non-specialization of com-
New Orleans, killing tens of t h e
merce permitted strong houses to switch from exports to imports of food. In the
British and Irish farmers, aire
ports the famine created islands of prosperity." T h e "tremendous redistribution
and plunging prices for corn anc
of property" likewise paved the way for famous comprador fortunes and allowed
wet s u m m e r s of t h e late 1870s:
the foreign community to accumulate massive landholdings under fictive Mo-
teenth century. I lundreds of th
roccan ownership. It also inaugurated the era of Great Power rivalry, conductcd
pushed off the land in the final t
with both loans and dreadnaughts, to t u r n Morocco's new economic dependence
land, the disastrous 18/7-82 liarEl Nino droughts in the tropics
upon Europe into formal colonialism." 3
emigration and a decade-long a prophet Henry George. Michae
T h e Global D e a t h Toll
into a "Land Wat " t h a t shook t h
W h e r e populations escaped mass famine, drought still brought massive and
Ascendancy.
sometimes irreversible economic distress. "Cape Colony, New Guinea, the Australian Colonies, the South Seas, and, it would appear, almost every known part
Finally in coastal Peru, u n p n
of the southern hemisphere," observed the editors of Nature in March 1878,
for almost a decade, produced si
"have been suffering f r o m a severe and protracted drought." 6 1 In New South
scape that contemporaries beli<
.-J®**-
GUNBOATS AND MESSIAHS
.Ausrs
109
Wales, a quarter of the animals perished on t h e world's greatest sheep range. 65 All
the end of July 1878. By Sep-
I
•ts; in Marrakech an estimated
I
of Polynesia, meanwhile, experienced environmental turmoil. Hawaiian sugar
shing daily. W h e n the cholera
i
plantations cobbled together makeshift irrigation to deal with the driest year
is promptly taken by typhoid,
'
(1877-78) of the nineteenth century, while drought forced desperate Gilbertese to hire themselves o u t as coolies o n German-owned cotton plantations in Samoa,
s and a n u m b e r of prominent
where missionaries in turn reported famine o n outlying islands.*1" Drought in
thousands of weakened com-
1877 did h u g e economic damage t h r o u g h o u t central Mexico, especially in Valley of Mexico itself, where the rains did not r e t u r n until the summer o f 1878.67 In
D, when nearly n o r m a l rainfall
t h e circum-Mediterranean, finally, drought a n d famine w e r e reported in Bosnia,
in months of complete depen-
as well as locusts, which also plagued farmers in Andalusia. 68
iltar. Drought returned, how382 when the south was again y one-quarter of normal. T h e
j
But in the classic El Nino pattern, the climate system compensated deficit rain-
j
fall in one band of regions with surplus precipitation in another. T h u s Tahiti was
:r reports, described "harvests
battered by a rare typhoon, while N o r t h e r n California experienced its wettest
1 population again reduced to
winter in t w o centuries. 69 While Asia was starving, the United States was har-
)f rhe mountains and country-
vesting the greatest w h e a t crop in world history (400 million bushels), and in
n the cities that was exploited
j
83. However, Morocco's long
I
:s, was not without "winners."
I
while the heavy rains that inundated the southeastern United States may have contributed indirectly (through their impact o n mosquito populations) to the infamous yellow fever epidemic of 1878, w h i c h ravaged cities from Louisville to
rommercial and landed capitalThe non-specialization of com-
California's Central Valley worthless surplus wheat was b u r n t for fuel. 70 Mean-
New Orleans, killing tens of thousands. 71
;
5orts to imports of food. In the
British and Irish farmers, already reeling f r o m the impact of American imports
'he "tremendous redistribution
j
and plunging prices for corn and cattle, lost o n e harvest after another to the cold
>mprador fortunes and allowed
j
wet summers of the late 1870s: perhaps the w o r s t sequence since t h e early four-
andholdings under fictive Mo-
]
teenth ccntury. Hundreds of thousands of laborers and marginal f a r m e r s were
Great Power rivalry, conducted
J
pushed off the land in the final extinction d r a m a of the English yeomanry. In Ire-
;o's new economic dependence
j i i
land, the disastrous 1877-82 harvest cycle (coincident if not causally related to the
i
J
ight still brought massive and
j
Colony, N e w Guinea, the Aus-
j
5pear, almost every known part
}
emigration and a decade-long agrarian revolt. Advised by the California radical prophet H e n r y George, Michael Davitt brilliantly channeled Irish rural distress into a "Land War" that shook the foundations of the economic as well as political Ascendancy. Finally in coastal Peru, unprecedented rains, which continued intermittently for almost a decade, produced such an extraordinary transformation of the land-
.tors of Nature in March 1878, :ted drought." 6-1 In New South
El Nino droughts in the tropics) precipitated b o t h a new wave of trans-Atlantic
I
scape that contemporaries believed they w e r e witnessing either a mirage or a
I 118
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c. u N15<
miracle. " T h e Sechura, a notoriously d r y a n d b a r r e n desert region, b e c a m e cov-
least 7.1 million had died, b
ered w i t h trees and heavy vegetation, the likes of w h i c h were never seen b e f o r e
r a t i o s of relief t o mortality < >
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<
by 1879, a n d David Hill and Jasper Mcllvaine estimated that a chilling three-quarters h a d perished in the s o u t h e r n counties. 8 9 Indeed, the famine in Taiyuan pre-
;
fecture was a l m o s t an extinction event w i t h only 5 percent of the p o p u l a t i o n
lion a n d 25 m i l l i o n famine-rel W h a t is certain is simply t h e
r e p o r t e d still alive in 1879. Despite h e a v y i m m i g r a t i o n f r o m n e a r b y provinces
starvation, u n p r e c e d e n t e d s i n
d u r i n g t h e 1880s, S h a n x i - d e c i m a t e d as if by m o d e r n nuclear w a r - d i d n o t regain
of f a m i n e , war, pestilence a n c
its 1875 p o p u l a t i o n until 1953.90
t e e n t h and inid seventeenth o T a b l e 3.4
Excess Mortality in Shanxi, 1877-79 Y
Prefamine Population
Famine Deaths
Percent Mortality
TaiYuen Huong Dong Ping Lu
1,000,000 250,000 145,000
950,000 150,000 110,000
95 60 16
Lount
I I i
Similarly, as E d m u n d Burke emphasizes, " T h e d e m o g r a p h i c c o n s e q u e n c e s of the crisis of 1878-84 m a k e it one of t h e capital events in t h e social history of m o d e r n Morocco."*' Miege thinks that mortality in t h e ports w a s a r o u n d 15 per-
i
cent, b u t in m u c h of t h e countryside it easily exceeded a q u a r t e r of the population. "In J u n e 1879 the Italian consul at Tangiers estimated t h a t a q u a r t e r o f the M o r o c c a n population had perished. This is the s a m e percentage that M a t h e w s presented in his r e p o r t for 1878. T h e o d o r e de Cuevas, w h o t h r o u g h his m a n y relatives in the n o r t h of the c o u n t r y had exceptional knowledge of local conditions, believed that one-third of the population of the G h a r b was killed b y the epidemic of 1878-79." 2 M o d e r n Brazilians still refer to the events of 1876-79 as simply the Grande Scca: "the greatest d r a m a of h u m a n suffering in the nation's history."" Fully half of Ceara state perished and "the only transferable capital left by 1880 w a s in slaves."9"1 "Of the dead in 1877-1879," says the Brazilian historian E d m a r Morel, "it has b e e n calculated that 150,000 died of outright starvation, 100,000 f r o m fever and o t h e r diseases, 80,000 f r o m smallpox and 180,000 f r o m p o i s o n o u s or otherwise h a r m f u l food."* 5 It has also b e e n characterized as " t h e m o s t costly natural disaster in the history of the w e s t e r n hemisphere."" 6
i i i 1
T tCAUSTS
GUNBOATS AND
MESSIAHS
ionnaires to local officials and
Global mortality can only be estimated as a level of magnitude. Arup Maha-
Dpulation in the north had died
ratna in a recent systematic review of demographic debates and literature in b o t h
nated that a chilling three-quar-
India and China points to a combined Asian mortality range of b e t w e e n 20 mil-
ied, the famine in Taiyuan pre-
lion and 25 million famine-rented deaths. 97 N o greater precision s e e m s possible.
ly 5 percent of the population
W h a t is certain is simply the staggering scale and worldwide synchronization o f
gration from nearby provinces
starvation, unprecedented since the four h o r s e m e n of the apocalypse cut swathes
ern nuclear war - did not regain
of famine, war, pestilence and death through Europe and China in the early fourteenth and mid seventeenth centuries.
, 1877-79 line ths
Percent Mortality
000
95
000
60
000
76
i demographic consequences of . events in the social history of in the ports was around 15 per:eeded a quarter of the populaestimated that a quarter of the same percentage that Mathews mevas, w h o through his many onal knowledge of local condiof the Gharh was killed by the 7
1876-79 as simply the Grande
:he nation's history." 93 Fully half ible capital left by 1880 was in razilian historian Edmar Morel, tright starvation, 100,000 from
i
and 180,000 from poisonous or cterized as "the most costly nat>here."96
j i
T
El Nino and
dk..
o
PART
II
El Nino and the New Imperialism, 1888-1902
The G<
Thousands of tf hearths; at each : tell of the horror
The Great D r o u g h t of the 187( Millions more, likely tens of n in 1888-91 and especially in IS lude of agricultural expansior of f a m i n e in 1878-79 was chai abundant harvests in both h e n T h e boom w a s propelled, late 1870s and the huge h a r \ u n d e r grain," writes Avner Oil s o m e two-thirds in thirty yeai resulting deficit "acted as a h e d e m a n d for food imports soar flowed into the railroads that dian Prairie, the Argentine pa; G a t l i n g g u n s efficiently eradic
Four
The Government of Hell
Thousands of thatched-roof huts lament their empty hearths; at each step, a cadaver, a skull, scattered bones tell of the horror and the extent of the famine. - R . Anastase, Ethiopia in 18S9
T h e Great Drought of the 1870s w a s merely Act One in a three-act world tragedy. Millions more, likely tens of millions, would die during global El N i n o droughts in 1888-91 and especially in 1896-1902. T h e r e was first, however, a f a m o u s interlude of agricultural expansion a n d relative prosperity. T h e decade after the e n d of famine in 1878-79 was characterized by well-distributed, plentiful rainfall a n d abundant harvests in both hemispheres. It was the Age of Wheat. The b o o m was propelled, in the first instance, by the climate crisis of t h e late 1870s and the h u g e harvest shortfalls throughout the British Isles. "Land under g r a i n / ' writes Avner Offer of English agriculture after 1876, "contracted b y some two-thirds in thirty years, most of which reverted to rough pasture." T h e resulting deficit "acted as a h u g e p u m p for t h e world's commerce." With British d e m a n d for food imports soaring, massive a m o u n t s of London-generated capital flowed into the railroads that opened up the American Great Plains, the Canadian Prairie, the Argentine pampas, and India's upper Gangetic plain. Maxim a n d Gatling guns efficiently eradicated the last indigenous resistance to t h e incorpora-
T 120
SKliL
LATE V I C T O R I A N HOLOCAUSTS
tion of t h e s e great steppes i n t o the w o r l d economy. By mid-decade, British red-
m i s m . endorsed by leading s c
coats h a d defeated Riel's Utopian-socialist N o r t h w e s t Rebellion in Saskatchewan
the plough" a n d that culcivaii<
and Manitoba, while the Argentine a r m y crushed the last Indian resistance in the
improving the c l i m a t e /
pampas. T h e grain trade u n d e r the leadership of great cartels like Bunge and
In fact, the w e a t h e r "had n<
Dreyfus for the first time achieved authentically global scope a n d integration. As
b e e n in remission.'" 1 On five c
t h o u s a n d s of square miles o f virgin grassland w e r e converted i n t o w h e a t belts,
"folk e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n with tk
the Liverpool C o r n Trade Association a n d t h e Chicago Board of Trade ( W h e a t
ry's greatest follies, resulting
Exchange), w i t h their new-fangled invention of "futures" trading, b e c a m e the
t h r o u g h o u t history when i n t e i
twin poles of a single world m a r k e t in subsistence. 1
ture to expand b e y o n d the ec<
In n o r t h e r n India, w h e r e railroads h a d recently integrated t h o u s a n d s o f vil-
the inevitable m a n m a d e c o n s
lages into international trade, these w e r e the years of a fabled w h e a t e x p o r t
the G r e a t Plains, India, Brazil,
Export-
1888-89 and again in 1891, p u i
ers a n d g o v e r n m e n t officials pressed cultivators to take advantage of the g o o d
m a n y places in 1889-90. (Floo-
m o n s o o n s a n d expand w h e a t into areas w h e r e erratic rainfall o r p o o r soil had
lions of lives in n o r t h e r n C h i n
b o o m : a "golden age for rich peasants," if n o t for their p o o r neighbors.
2
previously favored only hardy millets o r cattle. After t h e d e m o g r a p h i c catastrop h e of the 1870s, officials w e r e cheered by t h e population r e b o u n d of the 1880s; the Bombay g o v e r n m e n t b o a s t e d that "only an utterly insignificant p r o p o r t i o n of the population of this Presidency can b e d e e m e d [any longer] in danger of star3
vation." In the irrigated valleys of the Tamilnad, agricultural prosperity, based on b o o m i n g rice exports, p r o d u c e d t h e biggest decadal p o p u l a t i o n surge (16.9 percent) of the nineteenth century.' 1 A d r a m a t i c expansion of irrigation in the Irrawaddy delta likewise g u a r a n t e e d rice supplies for peasants in Bengal and Java w h o w e r e t u r n i n g f r o m subsistence f a r m i n g to the cultivation of export crops like j u t e and sugarcane. T h e French m e a n w h i l e cocrced additional rice exports
T h e s e e x t r e m e droughts i there is not necessarily a c a u s : tcred El Nino (1888-89 and 1 turbatio'ns in t h e eastern e q u a trade, moreover, ensured t h a t falls w e r e translated into p r i c e of a telegraph. A futures " c o r now starve (or enrich) people prices from I8C>1 onwards in< nection" in the speculative pi trade."
f r o m the M e k o n g Delta. In N o r t h America, this w a s t h e decade of the "Great Dakota B o o m " w h e n "an unusual a m o u n t of m o i s t u r e fell t h r o u g h o u t m u c h of the Great Plains," and what an earlier g e n e r a t i o n had seen as hopeless desert was n o w christened 5
a "rain belt" by eager i m m i g r a n t s f r o m n o r t h e r n Europe. This was equally an
D r o u g h t F o l l o w s t h e PlowIn N o r t h America, it was the v nineteenth ccntury. "The w h e
era of w h e a t b o n a n z a s and p e a s a n t expansion in the Russian steppe a n d the fron-
"was really over by 1887, but il
tier f a r m l a n d s of Manchuria. In Australia, meanwhile, f o r m e r s h e e p walks w e r e
d r o u g h t of 1889." All along t
p l o u g h e d and planted in w h e a t varieties specially adapted to t h e a n t i p o d e a n cli-
denly destitute " b o o m e r s " w a
mate. Everywhere, including t h e semi-arid margins of the Deccan, the sertao
sun. T o w n s that o n c e boasted
and the highveld, the w e t t e r w e a t h e r lured farmers. 6 T h e r e was widespread opti-
of their p o p u l a t i o n or disappc
T T H E G O V E R N M E N T OF HELL
AUSTS
121
mism, endorsed by leading scientists and agricultural experts, that "rain follows
•. By mid-decade, British red>t Rebellion in Saskatchewan
the plough" and that cultivation, especially by white pioneers, was permanently
e last Indian resistance in the
improving the climate. 7
great cartels like Bunge and
In fact, the weather "had not been cured, as the optimists claimed. It had only
bal scope and integration. As
been in remission." 8 O n five continents, Donald Meinig explains, this decade of
: converted into wheat belts,
"folk experimentation with the land" turned into one of the nineteenth centu-
:ago Board of Trade (Wheat
ry's greatest follies, resulting
utures" trading, b e c a m e the
throughout history w h e n intervals of above-average rainfall have allowed agricul-
in "incalculable social and economic cost[s].'"' As
ture to expand beyond the ecological boundaries of its long-term sustainability, integrated thousands of vil-
i
the inevitable m a n m a d e consequence was a drought cataclysm: as occurred in the Great Plains, India, Brazil, Russia, Korea, t h e Sudan and the H o r n of Africa in
rs of a fabled wheat export
!
ieir poor neighbors. 2 Export-
;
1888-89 and again in 1891, punctuated by extremely wet weather a n d flooding in
take advantage of the good
j
many places in 1889-90. (Flooding and resulting famine h a d already claimed millions of lives in n o r t h e r n China in 1888.)
atic rainfall or poor soil had |
These extreme droughts and floods, we now know, correspond, although
ilation rebound of the 1880s;
j
there is n o t necessarily a causal relation in e a c h regional case, to powerful, clus-
iy insignificant proportion of
j
tered El Nino (1888-89 and 1891-92) and La Nina (1886-87 and 1889-90) per-
sny longer] in danger of star-
j
turbations in the eastern equatorial Pacific. 10 T h e new, globally integrated grain
igricultural prosperity, based
j
trade, moreover, ensured that climate shocks and corresponding harvest short-
cadal population surge (16.9
'
:r the demographic catastro-
falls were translated into price shocks that crossed the continents w i t h the speed of a telegraph. A futures "corner" in Chicago or a drought in the Punjab could
(pansion of irrigation in the r peasants in Bengal and Java
j
now starve (or enrich) people thousands of miles away As the trend of US grain
• cultivation of export crops
j
prices from 1891 onwards indicates, El Nino found a dramatic n e w "teleconnection" in the speculative price accelerator operated by the m a j o r boards of
erced additional rice exports
trade. 11 Great Dakota Boom" w h e n
j
much of the Great Plains,"
j
:s desert was now christened
;
Drought Follows the Plow In North America, it was the worst environmental crisis of the second half of t h e
iurope. This was equally an
nineteenth century. " T h e wheat and land b o o m in Dakota," Gilbert Fite writes,
Russian steppe and the fron-
"was really over by 1887, but if any life remained, it was destroyed by the terrible
5
ile, f o r m e r sheep walks were
drought of 1889." All along the 100th meridian, from Manitoba to Texas, sud-
dapted to the antipodean cli-
denly destitute "boomers" watched their crops wither a n d die u n d e r a scorching
is of the Deccan, the sertao
sun. Towns that once boasted of being f u t u r e "Omahas" or "Topekas" lost m o s t
s
of their population or disappeared altogether. Hunger unexpectedly stalked t h e
There was widespread opti-
1I 122
LATE V I C T O R I A N
THH
HOLOCAUSTS
c
"world's breadbasket." "Conditions b e c a m e so bad by t h e w i n t e r of 1889-1890
w o r l d market. T h e Punjab ha<
that m a n y people w e r e in dire w a n t . In Miner C o u n t y [South Dakota] w h e r e
and, to a lesser extent, c o n t i n
w h e a t a n d corn averaged b e t w e e n 2 and 3 bushels to the acre s o m e 2500 indi-
prices in the US w h e a t belt. T
viduals w e r e reportedly t h r e a t e n e d by d e a t h f r o m starvation." C h u r c h g r o u p s
S o u t h Asia was particularly d a
t h a t ordinarily sent contributions t o relieve famine in Rajputana or S h a n d o n g
N a v t c g Singh explains:
mobilized instead to feed drought-stricken f a r m families in the Dakotas and western Kansas. 12 Across t h e s o u t h e r n border, m o s t of Mexico (except for the Bajio) escaped hardship in 1888-89, b u t t h e s t r o n g La Nina of 1890 b r o u g h t a d r o u g h t the m o s t severe of t h e c e n t u r y - to m u c h of the c o u n t r y that escalated the b i t t e r struggle b e t w e e n hacendados and small f a r m e r s over w a t e r rights, especially in La Laguna and the N o r t h . It w a s a preview of the drought-fueled agrarian conflict that w o u l d help destroy t h e Porfiriato in 1910. 13 In India, meanwhile, d r o u g h t w a s severe in widely scattered p a r t s of the sub-
This enormous European den ers not only to buy up old si of wheat to he supplied f r o m amount of wheat was purchn in a general depletion of stc namely, Messrs. Ralley Broth< purposes of export to Europegrains, thereby causing distre^
continent, although t h e total area affected was m u c h smaller t h a n in 1876. In Argul and the tributary states of Orissa, as well as in t h e neighboring G a n j a m district in Madras Presidency, a failed m o n s o o n and p o o r harvest were followed by a "price famine" - there w a s never really a true s h o r t a g e of grain - that s t r u c k viciously at the p a u p e r g r o u p s like the Pariahs, a tribal people w h o w e r e prevented by n e w forest laws f r o m " t u r n i n g to j u n g l e fruits and p r o d u c t s on w h i c h 1
they h a d customarily d e p e n d e d in t h e past in times of distress." '' According to Digby, 155,000 died. 15 In 1891-92 - rated as a "very strong" El N i n o year by m o d e r n meteorologists - t h e r e was a m o r e general m o n s o o n deficiency ( r a n g i n g from 15 percent in M a d r a s t o 25 percent in H y d e r a b a d ) that affected almost every c o r n e r of India except the C e n t r a l Provinces and the N o r t h Western Province. In K u r n o o l and Bellary (epicenters of the 1876 famine), " a b n o r m a l " deaths f r o m h u n g e r and the cholera that accompanied it were officially estimated at 45,000; a b o u t t h e s a m e n u m b e r died in several districts of Bengal and Bihar. Again t h e victims w e r e the poorest of the poor. 1 6 Cattle losses m e a n w h i l e t h r o u g h R a j p u t a n a were " e n o r m o u s " and grain riots b r o k e o u t in Ajmer. T h e Marwaris w e r e forced to m i g r a t e en masse in search of subsistence for themselves and their animals. 1 7 In t h e neighboring P u n j a b , t h e 1891 d r o u g h t w a s less devastating t h a n the locust plague that it u n l e a s h e d o n crops in all of Peshawer, D e r a j a t and Rawalpindi as well as s o m e districts o f Lahore. T h e natural d e s t r u c t i o n in t u r n w a s magnified by the o p e r a t i o n of t h e
V
W h e n villagers a t t e m p e d i w o u l d soon excced the e x p o cases beaten o r coerced by J creditors foreclosed on f a r m over pauperization. A Rawalj. b e c o m e a c o m m o n practice w ing him if he presses for payt s e e m e d to be leading to m u d e n d e d the d r o u g h t . Although of 1891, the explosive feedbat forces was a disturbing previ "excess mortality" of 3,120,(1 and 1891-92."> In his famous ty's general sccrctary, Allan "pauperizing t h e people ... [i cataclysms in t h e history of years down the r o a d would ti In China, w h e r e vast area: catastrophe, t h e Yellow Riv< a b o u t twenty miles above K.
T THE
AUSTS
G O V E R N M E N T OF HELL
123
:>y t h e w i n t e r of 1889-1890
world market. T h e P u n j a b had b e c o m e an i m p o r t a n t shock-absorber for Britain
m t y [South Dakota] w h e r e
and, to a lesser extent, continental Europe in face of p o o r harvests and higher
to t h e acre s o m e 2500 indi-
prices in t h e US w h e a t belt. T h e coincidence o f d r o u g h t in North America a n d
starvation." C h u r c h g r o u p s
South Asia w a s particularly d a n g e r o u s for p o o r Punjabis. T h u s in s p r i n g 1891, as
in Rajputana or S h a n d o n g
Navteg Singh explains:
lies in t h e Dakotas and westlexico (except for t h e Bajio) o f 1890 b r o u g h t a d r o u g h t ntry t h a t escalated t h e bitter w a t e r rights, especially in La ight-fueled agrarian conflict .y scattered parts of t h e sub-
This enormous European demand for wheat at a higher price induced the exporters not only to buy up old stocks largely, but also to make "forward" purchases of wheat to be supplied from the new crop at similar prices. Thus, an enormous amount of wheat was purchased at high price to be exported to Europe, resulting in a general depletion of stocks within die province. One European Company, namely, Messrs. Ralley Brothers & Co. purchased even the standing crops for the purposes of export to Europe. The local trader or baiu'd as usual raised the prices of grains, thereby causing distress in almost all the districts of the Punjab. 18
ich smaller than in 1876. In in the neighboring G a n j a m p o o r harvest w e r e followed o r t a g e of grain - diat struck :ribal people w h o were pre"ruits and products o n which 11
; of distress." ' According t o ry strong" El N i n o year by n o n s o o n deficiency (ranging id) that affected almost every he N o r t h Western Province, ne), "abnormal" deaths f r o m )fficially estimated at 45,000; Bengal and Bihar. Again the
W h e n villagers a t t e m p e d to h o l d o n t o t h e i r grain, fearing that f a m i n e prices w o u l d soon exceed t h e export m e r c h a n t s ' p u r c h a s e price, they w e r e in s o m e cases b e a t e n or coerced by agents of Ralley Brothers. O n the o t h e r hand, a s creditors foreclosed o n farms, s o m e smallholders c h o s e pre-emptive violence over pauperization. A Rawalpindi paper, q u o t e d by Singh, reported that "it h a s b e c o m e a c o m m o n practice w i t h t h e zamindars
to get rid o f a creditor by m u r d e r -
ing h i m if h e presses for p a y m e n t s of debts." T h e "price famine" in t h e P u n j a b seemed t o be leading t o m u c h larger clashes w h e n heavy rainfall in O c t o b e r 1891 e n d e d the d r o u g h t . A l t h o u g h authorities l e a r n e d little f r o m the agricultural crisis of 1891, the explosive feedback b e t w e e n local crop conditions and world m a r k e t forces w a s a disnirbing preview of the future. 1 ^ C e n s u s data later indicated a n "excess mortality" o f 3,120,000 in regions affected by t h e d r o u g h t s of 1888-89 and 1891-92. 20 In his f a m o u s "bombshell circular" that winter, the Congress Party''s genera] secretary, Allan Octavian H u m e , w a r n e d t h a t British neglect w a s
; " e n o r m o u s " and grain riots m i g r a t e en masse in search In the neighboring Punjab, rust plague that it unleashed li as well as s o m e districts of ified by the operation of the
"pauperizing the people ... [and] preparing t h e way for o n e of t h e m o s t terrible •cataclysms in the history of the world." T h e "famine o f t h e c e n t u r y " only five years d o w n the r o a d w o u l d tragically vindicate his p r o p h e c y 2 1 In China, w h e r e vast areas o f t h e N o r t h h a d still n o t recovered f r o m the 1877 catastrophe, the Yellow River h a d b r e a c h e d its new, hastily c o n s t r u c t e d d i k e s a b o u t t w e n t y miles above Kaifeng and r e c a p t u r e d its old channel t o the Yellow
I 14
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
Sea ai t h e end of S e p t e m b e r 1887." ( T h e floods m a y have been t h e result of La
THE
i
i :
T h e unrest in the countrvsi
N i n a - g e n e r a t e d rainfall anomalies, July 1886 t h r o u g h J u n e 1887.) 23 Repair w o r k
a r r o g a n c e of t h e foreign c o i n n
was unfinished when the annual flood c a m e earlier t h a n usual in J u n e 1888.
in t h e midst of d r o u g h t and fa
According t o an English civil e n g i n e e r w h o visited t h e site at t h e end of t h e
nese countryside) circulated at
s u m m e r , "The breach t h r o u g h t h e dike w a s a full mile in w i d t h and the f l o o d
the E u r o p e a n s h a d no cows y
swept o n w a r d toward H u n - t z c Lake and t h e H u a i River, i n u n d a t i n g a strip vari-
story that the foreigners kidna
ously estimated at 20 to 50 miles in width, carrying away houses a n d villages a n d
o b t a i n the c o n d e n s e d milk.
parts of walled cities." T h e c o r r e s p o n d e n t f o r the London Spectator, struggling t o
g r o u n d T o n g h a k ("Eastern 1
convey t h e immensity of t h e disaster, picturesquely c o m p a r e d it t o "five D a n u b e s
- p r o v i d e d a millenarian f r a m e
pouring f r o m a height for t w o m o n t h s on e n d " o n t o a "vast, o p e n plain, flat as Salisbury Plain, but studded with 3000 villages, all s w a r m i n g as English villages never s w a r m ... a scene unrivaled since t h e Deluge." C o n t e m p o r a r y a c c o u n t s claimed that 7 million d r o w n e d o r died in t h e ensuing f a m i n e in n o r t h e r n H e n a n
and foreign exploitation. In e a r j
and m o r e equitable taxes, 10O.(
!
g a i n e d the upper hand over g o
1
and in S h a n d o n g that continued t h r o u g h 1889. A British consul later told t h e Manchester Geographical Society that "at least a million people w e r e d r o w n e d , perhaps several millions." 2 ' 1
used t h e uprising as a pretext J a p a n e s e War, w h i c h the m o d T o n g h a k farmers, however, vv
;
t e m a t i c extermination of t h c i
Korea's problem, meanwhile, was d r o u g h t not flood, and t h e resulting f o o d
revolt ( r e g r o u p e d in the Chonc
shortages w e r e exacerbated by the export of rice u n d e r c o n t r a c t t o Japan a n d
t r o u b l e the Japanese for m a n y
the relentless fiscal pressure on t h e peasantry. T h e s o u t h e r n Cholla provinces -
In Russia, p o o r harvests d u
the peninsula's traditional g r a n a r y but highly vulnerable t o climate fluctuation
catastrophic d r o u g h t in spring
- suffered especially f r o m a "vicious circle" of rising a n d disproportionate rev-
black soil provinces of the Vol
enue exactions. T h e region had l o n g b e e n a social tinderbox. ' A f t e r t h e d r o u g h t of 1888-89 in Cholla," Woo-keun H a n explains, "the situation b e c a m e really serious." Social banditry and violent protest b c c a m e c o m m o n p l a c e and eventually spread t o o t h e r provinces: Farmers had rurned bandit before in bad times, of coursc, but not to this extent. Well-armed and organized robber bands began to appear, with bases deep in the mountains, attacking shipments of tax grain and convoys of imported goods on their way to Seoul. Another result was a wave of local uprisings of various kinds, usually against corrupt officials. Miners revolted in Hamgyong and Kyongsang Provinces, and the fishermen of Cheju rebelled. There were peasant risings in almost every province, sometimes led by former officials or government slaves.25
of t h e Urals (epicenter of d r o i j
of t h e rye crop, the chief sut
|
q u c n t l y the case in India, the t
I
holds of any savings in m o n e y
j
of t h e i r r e d e m p t i o n payment-.
|
cope with the punitive tax off
I
ncgradskii, that aimed to f o r t
!
zem - We may n o t eat e n o u g l
|
result, a majority of rural c o n
j
"even before t h e disastrous h,
•
the signs associated with f a m r
j
sicians and visiting scientists h
|
near-starvation. 2 8
T AUSTS
T H E G O V E R N M E N T OF HELL
iy have been the result of La g h j u n e 1887.)*' Repair w o r k ier than usual in June 1888. d the site at the end of the mile in width and the flood River, inundating a strip variaway houses and villages and vndon Spectator, struggling to compared it to "five Danubes to a "vast, open plain, flat as swarming as English villages re." Contemporary accounts lg famine in n o r t h e r n H e n a n British consul later told the tillion people were drowned,
1Z5
T h e unrest in the countryside was aggravated by the growing visibility a n d arrogance of the foreign community. In addition to the scandal o f food exports in the midst of drought and famine, fantastic rumors (common also in the Chinese countryside) circulated a b o u t ghoulish Western conspiracies. "Seeing t h a t the Europeans had n o cows yet drank milk from cans, [peasants] believed the story that the foreigners kidnaped w o m e n a n d cut off their breasts in order to obtain the condensed milk." 26 Like the W h i t e Lotus sects in China, the underg r o u n d Tonghak ("Eastern Learning") Society - anti-Western and anti-Confucian - provided a millenarian f r a m e w o r k for peasant resistance to intolerable taxation and foreign exploitation. In early 1894, demanding an e n d to rice exports to Japan and m o r e equitable taxes, 100,000 peasant rebels under loose Tonghak leadership gained the upper hand over government troops in Cholla. Both China and j a p a n used the uprising as a pretext to send troops to Korea, precipitating the SinoJapanese War, which the modernized Japanese military easily w o n . The t o u g h Tonghak farmers, however, w e r e more difficult to defeat, and even after a systematic extermination of their civilian base in Cholla province, embers of the
flood, and the resulting food under contract to Japan and southern Cholla provinces erable to climate
fluctuation
ag and disproportionate rev:inderbox. "After the drought ! situation became really seriommonplace and eventually
revolt (regrouped in the Chondogyo or "Heavenly Way" movement) remained t o trouble the Japanese for many years. 27 In Russia, poor harvests d u r i n g the dry years of 1888-90 were prelude to t h e catastrophic drought in spring a n d s u m m e r of 1891 that brought famine to the black soil provinces of the Volga valley as well as the Orenburg wheat-belt s o u t h of the Urals (epicenter of drought during the 1997-98 El Nino). Seventy percent of the rye crop, the chief subsistence of the muzhiks, was lost. As was so frequently the case in India, the tax collector had previously stripped peasant households of any savings in money or grain. Still staggering u n d e r the financial burden
>urse, but not to this extent, pear, with bases deep in the woys of imported goods on il uprisings of various kinds, Hamgyong and Kyongsang lere were peasant risings in als or government slaves.25
of their redemption payments from serfdom, peasants in 1891 also struggled t o cope with the punitive tax offensive, launched in 1887 by finance minister Vyshnegradskii, that aimed to force t h e m to export more grain. ("Ncdocdim no vyvezctn - We may not eat enough, b u t we will export" was the official slogan.) As a result, a majority of rural c o m m u n e s (obshchinas) were essentially insolvent, a n d "even before the disastrous harvest of 1891," writes Richard Robbins, "many o f the signs associated with famine had begun t o appear." Local priests, zcmslro physicians and visiting scientists h a d all warned of appalling poverty a n d widespread near-starvation. 28
T 126
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
T ! 11: G C
Now, in the grim winter of 1891-92, m o r e than 12 million peasants, having
While s o m e h e a d e d directly f o r
already sold their cattle and horses, w e r e forced to b u r n the thatched roofs
clustered around interior river t
of their huts for heat and bake almost nutrition-less " f a m i n e b r e a d " f r o m goose-
the s m a l l ' t o w n of Joasciro in (
foot and other wild herbs. Reports reached M o s c o w of " m o t h e r s a t t e m p t i n g t o
whose full i m p o r t a n c e for t h e
murder their children in order to spare t h e m t h e pain of h u n g e r . " Unlike British
apparent until a s e c o n d wave of"
India a few years later, however, t h e g o v e r n m e n t of t h e soon-to-be-assassinated
Maria d e Araujo. a 28-year-old 1
Czar Alexander III was able t o prevent o u t r i g h t starvation. Although there w a s
charismatic local priest Cicero
widespread criticism of t h e i n c o m p e t e n c e of z e m s t v o institutions, t h e disorga-
invoke the p o w e r o f the Sacred I
nization of public-works initiatives, and t h e additional financial burden of t h e
m u n i o n host suddenly turned tl
loans forced on the peasantry, the official relief campaign succeeded in k e e p i n g
tion repeated itself before ever
the death rate in the affected provinces f r o m increasing m o r e t h a n a single per-
Precious Blood in July 1889, M<
centage point (from 3.76 percent in 1881-90 t o 4.81 percent in 1892). By contrast,
fiery millenialist, led a processio
much v a u n t e d British efforts during the f a m i n e s of 1896-97 and 1899-1900 w e r e
Lady o f Sorrows:
accompanied by mortality spikes of 20 p e r c e n t or higher. Most o f t h e 400.000 t o 600,000 victims in E u r o p e a n Russia w e r e killed by t y p h u s and cholera spread by
Before an overflowing assembi sermon on the mystery of Chri: to the eyes of his listeners; then which were visibly stained wit] the host received by Maria de A blood of Jesus Christ."'
famine refugees rather than by starvation p e r se. 29 In s o u t h e r n Africa the 1888-89 d r o u g h t forced tens of t h o u s a n d s of f a r m e r s from their land, a tragedy that w a s w e l c o m e d as a g o d s e n d by E u r o p e a n planters vexed by persistent labor shortages. T h u s in 1889 J o h n Peter H o r n u n g w r o t e to his b r o t h e r (the f u t u r e bestselling a u t h o r of Raffles) a b o u t the windfall of desperate d r o u g h t refugees from outside t h e district that w e r e allowing him to pro-
Ethiopia: T h e ' C r u e l Days'
ceed on schedule with the poppy harvest o n his new o p i u m plantation in M o z a m bique. H o r n u n g , a leading narcotraficantc of late Victorian times, m a n a g e d t h e
Meanwhile, in the ancient Chris
so-called M o z a m b i q u e Produce C o m p a n y for jardine Mathieson, t h e giant H o n g
u n a n s w e r e d and t h e r e were n o
Kong firm "whose existence was historically wedded to the sale of o p i u m to t h e
such a literally biblical declensi
Chinese." 3 "
"Cruel Days" - as did the H o i
Brazil's " D r o u g h t of the T w o Eights" (1888), as it is still r e m e m b e r e d in t h e
d r o u g h t that began in late 1SS6
Nordeste, began as early as January 1887, w h e n sowing was delayed d u e to. t h e
the back-to-back El Nirios) w a
failure of the rains." Weak t h u n d e r s t o r m s partially b r o k e the d r o u g h t , b u t it
m u r r a i n , that quickly killed of
returned with a vengeance in 1888, then abated only t o r e s u m e w i t h n e w inten-
the H o r n of Africa before sprea
sity in 1891. "The circumstances," writes o n e historian, "were n o t unlike t h o s e
years before, in t h e famine-stri<
of the devastating years of 1877-1879." As crops failed a n d herds died, scrtanejos
derpest had wiped o u t much o
again asked themselves, like the p r o t a g o n i s t in the Graciliano R a m o s novel,
ern E u r o p e . The catastrophic s;
"could [they] g o on living in a cemetery?" 3 2 In Ceara alone, 150,000 said no. 3 3
era in h u m a n s : i
T AUSTS
T H E G O V E R N M E N T OF H E L L
n 12 million peasants, having
127
While s o m e headed directly for Fortaleza a n d hence P a r a a n d A m a z o n a s , o t h e r s
to b u r n the thatched roofs
clustered a r o u n d interior river t o w n s a n d oases. In o n e of these f a m i n e refuges,
> "famine b r e a d " f r o m goose-
t h e small t o w n of Joaseiro in Ceara's Cariri \ alley, a small miracle t o o k place
vv of " m o t h e r s a t t e m p t i n g to
w h o s e full i m p o r t a n c e for the history of n o r t h e a s t Brazil w o u l d n o t b e c o m e
lin of hunger." Unlike British
a p p a r e n t until a second wave of d r o u g h t , h u n g e r and rebellion in t h e later 1890s.
•f the soon-to-be-assassinated
Maria de Araujo, a 28-year-old laundress a n d bcata (lay n u n ) in t h e household o f
irvation. A l t h o u g h there was
charismatic local priest Cicero R a m a o Batista, was a t t e n d i n g a special mass t o
itvo institutions, t h e disorga-
invoke t h e p o w e r of t h e Sacred H e a r t of Jesus against t h e d r o u g h t w h e n her c o m -
onal financial b u r d e n of the
m u n i o n h o s t suddenly t u r n e d t h e color of b l o o d . For w e e k s , the transubstantia-
npaign succeeded in keeping
rion r e p e a t e d itself b e f o r e ever g r o w i n g crowds. Finally, o n the feast day of t h e
ising m o r e t h a n a single per-
,
Precious Blood in July 1889, M o n s i g n o r M o n t e i t o , Cicero's p a t r o n and a n o t h e r
percent in 1892). By contrast,
'
fiery millenialist, led a procession o f 3,000 p e o p l e to Joaseiro's little chapel of O u r
1896-97 and 1899-1900 w e r e igher. Most of t h e 400,000 to
Lady of Sorrows: I
y p h u s and cholera spread by ens of t h o u s a n d s of f a r m e r s
j
godsend by E u r o p e a n plant-
j
9 J o h n Peter H o r n u n g w r o t e
!
es) about the windfall of des-
|
at were allowing him to pro-
1
o p i u m plantation in Mozam-
|
ictorian times, m a n a g e d the
Before an overflowing assembly, Monteiro mounted the pulpit and delivered a sermon on the mystery of Christ's passion and death that reportedly brought tears to the eyes of his listeners; then h e dramatically Lhrust aloft a fistful of altar linens which were visibly stained with blood; that blood, he declared, had issued from the host received by Maria de Araujo, and it was, according to the Rector, the very blood of Jesus Christ.3"
Ethiopia: The 'Cruel Days' Meanwhile, in the ancient Christian k i n g d o m o f Ethiopia, desperate prayers went
e Mathieson, t h e giant H o n g
i
u n a n s w e r e d a n d there were no s u d d e n miracles. Few r e g i o n s have ever endured
d to the sale of o p i u m to the
j
!
such a literally biblical declension o f disaster - still k n o w n as the Yakefu Qan o r
i
d r o u g h t t h a t began in late 1888 a n d lasted until 1892 ( a l m o s t certainly linked to
it is still r e m e m b e r e d in the
"Cruel Days" - as did the H o r n o f Africa b e g i n n i n g in 1888.35 T h e protracted
•ving was delayed d u e t o the
the back-to-back El Ninos) was a c c o m p a n i e d by
ly b r o k e t h e d r o u g h t , b u t it
m u r r a i n , t h a t quickly killed off 90 percent of domestic a n d wild r u m i n a n t s in
y t o r e s u m e with n e w inten-
t h e H o r n of Africa b e f o r e spreading south t h r o u g h the Rift Valley.36 Five h u n d r e d
rian, "were n o t unlike those
years before, in the famine-stricken decades o f the early fourteenth-century, rin-
rinderpest,
a cattle plague o r
led and herds died, scrtanejos
d e r p e s t h a d w i p e d o u t m u c h of t h e livestock b a s e of f e u d a l agriculture in West-
le Graciliano R a m o s novel,
e r n E u r o p e . T h e catastrophic s y m p t o m s of t h e epidemic closely r e s e m b l e d chol-
ara alone, 150,000 said n o . "
e r a in h u m a n s :
v t>
T IZ8
LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S I S
THIi
It was a terribly devastating disease, w h i c h r a n its c o u r s e in an i n f e c t e d a n i m a l o v e r
G
ral people. "Evidence in writt<
a period of a week o r so. T h e animal initially m a n i f e s t s discharges a r o u n d t h e n o s e ,
c o n t e m p o r a r y studies of r u r a l
m o u t h , and eyes; these early s y m p t o m s ( w h i c h s o m e t i m e s are n o t c o n s p i c u o u s ) are succecded by astonishing stench, r e c u r r e n t debilitating and explosive d i a r r h e a
Wallo as a w h o l e (and p r o b a b
(with subsequent dehydration), and, p e r h a p s m o s t arresting, t e n e s m u s - t h e p a i n f u l
p r o d u c t i o n was n e i t h e r land n
struggle of the beast to defecatc even w h e n n o t h i n g r e m a i n s to b e v o i d e d . D e a t h is
m o r e than the acquisition of la
followed by very rapid putrefaction. 3 7
ity o f h o u s e h o l d s - the breeddetermined household strateg
T h e swiftness with which rinderpest decimated h e r d s was i n d e e d extraordinary. "Alaqa Lamma Haylu, a y o u n g m a n traveling t h r o u g h G o j j a m at t h e time,
decisions, and c e m e n t e d vertic !
the p r o d u c i n g classes." O x e n ,
recalled awakening from an intense fever a n d finding all the cattle dead." 3 8 Euro-
p r o d u c t i o n , store of wealth a n
pean missionaries described herds of a t h o u s a n d o r m o r e cattle r e d u c e d t o o n e
rapid social collapse. 4 -
or t w o scrawny survivors. E m p e r o r Menelik II w a s said to have lost 250,000
j
head. Without their sturdy p l o u g h oxen, highland f a r m e r s were r e d u c e d to scrap-
[
W i t h o u t a n i m a l traction, rr tivation when t h e rains briefly
ing at the soil with sticks, while strictly pastoral people, like t h e Galla, w e r e
tried to work t h e i r fields w i t h i
"utterly destroyed." T h e origins of the o u t b r e a k have b e e n t r a c e d t o infected
of w h a t they h a d produced t v
cattle imported from India as p a r t of t h e provision f o r an Italian a r m y invading
at w a r with S u d a n e s e Mahdis
Eritrea under General San Marzano. "Many Ethiopians," writes Richard Pan-
invaders, Ethiopia had almost
khurst, who interviewed survivors of this period in t h e 1960s, " k n o w i n g of Italian
e m p e r o r , Menelik II (crownec
ambitions in the country, believed that the disease had in fact b e e n spread delib-
killed in battle w i t h the Mahdi
erately." 39 Drought and the blast-furnace heat that accompanied it only intensified the
j '
deadly murrain. "Cattle and wildlife w e r e c o n c e n t r a t e d at t h e f e w r e m a i n i n g waterholes, thus creating perfect conditions for t h e spread o f t h e rinderpest virus." 1 " At the same time, the scorched fields of the peasantry w e r e o v e r r u n by successive invasions of caterpillars (army w o r m s ) , locusts and rats. C o n t e m p o rary accounts by European travelers and missionaries, surveyed by Pankhurst, emphasize the terrible swiftness with which verdant landscapes w e r e t r a n s f o r m e d
I \
and t u r n e d his soldiers to farrr W h e n Menelik tried to i m p o r Somali and Danakil country J s e q u e n c e was a radical s h o r t a
)
survival of the rich. Prices —
|
increased a h u n d r e d f o l d or m
t i Ethiop:
into bleak wastes. W h a t had been "very beautiful fields of d u r r a and barley, numerous herds of cattle, sheep and goats" w e r e stripped d o w n t o skeletons of sand and rock: "absolutely a desert; n o m o r e inhabitants, no m o r e cultivation, no more flocks." 4 ' In Ethiopia's highlands, rinderpest and t h e o t h e r plagues s t r u c k at a society whose pillar was the ox. T h e f a r m e r s w h o struggled w i t h the heavy, rocky soils of Wallo and Tigray w e r e every bit as d e p e n d e n t u p o n their cattle as any pasto-
Wheat Barley Plough oxen Cattle
T THE GOVERNMENT
AUSTS
•sc in an infected a n i m a l o v e r i discharges a r o u n d t h e n o s e , crimes are n o t c o n s p i c u o u s ) rating a n d explosive d i a r r h e a ;sting, t e n e s m u s - t h e p a i n f u l rmains to b e voided. D e a t h is
OF
HELL
1 29
ral people. "Evidence in written and oral f o r m , " explains James McCann, "plus contemporary studies of rural conditions in the area, indicate that for n o r t h e r n Wallo as a whole (and probably the entire northeast as well), the scarce unit of production was neither land n o r labor but capital in the f o r m of p l o w oxen. Far more than the acquisition of land - which was readily available to the vast majority of households - the breeding, buying, borrowing, a n d maintaining of oxen determined household strategies of land and labor allocation, affected cropping
;
herds was indeed extraordi-
decisions, and cemented vertical patterns of dependency and stratification within
through Gojjam at the time,
the producing classes." Oxen, in other words, were simultaneously a means o f
lg all the cattle dead." 38 Euro-
production, store of wealth and symbol of social rank. T h e i r decimation b r o u g h t
r more cattle reduced to one
rapid social collapse."52
/as said to have lost 250,000
W i t h o u t animal traction, moreover, the peasantry w a s unable t o resume cul-
irmers were reduced to scrap-
tivation w h e n the rains briefly returned in J u n e L889. S o m e farmers, to be sure,
people, like the Galla, were
tried to work their fields with iron-tipped hoes, but the yields were only fractions
have been traced to infected
of what they had produced two years earlier with p l o u g h oxen. Simultaneously
1 for an Italian army invading
at war with Sudanese Mahdists, Tigrean secessionists and (a little later) Italian
opians," writes Richard Pan-
invaders, Ethiopia h a d almost n o wherewithal to import food. Although the n e w
the 1960s, "knowing of Italian
emperor, Menelik II (crowned in November 1889 after Emperor Yohannes w a s
had in fact been spread delib-
killed in battle with t h e Mahdists), promptly opened his granaries to his subjects and turned his soldiers to farming, the imperial supplies were quickly exhausted.
lpanied it only intensified the
W h e n Menelik tried to import grain, "the caravans were pillaged g o i n g through
ntrated at the few remaining
Somali and Danakil country w h e r e the people were also starving." 13 The con-
rinderpest
sequence was a radical shortage of food and livestock that threatened even t h e
he peasantry were overrun by
survival of the rich. Prices - to the extent that they retained any meaning -
, locusts and rats. Contempo-
increased a hundredfold or more. Table 4.1 is constructed from c o n t e m p o r a r y
the spread of the
aries, surveyed by Pankhurst, t landscapes were transformed
Table 4.1
ill fields of durra and barley,
Ethiopia: Famine and Price Ratios
stripped down to skeletons of
1889
1890
itants, no more cultivation, no
PriceiQuantity
Price:Quantity 1:1.5
Wheat
1:200
ler plagues struck at a society
Barley
1:400
led with the heavy, rocky soils
Plough oxen
upon their cattle as any pasto-
Cattle
1:2
2.4:1
80:1
1:1
60:1
T [30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
THE
HOLOCAUSTS
G
reports of the Russian explorei m o s t extreme/ 4 Menelik's m o s t recent biogi tally incomprehensible characi clergy, and makwrtiicut," he w r t r o p h e engulfing them, and a t ingly, Menetik ( w h o m Marcus ing proclamation at the e n d on lack of prayer. "When t h e tion, saying 'Pray to God.' T h because we have not prayed and has begun t o destroy thei in t h e ensuing t w o years, anc opia's regional hierarchy, shift Shewans. The once-powerful percent of the population w a s abled, and the desperate effort t h r o n e - to preserve Tigrean "Feeding a small army even f o in t h e shattered Tigre.""' W h e n nobles and warrior masse. The French priest C o u l that "everywhere I meet w a l k by hyenas." A British consul: "heart-rending cries and l a m e night. One Italian traveler d simply a "cemetery," while a n of mules and camel for k e r n "only to see o t h e r boys w h o r the carcass of a horse, the stu snatch, biting w i t h their t e e t h softer because they arc the i prey of vultures, hyenas, jack Muslim slave-dealers. Worst
T i
T H E G O V E R N M E N T OF HELL
USTS
reports of the Russian explorer Mashkov and shows famine-driven inflation at its most extreme. 4 ' 1 Menelik's most recent biographer, Harold Marcus, emphasizes the fundamentally incomprehensible character of so many simultaneous disasters. "Populace, clergy, and mflfcwajient," he writes, "were mystified and bewildered by the catastrophe engulfing t h e m , and attributed their troubles to a lack of piety.' Accordingly, Menelik ( w h o m Marcus depicts as anything but a fatalist) issued a despairing proclamation at the end of July 1889 which b l a m e d drought and plague o n lack of prayer. " W h e n the animal epidemic was starting, I made a proclamation, saying 'Pray to God.' T h e animals are ... all dead ... all this has happened because w e have not prayed enough. Now the epidemic is turning to people and has begun to destroy them." Marcus asserts that "millions of people died" in the ensuing two years, and that the famine permanently reconfigured Ethiopia's regional hierarchy, shifting power from Yohannes' Tigreans to Menelik's Shewans. T h e once-powerful economies of Begemder (where an astounding 75 percent of the population was said to have perished or fled) and Gojjam were disabled, and the desperate efforts of Ras Alula - Menelik's chief competitor for t h e throne - to preserve Tigrean hegemony w e r e undercut by lack of provisions. 45 "Feeding a small a r m y even for a very short time was soon to become impossible in the shattered Tigre."'' 6 W h e n nobles and warriors went hungry, the rural poor of course died e n masse. T h e French priest Coulbeaux, writing in March 1890 from Keren, reported that "everywhere I m e e t walking skeletons a n d even horrible corpses, half eaten by hyenas." A British consular agent on the Somali Coast complained of t h e "heart-rending cries and lamentations" of the starving that kept him awake each night. One Italian traveler described the great Tigran trade hub of Adwa as
I
simply a "cemetery," while another found children frantically searching the d u n g of mules and camel for kernels of grain. "Horrified I turned away," he wrote, "only to see other boys w h o m the zapte [police] are driving away by force f r o m the carcass of a horse, the stinking leftover of the hyenas, from this carcass they snatch, biting with their teeth at t h e entrails - the entrails because they are softer, softer because they are the m o s t putrid." Famished people also "disputed t h e prey of vultures, hyenas, jackals, and pie-dogs," while others sold themselves t o Muslim slave-dealers. Worst was the famine-induced insanity and cannibalism.
T 132
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s SKliL
THE
Ethiopian writers would terrify later generations with stories of mothers cooking
s o u t h across a desert that ha-
and eating their children. Even in the extremes of starvation, however, Ethiopians
were to be seen everywhere ;
retained a gallows sense of h u m o r . A popular song, supposedly based on the true
the greatest grain-producing
story of a man who killed and ate his spouse, was called "His Wife Gave Him
Somaliland with corn.""
Indigestion.' M7
A famished peasantry tha
Nature was perceived as radically disordered in other ways as well. One of the
was equally a lush target f o r
strangest and most horrifying aspects of t h e catastrophe was t h e utter boldness
influenza killed tens of t h o u s
with which wild animals, crazed with h u n g e r and thirst, attacked the weakened h u m a n population. "Contemporary accounts describe the country as swarming with animals and birds of prey w h o had lost all their fear. Old people of Tigray such as Abba Jerome and Wayzaro Sangal say it was c o m m o n at night to hear the cry or groan wasadanni ('it is taking m e away, away!') uttered by famine-enfeebled victims, often old m e n and w o m e n , as the hyenas carried them off to eat." From every corner of the country - the Shewan highlands, Karan, Harar, and so on missionaries and local officials reported t h a t the wild beasts "reigned supreme." In Begemder, for example, "lions, leopards, etc., have taken the upper hand and attack and eat h u m a n beings in broad daylight"; while at Burka, "leopards, jackals and lions attacked [the inhabitants] as far as their villages and ate large n u m b e r s of them.""18
to the Ogaden t o bring b a c k was conservatively estimate* in 1897 to conduct pioneerii third of the population of Ei ished by 1892. Mortality, o f pastoral Galla south, for cxa that somewhere between t w peared. Vast tracts of once a desolate and abandoned.' 2 IV rhe powerful El Nino of 189 Ethiopia was m o v i n g closer "
Famine Defeats the Mahc
H u m a n predation also increased. Ethiopia's feudal system, despite Meneliks energetic efforts, threatened to decompose into a Hobbesian w a r of the strong
T h e drought and low Nile
against the weak. H u n g e r became so acute that provincial governors and their
n o r t h e r n Sudan, where f a i r
warrior levies abandoned administrative responsibilities to forage as marauding
a jihad against Egypt. In A\
bands. Pankhurst cites, for example, the case of Dajazmach Walda Gabreel, "the
lahi, had sent messengers l<
governor of the Charchar area, southwest of Harar, [who] had been obliged
m o n i n g the Khedive Muhai
to abandon his province; in order to live h e and his soldiers had gone to raid
Hamid to s u b m i t to the M;
Arussi which was still well supplied with grain and had for that reason already
Porte refused, a large army
been pillaged by the troops of Ras Makonnen [governor of Hararghe] and later
N u j u m i , the most talented
1
by those of the incumbent governor Ras Darge.' M? Governor Makonnen, mean-
the annual flood, the thousa
while, raided deep into the Ogaden, w h e r e he fortified water holes and garri-
overwhelmed t h e scant foo<
soned them with nomadic Somali allies (thus establishing an Ethiopian claim to
so starved, according to o n e
the Ogaden that would be invoked in the bitter border war of 1977).™ The Ethio-
on which they prayed, and ;
pian invasion on top of the drought did vast damage to Somali society. An Eng-
along the Nile, al-Nujumi v
lishman w h o visited the Ogaden a few years later "marched for over seven h o u r s
reinforcements f r o m the sou
.USTS
i stories of mothers cooking rvation, however, Ethiopians upposedly based on the true called "His Wife Gave H i m
T H E G O V E R N M E N T O F HE1.1.
133
south across a desert that had o n c e been covered with corn. Traces of irrigation were to be seen everywhere and m a n y deserted villages. This was, t e n years ago, the greatest grain-producing district in the country, the inhabitants supplying ... Somaliland with corn." 5 1 A famished peasantry that w a s easy prey for hyenas and robbers, of course,
her ways as well. One of the ophe was the utter boldness lirst, attacked the weakened .be the country as swarming ir fear. Old people of Tigray common at night to hear the i uttered by famine-enfeebled irried them off to eat." From Is, Karan, Harar, and so on Id beasts "reigned supreme." ve taken the upper hand and le at Burka, "leopards, jackals illages and ate large n u m b e r s
was equally a lush target for epidemic disease. Dysentery, smallpox, typhus a n d influenza killed tens of thousands, while the great raiding parties s e n t by Menelik to the O g a d e n to bring back cattle for his farmers also returned w i t h cholera. It was conservatively estimated by Dr. R. Wurtz, a French physician w h o arrived in 1897 to conduct pioneering studies of the country's public health, that onethird of the population of Ethiopia, and perhaps of the entire H o r n region, perished by 1892. Mortality, of course, was m u c h higher in certain regions. In t h e pastoral Galla south, for example, Wurtz and other foreign observers estimated that s o m e w h e r e b e t w e e n two-thirds and four-fifths of the population had disappeared. Vast tracts of once arable highlands, as well as semi-arid grassland, w e r e desolate and abandoned. 5 2 Meanwhile, a second wave of drought (correlated to the powerful El Nino of 1891) revived famine and epidemic through 1892, just as Ethiopia was moving closer to all-out war with Italy.53
Famine Defeats the Mahdists dal system, despite Menelik's rlobbesian war of the strong rovincial governors and their ilities to forage as m a r a u d i n g jazmach Walda Gabreel, "the rar, [who] had been obliged Ids soldiers had gone to raid d had for that reason already 'ernor of Hararghe] and later Governor Makonnen, meanrtified water holes and garri)lishing an Ethiopian claim to der war of 1977).150 T h e Ethiog e to Somali society. An Engmarched for over seven hours
T h e drought and low Nile of 1888 was equally devastating to t h e central a n d northern Sudan, where famine unhinged the great design of the Mahdists for a jihad against Egypt. In April 1887, the Mahdi's successor, the Khalifa Abdullahi, had sent messengers to Wadi Haifa in upper Egypt bearing letters "summoning the Khedive M u h a m m a d Tawfiq, Q u e e n Victoria, and Sultan Abd alHamid to submit to the Mahdia." W h e n Buckingham Palace and the Sublime Porte refused, a large a r m y was concentrated at Dongola in Nubia under the alNujumi, the most talented of t h e Mahdia's generals. Even before the failure o f the annual flood, the thousands o f warriors, their camp followers a n d horses h a d overwhelmed the scant food resources of t h e local riverine tribes, w h o b e c a m e so starved, according to one account, that "they stole the Dervishes' sheepskins, on which they prayed, and ate them." 1 4 W i t h grain suddenly scarce everywhere along the Nile, al-Nujumi was ordered to march on Egypt w i t h o u t watting f o r reinforcements f r o m the south. T h e Khalifa reassured his followers that the Egyp-
l «
134
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
t h e
h o l o c a u s t s
g o
tians would welcome t h e m as liberators, and sent along a "final set of warnings to
fatigue, had come to O m d u r m a i
the khedive. Queen Victoria and the British agent in Cairo. Accompanying these
near Khor Shambat." 5 * They c a n
were a n u m b e r of d o c u m e n t s proving the recent Mahdist victory over K i n g j o h n
ing grain from Fashoda in the s o
[Yohannes of Ethiopia]."
55
But the hungry fellahin of upper Egypt, their o w n crops dying in the fields for lack of water, provided litde succor to the Mahdist army whose advance on
In fact, the Khalifa was transfer torship. " T h e onset of the famine," F
empty stomachs "was being m a d e a terrible cost." Al-Nujumi's holy a r m y was
cal t i m e sincc it coincided w i t h
already half-dead f r o m h u n g e r w e n t it finally collided with the well-fed Egyptian
to O m d u r m a n . T h e provisionin
levies of General Grenfell at Tushki in August 1889. T h e annihilation of Mahdist?
dofan was a serious problem a n
on the battlefield was followed by a desperate exodus of the starving population
plied with grain at preferential r
of n o r t h e r n Sudan, w h o left a trail of skeletons along the sad road to E g y p t . "
by t h e influx of distressed prov
In the following year, f a m i n e - exploited with cruel genius by another British
only to starve in t h e capital." T
general, Kitchener - also wrecked Mahdist plans to overrun the Egyptian gar-
redoubled by the moral defeat
risons at Kossier and Suakin- along the Red Sea. Previously, writes Holt, "trade
egalitarian c o m m u n i t y of beli
with the local tribes was proceeding t h r o u g h Suakin and the import of grain
sioner of the treasury, Ibrahim
was to some extent alleviating the hardships caused by the famines. T h e military
f r o m the exactions required b }
authorities were strongly opposed to this policy, since it amounted to feeding the
sion the Ta'aisha at all cost, h
enemy. The political authorities thought differently, since it was desired to win
was becoming a " g o v e r n m e n t
over the support of tribes w h o were n o t hilly c o m m i t t e d to the Mahdia." In the
Another of t h e Khalifa's p i
event, Kitchener simply ignored his civilian superiors and cut off the food supply
g r u e s o m e and unequal s t r u g g
to eastern Sudan. T h e tribes starved and Kitchener w o n easy fame defeating the remnant of the jihad at Tukar in February 1890.57 In Darfur, a vast region the size of France in the western Sudan, the famine
O m d u r m a n b e c a m e a stage o i n s u l t e d the b e s i e g e d E g y p t u o t h e r filth. N o w t h e y were t o
was also "possibly the worst ever," but Alexander De Waal principally blames civil war and O m d u r m a n ' s grain requisitioning. "At one point there were more t h a n 36,000 Mahdist troops in El Fahser, and w h e n on campaign they 'ate, drank, wore or stole' everything there was. In western Darfur the armies are remembered
T h e rich w e r e able to save t h the poor there w a s no escapc ciated crowds with besotted t h e siege, I s a w o n c e m o r e i n
as having 'eaten' the villages." T h e devastation was so complete that one of the
i n g for a n y t h i n g m e r e l y t o p
rebel leaders referred to his country as simply "a heap of ruins/' 515
a n d there w a s n o o n e to t h r c
Meanwhile unspeakable scenes were being enacted in the great, bloated Mahdist capital. According to the captive Austrian priest Ohrwalder, "All the principal towns and villages on the Blue Nile as far south as Karkoj have been destroyed, such as Kemlin, Messalamieh, Wad Medina, Abu Haraz, Wad el Abbas and Rufaa; the inhabitants of all these towns, m e n , w o m e n , and children, under great
a r e a selected b y the Khalifa b o n e s being t h e remains o f i a n a b u n d a n c e o f food conv< w a n d e r e d t h r o u g h the s t r c e
1
.USTS
T H E G O V E R N M E N T OE HULL
13)
ng a "final set of warnings ro
fatigue, had come to O m d u r m a n , w h e r e they sheltered in the north of the town
Cairo. Accompanying these
near Khor Shambat." 5y They came believing that the Mahdia, which was import-
hdist victory over King John
ing grain f r o m Fashoda in the south, would protect all equally against starvation. In fact, the Khalifa was transforming O m d u r m a n into a murderous tribal dicta-
.vn crops dying in the fields
torship.
list army whose advance on
"The onset of the famine," Holt explains, "had occurred at a particularly criti-
Al-Nujumi's holy a r m y was
cal time since it coincided with the migration of the Ta'aisha [the Khalifa's tribe]
j with the well-fed Egyptian
to O m d u r m a n . The provisioning of their multitudes as they passed t h r o u g h Kor-
The annihilation of Mahdist?
dofan was a serious problem and w h e n they reached O m d u r m a n they were sup-
.s of the starving population
plied with grain at preferential rates. The situation in O m d u r m a n was aggravated
g the sad road to Egypt. 56
by the influx of distressed provincials who fled from the famine in their villages
lei genius by another British
only to starve in the capital." T h e military defeat of the Egyptian jihad was now
> 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<
with the gengzi year of the lunar calendar" (the first since 1680), was destined to bring cataclysmic social disorder (which, of course, is w h a t h a p p e n e d ) / 7 T h r o u g h o u t the sertao, moreover, dissident Sebastianist priests and lay beatos were identifying the new Brazilian Republic with the reign of the Anti-Christ and the advent of the Last Days. 78
I a m firmly
cor
u p to a hideous c g r e a t Irish Famin<
Not surprisingly, as Charles Ambler writes of Kenya in 1897, "people saw a connection between the disaster of drought, famine, and disease on the one hand, and the advance of European economic and political power on the other." W h e t h e r among the Ndebele insurgents of the Mwari cult in Zimbabwe, the Maji-Maji fighters (after 1904) in German East Africa, the Tawara followers of
India's rulers, of course, hac
Kanowanga in Mozambique, the "Ethiopianist" churches in the Rand, the con-
(1897) would b e celebrated
selhciristas in northeast Brazil (victims of internal colonialism), the anti-French
of calamities since the time
p/nmnfrwt movement of O n g Man in Laos, the messianic Papa Isio guerrillas
C o m p a n y to the Crown," as
in Negros, the adherents of the Madhi (Kasan Mukmin) in Java, or the Boxers
National Congress.' Instead,
United in Righteousness outside the gates of Beijing - there was a pervasive
1896, there was smug confid
belief that natural disaster was "the most immediate and punishing element of
that famine mortality on th<
a larger social and cosmological crisis ... a terrible symbol of the advent of colo-
the 1880 report of Sir Richar
nialism. "
7y
"It was an age of anxiety," John Lonsdale adds, "of sudden witchcraft
panics, a time when the politics of survival seemed to demand desperate tyrannies."
80
Some Europeans, to be sure, were almost as apprehensive. If Kipling's
verse exalted colonizing optimism and scientific racism, Conrad's troubling sto-
famine codcs t h a t instructed controls (registration within lation m o v e m e n t s like those earlier. Moreover, a Famine
ries warned that Europe itself was being barbarized by its complicity in secret
1878 to ensure that Calcutt
tropical holocausts. La belle epoque, in his view, was dangerously downriver o f the
floods without fiscal risk to i
Apocalypse.
campaign along its n o r t h w e j
1 AUSTS
ars to End Time. Many Musle thirteenth Koranic century nd of the world.7"1 In India it ie Sambat year 1956 (Novem:atastrophe for India and the its embraced the W h i t e Lotus
Five
r, associated with the turning n of existing society and the Chinese also believed that the
Skeletons at the Feast
an eighth intercalary m o n t h .rst since 1680), was destined :ourse, is what happened). 7 7 stianist priests and lay beatos ie reign of the Anti-Christ and
I am
firmly
c o n v i n c e d t h a t in India w e a r e
working
up to a h i d e o u s e c o n o m i c a l c a t a s t r o p h e , b e s i d e which t h e g r e a t Irish Famine o f 1847 will s e e m m e r e child's play.
Kenya in 1897, "people saw
- H . M . H y n d m a n , 1886
-nine, and disease on the one political power on the other." 4wari cult in Zimbabwe, the rica, the Tawara followers of
India's rulers, of course, had no premonition that Victoria's D i a m o n d Jubilee
hurches in the Rand, the con-
(1897) would be celebrated in carnage: "the saddest year in its accumulation
colonialism), the anti-French
of calamities since the time that India passed from the hands of t h e East India
nessianic Papa Isio guerrillas
Company to the Crown," as Romesh C h u n d e r Dutt would later tell the Indian
ukmin) in Java, or the Boxers
National Congress. 1 Instead, as the subcontinent anticipated the monsoon o f
ijing - there was a pervasive
1896, there was s m u g confidence (the recent deaths in Orissa notwithstanding)
and punishing element of
that famine mortality on the scale of 1876 was no longer possible. Thanks to
symbol of the advent of colo-
the 1880 report of Sir Richard Strachey's Commission, there were n o w regional
le adds, "of sudden witchcraft
famine codes that instructed the organization of local relief and provided n e w
; ate
d to demand desperate tyran-
controls (registration within subdistrict "famine circles") over panic-driven popu-
t as apprehensive. If Kipling's
lation movements like those that had so alarmed the g o v e r n m e n t twenty years
acism, Conrad's troubling sto-
earlier. Moreover, a Famine Relief and Insurance Fund h a d been established in
red by its complicity in secret
1878 to ensure that Calcutta could finance relief d u r i n g major droughts a n d
dangerously downriver of the
floods w i t h o u t fiscal risk to its o t h e r priorities, especially the p e r m a n e n t military campaign along its n o r t h w e s t e r n frontier.
T
i
142
LATE V I C T O R I A N
S K I-. 1.
HOLOCAUSTS
In addition, wrote a contemporary economist, "the historic conditions con2
trolling production and distribution ... had been revolutionised." T h e integra-
proposed that " h o m e charges w h o l e a m o u n t b e devoted t o e
tion of Burma's huge rice surpluses into the imperial' system, along with the
T h e government, morcov<
10,000 miles of new railroad track (much of it financed by the Famine Fund),
Indian nationalists as well as t.
were heralded as providing the rural population with a decisive margin of food
population of p o o r people vul
security. 3 "Famine in the original sense of the word, that is to say as a result of
nutrition, critics believed, h a d
a lack of food, has b e c o m e impossible. In case of shortfalls, Burma feeds the
tory. The Dufferin Enquiry in
Punjab and the North Western Provinces o r vice versa; Madras comes to the
t h r o u g h life on insufficient f o e
aid of Bombay or the other way around." As Lord Elgin reassured Queen Victo-
k n o w from year's end to year
ria: "The improvement of the means of communications particularly by railway
fied." 11 Five years later in his fa
4
makes it possible to cope with scarcity n o w in a way that was out of the p o w e r of
Congress, Allen Octavian H u n
the officers of former days.""'
lower classes like a rising s w ;
In the event, these improvements were all but meaningless. Even his worst enemies marveled at Lord Elgin's singlemindedness in following Lytton's p a t h to 6
exactly the same calamitous destination. A severely deficient m o n s o o n prevented the sowing of the spring 1896 crop throughout the Punjab, N o r t h Western Provinces, Oudh, Bihar and the Madras Deccan. The failure of the rains was even more devastating in the Central Provinces and eastern Rajputana (Rajasthan), where three years of bad weather and poor harvests had already immiserated the peasantry. T h r o u g h o u t India grain prices rose, then skyrocketed after the a u t u m n monsoon likewise failed. Grain reserves, especially in the wheat belt of n o r t h e r n India, had been depleted by massive exports to make u p the previous year's ter-
William Wedderburn, John Bi liamentary Opposition on Inc undertake a m a j o r enquiry in the subcontinent. 1 3 But the hit to face the "nightmare" of p o c Wedderburn a n d the "baboos, gland and had the same Poorreceipt of relief." 14
'Government Charnel H o i
rible harvest in England. 7 Meanwhile Elgin's "revolutionary" improvements in
High prices, meanwhile, were
distribution simply ensured that prices were as high in districts unaffected by the
tress was already visible in the
drought (like the well-watered Godavari delta in Madras) as in those where most
1896; by October, the police v
of the crop had failed/
Bombay Dcccan. The New Yor
The mere existence of railroads, moreover, could not bring grain into districts
thc American Board missionai
where mass purchasing power was insufficient. British officials, with their doctri-
d r o u g h t was m u c h more w i d e
naire faith in market rationality,-were startled to see the price of millet and o t h e r
days my servants tried in vain
"poverty grains" surpass that of the milled wheat used in European bread. As
m o r e rain ... likely to fall f o r
for the vaunted Famine Fund, a substantial portion had been diverted against
nearly a year away, and thus I
the protests of Indians to pay for yet another vicious Afghan war. (At the inaugu-
normally "quiet, orderly" neig
9
ral meeting in London of a campaign for Indian famine relief in January 1897, the socialist leader Henry H y n d m a n was pulled off the dais by police w h e n he
.
T
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E F E A S T
USTS
:he historic conditions con2
rolutionised." T h e integra:ial system, along with the need by the Famine Fund), h a decisive margin of food , that is to say as a result of shortfalls, Burma feeds the 'ersa; Madras comes to the lgin reassured Q u e e n Victotions particularly by railway :hat was out of the power of neaningless. Even his worst in following Lytton's path to ieficient m o n s o o n prevented 'unjab, N o r t h Western Provlilure of the rains was even tern Rajputana (Rajasthan), had already immiserated the kyrocketed after the a u t u m n n the wheat belt of n o r t h e r n :e up the previous year's ter-
143
proposed that " h o m e charges for the current year should be suspended and the whole a m o u n t be devoted to expenditure on famine relief.") 10 T h e government, moreover, had categorically discounted warnings f r o m Indian nationalists as well as their own health officers a b o u t the ever-increasing population of poor people vulnerable to any sharp increase in food prices. Malnutrition, critics believed, had reached epic levels unprecedented in Indian history. T h e Dufferin Enquiry in 1887 had s h o w n that "forty million o f the poor g o through life on insufficient food" and "half of our agricultural population never know from year's e n d to year's end what it is to have their hunger fully satisfied." 11 Five years later in his f a m o u s "bombshell" circular to the Indian National Congress, Allen Octavian H u m e lamented that poverty was "swallowing up o u r lower classes like a rising swamp, it is deepening, widening, blackening.... " l 2 William Wedderburn, John Bright's old friend and s o m e t i m e leader of the Parliamentary Opposition on India, lobbied a n apathetic House of C o m m o n s t o undertake a major enquiry into Indian poverty before famine again decimated the subcontinent. 1 3 But the India Office in 1896 was n o m o r e eager than in 1876 to face the "nightmare" of poor relief in India. The Spectator, denouncing H u m e , Wedderburn and the "baboos," warned its readers that "if India were as with England and had the s a m e Poor-law, there would be eighty millions of paupers in receipt of relief."1"1
'Government Charnel Houses' (1896-97)
lutionary" improvements in
High prices, meanwhile, were rapidly turning drought into famine. Acute dis-
in districts unaffected by the
tress was already visible in the N o r t h Western and Central Provinces in August
dras) as in those where most
1896; by October, the police were opening fire on grain looters in Bihar and the Bombay Deccan. T h e New York Times published a letter written in October from
I not bring grain into districts sh officials, with their doctrithe price of millet and other used in European bread.' As >n had been diverted against s Afghan war. (At the inauguimine relief in January 1897, F the dais by police w h e n h e
the American Board missionary R. H u m e in Ahmednagar. Pointing out that t h e drought was much m o r e widespread than in 1877, H u m e despaired that "for t w o days my servants tried in vain t o buy 50 cents' worth of grain for use." With " n o m o r e rain ... likely to fall for eight full months," the next possible harvest w a s nearly a year away, and thus H u m e was not surprised at the desperation of his normally "quiet, orderly" neighbors.
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
H O L O C A U S T STHEG
Already g r a i n riots are c o m m o n . G r a i n m e r c h a n t s will n o t sell g r a i n , largely b e c a u s e they k n o w t h e price will g r e a t l y increase, t h o u g h even n o w prices a r e 300 p e r cent, above n o r m a l . So p e o p l e b r e a k o p e n g r a i n shops a n d g r a n a r i e s , a n d t h r e a t e n to kill t h e m e r c h a n t s if t h e y i n t e r f e r e . T h e y say: ' W e shall have s o o n t o die w i t h o u t grain. If y o u i n t e r f e r e w i t h o u r g e t t i n g y o u r grain, a n d w e kill y o u in t h e s t r u g g l e , it will be all t h e s a m e . ' Similarly, these p e o p l e say t o t h e police a n d c o u r t s : 'Arrest us f o r stealing a n d s u p p o r t u s in jail. T h e r e w e shall n o t die f r o m starvation.'15
At nearby Narsinghpur, the American missionary Margaret Denning described the heartrending ordeal of a Muslim smallholder w h o was forced to sell, first, his land, then his hut and finally his cooking utensils to provide food for his wife and two small children. Since "the g o v e r n m e n t was doing nothing to relieve the poor," he gave his oldest child to the infidel missionaries in violation of his religion. "The man brought the boy to us, telling the child he could care for him no longer, although he had always hoped to send him to school, but that now h e saw n o way to save his life and educate him o t h e r than to give him away. The boy was not to think his father did not love him, and, if he lived and learned h o w to write, he was charged to write to his parents. T h e father bade him goodbye and, asking nothing for himself, went away." (Later the government begrudgingly o p e n e d a poorhouse in the vicinity, but the father, together with the child's m o t h e r and baby brother, perished under a squalid regime of poor sanitation, inadequate rations and hard labor.) 16 Such stories were commonplace and they began to sow unease abroad. Sir Edwin Arnold was mobilized to reassure the Americans that "the British in India rule for the sake of the Indians first, and for revenue, reputation and power afterward." 17 But with Spectator and other prominent editorial pulpits chiding him for excessive parsimony, the viceroy - otheiwise preoccupied with destroying rebel villages along the Afghan border - reluctantly agreed to open limited relief work in the most stricken districts. H e remained stubbornly opposed, however, t o private charity, including international missionary appeals, and bitterly condemned the. press for their "exaggerations." 18 Like Lytton before him, Elgin foreclosed more liberal policies on a local or regional level. T h u s the Bombay municipal committees were "banned to utilize their funds for running fair price shops," and the government of Bengal was forbidden t o advance money to traders to import
T
USTS
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
FEAST
145
•vill n o r sell g r a i n , largely o u g h even n o w p r i c e s a r e
Margaret Denning described vho was forced to sell, first, ; to provide food for his wife doing nothing to relieve the laries in violation of his relilild he could care for him n o > school, but that n o w he saw > give him away. T h e boy was ed and learned h o w to write, ade him goodbye and, asking ment begrudgingly opened a with the child's m o t h e r and poor sanitation, inadequate m to sow unease abroad. Sir icans that "the British in India reputation and power afteritorial pulpits chiding him for rcupied with destroying, rebel
; s u • "i. u". ••rrl H E <*> .V
to open limited relief work :nly opposed, however, to pri-
u, u,
2 1 a
:>eals, and bitterly condemned
>
before him, Elgin foreclosed
£
Thus the Bombay municipal
ED B
running fair price shops," and ce money to traders to import
v
a
T LATE V I C T O R I A N
Ml 1.1.1- ^
HOLOCAUSTS
(Burma, as a result, exported its large rice s u r p l u s to Europe.) 2 0 Finally,
Convinced t h a t Indians w<
"as his coffers were drained by w a r o n t h e N o r t h W e s t e r n Frontier, his govern-
that old disciplinary c o r n e r s t o
grain
19
m e n t ... reduced t h e c o n t r i b u t i o n to the [Famine] F u n d f r o m Rs. 1.5 crores t o Rs. 1 crore," in gross violation of previous official p r o m i s e s t o Indians.
21
t i n e n t . " Designated for t h o s e despised by the peasantry w h o ity, o r deported t o places b e y o able to the tribal peoples, lik claimed "would s o o n e r die i n to t h e restraint o f a g o v e r n m e a u t h o r i t y on t h e famine: "Th< proved m o r e s t r o n g than t h e ft Although t h e British regard relief official w a s horrified b y diet. " T h e food w a s n o t h i n g ' could at once see t h a t THE C R g r o u n d into flour.... Alas! alas! to t h e m at the P o o r H o u s e s . " a b o u t eight or t e n annas or, at p e r s o n " by the g o v e r n m e n t . (, only 34 cents p e r month.)' 7 A s
t
- • •.
Figure 5.2
publisher of the C/nistuiu Her.
. " T h e p r o s p e r o u s a p p e a r a n c e of t h e c o u n t r y . . . " F a m i n e victims at j u b b u l p u r
at t h e t i m e o f Lord Elgin's visit in KS97.
which normally w a s under 50 i appalling figure o f 627 in the tl
In early D e c e m b e r Elgin passed t h r o u g h j u b b u l p u r in the C e n t r a l Provinces,
T h e Americans accused t h e
a t o w n that w o u l d figure centrally in international debates over British f a m i n e
ion a b o u t conditions in the. In
policy. T h e d r o u g h t here h a d b e e n u n b r o k e n since the fall of 1895 and the
been saved and b e today h a p p )
m o n t h l y death rate had been over 10 percent since September. T h e g o v e r n m e n t
been reached in t i m e will nevet
had previously refused d e s p e r a t e local appeals to o p e n relief w o r k or control the
plains could give u s s o m e idea,
price of grain. But Elgin, like T e m p l e and Lytton in Madras a g e n e r a t i o n b e f o r e ,
by t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n d the c o r
was stonily u n m o v e d by a n y t h i n g h e saw. "I can only say that travelling d u r i n g the
of things must b e looked u p o n
last few days in Indore a n d G o w a l i o r a n d n o w in t h e s e Provinces u p to the gates
accusations were m a d e all t h e
of y o u r city I have b e e n s t r u c k b y the p r o s p e r o u s a p p e a r a n c e of t h e c o u n t r y even
famine conditions t h a t were r e
with the small a m o u n t of rain that has c o m e lately." All India w a s o u t r a g e d by
the 1876-78 f a m i n e , dry plate
this remark, based - o n e r e p o r t e r claimed - o n a q u i c k glimpse f r o m "the saloon w i n d o w of t h e viceregal train."
22
a cumbersome tripod-mountec Kodak N u m b e r O n e camera in
T usts
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E F E A S T
147
irplus to Europe.) 20 Finally,
Convinced that Indians were natural shirkers and beggars, Elgin imported
estern Frontier, his govern-
that old disciplinary cornerstone of utilitarianism, the poorhouse, t o the subcon-
ed from Rs. 1.5 crores to Rs.
tinent. 23 Designated for those too weak for heavy labor, the poor houses were
ics to Indians. 21
despised by the peasantry w h o feared that "they would be converted to Christianity, or deported to places beyond t h e sea."2'1 C o n f i n e m e n t was especially unbearable to the tribal peoples, like t h e Gonds a n d Baigas, w h o m one missionary claimed "would sooner die in their homes or in their native jungle, than submit to the restraint of a government Poor House." 2 5 This was echoed by an English authority on the famine: "The hatred of the poorhouse has in m a n y instances proved more strong t h a n the fear of death." 26 Although the British regarded this antipathy as irrational, a visiting American relief official was horrified by conditions inside the poorhouses, especially the diet. "The food was nothing but dry flour a n d some salt. An accustomed eye could at once sec that THE GRAIN WAS ADULTERED WITH EARTH before it was ground into flour.... Alas! alas! for the poor w h o are obliged to eat t h e food given to them at the Poor Houses." Mennonite missionaries estimated t h a t "perhaps about eight or ten annas or, at the most, a r u p e e per m o n t h is allowed for each person" by the government. (At 1899 exchange rates this was the equivalent of only 34 cents per month.) 2 7 As a result, one Mennonite w r o t e to Louis Klopsch, publisher of the O i m t u m Herald in New York, "The death rate in this district
." Famine v i c t i m s at J u b b u l p u r
which normally was u n d e r 50 in t h e thousand was forced by starvation up to the appalling figure of 627 in the thousand." 2 3
pur in the Central Provinces,
The Americans accused the government of deliberately deceiving world opin-
I debates over British famine
ion about conditions in the Indian countryside. "How many more might have
.ce the fall of 1895 and the
been saved and be today happy and full of life and vigor if they could only have
September. The government
been reached in time will never be known. Perhaps the bleaching skulls on India's
>en relief work or control the
plains could give us s o m e idea. But the long continued withholding of actual facts
i Madras a generation before,
by the government and the consequent general ignorance of the true conditions
/ say that travelling d u r i n g t h e
of things must be looked upon as t h e cause of m a n y thousands of deaths." 2 " Such
lese Provinces up to the gates
accusations were m a d e all the m o r e effective by the shocking photographs of
ipearance of the country even
famine conditions that were reprinted in newspapers around the world. (During
y." All India was outraged by
the 1876-78 famine, dry plate photography h a d required professional skill with
.rick glimpse f r o m "the saloon
a cumbersome tripod-mounted field camera. T h e advent of the cheap, handheld Kodak N u m b e r One camera in 1888, however, turned virtually every missionary
T 14 8
LATH V I C T O R I A N
SK.EL
HOLOCAUSTS
i ! in India into a documentary photographer.) 3 0 Rather than slowly die in the government charnel houses, peasants throughout
j
as previously in southern C h i
I
the Central Provinces assaulted grain depots. The worst distruba'nees ironically
rats into more intimate c o m event, offered an ideal ecology
occurred in Nagpur District, where the harvest was adequate but soaring market
t h e densest in Asia) infested w i
prices had nonetheless imposed starvation on Koshti caste weavers, immiserated
officers had w a r n e d British a d
by their losing competition against factory-made textiles. T h e local commis-
o n s l u m sanitation was p r e p a i
sioner, Sir Andrew Fraser, arrogantly dismissed pleas to open relief works, and
encc Nightingale, in addition,
merchants outraged the public by selling adulterated grain at fantastic prices.
tasmagoria" of disease conditi
After a series of violent clashes, the Lancashire Regiment had to be sent in to rein-
I
force native infantry. 51 As James McLane points out, the rioting was incipient class
|
war that did not spare the local leadership of the Indian National Congress: "In
in blocking increased taxation T h e city's fabulous b o o m i dized by the falling living a n d
the Nagpur grain riots, the house of a leading Congressman, Gangadhar M a d h o
of unskilled laborers increase
Chitnavis, was singled out by a m o b for looting and was saved by the intervention
• rose 50 percent and land value
of sepoys. The rioters chose Chitnavis's h o u s e apparently because they believed,
of its working classes, Ira Klei
as a wealthy money-lender and landowner and president of the municipality, he
j
Bombay's "extraordinary, dispi
could influence the price or supplies of grain." 32
1
the century." 3 ' 1 Despite several
j
hinterlands left little option foi
Similar conditions in the Bombay Presidency allowed the "Extremist leader" Bal Gangadhar Tilak to consolidate his takeover of the Poona Sarvaja'nik Sabha.
slums. Indeed, t h e drought i n u
Tilak w h o had long urged the Congress to adopt the m o r e militant agitational
from the Deccan: 300,000 of t
m e t h o d s of the Irish, n o w played Michael Davitt in the Deccan, calling for popu-
vation and cholera were p r o i r
lar resistance against tax collections. 33 (Davitt himself was meanwhile speaking
j
alongside Naoroji and Eleanor Marx at protests against Elgin organized by Hynd-
|
man's Social Democratic Federation in London.) 1 ' 1 Tilak's stirring invocations of
the city's low-caste laborers.'" foreign ports began to quaranti fears that A general embargo IT
the heroic Maratha past roused a martial populism in hungry villagers as they
i
As the city's morale p l u m m
united once again, as in 1877, to oppose the hated revenue man. T h e British were
I
rant of (he plague's true vector c m e n t neighborhoods that she
unnerved. "The assistant collector of Poona district reported that 'not a pit' of
fire, lime and carbolic acid utc<
the revenue instalment' d u e o n 10 December 1896 had been paid to the government." In the Kolaba district the collector was besieged by m o r e than 4,000
!
drove rats into neighboring h o
ryots demanding remission of their taxes, and the Times of India trembled at the
j
some of the press proposed t h e
massive response of villagers to Tilak's organizers. 35 T h e tense political situation
)
city t o the ground.) 4 2 While d e
in western India was f u r t h e r inflamed by the draconian British response to the
S
government did nothing to cor. ing starvation faster than plagu
arrival of the Black Death f r o m China. T h e bubonic plague c a m e to Bombay in s u m m e r 1896 probably as a stowaway
of foodgrains f r o m the Preside
on a ship from H o n g Kong. At t h e time, s o m e scientists theorized that drought,
combined with riots against t l
iiik..
\ «
r
A USTS
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
FEAST
as previously In s o u t h e r n China, was a critical factor in driving plague-carrying houses, peasants throughout
rats into more intimate commensality w i t h h u m a n victims. 36 Bombay, in a n y
worst distrubances ironically
event, offered an ideal ecology for a pandemic: fetid, overcrowded slums (perhaps
adequate but soaring market
the densest in Asia) infested with a huge population of black rats. For years health
ti caste weavers, immiserated
officers had w a r n e d British administrators t h a t their refusal to expend anything
textiles. T h e local commis-
o n slum sanitation was preparing the way for an "epidemic apocalypse." 37 Flor-
ras to open relief works, and
ence Nightingale, in addition, had repeatedly crusaded against t h e city's "phan-
ed grain at fantastic prices.
tasmagoria" of disease conditions, but the "European townspeople were united
•,ent had to be sent in to rein-
in blocking increased taxation t o pay for n e w water and drainage schemes." 38
he rioting was incipient class
The city's fabulous b o o m in the 1880s a n d 1890s moreover h a d been subsi-
idian National Congress: "In
dized by the falling living and health standards of its vast majority: "The wages
gressman, Gangadhar Madho
of unskilled laborers increased only five percent in 35 years while grain costs
was saved by the intervention
rose 50 percent and land values a n d rents tripled." The progressive immiseration
arently because they believed,
of its working classes, Ira Klein argues, was the single m o s t important factor in
sident of the municipality, he
Bombay's "extraordinary, disproportionate blossoming o f death n e a r the turn o f the century." 39 Despite several panic-stricken exoduses, the famine in Bombay's
llowed the "Extremist leader" 7
hinterlands left little option for t h e urban p o o r but to r e m a i n in their pestilential
the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha.
slums. Indeed, the drought inundated the city's environs with famished refugees
the m o r e militant agitational
from the Deccan: 300,000 of t h e m in April, May and J u n e of 1897 alone. '0 Star-
i the Dcccan, calling for popu-
vation and cholera w e r e promptly added t o plague: eventually killing a fifth o f
self was meanwhile speaking
the city's low-caste laborers. 41 Even more alarming to commercial elites, some
inst Elgin organized by Hynd-
foreign ports began to quarantine shipments of wheat f r o m Bombay. There were
Tilak's stirring invocations of
fears that a general e m b a r g o might destroy w e s t e r n India's foreign commerce.
m in hungry villagers as they
As the city's morale plummeted, the governor's Plague Committee, still igno-
•evenue man. The British were
rant of the plague's t r u e vectors, launched an unprecedented war against the ten-
ict reported that 'not a pie of
ement neighborhoods that sheltered the pandemic. T h e resulting onslaught of
96 had been paid to the gov-
fire, lime and carbolic acid utterly failed to s t o p the plague's advance (it simply
; besieged by m o r e than 4,000
drove rats into neighboring homes), but it did unhousc thousands. (In England,
Times of India trembled at the
some of the press proposed the "radical purification" of burning the entire native
, ) s T h e tense political situation
city to the ground.)"12 While destroying peoples' h o m e s a n d shops, however, the
conian British response to the
government did n o t h i n g to control the explosion in grain prices that was spread-
i t 1896 probably as a stowaway
o f foodgrains from the Presidency in the face of the serious famine" was thus
entists theorized that drought,
combined with riots against the housing demolitions a n d the "kidnapping" o f
ing starvation faster t h a n plague. "Unrest in Bombay against continuing exports
•t. V t>
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THE G
family m e m b e r s t o the h a t e d plague hospitals."12 Meanwhile railroad s h i p m e n t s of c o n t a m i n a t e d relief grain spread the plague with g r e a t efficiency across t h e Ghats into the arid a n d h u n g r y Deccan. M o d e r n ization a n d immiseration w e r e again a deadly c o m b i n a t i o n : Even m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h a n travellers in b r i n g i n g i n f e c t i o u s r o d e n t fleas to n e w locales w a s India's vast c o m m e r c e , d e v e l o p e d t h r o u g h t h e e n c o u r a g e m e n t of f r e e t r a d e policies.... T h e t r a n s p o r t of rice, bajri, w h e a t a n d o t h e r g r a i n s across t h e famine-stricken c o u n t r y in t h e late 1890s, a traffic m e a n t t o b e life-giving, p a r t i c u larly h e l p e d disseminate p l a g u e a m o n g s t India's m a l n o u r i s h e d p o p u l a t i o n . G r a i n w a s t h e favorite f o o d o f t h e black rat, w h i l e t h e g r e a t p l a g u e v e c t o r [ t h e flea], ' b r e d b e s t in t h e debris of cereal g r a i n s . ' . . . W h e n these fleas arrived at n e w t o w n s o r villages t h e y o f t e n carried p l a g u e bacilli w i t h t h e m , f a s t e n e d o n local black rats as n e w hosts, b e g a n epizootics a n d t h e n t r a n s f e r r e d p l a g u e t o h u m a n s as a l t e r n a t e hosts." 4
Oblivious t o native dignity, t h e s u b s e q u e n t eradication c a m p a i g n in the D e c c a n was militarized u n d e r a special executive h e a d e d by a h a u g h t y racist, W. C. Rand. T h e n e w Epidemic Disease Act gave h i m p o w e r s to "detain a n d segregate plague suspects, t o destroy property, inspect, disinfect, evacuate and even demolish dwell-
Figure 5.3 The Victoria Memo
ings suspected of h a r b o u r i n g t h e plague, t o prohibit fairs a n d pilgrimages.... , M 5 Rand boasted that his m e a s u r e s "were p e r h a p s the m o s t drastic that h a d ever ,6
f o r a m e m o r i a l to Queen V
As o n e Indian historian has written:
P o o n a that imperial arrogai
" R a n d h a d s u m m o n e d British troops t o his aid and h a d swept d o w n on the slums
l u d e to a second Mutiny. O i
b e e n t a k e n to s t a m p out an epidemic."
like a proverbial wolf on the fold. Plucking o u t m e n , w o m e n a n d children f r o m
an underling as they were d i
their h o m e s , he b u r n t their belongings and desecrated their shrines. Suspected
e m i n e n t H o u s e . The m u r d c
victims were forcibly evacuated, their families c o m i n g to h e a r of t h e m only after
M u s l i m e r u p t i o n in Calcutt
they w e r e dead.""'7 T h e shocking contrast b e t w e e n t h e h u g e n u m b e r of people
b o r h o o d m o s q u e . "For seve
detained, m a n y of t h e m apparently healthy, and t h e relatively few ever released
isolated Europeans, and thr<
alive f r o m the plague camps played o n Indians' w o r s t apprehensions a b o u t Brit-
w e r e unusual in that the riot
s
ish r u l e / R u m o r s spread across t h e c o u n t r y that Indian patients w e r e b e i n g mur-
T h e Poona assassinations
dered to extract a vital oil to b e employed as a m a g i c o i n t m e n t by Europeans." 9
b a c k against t h e Maharashti
Across India, meanwhile, t h e r e was g r o w i n g o u t r a g e at t h e lavish preparations to
m u r d e r s , " and f o u r newspap
t h e vernacular press. Tilak, £
celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Q u e e n Victoria's rule. "In t h e Lahore T o w n Hall, a g r o u p of Indian schoolboys b r o k e u p a m e e t i n g of leading English and Indian citizens by insisting t h a t m o n e y b e raised for f a m i n e o r p h a n s r a t h e r than
t i o n law. "Magistrates were g o o d behaviour, and to sen< f o r any specific offence." A n
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
:austs
FEAST
X51
relief grain spread the plague and h u n g r y Deccan. Modernoination: lfcctious r o d e n t fleas t o n e w t h e e n c o u r a g e m e n t of f r e e i a n d o t h e r g r a i n s across t h e e a n t to b e life-giving, particulnourished population. Grain ; p l a g u e vector [the flea], "bred as arrived at n e w t o w n s o r vil; n e d o n local black rats as n e w 0 h u m a n s as a l t e r n a t e hosts. 4 4
ation campaign in the Deccan y a haughty racist, W. C. Rand. D "detain and segregate plague zuate and even demolish dwell-
Figure 5,3 T h e Victoria. M e m o r i a l M o n u m e n t , C a l c u t t a
ibit fairs and pilgrimages...." 45 he most drastic that had ever
for a memorial to Q u e e n Victoria." But it was in famished and plague-infested
: Indian historian has written:
Poona that imperial arrogance finally sparked what m a n y feared to be the pre-
1 had swept down on the slums
lude to a second Mutiny. On 22 June two Indian patriots assassinated Rand and
ten, w o m e n and children from
an underling as they were driving away from D i a m o n d Jubilee fireworks at G o v
:rated their shrines. Suspected
e r n m e n t House. T h e murders were followed a m o n t h later by an unprecedented
ning to hear of them only after
Muslim eruption in Calcutta after a court ordered t h e destruction of a neigh-
:n the huge n u m b e r of people
borhood mosque. "For several days large g r o u p s ... r o a m e d the steets, attacked
:hc relatively few ever released
isolated Europeans, and threatened to loot a n d burn factories. T h e disnirbances
orst apprehensions about Brit-
were unusual in that the rioters singled out Europeans and ignored Hindus." 50
ndian patients were being murgic ointment by Europeans.
49
T h e Poona assassinations nonetheless gave Elgin a welcome pretext to strike back against the Maharashtrian tax resistance m o v e m e n t as well as his critics in the vernacular press. Tilak, accused of b e i n g the "spiritual godfather of the R a n d
jge at the lavish preparations to
murders," and four newspaper editors were promptly charged u n d e r a new sedi-
ria's rule. "In the Lahore Town
tion law. "Magistrates were e m p o w e r e d to bind down editors of newspapers for
neeting of leading English and
good behaviour, and to send t h e m to prison in default of security, without trial
for famine orphans rather than
for any specific offence." Any native criticism of famine relief, as well as the anti-
T i
152
LATE V I C T O R I A N
SKKI
HOLOCAUSTS
plague campaign, was effectively criminalized. 51
remain to the country - this i
Although the Englishman in Calcutta screamed that "India was on the verge of
j
another Mutiny," authorities were in fact surprised by h o w "little observable" was
j
Meanwhile, the agrarian <
any violent disorder in the wake of the devastating combination of plague and
j
and the famous jurist and nai that the "seven plagues which
starvation - "a heavier burden ... than [the country] has k n o w n during the century."
52
famine itself."'"
let loose upon us." 57 In the 1
Indeed, the chief preoccupation of the India Office, as revealed by recent
studies of the official correspondence b e t w e e n London and Calcutta, was neither
|
wheels, the decimation of ai
the holocaust in lives nor the threat of revolution, b u t that Indian disasters m i g h t
;
fields died because villagers
"disturb the intricate system for the multilateral settlement of [Britain's] balance
!
extreme distress, however, w ;
of payments, in which India played a large and vital p a r t . " " H a m i l t o n and Elgin
National Congress charged ar
fretted that sales of Indian wheat, tea and j u t e would collapse in face of growing
h a d long threatened the subsi
foreign fears about the plague and the proposed embargo of trade b e t w e e n India
after a severe tax hike, 15,000
and Europe that the French were advocating. In a land where famished laborers
missioner in f r o n t of the Bik
were easily replaced, "The Secretary of State in London was telling the Viceroy
margaya' - 'the settlement hz
that he was 'more concerned about plague than famine' because a 'market once
T h e protestors' words c a n
lost, or even partially deserted, is not easily regained.' "S4
tality soared in at least one d |
Suffer Little Children
o u t of 500,000 residents)."" In the Central Provinces' govet siege of natural disaster -- thr-
O n t h e w a y b a c k to t h e station, o n t h e o u t s k i r t s o f the village,
caterpillar plagues and black
Dr. Ashe f o u n d t h e s k e l e t o n of a child, a n d b r o u g h t away p a r t o f t h e
rible velocity with which far
b o n e s of t h e h e a d in his h a n k c r c h i e f , to p r e s e r v e as a m e m e n t o .
side, Sir Charles Lyall follow
-Rev. J. Scott Famine mortality crested in March 1897. T h e next m o n t h Elgin himself con-
|
famine. While allowing grair
j
he refused frenzied pleas to
ceded that 4.5 million poor people had perished. Behramji Malabari, the national-
tered relief as authorized in
ist editor of the Indian Spectator, countered that the real number, plague victims
instead herded into hastily i
included, was probably closer to 18 million. 55 At the same time, the Missionary
administrative incompetence
Review of the World, which ordinarily praised British philanthropy, denounced the
Reuter's "special famine <
doublespeak by which the government h a d downplayed the severity of the crisis
reading public with his expc
and sabotaged missionary efforts to organize p r o m p t international relief. " W h e n
of Bilaspur and jubbulpur. A
the pangs of hunger drive people in silent procession, living skeletons, to find
depicted heroic British disti
food, dying by the way; the stronger getting a few grains, the feebler perishing, and children, an intolerable burden, are sold at f r o m ten to thirty cents a piece, and w h e n at best a heritage of orphaned children of tens of thousands m u s t
•t \ »
i
superstition, Merewethcr did relief in the Central Province
T s k f. l e t o n s
a u s t s
at
t h e
f e a s t
1 53
remain to the country - this is not 'impending' famine - it is grim, gaunt, a w f u l iat "India was on the verge of
famine itself." 56
»y h o w "little observable" was
Meanwhile, the agrarian e c o n o m y of n o r t h e r n India continued to unravel,
I combination of plague and
and the famous jurist and national leader Mahdev Govinda Ranade complained
?} has known during the cen-
that the "seven plagues which afflicted the land of the Pharaohs in old time w e r e
i Office, as revealed by recent
let loose u p o n us."" In the Punjab, w h e r e cattle p o w e r e d wells and irrigation
Ion and Calcutta, was neither
wheels, the decimation of animals was so great that the standing crops in t h e
it that Indian disasters might
fields died because villagers could not lift water f r o m their wells. 58 The m o s t
d e m e n t of [Britain's] balance
extreme distress, however, was still in the Central Provinces where, as the Indian
1 part." 5 3 Hamilton and Elgin
National Congress charged and Lord H a m i l t o n later conceded, revenue exactions
Id collapse in face of growing
had long threatened the subsistence of the poor. Prophetically, eight years earlier
bargo of trade between India
after a severe tax hike, 15,000 protesting peasants had confronted the chief c o m -
.and where famished laborers
missioner in front of the Bilaspur railroad station. "Their cry was, 'bandobast se
mdon was telling the Viceroy
margaya' - 'the settlement has killed us!' " $9
n i n e ' because a 'market once
T h e protestors' words came grimly true in the winter of 1896—97, when m o r tality soared in at least one district (Gantur) to an incredible 40 percent (200,000 out of 500,000 residents). 60 In his zeal to maintain fiscal pressure o n the peasantry, the Central Provinces' governor-general t o o k little account of the remarkable siege of natural disaster - three consecutive years of devastating rains, plant rust,
rskirts of t h e village, i u g h t a w a y pare of t h e rve as a m e m e n t o .
-Rev.J. Scon
caterpillar plagues and black blight - that preceded the drought. Despite the terrible velocity with which famine spread t h r o u g h an already prostrate countryside, Sir Charles Lyali followed Elgin's lead and downplayed t h e acuity of t h e famine. While allowing grain merchants to export the province's scarce reserves,
xt m o n t h Elgin himself con-
he refused frenzied pleas to suspend revenue collections or provide village-cen-
hramji Malabari, the national-
tered relief as authorized in the famine code. 61 Destitute famine victims w e r e
; real number, plague victims
instead herded into hastily improvised poorhouses that set new standards f o r
he same time, the Mi55ioimry
administrative incompetence a n d corruption.
i philanthropy, denounced the
Reuter's "special famine commissioner," F. Merewether, shocked the British
layed the severity of the crisis
reading public with his expose of suffering and neglect inside t h e poorhouses
pt international relief. "When
of Bilaspur and Jubbulpur. Although an ardent imperialist whose reports usually
sion, living skeletons, to find
depicted heroic British district officers battling natural cataclysm and H i n d u
• grains, the feebler perishing,
superstition, Merewether did n o t mince words about the atrocities that passed for
im ten to thirty cents a piece,
relief in the Central Provinces:
n of tens of thousands must
'e
1>4
I.ATI-: V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
[ T J h e actual inhabitants o f Bilaspur w e r e d y i n g of s t a r v a t i o n , while u n d e r the s u p p o s e d aegis of [he G o v e r n m e n t and within their very gates. I m e n t i o n e d p r e v i o u s l y t h a t m y opinion w a s that t h e f a m i n e in t h e C e n t r a l P r o v i n c e s w a s grossly m i s m a n aged. I collected tangible p r o o f s of this daily, till 1 h a d to h a n d a m a s s o f reliable a n d i r r e f u t a b l e e v i d e n c e , w h i c h s h o w e d only t o o clearly t h a t t h e officials a n d t h o s e responsible had n o t , a n d did n o t . fully r e c o g n i z e d t h e g r a v i t y of t h e s i t u a t i o n . W i t h r e f e r e n c e to the p o o r - h o u s e , t h e r e can b e n o d o u b t t h a t in a d d i t i o n t o s u p i n e n e s s a n d m i s m a n a g e m e n t , t h e r e w as decided fraud g o i n g o n , a n d t h e p o o r hopeless a n d helpless i n m a t e s w e r e b e i n g c o n d e m n e d b y a paternal G o v e r n m e n t t o a slow, h o r rible, a n d lingering d e a t h b y s t a r v a t i o n . I h e r e c a m e across t h e first s p e c i m e n s of " F a m i n e D o w n , " w h i c h is p r o d u c e d b y l o n g - c o n t i n u e d s t a r v a t i o n . At certain stages of w a n t a fine d o w n o f s m o o t h h a i r a p p e a r s all over t h e b o d i e s of t h e afflicted. It h a s a m o s t c u r i o u s look, a n d gives t h e w e a r e r a m o r e simian l o o k t h a n ever.... T h e r e were m o r e t h a n a s c o r e o f souls w h o h a d r e a c h e d this stage, a n d t h e i r b o d i e s w e r e covered f r o m h e a d t o foot with t h e s o f t - l o o k i n g black f u r . " F i g u r e 5.5 A t t a c k e d b y j a c k a h
W h e n Julian H a w t h o r n e , son of the f a m o u s N e w England w r i t e r and Co5»topolitan's special c o r r e s p o n d e n t in India, reached J u b b u l p u r in April 1897, t h r e e m o n t h s afteriMerewether, conditions in t h e Central Provinces h a d g r o w n evert m o r e nightmarish. O n the long, hot train ride up t h e N a r m a d a Valley ("the g r e a t
graveyard o f India" accordi rificd by the families of
o
trees. "There they s q u a t t e d t h e m , except w h e n jackals f o r marrow.""' In j u b b u l p u a r y w h o took him first to l cal existential contrast b e t \ kernels of g r a i n and the p castes.'" The poorhouses, m e a m s e e r s who, as M e r e w e t h e r 1 d o o m e d c h a r g e s of their p a dition of the " h u m a n skelet
Figure 5.4 T h e C e n t r a ! P r o v i n c e s in 1897: A Young F a m i n e Victim
They showed us their belli' them were blind; their very between the thighs and shii fleshless jaws and skulls w< Their bodies - they had noi
T S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
ST S
FEAST
15 5
t i o n . w h i l e u n d e r t h e sup;s. I m e n t i o n e d p r e v i o u s l y n c e s w a s grossly m i s m a n o h a n d a m a s s of reliable t h a t t h e officials a n d t h o s e .vity o f t h e s i t u a t i o n . W i t h : in a d d i t i o n t o s u p i n e n e s s and the poor hopeless and ' t o v e r n m e n t t o a slow, h o r -
/ n , " w h i c h is p r o d u c e d b y fine d o w n of s m o o t h h a i r c u r i o u s l o o k , a n d gives t h e e t h a n a s c o r e of s o u l s w h o r o m head to foot with the Figure 5.5 A t t a c k e d b y J a c k a l s
England writer and Cosmobulpur in April 1897, three
graveyard of India" according to American missionaries),*-1 H a w t h o r n e was hor-
Provinces had grown even
rified by the families of corpses seated in the shade of the occasional desert
Narmada Valley ("the great
trees. "There they squatted, all dead now, their flimsy garments fluttering a r o u n d them, except w h e n jackals had pulled the skeletons apart, in the hopeless search for marrow."^ In Jubbulpur, he was escorted by the resident American missionary w h o took him first to the t o w n market, where he was disgusted by the radical existential contrast between "bony remnants of h u m a n beings" begging for kernels of grain and the plump, nonchalant prosperity of the local merchant castes." The poorhouses, meanwhile, were converted cattle-pens terrorized by overseers who, as Merewether had accurately reported, systematically cheated their doomed charges of their pathctic rations. "Emaciation" hardly described the condition of the " h u m a n skeletons" Hawthorne encountered: T h e y s h o w e d u s t h e i r bellies - a m e r e w r i n k l e of e m p t y s k i n . T w e n t y p e r cent o f t h e m w e r e blind; t h e i r very eyeballs w e r e g o n e . T h e j o i n t s o f their k n e e s s t o o d o u t b e t w e e n t h e t h i g h s a n d s h i n b o n e s as in any o t h e r s k e l e t o n ; s o did t h e i r e l b o w s ; t h e i r fleshless j a w s a n d skulls w e r e s u p p o r t e d o n n e c k s like t h o s e of p l u c k e d chickens.
F a m i n e Victim
T h e i r b o d i e s - t h e y h a d n o n e ; o n l y the f r a m e w o r k w a s left. 6 6
4
«
T 164
LATE V I C T O R I A N HOLOCAUSTS
SKliL
rels picked u p by the waysidcovered with sores.""* H a w t h o r n e indeed d i s c o d e a t h in squalid, corruptly n r e a d e r s that "Indian childre brilliant eyes, like jewels," h< One of the first ohjecrs I nc near the middle of the e n d its legs were scarcely larger; front, started through the si ant; the expression of the lit almost sensation, were des plump and happy baby. It s my thumbs and forefingers: F i g u r e 5.6 T h e British S e l f - i m a g e : A n I l l u s t r a t i o n from Kipling's " W i l l i a m t h e C o n querer."
Beyond, in the o r p h a n a g o f starvation a n d disease. H t h e adult poorhouses, w e r e
H a w t h o r n e ' s most h a u n t i n g experience, however, was his visit to the children in the provincial o r p h a n a g e in J u b b u l p u r . In imperial mythology, as enshrined in Kipling's f a m o u s short story "William the C o n q u e r e r " (published on the eve of the f a m i n e in 1896), British officials struggled heroically against all odds t o save the smallest famine victims. T h e Ladies Home Journal (January 1896) version of Kipling's story had featured a f a m o u s w o o d c u t by t h e American artist W. L. Taylor of a tall British officer w a l k i n g slowly at the head of a flock of g r a t e f u l , saved children. "Taylor a c c e n t u a t e d t h e god-like bearing of Scott, as seen t h r o u g h the eyes of William [his love interest], standing at t h e e n t r a n c e t o h e r tent. T h e black cupids are there and a f e w capering goats ... " But as W Aykroyd, a f o r m e r
f r o m their superiors: We went towards the shed or walk. A boy was squattii ally; he had the mouth dis came from him ever ;ind at Another, in the final stage o but had not strength to m than the rest; it was tended condition than the rest of t That meant, simply, that it posed to be given to all alik theirs?"'
Indian civil servant w h o in his y o u t h h a d talked to the veterans of the 1896-97 famine, emphasizes, this idyllic scene w a s utterly fictional. " N o particular atten-
Co^mopoliinn pointedly ]
tion w a s ... given to children in t h e f a m i n e relief operations." 6 7 Far m o r e realis-
C e n t r a l Provinces next to ai
tic t h a n Scott's m o t h e r l y c o m p a s s i o n was t h e repugnance that Kipling's h e r o i n e
Victoria. H a w t h o r n e , "on 1
William feels w h e n , after d r e a m i n g "for the twentieth time of t h e g o d in t h e
conservatively estimated i n
golden dust," she awakes t o face " l o a t h s o m e black children, scores of t h e m w a s t -
lions of dollars would b e <
T
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
•STS
FEAST
rels picked up by the wayside, their bones almost breaking their skin, terrible a n d covered with sores." 6 * H a w t h o r n e indeed discovered that "rescue" more o f t e n than n o t meant slow death in squalid, corruptly managed children's camps. After reminding American readers that "Indian children are normally active, intelligent a n d comely, w i t h brilliant eyes, like jewels," he opens the door to the orphanage: One of the first objccts I noticed on entering was a child of five, standing by itself near the middle of the enclosure. Its arms were not so large round as my thumb; its legs were scarcely larger; the pelvic bones were plainly shown; the ribs, back and front, started through the skin, like a wire cage. The eyes were fixed and unobservant; the expression of the little skull-face solemn, dreary and old. Will, impulse, and almost sensation, were destroyed in this tiny skeleton, which might have been a plump and happy baby. Lt seemed not to hear when addressed. 1 lifted it between my thumbs and forefingers; it did not weigh more than seven or eight pounds. ing's "William the Con-
Beyond, in the o r p h a n a g e yard, neglected children agonized in the last stages of starvation and disease. H a w t h o r n e t h o u g h t it obvious that the overseers, as in the adult poorhouses, were stealing grain for sale with little fear o f p u n i s h m e n t as his visit to the children al mythology, as enshrined *rer" (published on the eve roically against all odds to m a l (January 1896) version f the American artist W. L. lead of a flock of grateful, ng of Scott, as seen through e entrance to her tent. T h e Jut as W. Aykroyd, a former
from their superiors: We went towards the sheds, where were those who were too enfeebled to stand or walk. A boy was squatting over an earthen saucer, into which he spate continually; he had the mouth disease; he could not articulate, but an exhausted moan came from him ever and anon. There was a great abscess on the back of his head. Another, in the final stage of dysentery, lay nearly dead in his own filth; he breathed, but had not strength to moan. There was one baby which seemed much better than the rest; it was tended by its own mother.... Now, this child was in no better condition than the rest of them when it camc, but its mother's care had revived it. Thar meant, simply, that it had received its full allowance of the food which is supposed to be given to all alike. Why had the others - the full orphans - not received theirs?69
he veterans of the 1896-97 ional. "No particular attenerations."
67
Coimopo/ita ti pointedly published photographs of famine victims from t h e
Far m o r e realis-
Central Provinces next to an illustration of a great m o n u m e n t erected to Q u e e n
lance that Kipling's heroine
Victoria. H a w t h o r n e , "on his w a y h o m e f r o m India," it editorialized, "heard it
sth time of the god in the
conservatively estimated in L o n d o n that a total of m o r e than o n e hundred mil-
ildren, scores of t h e m wast-
lions of dollars would b e expended, directly and indirectly, u p o n the Q u e e n ' s
T 158
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
SKliL
Jubilee ceremonies." 7 0 But dying children
!
For t h e rest of India. Sir J o h n
in r e m o t e taluks were n o m o r e allowed
dieted in May an unusually w e
t o interrupt t h e gaiety of the E m p r e s s
!
of India's D i a m o n d Jubilee in J u n e 1897
\
t h a n they had her Great D u r b a r
n a t c d by Lady C u r z o n , the Cf .
w i t h t h e usual whirlwind of p i
of
|
cussion of the w e a t h e r ; c e r t a i
Elgin
j
d r o u g h t was e v e n possible. Vv
w e r e uncertain which was m o r e scandal-
I
t w e n t y years before. Critics of
t h e n suddenly s t o p p e d and di«
ous: h o w m u c h he had expended o n t h e
t h a t the m o n s o o n would r e s u
D i a m o n d Jubilee extravaganza, or h o w
never did, and 1899 ended a s
little he had spent to c o m b a t the f a m i n e
tory. 7J
t h a t affected 100-million Indians. W h e n t h e government's actual relief expendi-
The (
' t u r e s were published a year later, they fell
(Pert
far below the per capita r e c o m m e n d a tions of the 1880 Famine C o m m i s s i o n . As a n e w Famine C o m m i s s i o n r e p o r t e d in 1898: " O u r general conclusion is t h a t , Figure. 5.7 A g e d b y H u n g e r . A
fifteen-year-old
girl.
Bombay Deccan Karmtak Gujarat
as c o m p a r e d with the past, a considerable degree of success as regards e c o n -
o m y had b e e n attained in t h e relief m e a s u r e s of the late famine." 7 1
Source: Bombay Government vol. 1, Bombay 1903, p. 1 U.
T h e relief works were quickly shut d o w n with the r e t u r n of t h e rains in 1898.
In the words o f a m o d e r n i
H u n d r e d s of t h o u s a n d s of destitute, landless people, w i t h o u t any m e a n s to t a k e
t e r n s of the i 899 El Nino, t h
advantage of the m o n s o o n , w e r e p u s h e d o u t of the camps and p o o r h o u s e s . As
m o n s o o n depressions, w h i c h
a consequence, the m o m e n t u m of famine and disease continued to g e n e r a t e a
the Ganges Delta and then trc
staggering 6.5 million excess deaths in 1898, m a k i n g total mortality closer t o 11
recurved in 1899 toward the n
million t h a n the 4.5 million earlier a d m i t t e d by Elgin. Twelve to 16 million w a s
two- to three-week cycles of
the death toll c o m m o n l y r e p o r t e d in t h e w o r l d press, which p r o m p t l y n o m i n a t e d
rainfalls alternating with brief
this the "famine of the century." 7 2 This dismal title, however, w a s a l m o s t i m m e -
b r e a k which b e g a n in late J u
diately u s u r p e d by t h e even g r e a t e r d r o u g h t a n d deadlier famine of 1899-1902.
m a n y parts of w e s t e r n and cc until the rains of N o v e m b e r - !
Blue Skies of Famine (1899-1902) In at least o n e part of India, however, 1899 is still r e m e m b e r e d f o r t h e rain t h a t
" N o such c o m p l e t e failure the g l u m imperial m e t c o r o l o
never stopped falling. Indeed, Assam a l m o s t d r o w n e d in N o a c h i a n deluges; t h e
the traditional f a m i n e belts o
650 inches that fell in C h r i a p u n j i over the c o u r s e of t h e year was a w o r l d r e c o r d .
astated crops in areas like G u j
\.USTS
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
FEAST
1 59
nonies." 7 0 But dying children
For the rest of India, Sir John Elliot, the director-general of observatories, pre-
tlufes -were n o m o r e allowed
dicted in May an unusually wet m o n s o o n as well. T h e Simla social season, d o m i -
the gaiety of the Empress
nated by Lady C u r z o n , the C h i c a g o heiress w i f e of t h e n e w Tory viceroy, b e g a n
i a m o n d Jubilee in J u n e 1897
with the usual whirlwind of parties, polo and white mischief. T h e r e was little dis-
had h e r Great D u r b a r
cussion o f the w e a t h e r ; certainly n o a p p r e h e n s i o n that devastating back-to-back
of
Elgin
d r o u g h t w a s even possible. W h e n the rains punctually c o m m e n c e d in June b u t
ain which w a s m o r e scandal-
t h e n suddenly s t o p p e d and did n o t return t h r o u g h July, Elliot reassured C u r z o n
uch h e had expended o n t h e
that the m o n s o o n w o u l d r e s u m e with heavy rain in A u g u s t and S e p t e m b e r . 7 ' It
ibilee extravaganza, o r h o w
never did, a n d 1899 e n d e d as t h e second-driest year (after 1877) in Indian his-
spent to c o m b a t t h e f a m i n e
tory. 74
rs before- Critics of
I 100 million Indians. W h e n
T a b l e 5.1
nent's actual relief expendi-
The Great Droughts Compared
ublished a year later, they fell
(Percentage of Average Harvests)
l e per capita r e c o m m e n d a -
1896-97
1880 Famine C o m m i s s i o n ,
1899-1900
Bombay Deccan
34
12
.mine C o m m i s s i o n r e p o r t e d
Kamatak
25
16
tr general conclusion is that,
Gujarat
n.d.
4
i with the past, a consider-
Sourcc: Bombay Covernnienr, licpoii on the Famine ui t/ic1 Bombay Praiiiciio,', 1899-1902, vol. 1, Bombay 1903, p. 114.
of success as regards econlate famine." 7 '
In the w o r d s of a m o d e r n researcher, w h o has reconstructed the synoptic pat-
e return of the rains in 1898.
terns of t h e 1899 El Nino, the m o n s o o n s simply " j a m m e d " : "The rain-bearing
, w i t h o u t any m e a n s to take
m o n s o o n depressions, which usually enter India from t h e Bay of Bengal n e a r
i c a m p s and p o o r h o u s e s . As
the Ganges Delta and t h e n travel slowly w e s t - n o r t h w e s t w a r d across t h e country,
ase continued t o g e n e r a t e a
recurved in 1899 toward the n o r t h before r e a c h i n g western India. T h u s , the usual
5 total mortality closer to 11
two- to three-week cycles of Indian m o n s o o n rains j a m m e d . Instead of copious
n. Twelve to 16 million was , which p r o m p t l y n o m i n a t e d
!
rainfalls alternating w i t h brief 'breaks' t h r o u g h o u t the season, the w e s t e r n India break which b e g a n in late J u n e persisted f o r t h e rest of summer." 7 5 Indeed in
however, w a s almost i m m e -
m a n y p a r t s of w e s t e r n and central India, the d r o u g h t continued f o r three years,
dlier famine of 1899-1902.
until the rains of N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 1902.™ "No s u c h c o m p l e t e failure of t h e rains, a f t e r t h e first m o n t h of t h e m o n s o o n , " -.membered for t h e rain that
j
the glum imperial m e t e o r o l o g i s t told the viceroy, "is o n record." In addition t o
ed in N o a c h i a n deluges; t h e
|
t h e traditional f a m i n e belts of t h e Deccan a n d Rajasthan, t h e n e w d r o u g h t dev-
the year was a w o r l d record.
|
astated crops in areas like G u j a r a t and Berar t h a t were considered t o b e "particu-
i
i
16-1L A T E V I C T O R I A N
SKEL
HOLOCAUSTS
larly free from apprehension of calamity of drought" (see Table 5.1). More than
reported Manchester Guardic,
420,000 square miles of farm land was transformed into "a vast, bare, brown,
t h e misery a n d torment o f
lonely desert." From Gujarat, a correspondent wrote to the Times of India:
famine of food for people at this time," a d d e d an Amcric
W e r e I an artist of t h e i m p r e s s i o n i s t school a n d did 1 wish to r e p r e s e n t the s c c n e ,
never before failed in the m
1 s h o u l d dash in yellow grey, a l o n g d i m i n i s h i n g streak, w h i c h w o u l d b e the r o a d
t h e m . " For the first time in
t h r o w i n g u p the h e a t t h a t m a d e t h e d i s t a n c e s h i m m e r i n g and indistinct; a g r e a t
disappeared into its sands." 1
slash o f r e d d y - b r o w n o n e i t h e r side w o u l d indicate t h e l a n d w h e r e t h e crops s h o u l d be; a n d above all a liberal d a s h of b l u e f r o m t h e h o r i z o n t o t h e t o p of m y canvas w o u l d b e the sky. I d o n o t t h i n k I ever h a t e d b l u e b e f o r e ; b u t I d o now.
77
Rural India, moreover, disaster. Ryots could not af tables. "The people," w r o t e
T h e f a m o u s French traveler Pierre Loti, e n route from Pondicherry to Hyder-
strength or grain to fall b a
abad, was also unnerved by the oppressive dome of silent sky, "limpid and blue as
a r o u n d their necks, m o n e y
a great sapphire," that covered India like a bell-jar. H e repeatedly resorted t o the
p u r s e strings w h e n they saw
imagery of a landscape on fire as his train chugged across the scorched eastern
a g o at the e n d of the f a m
Deccan:
Deccan, "there was less wi-
T h e d r y n e s s increases h o u r l y as w e p e n e t r a t e f u r t h e r a m o n g the w e a r y s a m e n e s s
t h e beginning o f the f a m i n e
of t h e plains. Rice p a t c h e s , w h o s e f u r r o w s c a n still b e s e e n , have b e e n destroyed as
p a r t s than that of '76 or t h a
if by fire. T h e millet fields, w h i c h h o l d o u t longer, are f o r t h e m o s t p a r t yellow a n d
h a d been punctually confisc
hopelessly damaged.
Punjab, for example, "the a
In t h o s e that arc still alive, w a t c h e r s - p e r c h e d o n p l a t f o r m s m a d e of b r a n c h e s -
h a d been largely drawn o n t
are t o be seen e v e r y w h e r e t r y i n g t o scare a w a y t h e r a t s a n d birds t h a t w o u l d e a t
banias for their overdrawn a
everything; p o o r h u m a n i t y in t h e clutches o f f a m i n e t r y i n g to g u a r d a few ears o f
Still, as the official Report
c o r n f r o m the ravages of f a m i s h e d a n i m a l s . . . .
w o u l d emphasize, there w a
T h e s u n is setting, a n d H y d e r a b a d is at last visible, very w h i t e a m i d s t clouds o f
to compensate even such g
d u s t . . . . T h e river that f l o w s in a large b e d at the foot of t h e t o w n is a l m o s t d r i e d
Report anticipated modern tl
up.... T r o o p s of e l e p h a n t s of t h e s a m e g r a y i s h colour as t h e m u d b a n k s arc slowly
t h a t it was the regional defi
w a n d e r i n g along, t r y i n g futilely t o b a t h e a n d drink.
Bombay's working class as
T h e day declines and t h e E a s t e r n sky is lighted by a b u r n i n g g l o w ; t h e w h i t e n e s s
shortage, that posed a m o r t ;
of t h e t o w n fades slowly i n t o a n ashy b l u e , a n d h u g e b a t s c o m m e n c e to flit silently t h r o u g h the cloudless sky. 78
O w i n g to t h e excellent s y s t e o f the P r e s i d e n c y into c l o s c
Indians had never k n o w n such thirst. Peasants and district officers alike watched
w e r e at all t i m e s sufficient, a
with fear as surface streams and canals suddenly dried u p and wells "went blind."
v a t i o n was c h i e f l y due t o t h i
In the Bombay Deccan irrigation systems (113,000 acres irrigated in 1896) virtu-
tries, but t h e f a i l u r e of t h e h
ally collapsed (only 30,000 acres in 1900).79 "The central horror of this famine,"
area and to an "unprecedcn
IU S T S
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
161
FEAST
" (see Table 5.1), More than
reported Manchester Guardian correspondent Vaughan Nash, "lies in the fact t h a t
i into "a vast, bare, brown,
the misery and t o r m e n t of a water famine have to b e endured together with a
i t o the Times of India:
famine of food for people and fodder for beasts." 80 "Rivers, usually flowing full at this time," added an American missionary, "are dry b e d s of sand. Wells that have
tvish t o r e p r e s e n t t h e s c e n e ,
never before failed in the m e m o r y of a n y o n e living have not a d r o p of water in
k, w h i c h w o u l d b e t h e r o a d
them." For the first time in h u m a n recollection, the holy river Godavari simply
; r i n g a n d indistinct; a g r e a t
disappeared into its sands. 81
land w h e r e the crops should :on t o t h e t o p of m y c a n v a s e; b u t I d o now. 7 7
Rural India, moreover, was still economically prostrate f r o m the 1896-97 disaster. Ryots could n o t afford, to deepen their wells to reach lowered watertables. "The people," w r o t e a Hyderabad Methodist, "had no reserves either of
r o m Pondicherry t o Hyder-
strength or grain to fall back on, the debts of the previous f a m i n e still h u n g
;ilent sky, "limpid and blue as
around their necks, m o n e y w a s impossible to get, for lenders tightened t h e i r
i e repeatedly resorted to the
purse strings when they saw n o chance of recovering their loans." 82 "Three years
across the scorched eastern
ago at the end of the famine," added a n o t h e r missionary f r o m the Bombay Deccan, "there was less wretchedness and starvation t h a n I saw here today a t
a m o n g the weary sameness
the beginning of t h e famine.... This famine is undoubtedly more severe in these
s e e n , h a v e b e e n d e s t r o y e d as
parts than that of '76 or that of '96." 83 W h a t surplus h a d been harvested in 1898
f o r t h e m o s t pare y e l l o w a n d
had been punctually confiscated by the moneylenders and tax-collectors. In t h e
atforms m a d e of branches -
had been largely d r a w n on to pay up arrears of government dues and to pay t h e
ats a n d birds that w o u l d eat
banias for their overdrawn accounts of the famine years." 6 ' 1
Punjab, for example, "the agreeable harvest of kharif of 1897 and rabi of 1898
trying to guard a few ears of
Still, as the official Report on t h e 1899-1902 famine in the Bombay Presidency would emphasize, there was a surplus of grain in Bengal and Burma sufficient
very w h i t e a m i d s t c l o u d s o f
to compensate even such gigantic shortfalls in western and central India. T h e
of t h e t o w n is a l m o s t d r i e d
Report anticipated m o d e r n theories of famine as "entitlement crisis" by asserting
as t h e m u d b a n k s are slowly
that it was the regional deficiency of e m p l o y m e n t and income (which affected
burning glow; the whiteness
shortage, that posed a mortal threat to so m a n y millions.
Bombay's working class as well as the r u r a l population), not an all-India f o o d ?ats c o m m e n c e t o flit silently O w i n g t o t h e e x c e l l e n t s y s t e m o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w h i c h n o w brings e v e r y p o r t i o n of t h e P r e s i d e n c y i n t o close c o n n e x i o n w i t h t h e g r e a t m a r k e t , the s u p p l i e s of food
district officers alike watched
w e r e at all rimes s u f f i c i e n t , a n d it c a n n o t b e t o o
ed up and wells "went blind."
v a t i o n w a s chiefly d u e t o t h e d e a r t h of e m p l o y m e n t in a g r i c u l t u r e a n d o t h e r indus-
acres irrigated in 1896) virtu-
tries, b u t t h e failure o f t h e h a r v e s t s caused loss o f o r d i n a r y i n c o m e in a n e n o r m o u s
:ntral h o r r o r of this famine,"
frequently
r e p e a t e d t h a t severe pri-
area a n d t o a n " u n p r e c e d e n t e d e x t e n t " . . . . E v e n t h e skilled artisan felt t h e pinch o f
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
H O L O C A U S T STHEG
h i g h prices. O t h e r classes t o o have s u f f e r e d severely. T h e mill i n d u s t r y w a s m u c h h a m p e r e d b y s h o r t stocks and c o n s e q u e n t l y h i g h price of c o t t o n , a n d several factories w e r e obliged to w o r k s h o r t h o u r s : t h e result has b e e n d e p r e s s i o n . . . . s s
Small landowners; in particular, were forced to beg relief w o r k in unprecedented numbers. This contravened the official dogma (as Sir Richard Temple, for instance, had explained it to the 1880 Famine Commission) that ryots were self-sufficient and relief was primarily required to protect the "depressed classes of village menials and itinerant tribes." By February 1900 kimfcis comprised fully half of the miserable armies breaking stone and digging canals in the Poona and A h m e d n a g a r districts. Moreover, the starvation of the peasantry led to an unprecedented wave of bankruptcy and land alienation. In a single year in the Maharashtran Deccan there was a mortgage or foreclosure for every seven rural inhabitants, a phenomenal index of the insecurity created by the double droughts.* 6
'A Truly Imperialist Viceroy' T h e British reaction was again as inflexibly ideological as any fundamentalist regime in history. Curzon, even m o r e than Elgin, represented a hardened imperial policy that "believed that the government had gone as far as it should in meeting Indian desires for participation in the public service and legislatures." In a preemptive strike against a f u t u r e H o m e Rule movement along Irish lines, he tightened press censorship, clamped down on education, restored aristocratic prerogatives, snubbed the Congress, and, most dangerously, pitted Muslim against Hindu. 8 7 He was likewise determined to prevent famine from being used as a cause for reform. With hunger spreading on an unprecedented scale through two-thirds of the subcontinent, he ordered his officials to publicly attribute the crisis strictly to drought. W h e n an incautious m e m b e r of the Legislative Council in Calcutta, Donald Smeaton, raised the problem of over-taxation, he was (in Boer War parlance) prompdy "Stellenboshed." SB Although C u r z o n s own appetite for viceregal p o m p and circumstance was notorious, he lectured starving villagers that "any Government which imperilled the financial position of India in the interests of prodigal philanthropy would be open to serious criticism; but any Government which by indiscriminate alms-giving weakened the fibre and demoralised the self-reliance of the population, would be guilty of a public crime." 89 C.J. O'Donnell, a distinguished veteran of the Bengal civil service, sarcasti-
JSTS
ie mill industry was much •f c o t t o n , a n d several facto;n d e p r e s s i o n .
>eg relief w o r k in unprecena (as Sir Richard Temple, )mmission) that ryots w e r e :>tect t h e "depressed classes 1900 kunf>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 <:
precious food devoured in the sight of scores of miserable, famine-stricken villag-
great exodus of famine victir
ers crying aloud for food." 109
a century later, the horror o;
Similarly, Pierre Loti arrived in Rajputana ("a land of dead forests, dead j u n -
folklore, sayings and songs" f'
gles, dead everything") on a train pulling carloads of precious grain. His account
As a missionary pointed o u t ,
is perhaps the most chilling m e m o i r of conditions in 1899. At every station w e a r y
fire." 111 Undisturbed by drou.
passengers heard the same terrible "song of famine." It was the wail of starving
province had become the ir
children:
Indeed, "Gujarat presented t!
i
JiL
\ o
T ' I S K E L E T O N S AT T H E F E A S T
jsts
169
At t h e first village at w h i c h w e s t o p a s o u n d is h e a r d as s o o n as the w h e e l s have ceased t h e i r noisy c l a n k i n g - a p e c u l i a r s o u n d t h a t strikes a chill into u s e v e n b e f o r e w e h a v e u n d e r s t o o d its n a t u r e . It is the b e g i n n i n g of t h a t h o r r i b l e s o n g w h i c h w e shall h e a r so f r e q u e n t l y n o w t h a t w e have e n t e r e d the l a n d o f f a m i n e . Nearly all t h e voices are t h o s e of children, a n d the s o u n d h a s s o m e r e s e m b l a n c e t o t h e u p r o a r that is h e a r d in the p l a y g r o u n d o f a school, b u t t h e r e is a n u n d e f i n e d n o t e o f s o m e t h i n g h a r s h and w e a k a n d shrill w h i c h fills us w i t h pain. O h ! l o o k at t h e p o o r little t h i n g s jostling t h e r e against t h e barrier, s t r e t c h i n g o u t t h e i r w i t h e r e d h a n d s t o w a r d s us f r o m t h e e n d of t h e b o n e s w h i c h r e p r e s e n t their a r m s . Every p a r t of their m e a g r e s k e l e t o n p r o t r u d e s w i t h s h o c k i n g visibility t h r o u g h t h e b r o w n s k i n t h a t h a n g s in folds a b o u t t h e m ; t h e i r s t o m a c h s are so s u n k e n t h a t o n e m i g h t t h i n k t h a t t h e i r b o w e l s h a d b e e n a l t o g e t h e r r e m o v e d . Flies s w a r m o n their lips a n d eyes, d r i n k i n g w h a t m o i s t u r e m a y still exude . . . " M a h a r a j a h ! M a h a r a j a h ! " all t h e little voices c r y at o n c e in a kind o f quivering song. T h e r e are s o m e w h o are b a r e l y five years old, and t h e s e , t o o , cry " M a h a r a j a h ! M a h a r a j a h ! " as t h e y s t r e t c h t h e i r terribly w a s t e d little h a n d s t h r o u g h t h e barrier. 1 1 0
If Loti was filled with admiration for the train's Indian passengers, c r a m m e d i n t o the suffocating third- and fourth-class compartments, w h o unhesitatingly gave away their last copper coin or scrap of food, he loathed the official policy t h a t made an unfettered grain market more sacred in principle than the fives of small ;d in the native and British-
children crying f r o m hunger:
ned immense profits as they o the cities. Foreign observ-
Even n o w t h e r e are f o u r w a g o n s o f rice c o u p l e d to the train behind, a n d loads pass
can missionary, for example,
daily, b u t n o o n e will give a n y t h i n g to t h e c h i l d r e n , not even a h a n d f u l , n o t even the
)f grain, imported by specu:d. "At many of the railway
f e w g r a i n s o n w h i c h t h e y m i g h t survive for a little while m o r e . T h e s e w a g o n s arc reserved f o r the i n h a b i t a n t s o f t h o s e t o w n s w h e r e people still have m o n e y a n d can
pay-
nselves with grain from the >fficials stood by and saw the
For those without the price of a bowl of ricc, a major alternative w a s to join t h e
rable, famine-stricken villag-
great exodus of famine victims f r o m the desertified valleys of Rajputana (where
ld of dead forests, dead jun-
folklore, sayings and songs") 112 to normally well-watered Gujarat in British India.
' precious grain. His account
As a missionary pointed out, it w a s an unwitting journey "from the frying pan to
1899. At every station weary
fire."113 Undisturbed by drought o r famine for three generations, Gandhi's h o m e
It was the wail of starving
province h a d b e c o m e the infernal core of the disaster in Bombay Presidency.
a century later, the h o r r o r of 1899 remains "stored in the collective m e m o r y o f
Indeed, "Gujarat presented the picture of Ireland in 1844-45." 114
1>4I.ATI-:V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
s K L I. F;
The Inferno in Gujarat
S o m e f o r m e r l y prosperous d lation in les^ t h a n two years. 11 ''
As elsewhere, El N i n o w o r k e d in sinister p a r t n e r s h i p with the world m a r k e t . T h e drought, which persisted until 1902 in A h m e d a b a d , Kaira a n d Panch Mahals,
m a c a b r e 28 ! p e r c e n t , and in A1
ravaged an agricultural e c o n o m y already depressed by the global decline o f the
central tons .if h i g h mortality, t
prices of cotton and cane sugar. It w a s m a d e even m o r e destructive by the
significantly smaller than 1871'
plagues of locusts and rats (so n u m e r o u s that "they disturb o n e ' s rest at night")
the tightly woven fabrics of f a r
that c o n s u m e d w h a t little g r a i n f a r m e r s m a n a g e d t o coax t o m a t u r i t y w i t h labori-
h u n g e r for y o u n g converts, s o m
ously h a n d - t o t e d water. Gujaratis, used to a dairy diet, watched in h o r r o r as first
for a f e w days' s u p p l y of food. "
their cattle died and t h e n as their lands, mainly l o a m soils d e p e n d e n t o n c o n s t a n t
for sale at a r u p e e each, or a b o t
manuring, b e c a m e infertile. 115 An A m e r i c a n missionary, writing t o an old Prince-
children. Children are now b e i t
ton friend, described h o w a countryside, " o n c e g r e e n as a park," h a d b e c o m e "a
m e a s u r e of g r a i n . " 1 "
blasted waste of barren s t u m p s a n d b u r n e d fields.... Every leaf w a s t o r n f r o m the
Outcastes a n d tribals bore di:
trees long ago for t h e cattle, and n o w t h e trees themselves have b e e n cut d o w n
las o f Kaira. as well as other po<
for wood." 1 " 5
faced the "insoluble" p r o b l e m same time labour o n the relief v
Famine, moreover, crossed paths in G u j a r a t , as in t h e rest o f India, w i t h epidemics of b o t h plague and cholera. By F e b r u a r y 1900, there w e r e so m a n y chol-
Likewise in the S u r a t district, v
era victims in G u j a r a t that local w a t e r supplies w e r e b e i n g poisoned by t h e putri-
was closer to 20 percent a m o n
fying corpses. Several hospitals r e p o r t e d 90 percent mortality, and in o n e c a m p
land to u n s c r u p u l o u s m o n e y l e r
alone there were 3,000 deaths in four days.
117
erty.12-'
Dr. Louis Klopsch of The Christian
Even more d r e a d f u l was t h e
Herald, a veteran of famine relief expeditions to Russia, A r m e n i a and C u b a , was "appalled at the shocking conditions" nonchalantly tolerated by British officials:
ern G u j a r a t Forced out of t h e
The heat was intense; the thermometer indicated 108 degrees. A hot, blinding sandstorm filled our eyes and nostrils with micr obe-laden dust, and the all-pervading stench from putrefying bodies, impregnated clothes, hair and skin. Cholera had broken out a short time before and 2400 famine sufferers had died within a few days and had been buried in shallow ground. Decomposition speedily set in and impregnated the ground with death-dealing maiodor. There were no disinfectants, hence the awful, sickening, disease-spreading, suffocating stench.... Millions of flies were permitted undisturbed to pester the unhappy victims. One young woman who had lost every one dear to her, and had turned stark mad, sat at the door vacantly staring at the awful scenes around her. In the entire hospital I did not see a single decent garment. Rags, nothing but rags and dirt.11*
sources of fresh water. An E n g l
fearful of the squalid relief c a m ter in early I WO with a large i a rapidly dessicating lake: As t in t h e fierce heat, the people v be c a u g h t by h a n d . For two o i cooked, and d e v o u r e d the fish J d o w n people by t h e hundreds, lying bodies. W h i l e riding ovei see t h a t the bodies were b e i n g the d e a d had themselves been ; mates that fully a third of the F As elsewhere in India, Britis
e
T A USTS
}
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
FFAST
Some formerly prosperous districts like Kaira lost almost a third of their popu;hip with the world market,
lation in less than t w o years."" In the Panch Mahals the 1900 death rate was a
rud, Kaira and Panch Mahals,
macabre 28.1 percent, and in Ahmedabad, 17 percent. 1 '" (As a result of such con-
1 by the global decline of the
centrations of high mortality, the 1911 census population of Gujarat would be
•en more destructive by the
significantly smaller than 1871's.)1-1 The holocaust meanwhile b e g a n to unravel
y disturb one's rest at night")
the tightly woven fabrics of family and religious life. Knowing the missionaries'
• coax to maturity with labori-
hunger for y o u n g converts, some villagers resorted to selling their y o u n g children
iet, watched in h o r r o r as first
for a few days' supply of food. "Repeatedly parents have offered m e their children
i soils dependent on constant
for sale at a rupee each, or about thirty cents. And they love them a s w e love o u r
iary, writing to an old Princeen as a park," had b e c o m e "a
children. Children are n o w being offered for sale as low as four cents each, for a measure of grain." 1 "
Every leaf was t o r n from the
Outcastes and tribals bore disproportionate shares of the suffering. T h e Dhara-
:mselves have been cut down
Ias of Kaira, as well as other poor shepherds a n d pastoralists in the Panch Mahals,
in the rest of India, with epi-
same time labour on the relief works." As a result their mortality was appalling. 123
faced the "insoluble" problem of "how to look after ... their cattle and at the
>00, there were so m a n y chol-
Likewise in the Surat district, w h e r e the overall death rate was only 2 percent, it
e being poisoned by the putri-
was closer to 20 percent a m o n g t h e Chodhras. The survivors, having lost their
lt mortality, and in one camp ,ouis Klopsch of The Christian jssia, Armenia and Cuba, was lolerated by British officials:
land to unscrupulous moneylenders, were permanently reduced to extreme poverty.12'1 Even m o r e dreadful was the death agony of thousands of Bhil tribals in eastern Gujarat. Forced o u t of their hills and forests by the unending drought, and fearful of the squalid relief camps, they clung wherever possible to t h e remaining
degrees. A hot, blinding sand•n dust, and the all-pervading i. hair and skin. Cholera had crs had died within a few days on speedily set in and impreg> were no disinfectants, hence :ench.... Millions of flies were :. One young woman who had sat at the door vacantly staling il I did not see a single decent
sources of fresh water. An Englishwoman described her phantasmagoric encounter in early 1900 with a large g r o u p of Bhil refugees living in the o p e n around a rapidly dessicating lake: "As the remainder of the water gradually evaporated in the ficrce heat, the people were surprised to see the fish so close they could be caught by hand. For t w o or t h r e e whole nights the famished crowds seized, cooked, and devoured the fish as fast as they could." T h e n cholera s t r u c k and cut down people by the hundreds. "The air became laden w i t h the stench of putrefying bodies. While riding over to the b u r n i n g ground behind my bungalow t o see that the bodies w e r e being properly disposed of, I found that t h e bearers o f the dead had themselves been struck down in front of the pyre." 125 Choksey estimates that fully a third of the Bhil population had perished by 1901.126 As elsewhere in India, British officials rated ethnicities like cattle, and vented
T [30
LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
THE G
Provinces' poor houses c o n t r a campaign, "in t h e N a r m a d a c government] employed more R o u n d i n g off a terrifying d e c s districts in 1900-01."'" N o previous d r o u g h t in I n d there was widespread expectat ture in 1902. In fact, "the s e a s c explains, "was again disappoin ceased early, and t h e winter r a s h o r t a g e of rain w a s intensifie< pers, a n d other insects, which a verted, in the case of some G scarcity into intense distress. l r an absolute failure of rain, a n Figure 5.10 "The Gujarati is a soft man"
least, t h e distress w a s more int.
c o n t e m p t against t h e m even w h e n they w e r e dying in their multitudes. Asked to
Christmas 1902. As in 1877 a n c
T h e Bombay authorities w< explain w h y mortality in G u j a r a t was so high, a v e t e r a n district officer is q u o t e d
occurred relatively late," coinci
in the official famine report:
S e p t e m b e r 1900 in the Central
The Gujaraii is a soft man, unused to privation, accustomed to earn his good food easily. In the hot weather he seldom worked at all and at no time did he form the habit of continuous labour. Large classes are believed by close observers to be constitutionally incapable of it. Very many even among the poorest had never taken a too! in hand in their lives. They lived by watching cattle and crops, by sitting in the fields to weed, by picking cotton, grain and fruit, and, as Mr. Gibb says, by pilfering.' 27 As famine waxed in intensity, the g o v e r n m e n t in Bombay decided to milk this
w e a k e n e d and i m m u n e - s u p p r e malaria deaths, estimated Ianmillion, but Indian e c o n o m i s t three o r four t i m e s this.""'' In Arup M a h a r a m a suggests a in b e t w e e n 3 and 4.4 million, alt closer to 6.5 million and W. Ai u n c o u n t e d dead in the native
"soft m a n " and his family of their last reserves. "The revenue," it w a s a n n o u n c e d ,
gest a total c o m p a r a b l e to t h :
" m u s t at all costs b e g a t h e r e d in" - a decision d e n o u n c e d by Nash as "picking
C u r z o n ' s claim t h a t "there h a c
t h e b o n e s of the people."'
28
W h e n patidar farmers, r u i n e d by t h e drought, com-
has b e e n less, w h e n the distrcs:
b i n e d to refuse a 24 p e r c e n t increase in their tax p a y m e n t , the collectors simply
As in 1876-78, t h e r e were !
confiscated their land. 1 2 ' Officials in the Central Provinces ( w h e r e 500,000 died
of d r o u g h t districts, at least U
in 1900 alone) w e r e equally ruthless.' 3 0 T h e c o r r u p t i o n and i n c o m p e t e n c e of t h e
the toll soared t o a sixth of the
SKEL1 T O N S AT T H E F E A S T
173
Provinces' poor houses contrasted with the efficiency of its militarized revenue campaign. "In the N a r m a d a division, w h e r e famine was more intense, it [the government] employed more savage coercion than in the better year 1898-99. Rounding off a terrifying decade, officials claimed near full collections in most districts in 1900-01." 131 No previous drought in Indian history h a d lasted for m o r e than t w o years, so there was widespread expectation that n o r m a l monsoons would restore agriculture in 1902. In fact, "the season of 1901-02," the official Bombay famine Report explains, "was again disappointing. In G u j a r a t the s u m m e r rains b e g a n late and ceased early, and the winter rains failed almost entirely.... The d a m a g e done by shortage of rain was intensified by a severe p l a g u e of rats and locusts, grasshoppers, and other insects, which assailed parts of the Deccan and Karnatak and converted, in the case of some G u j a r a t districts, what would have b e e n moderate scarcity into intense distress. In the Desert p o r t i o n of T h a r and Parkar there was an absolute failure of rain, and the crops w e r e practically nil.... [I]n Gujarat at least, the distress was m o r e intense in 1901-02 than in the preceding years." 1 " The Bombay authorities were forced to k e e p relief w o r k s open almost until g in their multitudes. Asked to steran district officer is quoted
Christmas 1902. As in 1877 and 1897, "the m a i n peak in the famine death rate ... occurred relatively late," coinciding with the r e t u r n of monsoon rains in AugustSeptember 1900 in the Central Provinces and a malaria epidemic that ravaged t h e weakened and immune-suppressed p o p u l a t i o n . T h e India Office, not counting
ustomed to earn his good food md at no time did he form the •d by close observers to be conl the poorest had never taken a ittle and crops, by silting in the ind, as Mr. Gibb says, by pilfer-
malaria deaths, estimated famine mortality in British India 1899-1900 as 1.25 million, but Indian economists led by R.C. D u t t claimed that it "was actually three or four times this."13'1 In a recent statistical reconstruction, d e m o g r a p h e r Arup Maharatna suggests a mortality range (not including 1901-02 victims ) of between 3 and 4.4 million, although Burton Stein believes the t r u e figure was closer to 6.5 million and W. A r t h u r Lewis cites 10 million dead.' 35 Certainly the
in Bombay decided to milk this 'he revenue," it was announced, (enounced by Nash as "picking rs, ruined by the drought, corn-
uncounted dead in the native states and the heavy mortality through 1902 suggest a total comparable to that of the 1870s catastrophe, making nonsense of Curzon's claim that "there had never been a famine w h e n the general mortality has been less, w h e n t h e distress has been m o r e amply or swiftly relieved. 136
payment, the collectors simply
As in 1876-78, there were local concentrations of super-mortality. In scores
Provinces (where 500,000 died
of drought districts, at least 10 percent of t h e population perished; in Gujarat,
jption and incompetence of the
the toll soared to a sixth of the population, perhaps even more. 137 T h e slaughter
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
THE G
HOLOCAUSTS
of innocents was particularly appall-
T h e cumulative damage t(
ing. Infant mortality in the Hissar
"Almost all the progress m a d
district of the Punjab, according to
lifted during t h e famines." 114
Tim Dyson, was nearly 50 percent
in t h e Punjab died in 1896-£
in 1899-1900, while in Berarhalf the
Tomlinson in t h e New Camb;
deaths (some 8,000) on large relief
levels until the 1930s.141 Partia
works were children under the age of
p o w e r , the net cropped area i
five - g r u e s o m e evidence of condi-
Provinces in 1900 had declinec
tions like those denounced by Haw-
districts the decrease in cultiv;
thorne a t j u b b u l p u r in 1897.158
T h e country's demograph
In 1901 The Lancet suggested that a
306 million - hardly a Malthu
tality in India in the previous decade
had been a fifty-year standstill
(calculated from the 1901 Census after
and Allahabad, a m o n g other I
subtracting plague deaths) was 19 milAs William Digby reminded
English readers at the time, "This
seen a relatively healthy ratio \
139
statement by what is probably the
A n d what lesson did the Bri
foremost medical j o u r n a l in the world,
prehensive official survey, the f
means that the loss of life thus
conceded that m u c h of the ex>
recorded represented 'the disappear-
spread gratuitous [home] relie
ance' of fully one-half a population as large as that of the United Kingdom."
1,,0
A
n u m b e r of historians, including Kingsley Davis, Ira Klein and Pierre Le Roy, have accepted The Lancet's figure as an order-of-magnitude approximation for the combined mortality of the 1896-1902 crisis. 1 " These great fin-de-siecle famines, followed by another El Nino-linked droughtfamine in 1907-08 that Maharatna estimates took 2.1 t o 3.2 million lives in the United Provinces, cast a long mortality shadow over the first decade of the twentieth century.' 42 Their i m m u n e responses weakened by the long ordeal of hunger, the rural poor in western and n o r t h e r n India were m o w e d d o w n in the millions by epidemic waves of malaria, tuberculosis and plague. T h e Black Death, spread by drought-induced rat migrations, entrenched itself in the f o r m e r famine districts of the U. P. and the Punjab, where it had claimed 8 million further victims by 1914.143
1872, while in Lucknow, J h a m and the Native States, merely t
lion.
Figure 5.11 Burning Plague Victims in Bombay, 1898.
thirty years f r o m 1891 to 1921,
conservative estimate of excess mor-
could have been such as no c bear" (although b o t h the Mogu the eighteenth century), f.ikev. [all-India] Famine Commission famine victims received any B: distributed was excessive."14''
T AUSTS
S K E L E T O N S AT T H E
ents w a s particularly appall-
FEAST
175
T h e cumulative d a m a g e to t h e s u b c o n t i n e n t ' s p r o d u c t i v e forces w a s colossal.
int mortality in t h e Hissar
"Almost all t h e progress m a d e in agricultural d e v e l o p m e n t since 1880 was nul-
:>f t h e Punjab, according to
lified d u r i n g .the f a m i n e s . " S r i v a s t a v a claims that 92 percent o f plough cattle
son, w a s nearly 50 percent
in t h e P u n j a b died in 1896-97; while in t h e B o m b a y Presidency (according t o
1900, while in Berar half the
T o m l i n s o n in the New Cambridge History) t h e herds did n o t regain their 1890s
s o m e 8,000) o n large relief
levels until the 1930s.145 Partially as a result o f this catastrophic shortfall of a n i m a l
'ere children u n d e r the age of
power, t h e n e t c r o p p e d area in b o t h t h e B o m b a y P r e s i d e n c y and in t h e C e n t r a l
r u e s o m e evidence of condi-
Provinces in 1900 h a d declined b y 12 percent relative to 1890. In t h e m o s t stricken
e those d e n o u n c e d by Haw-
districts t h e decrease in cultivation was 25 p e r c e n t t o 41 percent.' 4 ' 1
t t j u b b u l p u r in 1897.13S 01 The Lancet suggested that a ative estimate of excess morIndia in t h e previous decade ted f r o m t h e 1901 Census after :ing plague deaths) w a s 19 milAs William Digby reminded readers at the time, "This nt by w h a t is probably the ;t medical j o u r n a l in the world, that
the
loss of
life thus
d represented 'the disappearof t h e United K i n g d o m . " 1 A Klein and Pierre Le Roy, have le approximation for the corn-
T h e country's d e m o g r a p h i c e n g i n e likewise g r o u n d t o a n e a r halt. In t h e thirty years f r o m 1891 t o 1921, India's p o p u l a t i o n barely g r e w from 282 million t o 306 million - hardly a Malthusian boom.'" 7 Indeed, in m a n y parts o f India t h e r e h a d b e e n a fifty-year standstill in p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h . T h u s in Agra, Rohiklhand a n d Allahabad, a m o n g o t h e r localities, t h e 1921 p o p u l a t i o n was less t h a n that o f 1872, while in Lucknow, Jhansi, Gujarat, m o s t of the ( f o r m e r ) United Provinces a n d t h e Native States, merely t h e same. 1 '" For India as a w h o l e , only t h e 1880s h a d seen a relatively healthy ratio b e t w e e n birch a n d death rates. And w h a t lesson did t h e British d r a w f r o m these catastrophes? T h e most c o m prehensive official survey, the Report on the Famine in Bombay Presidency, 1899-1902, c o n c e d e d t h a t m u c h o f the excess mortality m i g h t have b e e n avoided by "widespread g r a t u i t o u s [ h o m e ] relief f r o m the beginning," b u t insisted t h a t "the cost could have b e e n such as n o c o u n t r y w o u l d b e a r or s h o u l d be called upon t o b e a r " ( a l t h o u g h b o t h t h e Moguls a n d t h e Q i n g provided this form of relief d u r i n g t h e e i g h t e e n t h century). Likewise the principal finding o f the Report of the 1901 [all-India] Famine C o m m i s s i o n - despite t h e fact that barely a fifth of estimated
o t h e r El Nino-linked drought2.1 to 3.2 million lives in the •s t h e first decade of the twen1 by t h e l o n g ordeal of hunger, : m o w e d d o w n in the millions igue. T h e Black Death, spread self in t h e f o r m e r famine dism e d 8 million f u r t h e r victims
famine victims received any British assistance w h a t s o e v e r - was t h a t "the relief distributed w a s excessive." 1
Millena
In 1 8 9 8 t h e r e will b e w a t e r s shall t u r n t o bl east w i t h tlic sun's r a y s and t h e e a r t h shall fine rain o f stars, and t h a t ^ lights s h a l l b e put o u t .
In the a u t u m n of 1901, after a g cis Nichols, special "famine c o m arrived at the gates of Xian (Sian) "courageous and adventurous" r< been selected by Louis Klopsch, ing a $100 contribution from rec to the epicenter of a terrible d r o u loess provinces of Shaanxi and S t ager-Empress Tz'u-hsi and her cc fall of Beijing to t h e Internatiom Although Nichols h a d been w a r r ism, a n d that vengeful Boxer r e n
Six
Millenarian Revolutions
In 1898 t h e r e will b e m a n y h a t s a n d f e w heads; in 1899 t h e w a t e r s shall t u r n t o b l o o d , a n d t h e p l a n e t shall a p p e a r in the e a s t w i t h t h e s u n ' s rays, t h e b o u g h shall f i n d itself o n t h e e a r t h , a n d t h e e a r t h shall find itself in h e a v e n . T h e r e shall b e a g r e a t r a i n o f stars, a n d t h a t will b e the e n d o f t h e w o r l d . In 1901 the l i g h t s shall b e p u t o u t . - P r o p h e c i e s of Antonio Consclhciro
In the a u t u m n of 1901, after a grueling overland journey of many weeks, Francis Nichols, special "famine commissioner" for N e w York's The Christian Herald, arrived at the gates of Xian (Sian), the ancient capital of China. Renowned for his "courageous and adventurous" reportage of the late war with Spain, Nichols had been selected by Louis Klopsch, the Herald's publisher, to carry cash aid (including a SI00 contribution from recently assassinated President McKinley) directly to the epicenter of a terrible drought-famine that was reported to be savaging the loess provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi. 1 H e followed in the footsteps of the Dowager-Empress Tz'u-hsi and her court, who had fled to Xian in late 1900 after the fall of Beijing to the International Expeditionary Force of eight foreign powers. Although Nichols had b e e n w a r n e d that Shaanxi was the citadel of anti-foreignism, and that vengeful Boxer remnants might b e encountered en route, he was
T LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
Ml 1.1.1- ^
determined to document the devastation of nearly three years of' drought in the
n o r t h e r n China a n d Manchuria
old Han heartland. Thanks to a pass f r o m Prince Ching, the uncle of the new
both by foreign devils and n a t u r
boy-emperor, h e was in fact treated with scrupulous cordiality by local manda-
aligned in time and space t h a t
rins, w h o expedited his j o u r n e y with fresh horses and armed escorts. They also
peasantry as a single, occult e v
warned him of the landscape of famine and death, too horrible to describe in
Paul Esherick, A r t h u r T i e d c m .
words, that lay ahead. An estimated 30 percent of Shaanxi's population had per-
missionary accounts that d r o u g
ished, and some Juien (Kienchow, Pinchow and Yungshan, especially) were nearly depopulated.
2
sparks of anti foreignism into a Ordinary people were convince
Indeed, the fabled valley of the Wei River seemed nearly as desolate as the
eign missions, churches and cat
Gobi. "Every quarter of a mile a m u d village rose out of the white, treeless
balance of nature, thus a w a k e
desert, which stretched away to the north, east, and west like a limitless ocean.
drought.' As Boxer "bigcharaci
T h e vast plain was silent. Along the old roads, all w o r n and sunken, we m e t no travellers. No farmers were in the fields. In some of the villages were g r o u p s of half-starved men and children, the only survivors of communities that had perished." The outskirts of Xian were honeycombed with thousands of "grim, black-
"No rain comes f r o m Heaven, churches have bottled up the sk; T h e first phase of drought, caused acute distress in the w e s
ened caves nearly all empty." During the terrible winter of 1900 -01, an a r m y of
anti-foreign anger was already a
more than 300,000 starving refugees had been encamped outside the city walls.
tary interventions o n behalf of
T h e provincial governor, frightened by bread riots and other o m e n s of a peasant
banditry increased in tandem,
uprising, had locked the gates. Reduced to rags and without fuel for fires, the
boldness of populist, heterodox
desperate refugees tried to escape the icy Siberian winds by burrowing deep into
devastating than in western Inc
the loess e m b a n k m e n t s and hillsides. With the imperial granaries long emptied,
torrential monsoon in August t
this h u m a n rodent colony subsisted for a short time on coarse grass, weeds and
<S August it broke through its b;-
roof thatch. Before long, however, the survivors were living off the bodies of the
its waters swept t h r o u g h Yunch'
dead. "By-and-bv h u m a n flesh began to be sold in the suburbs of Sian. At first the
up southwest of Jinan, flooding
traffic was carried on clandestinely, but after a time a horrible kind of meat ball, made from the bodies of h u m a n beings w h o had died of hunger, became a stapie article of food, that was sold for the equivalent of about four American cents a pound."'
trously, the north bank broke at Chiping, where t h e 'Spirit Boxc cover s o m e 3000 square miles finally flowed to the sea."" T h e of the province was now an All;-:
China: 'Bottling Up the Sky' The festival of death and cannibalism outside the walls of Xian, related to Nichols
surrounded by water, homes, f\ water or destroyed.""
by officials w h o had b e e n powerless to relieve the calamity, was the macabre cul-
Millions fled, as best they c<:
mination of the crisis that had begun in 1897 with drought in n o r t h China a n d the
tions of Henan as well as Shan
G e r m a n occupation of Jiaozhou Bay on the Shandong Peninsula. 4 For five years,
(Zhili), especially a r o u n d Beijing
T uSTS
' MILLENARIAN
REVOLUTIONS
179
iree years of drought in the
northern China and Manchuria, along with Inner Mongolia, were overwhelmed
hing, the uncle of the new
b o t h by foreign devils and natural disasters. Indeed the two curses were so closely
> cordiality by local manda-
aligned in time and space that they were understood by broad sections of the
k1 armed escorts. They also
peasantry as a single, occult evil. Modern.historians of the Boxer uprising, like
too horrible to describe in
Paul Esherick, Arthur Tiedemann and Paul Cohen, agree with contemporary
•anxi's population had per-
missionary accounts that drought-famine was the bellows that transformed local
.lan, especially) were nearly
sparks of anti-foreignism into a vast populist conflagration across n o r t h China. Ordinary people were convinced that the construction of so many arrogant for-
,ed nearly as desolate as the
eign missions, churches and cathedrals had disrupted the fengshtd o r geomantic
e out of the white, treeless
balance of nature, thus awakening the Earth Dragon and causing floods and
i west like a limitless ocean,
drought. 5 As Boxer "big character" posters declaimed f r o m the walls of Beijing:
/orn and sunken, we met no
" N o rain comes from Heaven. T h e earth is parched and dry. And all because the
f the villages were groups of
churches have bottled u p the sky."6
if communities that had per-
The first phase of drought, which lasted f r o m 1897 through s u m m e r 1898,
th thousands of "grim, black-
caused acute distress in the western and southern counties of Shandong, where
inter of 1900-01, an a r m y of
anti-foreign anger was already at a fever-pitch because of repeated G e r m a n mili-
amped outside the city walls,
tary interventions on behalf of Catholic missionaries. 7 As grain prices soared,
md other omens of a peasant
banditry increased in tandem, and magistrates complained about the growing
nd without fuel for fires, the
boldness of populist, heterodox sects. Although crop failure was considerably less
winds by burrowing deep into
devastating than in western India, the drought was immediately followed by a
serial granaries long emptied,
torrential monsoon in August that swelled the Yellow River to flood stage. On
le on coarse grass, weeds and
8 August it broke through its banks first in Nhouzhang, drowning 400 villages as
:re living off the bodies of the
its waters swept through Yuncheng to the Grand Canal; a second breach opened
he suburbs of Sian. At first the
up southwest of Jinan, flooding another 1,500 villages. "Finally and most disas-
e a horrible kind of meat ball,
trously, the north bank broke "at Dong'c, producing a vast lake extending through
ied of hunger, became a staple
Chiping, where the 'Spirit Boxers' would soon be stirred to activity, and on co
f about four American cents a
covcr some 3000 square miles of farm land in northwest Shandong before it finally flowed to the sea." s The American consul at Chefoo reported that much of the province was n o w an Atlantis: "Hundreds of villages are submerged, cities surrounded by water, homes, furniture, clothing - in fact everything - is under
vails of Xian, related to Nichols calamity, was the macabre cul-
water or destroyed." 9 Millions fled, as best they could, the great inundation that covered vast sec-
drought in north China and the
tions of H e n a n as well as Shandong. Separate flooding created havoc in Hebei
dong Peninsula. 4 For five years,
(Zhili), especially around Beijing. Myriads of villagers were stranded o n dikes for
\ c
T i
[30
L A T E V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T STHEG
Figure 6.1 Flood Refugees in North China.
MI LI.n
Figure 6.2 Boxer Rebels 1
three m o n t h s while waiting for t h e w a t e r s t o recede. T h e y tried t o survive, w i t h
was t h r o u g h his i n c o m p e t e n c e
little success, on "a diet of willow leaves, wheat gleanings, and c o t t o n s e e d m i x e d
The foreign powers, m e a n w h i h
with chaff and pits." 10 A m e r i c a n missionaries, appealing for aid in the w i n t e r
n o r t h China, i g n o r i n g desperat
of 1898-99, w r o t e that "the m o s t conservative estimates place the n u m b e r of
in s o m e instances, their own lot
starving at 2,000,000, and t i m e and the increasing cold w e a t h e r will u n d o u b t e d l y
Herald, for example, begged U:
greatly a u g m e n t t h e distress." W i t h o u t protection f r o m the bitter Siberian winds,
grain t o S h a n d o n g , he was b r
tens of thousands died of h u n g e r , disease and cold. "Probably n o place in the
every available t r a n s p o r t was n e
world," said the New York Times, "and probably not in this generation, has there been so m u c h suffering as is n o w being endured in Shan T u n g . " " T h e tragedy w a s m a d e all the m o r e bitter by t h e universal belief a m o n g the people that the disaster w a s m a n - m a d e and avoidable. "Breaches of the Yellow
T h r o u g h o u t 189S, moreover day. W h i l e Beijing was distract cholera epidemic. London a n d A g r e e m e n t , which acknowledge
River dikes had b e e n o c c u r r i n g for several years as a c o n s e q u e n c e of e m b e z -
return for the recognition of a
z l e m e n t of flood control f u n d s by officials of all ranks.... T h e censors in their
plain. J a p a n , France a n d Russia i
i m p e a c h m e n t m e m o r i a l s h a d r e p o r t e d this corrupt administration of the Yellow
At the s a m e time, Christian p r o s
River C o n s e r v a n c y for m a n y years." 12 T h e chief culprit, the pro-Catholic h e a d of
p l i n g o f Protestant missionaries,
the Conservancy, had b e e n dismissed for his venality, b u t was restored t o p o w e r
widely perceived as a "religious
u n d e r pressure f r o m the French. T h e h u n g r y and half-drowned peasantry, accord-
ingly, centrifugal w o r l d market
ing to Esherick, p r e s u m e d t h a t "this official, b r o u g h t back at foreign insistence,
Imported machine-spun cotton
1
MII- L EN A R I A N R E V O L U T I O N S AUSTS
Figure 6.2 Boxer Rebels Practicing Archery, 1900 was t h r o u g h his i n c o m p e t e n c e a n d c o r r u p t i o n responsible for the g r e a t flood." 1 3 i c . T h e y tried t o survive, with
T h e foreign powers, m e a n w h i l e , 'seemed callously indifferent to t h e suffering in
ianings, and c o t t o n s e e d mixed
n o r t h China, ignoring desperate appeals for relief f r o m missionaries and even,
>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<
they didn't get what they wanted, they took it by force." 27 Likewise Presbyterian
have built little altars outside t
missionaries reported in July 1899 that pro-Boxer peasants across north Anhui
hoping the gods will honor t h e
were "looting the granaries of the wealthy." 23 There is little doubt, moreover, that
by sending rain. Everything is :
the ultimate endorsement of the insurgency by leading gentry and Qing nobles
the dust is dreadful." In S e p u
was a systematic attempt to channel dangerous social anger in a purely patriotic,
peasantry sowed their winter v
non-revolutionary direction. Virtually certain defeat at the hands of the Great
as usual but the monsoon b r o
Powers, in the eyes of veteran Manchu statesmen, seemed preferable to an apoca-
"a little drizzle of rain but n o t <
lyptic class struggle. The Taiping, in the last instance, still cast the longest shadow
do any good." O v e r the next s
over the Forbidden City.
absence of a n o r m a l protectiv initiated.
For the drought-victims themselves, however, the relevant m e m o r y was the holocaust of 1877. T h e diary kept by Eva Price, a m e m b e r of the large Oberlin
As hunger spread, villager
College contingent of missionaries w h o had been proselytizing in Shanxi since
to 1877-79, when at least one
1889, provides a vivid account of h o w folk memories of those millions of deaths
Rumors arrived of foreign p l o t
helped to fuel the uprising against a foreign menace indissolubly identified with
one that asserted that loreign
drought and famine. T h e catalytic roles of hunger, r u m o r and fear, alloyed with
carrying grisly cargoes of h u m
resurgent elements of popular culture like the Boxer adoption of a p a n t h e o n
another widespread rumor tf
of animal gods from popular novels and operas, recall le grand peur of 1789,
1900. Boxers w e r e clandestitn
W '
,i;sts
j
ent, and h u n g e r occasioned
\
famously analyzed by George Lefebvre,
of the uprising, agrees w h e n
j
t h a t propelled the French p e a s a n t r y into
n o r e than any other, in m y
\
a similarly desperate adventure. 2 9 Price's
ioth of t h e Boxer m o v e m e n t
J
diary entries gain particular poignancy
l e r of 1900.""
MII.LENAR1AN r e v o ) UTIONS
as she gradually realizes that h e r own
lling one's belly. E v e r y w h e r e
fate, like t h a t of h e r peasant neighbors,
, if necessary, simply expro-
hinges u p o n t h e c o u r s e of the d r o u g h t .
nts. M o r e violently, it seized d missions. Wanguo
1s5
I
Thus,
from
t h e last rains of Sep-
gongbao,
t e m b e r 1898 t h r o u g h t h e terrible starv-
.ard, w a r n e d that while t h e
ing spring of 1900, s h e charted t h e grow-
o e c o m e outlaws [and] advo-
ing p o p u l a r u n c a s e a n d the increase in
ideed, m o s t accounts agree,
anti-foreign insults a n d incidents. D u r i n g
ral t o the explosive g r o w t h of
t h e early s u m m e r of 1899, t h u n d e r fre-
claimed t h a t this slogan only
quently could be h e a r d to t h e south-
a n g asserts that - at least by
west, but" the m o n s o o n s never crossed
eneral." H e cites such official
t h e m o u n t a i n s . "The s o u t h city g a t e has
s to all give grain, b u t w h e n
b e e n closed again a n d the s h o p k e e p e r s
rce." 27 Likewise Presbyterian
have built little altars outside their shops
peasants across n o r t h A n h u i
h o p i n g the gods will h o n o r their w o r s h i p
is little doubt, moreover, that
by sending rain. Everything is so dry and
ding gentry and Q i n g nobles
t h e dust is dreadful." In S e p t e m b e r the
ial anger in a purely patriotic,
peasantry sowed their w i n t e r w h e a t crop
at at the hands of t h e Great
as usual b u t the m o n s o o n b r o u g h t only
i e m e d preferable to an apoca-
"a little drizzle of rain b u t not e n o u g h to
>, 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<
T ' MILLENARIAN REVOLUTIONS
USTS
187
rnor, Yu Sien. T w o months y w h e r e in Shanxi, villagers ign devils" at missions. Budd continue as long as Chris>berlin missionaries, in turn, ain." o u g h t in much of the n o r t h aanxi remained hot and arid, sr larger and m o r e militant dy u n d e r their slogan, "Supchanted: "See the rain does b e spilt / O r the season will lonths we have been anxious uld probably come upon the
Figure 6.4 One of the Dead in North China
aning or menace to us. T h e To the millions of deaths in n o r t h China from famine and epidemic between
felt the pressure from lack of u forts, the dowager-empress
I i j
1897 and 1901 were added hundreds of thousands of additional casualties f r o m the exterminating armies of Field-Marshal Von Waldersee (personally ordered
ie United States, Japan, Italy,
i
by the Kaiser to emulate the carnage of Attila) and t h e other foreign victors.
ie says, "I have lain on brush-
•
Even the missionaries rescued by the relief forces w e r e staggered by the scale and ferocity of the vengeance exacted against the Chinese civilian population. "It
ponse to her edict, Eva Price,
has seemed," complained Arthur Smith, "as if the foreign troops had come t o
promptly slaughtered by Yu I
northern China for the express purpose of c o m m i t t i n g within the shortest t i m e as many violations as possible of the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth C o m m a n d -
:arly 1960s by PRC historians
ments." ;,!i
ordinarily broad-based, popu-
;
eared almost universal in the
j
Writing in The Contemporary Review, E. Dillon described the shoals of m u r -
ifter county reported boxing
j
dered Chinese floating in the Pei-ho River o r washed in heaps u p o n islets a n d
rast, last-minute Manchu sup-
I
sandbars. One sight was particularly haunting:
was wavering and ineffective, 3uched by famine, acquiesced :ensure. In the end, the cour»unterparts), a r m e d with little nt but of little avail in stationt Powers.
! I j
Hard by a spot named Koh So, I saw two bodies on a low-lying ledge of the shore. Accustomed by this time to behold in the broad light of day some of the horrors which the soil of the graveyard hides from all living things but the worm, I should have glided carelessly past them but for the pathos of their story, which needed no articulate voice to tell. A father and his boy of eight had been shot down in the name of civilization while holding each other's hands and praying for mercy. And
T 188
LATE V I C T O R I A N
ii :
HOLOCAUSTS
MILLE
there they lay, hand still holding hand, while a brown dog was slowly eating one of the arms of the father.3"
;
deepest suspicion." The great
!
only further entrenched Seba
After recounting countless other atrocities committed by the allies, including
!
ranks of barefoot bealos and be
j
new visions of cataclysm folio
rapes and murders of women and girls, Dillon prcsciently warned that the '"good
Yet milienarianism in t h e
work done' by the brave troops in China" had sown the seeds of nationalist revolution. "The policy of the powers is a sowing of the wind, and the harvest reaped
coping with environmental in:
will surely be the whirlwind. But that belongs to the 'music of the future." MB
the scorched sertao in the spri Conselheiro and the ordainec
Brazil: The Days of Judgement
monizing apocalypse but p r a c
Brazil's nineteenth century ended in a bloody sunset of drought, famine and
|
utation for holiness by repaid
genocidal state violence. Across widening regional and racial divides, the positiv-
became locally famous for re
ist Republic, established by coup in 1889 and dominated by Paulista elites, con-
oped but fertile lands of the
ducted a ruthless crusade against poor, drought-stricken but pious sertanejos in
drought of 1877-79, [Cicero; and majricolw for the refugees
the Nordeste. The 1897 War of Canudos, which culminated in the destruction of
As we have seen, the oasis
the holy city of Canudos in the Bahian sertao and the massacre of tens of thou-
the scorching, cloudless year
sands of humble followers of Antonio Conselheiro, is one of the defining events
dos planted emergency crops <
in Brazil's modern history - the subject of Euclydes da Cunha's epic 05 Sertoes
of the Cariri River, and pray
[1902], Another famous backlands Utopia led by a religious folk hero, Father
cious Blood d u r i n g the Holy \
Cicero Romao's city of Joaseiro in Ceara's Cariri Valley, narrowly escaped the fate
thousands m o r e refugees anc
of Canudos: it survived into the twentieth century only through shrewd compro-
between Cicero and a Romar
mises with local elites. If eschatological imminence (with the oligarchic Republic
folk Catholicism • who refus
as the Anti-Christ) suffused both communities, each was also a pragmatic and successful adaptation to continuing environmental crisis and economic decline in
lands could be the subject of '
Drought abated in 1890 -
[
Joasciro - hut then returned
I
El Nino years in modern So
fighting
j
the politically manipulated c
the Moors in 1578, was particularly widespread. The first massacre of millenar-
!
plunged the Brazilian econc
ists occurred at Serra do Rodeador in the sertao of Pernambuco in 1819-20. "A
'
even in advance of the world
the Nordeste. The roots of both movements, moreover, go back to the Grande Seen of 1876-78. The sertao had long been a religious volcano. "Sebastianism," based on mystical belief in the return of the Portuguese monarch who had vanished
its value between 1892 and If
prophet gathered together a group of followers to await King Sebastian, who was expected back at any m o m e n t to lead t h e m on a crusade for the liberation of
j
tensions, proved even less caj:
Jerusalem." Their roughshod Utopia was instead destroyed by a nervous govern-
drought- and inflation-ravag
ment who viewed the utopian-apocalyptic strand in folk Catholicism with the
este. Under the new federals trated in the south, leaving t
usts
' MILLENARIAN
og was slowly eating one of
197
REVOLUTIONS
deepest suspicion.'" T h e great droughts of the late nineteenth century, however, only f u r t h e r entrenched Sebastianist eschatology in popular culture. From the
.ted by the allies, including ;ntly w a r n e d that the '"good :he seeds of nationalist revovind, and the harvest reaped 'music of the future.'"' , 0
ranks of barefoot beatos and beatas, the famines of 1877 a n d 1889 mobilized fierce n e w visions of cataclysm followed by Christ's thousand-year kingdom. Yet millenarianism in the sertao was also a practical social
framework
for
coping with environmental instability. W h e n foreign priests and missionaries fled the scorched sertao in the spring of 1877, the former-schoolteacher-turned-beato Conselheiro and the ordained priest Cicero stayed behind with their flocks, sermonizing apocalypse but practicing energetic self-help. T h e first acquired his rep-
set of drought, famine and
utation for holiness by repairing local churches and graveyards, while the second
nd racial divides, the positiv-
became locally famous for resettling starving drought refugees in the undevel-
lated by Paulista elites, con-
oped but fertile lands of the Araripe Mountains. " W h e n , during the terrible
icken b u t pious sertanejos in
drought of 1877-79, [Cicero] d u g wells, erected shelters and planted mandioca
ninated in the destruction of
and manicoba for the refugees, the sertoes r a n g with his praises."'12
ie massacre of tens of thou-
As we have seen, the oasis at Joaseiro again became a populist refuge during
is one of the defining events
the scorching, cloudless year of 1888. Under Cicero's energetic direction, jlagela-
s da Cunha's epic Os Sertoes
dos planted emergency crops of manioc, slaked their thirst in the perennial waters
. religious folk hero, Father
of the Cariri River, and prayed for rain. Maria de Araujo's milagre of the Pre-
ey, narrowly escaped the fate
cious Blood during the Holy Week of 1889 repeated itself for three years, drawing
nly through shrewd compro-
thousands more refugees and pilgrims to Joaseiro while opening a bitter breach
V i t h the oligarchic Republic
between Cicero and a Romanizing church hierarchy - at war with Afro-Brazilian
:h was also a pragmatic and
folk Catholicism - w h o refused t o accept that a poor Black w o m a n in the back-
risis and economic decline in
lands could be the subject of such divine grace.
:over, go back to the Grande
Drought abated in 1890 - thanks, many sertanejos believed, to the miracle at Joaseiro - but then returned with a vengeance in 1891, one of the most intense
bastianism," based on mysti-
HI Nino years in m o d e r n South American history. T h e subsequent bursting of
fighting
the politically manipulated coffee investment bubble k n o w n as t h e Enct!/tameftto
ie first massacre of millenar-
plunged the Brazilian economy into deep crisis and incited runaway inflation
Pernambuco in 1819-20. "A
even in advance of the world trade depression of 1893. T h e milreis lost fully half
vait King Sebastian, w h o was
its value between 1892 and 1897, while the Republic, despite its modernizing pre-
crusade for the liberation of
tensions, proved even less capable than the old Empire of providing any aid to the
stroyed by a nervous govern-
drought- and inflation-ravaged interior of t h e increasingly peripheralized Nord-
in folk Catholicism with the
este. Under the new federalism virtually all relief and public works were concen-
1 w h o had vanished
trated in the south, leaving the sertanejos at the mercy of corrupt and bankrupt
T 190
LATE v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
mil. l f
state oligarchies. 45
droughts from 1889 on as harl
Simultaneously, there was
with the passionate vision of
greater population pressure
the other hand, when Consell
than in 1877 on the overex-
rain of politics he was bratide
ploited but simultaneously
justice," especially his opposit
underdeveloped resources of
him to advocate nonviolent ci
the sertao. Emancipation in
two decades of spiritual pcre
1888 freed slaves in
the
deported by various local auth
coastal plantation belt with-
tified stature a m o n g the share
out providing them
with
During the 1888 -91 droug:
land, tools or real means of
doned fazendas north of Sab
independent survival.
their struggle against new m u i
The
decline in the export earnings of sugar at the same Figure 6.5 Antonio Conselheiro
replaced Christ with Cointc j
After an assassination attemp -
time depressed employment.
move his rapidly growing con
Thousands drifted into the
435 miles inland from Salvaci
interior, where they joined
ruined fazenda o n fertile land
the multitudes already scratching at the baked earth as sharecroppers, day-labor-
by seasonal rivers and reliable
ers or illegal squatters. Rural credit was nonexistent (London still firmly con-
geoned into a self-sufficient, .
trolled Brazil's finances) and the sertao's reliable water resources were jealously
walled Jerusalem" in da Cunl
monopolized by large landowners. Thus when drought resumed after 1888, there
with its relative prosperitv (riv
were few reserves to sustain the population on the land. As in 1877, the officials
melons, squash, cantaloupes, :
of Fortaleza, Salvador and the other ports were soon blockading roads against
I
religious fervor. Although its
an overwhelming influx of famished refugees. Many sertanejos, however, chose
j
sertao, the community's civic
a new survival option: they flocked to the "drought arks" being built by Cicero at
i
such previously outcast group
joaseiro, and, after 1892, by Conselheiro atCanudos.
!
^ticeiros (outlaws) and the rer.
Falsely portrayed by his enemies (and, more recently, by Mario Vargas Llosa)
|
two chiefs would die fighting i
as a raving monster, Conselheiro preached a "dark, unforgiving Catholicism"
:
For da Cunha and contemp
that, as Robert Levine has shown, was not unorthodox by the traditional stan-
gant liberalism of Comte and
dards of the Nordeste. Unlike Cicero, he was not an impresario of miracles, nor
could only be the "objectiviz;
did he encourage a cult around himself or perform sacraments. He may have
points out, "few joined Consel
been the sertao's Savonarola or Cotton Mather, but he was not its "messiah." His
a crazed magician." Instead, li
sermons were typically based on popular missionary tracts, focusing on peniten-
relentless chaos of drought an
tial devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. Even his interpretation of the recurrent
to develop, or even slow the d
T sts
m i l l e n a r i a n
ire oligarchies.""
r e v o l u t i o n s
I91
droughts from 1889 o n as harbingers of the e n d of the world was fully in accord
Simultaneously, there was
with the passionate vision of m u c h of the regular clergy in the Nordeste. O n
eater population pressure
the other hand, when Conselheiro's fierce biblical rectitude crossed into the ter-
an in 1877 on the overex-
rain of politics he was branded as a subversive. His "intense feelings a b o u t social
oited but
simultaneously
justice," especially his opposition t o slavery a n d the exploitation of t h e poor, led
lderdeveloped resources of
h i m to advocate nonviolent civic and religious disobedience. In the c o u r s e of his
e sertao. Emancipation in 588
freed
slaves
in
the
>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<
Towards the end of 1896 - during the onset of a fierce new El Nino d r o u g h t
|
I cry. "Canudos," da Cunlia wrc
that lasted, with only brief respites, until 1907'tB - a battalion of Bahian troops,
|
history, it held o u t to the last i ing o f the words, it fell on O c t
responding to landowners' d e m a n d s for repression, opened fire on a peaceful procession of penitents. More than 150 were mowed down, but the enraged survi-
|
ttyhig, every man of them. T h
vors - m a n y of them tough jagiincos (cowboys) or f o r m e r cangaceiros - drove off
j
other full-grown m e n , and a t
the troops with heavy casualties. As drought emptied the countryside, the Canu-
{
sand m e n . " " W h a t had becom<
dcnscs clung grimly, blunderbusses and knives in hand, to their n e w gardens and
!
"half-breed" followers of C o n s
)
Some were shot when they en woman whose labor pains had the road and abandoned. Sold trees.... Wounded cofbd/icimfl.'
homes. While Conselheiro, seventy years old and in failing health, concentrated on the building of his d r e a m church of B o m Jesus (later dynamited by the army), the actual defense of C a n u d o s was organized by "the people's chieftain," Joao Abbade, the masterful c o m m a n d e r of the Guarda Catolica. 49 In January 1897, he ambushed and routed a second expedition of more t h a n 500 federal troops. As
' millenarian
u s t s
REVOLUTIONS
193
official ideology w a s Marian
panic swept the coastal cities, a third expedition was p r e p a r e d u n d e r the leader-
n e m i e s , Conselheiro did n o t
ship of " t h e f e a r s o m e infantry c o m m a n d e r " Antonio M o r e i r a Cesar. A d v a n c i n g
e w h o w a n t e d to r e m a i n e d
t h r o u g h a n arid c o u n t r y s i d e m a d e even-more forlorn b y t h e scorched-earth strat-
rhey c a m e and w e n t at will.
e g y of Abbade, Cesar's large, well-armed force, e q u i p p e d w i t h b r a n d - n e w K r u p p
M a n y coitselheimtai w o r k e d
cannons, launched a rash frontal assault o n Canudos. It was a suicidal tactical
isoners. T h e y c a m e t o C a n u -
decision reminiscent o f Custer's foolish charge at the Little Big H o r n :
: for a cult o r deviant sect."'" 1 j "rebellion in the backlands" e m p t at peaceful w i t h d r a w a l slave republics) in t h e Nord>ne in p e a c e w a s perceived as
In the end. the very primitiveness of Canudos's construction aided in its defense. The settlement itself became a trap into which the arrogant invaders had been lured. Whole battalions were swallowed up in the mass of huts "as into some dark cave." The defenders ambushed the soldiers, using knives, rifles, scythes, cattle prods, and broken household furniture as weapons. 50
l o l y city drained t h e s u r p l u s ; like t h e legal o w n e r of Canrful fazciideiro.
Cesar's supposedly crack t r o o p s were systematically annihilated b y t h e G u a r d a
O n the o t h e r
Catolica. For the conselheiristas it was G o d ' s greatest miracle; f o r t h e federal
i n e w o r d e r that t h e Paulista
g o v e r n m e n t in Rio d e Janeiro, an u n e n d u r a b l e h u m i l i a t i o n and challenge t o
0 i m p o s e across Brazil. Like
the very legitimacy o f t h e Republic. While balladeers in t h e sertao mocked t h e
s u b d u i n g backlands Catholi-
g h o s t of Moreira Cesar ( " W h o killed you? It w a s a bullet from C a n u d o s sent b y
lent in a "Christianity of t h e
t h e Conselheiro!"), a f o u r t h expedition of o v e r w h e l m i n g p o w e r - Brazil's great-
i m u n i s m , " by the u l t r a m o n -
est military exertion since the Paraguayan W a r - was painstakingly organized.
; federal g o v e r n m e n t as "sedi-
Conscripts w e r e told t h a t t h e y w e r e m a r c h i n g off to " c o m b a t the forces of t h e
iandowners d e m a n d e d Canu-
devil." 51 T h e "final assault" b e g a n in July, b u t t h e C a n u d e n s e s , well a w a r e that t h i s
1 fierce n e w El N i n o d r o u g h t
lery. "Canudos," da C u n h a w r o t e , "did not surrender. T h e only case of its kind in
was a w a r of e x t e r m i n a t i o n , held o u t for three l o n g m o n t h s against m o d e r n artila battalion of Bahian troops,
history, it held out to t h e last m a n . C o n q u e r e d inch by inch, in the literal m e a n -
o p e n e d fire on a peaceful pro-
ing of the words, it fell on O c t o b e r 5, towards dusk - w h e n its last d e f e n d e r s fell,
down, b u t the e n r a g e d survi-
dying, every m a n of t h e m . T h e r e were only f o u r of t h e m left: an old man, t w o
f o r m e r cangaceiws - drove off
o t h e r full-grown m e n , a n d a child, facing a furiously r a g i n g army of five thou-
ed t h e countryside, the Canu-
sand m e n . " " W h a t h a d b e c o m e t h e E u r o p e a n i z e d Republic's race w a r against t h e
:nd, t o their n e w gardens and
"half-breed" followers of C o n s e l h c i r o ended in an orgy o f revenge.
n failing health, c o n c e n t r a t e d later d y n a m i t e d by the army), "the people's chieftain," Joao ^atolica. 4 9 In J a n u a r y 1897, he •e t h a n 500 federal troops. As
Some were shot when they could not keep up with the forced march. A pregnant woman whose labor pains had started was placed in an empty shack by the side of the road and abandoned. Soldiers killed children by smashing their skulls against trees.... Wounded cotiselheirisas were drawn and quartered or hacked to pieces limb
T 19-4
[.ate v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
by limb. Their carcasses were doused with oi) and burned the same treatment as was given the surviving dwellings in Canudos. The army systematically eradicated the remaining traces of the holy city as if it had housed the devil incarnate." While C a n u d o s was fighting for its life, Father Cicero was desperately r e f u t i n g
;
! ! '
MILL!
Northeast.... Indeed, without of the arid Northeast - cottc drought years and, in fact, w a of the Brazilian rubber b o o m age. It remained chronic until
published reports that he was organizing an a r m y of "Cearan fanatics" t o c o m e to its relief. Although the cannons were n o t yet p o u n d i n g its h o m e s to rubble,
Colonial Asia: Starvation a
Joaseiro was also besieged by diverse e n e m i e s w h o equated its folk Catholicism T h r o u g h o u t m o n s o o n Asia, c
(especially the growing numbers of apocalyptic beatos and beatas) with subver-
disease mortality, especially rr
sion in Bahia. In 1894, at the behest of t h e Brazilian hierarchy, t h e Inquisition in R o m e had declared Joaseiro's "living saint" Maria de Araujo a f r a u d a n d sus-
!
Africa, ruined t e n s of t h o u s a m a j o r capita! w a s their bullo<
pended Cicero f r o m sacramental office. Liberals equally looked for the "Consel-
w e r e conscripted into e x p o r t
heiro-like" glint of sedition in his eyes. But Father Cicero proved t o be a wily
had left a legacy o f crushing d<
politician (twenty years later, h e would b e acknowledged as the " m o s t p o w e r f u l
of t h e state. Everywhere, a n )
figure in the Nordeste") w h o eschewed attacks on t h e status q u o . In particular,
g i o u s millenarianism and m o c
he quelled fazendeiros' fears about disruptions in t h e labor m a r k e t by contract-
Philippines, local messianism
ing his followers t o work on their estates. In contrast to Conselheiro's unyielding
intertwined. So w e r e environr
refusal to "render u n t o Caesar," Cicero "saved" Joaseiro by d e u t o p i a n i z i n g it: that
Korea at t h e e n d of the Vic
is to say, by reintegrating i[ into traditional e c o n o m i c and political backwardness.
sion of the T o n g h a k Revoluti
As a result, Joaseiro (orjuarzeiro in m o d e r n spelling) a century later has s h o p p i n g
explains why, d e s p i t e the c o n
malls and slums, while Canudos remains a h a u n t e d ruin. 5 ' 1
food security, t h e r e was no la In t h e end, however, neither the death of Conselheiro nor t h e o p p o r t u n i s m of Cicero solved the labor problems of the regional elites. T h e El N i n o - d r i v e n cycle of d r o u g h t (1888-89, 1891, 1897-98, and 1899-1900) coupled w i t h the declining earnings of all the Nordeste's traditional exports led to the g r a d u a l d e p o p u l a t i o n of parts of the sertao. The influx of the 1880s b e c a m e the exodus of the 1890s. By 1900 at least 300,000 sertanejos had fled d r o u g h t and repression for the g a m b l e of a n e w life in the rubber forests of the A m a z o n . " As della Cava points o u t , the
f a m i n e of 1900-01 in s o u t h c i ;
peasant self-organization and r
j
ers, s o m e of t h e m Tonghak v e
[
pituiang ("hclp-the-poor p a r t y
!
t r o o p s were dispatched to s u p In the Dutch East Indies, m
structural and environmental crisis of the Nordeste assumed its m o s t e x t r e m e
i i
the e c o n o m i c fabric of c o l o n
f o r m in Antonio Conselheiro's h o m e state of Ceara:
!
1896-97 was c o m p o u n d e d b y that attacked the s u g a r and cof
Ample federal subsidies financed the outward passage to the Far North, whife Ceara's state government collected a "head tax" for each able body that departed. Ironically the policy of substituting human exports, capable of remitting earnings home, for the export of raw materials soon resulted in the real crisis of the
o u t p u t . Rural p e r capita o u t p j
and 1900.5S Liberal imperialisn
T uSTS
1 - the same treatment as systematically eradicated le devil incarnate."
'm i l l e n a r i a n
r e v o l u t i o n s
195
, Northeast.... Indeed, without cheap and abundant labor the traditional agriculture of the arid Northeast - cotton and cattle - was incapable of recovering in nondrought years and, in fact, was threatened with extinction.... Not even the collapse of the Brazilian rubber boom around 1913 alleviated the Northeastern labor shortage. It remained chronic until the early 1920s.56
0 w a s desperately r e f u t i n g ' C e a r a n fanatics" t o c o m e iding its h o m e s t o rubble, juated its folk Catholicism )s and beatas) w i t h subver1 hierarchy, t h e Inquisition de A r a u j o a fraud a n d susilly looked for t h e "Consel^icero proved to b e a wily Iged as t h e " m o s t p o w e r f u l le status q u o . In particular, ± labor m a r k e t by contractto Conselheiro's unyielding r o by deutopianizing it: that and political backwardness, a century later has s h o p p i n g uin. 54 eiro n o r t h e o p p o r t u n i s m of es. T h e El N i n o - d r i v e n cycle ) coupled with t h e declining to t h e g r a d u a l depopulation e the exodus of the 1890s. By id repression for t h e g a m b l e As della Cava points out, the e assumed its m o s t extreme
Colonial Asia: Starvation as Strategy T h r o u g h o u t m o n s o o n Asia, d r o u g h t and c r o p failure i n t e r a c t e d w i t h increasing disease mortality, especially malaria in its m o s t virulent strain. Rinderpest, as in Africa, r u i n e d tens of t h o u s a n d s o f small cultivators in southeast Asia whose m a j o r capital w a s their bullock o r ox. W h e r e small peasants and sharecroppers were conscripted into e x p o r t c o m m o d i t y circuits, the w o r l d depression of 1893 h a d left a legacy of c r u s h i n g debt, aggravated b y t h e implacable revenue d e m a n d s o f the state. Everywhere, anticolonialism arrived as a w a t e r s h e d b e t w e e n relig i o u s millenarianism a n d m o d e r n nationalism. In s o m e cases, like Korea and the Philippines, local messianism and r e v o l u t i o n a r y nationalism b e c a m e complexly intertwined. So w e r e e n v i r o n m e n t a l crisis a n d colonial exploitation. Korea at t h e end of t h e Victorian era was still reeling from the terrible repression of t h e T o n g h a k Revolution b y the J a p a n e s e in 1894-95. This u n d o u b t e d l y explains why, despite t h e c o n t i n u i n g erosion o f national sovereignty a n d rural f o o d security, there w a s n o large-scale c o u n t e r p a r t to the Boxers. T h e droughtfamine of 1900-01 in s o u t h e r n Korea, however, did p r o d u c e new seedlings of peasant self-organization a n d n a t i o n a l resistance. In Cholla a n d Kyongsang, farmers, s o m e of t h e m T o n g h a k veterans, formed antilandlord g r o u p s k n o w n as hxvalpindang ("help-the-poor party"), a n d on the f a m i n e - w r a c k e d island of Cheju, troops w e r e dispatched t o suppress antitax a n d anti-Christian riots. 57 In the D u t c h East Indies, m e a n w h i l e , there w a s widespread apprehension that the e c o n o m i c fabric o f colonialism was b e g i n n i n g to unravel. The d r o u g h t of 1896-97 w a s c o m p o u n d e d b y falling global c o m m o d i t y p r i c e s as well as diseases t h a t attacked t h e sugar a n d coffee crops, m a k i n g it impossible for p l a n t e r s t o raise o u t p u t . Rural per capita o u t p u t a n d probably income stagnated b e t w e e n 1880
ige to the Far North, while ach able body that departed. :apable of remitting earnings ted in the real crisis of the
«
a n d 1900.58 Liberal imperialism s e e m e d t o b e o n t h e verge of b a n k r u p t c y :
T 196
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
m i li.i:
h o l o c a u s t s
Priccs'were falling ... exports were almost stagnant, and imports were declining. The long-drawn [ out] Achin war was exhausting the country like a cancer; expenses were rising, revenue was falling, and attempts to raise new revenue were unproductive. Prospects were so bad that fewer Europeans sought a living in the Indies, and the population born in Europe fell from 14,316 in 1895 to 13,676 in 1905. Deputies heatedly discussed whether the situation was anxious, alarming, dangerous or criti cal, but all agreed that the patient was ill. Then in 1900-1 news of widespread crop failure and cattle disease aroused apprehensions of a general economic collapse. 59
laissez-faire colonial policy. 1
In Java, the greatest distress eventually centered o n t h e Residency of S e m a r a n g ,
t h e First World W a r . f M o i
klenburg - variously the mi: supposedly based on a n e w tion. The d e b a t e that p r o d u t rasted to the o b d u r a t e c o n s t h e reforms in Java went h a p o w e r in the o u t e r islands (t m o p p i n g u p local resistance
w h e r e in 1849-50 m o r e t h a n 80,000 peasants h a d died in a f a m i n e that contrib-
j
u t e d t o the decline a n d fall of the cultuurstelsel.60
;
F r o m the e n d of 1899 o r early
1900, and continuing t h r o u g h 1902, t h e region w a s again b a t t e r e d by d r o u g h t
t o shift g o v e r n m e n t investn Royal Dutch Shell and o t h e
and h u n g e r as well as rinderpest and cholera. " T h e people," w r o t e local officials, "whose n u m b e r h a d been decimated b y t h e epidemic in several regions d a r e d not
o r increase t h e food-securit)
a n d rubber bonanzas.'"' ;
leave their h o m e s , and they a b a n d o n e d even t h e fields." 61
In the Philippines, d r o u g plantations in 1896-97, t h e r
O n c e again t h e D u t c h w e r e faced w i t h d r a m a t i c evidence that village subsis-
a n d other big islands f r o m
tence was collapsing u n d e r t h e w e i g h t of the " c o r r u p t exploitation of t h e peas-
fare, poverty a n d ecological
ant's labour power, t h e land rent and crop p a y m e n t system, and the appropria-
cide.d with a national uprisi
tion of peasant land." 6 2 U n d e r i n d i c t m e n t w a s t h e free-market system that D u t c h
patriotic resistance to US t
Liberals had m o d e l e d o n British India. A l t h o u g h its ideologues had c l a i m e d that piecemeal deregulation w o u l d lead t o a better balance b e t w e e n export a n d sub-
moreover, w a s spurred by t. I
w h e n Spain ( p r o d d e d by Bri
sistence sectors, t h e "Liberal period" (1877-1900) actually "represented a m a j o r
exports and c o m m e r c i a l i z e
intensification in the exploitation of Java's agricultural resources." Rice c o n s u m p -
ownership a n d s u b s i s t e n c e s
tion per capita, as well as wages, fell significantly while p o o r villagers b e c a m e
favor of rice a n d sugar m o i
even m o r e entrapped in debts to m o n e y l e n d e r s and grain merchants." 1 It is not
debt-shackled s h a r e c r o p p e r
surprising, therefore, that colonial officials reacted to the S e m a r a n g famine in the
Chinese grain merchants a n
t r u e spirit of Sir Richard Temple: b l a m i n g t h e dying peasants f o r n o t being able to
exploitation ultimately c o m
look after their o w n interests and concluding that m o r e c o m p u l s i o n was required
panics.) Moreover, as the e :
in the organization of rice cultivation."
land, Luzon's interior (both
In the Netherlands, however, there w a s a backlash from socialist and Calvinist parties against the ruthless colonial policy exemplified in t h e official reaction to the S e m a r a n g famine. This led to a f a m o u s investigation into "the declining
t h e silting of river beds, mc lowlands.*' In addition, as Ken D e E
prosperity of the Javanese people," c o n d u c t e d from 1902 to 1905 and published
h a d been u n d e r m i n e d by
in f o u r t e e n v o l u m e s in 1914, that finally forced t h e a b a n d o n m e n t of a strictly
arrival of the rinderpest vi
T AUSTS
MILLENARIAN
REVOLUTIONS
and imports were declining. :>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<
loss of their cattle, Filipinos were then exposed to the microbial campfollowers
ties o f warfare, or to clearly dis
of the invading Spanish and US armies. T h e 122,000 American troops, especially,
theless, De Bevoise concludes,
brought a whole stream of diseases including h o o k w o r m as well as new lethal
directly and indirectly to the lc
strains of malaria, smallpox and venereal disease. 63
population of a b o u t seven milli
T h e Americans, moreover, exceeded even the cruelest Spanish precedents
to mortality during the Irish f a n
in manipulating disease and h u n g e r as weapons against an insurgent but weak-
O n e of the m o s t remarkable
ened population. Beginning with the outbreak of war in February 1899, military
independence coincided with t
authorities closed all the ports, disrupting the vital inter-island trade in foodstuffs
On t h e big sugar island anti-imj
and preventing the migration of h u n g r y laborers to food-surplus areas. Then,
haccndcros and pumuluyo (the c o
as drought began to turn into famine in 1900, they authorized the systematic
their interests against increasing
destruction of rice stores and livestock in areas that continued to support guer-
ardently sided first with the Spa
rilla resistance. As historians would later point out, the ensuing campaign of
chose the Sugar Trust rather th
terror against the rural population, backed up by a pass system and population
discovered, the protracted droug
"reconcentration," prefigured US strategy in Vietnam during the 1960s. "All palay,
unusual dryness of the season,"
rice, and storehouses clearly for use by e n e m y soldiers," writes D e Bevoisc, "were
and Victorias districts in June ] <
to be destroyed. That plan would have caused hardship for the people even had
materially injured the sugarcan
it been implemented as intended, since guerrillas and civilians often depended on
have b e e n forced to discharge p;
the same rice stockpiles, but the food-denial p r o g r a m got out of hand. Increas-
be fed. These laborers are now v
ingly unsure w h o was e n e m y and w h o was friend, American soldiers on patrol
high." 75
did not agonize over such distinctions. T h e y shot and b u r n e d indiscriminately,
W h e n the explosion came, i
engaging in an orgy of destruction t h r o u g h o u t the Philippines." As one soldier
workers and marginalized peas
w r o t e back h o m e to Michigan: "We b u r n e d every house, destroyed every cara-
from their forests by land-hung
bao and other animals, all rice and other foods." As a result, "agricultural produc-
Zapata-like plantation worker a
tion was so generally crippled during the American w a r that food-surplus regions
known as Papa Isio, who condu-
hardly existed."
70
As peasants began to die of hunger in the fall of 1900, American officers
then t h e US Army, from his bast of food security and economic in
T"
USTS
MILLENARIAN
REVOLUTIONS
inderpest killed off most of
openly acknowledged in correspondence that starvation h a d become official mil-
rastically reduce the extent
itary strategy. "The result is inevitable," w r o t e Colonel Dickman f r o m Panay,
ianwhile, "untilled land that
"many people will starve to death before the end of six months." 7 1 O n Samar,
•reeding conditions for both
Brigadier General Jacob Smith ordered his m e n to turn the interior i n t o a "howl-
eferred blood meals [cattle],
ing wilderness." 72 Famine, in turn, paved the way for cholera (which especially
.te, setting off seasonal epi-
favored the reconcentration camps), malaria, smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis
rk even the reduced a m o u n t
"and everything else t h a t rode in war's train o f evils." In such circumstances, of
ia and impoverished by the
course, it was impossible to disentangle the victims of d r o u g h t f r o m the casual-
he microbial campfollowers
ties of warfare, or to clearly distinguish famine from epidemic mortality. None-
American troops, especially,
theless, De Bevoise concludes, "it appears that the American war contributed
.worm as well as new lethal
directly and indirectly to the loss of more t h a n a million persons f r o m a base population of about seven million." In comparative terms, this was comparable
cruelest Spanish precedents
t o mortality during the Irish famine of the 1840s.73
linst an insurgent but weak-
One of the most remarkable local rebellions during the Philippines' war for
ar in February 1899, military
independence coincided with the ravages of drought a n d hunger on Negros.
iter-island trade in foodstuffs
O n the big sugar island anti-imperialism fused with stark class conflict between
:o food-surplus areas. Then,
hacendews and pumuluyo (the c o m m o n people). The Negrense elites "to protect
y authorized the systematic
their interests against increasingly hungry and dissatisfied workers a n d peasants"
: continued to support guer-
ardently sided first with the Spanish, then with the American colonialists. They
it, the ensuing campaign of
chose the Sugar Trust rather than Aguinaldo.7"1 As arriving US military officals
pass system and population
discovered, the protracted drought had made these social tensions volcanic. "The
n during the 1960s. 'All palay,
unusual dryness of the season," w r o t e the c o m m a n d i n g officer of the Manapla
rs," writes De Bevoise, "were
and Victorias districts in June 1900, "has operated against the crops ... and has
ship for the people even had
materially injured the sugarcane. O n this account, many owners of haciendas
d civilians often depended on
have been forced to discharge part, if not all, of their laborers as they could not
i m got out of hand. Increas-
be fed. These laborers are now w i t h o u t means and work and the price of food is
American soldiers on patrol
high." 7 '
and burned indiscriminately,
W h e n the explosion came, it merged the grievances o f unemployed sugar
: Philippines." As one soldier
workers and marginalized peasants with t h o s e of aboriginal people displaced
house, destroyed every cara-
f r o m their forests by land-hungry haciendas. T h e largest uprising w a s led by a
a result, "agricultural produc-
Zapata-like plantation w o r k e r a n d babaylan, Dionisio Sigobela, m o r e popularly
war that food-surplus regions
known as Papa Isio, w h o conducted guerrilla warfare against the Guardia Civil,
1 of 1900, American officers
of food security and economic independence w e r e principal goals of t h e struggle.
then the US A r m y f r o m his base o n impenetrable Mt. Kanlaon. T h e restoration
T l
200
L AT li V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
m i l . i.
"Although Papa Isio's ideology fused animism with anti-Spanish nationalism,"
;
Alfred McCoy explains, "his movement remained a class, rather than racial war,
!
i which killed 95 percent o f t
waged by sugar workers determined to destroy the sugar plantations and return
.
tsetse flies, locusts and Eurof
the island to peasant rice farming." In the district around La Carlota, Papa Isio's
'
toralists struggled against ci
T h e spirit-mediums of th(
followers chased away planters, murdered those that resisted, and burned scores
Ndebcle - w h o s e lands and c;
of haciendas. The rebellion was not finally defeated until 1908, "five years after
ish South Africa Company -
the revolution had ended in most areas of t h e archipelago." 7 "
as long as the Europeans ren nificantly, are t h e same w o r d
Africa: Europeans as Locusts
a c c o u n t of the 1896 risings i
For most of Africa the 1875-1895 period, with the exceptions of the 1876-79
j
drought in South Africa and the 1889-91 catastrophe in Ethiopia and the Sudan,
j
stressed the striking similari Boxer revolts. Just as Boxer p:
had been a period of better-than-average rainfall and ample pasturage, encour-
rant religions being insolent t
aging population growth, the formation of heavily nucleated settlements, and
!
the cultivation of previously marginal soils. Ecological stability reduced the con-
|
flicts over grazing rights and water sources that traditionally provoked warfare
!
between cattle-owning peoples. "A striking feature of many travellers' accounts
"
t h e divine Mwari, speaking t m e n are your enemies. The^ a m o n g the cattle, and bewitc go and kill these white p c o p l
of East and Central Africa in the nineteenth century is the evident agricultural
take away the cattle disease a
prosperity of many - though n o t all - of its peoples and the great variety of pro-
ible courage a n d early victor
duce grown, together with the volume of local, regional, and long-distance trade
shangwa and smallpox as by !
and the emergence of a wide range of entrepreneurs." 7 7 This is the social land-
warriors, sometimes finding
scape that some historians have called "Merrie Africa." 7 "
skins of cattle killed by rinde
T h e n in 1896-97 the climate dramatically reversed itself. "A m a p of Africa
foothills until the summer o f
illustrating the rainfall data for the period f r o m 1870 to 1895 bears a healthy flush
i
of plus signs ... but the m a p for the following twenty-five years is covered with
j
minuses." Disasters "of biblical proportions" engulfed east and southeast Africa
!
"just w h e n Europe decided to take over the continent."
70
In central Kenya - where i Ngomtmisye. " t h e famine that ing societies of the highland
The unusual fin de siecle
suffered social disintegration
sequence of a very strong El Nino in 1896 punctually followed by a powerful
years in a row and food reser
La Nina event in 1898 and then the resumption of El Nino conditions in 1899 brought severe drought, first to southern, then to east Africa. T h e Portuguese
to feed railroad construction i
bubonic plague, most likely I
reported drought and smallpox around Luanda in Angola in 1898. Drought also
i
passenger on t h e yet unfinisl
returned to the Sahel, and there is evidence of another famine (1900-1903) in
j
the bend of the Niger River. Rainfall also faltered over the Ethiopian highlands, and the Nile flood in 1899 was the lowest since 1877-78. 80 Indeed, from the flanks of M o u n t Kenya to plateaux of Swaziland, millions of f a r m e r s and pas-
white settler, " t h e railway line when Halford Mackinder, th<
}
d o w n the line in July 1899, e n "horrible evidence of the f a m
T i
'
MILLENARIAN REVOLUTIONS
anti-Spanish nationalism,"
j
toralists Struggled against crop failure and relentless onslaughts of rinderpest
:lass, r a t h e r t h a n racial war,
j
(which killed 95 percent of tropical Africa's cattle), smallpox, influenza, jiggers,
usts
tsetse flies, locusts and Europeans. 8 1
u g a r plantations a n d r e t u r n )und La Carlota, Papa Isio's
T h e spirit-mediums of the M w a r i cult at G r e a t Z i m b a b w e told t h e Shona a n d
I
N d e b e l e - w h o s e lands and cattle h a d b e e n recently stolen b y Cecil Rhodes's Brit-
resisted, and b u r n e d scores until 1908, "five years after dago."
76
201
i
ish S o u t h Africa C o m p a n y - that this chain o f calamity w o u l d n e v e r b e broken
j
as long as t h e E u r o p e a n s r e m a i n e d on their soil. ( " D r o u g h t " and "disaster," significantly, are the s a m e w o r d in Shona: slidngwa.) In his p i o n e e r i n g "Afrocentric" a c c o u n t of t h e 1896 risings in Matabeleland a n d Mashonaland, T e r e n c e Ranger
exceptions of the 1876-79
stressed t h e striking similarity o f the mcntalites b e h i n d t h e Z i m b a b w e a n a n d
i in Ethiopia and the Sudan,
Boxer revolts. Just as Boxer p r o c l a m a t i o n s w a r n e d that " t h e Catholic and Protes-
id ample pasturage, encour-
tant religions being insolent to t h e gods ... t h e rain c l o u d s n o longer visit us," so
nucleated settlements, and
j
t h e divine Mwari, speaking t h r o u g h the m e d i u m s , told warriors: " T h e s e white
:al stability r e d u c e d t h e con-
j
ditionally p r o v o k e d warfare
j
jf m a n y travellers' accounts
j
•y is t h e evident agricultural
j
and t h e great variety of pro-
j
onal, and long-distance trade
j
irs " 77 T h i s is t h e social land-
I
j •sed itself. "A m a p of Africa to 1895 bears a healdiy flush
j
m e n are y o u r enemies. They killed y o u r fathers, sent t h e locusts, this disease a m o n g t h e cattle, a n d b e w i t c h e d t h e clouds so that w e have no rain. Now y o u g o and kill these white people a n d drive t h e m o u t of o u r fathers' l a n d and I will take away t h e cattle disease and t h e locusts a n d send y o u rain." 82 Despite incredible c o u r a g e and early victories, b o t h peoples were s o o n defeated, as much by shangwa a n d smallpox as by Rhodes's m a c h i n e - g u n n e r s . Diehard b a n d s of rebel warriors, s o m e t i m e s finding g a m e b u t m o s t l y eating w i l d roots a n d the rotten skins of cattle killed by rinderpest, m a n a g e d t o hold o u t in the drought-stricken foothills until the s u m m e r of 1898. S3 In central Kenya - w h e r e the 1897-99 d r o u g h t is still recalled t o d a y as Yua ya
ity-five years is covered with
Ngomanisye,
fed east and southeast Africa
ing societies of the highland m a r g i n never r o s e in revolt against t h e British, b u t
!
"the famine that w e n t e v e r y w h e r e " - the small, a u t o n o m o u s farm-
it."7? T h e u n u s u a l fin de siecle
suffered social disintegration nonetheless. In s o m e areas, the rains failed three
lally followed by a p o w e r f u l
years in a r o w and ifood reserves that might have arrested famine w e r e depleted
F El N i n o conditions in 1899
j
to feed railroad construction c r e w s and U g a n d a - b o u n d safaris. In addition, t h e b u b o n i c plague, m o s t likely b r o u g h t from India with coolie labor, w a s the first
east Africa. T h e P o r t u g u e s e
j
\ n g o l a in 1898. D r o u g h t also
i
lother f a m i n e (1900-1903) in
j
Dver the Ethiopian highlands, 1877-78.
80
Indeed, from the
millions of f a r m e r s a n d pas-
a
passenger o n the yet unfinished Uganda Railroad. As a result, according t o a white settler, "the railway line w a s a mass of corpses." 8 ' 1 Suffering w a s still intense w h e n H a l f o r d Mackinder, the f u t u r e apostle of imperialist geopolitics, passed d o w n t h e line in July 1899, en r o u t e to a first ascent of M o u n t Kenya. Noting t h e "horrible evidence of t h e f a m i n e a m o n g t h e W a k a m b a , " w h i c h h a d driven s o m e
LATE V I C T O R I A N
202
HOLOCAUSTS
: MILLE
men to raiding, he criticized the railroad police for indiscriminately b u r n i n g vil-
t h e question." Using the h u r
lages in retaliation: "If food is destroyed t h e famine is made worse, and t h a t is
able to extend their new proi
the prime cause of the raids." He also frowned at the Uganda Railroad's brutal
T h e Masai, of course, had tl
expropriation of all the farmland in a two-mile corridor along its tracks. 85 Mackinder and his companions, like European observers during the earlier
Mackindcr's p a r t y that British famine by degrading the c r u c
Ethiopian drought, were stunned by the audacity with which drought-crazed
depended. "The Wakikuyu b<
lions and other large carnivores stalked m e n in broad daylight. Indeed, American
the Masai. T h e r e f o r e they h a
missionaries in n o r t h e r n UluWere were so mortified by the sudden aggressiveness
soil. T h e Masai are angry a b o i
of wildlife that they refused to leave their c o m p o u n d . "These are days," w r o t e
quence liable to run dry, a n d
one of them, "in which we are witnessing scenes almost too horrible to nar-
drought."" 1
rate." As famine victims weakened and collapsed by the roadside, for instance, they were promptly eaten alive by hyenas or had their eyes pecked out by vul-
The famine of 1898-1900, as 1
tures. Although the British eventually m a d e desultory efforts to feed some o f the
decline of Arab a n d Swahili e-
surviving population, the losses were already e n o r m o u s . In the single village in
decline in grain production, o i
Kikuyuland where a famine census was undertaken, one-third o f adult males had
the plantation sector, while s
died by the end of 1899. Mortality amongst w o m e n and children m a y have been
drought-afflicted hinterland bei resources. "In the previous d e
much higher. 86 T h e same drought conditions also b r o u g h t fearful famine to the Kikuyu and
children were p a w n e d to coas
Kamba on the eastern side of the Rift Valley. Like the neighboring and purely
the coast to obtain food throug
pastoral Masai, these m o r e sedentary peoples had already lost the greater part
land." T h e squatter agriculture
of their cattle wealth to rinderpest and livestock pleuro-pneumonia. T h e n , for
side of British efforts to buttrcs
the three years from 1896 to 1900, crop after crop withered in their fields. The
La Nina drought in 1914, the B
coup de grace, as o n the slopes of Mount Kenya, was smallpox, which "attacked
kenda squatters, the Giriama,
the Kikuyu with particular virulence, especially in the more recently occupied
their dwellings."-
southern tip of Kiambu."* In these densely populated areas, according to Marcia
T h e drought, in association \
Wright, the mortality was an incredible 50 percent to 95 percent, and Kikuyu
estimated 40,000 people starved
society tottered on the edge of complete disintegration. 8 " At the climax of the
in Bunyoro, where colonial w a
7
famine in central Kenya, farmers' sons formed outlaw bands called
muthakethe.
"Ignoring the accepted strict limits on the use of violence, these bands preyed
over, a new scourge, sleeping "Whence it carue is still a matte
on the most vulnerable m e m b e r s of society, including children, the elderly, and
ing sickness were being numbei
the sick. Ranging out f r o m makeshift bush camps, outlaw raiders attacked poorly
and it was spreading to margin
defended herds a n d homesteads, seizing n o t only cattle and goats, but whatever
not every group suffered equal
food and property they could lay their h a n d s on."
89
"Any kind of concerted opposition t o British control," however, "was o u t of
hand. T h e formidable Nandi pc from ecological disaster on t h t
T 1STS
M I L L E N A RI AN R E V O L U T I O N S
discriminately burning vil-
the question." Using the hungry Masai as t h e i r mercenaries, the British were
is made worse, and that is
able to extend their n e w protectorate deep i n t o Kikuyu a n d Kamba territory."1'
e Uganda Railroad's brutal
T h e Masai, of course, had their own grievances. They bitterly complained to
or along its tracks." 5
Mackinder's party that British sponsorship of agriculturalists had intensified the
bservers during the earlier
famine by degrading t h e crucial watersheds a n d forests u p o n which their herds
vith which drought-crazed
depended. "The Wakikuyu being under our protection are not n o w raided by
daylight. Indeed, American
the Masai. Therefore they have cleared m u c h forest, a n d cultivated the virgin
y the sudden aggressiveness
soil. The Masai are angry about this, because t h e rivers of the plain are in conse-
d. "These are days," w r o t e ilmost too horrible to narr
quence liable to run dry, and there is no forest grass for their cattle in times of j
drought.'""
the roadside, for instance,
eir eyes pecked out by vul-
I
T h e famine of 1898-1900, as Frederick C o o p e r has shown, also accelerated the
/ efforts to feed s o m e of the
|
decline of Arab and Swahili economic h e g e m o n y along t h e Kenyan coast. The
IOUS. In t h e s i n g l e v i l l a g e in
j
decline in grain production, or its diversion to inland famine districts, weakened
Dne-third of adult males had and children may have been
the plantation sector, while simultaneously t h e Mijikenda, who occupied the '
drought-afflicted hinterland behind Malindi a n d Mombasa, encroached o n coastal
I
resources. "In the previous devastating famine in the hinterland .in 1884, many
jl famine to the Kikuyu and
,
children were pawned to coastal slaveowners, b u t this t i m e Mijikenda came to
the neighboring and purely
j
the coast to obtain food through work, credit, charity, and helping themselves to
already lost the greater part
j
land." T h e squatter agriculture of the Mijikenda quickly became a t h o r n in the
leuro-pneumonia. Then, for
j
side of British efforts t o buttress traditional elites and land-titles. D u r i n g another
withered in their fields. T h e as smallpox, which "attacked
La Nina d r o u g h t in 1914, the British moved savagely against a s u b g r o u p of Miji|
ed areas, according to Marcia
kenda squatters, the Giriama, killing 250 p e o p l e and destroying 70 percent of their dwellings. w
the m o r e recently occupied J
The drought, in association with rinderpest, also devastated Uganda, where an
t to 95 percent, and Kikuyu
I
estimated 40,000 people starved to death in Busoga and perhaps an e q u a l number
ation. 8s At the climax of the
[
in Bunyoro, where colonial warfare had severely disrupted the economy. More-
.law bands called
<
over, a n e w scourge, sleeping sickness, followed hard o n the heels of famine.
muthakethc.
violence, these bands preyed
!
"Whence it came is still a matter for speculation; but by 1902 deaths f r o m sleep-
ling children, the elderly, and
j
ing sickness were b e i n g n u m b e r e d in Buganda and Busoga in tens o f thousands,
lutlaw raiders attacked poorly
I
and it was spreading t o marginal areas elsewhere." 93 In central Africa, however,
attle and goats, but whatever
n o t every g r o u p suffered equal losses, nor did Europeans always gain the upper hand. T h e formidable Nandi people, for example, remained relatively i m m u n e
)ntrol," however, "was out of
!
f r o m ecological disaster on their plateau b e t w e e n Lake Victoria a n d the Rift
\
9
T 204
LATE V I C T O R I A N
M i L i. i:
HOLOCAUSTS
Valiey. Likewise, as rinderpest impoverished the Tutsi and m a d e t h e m m o r e
traffic in the lower Z a m b e s i
dependent upon the agricultural Iru, the centralized Kingdom of Rwanda waxed
Tawara (Shona), who, in alii;
in strength.9"1
u p p e r Zambesi, seized m o s t o
In Tanganyika the m u r d e r o u s d r o u g h t of 1898-1900 (following locust fam- • ines in 1894-96) likewise combined with rinderpest and the colonial iron heel to threaten the very survival of peasant society. T h e introduction of m o n e t a r y taxation in 1898, as elsewhere, was designed to h a m m e r a u t o n o m o u s peasants into malleable wage-laborers o n G e r m a n plantations. W h e n famished villages in the Nguu highlands refused to pay the n e w tax, G e r m a n military patrols pillaged their grain stores and randomly murdered local people. Terrorized farmers were thus forced to sell their remaining grain reserves to coastal merchants and missionaries, w h o promptly hiked prices by 100 percent o r more. A decade earlier, during the long "comet d r o u g h t " o f 1884-86, m a n y highlanders had relied on
situation had b e c o m e intolera eventually crushed, the inten. well as a major smallpox cpidt Kanowanga t h a t "both plague: f r o m the ancestral h o m e l a n d s earlier in Rhodesia, the u l t i m a to h u n g e r and disease a l m o s t military might.y>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<
the G e r m a n s had gained control of the trade and replaced traditional chieftains
his m a j o r study o f the roots o f
with their own functionaries. W i t h the destruction of village patrimonialism, the
village economies of the early
only option for villagers n o w reduced to "walking skeletons" was flight t o the
and decay" thirty years later: t!
coastal towns or m a j o r inland administrative centers, w h e r e congestion favored
tion of inter-African trade, an<
smallpox epidemics that wiped out nearly half of the population. As ethno-histo-
migration. "By 1939 virtually al
rian James Giblin has shown in a remarkable case-study of the Uzigua region, this
been shattered, African cultiv;
temporary abandonment of the countryside unleashed a nightmare biological
which they have n o control, a n
chain-reaction. The collapse of vegetation control - the constant brush-clearing
established." 0 ' T h e colonial stat
practiced by local farmers - allowed tsetse fly and tick-borne epizootics to take
inequalities unleashed by d r o u g
hold over a vast area of Tanganyika's lowlands, which they still rule more than a
chiefs of the late colonial p e r i o vultures who had fattened t h c i
century later.95 In Mozambique, drought-driven peasant uprisings coalesced into a w a r of lib-
ing I than missionary convcrsio
eration that briefly threatened to push t h e colonialists into t h e sea. Insatiable
"was the way t h a t the individu
demands for tax revenue and forced labor, as Vail and White point out, coincided
able to accumulate power d u r
with "a drought and a startling famine which exceeded all previous Portuguese
hostility, a n u m b e r of such m e r
"To Africans plagued by seasonal famines, taxation to be paid in
stock herds and their circles ol
agricultural produce intensified the problems of feeding their own families....
poor background pointed to t h
experience."
96
In the m o r e arid regions, especially Tete district, the tax obligation threatened
' W h e n the people w h o had g o i
In May 1897, C a m b u e m b a
tried t o keep those returning f n
led a broad anti-Portuguese coalition that burned plantations a n d disrupted river
T h e fin de siecle famines h a c
the health and well-being of the rural poulation."
97
Ti
uSTS
itsi and made t h e m more kingdom of Rwanda waxed
'
MILLENARIAN REVOLUTIONS
205
traffic in the lower Zambesi Valley. Simultaneously, spirit mediums roused the Tawara (Shona), who, in alliance with the Massangano a n d the Barue on the u p p e r Zambesi, seized m o s t of Tete and the northeastern frontier. "By 1901 the
1900 (following locust fam-
situation h a d b e c o m e intolerable f o r the Europeans." Although the Barue were
and the colonial iron heel
eventually crushed, the intensification of d r o u g h t and cattle fever in 1903, as
t introduction of m o n e t a r y
well as a major smallpox epidemic, renewed warnings f r o m the famed medium
l m e r a u t o n o m o u s peasants
Kanowanga that "both plagues w o u l d continue until the white men were driven
. W h e n famished villages in
from the ancestral homelands" of the Tawara in Tete a n d eastern Rhodesia. As
nan military patrols pillaged
earlier in Rhodesia, t h e ultimate defeat of the Shona Rebellion of 1904 was due
>le. Terrorized farmers were
t o h u n g e r and disease almost as m u c h as t o combined British and Portuguese
coastal merchants and mis-
military might.' 8
x or more. A decade earlier, .y highlanders had relied o n
Twentieth-Century Repercussions
led by the ivory trade. Now
This generation of disaster forever transfigured African society. Robin Palmer, in
^placed traditional chieftains
his m a j o r study of the roots of poverty in s o u t h e r n Africa, contrasts t h e dynamic
>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
,\\:<
coastal Peru, while d r o u g h t parches the usually h u m i d jungles o f Kalimantan and Papua. T h e m o n s o o n s fail t o n o u r i s h agriculture in w e s t e r n India and s o u t h e r n Africa, while f u r t h e r afield d r o u g h t holds n o r t h e r n China and n o r t h e a s t Brazil in
M
its grip. 2 T h e recognition that n o r m a l rainfall patterns over m u c h of t h e globe c h a n g e in response to these giant oscillations of ocean t e m p e r a t u r e a n d air pressure in t h e equatorial Pacific is t h e crux of E N S O theory. Like all p r o f o u n d insights in science, it is a deceptively simple idea achieved by an arduous a n d circuitous p a t h .
Figure 7.2 Monsoon Climates:
And b e c a u s e it touches on t h e wealth of empires and the subsistence of millions, the E N S O p a r a d i g m has a political as well as a scientific history
c o n q u e s t s . In contrast to hu t o impeach t h e C o m p a n y f<
An Imperial Science
tion and intensifying f a m i n
T h e f o u n d a t i o n s for tropical meteorology, as Richard Grove has shown, w e r e
land: a huge disincentive, i
laid d u r i n g the great El N i n o of 1790-9L, which b r o u g h t d r o u g h t and f a m i n e to
lion/
Madras and Bengal as well as disrupting agriculture in several of Britain's Carib-
W h e n the m o n s o o n s ag;
bean colonies. For the first time, simultaneous meteorological m e a s u r e m e n t s
h a d the operational r u d i m c
t h o u s a n d s of miles apart hinted that e x t r e m e weather might b e linked across the
t e l e g r a p h and undersea c a b I
tropics - aividea that w o u l d b e only fully developed during t h e global d r o u g h t
C o n g r e s s had just standard
of 1876-78. Moreover, t h e Indian famines spurred William Roxburgh, a y o u n g
t o recognize a n d m a p large-
Edinburgh-trained physician and naturalist w o r k i n g for the East India Company,
m e t c o r o l o g i c a l reporter t o
to explore the historical relationship b e t w e e n climate, food supply and f a m i n e in
t h e year before the d r o u g h
Madras. A l t h o u g h h e discovered evidence of a c o m p a r a b l e d r o u g h t in 1685-87
o f the 1866 Orissa Famine
(also m o s t likely a very s t r o n g El N i n o - d r i v e n drought), he attributed "the dread-
pressure data f r o m w e a t h e r
ful effects of which I have b e e n c o n s t a n t eyewitness" less t o any n a t u r a l cycle t h a n
Eurasia and Oceana. 5 T h e e
to t h e p r o f o u n d disturbances in land use arising from the East India C o m p a n y ' s
M a d r a s d r o u g h t was unpre<
T H E M Y S T E K V O F; T H E
'CAUSTS
MONSOONS
ng rainfall patterns throughout j e t streams are displaced equalous latitudes. The "El Nino" m i n g of the Pacific off Ecuador e n upwelling. Usually observed Christ child." The central tropins t h e strength and path of the y of aridity and rainfall in the flood the hyper-arid deserts of amid jungles of Kalimantan and : in w e s t e r n India and southern :n China and northeast Brazil in i'J \N
over m u c h of the globe change t e m p e r a t u r e and air pressure in ry. Like all profound insights in • an a r d u o u s and circuitous path,
Figure 7.2 Monsoon Climates: Eastern Hemisphere
a n d t h e subsistence of millions, ientific history.
conquests. In c o n t r a s t to later "climate-reductionists," Roxburgh w a s not a f r a i d to i m p e a c h the C o m p a n y for aggravating d r o u g h t t h r o u g h profligate deforestation and intensifying famine t h r o u g h denial of ryots' p e r m a n e n t title to t h e i r
lichard Grove has shown, were
land: a h u g e disincentive, in his view, to agricultural i m p r o v e m e n t and irriga-
b r o u g h t drought and famine to
tion. 1
aire in several of Britain's Carib-
W h e n the m o n s o o n s again failed catastrophically in 1876, the British E m p i r e
; meteorological measurements
had the operational r u d i m e n t s of a world climate observation s y s t e m linked by
rather might be linked across the
telegraph and u n d e r s e a cables. In addition, t h e First International Meteorological
oped during the global drought
C o n g r e s s had just standardized the recording of w e a t h e r data, m a k i n g it e a s i e r
red William Roxburgh, a young
to recognize and m a p large-scale events.'1 H e n r y Blanford, whose p o s t as imperial
ring for the East India Company,
meteorological r e p o r t e r to t h e g o v e r n m e n t of India h a d been established o n l y
m a t e , food supply and famine in
t h e year before t h e d r o u g h t (in a belated response t o a chief r e c o m m e n d a t i o n
c o m p a r a b l e drought in 1685-87
of the 1866 Orissa Famine Commission), m a d e u r g e n t appeals f o r a t m o s p h e r i c
ought), he attributed "the dread-
pressure data from w e a t h e r stations t h r o u g h o u t the E m p i r e as well as the rest of
ess" less t o any natural cycle than
Eurasia a n d Oceana. 5 T h e e x t r e m e high pressure s y s t e m associated w i t h the n e w
; from t h e East India Company's
Madras d r o u g h t w a s u n p r e c e d e n t e d in a half-century o f Indian observations, a n d
218
I'M H M Y S
LATI- V I C TO It IAN H O L O C A U S T S
Blanford was eager t o establish its extent within the larger m o n s o o n belt t h a t
idly b e i n g incorporated into c rological D e p a r t m e n t . Expand
d o m i n a t e s t h e eastern h e m i s p h e r e tropics. In the m o n t h s t h a t followed, as reports f r o m Mauritius, C o l o m b o , Singapore,
b o u g h t at the price of subserv
Batavia, Australia and N e w Zealand were carefully analyzed, he w a s s t u n n e d b y
ress t o "tragic" Indian Nature.
the nearly planetary scale and c o h e r e n c e o f t h e event: "The condition of exces-
From Lylton and Temple <
sive pressure prevailed over n o t o n h the Indo-Malayan region and Eastern Aus-
famine revolved a r o u n d the z<
tralia, b u t also t h e greater p a r t if nor w h o l e o f Asia, probably the w h o l e of Aus-
m a r y and inexorable cause. O
tralia and the South Indian O c e a n . . . . " H e also f o u n d evidence t h a t " b e t w e e n
1S77, "lndra and Vayu, the W a
Russia and Western Siberia on t h e o n e h a n d , and the Indo-Malayan region (per-
dispensers of weal or woe to i
haps including t h e Chinese region) on t h e o t h e r , there is a reciprocating and cycli-
est in the interaction of n a t u
6
as scicnce. Instead, m e t c o r o l c
cal oscillation of a t m o s p h e r i c pressure."
report, clearly established that a unitary climate event, like that vaguely glimpsed
on t h e search for the O dobal i across the tropics and parts o
in 1791, was responsible for d r o u g h t and c r o p failure in most of t h e Indo-Austral-
was assumed t h a t it would b e
asian region. Blanford s u r m i s e d f r o m Beijing observations that n o r t h e r n C h i n a
the c o u r s e of t h e monsoon in
Blanford's research, published in t a n d e m w i t h the 1880 Famine C o m m i s s i o n
also fell within t h e d r o u g h t z o n e inlluenced by the high-pressure anomaly.
7
His
sors claimed, of immense adv.
hypothesis of a b a r o m e t r i c see-saw regulating rainfall over a vast swathe of t h e
readers during t h e 1899 d r o u
globe, although erroneously located a l o n g a Russian-Indian axis, w a s a seminal
i m p o r t a n t c l e m e n t in the ecot
idea that w o u l d contribute t o t h e eventual discovery of the S o u t h e r n Oscillation. (More generally, Blanford's dipole w a s o n e of the earliest suggestions o f
S u n s p o t s v e r s u s Socialists
a"teleconnection": a persistent spatial s t r u c t u r e of w e a t h e r defined by t w o o r
In t h e dccadc a f t e r the great
m o r e distinct and strongly coupled centers of action,) s T w o key pieces of t h e
believed to lie in the variable i
m o n s o o n puzzle - its planetary scale and its correlation to a gigantic air pressure
Rudolf Wolf had d e m o n s t r a t e
oscillation - had suddenly fallen into place.
bv t h e early 1870s a n u m b e r <
Yet advances like Blanford's in the quantitative analysis of m o n s o o n climatol-
art at Kcw G a r d e n . I.ockver
ogy w e r e purchased at the price of a n a r r o w e d and depoliticized scope of scien-
and I lunter in India, and so o
tific inquiry. Until the Mutiny, the relationship of science to e m p i r e was still suf-
q u e n c y ol tropical cyclones a
ficiently p r o t e a n that it was possible for savants like Roxburgh to boldly criticize
"dcssicaiionisi" t h e o r y that tic
ecological rapine and E u r o p e a n exploitation - at least w h e n it w a s e m b o d i e d by
lion of | India's] trees and for
private m o n o p o l i e s like t h e East India C o m p a n y . As late as 1849, surgeon-natural-
esters and hydraulic e n g i n e c
ist successors t o Roxburgh, like Edward Balfour in Madras, were still d e f e n d i n g
r r h e dessicationist "Philindus
his view that famine was "a s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d consequence of the o n s e t of British
p o u r e d scorn o n tropical mei
colonial rule and revenue policies."' 1 By 1876, however, w h e n f a m i n e holocausts
d r o u g h t may exactly be cxpec
directly t h r e a t e n e d t h e m o r a l legitimations of empire, tropical science was rap-
to prevent the occurrence of :
i
i'he m y s t e r y
STS
larger m o n s o o n belt that
of
t h e
m o n s o o n s
219
idly being incorporated into colonial bureaucracies like Blanford's India Meteorological Department. Expanded resources for data collection and analysis were
itius, Colombo, Singapore, lalyzed, he was stunned by t: "The condition of excesm region and Eastern Aus^robably the whole of Ausld evidence that "between ! Indo-Malayan region (per: is a reciprocating and cycli-
bought at the price of subservience to an ideology that contrasted British Progress to "tragic" Indian Nature. From Lytton and Temple onward, as w e have seen, official discourse about famine revolved around the zealously defended dogma that climate was its primary and inexorable cause. Or, as Lockyer and Hunter m o r e poetically put it in 1877, "Indra and V.ivu, the W a t e r y Atmosphere and the Wind, are still the p r i m e dispensers of weal o r woe to t h e Indian races." 10 Roxburgh's sophisticated interest in the interaction of natural and social variables was no longer construed as science. Instead, meteorological research focused narrowly, if still heroically,
i 1880 Famine Commission
on the search for the global mechanism responsible for synchronized drought
t, like that vaguely glimpsed
across the tropics and parts of t h e extra-tropics. Having unlocked this secret, it
in most of the Indo-Austral-
was assumed that it would be possible to use precursory p h e n o m e n a to predict
/ations that n o r t h e r n China
the course of the m o n s o o n in advance. This would be applied science, its spon-
high-pressure anomaly. His •
sors claimed, of i m m e n s e advantage to tropical imperialism. As Nature reminded
all over a vast swathe of the
readers during the 1899 drought-famine in India, "Rainfall is perhaps the m o s t
i-Indian axis, was a seminal
important element in the e c o n o m y of nations." 11
7
•ry of the Southern Oscillaf the earliest suggestions of
Sunspots versus Socialists
weather defined by two or
In the decade after the great famine, the secret of the monsoon was widely
on.) 8 T w o key pieces of the
believed to lie in the variable radiation of the sun. In 1852, the Swiss astronomer
ion to a gigantic air pressure
Rudolf Wolf had demonstrated the existence of an eleven-year sunspot cycle, a n d by the early 1870s a number of British scientists and scicntilic a m a t e u r s - Stew-
nalysis of monsoon climatol. depoliticized scope of scien;ience to empire was still sufRoxburgh to boldly criticize ast when it was embodied by . late as 1849, surgeon-naturali Madras, were still defending quence of the onset of British ever, w h e n famine holocausts pire, tropical science was rap-
art at Kew Garden, Lockyer in Ceylon, Meldrum in Mauritius, Chambers, Hill and H u n t e r in India, and so on - were proposing sunspot correlations to the frequency of tropical cyclones a n d the behavior of the s u m m e r monsoon.' 2 If the "dessicationist" theory that tied drought and crop failure to the "reckless destruction of [India's] trees and forests" retained some authority a m o n g colonial foresters and hydraulic engineers, solar theories otherwise held t h e high g r o u n d . (The dessicationist "Philindus," writing in a popular English magazine, however, poured scorn on tropical meteorologists for "wasting time in finding out w h e n drought may exactly be expected rather than to set to w o r k energetically in o r d e r to prevent the occurrence of any drought.") 1 3
220
L AT E V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THIi
Famine was still ravaging India w h e n N o r m a n Lockyer and William H u n t e r
m:
w o u l d W a final link in this u
i n f o r m e d readers of The Nineteenth Century ( N o v e m b e r 1877) t h a t "a well m a r k e d
" w e r e \ w to find that t h e C
coincidence exists b e t w e e n t h e eleven year's cycle of sun-spots and the rainfall
present \ear." Accordingly v
at Bombay." 1 '' T h e next year H u n t e r published a widely applauded study, " T h e
!
Eastern I )istricts of the C a p e
Cycle of Drought and Famine in S o u t h e r n India," that p u r p o r t e d to d e m o n s t r a t e
m a t i o n t h e r e f o r e supplies tht
a d e t e r m i n a t e relationship b e t w e e n s u n s p o t s and rainfall in Madras since 1813.
Meanwhile, s o m e w e r e v
H u n t e r also excited Lloyds' actuaries w i t h an article correlating shipwrecks and
tropics might n o t also be d e
sunspots based on an analysis of data in the firm's lossbooks. 1 5 If b l u n t e r b a l k e d at
tists and engineers, convene,
including the t e m p e r a t e latitudes in t h e a r e n a of solar-determined precipitation,
technic Institute and later t h i
t h e causes of t h e Grande S
j
secas do Ceard), a n d visiting pr
T h e t r i u m p h a n t claims for a solar regulation of t h e m o n s o o n s e n c o u n t e r e d
j
s u n s p o t theory. 2 3 Indeed, Dc
considerable skepticism f r o m m o r e cautious o r statistically sophisticated research-
;
the Mauritius-based observer C. M e l d r u m was convinced that m e a n rainfall in Edinburgh, Paris and N e w Bedford was even m o r e strongly d e t e r m i n e d .by sunspot periodicity than in Madras. 1 6
" m e t e o r o l o g i s t s , " led by G u i
in Nature s u m m a r i z i n g t h e a
ers. 17 Blanfbrd and his collaborator, the m a t h e m a t i c i a n Douglas Archibald - sup-
J u n e 187S, w h i c h argued (a
p o r t e d by India's m o s t e m i n e n t a m a t e u r m e t e o r o l o g i s t , Lt.-General Sir Richard
'
Strachey - argued that any coincidence b e t w e e n the rainfall a n d sunspot cycles
j
C e a r a strongly correspondc-
makers," including the m o s t
in tropical India involved a r a n g e of variation t o o small to g e n e r a t e crop failures
t h e droughts t o deforestatio
like those of 1876-77.
b l a m e d on t h e racial "primit
But t h e i r reservations were o v e r w h e l m e d by the g e n e r a l
excitement in the international scientific c o m m u n i t y . T h e pages of Nature, edited
fantasies for t h e development
by the sunspot enthusiast N o r m a n Lockyer, were soon ablaze w i t h claims and
g r a m of giant d a m s , reserve
counter-claims about the influence of the Sun on tropical agriculture. 1 9 Even Blan-
!
ford, w h o was highly skeptical of brazen claims that t h e solar cycle could predict
m a t e . The t w o camps w o u l c nineteenth century."'
famine, conceded that the m a i n s p r i n g in his o w n explanation of global d r o u g h t -
I
Back in England, which w
the cyclical oscillation - "appears to c o n f o r m to the sun-spot period."" 0
|
of the colonial m e t e o r o l o g y
! i |
tion. As with Darwinism, a
ity and was thus orchestrated by s o m e c o m m o n causality across at least the span
h u g e implications for con t e n
of the Indian Ocean, if n o t the entire tropics. The t e m p o r a l p a t t e r n of eastern
j
e r e d . Here, the enthusiasts cl
Australian d r o u g h t s had b e e n recognized since 1835, and M e l d r u m p u r p o r t e d
|
origin of Indian famines, bui
to show a s u n s p o t - I n d i a n cyclone c o n n e c t i o n that affected Mauritius as well as
|
business cycle: n o t the overac
s o u t h e r n India. "His results apparently w e r e so convincing that, in the w o r d s of
!
h a d argued in a recent b o o k ,
o n e of his admirers, "the n u m b e r of w r e c k s which c a m e into the h a r b o u r ...
j
in 1878, the r e n o w n e d India-
and the n u m b e r of cyclones observed in t h e Indian O c e a n could enable a n y o n e
|
Virtually everyone agreed, moreover, t h a t d r o u g h t obeyed a definite periodic-
to d e t e r m i n e the n u m b e r of spots that w e r e on the s u n a b o u t t h a t time."' 2 1 "It
Lyon Play fair t r i u m p h a n t l y c: established that famines in I:
THE MYSTERY OF T H E
STS
MONSOONS
22 1
would be a final link in this universal chain of evidence," w r o t e Archibald in 1878,
:kyer and Williarrr Hunter • 1877) that "a well marked
"were we to find that the Cape h a d suffered drought either during the past or
sun-spots and the rainfall
present year." Accordingly when reports of serious droughts in the Central and
ely applauded study, "The
Eastern Districts of the Cape duly arrived in Calcutta, he declared t h a t "this infor-
p u r p o r t e d to demonstrate
mation therefore supplies the missing link." 22
nfall in Madras since 1813.
Meanwhile, some were wondering if droughts in the Western Hemisphere
correlating shipwrecks and
tropics might not also be determined by the same interactions. Brazilian scientists and engineers, convened in a series of extraordinary meetings at the Poly-
woks. 1 5 If H u n t e r balked at r-determined precipitation,
;
technic Institute and later the National Society for Acclimation in Rio to discuss
inced that m e a n rainfall in
i
the causes of the Grande Seca, polarized into two acrimonious factions. T h e "meteorologists," led by Guilherme de Capanema (author of AponlametUos sobre
:rongly determined by sun-
secas do Ceard), and visiting professor Orville Derby enthusiastically embraced the :he m o n s o o n s encountered
j
sunspot theory. 2 ' Indeed, Derby excited the Indian meteorologists with a n o t e
cally sophisticated research-
j
in Nature summarizing the article he had published in Diario Oficial do Brasil in
in Douglas Archibald - sup-
j
June 1878, which argued (after Hunter) that drought and flood records from
^ist, Lt.-General Sir Richard
!
Ceara strongly corresponded to sunspot fluctuations. 2 ' 1 In contrast, the "rain-
: rainfall and sunspot cycles
j
makers," including the most eminent Brazilian engineers of the day, attributed
lall to generate crop failures
I
the droughts to deforestation a n d backward agricultural practices, which they
werwhelmed by the general
j
blamed on the racial "primitiveness" of the sci itinejos. In line with Liberal Party
. T h e pages of Nature, edited
:
fantasies for the development of the Nordeste, they advocated a promethean pro-
oon ablaze with claims and
!
g r a m of giant dams, reservoirs and afforestation projects to "humidify" the cli-
>ical agriculture. 1 '-' Even Blan-
mate. T h e two camps would continue to battle one a n o t h e r for the rest of the
thc solar cycle could predict
nineteenth ccntury.2
?nation of global drought -
of the colonial meteorologists captured broad public and parliamentary atten-
2
..un-spot period." " it obeyed a definite periodic-
J
isality across at least the span
I
temporal pattern of eastern
tion. As with Darwinism, a fundamental structure of natural history but w i t h huge implications for contemporary humanity was d e e m e d to have been uncovered. Here, the enthusiasts claimed, was a discovery that not only explained t h e
35, and Meldrum purported
origin of Indian famines, but also illuminated the hitherto secret engine of t h e
affected Mauritius as well as
business cycle: not the over accumulation of capital relative to wages as Karl Marx
ivincing that, in the words of
had argued in a recent book, but the Sun. Thus, in a H o u s e of C o m m o n s debate
:h came into the harbour ...
in 1878, the renowned India-born scientist, political economist a n d Liberal M P
l Ocean could enable anyone ie sun about that time.'"
21
"It
Lyon Playfair triumphantly cited Meldrum's research as proof that "it was [ n o w ] established that famines in India came at periods w h e n sunspots were not vis-
T i LATE V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S
ible. O u t of twenty-two g r e a t observatories of t h e world, it h a d been s h o w n in eighteen that the m i n i n u m rainfall was at times w h e n there w e r e no spots o n the Sun." 2 6 Simultaneously, Sir Stanley Jevons, o n e of the f o u n d i n g fathers of m a t h e m a t i cized, neoclassical economics, w a s publishing a brace of f a m o u s articles on "Sunspots and C o m m e r c i a l Crises." 2 7 In 1875 h e had excited the British Association's annual m e e t i n g with a p i o n e e r i n g p a p e r o n the role of solar variability (which he attributed t o the gravitational configuration of the planets) in d e t e r m i n i n g the price of grain. 2 8 N o w h e p r o p o s e d a b r e a t h t a k i n g t h e o r y that the Sun t h r o u g h its influence on Indian and Chinese agriculture drove t h e entire global business cycle. Today seen as e m b a r r a s s i n g curiosities in the g r e a t m a n ' s collected works, at the t i m e of their writing these articles had a specific political urgency. Popular faith in free trade, jevons w a r n e d , was b e i n g badly d a m a g e d by t h e recognition
M
,
A w.ivc of increased solar i\u cal regions, so as to produce tropical and semi-tropical comi! lions of inhabitants buy ( Lancashire and Yorkshire k \ production to the inmost a n . a mania of active industry is i slow ly waning, so that just al turn out a greatly increased cut olf the demand. Later, in a n o t e to The Tit; s o l a r variation acting upon tl prosperity of England. H e t w h i c h supposedly reflected tl of g o o d trade in Lancashire
that " t h e slightest relapse of trade throws whole t o w n s and classes of people
A l t h o u g h he a d m i t t e d that '
into a state of destitution little short of famine." 2 ' His principal aim, according
a b o u t such i n c o n g r u o u s t h i n
to Philip Mirowski, was to prove contra Marx and t h e socialists that global eco-
fields of H i n d o o s t a n , " to r h o s
n o m i c instability, as in the 1870s, was n o t a failure of capitalist institutions but
w a s obvious":
w a s inexorably astronomical in origin. "All of Jevons's innovations in e c o n o m i c s - his pioneering efforts in marginalist price theory, his w o r k o n the Coal Q u e s tion, a n d his sunspot t h e o r y - m a y be understood as a unified response t o the increasing skepticism a b o u t political e c o n o m y in Britain.... [H]is project w a s to portray the market as a ' n a t u r a l ' process, so that d o u b t s about its efficacy w o u l d be assuaged, or at the very least, countered by scientific discourse."'" A l t h o u g h Jevons's correlations b e t w e e n Wolf Z u r i c h relative sunspot n u m bers and fourteen English commercial crises b e t w e e n 1700 and 1878 b e c a m e a butt of h u m o r even in his lifetime - including a "satirical statistical study s h o w i n g that the periodicity of w i n n i n g Oxbridge teams in collegiatc b o a t races was t h e
Cheapness of food leaves the he can spend on new clothes, of British India, not to men: ibr Lancashire goods. .. Let it liotn India it does not follow is bounded by the variation . the match which fires the in! I of many hubbies shows that and the height of folly to whi mania is, in short, a kind of <. collapse.''
s a m e as that of sunspots" - he stubbornly defended their statistical significance as the c o r n e r s t o n e of any scientific theory of the world economy. 3 1 Moreover, h e argued that periodic b o o m s and famines in India and China w e r e the critical
A l t h o u g h J e v o n s died in 1 from Brazil to b u t t r e s s his t h e
transmission belt (alternately of positive and negative feedback) b e t w e e n the S u n
it) c o n t i n u e d t o h o l d sway di-
and British industry:
va te e m i n e n t researchers well
T
T H E MYSTERY OF T H E M O N S O O N S
\USTS
2 23
A wave of increased solar radiations favorably affects the meteorology of the tropical regions, so as to produce a succession of good crops in India, China, and other tropical and semi-tropical countries. After several years of prosperity the 600 or 800 millions of inhabitants buy our manufactures in unusual quantities; good trade in Lancashire and Yorkshire leads the manufacturers to push their existing means of production to the utmost and then to begin building new mills and factories. While a mania of active industry is thus set going in Western Europe, the solar radiation is slowly waning, so that just about the time when our manufacturers are prepared to turn out a greatly increased supply of goods, famines in India and China suddenly cut off the demand. 3 2
world, ii h a d b e e n s h o w n in n there w e r e n o spots o n the
n d i n g fathers of m a t h e m a t i * of f a m o u s articles on "Sunited the British Association's e of solar variability (which e planets) in d e t e r m i n i n g t h e h e o r y that the Sun t h r o u g h vc t h e entire global business
Later, in a n o t e t o The Times, Jevons a t t e m p t e d to explain in-more detail h o w solar variation acting upon the poverty of India could b e the p r i m e - m o v e r of t h e
iat m a n ' s collected works, at
prosperity o f England. He boasted that historical g r a i n price d a t a f r o m India,
ic political urgency. Popular
which supposedly reflected the s u n s p o t cycle, was "the missing link." " T h e secret
d a m a g e d by the recognition
of g o o d trade in Lancashire is t h e low price of rice a n d other g r a i n in India."
:owns and classes of people
A l t h o u g h h e a d m i t t e d thai " s o m e may j e s t at the folly o f those w h o theorize
His principal aim, according
a b o u t s u c h i n c o n g r u o u s things as the cotton-gins of Manchester a n d the paddy-
h e socialists that global cco-
fields of H i n d o o s t a n , " to those " w h o look a little below t h e surface t h e connexion
of capitalist institutions but
was obvious":
s's innovations in e c o n o m i c s Cheapness of food leaves the poor Hindoo ryot a small margin of earnings, which he can spend on new clothes; and a small margin multiplied by the vast population of British India, not to mem ion China, produces a marked change in the demand for Lancashire goods.... Let it be remembered, too, that becausc the impulse, comcs from India it does not follow that the extent of the commercial mania or crisis here is bounded by the variation of the Indian trade. The impulse from abroad is like the match which (ires the inflammable spirits of the speculative classes. The history of many bubbles shows that there is no proportion be w e e n the stimulating causc and the height of folly to which the inflation of credit and prices may be carried. A mania is, in short, a kind of explosion of commercial folly followed by the natural collapse."
his w o r k on the Coal Quesas a unified response to the ritain.... | H]is project w a s to ubts about its efficacy would tific discourse." 31 ' Zurich relative sunspot n u m :en 1700 and 1878 b e c a m e a rical statistical study s h o w i n g :ollegiatc b o a t races w a s the i their statistical significance world economy. 3 1 Moreover,
A l t h o u g h Jevons died in 1882 while fast at w o r k correlating n e w d r o u g h t d a t a
i and China w e r e t h e critical
f r o m Brazil t o buttress his theory, "cyclomania" (as H o y t a n d Schatten have called
-e feedback) b e t w e e n the Sun
it) c o n t i n u e d to hold sway t h r o u g h the rest o f the decade, and, i n d e e d , to captivate e m i n e n t researchers well i n t o the early t w e n t i e t h century. 3 4 "Surely in mete-
0
ZZA
LATIi V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
Tin;
m
orology, as in astronomy/' the f a m o u s solar astronomer and editor of Nature, Sir N o r m a n Lockyer, preached to eager Victorians, "the thing to hunt d o w n is a
3
cycle, and if that is not to be found in the temperate zone, then go to the frigid
18 76 2
zones and look for it, or the torrid zones a n d l o o k for it, and if found, then above all things, and in whatever manner, lay hold of it, study it, record it, and see what it m e a n s . " " The sunspot cycle, in particular, seemed to be t h e big wheel that turned all the smaller wheels, regulating fluxes of rain and grain and thereby, as Jevons had shown, exchange rates and share prices. Political Economy was
G, QJ Q
I
T3
0 -1
unmasked as a mere province of Solar Physics.
v\
-2
T h e most triumphal p r o n o u n c e m e n t s came f r o m the ebullient Lockyer, w h o -3
believed that changes in sunspot spectra represented heat pulses that could be directly correlated with monsoonal rainfall. His research was sponsored by the
-4
Privy Council's Solar Physics C o m m i t t e e (including Sir Richard Strachey from
W Sund.irdizcd Jcpjfturcs cf suilo Augusi 1S7S K.iscd on 19-11-70
Figure 7.3 The .Southern Osse-
the Indian government) and reflected Whitehall's keen interest in any influence
in the meantime, while
upon imperial trade balances. As Lockyer reassured Lord Salisbury, "The riddle of
launched a pioneer investig
the probable times of occurrence of Indian Famines has n o w been read, and they
mandated by the 1877 Famii
can b e for the future accurately predicted, though not yet in various regions. The Nile River failures follow the same law."
Djakarta
d r o u g h t and suspected that i
36
cursor than the sun. Since th
Geopolitics and the Southern Oscillation
cooling of the mountains an. posed the logical hypothesis
By the early 1890s, however, heroic solar correlation (if notjevonsian economics)
layan snows exercise a great
had begun to run afoul of its own burgeoning contradictions and inconsistencies.
and weather of the plains of
For every study that associated drought with sunspot maxima, there seemed to be another that correlated it with sunspot minima. 37 Lockyer's and Hunter's work
for successfully predicting dc
had quietly sidestepped the embarrassing paradox, pointed out by Koppen as
and abnormally Luge spring
early as 1873, that "in the tropics, m a x i m u m temperature coincidcs more nearly
core technique of using o n e rainfall, his successor Sir Johr
with the m i n i m u m than with the m a x i m u m of sun-spots; preceding the former, however, by one to one and a half years."
38
trade winds, Nile floods, a n c
As more sophisticated statistical tools
became available, it became obvious that the algorithms used to detect these
we have seen, Eliot's growii
cycles could, in fact, find t h e m in r a n d o m data. Although Wolf's sunspot cycle
tragic hubris: " T h e disastrous
was real enough, there was a creeping crisis of confidence in its presumed signa-
western Indian drought of 1
ture on Indian agriculture and Lancashire profits. T h e all-encompassing explan-
F r o m the perspective of i
atory fabric that astronomers, meteorologists and neoclassical economists had
were correct in assuming thu
woven in the late 1870s began to unravel.
damental role in conditioning
1
\ »
T i n - iVHSTKRY O F T H E
USTS
>mer and editor of
MONSOONS
225
Nature,
the thing t o h u n t d o w n is a z o n e , t h e n go t o the frigid it, and if found, then above Jy it, record it, and sec w h a t d t o be t h e big wheel that rain and grain and thereby, :es. Political E c o n o m y was
\ j
t h e ebullient Lockyer, w h o d h e a t pulses that could b e iarch was sponsored by the 'y Sir Richard Strachey
from
-4
PapeeteV
Standardized departures of station pressure at Santiago. Cliil(.-; Papeete, Tiliiti; and Djakarta. IndonesiafromJuly l8?<5,to August 1878. Based on WJI-70 mean, deep! ar Santiago,which is based on the 1861-1905 portion of the record. | J f J I A | S ) O | N | D j J. [ F" | M | A |M | J j J j A | S | O | N j D | J j F j M| A | M | J | J j A j "
Figure 7.3 The Southern Oscillation
•en interest in any influence ,ord Salisbury, " T h e riddle of has n o w b e e n read, and they t yet in various regions. T h e
In t h e m e a n t i m e , while o t h e r s were still counting sunspots, Blanford h a d launched a pioneer investigation of snowfall in the Himalayas. H e had b e e n m a n d a t e d by the 1877 Famine C o m m i s s i o n t o develop a m e t h o d f o r forecasting d r o u g h t and suspected that the T i b e t a n s n o w p a c k m i g h t b e a m o r e reliable precursor t h a n t h e sun. Since the m o n s o o n s w e r e driven by t h e differential h e a t i n g / cooling of the m o u n t a i n s and T i b e t a n Plateau vis-a-vis t h e Indian O c e a n , he p r o -
(if not Jevonsian economics) dictions and inconsistencies. Dt m a x i m a , there s e e m e d to _ockyer's and H u n t e r ' s w o r k pointed o u t by Koppcn as •ature coincides m o r e nearly spots; preceding the former, sophisticated statistical tools rithms used t o detect these .hough W o l f ' s sunspot cycle dence in its p r e s u m e d signa-
posed t h e logical hypothesis that t h e "varying extent and thickness of the Himalayan s n o w s exercisc a great and p r o l o n g e d influence o n t h e climatic conditions and w e a t h e r of the plains of n o r t h w e s t India." In 1885 Blanford w o n accolades for successfully predicting dclicient rains over western India as a result of a late and a b n o r m a l l y large spring snowfall in the western Himalayas. Building on this core t e c h n i q u e of using one season's snowfall as an a n a l o g u e for next season's rainfall, his successor Sir John Eliot added m o r e variables, including Indian O c e a n trade winds, Nile floods, and rainfall in S o u t h Africa and s o u t h e r n Australia. As w e have seen, Eliot's g r o w i n g confidence in his forecasting skill s o o n b e c a m e tragic hubris: "The disastrously w r o n g forecasts preceding and d u r i n g the terrible western Indian d r o u g h t of 1899 t h r e w the m e t h o d s into disrepute." , 9
'he all-encompassing explan-
From t h e perspective of m o d e r n research, it is clear t h a t Blanford and Eliot
neoclassical economists h a d
were correct in a s s u m i n g that t h e T i b e t a n (or Eurasian) s n o w mass plays a f u n d a m e n t a l role in conditioning t h e m o n s o o n . ( T h e Himalayas, as they recognized,
I j
i
226
LATI- V I C T O R I A N
THi;
HOLOCAUSTS
j
also regulate the m o n s o o n cycle orogiaphically, lifting w a r m air flow f r o m the
\l
As Giscla Kutzbach h.is
s o u t h in the s u m m e r and b l o c k i n g incursions of frigid Siberian air masses f r o m
!
a n d ballistics, was a new* m
the n o r t h in the winter.) But it is only half t h e story. M o n s o o n variability, w e now
;
p a r t on his o w n resources."
understand, is an interaction b e t w e e n the w e a t h e r of Eurasia a n d the d y n a m i c
|
t e m p o r a r y geopolitics, the n
convection systems of t h e tropical Pacific a n d Indian Oceans. In focusing on vari-
!
o g y with Alfred M a h o n \ fV
able heat storage in the Himalayas, Blanford and Eliot (understandably) ignored
!
u p o n the c o n t r o l of a h a n d I
clues that m i g h t have led t h e m to the discovery of t h e great Indo-Pacific heal
1
(Gibraltar, Singapore, etc ,
engine: ENSO.
;
also d e p e n d e d upon a few "
Blanford had first glimpsed its p o w e r in the violent atmospheric oscillations
j
b o l d o p t i m i s m of the s u n s p t
that had accompanied t h e 1877 d r o u g h t , and researchers in the 1890s w e r e sight-
j
o f geo-historical rcductioni
ing it again. In the lead w a s Lockycr, the indefatigable solar cyclist, w h o had b e e n
chief geopolitician, H a l f o r d
convinced by his s o n J a m e s t h a t analyses of the Indian meteorological record indicated that a t m o s p h e r i c pressure m i g h t be a b e t t e r correlate to solar-activity
o n the slopes o f Mount K e n j
Pivot of History":
than rainfall. Examining global data, the Lockycrs p r o p o s e d t h a t Blanford's seesaw was actually a conflation of t w o separate systems o f a t m o s p h e r i c oscillation: one in phase with India, the o t h e r with Spain. As t h e elder Lockycr explained it: "If the effect of the sun was t o create, say, a lower pressure at s o m e point o n the earth's surface, this w o u l d necessarily be balanced by higher pressure s o m e w h e r e else. As the sun's effect varied, so the a t m o s p h e r i c pressure at these t w o poles would oscillate."
10
j 1 i!
The Lockyers ultimately failed to a d d u c e c o m p e l l i n g evidence for a statistical
For Walker, the m e l e o r o l
or causal linkage b e t w e e n solar cycles, Indian air pressure variations, and rainfall
w h i c h regulated the lives n f i
anomalies. But their emphasis on inter-hemispheric a t m o s p h e r i c oscillations, wiiii
t h e pyramid of weather d.ii;
possibly more than one frequency, provided a compelling f r a m e w o r k for t h e next generation of research. By 1897. for example, the director of the Upsala Observatory H u g o Hildebrandsson, h a d identified the inverse relationship b e t w e e n m e a n
In the present decade wv .itdegree at completeness, a larger historical generali/.u i real proportion of features seek a formula which slv.ll e sat ion' in universal historv. ! '
|
lution of the 1870s. To exca o f c o m p u t a t i o n . Today, of <
pressures in Iceland and the Azores - later d u b b e d t h e N o r t h Atlantic Oscillation
w e a t h e r observations, bin
- that plays such a large role in regulating rainfall a n d crop productivity in n o r t h -
levies of Indian clerks (a s u i
western Europe. H e also believed he had isolated a Siberian-Indian b a r o m e t r i c
W o r l d War) t o manually p r o
see saw as well as an oscillation that stretched across the Pacific b e t w e e n S o u t h
esoteric regression equation
America (Buenos Aires) and Australasia (Sydney)." For the first time, the Pacific-
1918 gave r e n e w e d urgency-
Basin was identified as a principal "center of action" with influence on the m o n -
o u t , this was little more thai
soon: a decisive clue t h a t w a s followed up, after t h e disgrace of Eliot, by his suc-
f r a m e w o r k s u p p o r t e d the p-<
cessor, the C a m b r i d g e senior m a t h w r a n g l e r and physicist, Sir Gilbert Walker.
cal."'15 Although Walker spec
T H E M Y S T E R Y () V T H E
USTS
n g w a r m air flov- f r o m t h e ;id Siberian air masses f r o m /Jonsoon variability, w e n o w :>f Eurasia and the dynamic
MONSOONS
2 2 7
As Gisela Kutzbach has p o i n t e d out, Walker, an expert on electrodynamics and ballistics, was a n e w c o m e r t o m e t e o r o l o g y w h o "had to rely for the m o s t part on his o w n resources."' 12 H e seems to have been inspired as m u c h by c o n t e m p o r a r y geopolitics, the n e w "science of empire," as by geophysics. In an anal-
Oceans. In focusing o n vari-
ogy with Alfred M a h o n ' s f a m o u s dictum t h a t m o d e r n world p o w e r d e p e n d e d
ot (understandably) ignored
u p o n t h e control of a h a n d f u l o f strategic choke-points of maritime c o m m e r c e
" t h e great Indo-Pacific heat
(Gibraltar, Singapore, etc.), W a l k e r s u r m i s e d that global agricultural p r o d u c t i o n also d e p e n d e d u p o n a few "strategic points of world weather." 4 ' Reclaiming t h e
ent atmospheric oscillations
bold o p t i m i s m of t h e sunspot-chasers a g e n e r a t i o n earlier, he p u r s u e d a p r o g r a m
:hers in the 1890s were sight-
of geo-historical reductionism w h o s e goal h a d been a d u m b r a t e d by Britain's
le solar cyclist, w h o h a d b e e n
chief geopolitician, Halford M a c k i n d e r ( w h o m we last saw a m o n g the starving
ndian meteorological record
on the slopes of M o u n t Kenya), in a f a m o u s 1904 address on "The G e o g r a p h i c a l
ter correlate to solar activity
Pivot of History":
proposed that Blanford's seens of atmospheric oscillation: ie elder Lockyer explained it: pressure at s o m e point o n the •y higher pressure s o m e w h e r e c pressure at these t w o poles elling evidence for a statistical
in the present decade we are for the first time in a position to attempt, with some degree of completeness, a correlation between the larger geographical and the larger historical generalizations. For the first time we can perceive something of the real proportion of features and events on the stage of the whole world, and may seek a formula which shall express certain aspects, at any rate, of geographical causation in universal history.'1'1 For Walker, the meteorological pivot of history - t h e secrct of t h e m o n s o o n s ,
ressure variations, and rainfall
which regulated t h e lives of m o r e than half t h e earth's population
atmospheric oscillations, with
the p y r a m i d of w e a t h e r data t h a t had a c c u m u l a t e d since the observational revo-
celling f r a m e w o r k for the next
lution of t h e 1870s. To excavate it lie p r o p o s e d to radically increase the v o l u m e
irector of the Ups.ila Obscrvarse relationship beLween m e a n the N o r t h Atlantic Oscillation ind crop productivity in northl a Siberian-Indian b a r o m e t r i c ross the Pacific b e t w e e n South 41
For the first time, the Pacific
m" with influence o n the m o n i c disgrace of Eliot, by his sucphysicist, Sir Gilbert Walker.
was hidden in
of c o m p u t a t i o n . Today, of course, s u p e r c o m p u t e r s c r u n c h endless terabytes of weather observations, but Walker, a d e m o n statistician, mobilized p h a r a o n i c levies of Indian clerks (a s u r p l u s of w h o m w e r e m a d e available d u r i n g the First World W a r ) to manually process w o r l d w i d e pressure a n d rainfall d a t a t h r o u g h his esoteric regression equations. T h e w i d e s p r e a d d r o u g h t and agricultural crisis of 1918 gave r e n e w e d urgency t o these calculations. Yet, as Mark C a n e has p o i n t e d out, this w a s little m o r e than a h u g e scientific fishing expedition: " N o conceptual f r a m e w o r k s u p p o r t e d t h e p a t t e r n s he f o u n d ; [his] m e t h o d s were strictly empirical."'15 A l t h o u g h W a l k e r speculated, as h a d Hildebrandsson earlier, that polar cir-
[30
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
t h e G
culation might be a driving force of global pressure fluctuations, it was little m o r e
Walker was thrown back o
than a hunch.116
regressions, he could n o t
Nonetheless Walker's dogged super-empiricism eventually produced a rich
give even proximately reli
harvest. After twenty years of patiently crunching numbers and expanding his
monsoon consistently t u r
data sets, the (after 1924, retired) director-general of observatories in India w a s
versa. "Walker found t h a t
able to present overwhelming evidence (following Hildebrandsson's pioneering
pressure variations s o m e r
work) for three coherent systems of intercontinental atmospheric oscillation:
ica, was m o r e strongly c< excitement generated by h
In 1924, Walker first used and defined the term Southern Oscillation (SO) as a "seesaw" in atmospheric pressure and rainfall at stations across the Indo-Pacific region, where increased (decreased) pressure in locations surrounding the Indian region (Cairo, north-west India, Darwin, Mauritius, south-eastern Australia and the Cape Colony) tended to be matched by decreased (increased) pressure over the Pacific region (San Francisco, Tokyo, Honolulu, Samoa and South America) and decreased (.increased) rainfall over India and Java (including Australia and Abyssinia). The two other "oscillations" involved out-of-phase atmospheric pressure between the regions of the Azores and Iceland, named the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and between Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands, termed the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO).47
barrier" (which continues n u m b e r oi" difficulties t h a ' from the late 1930s t h r o u g of any physical mechanisn SO, NAO o r NPO, let alot to lunar, solar and planet; rithms described and used ished when t h e original dai Indeed, no infinity of a t m ultimate insight into the i link to the problem of the i
This was a fundamental breakthrough: the global drought pattern first c o n vincingly identified by Blanford in 1877-80 was now unequivocally related t o the action of the great barometric see-saw over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. "It s o o n bccame apparent that the Southern Oscillation provided the most potential in
Southern Oscillation
terms of long-range forecasting [of the three oscillations], in that it displayed
| North-east Australia rait
In
marked interannual variability in its lead and lag correlations with climatic con-
stations in north Australia-
ditions in each season over a large part of the earth's surface." , s Walker clearly
sure I i- 0.7 | New Zealand
grasped that changes in the intensity and location of the great tropical convection
(all | + 0.7 | Hawaii rainfaf
cell (the Indo-Australian Convergence Z o n e ) as reflected by the Southern Oscil-
Johannesburg the most i
lation, would affect the s u m m e r monsoon over India, and in 1928 h e p r o p o s e d an
- [Batavia pressure 1 - [Sc
additional link between the SO and drought-famines in northeast Brazil. T h e r e
Prince Albert, Qu'Appelh
was growing confidence in the Indian government, as well as scientific circles,
temperature] - 0.7 [Maur
that Walker was breathtakingly close to his quarry.
de Janeiro a n d 2 stations J
But it ultimately eluded his grasp. In the absencc of any theoretical m o d e l for understanding the teleconnections between strategic centers of weather action,
Argentina, of which Bahi
T
T H E MYSTERY OF T H E
st s
MONSOONS
229
tuations, it was little m o r e
Walker w a s t h r o w n b a c k o n an a l c h e m y of f o r m u l a e . Despite e v e r m o r e b a r o q u e
-entually p r o d u c e d a rich
give even proximately reliable advance w a r n i n g s of d r o u g h t . Maddeningly t h e
.mbers and expanding his
m o n s o o n consistently t u r n e d o u t to b e a b e t t e r predictor of the S O than vice
>bservatories in India w a s
versa. "Walker f o u n d t h a t Indian s u m m e r rainfall, while weakly correlated with
idebrandsson's pioneering
pressure variations s o m e m o n t h s earlier in locations as far away as S o u t h Amer-
regressions, h e could n o t discover an index o r system of equations that would
ica, was m o r e strongly correlated w i t h s u b s e q u e n t events."'" A f t e r the initial
t m o s p h e r i c oscillation:
excitement g e n e r a t e d by his p a t h b r e a k i n g p a p e r s in t h e 1920s, this "predicability Oscillation (SO) as a "seess the Indo-Pacific region, unding the Indian region rn Australia and the Cape pressure over the Pacific h America) and decreased ralia and Abyssinia). The _>ric pressure between the tlantic Oscillation (NAO), e North Pacific Oscillation
barrier" (which c o n t i n u e s t o f r u s t r a t e tropical meteorologists) w a s o n e of a |
n u m b e r of difficulties t h a t led t o declining interest in t h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation
I
f r o m t h e late 1930s t h r o u g h t h e early 1960s. " O f particular concern w a s the lack o f any physical m e c h a n i s m s that could explain pressure fluctuations such as t h e SO, NAO o r NPO, let alone g r o w i n g efforts t o link n u m e r o u s climatic patterns
i !
t o lunar, solar and p l a n e t a r y influences. In addition, t h e correlations and algorithms
described and u s e d by W a l k e r and o t h e r s were o f t e n found t o have dimin-
!
ished w h e n the original data sets w e r e e x t e n d e d as m o r e data became available. " 50
|
Indeed, n o infinity of a t m o s p h e r i c data w o u l d have ever provided Walker w i t h
;
ultimate insight into t h e m e c h a n i s m of t h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation. T h e missing
!
link to t h e problem of t h e m o n s o o n , in fact, lay outside t h e boundaries of meteo-
d r o u g h t p a t t e r n first connequivocally related to the A Walker Formula
>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<
T h e Southern Oscillation, Bjerknes argued in his famous 1969 paper, resulted
sphere and hydrosphere."
from a "chain-reaction" exchange of energy between the oceaii and atmosphere.
Bjerknes's theory was stun
To begin with, the differential between the (low pressure) W a r m Pool in the west-
m e n t of the problem. W h a t
ern equatorial Pacific and the (high pressure) Cold Tongue in the east forces rela-
one state to another? And, ^
tively cold, dry air westward where it is heated and moistened over progressively
acknowledged in 1969, "Just I
w a r m e r water. This trade wind, part of which returns in the u p p e r levels to sink
yet quite clear. T h e study o f
over the eastern Pacific (an equatorial circulation that Bjerknes n a m e d in h o n o r
typical turnabouts may clarify
of Walker), pools more w a r m water in the west and thus reinforces the gradient
lem may have to be devclope<
driving its flow. Or, in Bjerknes's own words, "an intensifying Walker Circula-
event, the latter contribution
USTS
xes in the equatorial Pacific
T H E M Y S T E R Y <) V T H E
MONSOONS
23 1
tion ... provides for an increase of die east-west temperature contrast that is the cause of the Walker Circulation in the first place." 5 ' This, of course, is a classical example of positive feedback and it also works in the opposite direction: should the easterly trade winds abate, the W a r m Pool will move eastward,
filiation, Jacob Bjerkncs at
which, in turn, will f u r t h e r suppress the gradient. Sea temperatures in the central
ographic as well as meteo-
equatorial Pacific increase from the influx of w a r m surface water, while off the
ties, was a legendary figure
Ecuadorean/Peruvian coast the classical El Nino w a r m i n g results f r o m the sup-
is father, had revolutionized
pression of wind-driven upwelling. Cold events, by contrast, involve an interac-
IOW mid-latitude weather is
tive intensification of the trade winds, w a r m pooling in the west and cold upwell-
ses (analogous in their view
ing in the east. In either state of the Walker Circulation, in other words, there is
Mr "Bergen School" was the
a powerful feedback loop that accelerates m o v e m e n t towards the extreme points
• and m o d e r n weather fore-
(El Nino and La Nina, respectively) of the cycle. The S o u t h e r n Oscillation, more-
of the relatively few meteo-
over, is a real transfer of air mass (not just a n epiphenomcnon of surface pres-
standing ocean heat circula-
sure), via intensified or weakened Walker circulations, between the monsoon regions and the equatorial Pacific Ocean.'"
ltch meteorologist Hendrik
The great perturbations in tropical weather, in other words, arc self-generated
e SO index and sea surface
and seif-sustained: they do not require the intervention of sunspot cycles or o t h e r
physical Year (1957-58) data
exogenous forcings. T h e essence of Bjerknes's model, explains George Philander,
arge-scale oceanic warming
is that "changes in oceanic conditions are b o t h rhe cause and the consequence of
dateline in association with
changes in atmospheric conditions." Anomalies of sea surface temperature cause
El Nino were the respective
the trade winds to strengthen or weaken and this in turn drives the ocean circula-
y cycling in powerful pulses
tion changes that produce anomalous sea surface temperatures. "To ask why El
s t e r m ENSO was first used
Nino or La Nina occurs," continues Philander, "is equivalent to asking why a bell
;e Bjerknes's unified interac-
rings or a taut violin string vibrates. The Southern Oscillation is a natural mode of
famous 1969 paper, resulted
sphere and hydrosphere." 57
oscillation of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: it is the music of the atmoi the ocean and atmosphere,
Bjerknes's theory was stunningly bold b u t it left unsolved a key dynamic cle-
sure) W a r m Pool in the west-
ment of the problem. W h a t forces or instigates the nonlinear transition f r o m
'ongue in the east forces rela-
one state to another? And, similarly, how d o El Ninos terminate? As Bjerknes
noistened over progressively
acknowledged in 1969, "Just h o w the t u r n a b o u t between trends takes place is n o t
ns in the upper levels to sink
yet quite clear. The study of a sequence of global meteorological maps d u r i n g
vat Bjerknes named in h o n o r
typical turnabouts m a y clarify p a r t of the problem. An additional key to the prob-
1 thus reinforces the gradient
lem may have to be developed by the science of dynamic oceanography." 5 8 In t h e
intensifying Walker Circula-
event, the latter contribution was most crucial, and it w a s left to Klaus Wyrtki at
I 232
LATE VICTORIAN
THE MV.<
HOLOCAUSTS
T h e W a r m Pool accumulai
Figure 7.4 Key Stages in the Development of ENSO Theory
sea level) until a trigger e v e n t , e n e r g y in the f o r m of a wavi
1. Recognizing global, synchronized drought
Roxburgh: 1790s Blanford: 1880
2. Linking drought to interhemispheric atniosphere"see-saw"
Blanford: 1880 Lockyerand l.ockyer: 1900
simultaneously releases W a r n
3. Identifying the Southern Oscillation (SO)
Hildebrandsson: 1899 Walker: 1920s
causal feedbacks, of course, IT
4. Unifying the SO and El Nino in a single model
Bjerknes: 1960s
sloshes e a s t w a r d against S o u t the d i s a p p e a r a n c e of the n o r n w e a k e n s the t r a d e winds. T h e face waters t o accumulate of ing factor. T h e idea o f westerly w i n d ger Kelvin w a v e s in the t h e r :
5. Recognizing La Nina (ENSO cold phase)
Philander: 1980s
Research in t h e mid-1990s, ai Atmosphere (TOGA) monito
6. Mechanism for the phase transition
Wyrtki: 1980s
s t r o n g instances o f an intrasea:
7. Successful predictive model
Cane andZebiak; 1986 ??
and wanes in strength,-with f
tropics k n o w n as Madden-Julia
8. Nature of interdecadal fluctuations
w h e t h e r these intensifications surface t e m p e r a t u r e (and a r e t Moreover, j u s t as ENSO ci
the University of Hawai'i in the mid-1970s to rebuild Bjerknes's t h e o r y u p o n a more sophisticated foundation of ocean physics. Wyrtki conceived of El Ninos as turbulent "heat relaxation events" that arose in response to intensified trade winds and greater-than-average p o o l i n g of w a r m water in the western Pacific." Like the rest of the w o r l d ocean, t h e Pacific is com-
A l t h o u g h the h e a t reservoir m< of t h e reason f o r irregularity i and amplitude o f warm a n d < interaction of h i g h e r f r e q u c n c a t m o s p h e r e dynamics.""' O n ti
posed of two layers of fluid: a very deep cold layer and a shallow surface layer of
the feedback effects of powcrf
w a r m e r water.' ,(> The abrupt t e m p e r a t u r e transition b e t w e e n the t w o is k n o w n as
cally "noise." T o m a k e forecas
the thermocline. T h e W a r m Pool, as wc have seen, is a trade-wind-driven pile-up
d y n a m i c systems, also probabl
of w a r m w a t e r (more t h a n 100 meters deep) and c o n s e q u e n t d e e p e n i n g o f the
istic chaos." 1
thermocline at the w e s t e r n end of the Pacific Basin. Because it is u n a b l e to e x p o r t all of its annual budget of solar energy, t h e W a r m Pool f u n c t i o n s like a planetary heat reservoir or "capacitator." 6 1 Small surface t e m p e r a t u r e increases over large ocean areas represent the storage of vast a m o u n t s of energy to potentially p o w e r weather systems.
W y r t k i also clarified the p h tion dips far b e l o w the x-axis c a w a r m event ( o f t e n with t h e ; cooling of the e a s t e r n Pacific), phase is rapidly followed by its
T T H E M Y S T E R Y OF T H E M O N S O O N S
JSTS
233
T h e W a r m Pool accumulates excess h e a t (as a d e e p e r t h e r m o c l i n e and higher sea level) u n t i l a trigger event, like a trade w i n d reversal, releases t h e stored solar
>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
l<>50
•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<
the "complex s y m p h o n y " of ENSO over time." 7 Paleoclimatologists a n d pale-
lain of historical data, believe
o c c a n o g r a p h e r s a r e n o w beginning to m a k e f u n d a m e n t a l contributions to E N S O
"broadly c o r r e s p o n d to c h a n t
research. El Niiios in m o d e r n times have a quasi-periodic f r e q u e n c y of t w o to
to t h e m o d u l a t i o n of the i n t c
seven years, but m o s t researchers arc convinced t h a t this oscillation is nested
d u r i n g the t w e n t i e t h century.
within other cycles, p o w e r e d by similar physics, w i t h lower frequencies r a n g i n g
Sahel rainfall.""" California t r e
f r o m decades to millennia. 6 - Since the compilation of the first ENSO chronolo-
tal rainfall records, provide at
gies in the 1970s, for instance, there has b e e n intense curiosity a b o u t the w e a k e n -
at a roughly similar frequenc)
ing of El N i n o f r o m the early 1920s to t h e late 1950s in c o n t r a s t t o the s t r o n g
eastern tropical Pacific, which
cycles before and after. Figure 7.5, based o n sea surface t e m p e r a t u r e s f r o m the
a s t r o n g variability in strength
eastern Pacific since 1860, clearly shows a decline in b o t h the frequency and intcn-
two sets of data m a y not b e •
J S I" s
TH1- M Y S T E R Y OF T H E M O N S O O N S
2.35
-1 and below^La Nina/ + 1 and above--Hi Nino
; 1985 article. D u r i n g a La :chargc the heat c o n t e n t of e r Indonesia to the edge o f
'
a c c o m p a n y i n g La Nina are t o those associated with El oods as in China in 1897-98 :bate a b o u t the d y n a m i c s of ;carchers), but it docs puncu r i n g E N S O in the nets of
!
•truction o f complex predic-
j
aatorial Pacific, has b e c o m e
j
td Stephen Zebiak, encapsu-
j
>ocean-coupled m o d e l , sue-
!
tr, several m o d e l s ( a l t h o u g h
f
d the onset of the 1997-98 larly s u d d e n e n d i n g (in May
I
Figure 7.5 Changes in ENSO Amplitude
«rts as "mediocre." Still, the
sit)' of w a r m events f r o m 1925 until 1958 (or even 1972). T h e r e are also striking
:rstood. "El N i n o - S o u t h e r n
differences in t h e relative percentages of El N i n o s and La Ninas. Is this evidence
r, "is the first great coupled solved.""' 1
that ENSO oscillates b e t w e e n high amplitude a n d low amplitude " r e g i m e s " on a j
multidecadal scale? If so, the implications for o u r understanding of a g r a r i a n hist o r y in t h e tropics a n d n o r t h China would b e p r o f o u n d . Some researchers think they can already glimpse the outlines o f large-scale
est priority is u n d e r s t a n d i n g
t e m p o r a l structures. Rasmusson, W a n g arid Ropelcwski, a f t e r c r u n c h i n g a m o u n -
aleoclimatologists and pale-
tain of historical data, believe that 31-year fluctuations in ENSO-cycle intensity
ental contributions to E N S O
"broadly correspond t o changes in all-India m o n s o o n - s c a s o n rainfall variability,
eriodic frequency of t w o t o
t o t h e m o d u l a t i o n of t h e intensity of d r o u g h t episodes over the US G r e a t Plains
hat this oscillation is nested
d u r i n g t h e twentieth century, a n d , less clearly, to the ccntury-scale variation in
:h l o w e r frequencies r a n g i n g
Sahel rainfall." 69 California tree rings and A n d e a n ice cores, as well as i n s t r u m e n -
of t h e first E N S O chronolo-
tal rainfall records, p r o v i d e additional evidence of changes in E N S O a m p l i t u d e
i curiosity a b o u t t h e weaken-
at a roughly similar frequency. 7 " O n the o t h e r hand, reccnt coral c o r e data f r o m
50s in contrast t o the s t r o n g rface t e m p e r a t u r e s f r o m the both t h e f r e q u e n c y a n d inten-
eastern tropical Pacific, w h i c h extends ENSO event history b a c k to 1600, indicates •
a s t r o n g variability in s t r e n g t h a n d coherence o f the signal over 10-25 years. 71 T h e t w o sets of data m a y n o t be contradictory, since the first frequency m i g h t well
I 236
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THE
M V< .
oscillation in t h e North Pacifi
be a harmonic composite of the second (the awkwardly named "quasi-bidecadal ' oscillation"). ENSO-cycle variability could even prove "fractal" across a spectrum
i
of time scales.72
'
w e r e of spccial importance." ' Climatologists have also I:
One explanation for regime variability is that ENSO is modulated by decade-
!
temperature oscillations o p e r
to century-long changes in atmospheric and oceanic boundarv conditions, espe-
|
have modified ENSO. One o f
cially in the mid-latitudes w h e r e ocean cycles rend to have longer periods. The
I
erics of recent years has b e e n sequently in a variety of o t h e
North Pacific, in particular, has important sea temperature fluctuations at 25- to 40-year-long wavelengths that correspond to putative ENSO regimes or epochs. 73
fluctuation in Quaternary cli
All the more intriguing, then, that the central and eastern tropical Pacific abruptly
cooling, like the "Mediaeval C
warmed in 1976-77 in t a n d e m with the cooling of the central and western N o r t h
Age," have been unmasked a s
Pacific. This change of base state, which persisted until 1998, probably amplified
"Dansgaard/Oeschger Oscilla
the effects of succeeding El Nino events since they were piggybacking an increase
establishing any statistically si^
in background sea surface t e m p e r a t u r e . (Conversely, the switch to a colder ocean
ity and millennial background
probably intensified the. 1999-2000 La Nina.)
74
Some have attributed this change in ocean background state to anthropogenic
intriguing "coincidences," s u e Nino, which produced world j
warming, but others argue that it is the expression of a somewhat mysterious
nized termination of the Little
temperature flux known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). (Other rever-
Hugely controversial h a s I
sals in its polarity may have occurred around 1925 and 1947.)7S Aside from intensi-
has b e e n punctuated by chaot
fying El Ninos, it also seems t o have significantly modified their behavior: "Before
interpreted data from lamina
1977, the warming along the Southern American coast led the warming in the
proving that the ENSO cycle w
central Pacific, whereas after 1977 the w a r m events first appeared in the central Pacific."* Recent research, however, suggests that the P D O is only o n e of a quartet of
(between 5,000 and 12,000 ye j
"switch": possibly higher tern)
j
or- perhaps the changing siren
major temperature-thermocline oscillations in the Pacific. If so, ENSO m a y be
variables. Since there is unamh
complexly interacting with an entire "cacophony of discordant cycles," includ-
glacial maximum (before 12.0C
ing perhaps the epochal cycle in the Indian monsoon (described in the next chap-
would suddenly g o AWOL.'"
ter)/ 7 Untying this Gordian k n o t of phase-locked and resonating frequencies is,
In addition t o understanding
to say the least, a daunting challenge. "The interdecadal change in the strength of
to establish better parameters
intcrannual variability associated with the ENSO," summarizes Xiao-Wei Q u a n ,
Ninos like 1876, 1982 and 199
"is the result of interactions a m o n g climate oscillations in different regions that
I
have different characteristic time scales. Particularly, the interaction between the
!
multidecadal oscillation in t h e m o n s o o n region and the N o r t h Pacific and the
nor t h e top of the class. Paleo tling evidence of mega-Bl Nir CM) - "vastly m o r e powerful tl
interdecadal oscillation in t h e tropical Pacific Ocean, and the interaction b e t w e e n
with epic droughts and fires in
the quasi 20-year oscillation in the Tropical Pacific and the quasi 25-to-40-year
Radioactive carbon-14 dating h;
USTS
THE
M Y S T E R Y OF T H E M O N S O O N S
237
dly n a m e d "quasi-bidecadal
oscillation in the N o r t h Pacific a n d the 10-15 year oscillation in M o n s o o n region
: "fractal" across a s p e c t r u m
were of special importance." 7 H
SO is m o d u l a t e d by decade-
t e m p e r a t u r e oscillations o p e r a t i n g at t h e even slower frequencies o f centuries
Climatologists have also b e e n eager to discover w h e t h e r large-scale global b o u n d a r y conditions, espe-
have modified ENSO. O n e of t h e m o s t remarkable p a l e o - e n v i r o n m e n t a l discov-
to have longer periods. T h e
eries of r e c e n t years has been t h e identification in G r e e n l a n d ice c o r e s (and sub-
irature fluctuations at 25- to
sequently in a variety of other n a t u r a l archives) of a persistent millennial-scale
: ENSO regimes or epochs. 73
fluctuation in Q u a t e r n a r y climates. Historical periods o f global w a r m i n g a n d
tern tropical Pacific abruptly
cooling, like t h e "Mediaeval C l i m a t e O p t i m u m " and its successor, t h e "Little Ice
e central and w e s t e r n N o r t h
Age," have been u n m a s k e d as t h e m u t e d H o l o c e n e expressions of t h e so-called
ntil 1998, probably amplified
" D a n s g a a r d / O e s c h g e r Oscillation." Yet so far researchers have h a d little luck
ere piggybacking an increase
establishing any statistically significant correlation b e t w e e n ENSO-cycle variabil-
the switch to a colder ocean
ity and millennial b a c k g r o u n d climate. 7 9 O n t h e other h a n d , there r e m a i n s o m e intriguing "coincidences," such as the c o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n t h e 1876-78 El
:ound state to anthropogenic
Nino, which p r o d u c e d world r e c o r d sea t e m p e r a t u r e s , a n d the generally recog-
i of a s o m e w h a t mysterious
nized t e r m i n a t i o n of t h e Little'Ice Age circa 1880.
illation (PDO). ( O t h e r rever-
Hugely controversial has b e e n the claim by some researchers t h a t ENSO
id 1947.)" Aside f r o m intensi-
has been p u n c t u a t e d by chaotic flickering o r t e m p o r a r y s h u t d o w n s . T h e y have
dified their behavior: "Before
interpreted data f r o m laminated lake s e d i m e n t s and w e s t e r n Pacific corals as
:oast led the w a r m i n g in the
proving t h a t t h e E N S O cycle was s o m e h o w t u r n e d off d u r i n g the early H o l o c e n e
; first appeared in the central
(between 5,000 and 12,000 years ago). It is unclear w h a t might h a v e been t h e
O is only o n e of a q u a r t e t of
o r perhaps t h e c h a n g i n g strength of the seasonal cycle ciue to different orbital
"switch": possibly h i g h e r t e m p e r a t u r e s d u r i n g the so-called Altithermal period Pacific. If so, E N S O may b e
variables. Since there is u n a m b i g u o u s evidence of ENSO fluctuations dur ing t h e
Df discordant cycles," includ-
glacial m a x i m u m (before 12,000 years ago), scientists are baffled by w h y El Nino
n (described in the next chap-
w o u l d suddenly go AWOL. s u
ind resonating frequencies is,
In addition to u n d e r s t a n d i n g its temporal patterns, researchers w o u l d also like
adal change in t h e strength of
to establish b e t t e r p a r a m e t e r s f o r the range of ENSO m a g n i t u d e s . "Great" El
s u m m a r i z e s Xiao-Wei Q u a n ,
Ninos like 1S76, 1982 and 1997, f o r all the global havoc they have caused, are
that
n o t the t o p of the class. Paleoclimatologists in South A m e r i c a have found star-
y, the interaction b e t w e e n the
tions in different regions
tling evidence of m e g a - E l N i n o s like t h e mediaeval " C h i m u flood" (circa 1100
nd t h e N o r t h Pacific and the
Cli) - "vastly m o r e p o w e r f u l t h a n the m o s t severe historical event" - associated
I, and the interaction b e t w e e n
w i t h epic d r o u g h t s a n d fires in t h e A m a z o n a n d biblical deluges in coastal Peru.
c and t h e quasi 25-to-40-year
Radioactive carbon-14 dating has placed these events, w h o s e Eastern H e m i s p h e r e
1
138
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
impacts have nut yet b e e n identified, at approximately 1,500, 1,000, 700 a n d 500 years before the present. A l t h o u g h rare, t h e s e 300- t o 500-year events m a y have left indelible imprints in history.* 1 t-'inally. there is u r g e n t c o n c e r n to u n d e r s t a n d the relationship b e t w e e n ENSO and global w a n n i n g . S o m e believe t h a t t h e El Nino cycle has b e e n s p e e d i n g up and intensifying. In t h e historical E N S O record, for example, there have been only eight or nine "very strong" El Ninos since 1728: an average of o n c e every 42 years. Yet n v o of the three largest (1982-83 and 1997-98) have recently occurred within 14 years of one another. Even stranger w a s t h e persistent El N i n o of 1990-95: the
Clir
longest in the historical or, indeed, paleoclimatic records. T r e n b e r t h and H o a r , a m o n g others, have argued that "the prevailing w a r m condition d u r i n g the 1990s is unique when c o m p a r e d w i t h t h e r e m a i n d e r of the historical record, a n d is a result of a n t h r o p o g e n i c global w a r m i n g . " " A popular hypothesis is that m u c h
Where is che all-j
of the additional heat t r a p p e d b y g r e e n h o u s e gases is stored in an e x p a n d e d
he ate, and he wen
W a r m Pool and d e e p e n e d t h e r m o c l i n e in the w e s t e r n tropical Pacific O c e a n ,
If you survive, w h o
then released in m o r e f r e q u e n t a n d larger El N i n o events. An e n h a n c e d E N S O
row. Your son may I.
cycle, in other words, may be the principal modality t h r o u g h w h i c h global w a r m ing turns into w e a t h e r . "
After t h e cycle of the seasons it climate variability. N o o t h e r i a m p l i t u d e or far-reaching i m p the h u m a n race o n five contin< catastrophic d r o u g h t or flood. dictable. 1 Instructed by two g e e social as well as e n v i r o n m e n t ; impact o n world history. In attc i
it is f a r easier to surmise its exis than to directly observe its fevc theater of influence includes tl' of E g y p t , Ethiopia, India, Java, vast, obscure oceanic desert wii g r o w i n g claims a n d counter-ch
1 ;STS
y 1,500, 1,000, 700 and 500 > 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 <
anomalies over such great distances. T h e physics underlying global drought were
example of uniformitarianisn
still a black box. Bjerknes, by contrast, was sure that ENSO pulses, originating in
1980s, there was an ambitiou;
the ocean, were transmitted along the Equator by displacement of rhe Walker
on a comparative analysis o f a
Circulation and broadcast to the extratropics by shifts in the alignment of semi-
this model of ENSO b e c o m e <
p e r m a n e n t high- and low-pressure systems. After earlier researchers, he called
1982-83 that provided the grc
these disturbances "teleconnections." They are the coupling between ENSO in
cal concept of the nature a n d
the tropical Pacific and the rest of the world climate system. As the Indo-Austra-
- m o r e extreme in ocean w a
lian Convergence Z o n e (the convection system driven by the W a r m Pool) moves
undoubtedly lead to further t
into the central Pacific during an El Nino phase, for example, it shifts the position
personalities - o r what m e t e o
of the interhemispheric "wave train" of troughs and ridges as well as the weather patterns they organize. Storm paths are displaced and seasonal rainfall and aridity end up in unusual places for the time of year. Teleconnections are considered well established when regions show high probabilities of large, statistically significant signals during eastern equatorial Pacific w a r m events and equally large signals of the opposite sign during cold events. 2 But ENSO is a complex quasi-periodicity (a "devil's staircase" in fractal ter-
in the Pacific are believed t o dynamics, especially the relat or overturning in surface heat Moreover, because there BNSO, major circulation r e g i r outside the tropical Pacific a n neclions must b e seen not as
minology), not a clockwork cycle like sunspot fluctuations, and its geography is
three to seven years, but as ii
therefore subject to important reconfigurations over time. Teleconnections, for
the Southern Oscillation a n d
example, are simultaneously robust and delicate. ENSO can be analogized to a
diminish its influence. BNSO
planetary game of musical chairs played with jet streams and semi-continent-
by itself a sufficient cause. I7>
sized air masses. But it is a g a m e played m o r e vigorously in s o m e periods t h a n in
great 1993 flood in the upper
others. Teleconnections are strongly seasonal, but they also fluctuate over longer
jet stream and shifting storm i
periods. There is persuasive evidence that the global power and organization of teleconnection patterns wax and wane according to strong/weak states of the underlying ENSO "regimes" that were discussed in the last chapter. Teleconnection fields were strongest and spatially extensive in 1879-1899 and again after 1963. The El Nino events of 1876-77, 1899-1900, 1972-3, 1982-83 and 1997-98
s u m m e r rainfall required in a by low-level flow from the C dently variable conditions w a that, interacting with unwise damages. 7
produced exceptionally coherent teleconnection patterns. Conversely, they were
Peter Webster and his colh
"weakened, fragmented and their spatial scales tended to be most contracted"
soon simulations, have useful
.USTS
ory?
C L I M A T E S O F H U N G E R251
between 1900 and 1963, especially during 1921-41. 3
; j
In addition, ENSO never exactly repeats itself: each EI Nino is a distinctive, even eccentric, historical event. "Although t h e r e are often characteristics c o m m o n
)f the Southern Oscillation
j
to events, no two ENSO events are the same in terms of genesis, life cycle and
owing what actually linked
j
cessation."'' In the language of the earth sciences, El Nino may not b e the best example of uniformitarianism. Researchers learned this the hard way. In the early
•rlying global drought were LNSO pulses, originating in
j
1980s, there was an ambitious a t t e m p t to define a "canonical ENSO event" based
isplacement of the Walker
on a comparative analysis of all the El Ninos since 1941. "However, n o sooner had
s in the alignment of semi-
this model of ENSO b e c o m e established than a massive El Nino event occurred in
irlier researchers, he called
j
1982-83 that provided the g r o u n d s for some serious reassessment of the canoni-
:oupling between ENSO in
j
cal concept of the nature and structure of ENSO." 5 Analysis of 1997-98 El Nino
system. As the Indo-Austra-
j
- more extreme in ocean w a r m i n g but s h o r t e r in duration than 1982-83 - will
i by the W a r m Pool) moves
undoubtedly lead to f u r t h e r tinkering with the canonical model. T h e individual
sample, it shifts the position
J
personalities - or what meteorologists like to call the "flavors" - of E N S O events
ridges as well as the weather
\
in the Pacific are believed to arise principally from differences in internal ocean dynamics, especially the relative importance of advection (horizontal transport)
i seasonal rainfall and aridity nections are considered well
j
large, statistically significant
j
> 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<
teleconnection is from the main theater of ENSO activity in the tropical Pacific,
is susceptible to drought at .
the greater is the influence exercised by "weather-noise" (the feedback effect of
,
percent along t h e west c o a s t ;
major storm systems) and natural chaotic variability." Midlatitude climate with
!
than. According to modern e
its constant frontal clashes between polar and subtropical air masses is inherently
hectares of farmland are s u b j
e
T
CLIMATES OF
AUSTS
HUNGER
245
more -turbulent and unpredictable than tropical climate. What meteorologists like to call the "signal/noise" ratio (the percentage of variation attributable to
lino Events 1982-83 d D D* D d F D
1997-98
ENSO variability) correspondingly diminishes with distance from t h e equator. To understand, therefore, h o w El Nino has helped t o shape geographically
D
specific "climates of hunger" in India, Indonesia, north China, s o u t h e r n Africa
d
and northeast Brazil, we need to know something about these key non-ENSO
D d
F D
variables. A survey of recent research on teleconnections - which also provides an opportunity to rediscuss some of the meteorology of the 1876-78 a n d 1896-1902 droughts - is followed by a brief overview of the archives and "proxies" used to establish ENSO chronologies. Needless to say, this a c c o u n t is self-consciously hostage to progress in a dynamic research arena, particularly as ENSO climatologies b e c o m e more fine-tuned by season and subregion.
Regional ENSO Climatologies
"Unlike the West where the year is divided into four seasons, the Indian calendar * ' = m o s c severe in century; *=second
consists of a triad: the Cold Season from O c t o b e r to December, the H o t Season f r o m January to May and the Rains of the s u m m e r m o n s o o n from J u n e to Sep-
f Change, pp. 65, 70-72.
ipoles modulate the impact of ,'spectively. Figure 8.2 is a conmodulation: one "precedent" 'downstream") to ENSO heat-
tember." 12 Drought in the subcontinent is a deficiency (delay, interruption, o r early withdrawal) in the crucial s u m m e r monsoon, which provides 75 percent to 90 percent of rainfall for agriculture. 13 (Only coastal Tamil N a d u , among drought-prone regions, depends primarily on the O c t o b e r - D e c e m b e r northeast monsoon.) "When the number of monsoon depressions or low pressure areas is normally low, a n d / o r the m o n s o o n trough lies close to the Himalayas for
i overdeterminations ensure a extremely unlikely that all the ;ional impacts will ever line up ichronicity and coherence are ble 8.1). Finally, the further the > activity in the tropical Pacific, r-noise" (the feedback effect of ility." Midlatitude climate with tropical air masses is inherently
extended periods, there will be drought." T h e dry savannas and s c r u b forests of the Deccan Plateau in the rainshadow of the Western Ghats, along with the semiarid plains of Rajasthan and the Punjab, are the regions m o s t sensitive to ENSOdriven fluctuations in the m o n s o o n , although, as the calamity of
1899-1902
revealed, m o r e than two-thirds of India (all but the west coast and t h e northeast) is susceptible to drought at s o m e time. Annual rainfall variability, less than 15 percent along the west coast and in Assam, rises to more t h a n 40 percent in Rajasthan. According to m o d e r n estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, 56 million hectares of farmland are subject t o inadequate and highly variable rainfall. 1
246
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
<; Li 20(i
Famine can originate from floods (Bengal, 1883) or war (Bengal, 1943), but
+ 1 standard deviation
drought is the proximate cause of most Indian subsistence crises, and twenty-one out of twenty-six droughts since 1877 have been attributed to El Ninos. 15 (Conversely, out of twenty-two El Nino years between 1870 and 1991, twenty were associated with Indian droughts or below-average rainfall.) 16 If ENSO events are thus "the strongest control governing the inter-annual behaviour of the Indian monsoon," there is also internal "epochal" variability in m o n s o o n rainfall over India and Southeast Asia that is probably related to fluctuations in Eurasian snow-cover, especially on the Tibetan plateau, whose thermal properties determine m o n s o o n intensity. 17 Monsoons, of course, are driven by the seasonal
^
temperature/pressure gradients between land and ocean. An unusually large
-20H
winter snow-cover over Tibet, as Blanford surmised in the early 1880s, will weaken the s u m m e r m o n s o o n because there is decreased opportunity for pro-
-300 1860
tracted surface w a r m i n g and accordingly less gradient to drive the air masses
Seasonal mean rai i — 1880 1900
Figure -S.3 FIN'S O a n d D e v i a t i o n s
northward. Thus, high snow-cover (weak monsoon) will reinforce the effect of an
Source: Julia Slirigo. " T h e Indian S u n -
El Nino event, while low snow-cover (strong monsoon) will tend to counteract it.19 Meteorologists talk in terms of "constructive" and "destructive" interference patterns between the two phenomena. Indeed researchers at the Indian Institute
anthropogenic warming) tow;! j
1973 iil Nino droughts. The s
(1877, 1899, 1918 and 1972, in that order) have occurred when there was phase1
|
locking between in intense El Nino and a below-normal rainfall epoch. "
Figure 8.3 s h o w s the a n n u a mean (853 mm). Huge negati
of Tropical Meteorology have recently shown that the greatest m o d e r n droughts
even more dramatically, the si
On the other hand, powerful ENSO events can fail to produce serious droughts
bars register the delinkage of
when the Indian rainfall oscillation is cresting in its above-normal mode. T h e situ-
scale data, however, cannot i drought of 1896-97 in centra
ation since 1980, however, is "without precedent in the historical record." RecentEurasian surfacc warming, and thus the thermal gradient driving the m o n s o o n , is
I
larger than in any previous era of the instrumental record. At the same time, the
|
anomalies elsewhere. Indeed, as Ramasamy Supj
El Nino low-pressure center (the displaced Pacific W a r m Pool) has moved f u r t h e r
|
El Nino's impact on Sri Lank
southeast during post-1980 events, consequently shifting monsoon-blocking sub-
j
to be resolved i n t o finergrairu
sidence (high pressure) in the Indian Ocean away from India toward Indonesia.
j
influence from the perspectr
As a result, India escaped widespread drought and confounded meteorological
regions," with their distinct, c
predictions during the great El Ninos of 1982 and 1997. Researchers are now
m o n s o o n circulation, he discc national aggregate level. "Rel
exploring the "intriguing possiblity that global w a r m i n g has broken t h e link between ENSO and the [Indian] m o n s o o n by preventing m o n s o o n failure."
20
If
so, it would be a singular silver lining in the present trend (also possibly driven by
1
and northeast m o n s o o n seas< the relationships arc clear b e
1
CLIMATES
UJSTS
OF
247
HUNGER
200
) or war (Bengal, 1943), but
+ 1 standard deviation
;tence crises, and twenty-one tributed to El Ninos. 15 (Con1870 and 1991, twenty were ainfall.) 16 If ENSO events are lual behaviour of the Indian icy in monsoon rainfall over to fluctuations in Eurasian ise thermal properties deterare driven by the seasonal J ocean. An unusually large
0C - 2 0 0
:Sed in the early 1880s, will •creased opportunity for prodient to drive the air masses ) will reinforce the effect of an
Seasonal mean rainfall anomaly for all Indian rainfall. :Mean=SS3min 1860 '
18S0
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
F i g u r e 8.3 E N S O a n d D e v i a t i o n s in All-India R a i n f a l l Source: Julia Slingo, " T h e Indian S u m m e r Monsoon," in Navarra (ed.), p, 107 (Fig. 5.4a).
soon) will tend to counteract ind "destructive" interference
anthropogenic warming) toward more frequent and destructive El Ninos.
archers at the Indian Institute
Figure 8.3 shows the annual deviations of all-India rainfall from t h e long-term
the greatest m o d e r n droughts
mean (853 m m ) . H u g e negative spikes correspond to the 1877, 1899, Wis a n d
:urred when there was phase-
1973 El Nino droughts. T h e stable weather of the 1880s is clearly legible, as is,
>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<
piah provided a model, since widely e m u l a t e d , for analyzing t e l e c o n n e c t i o n s at a
f r o m a "zonal" t o " m e r i d i o n ;
subnational scale w h e r e E N S O impacts on agriculture are m o s t clearly legible.
1900.-"
CHINA
atmospheric flywheel that n :
Since the late nineteenth c Of the world's m a j o r grain belts and early seats of civilization, n o r t h China (the
River basin with droughts in
loess highlands and the deltaic plain of t h e Yellow River) is u n i q u e in t h e fre-
d a i l y labeled t h e "Great N o r r
q u e n c y of flood and especially d r o u g h t disasters. W i t h 45 p e r c e n t of m o d e r n
p r o g r a m , led by Wang S h a o
China's population, the provinces n o r t h of the Yangtze Valley, w h e r e rainfall vari-
explore linkages between t h e .'
ability can exceed 30 percent, a c c o u n t for only 18 p e r c e n t of t h e country's surface
of n o r t h China."' These studic
run-off. T h e north, moreover, receives 70 percent of its m e a n a n n u a l rainfall o f 21
the equatorial eastern Pacific
inches d u r i n g June, July a n d August.- 2 T h e seasonal cycle "consists of a d r y and
a n d the location and intensit
windy spring, a h o t dry s u m m e r with showers at l o n g intervals, a very w e t late
s y s t e m . " W h e n a n El Nino e \
a u t u m n bringing two-thirds of t h e w h o l e year's precipitation a n d causing great
the subtropical high c o r r e s p o
erosion if n o t serious floods, then finally a severe dry winter w i t h w i n d - b o r n e
ing s u m m e r . T h i s blocks t h e i
snow." 2 ' W h e a t is harvested in J u n e , and millet and kaoliang (a tall grain sor-
ing in decreased rainfall or drc
g h u m ) in September. If the spring rains fail, there is a p o o r w h e a t crop; if the
in n o r t h China also decline ii
s u m m e r m o n s o o n fails, however, there is n o harvest for the entire year. Unfortu-
percentage of w e a t h e r s t a t i o r
nately, rainfall fluctuations are m o s t c o m m o n during June, " t h e critical m o n t h
t e n t correlation with ENSO
for the n o r t h e r n farmer." O v e r a m o d e r n period of fifty-five years, Beijing has
j
had t w e n t y - o n e Junes with deficient rainfall and five with virtually n o rain at a l l / '
1
1877. 1965 and 1972, f o l l o w s Yihui has also p o i n t e d to a n
I n d e p e n d a b l e rainfall, however, has t o s o m e extent been offset historically by
in n o r t h China a n d cold i n j u
irrigation, intense efforts at t h e conservation of soil moisture, and the marvel-
northern japan."
ous qualities of the loess soil itself, which is unique in its p e r p e t u a l fertility and
W h i l e La N i n a teleconnec
capacity to retain moisture. ("With m o r e adequate rainfall," Observed an Ameri-
interactions, t h e r e is evidence
can expert in the 1930s, "it m i g h t f o r m o n e of the m o s t productive soils in the
j
1898 and 1924, is synchronize
world.") 2 5
!
is t h e inverse precipitation re
T h e East Asian m o n s o o n , like the E N S O cycle that m o d u l a t e s it, seems t o fluc-
w a r m events. As the East Ash-
tuate in a low-frequency p a t t e r n . T h e incidence of extreme climatic events for
Valley in the m a t u r e phase oi
China as a whole d u r i n g t h e late Victorian period 1870-1909 w a s only exceeded
,
ing there and in southern C h '
in the last half-millennium by t h e extraordinarily unstable p e r i o d 1630-1669. 2 "
period in June a n d July. T h u s i
O t h e r research confirms a d r a m a t i c " j u m p " around 1870, coincident with o n e of
rienced c o m b i n a t i o n s of d r o i
C L I M A T E S OI-" H U N G E R
\USTS
overall effect of El Nino on
history's most catastrophic Yangtze floods, " f r o m smaller [climate] variability to
range from positive to nega-
larger variability" and "from a state of few disasters to a state of frequent disas-
:orrelation to the SO.21 Sup-
ters."*" This may have involved a transformation in the greater Asian m o n s o o n
nalyzing teleconnections at a
f r o m a "zonal" to "meridional" regime of circulation • changing again around
r e are most clearly legible.
1900." Since the late nineteenth century there had been speculation a b o u t a possible atmospheric flywheel that might synchronize m o n s o o n failures in the Yellow
north China (the
River basin with droughts in India and Java. 10 But it was not until w h a t was offi-
' River) is unique in the fre-
cially labeled the "Great North China Drought of 1972" that a sustained research
With 45 percent of m o d e r n
program, led by W a n g Shao-wu at Beijing University, began to systematically
tze Valley, where rainfall vari-
explore linkages between the Southern Oscillation and the d r o u g h t / flood history
rcent of the country's surface
of north China. 3 " These studies revealed "a longterm coupled oscillation between
its mean annual rainfall of 21
the equatorial eastern Pacific sea surface temperature ( that is, the ENSO phase]
rivilization,
1 cycle "consists of a dry and
and the location and intensity of the western Pacific subtropical high pressure
3ng intervals, a very wet late
system." W h e n an El Nino event warms the eastern equatorial Pacific in winter,
ecipitation and causing great
the subtropical high correspondingly intensifies and shifts westward the follow-
dry winter with wind-borne
ing summer. This blocks the m o n s o o n from moving as far north as usual, result-
nd kfloZmiig (a tall grain sor-
ing in decreased rainfall or drought in the Yellow River basin. 31 Typhoon landings
is a poor wheat crop; if the
in north China also decline in El Nino years. 11 A "dry area index" based on t h e
t for the entire year. Unfortu-
percentage of weather stations in north China reporting drought s h o w s a consis-
i n g j u n e , "the critical month
tent correlation with ENSO w a r m phases since 1870, with the index highest in
}f fifty-five years, Beijing has
1877, 1965 and 1972, followed by 1878, 1891, 1899, 1941, 1957 and 1982.33 D i n g
1
: with virtually no rain at all."'
Yihui has also pointed to an intriguing relationship b e t w e e n El N i n o droughts
nl been offset historically by
in north China and cold injury to agriculture in Manchuria, Siberia, Korea a n d
)jl moisture, and the marvel-
northern japan.
e in its perpetual fertility and
While La Nina teleconnections have not yet been as well studied as El N i n o
rainfall," observed an Ameri-
interactions, there is evidence that flooding of the Yellow River delta, as in 1888,
: most productive soils in the
1898 and 1924, is synchronized t o powerful cold phases. 35 Far better d o c u m e n t e d is the inverse precipitation relationship b e t w e e n north and south China d u r i n g
at modulates it, seems to fiuc-
w a r m events. As the East Asian m o n s o o n stalls over the middle and lower Yangzi
f extreme climatic events for
Valley in the mature phase of a n El Nino, it is very likely to cause severe flood-
1870-1909 was only exceeded
ing there and in s o u t h e r n China during the Mei-yu, the concentrated heavy r a i n
unstable period 1630-1669. 26
period in June and July. T h u s it is n o t surprising that China has so frequently expe-
i 1870, coincident with one of
rienced combinations of drought in the n o r t h and flooding in the south, or vice
1
250
1 ATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
versa, depending on ENSO phase. During the spring and s u m m e r of 1876, while
tion in the early 1950s, as wel
the monsoon had fors.ik.en most of north China, the southern coastal provinces
tancy, the scale of this h o l o c
of Fujian and Guangdong were pounded by destructive torrential rains, and cen-
the Chinese Revolution, a l t r
tral H u n a n , Jiangxi and Zhejiang were under flood waters. 1 " Similarly, in their
1957-59, which also produce
study of the post-1950 period Chenglan Bao and Yanzhcn Xiang found that "all
the Brazilian scrttlo, was t h e
three extemely severe lloodings (1954. 1991 and 1983) and all five severe floo dings
in 1958-59, b u t recent interf
(1969, 1987, 1965 and 1957) in the Yangtse-Huaihe rivers took place during the
tancc of climatic and politii
s u m m e r of an El Nino year, or in the s u m m e r following." 37 (Yihui cautions, how-
quest like expose of Mao's o
ever, that El Nino's teleconnections to the climate of subtropical China are espe-
tory of China," Jasper Becke
cially complex and produced contrasting anomalies in 1982/83 [cold and flood-
whatsoever, although Chine
ing] and 1986/87 [warm and drought |.)3S
which affected one-third o f •
Like their counterparts in India, leading researchers believe there is a multidecadal pattern in northern China rainfall, although there is yet not enough data to convincingly tie this to low-frequency regime variations of ENSO.
39
O n e team
from the Tokyo Metropolitan University claims to have uncovered a statistically dramatic transition in the "interdecadal d r o u g h t / f l o o d index in eastern China" 5
the biggest in several centuries - that coincides with the 1896 El Nino. " Others see a switch to more frequent and intense drought in northern China, coinciding with the circa-1976 regime shift in the Pacific.'11 Meanwhile, a still unexplored question is the historical relationship between ENSO periodicity and the Yellow River hydraulic cycle. The river's extraordinary rate of sedimentation (subject to human acceleration, as we shall see, through watershed deforestation) eventually elevates its bed too high above the n o r t h China plain to be confined by dikes and revetments. The history of each successive system of hydraulic control, therefore, has been a spiral of gradually increasing, then finally exploding costs, followed by catastrophic breakdown. It was a singular misfortune of the late Qing that an intensified El Nino regime in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century coincided with an advanced state of sedimentation and decay in t h e flood-control infrastructure. Finally, there is controversy over the contribution of ENSO to the agricul-
of the twentieth century. Foi ally wade across the Yellow I Taking a m o r e sober a p p modeling to s h o w that " t h e yield losses in 1960 and 196 the crisis w i t h o u t mass m o t age in 1959 (to divert labor tc nally enforced confiscatory p ity (although n o t the c o n s p u p o n the Maoist leadership the truly key variable was t has emphasized in a well-kn particular fact that China, < endemic deprivation, exper g o o d deal to do with the lac! sition. The disastrous polici changed for t h r e e years as t h near-total suppression of n c criticism of w h a t was then h
tural catastrophe of Mao's Great Leap Forward. T h e drought-famine of 1959-61, which killed 20 million peasants (the death toll officially admitted in 1980 by Hu Yaobang) was the most deadly of the twentieth century, perhaps of all time. Given the PRC's impressive c o m m i t m e n t s to food security and disaster mitiga-
<
C L I M A T E S OF H U N G E R
.USTS
25 1
and s u m m e r of 1876, while
tion in the eady 1950s, as well as its dramatic success in raising average life expec-
; southern coastal provinces
tancy, the scale of this holocaust is stupefying and, for m a n y sympathizers with
ive torrential rains, and cen-
the Chinese Revolution, almost inexplicable. Certainly, the "strong" El Nino of
vvaters.' 6 Similarly, in their
1957-59, which also produced a f a m o u s famine and nearly a million refugees in
nzhen Xiang found that "all
the Brazilian scrtao, was the likely culprit responsible for the onset of drought
) and all five severe floodings
in 1958-59, but recent interpretations radically disagree over the relative impor-
rivers took place during the
tance of climatic and political determinants. In Hungry Ghosts, a Robert Con-
ing." 37 (Yihui cautions, how-
quest-like expose of Mao's orchestration of " t h e darkest m o m e n t in the long his-
' subtropical China are espe-
tory of China," Jasper Becker fails to mention any natural context for the famine
in 1982/83 [cold and flood-
whatsoever, although Chinese meteorologists have characterized the drought, which affected one-third of the nation's cultivated acreage, as the m o s t extreme
lers believe there is a multi-
of the twentieth century. For the first time in h u m a n memory, people could actu-
there is yet not enough data
ally wade across the Yellow River."2
ations of ENSO. 39 O n e team
Taking a more sober approach, Y. Kueh (1998) has used impressive statistical
lave uncovered a statistically
modeling to show that "the w e a t h e r was the main cause of the e n o r m o u s grain-
od index in eastern China" -
yield losses in 1960 and 1961," b u t that the c o m m u n e s could still have survived
l the 1896 El Nino.
40
Others
the crisis without mass mortality if Beijing h a d not stupidly reduced sown acre-
in northern China, coincid-
age in 1959 (to divert labor to public works a n d backyard steel-making) and crimi-
4eanwhile, a still unexplored
nally enforced confiscatory p r o c u r e m e n t quotas in 1959-60."13 A hideous culpabil-
3 periodicity and the Yellow
ity (although not the conspiratorial malevolence that Becker alleges) thus falls
of sedimentation (subject to
upon the Maoist leadership. Although drought was again a proximate cause,
led deforestation) eventually
the truly key variable was the absence of socialist democracy. As Amartya Sen
i to be confined by dikes and
has emphasized in a well-known contrast of postcolonial India a n d China, " T h e
of hydraulic control, there -
particular fact that China, despite its m u c h greater achievements in reducing
i finally exploding costs, fol-
endemic deprivation, experienced a gigantic famine during 1958-61 ... had a
misfortune of the late Qing
good deal to do with the lack of press f r e e d o m and the absence of political oppo-
:r of the nineteenth-century
sition. T h e disastrous policies t h a t had paved the way of the f a m i n e were n o t
nd decay in the flood-control
changed for three years as the famine raged on, and this w a s made possible by t h e near-total suppression of news about the famine and the total absence of media
:>n of ENSO to the agriculdrought-famine of 1959-61, ficially admitted in 1980 by century, perhaps of all time, security and disaster mitiga-
\
0
criticism of what was then happening in China."' 4
1 252
SOUTH!
LATE V I C T O R I A N
AST
HOLOCAUSTS
c: i
ASIA
Indonesia
In the classical El Nino pattern, an anomalous high-pressure zone forms over Indonesia as the Pacific W a r m Pool moves eastward towards the International
Nino Y e a
Date Line. This can delay the onset of the western monsoon, especially in the central and eastern parts of the country, by m o r e than a month. The D u t c h
1982
meteorologist Hendrik Berlage, who resumed Sir Gilbert Walker's research on
1902 1972
the Southern Oscillation, calculated in the 1950s that fully 93 percent of Javanese
1914
droughts during the colonial period had occurred in the course of these nega-
1965
tive SO anomalies (El Ninos). His findings have been corroborated by updated
1930
analyses of the instrumental record, as well as by tree ring series taken from teak
194 I
that extend the ENSO correlations as far back as 1514.'" Recent El Nino research
1905
has also revealed that "periodic long-term droughts and subsequent forest fires
1963"
have been apparently been more frequent in Borneo than formerly realized. As
1923 1987
in other humid tropical woodlands and societies, they have also been more criti-
1899
cal to both social organization and local ecological processes." 46 T h e intensity of
1896
drought in the East Indies, however, does n o t always correlate with the magnitudes of Indian droughts or Peruvian El Ninos. T h u s the 1902 El Nino ("strong plus" as measured by Peruvian events) produced a m u c h bigger rainfall deficit in both Indonesia and the Philippines than did the 1899 event ("very strong")."17 Wetland rice production, which requires at least eight inches of rain per month, is highly sensitive to erratic or deficient rainfall. In areas where the
"Non -El Nino year. .Sonrt.t.-: Assembled fio t-Tcdurion data i iri.iu'srd of uncontrolled forest fires, N o r t h Borneo during 1982-S
precipitation regime is especially variable, like eastern Java, southeast Borneo,
T h e rest of Southeast As
Sulawesi, T i m o r and Irian Jaya, cultivators had traditionally countered environ-
records (excluding Indochin;
mental uncertainty with agricultural diversity: using staggered plantings and vari-
drought during strong l i l Nif
In contrast, colonial monocultures with their simplification of
which is more strongly u n d c
crops and rotations increased vulnerability to drought.''" Yet the complex island
tends towards flooding. 'I'he
and mountain topography of Indonesia and "its puzzling variety of rainfall
fied by interdecadal
regimes" has always mitigated against drought-famines on the scale of India
the strength of the monsooi
or China. General collapses of agricultural production are unlikely. Famines in
age about thirty years, simil
the nineteenth century tended to be confined to those drought-stricken regions
Singapore or Indonesia, they
eties of rices.
48
fiuctuati
where the terrain dictated high transport costs and market prices for rice that
T h e ENSO signature is j.
were accordingly out of the reach of the poorest peasants. Since the 1960s, m o r e -
o f t e n been associated with r
over, with m o r e intensive multinational exploitation of Indonesia's h a r d w o o d
is n o tradition of local resc
resources, El Nino droughts have been associated with an increased frequency
t i m e series lor Indonesia, the
srs
CLIMATES
OH
HUNGER
T a b l e 8.2
pressure zone forms over towards the International
Indonesia: M o s t Severe M o d e m D r o u g h t s k,.El N i n o Y e a r
Rainfall A n o m a l3y , , ,. (cm/month)
nan a month. T h e Dutch
1982
-7.1
bert Walker's research on
1902
-7.02
ally 93 percent of Javanese
1972
-6.9
the course of these nega-
1914
-6.5
1965
-5.1
1930
-3.9
194 3
-3.8
monsoon, especially in the
corroborated by updated ring series taken from teak 45
Recent El Nino research
md subsequent forest fires than formerly realized. As
-3.6
1963*
-3.6
1923
-3.4
have also been m o r e criti-
1987
-3.2
:>cesses."J5 The intensity of
1899
correlate with the magni-
1896
the 1902 El Nino ("strong ich bigger rainfall deficit in :vent ("very strong"). 47
.
1905
'
-2.6 -1.8
' N o n - E l Nino year. Source: Assembled from International Research Institute for C l i m a t e Prediction data ( i r i . u c s i : d . t i l u / h o t _ N i n o / i m p a c t s / i n d o n c s / i n d e x . h t m l ) .
: eight inches of rain per
of uncontrolled forest fires, like the vast conflagrations in East Kalimantan and
infall. In areas where the
North Borneo during 1982-83 and 1997.5t)
rn Java, southeast Borneo,
The rest of Southeast Asia, according to a recent study of historical rainfall
ionally countered environ-
records (excluding Indochina) by R. Kane, also experiences deficient rainfall or
:aggered plantings and vari-
drought during strong El Nirios, with the exception of the northwest Philippines,
vith their simplification of
which is m o r e strongly under the influence of the East Asian m o n s o o n and thus
it.'1J Yet the complex island
tends towards flooding. The impact of ENSO perturbations, as in India, is modi-
uzzling variety of rainfall
fied by interdecadal fluctuations (probably d u e to Eurasian snow-cover trends) in
ines on the scale of India
the strength of the m o n s o o n . Kane found that in Thailand these "cpochs" aver-
:>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 <
once dominant sugarcane industry. Fijian agriculture - both the sugar industry and food crops like ricc and fcawiv-
ensue. Erratic seasonal distril i
an annual deficit in rainfall.**
has likewise suffered severely from recent El Ninos (as it did, presumably, in the
Sir Gilbert Walker was cc
nineteenth century). The 1997-98 drought was the worst in Fiji's modern his-
f r o m some influence exercisc
tory and led to the declaration of a state of emergency with 270,000 people
statistical formula in 1928 tl
at one point dependent on relief.1''' The drought crisis, which especially under-
to the phases of SO."" Subs<
mined indigenous subsistence agriculture, was probably a contributing factor to
j
t e r m s of ENSO tclccoimecth
renewed ethnic tensions that led to the c o u p and hostage crisis in s u m m e r 2000.
I
and central s e r t a o is concent
s o u t h A MI; RICA
;
tropical Convergence Zone (
i
erly position. During strong 1
Brazil's Nordeste has long been a puzzle to climatologists. " D u e to its geogra-
squats off the coast of Brazi
phy (1 to 18 degrees South), one would expect a rainfall distribution typical of
into its usual rainmaking pc
equatorial areas. However, the annual m e a n rainfall over this region, which is
P o o l / I A C Z moves into the
in the immediate vicinity of the largest tropical forest, the A m a z o n , is m u c h
standing waves (troughs and
smaller than the average equatorial rainfall." Although the-jertao is certainly not
rainfall, however, seems to
the desert imagined by many urban Brazilians (the m e a n annual precipitation -
of the El Nino, and not all \
; s r s
CLIMATES OF
HUNGER
257
netabohsm of the tropical
28 inches - is slightly more than t h a t of Paris), very high rates of evapotranspira-
tory. In New Zealand, the
tion and soil dryness conspire against stable rainfed agriculture. Its semi-aridity,
f the urban population, are
most researchers n o w believe, is principally determined by the way the tip of the
erage rainfall occurs along
Nordeste protrudes well into the influence of the stationary South Atlantic sub-
;he island groups near the
tropical high. 65 ("This is the same stable air mass," W e b b points o u t , "that pro-
istic rainfall variation as the
vides the brilliant, transparent nights in the sertao. Many poems a n d songs have
le ENSO cycle. T h e South-
been inspired by the 'luar do m e u sertao."*) 66
tropical cyclone activity in
W h a t has most decisively shaped the h u m a n ecologies of the sertao, how-
dne [like Tahiti] experience
ever, is not the climate's mean trend but its extreme fluctuation. T h e core of t h e sertao. for example, experiences rainfall variability in excess of 40 percent. 6 7 Even
ut and water supply in the
compared to north China, this is an extraordinarily high quotient o f environmen-
pical jet stream intensifies
tal instability. Moreover, "even during a ' n o r m a l ' year 80-90% of the rainfall is
"yclonic side in a region of
concentrated during the wet season. The duration of t h e rainy season is fairly
e north-central Pacific like-
constant but its starting point, which coincides roughly w i t h sowing time in the
'Nearly all major statewide
agricultural calendar, may vary b y between fifty-five and eighty-five days.... T h e
;nts," with the driest years
reduction of total rainfall by one-third can have disastrous effects if the start o f
;hts from 1982-83 onwards
the rainy season is delayed for long enough to make the crops fail." Sertanejos
lown of most of the state's
believe that if the rains don't c o m e by St. Joseph's Day, 19 March, a seca will surely ensue. Erratic seasonal distribution, in other words, is just as much a problem as
3d crops like rice and J w v ^ -
an annual deficit in rainfall. 60
as it did, presumably, in the
Sir Gilbert Walker was convinced that the sertao's irregular rainfall resulted
worst in Fiji's m o d e r n his-
from some influence exercised by the S o u t h e r n Oscillation. He even proposed a
gency with 270,000 people
statistical formula in 1928 that tied the incidence of drought-famine in Ceara
sis, which especially under-
to the phases of SO-6? Subsequent research has elaborated Walker's insight in
ibly a contributing factor to
terms of ENSO teleconnection theory. It w o r k s like this: rainfall in the northern
ta»e O crisis in s u m m e r 2000.
and central sertao is concentrated in the m o n t h s (March-April) w h e n the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Atlantic Ocean reaches its most southerly position. During strong El N i n o phases, a n anomalously strong Atlantic high
ilogists. "Due to its geogra-
squats off the coast of Brazil a n d the ITCZ is blocked f r o m moving southward
infall distribution typical of
into its usual rainmaking position. One interpretation is that w h e n the W a r m
11 over this region, which is
Pool/IACZ moves into the east-central Pacific it pushes the m a j o r equatorial
>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 <
i
experiences rainfall maxima cl
:
produced the Parana's greater volume.'" Across the Andes, t Nirio years. Researchers have in the Southern Hemisphere, a blocking high over the Belli storm systems over Chile's mc tent relationship, with twenty Chile over the last century coi
CLIMATES
STS
Ninos.
In addition, there
1 Nino (La Nina) drought
HUNGER
259
T a b l e 8.3
that the ten driest January71
OI;
Northern South America: D r o u g h t s and E N S O E l N i n o Year
Rainfall A n o m a l y (cm/month)
1896
-8.2
1915
-3.3
1982
-3.2
1918
-3.2
1958
-3.1
Canudos, was also excep-
1905
-2.1
ble 8.3). Moreover, general
1930
-2.1
1907 and then, after a few
1902
-2.0
in 1915 and 1918 (respec-
1925
-1.8
lalies in the last century). 73
1972
-1.7
tally wet (dry) episodes in iship between n o r t h China re the mosr severe as meaI Research Institute shows
ere, constitute an epoch of s in the history of Andean les has shown, the phasing well as the outer Amazon -ith ENSO. "Although the not as large as in n o r t h e r n s into spring and summer, at these droughts are espe:ru is struck by ENSO epights were in 1940-41 and lespread agrarian unrest. 75 anaus's rainfall is severely /ergence Zone. 7 6 ENSO, in isin ecology, producing the 1998) which are the major fire, El Nino events, which acts on forest productivity -93 satellite data suggests i the Amazon Basin from a agnitude - a p h e n o m e n o n
Source: iRI, ibid.
with planetary biogeochemical implications. 77 Archaeologists, meanwhile, speculate that m a j o r discontinuities in cultural sequences t h r o u g h o u t the Amazon, like counterpart sites in coastal Peru, probably correspond to El N i n o catastrophes (drought in Amazonia, flooding in Peru). In the twentieth century, both the 1925-26 and 1982-83 El Ninos w e r e associated with severe droughts in Amazonia: during the former, forest fires raged uncontrolled for months, reputedly trapping and killing "thousands of rubber gatherers." 7 S W h e n Amazonia, the Altiplano and the Nordestc are dry, most o f the Southern Cone is anomalously wet. T h e great Parana River basin, which encompasses 2.6 million square kilometers of Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, typically experiences rainfall maxima during El Ninos. 7 " The 1982-83 event, for example, produced the Parana's greatest historical flood with flows of almost Amazonian volume. 8 " Across the Andes, central Chile is similarly inundated d u r i n g most El Nino years. Researchers have s h o w n h o w the wave train of troughs and ridges in the Southern Hemisphere, as in the N o r t h e r n , is realigned by w a r m events; a blocking high over the Bellinghauscn Sea usually leading to intensified winter storm systems over Chile's most populated provinces. It is an impressively consistent relationship, with twenty out of twenty-three of the wettest years in central Chile over the last century correlating to El Ninos. Sl
c>
1 2 60
NORTH
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
CL
Although local research is
AMERICA
During a canonical El Nino event, some of the w a r m water that piles up against
been one of the major enviroi
the equatorial coastline of South America is driven far northward. (Technically,
devastating drought from 1 9<
equatorial trapped Kelvin waves - the sloshing of the thermocline eastward -
that destabilized much of M e
are transformed into coastal trapped Kelvin waves.) T h e subsequent w a r m i n g
firiato coincided with the m c
and rise in sea level by as m u c h as a foot of Mexico's Pacific coastal waters have
the last century/ ' Droughts,
profound meteorological effects. During the 1896 EI Nino, for instance, central
m o d e r n fluxes of Mexican lal
Mexico was gripped by severe drought while the n o r t h of the country experi-
North of t h e border, h o \
enced excessive precipitation, a pattern that was repeated during the very pow-
p o w e r on US and Canadiar
erful 1982-83 event. 82 Again, in 1997-98, soaring ocean temperatures produced
researchers at the University
a crippling drought in the western parts of central Mexico. H u n d r e d s of forest
usually correlates with b u m p
fires broke out and "covered the entire country with a thick layer of s m o k e that
itself typically brings mild v
extended to the adjacent areas of the United States." 83 Under La Nina conditions,
m o r e specifically focused oi
as in 1999-2000, the pattern reverses: unusually wet conditions in the Mesa Cen-
b e t w e e n farm o u t p u t and the
tral contrast with severe droughts in Chihuahua (see Table 8.4 ) and states east of
in other words, is typically ir
the continental divide of the Sierra Madre.
and crop failures in India, n o belt. This potential to relieve global drought, as Kansas P o
Table 8.4 D r o u g h t in 20th-Century C h i h u a h u a
tion to the p r o b l e m of p e r i o bert I loover showed how it
Year 1907-10* 1918-21 1929*
ENSO? La N i n a ( 1 9 0 7 - 1 0 ) ? (La N i n a 1 9 1 6 - I 8 / E 1 N i n o 1918-20) La N i n a ( 1 9 2 8 - 2 9 )
famine relief and food aid. C the Gulf states during bl N i n gaining power within world t reduced hurricane damage, almost $9 billion in net gains
1934-35 1947-48
El N i n o ?
1950-51
La N i n a (1950-51)
1953 1956
La N i n a (1955-56)
1964
L a N i n a (1964)
1974
La Nina(1973-75)
f r o m the weather effects of t But ENSO's relative beni. granted. In an important 19< on the continental US moist sponds to regime shifts in t h E N S O records reveal decadal
'Extreme d r o u g h t .
ogyl, with stronger variabilis
Source: D r o u g h t c h r o n o l o g y f r o m Luis Carlos Ficrro; E N S O f r o m N O A A and
e n i n g around 1925, and s t r c
Allan, Lindesay a n d Parker.
events, as t h e o r y would pre
1 USTS
C M M A T E S <)I : H U N G E R
Although local research is still in its relative infancy, it is clear that ENSO has i water that piles u p against
been one of the major environmental forces shaping Mexican history. Indeed, t he
ar northward. (Technically,
devastating drought f r o m 1907 to 1911 ( fusing with m o n e t a r y and trade crises)
he thermocline eastward -
that destabilized m u c h of Mexico and helped precipitate the downfall of the Por-
i T h e subsequent w a r m i n g
firiato coincided with the most protracted (four to five years) La Nina event of
: Pacific coastal waters have
the last century. 81 Droughts, moreover, have been a m a j o r "push" factor in the
• Nino, for instance, central
m o d e r n fluxes of Mexican labor to Texas and California. 85
3rth of the country experi-
North of the border, however, ENSO has conferred immense geopolitical
eated during the very pow-
power on US and Canadian grain surpluses. According to a 1997 study by
;an temperatures produced
researchers at the University of Illinois, the year preceding a w a r m event onset
Mexico. Hundreds of forest
usually correlates with b u m p e r crops in the US Midwest, while the El Nino year
a thick layer of smoke that
itself typically brings mild winters and early spring plantings. 86 A 1999 paper,
3
Under La Nina conditions,
more specifically focused on the cornbelt, also found a positive relationship
conditions in the Mesa Cen-
between farm output and the ENSO w a r m phase.* 7 American grain production,
Table 8.4 ) and states east of
in other words, is typically in meteorological anti-phase with El N i n o droughts and crop failures in India, north China and (most likely) the Russian c h e r n o z e m belt. This potential to relieve the world's h u n g e r during periods of synchronous global drought, as Kansas Populists realized in the 1890s, was also a partial solu-
mahua
tion to the problem of periodic overproduction in the Plains states. Later, Herbert Hoover showed h o w it could be elaborated into full-scale foreign policy of
EN SO? lina (1907-10) , Nina 1916-18/El >1918-20) Jina (1928-29)
famine relief and food aid. Occasional (lood damage in Southern California a n d the Gulf states during El Nino years is usually more than offset by enhanced bargaining power within world grain markets as well as by lower winter fuel bills a n d reduced hurricane damage. Stanley Changnon claims that the Midwest reaped almost $9 billion in net gains, and the United States as a whole m o r e $14 billion,
ino? Jina (1950-51)
from the weather effects of the great 1997-98 El Nino." But ENSO's relative benign impact on the US G N P should n o t be taken for granted. In an important 1998 study. Cole and Cook find that ENSO's influence
-lina (1955-56) Jina (1964) •Jina (1973-75)
on the continental US moisture balance has a low-frequency pattern that corresponds to regime shifts in the Pacific, probably associated with the PDO. "Long ENSO records reveal decadal modulation of ENSO intensity [vis-a-vis US hydrology], with stronger variability in the early parts of this century, a general weak-
ENSO from NOAA and
ening around 1925, and stronger variability since about 1955." Stronger ENSO events, as theory would predict, produce m o r e consistent teleconnection pat-
1 262
LATH V I C T O R I A N
C L. I ;
HOLOCAUSTS
50
been accurately described as "ki Years in which El Nino-Smithcm Oscillation (ENSO) episodes occurred.
40
ditionally legitimated by rainrr droughts. Moreover, there is cc teleconnections between rainfc confirmed a correlation b e t w e and rainfall over the entire s o u synchronized d r o u g h t were c a e m Mozambique and. surprisir to Gabon.'" As elsewhere in th< troughs, pushing the westerly
-40 -50
tion over southern Africa a n d
Rainfall index derived from' 16 stations over Southeastern Africa. T h t index is expressed : as.a departure from the long-term median (1875-1978) on a scale of +50 to -50. :
strengthening it over Last Afric; the south, associated with stroi
1875
1885
1895
1905
1915
1925
1935
1945
1955
1965
1975
culture as the g r e a t flood of w i
Figure 8.4 E N S O a n d Rainfall in S o u t h e a s t e r n Africa
T h e impact of ENSO, h o w c
Source: From Eugene Rasmusson, "Global Climate Change and Variability: Effects on D r o u g h t
an eighteen- to twenty-year n
and Dcscrtification in Africa," in Michael G i a n t s (ed.). Drongfi/ anti Hunger in Africa: Denying Frtmim' a Funtrc, Cambridge 1987, p. 10. 1 h a w i n t e r p r e t e d two of Rasmusson's n o n - E N S O
of South Africa and parts o f
droughts as in fact El N i n o - r e l a t e d (circa 1H91 a n d 1915).
k n o w n as the Quasi-Biennial O winds." 1 The 1957 -58 and 1977
terns and greater penetration of moisture anomalies - drought (1988) or flood-
on s o u t h e r n Africa. Nonethele*
ing (1993) - from the Southwest rim into the southern Great Plains and Midwest,
rainfall variance in southeaster
In the case of the 1988 drought, farm o u t p u t in the scorched southern plains
with the Southern Oscillation,'
declined by almost one-third. 8 " New research also suggests a La Nina teleconnec-
accurate predictions of maize
tion that increases drought probabilities in the Midwest through a strengthening
now being used as an early w .
of the Mexican summer monsoon.'"' TILT: S O U R H LI R N
HOKN
A \ H
R. A S T
A I U C A
FNSO impacts o n the Morn ai
A I' R ! C A
Catastrophic drought has been one of the principal axes of the history of south-
there are three agricultural s e
ern Africa. The devastating aridity in Zimbabwe and m u c h of South Africa since
tember); the dry season, begfl (
1980, culminating in the 1991-92 drought (the worst this century) and an 82 per-
bdg (February to May). Metec
cent decline in maize production, reminds us of what the protracted droughts of
tuations of the Nile flood, whi
the 1820s, 1870s and late 1890s must have been like.91 Dependent like northeast
a persistent teleconnection bei
Brazil on the unreliable s o u t h e r n migration of the ITCZ, Natal, Zululand, the
o u t c o m e s for agriculture arc 1
Transvaal, the Zambezi Valley and the low veld of southern Mozambique have
to catastrophic failure of t h e
i
] C L I M A T E S OP
USTS
HUNGER
263
been accurately described as "kingdoms of uncertainty" where rulcrship was traNSO) episodes occurred.
ditionally legitimated by rainmaking power and the relief of the poor during droughts. Moreover, there is compelling, generally accepted evidence of strong teleconnections between rainfall in southern Africa and ENSO. 92 A 1998 study confirmed a correlation b e t w e e n the ten strongest twentieth-century El Ninos and rainfall over the entire s o u t h e r n half of Africa. T h e three m a j o r centers of synchronized drought were eastern South Africa, s o u t h e r n Tanzania to northe r n Mozambique and, surprisingly, along the South Atlantic coast from Namibia to Gabon. 9 1 As elsewhere in the tropics, the shifting IACZ rearranges ridges a n d troughs, pushing the westerly j e t stream equatorwards a n d weakening convec-
\ Africa. The index is expressed •8) on a scale of+50 to-50.
tion over southern Africa and sometimes the Horn of Africa, while typically strengthening it over East Africa. T h e inverse pattern of exceptional convection in the south, associated with s t r o n g La Nina events, can also be devastating to agri-
1945
1955
1965
1975
culture as the great flood of w i n t e r 2000 in Mozambique grimly demonstrated. T h e impact of ENSO, however, is modulated by two o t h e r circulation regimes:
j Variability: Effects on Drought am! Huiigcc in Africa; Denying of Rasmussnn's non-ENSO
an eighteen- to twenty-year regional rainfall cycle (strongest in the northeast . o f South Africa and parts of Zimbabwe) and the transequatorial p h e n o m e n a known as the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, which involves reversals of stratospheric winds. 94 T h e 1957-58 and 1977-78 El Ninos, for example, had virtually no impact
s - drought (1988) or flood-
on southern Africa. Nonetheless, it is estimated that at least 20 percent of s u m m e r
•n Great Plains and Midwest,
rainfall variance in southeastern Africa is "accounted for solely by t h e relationship
le scorched southern plains
with the Southern Oscillation," and ENSO forecasts - which provide surprisingly
ggests a I.a Nina telcconnec-
accurate predictions of maize yield in Zimbabwe up to a year in advance - are
/est through a strengthening
n o w being used as an "early w a r n i n g system" for millions of African farmers. 95
THE
U O 11N
AND
S: A S T
A 1: R I C A
ENSO impacts on the H o r n and East Africa are less straightforward. In Ethiopia axes of the history of south-
there arc three agricultural seasons: the main rainy season, kremt (June to Sep-
1 much of South Africa since
tember); the dry season, bega (October to January); and t h e season of small rains,
t this century) and an 82 per-
befg (February to May). Meteorological research, especially analyses of the fluc-
it the protracted droughts of
tuations of the Nile flood, which originates in the Ethiopian Highlands, supports
.9I Dependent like northeast
a persistent teleconnection b e t w e e n Ethiopian weather a n d ENSO. However, t h e
1TCZ, Natal, Zululand, the
outcomes for agriculture are highly variable since El N i n o phases correlate b o t h
southern Mozambique have
to catastrophic failure of the krant rains a n d to above-normal b e l g rainfall. In
T 164
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c I
Tabfc 8.5
of seasonal rainfall over the I
ENSO and Drought-Famine in Sudan and the H o r n of Africa ENSO
4
F a m i n e Years
Region
1828
1828-29
Shewa, Sudan
1835
1835-37
Ethiopia, S u d a n
1864
1864-66
Tigray/Gondar
1876
1876-78
Tigray/Afar
1889
1888-92
Ethiopia, S u d a n
;
basin discharge via the a n n u a regular outflow from the Grea the vast Nile Basin as a whole annual rainfall variability is ch would expect trom their diffc metrically to global forcings, system, with Ethiopian d r o u g
1896
1896
Ethiopia
1899
1899-1900
Ethiopia, D a r f u r
1912
1913—14
N . Ethiopia, S u d a n
j
the total Basin water budget, percent to 25 percent increase
1918/19
1920-22
Ethiopia
i
Like Brazil's Nordeste, E;
1953
1953
Tigray/Wallo
j
"Undoubtedly the most i m p r
1958
1958
Tigray/Wallo
1965
1964-66
Tigray/Wallo
1972/73
1973-74
Tigray/Wallo, Sudan
1982-83
1983-84
Ethiopia, S u d a n
1987
1987-88
Ethiopia
1990-95
1990-94
Ethiopia, S u d a n
j
1997/98
1997-98
Ethiopia, S u d a n
!
1999-2000*
1999-2000
Ogadan/Somalia
La Nina. Largest c m p failures are in bold.
Source: Based on chronologies in Joacliim V o n Braun, Tesfaye Teklu and Patrick W e b b , Fumine in Africa, R j l u m o r r 1998, pp. 36 nnci 39; a n d W o r k i n c h Dcgefu, " S o m e Aspects of Meteorological Drought in Ethiopia," in Glantz, Drought mid J lunger in Africa, pp. 29-31.
1997, for example, the rains largely failed during the kremt, but November, usu-
Trewartha, "is the widespread highlands of Madagascar into winds, while the "rain-bearinj hastened tar to the north in southern summer." 1 " 1 Accord versity of Nairobi, an estima directly attributable to ENSC March to June, the devastatiii: displacement of the ITGX th extreme rainfall to eastern c*. from the Kenyan coast, c o m r ship between l a Ninas and
ally the driest month, was unusually wet."" Still, because the kremt is most critical
Kenyan drought at the very
for agriculture and pastoralism, the impact is usually severe. Table 8.5 shows why
with Ll Nino droughts clscv
El Nino has become synonymous with h u n g e r in n o r t h e r n Ethiopia, especially in
1898 that punctuated the El
Wallo and Tigray which are in the rainshadow of the great highland massif.5'7 On
annual rainfall anomaly indc
the other hand, the a u t u m n rainy season (the Dcr) of southern Ethiopia (Ogaden)
was extraordinary in magnitu
and Somalia, like the short rainy season in neighboring coastal East Africa, has a
Such broadbrush portraits
positive linkage (greater than normal rainfall) to El Nino. Here drought-famine,
Lakes and complex topograp
as in 1998-2000, occurs in the wake of protracted La Ninas. 98
ogy similar to the "rainfall flu
The Sudan and Upper Egypt, as we have seen, have tended to experience
his analysis of ENSO in Sri L
famine in synchronization with the H o r n . Nile flows, of course, are the addition
throughout Kenya, Uganda a
•T
.USTS
CLIMATES
OF
25 1
HUNGER
of seasonal rainfall over the Ethiopian Highlands, which supplies 80 percent of : H o r n of Africa
basin discharge via the annual flood of the Blue Nile, a n d the smaller but more
Region
regular outflow from the Great Lakes of central Africa via the White Nile. Within
:wa. S u d a n
the vast Nile Basin as a whole it is estimated that as m u c h as 40 percent of inter-
\iopia, S u d a n ;ray.' G o n d a r ^ray • Afar liopia, S u d a n liopia liopia, D a r f u r Ethiopia, S u d a n liopia
annual rainfall variability is due to ENSO, but the two m a j o r watersheds, as one would expect from their different climatologies, react independently and asymmetrically to global forcings. T h u s El Nino phases primarily affect the Blue Nile system, with Ethiopian droughts leading to 5 percent to 15 percent reductions in the total Basin water budget, while La Nina phases can produce spectacular 10 percent to 25 percent increases in precipitation over the W h i t e Nile c a t c h m e n t . " Like Brazil's Nordeste, East Africa is surprisingly dry for its l o w latitude.
^ray ' W a l l o
"Undoubtedly the m o s t impressive climatic anomaly in all of Africa," writes G.
?ray ' W a l l o
Trewartha, "is the widespread deficiency of rainfall in tropical East Africa." 100 T h e
gray / W a l l o gray / W a l l o , S u d a n hiopia, S u d a n hiopia hiopia. S u d a n
highlands of Madagascar intercept much of t h e moisture in the southeast trade winds, while the "rain-bearing equatorial t r o u g h passes the region rapidly, being hastened far to the n o r t h in the n o r t h e r n s u m m e r and far to the s o u t h in the southern summer." 1 0 1 According to Laban Ogallo and his colleagues at the Uni-
hiopia, S u d a n
versity of Nairobi, an estimated 50 percent of East African rainfall variance is
jadan/Somalia
directly attributable to ENSO.1"" In Kenya, w h e r e the m a j o r growing season is March to J u n e , the devastating rains of 1998 upheld the hypothesis t h a t the same
c Teklu and Patrick W e b b , i Degefu, "Some Aspects of
displacement of the ITCZ that produces d r o u g h t in southeastern Africa brings extreme rainfall to eastern equatorial Africa. Conversely, historical rainfall data
ugt-r in Afnai, pp. 29-31.
from the Kenyan coast, c o m m e n c i n g in 1900, demonstrate a consistent relation-
kremi, but November, usu-
ship between La Ninas and dry anomalies. This suggests that the devastating
se the kremt is most critical
Kenyan drought at the very end of the nineteenth century, which overlapped
;evere. Table 8.5 shows why
with El Nino droughts elsewhere, arose f r o m the powerful La N i n a event of
:hern Ethiopia, especially in
1898 that punctuated the El Nino pulses of 1896-97 a n d 1899-1900. ,0i As the
great highland massif." On
annual rainfall anomaly index for East Africa shows (see Figure 8.4), this event
;outhern Ethiopia (Ogaden)
was extraordinary in magnitude.
ng coastal East Africa, has a
Such broadbrush portraits, however, are locally modified by the region's Great
vJino. Here drought-famine,
Lakes and complex topography. Current research has thus adopted a methodol-
Ninas.9*
ogy similar to the "rainfall fluctuation region" approach pioneered b y Suppiah in
have tended to experience
his analysis of ENSO in Sri Lanka. Working f r o m rainfall records in 136 stations
, of course, are the addition
throughout Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Ogallo and his colleagues have identi-
4 \ e
1
266
LATE
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
C L
T a b l e 8.6
I ' M (J S A H i ; i .
E N S O and East African D r o u g h t s Year
ENSO
Departure f r o m Average 1 9 5 1 - 8 0 Rainfall
1898
La N i n a
-50%
I'>17
La Nina
-30%
1899'
-
-28%
1921
?
-28%
1892-93 1990
2
1943/44
La Nina La Nina
A NO
MACHR!: H
"Of ENSO-sensitive regions," perhaps one of the most c o m decadal fluctuations in the clin over time."11"' In simple m o d e Sahel by displacing the locatk ning Walker Circulation discc
-26%
Walker cells force "anomalou
-25%
ern Africa." However, these
-23%
story. Equally o r more i m p o (.north-south) sea remperatu
1. Strong La Nina t h r o u g h first q u a r t e r 1899; El Nino in third quarter. 1. T h e 1989 La Nina persisted t h r o u g h w i n t e r 1990. Source: Derived f r o m Figure 5.6 in Mike H u l m e , "Climate C h a n g e W i t h i n the Period of Meteorological Records." in Adams, G o u d k and O r n i e , p. 96*. a n d La Nina chronology in Allan, Lindesay and Parker, p. 137.
writes Bette Otto-Bliesner, "ai tropical Pacific and a dipole p: lies south of 10 degrees N o r t h T h e latter results in a weakci spheric circulation of heat f r o
fied eight coherent subregions with distinct seasonal patterns of rainfall and correspondingly different interactions with ENSO. Under this higher magnification, East Africa in strong El N i n o / L a Nina years presents a variegated pattern of local drought amid generally abnormal regional rainfall (or vice versa). Thus during
moisture flux into the fntcrtrc between perpendicular circttl; "The tropical Atlantic dipole dccadal time scales with Pac decadal time scales." 1 " 7
w a r m phases, when coastal rainfall is torrential, there is frequently a late onset to the March-May rains in the western highlands of Kenya, northwestern Kenya and northeastern Uganda, as well as significant deficiencies in s u m m e r rainfall over the central Rift Valley. "The suppression of this seasonal rainfall [in an otherwise 'wet' year] can have severe socio-economic impacts especially on agriculture. The June-September rainfall maintains the different growing stages of crops especially wheat planted by both large-scale farmers and small-scale peasant farmers." , n 4 Distinguishing between regions of Uganda with single and dual season rainfall zones, Phillips and Mclntyre have similarly noted that El Nino events, which typically depress August but enhance November precipitation, can have very different impacts on agriculture in one part of the country f r o m another. 105
Conceptually wc are on la playing a comparable role t o modulate the impact of El N therefore, that a sophisticated i covering 1900 -88) shows tha nificant at Dakar and Kano) < instance, during the wei peri Sahara, meanwhile, ENSO d; Oscillation (NAO) - the airAzores that was n a m e d by W exercises more control over b lates November-January sea with February-April precipita
T
STS
CLIMATES
THE
S A M El. A N D
O F H U N G E R271
MAGHREB
hts
"Of ENSO-sensitive regions," caution Allan, Lindesay and Parker, "the Sahelian is
jarture f r o m A v e r a g e ' 1 9 5 1 - 8 0 Rainfall
perhaps one of the m o s t complicated as it is also influenced markedly by multidecadal fluctuations in the climate system, and t h u s ENSO impacts wax and wane
-50%
over time." inh In simple models. El Nino/La Nina events regulate rainfall in the
-30%
Sahel by displacing the location and modulating the strength of the globe-span-
-28%
ning Walker Circulation discovered by Bjerknes. Shifts in the east-west Atlantic
-28%
Walker celts force "anomalous subsiding/ascending vertical motions over west-
-26% -25%
ern Africa." However, these zonal :east-west) anomalies are only part of the
-23%
story. Equally or more important is the emergence of a powerful meridional (north-south) sea temperature gradient in the tropical Atlantic. "Dry years,"
ird quarter.
writes Bette Otto-Bliesner, "are associated with El Nino conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific and a dipole pattern in the tropical Atlantic with positive anoma-
C h a n g e Within rhe Period irne, p. 96; and La Nina
lies south of 10 degrees North and negative anomalies n o r t h of 10 degrees North. T h e latter results in a weakening of the Atlantic Madley cell [the m a j o r atmospheric circulation of heat from the equator t o the mid-latitudes] and associated moisture flux into the Intertropical Convection Zone." This complex interaction
patterns of rainfall and cor-
between perpendicular circulations, moreover, takes place at differential speeds;
:r this higher magnification,
"The tropical Atlantic dipole-Sahel precipitation connection is best defined on
a variegated pattern of local
decadal time scales with Pacific SST anomalies playing a larger role on sub-
or vice versa). T h u s during
decadal time scales."1"7
re is frequently a late onset
Conceptually we are on familiar ground, w i t h the equatorial Atlantic dipole
Kenya, northwestern Kenya
playing a comparable role to epochal variability in the Indian monsoon. Both
ciencies in s u m m e r rainfall
modulate the impact of El Nino pulses on decadal scales. It is not surprising,
seasonal rainfall [in an oth-
therefore, that a sophisticated study of rainfall records for ten Sahelian stations
impacts especially on agri-
(covering 1900-88) shows that the ENSO teleconnection (statistically most sig-
different growing stages of
nificant at Dakar and Kano) should fluctuate in intensity, almost vanishing, for
trmers and small-scale peas-
instance, during the w e t period of the 1950s and early 196Os.'0S N o r t h of the
Jganda with single and dual
Sahara, meanwhile, E N S O dances with a different partner, the N o r t h Atlantic
imilarly noted that El Nino
Oscillation (NAO) - the air-mass/pressure see-saw b e t w e e n Iceland and the
zt November precipitation,
Azores that was named by Walker in the 1920s. Although NAO, o n the whole,
le part of the country from
exercises m o r e control over Maghrebian precipitation, n e w research that correlates November-January sea surface temperature trends in the tropical Pacific with February-April precipitation over the arable valleys and plains of western I 1 i i i
T 268
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ci.i;
Morocco supports the likelihood that the terrible 1877-78 drought-famine was
correlated with a weakened NT A
indeed part of the global El Nino configuration. 1 "^
T h e r e is more evidence t h a t precipitation in the western M e
EUROPI;
Russia. Ropelewski and Flalper
As its celebrity increases, ENSO tempts historians and archaeologists as a deus ex
live SO relationship with s u m m
machina, like the Victorian sunspot mania, that can be invoked to explain almost
the southeastern Iberian Penini
any drought or extreme weather pattern. Indeed, since ENSO is in a warm phase
physical explanation and did n<
approximately 20 percent of the time, and because of the temporal "lead/lag"
don in other seasons. 1 " In a 19
patterns in its teleconnections, nothing is easier than establishing a circumstantial
data for the 1900-96 period. F k
correlation betwen a given historical event and an El Nino outbreak. 1 " 1 Accord-
average spring a n d winter rain
ingly, w e should b e deeply wary of claims about El Nino causality where the
above-average a u t m n rainfall it
putative teleconnection is not solidly grounded in theory or supported by a
however, is "moody." having w ;
robust time series.
last century.'
One historian, for example, generated newspaper headlines across the world in 1997 with his "discovery" that El Nino had been "behind" the French Revo-
IMNSO a n d
D
lution (or at least the agricultural dearth that preceded it) and the Irish Potato D r o u g h t Crisis
Famine."' Certainly both events (unusually wet, cool s u m m e r s ruinous of grain)
1877
coincided with contemporary El Ninos, as did similar Irish and British crop fail-
1890-') I
ures in 1876-79, and thus may be legitimately treated as part of the same global
1 896
agricultural conjuncture. But their meteorologies may have h a d only the most
19(15
distant, if any, relationship. Despite vigorous investigation, there is yet little per-
1911
suasive evidence of a significant ENSO teleconnection to Western European
1920 21
19.51 I 07? 1 982
weather. Indeed a recent study found "no robust ENSO composite elements" out of thirty-four variables affecting Atlantic climate systems. Recent research, on the contrary has shown that agricultural o u t p u t in north-
1 997
western Europe is powerfully orchestrated by the N o r t h Atlantic Oscillation. The NAO is most likely the principal source of the cold, wet s u m m e r s that are asso-
Sourer: Sec the description . Kn«j
ciated (rather than drought) with crop failure and famine in European history.
\\',n: The Volgt
p p . Il> 2 5 . I : N S O d a t e s a i v (
There may well be, of course, s o m e atmospheric flywheel (perhaps the enigmatic and encompassing Arctic Oscillation") that meshes the NAO a n d ENSO i n t o a
A n y historian, meanwhile, r
single planetary system, but according to a 1998 review, "no study has so far
icity of drought and crop failu
defined a clear-cut association between the NAO and ENSO." 113 If the great El
ol Samara, Saratov, Simbrisk ai
Ninos of 1876-77 and 1982-83 were accompanied by a strengthened NAO that
apparent teleconnection linkin
brought milder winters to Western Euope, other strong El Ninos are perversely
cooling in the eastern tropical P
i
1I CLIMATES
USTS
; 7 7_7 8 drought-famine was
OF
HUNGER
269
correlated with a w eakened NAO and more severe winter weather. 11 '' T h e r e is m o r e e\ idence that t h e tropical Pacific exercises some influence over precipitation in the western Mediterranean (in tandem w i t h NAO) and southern Russia. Ropelewski and Halpert in the late 1980s, for example, identified a posi-
1 archaeologists as a deus ex
tive SO relationship with s u m m e r rainfall in N o r t h Africa, the Mediterranean a n d
•e invoked to explain almost
the southeastern Iberian Peninusula. Their correlations, however, lacked a clear
:e ENSO is in a w a r m phase
physical explanation and did not cast fight o n whether there was a teleconnec-
of the temporal "lead/lag"
tion in o t h e r seasons." 5 In a 1998 study, Alfredo Rocha re-examined the Iberian
establishing a circumstantial 1
•1 Nino outbreak. "' Accord-
data for the I900-9o period. He found that El Nino was "associated with belowaverage spring and winter rainfall over the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, a n d
U Nino causality where the •
above-average autmn rainfall in t h e Peninsula as a whole." The teleconnection,
theory or supported by a
however, is "mood)." having waxed and waned in strength over the course of the last century. 1 "'
r headlines across the world "behind" the French Revok e d it) and the Irish Potato 1 s u m m e r s ruinous of grain)
Table 8.7 liNSO and Drought in the Volga Breadbasket D r o u g h t Crisis
E N S O Correlation
1S77
1876-77 E l N i n o
ar Irish and British crop fail-
18'J 0 - 9 1
I S S S - 9 0 L a Nina/1891 El Nino
:d as part of the same global
1*96
1896-97 E I N i n o
nay have had only the most
191)5
1905 E l N i n o
gation, there is yet little per-
1911
1930 L a N i n a / 1 9 1 1 - 1 2 H I N i n o
ction to Western European SO composite elements" out terns."
7
agricultural output in nort'h-
1920-21
1918—19 E l N i n o
19.11
1930 E I N i n o
1972
1971 L a N i n a / 1 9 7 2 L I N i n o
19S2
19S2-83 E l N i n o
19^7
1997 El N i n o
:>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'
wheel (perhaps the enigmatic s the NAO and ENSO into a review, "no study has so far md ENSO."" 3 If the great El by a strengthened NAO that :rong El Ninos are perversely
Any historian, meanwhile, m u s t be considerably impressed by t h e synchronicity of drought and crop failure in south Russia (especially the Volga £uf>emii of Samara, Saratov, Simbrisk and Penza) with worldwide ENSO events. Yet this apparent teleconnection linking drought on the Volga steppe with warming/ cooling in the eastern tropical Pacific should b e treated w i t h great caution. At this
1I 270
LATi; V I C T O R I A N
ci. I
HOLOCAUSTS
writing, there is no literature in English that illuminates a plausible mechanism or
ber 1994. lls These pressure a n d
tests the statistical significance of these correlations. T h e seasonal fit b e t w e e n El
preted and calibrated with the
Nino events and Volga droughts is not consistent, and in some cases (1891, 1911
that the late William Quinn, a r
and 1972) w a r m events follow so quickly on the heels of cold events as to blur
decades excavating from Soutl
which ENSO phase is being correlated. Moreover, the putative Volga telecon-
Pizarro's secretary, Francisco X
nection does not reproduce itself in larger geographical units of analysis. W h e n
pie, 1877 and 1982 (very stron
Meshcherskaya and Blazhevich in a 1997 article, for example, divided the basic cereals-producing area of the former Soviet Union into European and Asian Majo
halves, the most significant pattern they discovered was a dipole where drought in the west is accompanied by normal or excessive moisture in the east, and vice
El N i n o
versa. Although like most Russian researchers they did not specifically probe an
1782-83
s
1790-93
vs
1803—04
s+
ENSO connection, their century-long data on drought magnitude (measured by surface area affected) correlates primarily to a cold event chronology. T h u s the four largest droughts in the Asian part of the grainbelt (1955, 1965, 1951 and 1931, in that rank order) occurred in the year following a La Nina, while three
Si l e n g t h
1824-25
m+
1828
vs
1837
m +
out of the four droughts in the European half (1981, 1936 and 1975, but not 1979)
1844-46
s
coincided with the year of Pacific cold events.' 17 It is plausible, of course, that
1867-70
tn +
an El Nino-linked drought climatology is confined to the Volga with teleconnec-
1873-74
m
tions of a different sign elsewhere, but nothing in the current scientific literature
1876-78
vs
resolves the issue. Yet if ENSO's precise role in Russian weather is still a rich mystery, it remains of obvious geopolitical consequence that Volga grain shortfalls and famines have repeatedly aligned themselves, through whatever causality, with global El Nino droughts. An El N i n o C h r o n o l o g y Since Bjerknes's original synthesis of oceanic and atmospheric interaction, three principal databases have been used to reconstruct the chronology and mag-
1887-89
nil
1891
vs
1896-97
ai+
1899-1900
vs
1901-02
m(
1911-13
s
1917-19
S
1925-26
vs
1957-58
S
nitude of historical ENSO events. Australian meteorologists, first of all, have
1965-66
S
fine-tuned Walker's original Southern Oscillation Index ("normalized monthly
1972-73
S
mean Tahiti minus Darwin sea-level pressure anomalies") as far back as January
1982-83
vs
1876 and the onset of the great droughts. Researchers using the UK Meteorologi-
1991-95
s
cal Office's records ("the richest archive of meteorological observations in the
1997-98
vs
world"), meanwhile, have compiled a series of sea surface temperatures f r o m the east-central equatorial Pacific (the "Nino-3" region) from January 1871 to Decem-
Key. m=modcr;ue; S=SCP
T
STS
C L I M A T E S OF
HUNGER
27 1
; a plausible m e c h a n i s m or
ber 1994.1
he seasonal fit b e t w e e n Hi
preted and calibrated w i t h the h e l p of eyewitness a c c o u n t s of El N i n o events
T h e s e pressure and t e m p e r a t u r e anomalies, in t u r n , have b e e n inter-
in s o m e cases t.1891, 1911
that the late William Q u i n n , an o c e a n o g r a p h e r a t O r e g o n State University, spent
s of cold events as to blur
decades excavating f r o m South American archives as far b a c k as t h e diaries of
le putative Volga telecon-
Pizarro's secretary, Francisco Xcres. Q u i n n u s e d "canonical" El Ninos - for exam-
al units of analysis. W h e n
ple, 1877 a n d 1982 (very strong), 1972 (strong), and 1907 ( m o d e r a t e ) - to scale
example, divided the basic into E u r o p e a n a n d Asian
Table 8.8
as a dipole w h e r e d r o u g h t
Major ENSO Events Since 1780
listure in the east, and vice
El N i n o
d n o t specifically p r o b e an
1782-83
it m a g n i t u d e ( m e a s u r e d by vent chronology. T h u s t h e belt (1955, 1965, 1951 and ing a La Nina, while three 936 and 1975. but not 1979)
Strength s
R e g i o n s A f f e c t e d bv D r o u g h t / F a m i n e China, India
1790-93
vs
India
1803-04
s+
India, S o u t h A f r i c a
1824-25
m+
China, India, S o u t h Africa
1828
vs
S o u t h Africa
1837
m+
China, India
1844-46
s
China, Brazil
s plausible, of course, that
1867-70
m+
C h i n a , fndia
the Volga with teleconnec-
1873-74
m
India
c u r r e n t scientific literature
1876-78
vs
C h i n a , India, S o u t h A f r i c a , E g y p t , Java, Brazil China, Ethiopia, Sudan, Suhel
ssian w e a t h e r is still a rich :nce that Volga grain shortt h r o u g h whatever causality,
nospheric interaction, three the c h r o n o l o g y and magorologists, first of all, have idex ("normalized m o n t h l y ilies") as far back as January
1887-89
m +
1891
vs
C h i n a , India, B r a z i l
1896-97
m-t-
India, B r a z i l
1899-1900
vs
C h i n a , Tndia, S o u t h Africa
1901-02
m -i-
C h i n a , S o u t h Africa
1911-13
s
C h i n a , India, B r a z i l
1917-19
s
C h i n a , India, Brazil, M o r o c c o
1925-26
vs
C h i n a ( f l o o d s ) , India
1957-58
s
China, Brazil
1965-66
s
China, India
1972-73
s
C h i n a , India, E t h i o p i a , S a h e l , Brazil
1982-83
vs
C h i n a , India, I n d o n e s i a , S o u t h Africa
s using the UK Meteorologi-
1991-95
s
South
ological observations in the
1997-98
vs
C h i n a ( + f l o o d s ) , I n d o n e s i a , Brazil
rface t e m p e r a t u r e s f r o m t h e r o m January 1871 t o D e c e m -
A f r i c a , E a s t Africa, M e x i c o
Key: m = m o d e rate; s=strong; vs:=very strong.
< \
1 272
I. A T K V I C T O R I A N
CL
HOLOCAUSTS
magnitudes since 1525. He roughly gauged "very strong" events as correspond-
lowed bv a long generation of
ing to 7 ° - I 2 ° C anomalies in coastal sea surface temperatures, while "strong"
responds to Hobsbawm's Age
events equalled 3 ° - 5 ° C warmings, and "moderate," 2 ° - 3 ° C . H e supplemented
ists, ac; uss the tropics took thi:
his Peruvian and Chilean records with presumed ENSO proxies like Nilometer
and population. In the B o m b
readings (the world's oldest instrumental record of climate variability), drought
period ' if relatively favourable
data from historical archives, and tree-ring chronologies from India, China and
tions,: .ever failed seriously in ;
Java.11" In Table 8.9, significant drought-famines since 1780 are correlated with the
climatic stability itself shaped
Quinn magnitudes of their corresponding El Nino events.
about them. P o o r quality land
It should be re-emphasized, of course, that d r o u g h t in s o m e regions (like
not necessarily 'marginal' in tl
India) "leads" and in others (like north China and northeast Brazil) "lags", the
in i he 1860s the ENSO cy
canonical warming off the Peruvian coast, thus potentially stretching local dura-
drought of 1876-77, however
tion of an ENSO event by a year on either side. Confidence that these droughts
(1879- 1888) t h a t encourages a
have high probabilities of ENSO causation thus requires a suite of diagnostic
torical dust bowls. This e x p a r
tests: First, a plausible temporal correlation with the Quinn series (the weakest
years nf exceptional ENSO ac
and potentially most misleading test). Second, a theoretical model of teleconnec-
four "very strong" El Ninos (1
tion well-established in the scientific literature. Third, the "synchronicity test"
erate- strong El Nino years, a
as explained by V/hetton and Rutherfurd (and alluded to in the previous chap-
strong events of 1898 and 191;
ter): "Although the rainfall of a region may show an ENSO signal, many extreme
70 percent then abruptly decli
rainfall events in lhat region may not be associated with ENSO. However, w h e r e
"very strong" El Ninos again u
these extremes are also present in remote regions in a pattern characteristic of
course, the contribution of t h
ENSO one can have increased confidence that they are ENSO-related." ! M Fourth,
phe, extreme climate events t-
corroboration of these patterns by the "El Nino phase composites and impact
strong ENSO influence. India
maps" (based on gridded fields of filtered monthly mean sea level pressures
ing droughts for more than h i
and sea surface temperatures I'SST], 1871-1994) recently published by Australian 1 1
researchers. ' In the absence of such reconstructed meteorologies, the evidence for the pre-1871 teleconnections is accordingly weaker. Is there any structure in the Quinn chronology? The clustering of intense
T h e end of the twentieth a photocopy of the hue Vict unusual "serial" El Ninos 1S9( intriguing differences, howevt
El Nino events and associated food crises again is suggestive of the existence of
warming. In the late twentiel
multidecadal "ENSO regimes." Thus f r o m the American Revolution to the cor-
b e c o m e uncoupled from the I
onation of Queen Victoria, the ENSO cycle had a high amplitude and climate
the recent ENSO cycle has les
disasters were frequent. As African historians have already appreciated, there is
the late Victorian period. 1 "
a particularly robust El Nino signature in the drought-driven crisis in s o u t h e r n
Q u i n n and his colleagues r
Bantu society in the early nineteenth century that culminated in the chaos of
high-intensity E N S O regimes
the Z u l u mfccane.111 T h e environmentally turbulent Age of Revolution w a s fol-
ner cycle": a long-debated 3.
^
JSTS
ong" events as correspondnperatures, while "strong" 2 ° - 3 ° C . He supplemented JSO proxies like Nilometer limate variability), drought gies from India, China and 1780 are correlated with the ents. ught in some regions (like lortheast Brazil) "lags", the "itially stretching local durafidence that these droughts quires a suite of diagnostic : Quinn series (the weakest -etical model of teleconnecrd, the "synchronicity test" ed to in the previous chapiNSO signal, many extreme rith ENSO. However, where i a pattern characteristic of •e ENSO-related." 120 Fourth, iase composites and impact y mean sea level pressures utly published by Australian ueteorologies, the evidence :r. ? T h e clustering of intense iggestive of the existence of rican Revolution to the corhigh amplitude and climate ilready appreciated, there is yht-driven crisis in southern culminated in the chaos of Age of Revolution was fol-
C LI M A T E S O E H l ' \ G E R
lowed by a long generation of relative calm in die indo-Pacific latitudes that corresponds to Hobsbawm's Age of Capital. Subsistence farmers, as well as colonialists, across the tropics t o o k this as a norm warranting an expansion of cultivation and population. In t h e Bombay Deccan, for example, this "was overall a long period of relatively favourable conditions. Rainfall, despite the large annual variations, never failed seriously in a m a j o r region of the Presidency. This comparative climatic stability itself shaped patterns of farming and the judgements required about them. Poor quality land newly brought u n d e r the plough, for example, was not necessarily 'marginal' in the context of a series of good seasons." 123 In the 1860s the ENSO cycle again intensified. The once-in-200-year global drought of 1876-77, however, is followed by a decade of mild, h u m i d weather (1879-1888) that encourages a new wave of settlement in marginal belts and historical dust bowls. This expansion is halted almost universally by t h e thirty-five years of exceptional E N S O activity that begins in 1888-89. This period includes four "very strong" El Ninos (1891, 1899, 1918 and 1925) and thirteen o t h e r moderate-strong El Nino years, along with nine La Nina years, including the very strong events of 1898 and 1917. This astonishingly high E N S O event frequency of 70 percent then abruptly declines t o 39 percent between 1926 and 1971, with n o "very strong" El Ninos again until 1 9 8 2 . A l t h o u g h this interregnum includes, of course, the contribution of the 1958 El Nino to the Great Leap Forward catastrophe, extreme climate events are otherwise relatively rare in most regions under strong ENSO influence. India, in particular, was granted an exemption from killing droughts for more than half a century. The end of the twentieth century, by contrast , looks o n first inspection like a photocopy of the late Victorian era. Both fin de siecle periods culminate in unusual "serial" E l Ninos 1896-97/ L899-1902 and 1990-95 / 1997-98. 125 There are intriguing differences, however, that some researchers attribute to anthropogenic warming. In the late twentieth century, as we have seen, El Niiios s e e m to have become uncoupled f r o m the Indian monsoon. Some authorities also believe that the recent ENSO cycle has less impact on rainfall in the central US states than in the late Victorian period. U 6 Quinn and his colleagues recognized that this apparent succession of low- and high-intensity ENSO regimes superficially conforms to the controversial "Bruckner cycle": a long-debated 33- to 37-year oscillation in world rainfall records.
1 274
LATH
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
Tabic 8.9 Strongest La Nina Events ( R a n k e d by Rainfall Anomalies)
C L. I ;
become more frequent while s o m e researchers attribute t o £ phases have inverted cquatoria
Indonesia: 1910, 1955, 1893, 1975, 1924, 1988, 1954
less symmetrical in their far-flu
India: 1961, 1917, 1892, 1956, 1922, 1878, 1874, 1894. 197i
in so tit hern Africa La Ninas h,
Q u e e n s l a n d ; 1974, 1976, 1917, 1901, 1894, 1910, 1904, 19nS East Africa: 1898, 1917, 1899, 1892, 1990, 1943 S o u t h Africa: 1976, 1974, 1917, 1955, 1916, 1909, 189.5, I S 9 4 , 1939 Source: IRI data; and D. Mooly and J. Shukla, "Variability and I'urecasting o f ' t h e S u m m e r Monsoon Rainfall over India," in C.-P. C h a n g and T . Krishnamuni led.s.), MOHJCUVI Meteorology, Oxford 1987.
heavy rains than do El Nihos tc Second, annual data " s m e should be dated seasonally o r into La Ninas, they often overU to m a k e primitive vear-to-evei underlying telcconnection, Ev
They cautioned, however, that the periodicity probably resulted from statistical
historical record are of the "cc
smoothing and that "it is d o u b t f u l w h e t h e r the Bruckner cycle has any reality."127
second wind a f t e r a t e m p o r a r ;
If recent work on the P D O and other low-frequency background oscillations in
separated by a short relaxatio
the Pacific strengthens the case for nonstochastic ENSO periodicity, there is little
"There may be an incomplete
consensus about the physics or even the frequency of presumed multidecadal
[La Nina] buildup; in some o t
ENSO regime shifts. Moreover there is considerable scientific unrest over the
higher level after an earlier p r c r
lacunae and inconsistencies in the documentation of historical ENSO events.
be t w o separate events with a <
All published chronologies, like Table 8.9, are incomplete in crucial regards.
Researchers, for example, are s
First of all, they catalogue only El Nino phases. Although "there is good evidence
unprecedented duration betwc
that Cold Events may be as important as [Warm] Events in t e r m s of associated
Third, Quinn primarily cl
midlatitudc teleconnections," there has been far less research charting the his-
observed along the Pacific coa:
tory of La Ninas and their impact on ENSO-sensitive regions or attempting to
always correspond to the sevtv
estimate their relative magnitudes. Their importance is attested by disasters like
example, was m o r e powerful
the 1898 floods in the Yellow River plain or the 1988 drought in the Midwest that
relative magnitudes were rever
caused a 31 percent loss in US grain production. Table 8.9 shows the strongest
El Nino was only weak to n u x
instrumcntally measured La Ninas in five major tcleconnected regions. Notewor-
As Enfield and Cid cautioned ii
thy is the global coherence of the 1893-94 and 1917 events, as well as the strength
QNA [QuinnJ are better suitec
in Indonesia of the 1910 La Nina, which we have previously associated with revo-
than to the determination of
lutionary drought in n o r t h e r n Mexico.
domain. Even if the QNA sch<
La Ninas are usually described as "mirror images" of El Ninos, but this is not precisely true. Dying El Ninos often turn into La Ninas, but the pattern
Nino in Peru, it has no way o f know that the relationship b e t
is unpredictable and the ratio of w a r m to cold events has fluctuated dramati-
perfectly one-to-one. Hence, t}
cally over time. During the last quarter century, for example, El Ninos have
characterization o f the scvcrit'-
1
J STS
< 1,1 M A T E S OI--
HUNGER
b e c o m e m o r e frequent while La Ninas have become rarer, a p h e n o m e n a that s o m e researchers attribute 10 global warming.'•2!f Likewise, while w a r m and cold phases have inverted equatorial Pacific sea temperature patterns, they are often less symmetrical in their far flung effects. It has been suggested, for example, that 75 968 1894,1939
in southern Africa La Ninas have a more robust and predictable relationship to heavy rains than do El Ninos to droughts. 129 Second, annual data "smear" or superimpose event durations that really should be dated seasonally or monthly. Because El Ninos can so suddenly g r o w
J Forecasting of the S u m m e r
into La Ninas, they often overlap in the same calendar year, thus obviating efforts
rri (eds. i. Monsoon Meteorology,
to make primitive year-to-event correlations without an understanding of the underlying teleconnection. Even m o r e confusingly, s o m e ENSO events in the
sly resulted from statistical
historical record are of the "compound type": cither an event that has gained a
ner cycle has any reality."127
second wind after a t e m p o r a r y relaxation, or t w o events of different intensities
background oscillations in
separated by a short relaxation. As Quinn and Neal n o t e (with s o m e anxiety),
SO periodicity, there is little
"There m a y be an incomplete or staggered relaxation after a large anti-El Nino
of presumed multidecadal
[La Nina] buildup; in s o m e other cases there may be a secondary buildup to a
e scientific unrest over the
higher level after an earlier p r e m a t u r e relaxation; in still o t h e r cases there may just
historical ENSO events.
be two separate events with a one-year buildup between t h e m " (like 1897/99).' 50
:omplete in crucial regards,
Researchers, for example, are still debating w h e t h e r there was a single El Nino of
ugh "there is good evidence
unprecedented duration between 1990 and 1995, or two successive w a r m events.
/ents in terms of associated
Third, Quinn primarily characterized El Ninos in t e r m s of
phenomena
s research charting the his-
observed along the Pacific coast of South America, but these magnitudes do not
^e regions or attempting to
always correspond to the severity of the global ENSO field. The 1S91 event. for
: is attested by disasters like
example, was more powerful than the 1897 El Nino in South America, but the
drought in the Midwest that
relative magnitudes were reversed in South Asia and China. Likewise the 1918-19
ble 8.9 shows the strongest
El Nino was only weak to m o d e r a t e in Peru but very strong in India and Africa.
onnected regions. Notewor-
As Enfield and Cid cautioned in 1991: "The anecdotal, impact-related methods of
vents, as well as the strength
Q N A [Quinn] are better suited to the identification of historical El Nino events
/iouslv associated with revo-
than to the determination of their climatic intensity over a large geographic domain. Even if the Q N A scheme classifies perfectly the climatic response of El
es" of El Ninos, but this is
Nino in Peru, it has n o way of estimating conditions elsewhere in the Pacific. We
) La Ninas, but the pattern
k n o w that the relationship b e t w e e n ENSO and its regional manifestations is not
mts has fluctuated dramati-
perfectly one-to-one. Hence, the Q N A intensity scale is probably not an accurate
for example, El Ninos have
characterization of the severity continuum of the broader ENSO melange." I J I
276
L A T E V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S T S ci.i;
Finally, Quinn's "subjective" magnn udes also do not always agree with Southern Oscillation Index values, nor do all negative SO events produce classical South American El Ninos. And there has been growing unease with the obvious circularity in using drought records (Quinn's analogues) to nail down El Nihos, and then using the derived ENSO chr onologies to establish causal correlations between the droughts and El Nino events. For these reasons, some leading researchers have recently advocated die a b a n d o n m e n t of Quinn's heroic b u t outdated time series and index. "Regional statistics such as those derived f r o m the Quinn et al. (1987) compilation of strong and very strong El Nino events in Peru," write Rasmusson, Wang and Ropelewski, "cannot be considered a reliable index of basin-scale ENSO-cycle variability.
1
T h e r e has been an energetic h u n t ' f o r an
improved ENSO "Richter scale." In the beginning, investigators concentrated on sea surface temperatures in the strategic zone of the eastern Pacific ("Nifio-3"), where w a r m events are incubated, but the nonlinear relationship between ENSO intensity and duration (as well as between the SO and sea surface temperature) has favored multivariate indices that synthesize different event features. Harrison and Larkin, for example, offer what they call the "Bjerknes ENSO Index," summed from "very robust elements" (including zonal and meridional wind anomalies) composited from ten postwar El Nihos. 133 Unfortunately the instrumental record before 1957 is generally too p o o r to support such sophisticated indices. As a result, the modern El Nino chronology remains stratified into three classes of data: (1) recent events whose physics have been measured across a broad range of atmospheric and oceanographic variables; (2) events within the boundaries of instrumental times series (since 1875) where archival documentation is constrained by some understanding of associated sea surface pressure and temperature fields; and (3) pre-1875 events where Quinn's methodology, with all of its limitations, still remains the inevitable tool. Over the next decade, to be sure, paleoclimatologists are confident that highresolution natural archives, like tree rings, isotope ratios in coral bands, and diatom abundances in varved seabed sediments, will permit reconstruction of an ENSO chronology for the entire Holocene. But these records are unlikely to offer much more than crude indices of magnitude. 1 3 4 T h u s historical d o c u m e n t a t i o n of impacts will continue to be an integral and indispensable part of ENSO research.
STS
t always agree with Soul lints produce classical South ease with the obvious cirs) to nail down El Ninos, ;tablish causal correlauons
PART
IV
:se reasons, some leading : of Quinn's heroic but out. as those derived from the
The Political Ecology of Famine
mg El Nino events in Peru," considered a reliable index :en an energetic h u n t for an vestigators concentrated on : eastern Pacific ("Nino-3"), relationship between ENSO id sea surface temperature) erent event features. 1 iarrine "Bjerknes ENSO Index," zonal and meridional wind
>57 is generally too poor to n o d e r n El Nino chronology it events whose physics have ic and oceanographic variital times series (since 1875) ne understanding of associd (3) pre-1875 events where remains the inevitable tool, sts are confident that high ratios in coral bands, and permit reconstruction of an records are unlikely to offer historical documentation of able part of ENSO research.
\
o
The Origi]
Emaciated
peo[
bellies, c o r p s e s , swollen siomact choked d\ ing
with on
b<
the
wretchedness, a
W h a t historians, then, have s to b e not so accidental alter quasi-periodic, ENSO has a cc E m m a n u e l Le Roy Ladurie's Times of Famine that climate h u m a n affairs, ENSO is an c humanity. 2 If, as Raymond V often unnoticed, an extraordi ing that the inverse is equally unnoticed environmental in: events indeed seems so over assert that great famines, lik
Nine
The Origins of the Third World
Emaciated
people,
disease,
ribs
showing,
shriveled
bellies, corpses, c h i l d r e n w i t h fly-encircled eyes, with s w o l l e n s t o m a c h s , children d y i n g i n the streets, rivers choked dying
w i t h bodies, people; l i v i n g , sleeping, on
the
streets
in misery,
beggary,
lying,
squalor,
wretchedness, a m a s s o f a b o r i g i n a l humanity... - H a r o l d Isaacs
W h a t historians, then, have so often dismissed as "climatic accidents" turn out t:o be not so accidcntal after all.1 Although its syncopations are complex and quasi-periodic, ENSO has a coherent spatial and temporal logic. And, contrary to Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's famous (Eurocentric?) conclusion in Times of FcasL, Times of Famine that climate change is a "slight, perhaps negligible" shaper of h u m a n affairs, ENSO is an episodically potent force in the history of tropical humanity/ If, as R a y m o n d Williams once observed, "Nature contains, though often unnoticed, an extraordinary amount of h u m a n history," we are now learning that the inverse is equally true: there is an extraordinary amount of hitherto unnoticed environmental instability in m o d e r n history. 3 T h e power of ENSO events indeed seems so overwhelming in s o m e instances that it is tempting to assert that great famines, like those of the 1870s and 1890s (or, m o r e recently,
T 280
LATK V I C T O R I A N
THl: O R 1 ( i
HOLOCAUSTS
Pierre-Etiennc Will has cat
the Sahelian disaster of the 1970s), were "caused" by El Nino, or by El Nino acting u p o n traditional agrarian misery. This interpretation, of course, inadver-
I
1743—44 relief campaign Iron cian administration of Fang '
tently echoes the official line of the British in Victorian India as recapitulated in every famine commission report and viceregal allocution: millions were killed by
•
extreme weather, not imperialism.' 1 Was this true?
I
w h o directed relief operatioi in each county immediately peasants in the officially desig
'Bad Climate' versus 'Bad System'
organized soup kitchens to e n
At this point it would be immensely useful to have some strategy for sorting
distributions began.) When U
out what the Chinese pithily contrast as "bad climate" versus "bad system."
millet and rice from the great
Y. Kueh, as we have seen, has attempted to parameterize the respective influ-
i
ences of drought and policy upon agricultural o u t p u t during the Great Leap
south. Two million peasants
Forward famine of 1958-61. T h e derivation of his "weather index," however, involved fifteen years of arduous research and the resolution of "a series of com-
of the Grand Canal, then usci
of the monsoon made agrici j
plicated methodological and technical problems" including a necessary compara-
relief grain was borrowed fr< t h e drought."
tive regression to the 1930s. Although his work is methodologically rich, his cru-
As Will emphasizes, this v
cial indices depend upon comprehensive meteorological and econometric data
nology at the time." No c o
that arc simply not available for the nineteenth century. A direct statistical assault
|
tence as a h u m a n right to it
on the tangled causal web of the 1876-77 and 1896-1902 famines thus seems pre-
j
as the Physiocrats later ma-
cluded. 5
[Guancheng's] operations: tl
An alternative is to construct a "natural experiment." As Jarcd Diamond has
and even anticipated them."'
advocated in a recent sermon to historians, such an experiment should compare
contract with the peasantry. v.
systems "differing in the presence or absence (or in the strong or weak effect) of
f r o m famine and hungcr-rcl
some putative causative factor."" We ideally need, in other words, an analogue
droughts in 1740-43. " The i
for the late Victorian famines in which the natural parameters arc constant bu:
authority, "is an outstanding i
the social variables significantly differ. An excellent candidate for which we possess unusually detailed documentation is the El Nino event of 1 743 44 (described
Age of Reason, in other w o n |
abrian. not Chinese.
as "exceptional" by W h e t t o n and Rutherfurd) in its impact on the north China
Moreover "the interventi<
plain. 7 Although not as geographically far-reaching as the great ENSO droughts
only one of its kind in the <
of 1876-78 or 1899-1900, it otherwise prefigured their intensities. The spring
Indeed, as 'fable 9.1 indicat
m o n s o o n failed two years in a row, devastating winter wheat in Hebei (Zhili) and
(1742/43) involved much la
n o r t h e r n Shandong. Scorching winds withered crops and farmers dropped dead
addition to the ENSO-correl;
in their fields from sunstroke. Provincial grain supplies were utterly inadequate
also d o c u m e n t e d seven o t h e
to the scale of need. Yet unlike the late nineteenth century, there was no mass
zation.) Although comparah
mortality from either starvation or disease. Why not?
sively to aid Shandong offici;
T H E O R I G I N S OF T H E T H I R D
USTS
WORLD
281
by El Nino, or by El Nino
Pierre-Etienne Will has carefully reconstructed the fascinating history of the
etation, of course, inadver-
1743-44 relief campaign from c o n t e m p o r a r y records. U n d e r the skilled Confu-
ian India as recapitulated in
cian administration of Fang Guancheng, the agricultural and hydraulic expert
don: millions were killed by
w h o directed relief operations in Zhili, the renowned "ever-normal granaries" in each county immediately began to issue rations ( w i t h o u t any labor test) t o peasants in the officially designated disaster counties." (Local gentry had already organized soup kitchens to ensure the survival of the poorest residents until state
i some strategy for sorting
distributions began.) W h e n local supplies proved insufficient, Guancheng shifted
nate" versus "bad system."
millet and rice from the great store of tribute grain at Tongcang at the terminus
eterize the respective influ-
of the G r a n d Canal, then used the Canal to move vast quantities of rice from t h e
p u t during the Great Leap
south. T w o million peasants were maintained for eight months, until the return
"weather index," however,
of the m o n s o o n m a d e agriculture again possible. Ultimately 85 percent of t h e
;olution of "a series of com-
relief grain was borrowed from tribute depots or granaries outside the radius of
luding a necessary compara-
the drought. 9
:thodologically rich, his cru-
As Will emphasizes, this was famine defense in depth, the "last word in tech-
gical and econometric data
nology at the time." N o contemporary European society guaranteed subsis-
ry. A direct statistical assault
tence as a h u m a n right to its peasantry (ming-sheng is the Chinese term), nor,
902 famines thus seems pre-
as the Physiocrats later marveled, could any emulate "the perfect timing of [Guancheng's| operations: the action taken always kept up with developments
ent." As jared Diamond has
and even anticipated them." 1 0 Indeed, while the Qing were honoring their social
experiment should compare
contract with the peasantry, contemporary Europeans w e r e dying in the millions
the strong or weak effect) of
f r o m famine and hunger-related diseases following arctic winters and s u m m e r
n other words, an analogue
droughts in 1740-43. "The mortality peak of the early 1740s," emphasizes an
parameters are constant but
authority, "is an outstanding fact of European d e m o g r a p h i c history." 11 In Europe's
candidate for which we pos-
Age of Reason, in other words, the "starving masses" w e r e French, Irish and Cal-
• event of 1743-44 (described
abrian, not Chinese.
impact on the north China
Moreover "the intervention carried out in Zhiii in 1743 and 1744 was not t h e
as the great ENSO droughts
only one of its kind in the eighteenth century, nor even the most extensive." 12
their intensities. T h e spring
Indeed, as Table 9.1 indicates, t h e Yellow River flooding of the previous year
^r wheat in Hebei (Zhili) and
(1742/43) involved m u c h larger expenditures over a m u c h broader region. (In
>s and farmers dropped dead
addition to the ENSO-correlated droughts a n d floods s h o w n in the table, Will h a s
>lies were utterly inadequate
also documented seven other flood disasters that involved massive relief mobili-
century, there was no mass
zation.) Although comparable figures are unavailable, Beijing also acted aggres-
t?
sively to aid Shandong officials in preventing famine d u r i n g the series of El Nino
T 282
LATE
VICTORIAN
H01.0<
T H I- O R I (
AUSTS
T a b i c 9.1
lation by the "rich household
E N S O D i s a s t e r s R e l i e v e d b y the Q i n g
grain by the full thousand o r
Q u i n n Intensity
His successor, Qianlong,
A m o u n t o f Relief
Provinces .
reports directly to the Bute:
1720/21
Very strong
Shaanxi
1742/43
(Flooding)
jiangsu/Anhui
17 m i l l i o n taels; 2.3 m i l l i o n shi
Unknown
firsthand. The emperors' int<
1743/44
Moderate+
Hebet
.87 m i l l i o n taels; 1 m i l l i o n s h i
of accuracy in price r e p o t t u
1778
Strong
Flenan
1.6 m i l l i o n taels; .3 m i l l i o n shi
quently led to significant refl
1779/80
La Niha
Henan
same
absolutism. It is hard to i m a c
1785
>
Henan
2.8 m i l l i o n tacls
poring over the minutiae of g the effort might have ultimat
Source: Constructed f r o m Table VH, W h e t t o n and R u t h e r f u n l p. 244; Table 20, Will, Bjircrtttancy a«
N o r can we easily picture teria of public works to the s:
droughts that afflicted that province (and m u c h of the tropics) b e t w e e n 1778 and
selves in the details of the C
1787.13 The contrast with the chaotic late-Qing relief efforts in 1877 and 1899 ( o r
emperors," Jane Leonard p o
for that matter, Mao's monstrous mishandling of the 1958-61 drought) could not
selves deeply in Canal m a m
be m o r e striking. State capacity in eighteenth-century China, as Will and his col-
in the control and supervisi
laborators emphasize, was deeply impressive: a cadre of skilled administrators
example, flooding in 1824 d>
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<
month hsicn magistrates forwarded detailed price reports to the prefectures, w h o
temples erected in their hon<
summarized them for the provincial governors who, in turn, reported their content in memorials to the central government.
15
c o m m i t m e n t to agricultural
Carefully studied and annotated
m e n t s in infrastructure a n d
by the emperors, these "vermillion rescripts" testify to an extraordinary engage-
a makeshift." Guanchcng at
ment with the administration of food security and rural well-being. "In the 1720s
Will's account) that codified
and 1730s," R. Bin W o n g writes, "the Yongzheng emperor personally scrutinized
relief m a n a g m e n t : somethir
granary operations, as he did all other bureaucratic behavior; his intense interest
tradition. 21
in official efforts and his readiness to berate officials for what h e considered failures partially explain the development of granary operations beyond the levels
Finally, there is plentiful
achieved in the late Kangxi period." 16 Yongzheng also severely sanctioned specu-
the high Qing was more n u
i i
T
' H L O R I G I N S OF T H E T H I R D
STS
WORLD
283
lation by the "rich households [who] in their quest for profit habitually remove ing
grain by the full thousand or full myriad bushels."'" His successor, Qianlong, ordered the prefects to send the county-level price
>unt o f Relief
reports directly to the Bureau of Revenue in Beijing so he could studv them
lown illion taels; 2.3 m i l l i o n shi
firsthand. T h e emperors' intense personal involvement ensured a high standard
nillion taels; 1 m i l l i o n shi
of accuracy in price reporting and, as Endymion Wilkinson demonstrates, fre-
lillion taels; .3 m i l l i o n shi
quently led to significant r e f o r m . T h i s was another differentia specifics of Qing absolutism. It is hard t o imagine a Louis XVI spending his evenings scrupulously
lillion taels
poring over the minutiae of grain prices from Limoges or the Auvergnc, although the effort might have ultimately saved his head from the guillotine.
Table 20. Will, Bureaucracy and
Nor can we easily picture a European m o n a r c h intimately involved in the esotropics) between 1778 and
teria of public -works t o the same degree that the Qing routinely i m m e r s e d them-
forts in 1877 and 1899 (or,
selves in the details of the Grand Canal grain transport system. " T h e Manchu
>58-61 drought) could not
emperors," Jane Leonard points out,
China, as Will and his col-
selves deeply in Canal management, not just in broad questions o f policy, b u t
of skilled administrators
in the control and supervision of lower-level administrative tasks." When, for
n price stabilization, large
example, flooding in 1824 destroyed sections of the G r a n d Canal at the critical
than a million bushels of
Huai-Yellow River junction, the Tao-kuang e m p e r o r personally assumed com-
r<
had since the early reigns involved them-
mand of reconstruction efforts.1®
1 1
/draulic infrastructures. '
the invigilation of grain
In contrast, moreover, to later Western stereotypes of a passive Chinese state,
jgh ever-normal granaries
government during t h e high Qing era was proactivcly involved in f a m i n e preven-
•f innovation of the Qing.
tion through a broad program of investment in agricultural improvement, irriga-
Emperors in looking over
tion and w a t e r b o r n e transportation. As in o t h e r things, Joseph N e e d h a m points
ies." On the fifth of every
out, the eighteenth century was a golden age for theoretical and historical work
rts to the prefectures, who
on flood control and canal construction. Civil engineers w e r e canonized and had
l turn, reported their con-
temples erected in their honor.™ Confucian activists like Guancheng, with a deep
illy studied and annotated
c o m m i t m e n t to agricultural intensification, "tended to give top priority to invest-
an extraordinary engage-
ments in infrastructure and to consider the organization of food relief merely
si well-being. "In the 1720s
a makeshift." Guancheng also w r o t e a f a m o u s manual (the source of much of
:ror personally scrutinized
Will's account) that codified historically tested principles of disaster planning and
liavior; his intense interest
relief m a n a g m e n t : something else that has little precedent in backward European
ir what he considered fail-
tradition. 21
orations beyond the levels
Finally, there is plentiful evidence that the n o r t h e r n China peasantry during
severely sanctioned specu-
the high Q i n g was m o r e nutritionally self-reliant and less vulnerable to climate
i
T 284
LATli
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
III i: O IU c;
stress than their descendants a century later. In the eighteenth century, after the
the south. Large stockpiles o:
Kangxi emperor permanently froze land revenue at the 1712 level, China experi-
H e n a n and a l o n g the Shanxi
enced "the mildest agrarian taxation it had ever known in the whole of its his-
relief of the loess provinces,
tory." 12 Dwight Perkins estimates that the formal land tax was a mere 5 to 6
G r a n d Canal's navigability.}!,
percent of the harvest and that a large portion was expended locally by hsien
enfeebled and demoralized at-
and provincial governments. 2 3 Likewise, the exchange ratio between silver and
tic reforms - was reduced t o
copper coinage, which t u r n e d so disastrously against the poor peasantry in the
tions and humiliating foreign
nineteenth century, was stabilized by the booming o u t p u t of the Yunnan copper
technology a n d political will >
mines (replacing Japanese imports) and the great inflow of Mexican bullion
relieve hunger on a larger sea:
earned by China's huge trade s u r p l u s . U n l i k e their c o n t e m p o r a r y French counterparts, the farmers of the Yellow River plain (the vast majority of w h o m o w n e d
i
their land) were neither crushed by exorbitant taxes nor ground d o w n by feudal
'Laws of Leather' versus 'I W h a t about famine in pre-Bi
rents. North China, in particular, was unprecedentedly prosperous by historical
India had ever experienced s
standards, and Will estimates that the percentage of the rural population ordi-
t r o p h e of 1770 under East In
narily living near the edge of starvation - depending, for example, on husks and
h u n g e r between 1875 and 19J
wild vegetables for a substantia] part of their diet - was less than 2 percent. 25 As
still. The Moguls, to be s u r e
a result, epidemic disease, unlike in Europe, was held in chcck for most of t h e
the centralized Qing state at
"Golden Age." 2 "
istrative history as well d o c u
Still, could even Fang G u a n c h e n g have coped with drought disasters engulf-
problems of intervening in t h
ing the larger part of north China on the scale of 1876 or even 1899? It is impor-
transport bottlenecks r e n d e n
tant to weigh this question carefully, since drought-famines were more localized
On the o t h e r hand, bent-
in the eighteenth century, and because the 1876 drought, as we have seen, m a y
India was generally free o f
have been a 200-year or even 500-year frequency event. Moreover, the late Victo-
dence, moreover, that in prc-
rian droughts reached particular intensity in the loess highlands of Shanxi and
national market in grain, vilh
Shaanxi, where transport costs were highest and bottlenecks unavoidable. It is
(are more widespread, and u
reasonable, therefore, to concede that a drought of 1876 magnitude in 1743
speculation. 1 " (As we have sc
would inevitably have involved tens, perhaps even hundreds, of thousands of
was to export famine, via pi
deaths in m o r e remote villages. Such a drought, however, would have been unlikely, as in the late nineteenth century, to grow into a veritable holocaust that c o n s u m e d the greater part of
tricts.) The British, of course. '
ated the populacc from a d a r of Crown Rule was the belie
the populations of whole prefectures and counties. In contrast to the situation in
Bose and Jalal point out, "Ti-
1876-77, when granaries were depleted or looted and prices soared out of con-
m e rcilessly exploited by t h e
trol, eighteenth-century administrators could count on a large imperial b u d g e t
in the light of n e w interpret
surplus and well-stocked local granaries backed up by a huge surplus of rice in
Desai indicates that "the m e :
o
STS
;hteenth century, after the
TI-IE O R I G I N S Ol : T i l l : T H I R D
WORLD
the south. Large stockpiles of tribute grain at strategic transpon .uion nodes in
e 1712 level, China experi-
Henan and along the Shanxi-Shaanxi border were specially designated for the
/n in the whole of its his-
relief of the loess provinces, and an abundance of water sources guaranteed the
ld tax was a mere 5 to 6
Grand Canal's navigability year-round. 27 W h e r e a s in 1876 the Chinese state -
expended locally by hsien
enfeebled and demoralized after the failure of the Tongzhi Restoration's domes-
s ratio between silver and
tic reforms - was reduced to desultory cash relief a u g m e n t e d by private dona-
the poor peasantry in the
tions and humiliating foreign charity, in the eighteenth century u had both the
.put of the Yunnan copper
technology and political will to shift grain massively b e t w e e n regions and, thus,
lflow of Mexican bullion
relieve hunger on a larger scale than any previous polity in world history. 2 *
>ntemporary French counmajority of w h o m owned or g r o u n d down by feudal .y prosperous by historical the rural population ordifor example, on husks and as less than 2 percent. 25 As i in check for most of the
'Laws of Leather' versus 'Laws of Iron" W h a t about famine in pre-British India? Again, there is little evidence that rural India had ever experienced subsistence crises o n the scale of the Bengal catastrophe of 1770 u n d e r East India Company rule or the long siege by disease and hunger between 1875 and 1920 that slowed population g r o w t h almost to a standstill. The Moguls, to be sure, did not dispose of anything like the resources of the centralized Qing state at its eighteenth-century zenith, nor was their administrative history as well documented. As Sanjay Sharma has pointed out, "The
I drought disasters engulf-
problems of intervening in the complex n e t w o r k of caste-based locai markets and
5 or even 1899? It is impor-
transport bottlenecks rendered an effective state intervention quite difficult."'"
n i n e s were more localized
On the other hand, benefiting perhaps f r o m a milder ENSO cycle, Mogul
g h t , as we have seen, may
India was generally free of famine until the 1770s. T h e r e is considerable evi-
t. Moreover, the late Victo-
dence, moreover, that in pre-British India before the creation of a railroad-girded
;s highlands of Shanxi and
national market in grain, village-level food reserves were larger, patrimonial wel-
itlenecks unavoidable. It is
fare more widespread, and grain prices in surplus areas better insulated against
f 1876 magnitude in 1743
speculation. 3lJ (As we have seen, the perverse consequence of a unitary market
lundreds, of thousands of
was to export famine, via price inflation, to the rural p o o r in grain-surplus dis-
ly, as in the late nineteenth
ated the populace f r o m a dark age of Mogul despotism: " O n e of the foundations
sumed the greater part of
of Crown Rule was the belief that ... India's past was full of depravity" 1 1 But, as
tricts.) The British, of course, had a vested interest in claiming that they had liber-
contrast to the situation in
Bose andjalal point out, "The picture of an emaciated and oppressed peasantry,
i prices soared our of con-
mercilessly exploited by the e m p e r o r and his nobility, is being seriously altered
on a large imperial budget
in the light of new interpretations of the evidence." , z Recent research by Ashok
y a huge surplus of rice in
Desai indicates that "the mean standard of f o o d consumption in Akbar's empire
T 286
LATE V I C T O R I A N
ci.i;
HOLOCAUSTS
1 8 2 0 there h a d b e e n onlv thrc
was appreciably higher rhan in the India of die early 3 960s. The Mogul state, moreover, "regarded the protection of the peasant as an essential obligation," and there are n u m e r o u s examples of h u m a n e if sporadic 3
s o m e years h a d been
indiffe
ticular distress ' " ' " D . E . U .
B:
relief operations. ' Like their Chinese contemporaries, the Mogul rulers Akbar,
t h e C e n t r a l P r o v i n c e s that c c
Shahjahan and Aurangzeb relied on a quartet of fundamental policies - embar-
C o m p a n y d u r i n g the d r o u g h
gos on food exports, antispecuiative price regulation, tax relief and distribution
w i t h the earlier a n d highly e
of free food without a forced-labor counterpart - that were an anathema to
the p o o r • enforced
later British Utilitarians." T h e y also zealously policed the grain trade in the
M a r a t h a social o r d e r was fot
charity
public interest. As one horrified British writer discovered, these "oriental despots"
l a n d l e s s l a b o r e r s existed."
punished traders who shortchanged peasants during famines by amputating an
occupancy
equivalent weight of merchant flesh. 3 "
t a x e s v a r i e d a c c o r d i n g to th<
In contrast to the Raj's punitive taxation of irrigation and its neglect of traditional wells and reservoirs, the Moguls used tax subsidies to p r o m o t e water conservation. As David Hardiman explains in the case of Gujarat: "Local officials had considerable discretion over tax assessment, and it seems to have been their practice to encourage well-construction by granting tax concessions. In the Ahmcd-
until the tax exemptions were held to have equalled the cost of construction."
37
Occasionally, the British paid appropriate tribute to the policies of their "despotic" predecessors. T h e first Famine Commission Report in 1880, for example, cited Aurangzeb's extraordinary relief campaign during the (El Nino?) droughtfamine of 1661: "The E m p e r o r opened his treasury and granted money without stint. He gave every encouragement to the importation of corn and either sold it at reduced prices, or distributed it gratuitously amongst those w h o were too poor to pay. He also promptly acknowledged the necessity of remitting the rents of the cultivators and relieved t h e m for the time being of other taxes. T h e vernacular chronicles of the period attribute the salvation of millions of lives and the preservation of many provinces to his strenuous exertions." 36 Food security was also probably better in the Deccan during the period of Maratha rule. As Mountstuart Elphinstone admitted retrospectively after the British conquest, "The Mahratta country flourished, and the people seem to have been exempt from some of the evils which exist under our m o r e perfect Government." 3 9 His contemporary, Sir John Malcolm, "claimed that b e t w e e n 1770 and
Ir
i n the
Mf
a c c e s s i b l e to t h e p o o r , a n d i w i t h c h e a p (dijtjvi ( o r MgrtiJ frugal, industrious"
k
Maratha
t h e B h i l s a n d o t h e r tribal p e the diverse c l a i m s of plains a I n c o n t r a s t t o the rigidity
abad region, for example, it was c o m m o n to waive the tax on a 'rabi' crop raised through irrigation from a recently constructed well. T h e concession continued
rights
ments, both the M o g u l s
and
o f the crucial ecological the subcontinent's
rcl;
droughtIs
wrote journalist Vaughan 1
British "laws o f iron." '
Mor
"dtiiiih/di'.v, s e l d o m s h a r e d discipline.
lb
R e q u i r i n g the
B e n g a l under the
p
influence
to t h e B e n g a l i p r e m i s e that f o o d to his c h i l d r e n . " "
Altht
f r o m "timeless hunger."
m o
i s t s q u o t e d f r o m a n 1878 s l u
cal Society
that c o n t r a s t e d t h
against onlv seventeen recor I n d i a a n d C h i n a , in o t h e r " l a n d s o f f a m i n e " so univers the
intensity o f
the
ENSO
T
USTS
T H E O R I G I N S OI ; T H E T H I R D
WORLD
287
I960s." i;
1820 there had been only three very bad seasons in the Maratha lands "and, t h o u g h
ction of the peasant as an
some years had been 'indifferent,' none had been as 'bad as to occasion any par-
jles of h u m a n e if sporadic
ticular distress."'' 50 D. E.U. Baker cites a later British administrative report f r o m
;s, the Mogul rulers Akbar,
the Central Provinces that contrasted the desultory relief efforts of the East India
damental policies - embar-
Company during the droughts of the 1820s and lS30s ("a few thousand rupees")
, tax relief and distribution
with the earlier and highly effective Maratha policy of forcing local elites to feed
that were an anathema to
the poor ("enforced charity of hundreds of rich men").'" Indeed the resilient
-ed the grain trade in the
Maratha social order was founded on a militarized free peasantry a n d "very f e w
•ed. these "oriental despots"
landless laborers existed." In contrast to the British-imposed rmyatwdri system,
famines by amputating an
occupancy rights in the Maratha Deccan were not tied to revenue payment, taxes varied according to the actual harvest, c o m m o n lands and resources w e r e
ion and its neglect of tradidies to p r o m o t e water conGujarat: "Local officials had ims to have been their praczoncessions. In the Ahmed-
accessible to the poor, and the rulers subsidized local irrigation improvements with cheap taqavi (or tagai) loans. 42 In addition, Elphinstone observed, the "sober, frugal, industrious" Maratha f a r m e r s lived in generally tolerant coexistence with the Bhils and other tribal peoples. Ecological and economic synergies balanced the diverse claims of plains agriculture, pastoralism and foothill swidden.""
le tax on a Tabi' crop raised
In contrast to the rigidity and dogmatism of British land-and-rcvenue settle-
T h e concession continued
ments, b o t h the Moguls and Marathas flexibly tailored their rule to take account
he cost of construction." 3 7
of the crucial ecological relationships and unpredictable climate fluctuations of
o the policies of their "des-
the subcontinent's drought-prone regions. T h e Moguls had "laws of leather,"
.eport in 1880, for example,
wrote journalist Vaughan Nash during the famine of 1899, in contrast to the
ing the (El Nino?) drought-
British "laws of iron."'1'5 Moreover, traditional Indian elites, like the great Bengali
md granted money without
zamindars, seldom shared Utilitarian obsessions with welfare cheating and labor
^n of corn and either sold it
discipline. "Requiring the poor to work for relief, a practice begun in 1866 in
;st those w h o were too poor of remitting the rents of the 3ther taxes. The vernacular lions of lives and the preser'38 eccan during the period of •etrospectively after the Brit-
Bengal u n d e r the influence of the Victorian Poor Law, was in flat contradiction to the Bengali premise that food should be given ungrudgingly, as a father gives food to his children."' 15 Although t h e British insisted that they had rescued India from "timeless hunger," more t h a n one official was jolted when Indian nationalists quoted from an 1878 study published in the prestigious Journal of the Statistical Society that contrasted thirty-one serious famines in 120 years o f British rule against only seventeen recorded famines in the entire previous two millennia. 46
id the people seem to have
India and China, in other words, did not enter m o d e r n history as the helpless
tr our m o r e perfect Govern-
"lands of famine" so universally enshrined in the Western imagination. Certainly
n e d that between 1770 and
the intensity of the ENSO cycle in the late nineteenth century, perhaps only
v©
296
LATK V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
equaled on three o r four other occasions in the last millennium, m u s t loom large
THl:
O R1(i
sive for rural subsistence in tl
in any explanation of the catastrophes of the 1870s and i890s. But it is scarcely
First, the forcible incorpc
the only independent variable. Equal causal weight, or more, m u s t be accorded
and financial circuits control
to the growing social vulnerability to climate variability that became so evident
food security. Recent scholai
in south Asia, north China, northeast Brazil and southern Africa in late Victo-
taxes, chronic indebtedness,
rian times. As Michael Watts has eloquently argued in his history of the "silent
opportunities, enclosure of <
violence" of drought-famine in colonial Nigeria: "Climate risk ... is not given
gations, and so on), not e n t n
by nature but ... by 'negotiated settlement' since each society has institutional,
t u r n to cash-crop cultivation
social, and technical means for coping with risk.... Famines [thus] are social crises
than productivist as rich lan
that represent the failures of particular economic and political systems."' 17
export booms into usury, r a c
Perspectives on Vulnerability
producers," H a n s Mcdick p c these circumstances; they wc
Over the last generation, scholars have produced a bumper-crop of revealing
ogous predicament of m a r g
soc ; al and economic histories of the regions teleconnecied to ENSO's episodic
vides an exemplary descriptf
disturbances. The thrust of this research has been to further demolish oriental-
p o o r peasants in the late n i n
ist stereotypes of immutable poverty and overpopulation as the natural preconditions of the major nineteenth-century famines. There is persuasive evidence that
For t h e m [ e v e n ] rising a g r a r
peasants and farm laborers b e c a m e dramatically more pregnable to natural disas-
Sincc t h e i r m a r g i n a l p r o d u c
ter after 1850 as their local economies w e r e violently incorporated into the world
ian prices t e n d e d to h e a opportunity
to accumulate
market. What colonial administrators and missionaries - even sometimes Creole
f o r c e d the m a r g i n a l s u b s i s t '
elites, as in Brazil - perceived as the persistence of ancient cycles of backwardness
through t h e market.... Insre
were typically m o d e r n structures of formal or informal imperialism.
m a r k e t i n t o t h e progressive,
From the perspective of political ecology, the vulnerability of tropical agriculturalists to extreme climate events after 1870 was magnified by simultaneous
loss of t h e i r p r o p e r t y t i t l e s t h e petty p r o d u c e r s w e r e cc: d e b t . '['hen. in g o o d h a r v e s t
restructurings of household and village linkages to regional production systems,
extricate t h e m s e l v e s f r o m tl
world commodity markets and the colonial (or dependent) state. "It is, of coursc,
ductivitv o f t h e i r h o l d i n g s t
the constellation of these social relations," writes Watts, "which binds households together and project t h e m into the marketplace, that determines the pre-
As a result, the position o
cise f o r m of the household vulnerability. It is also these same social relations
hierarchy e q u a t e d with dow
that have failed to stimulate o r have actually prevented the development of the
sistcnt evidence from n o r t h
productive forces that might have lessened this vulnerability." Indeed, new social
household wealth and incn
relations of production, in t a n d e m with the New Imperialism, "not only altered
farmers were directly enga
the extent of h u n g e r in a statistical sense b u t changed its very etiology." 4S T h r e e
Cearan parcciros who fed tl"
points of articulation with larger socio-economic structures were especially deci-
w e r e simply producing for d
T
ST S
THE
lennium, must loom large
ORIGIN'S
OF
THE T H I R D
WORLD
sive for rural subsistence in the late Victorian "proto-third world."
\d 1890s. But it is scarcely
First, the forcible incorporation of smallholder production into commodity
r more, must be accorded
and financial circuits controlled from overseas tended to u n d e r m i n e traditional
ty that became so evident
food security. Recent scholarship confirms that it was iidiji'ik'iicc adversity (high
thern Africa in late Victo-
taxes, chronic indebtedness, inadequate acreage, loss of subsidiary e m p l o y m e n t
1 his history of the "silent
opportunities, enclosure of c o m m o n resources, dissolution of patrimonial obli-
imate risk ... is not given
gations, and so on), n o t entrepreneurial opportunity, that typically p r o m o t e d t h e
h society has institutional,
turn to cash-crop cultivation. Rural capital, in turn, tended to be parasitic rather
tines [thus] are social crises
than productivist as rich landowners redeployed fortunes that they built during
political systems. " ,r
export b o o m s into usury, rack-renting and crop brokerage. "Marginal subsistence producers," Hans Medick points out, " ... did not benefit from the market under these circumstances; they were devoured by it." Jt) Medick, writing a b o u t the anal-
bumper-crop of revealing,
ogous predicament of marginal smallholders in "proto-industrial" Europe, pro-
lected to ENSO's episodic
vides an exemplary description of the dilemma of millions of Indian and Chinese
further demolish oriental-
poor peasants in the late nineteenth century:
.on as the natural precondiis persuasive evidence that pregnable to natural disasncorporated into the world
For t h e m [even] r i s i n g agrarian p r i c e s did not necessarily m e a n increasing incomes. Since their m a r g i n a l p r o d u c t i v i t y w a s l o w - a n d p r o d u c t i o n fluctuated, rising agrarian prices tended to b e a s o u r c e of" i n d e b t e d n e s s rather t h a n atfarding t h e m the o p p o r t u n i t y to a c c u m u l a t e surpluses. T h e " a n o m a l y o f the a g r a r i a n m a r k e t s "
;s - even sometimes Creole
forced the m a r g i n a l subsistence p r o d u c e r s i n t o a n u n e q u a l exchange relationship
ient cycles of backwardness
t h r o u g h the market.... Instead o f profiting f r o m exchange, they were f o r c e d by the market into the p r o g r e s s i v e deterioration o f their conditions o f p r o d u c t i o n , i.e. the
ial imperialism. Inerability of tropical agrimagnilied by simultaneous
loss o f their p r o p e r t y titles. Especially in y e a r s o f bad harvests, and h i g h prices, the petty p r o d u c e r s w e r e c o m p e l l e d to b u y additional g r a i n , and. w o r s e , to g o into debt. T h e n , in g o o d harvest years w h e n cereal prices were low, thev f o u n d it h a r d to
gional production systems,
extricate themselves f r o m the p r e v i o u s l y a c c u m u l a t e d debts; o w i n g to the l o w pro-
dent) state. "It is, of course,
ductivity' o f their h o l d i n g s thev c o u l d not p r o d u c e sufficient quantities for sale.™
Vatts, "which binds house:e, that determines the pre-
As a result, the position of small rural producers in the international economic
these same social relations
hierarchy equated w i t h downward mobility, or, at best, stagnation. T h e r e is con-
:ed the development of the
sistent evidence from n o r t h China as well as India and northeast Brazil of falling
rability." Indeed, new social
household wealth a n d increased fragmentation or alienation of land. W h e t h e r
perialism, "not only altered
farmers were directly engaged by foreign capital, like the Berari khatcdars a n d
4
d its very etiology." * Three
Cearan parceiros w h o fed the mills of Lancashire during the Cotton Famine, o r
jctures were especially deci-
were simply producing for domestic markets subject to international competition
] 29 0
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
THE
OKI
like the cotton-spinning peasants of the Boxer hsiens in western Shandong, com-
populations was indirectly c
mercialization went hand in hand with pauperization without any silver lining of
q u e m decline in state capaci
technical change or agrarian capitalism. Second, the integration of millions of tropical cultivators into the world market during the late nineteenth century was accompanied by a dramatic deterioration in their terms of trade. Peasants' lack of market power vis-a-vis crop merchants and creditors was redoubled by their commodities' falling international purchasing power. T h e famous Kondratief downswing of 1873-1897 m a d e dramatic geographical discriminations. As W Arthur Lewis suggests, comparative productivity or transport costs alone cannot explain an emergent structure of global unequal exchange that valued the products of tropical agriculture so differently from those of t e m p e r a t e farming. "With the exception of sugar, all the commodities whose price was lower in 1913 than in 1883 were commodities produced almost wholly in the tropics. All the commodities whose prices rose over this thirty-year period were commodities in which the t e m p e r a t e countries produced a substantial part of total supplies. T h e fall in ocean freight rates affected tropical more than temperate prices, but this should n o t make a difference of more than five percentage points." 51 Third, formal and informal Victorian imperialism, backed u p by the supernational automatism of the Gold Standard, confiscated local fiscal autonomy and impeded state-level developmental responses - especially investments in water conservancy arid irrigation - that might have reduced vulnerability to climate shocks. As Curzon once famously complained to the House of Lords, tariffs "were decided in London, not in India; in England's interests, not in India's. Moreover, as wc shall see in the next chapter, any grassroots benefit from British railroad and canal construction was largely canceled by official neglect of local irrigation and the brutal enclosures of forest and pasture resources. Export earn-
lion of "ever-normal" g r a n a tiple interacting causes over the structural recession a n d aggressions against China ii decades, the embattled Q i m a b a n d o n both their tradition grain stockpiling in the Yello ing their endangered comm< British control over Braz helps explain the failure o f t any antidrought dcvelopmc conflicts between Brazil's ri: context where London ban: money-supply. In c o m m o n regulate interaction with t h tencc increasingly dependei trade became a sinister syllc Dcccan, the Yellow River b a teenth-century subcontineni famished peripheries of a Lc The elaboration of these closer analysis at diilerent m immiseration in key region o r looking at the telationshi crisis at the village level, it h lions of Indians and Chinese
ings, in other words, not only failed to return to smallholders as increments in
world economy changed o v
household income, but also as usable social capital or state investment.
i n g how tropical humanity
In China, the "normalization" of grain prices and the ecological stabilization of agriculture in the Yellow River plain were u n d e r m i n e d by a n interaction of
ans after 1850 goes a long \ such hecatombs in El Nino
endogenous crises and the loss of sovereignty over foreign trade in the a f t e r m a t h
m o d e r n global inequality (a
of the t w o Opium Wars. As disconnected f r o m world market perturbations as the
labors of Paul Bairoch and
starving loess provinces might have seemed in 1877, the catastrophic fate of their
1
STS
[ western Shandong, c o m without any silver lining of ultivators into the world janied by a dramatic dete arket power vis-a-vis crop imodities' falling interna lswing of 1873-1897 made Lewis suggests, comparaain an emergent structure of tropical agriculture so i exception of sugar, all the 583 were commodities proves whose prices rose over e temperate countries prot e a n freight rates affected I not make a- difference of backed u p by the superna. local fiscal a u t o n o m y and :ially investments in water ed vulnerability to climate he House of Lords, tariffs : interests, not in India's."'' ssroots benefit from British i by official neglect of local ;ure resources. Export earnlallholders as increments in • state investment. . the ecological stabilization mined by an interaction of reign trade in the aftermath market perturbations as the h e catastrophic fate of their
TH(i O R I G I N S OF THli T H I R D
WORLD
19 1
populations was indirectly determined by Western intervention and the consequent decline in state capacity to ensure traditional welfare. Similarly the depletion of "ever-normal" granaries m a y have resulted from a vicious circle of multiple interacting causes over a fifty-year span, b u t the coup de grace was certainly the structural recession and permanent fiscal crisis engineered by Palmerston's aggressions against China in the 1850s. As foreign pressure intensified in later decades, the embattled Qing, as Kenneth P o m e r a n z has shown, were forced to abandon both their traditional mandates: abandoning b o t h hydraulic control and grain stockpiling in the Yellow River provinces in order to concentrate on defending their endangered commercial littoral." British control over Brazil's foreign debt a n d thus its fiscal capacity likewise helps explain the failure of either the empire o r its successor republic to launch any antidrought developmental effort in the sertao. T h e zero-sum economicconflicts between Brazil's rising and declining regions t o o k place in a structural context where London banks, above all the Rothschilds, ultimately owned the money-supply. In c o m m o n with the India and China, the inability to politically regulate interaction with the world market at the very time when mass subsistence increasingly depended u p o n food entitlements acquired in international trade became a sinister syllogism for famine. Moreover in the three cases of the Deccan, the Yellow River basin and the Nordeste, former "core" regions of eighteenth-century subcontinental power systems were successively transformed into famished peripheries of a London-centered world e c o n o m y The elaboration of these theses, as always ingeo-historical explanation, invites closer analysis at different magnifications. Before considering case-studies of rural immiseration in key regions devastated by the 1870s and 1890s El Nino events or looking at the relationships a m o n g imperialism, state capacity and ecological crisis at the village level, it is necessary to briefly discuss h o w the structural positions of Indians and Chinese (the big battalions of the f u t u r e Third World) in the world economy changed over the course of the nineteenth century. Understanding how tropical humanity lost so much economic g r o u n d to western Europeans after 1850 goes a long way toward explaining why famine was able to reap such hecatombs in El Nino years. As a baseline for understanding the origins of m o d e r n global inequality (and that is the key question), the herculean statistical labors of Paul Bairoch and Angus Maddison over the last thirty years have been
T
292
LATli V I C T O R I A N
I I I i: O IU c;
HOLOCAUSTS
complemented by recent comparative case-studies of European and Asian standards of living.
The Defeat of Asia
"on
Bairoch's famous claim, corroborated by Maddison, is that differences in income
China
and wealth between the great civilizations of the eighteenth century were rela-
India
tively slight: "It is very likely that, in the middle of the eighteenth century, the average standard of living in Europe was a little bit lower than that of the rest
Europe
2.5.1 6 2.5.5
Source: Angus MuJilison. c.7iin.
of the w o r l d . W h e n the .SAILS culottes stormed the Bastille, the largest manufacturing districts in the world were still the Yangzi Delta and Bengal, with Lingan
China [and India] than in E l
(modern Guangdong and Guangxi) and coastal Madras not far behind." India
"was more widespread than i
alone produced one-quarter of world manufactures, and while its "pre-capitalist
w o m e n at all social levels.""1
agrarian labour productivity was probably less than the Japanese-Chinese level, its commercial capital surpassed that of the Chinese."
56
As Prasannan Parthasarathi has recently shown, the stereotype of the Indian
Moreover, in the recent f< P o m c r a n z points to evidence consumption t h a n eighteenth
laborer as a half-starved wretch in a loincloth collapses in the face of new data about comparative standards of living. "Indeed, there is compelling evidence
C h i n e s e life expectancy u r n d a b o v e C o n t i n e n t a l ones; e v e r
that South Indian labourers had higher earnings than their British counterparts
than Europe's between
in the eighteenth century and lived lives of greater financial security." Because
tality must h a v e been low.) f
the productivity of land was higher in South India, weavers and other artisans
t i o n conic o u t surprisingly h i
enjoyed better diets than average Europeans. More importantly, their unemployment rates tended to be lower because they possessed superior rights of contract
l^O
5.0 p o u n d s p e r capita ca. 175' barely 2 p o u n d s per capita foi lbs. of c o t t o n cloth per cap it I'
and exercised more economic power. But even outcaste agricultural labourers
51 million), probahlv produ<
in Madras earned more in real terms than English f a r m laborers. 57 (By 1900, in
in 1800, p r o d u c e d roughly 1
contrast, Romesh Chunder Dutt estimated that the average British household
resilient, anil Continental o n
income was 21 times higher.)
58
New research by Chinese historians also challenges traditional conceptions
Pomcranz has also calcu
of comparative economic g r o w t h . Referring to the pathbreaking work of Li
d u c e d roughly as much cot'
Bozhong, Philip H u a n g notes that "the outstanding representative of this new
wool, linen and silk cloth c
academic tendency has even argued the overall economic development of the
silk."" 1 In addition, as Made
Yangzi Delta in the Qing exceeded that of 'early m o d e r n ' England."" Similarly,
t e r m s grew faster than that
Bin W o n g has recently emphasized that the "specific conditions associated with
matically enlarging its share
European proto-industrialization - expansion of seasonal crafts, shrinking farm size, and good marketing systems - may have been even m o r e widespread in
T h e usual stereotype of s t o o d still while the Indust
T
THE
ISTS
ORIGINS
OF T H E
THIRD
WORLD
293
T a b i c 9.2
European and Asian stan-
Shares oFWorld GDP (Percent)
; that differences in income hteenth century were relahe eighteenth century, the lower than that of the rest
1700
1820
1890
1952
China
23.1
32.4
13.2
5.2
India
22.6
15.7
11.0
3.8
Europe
23.3
26.6
40.3
29.7
Source: Angus Maddison, Chinese L'coiwkic Perforin a n d : in the Long Run, Paris 1998, p. 40.
astille, the largest manufac:a and Bengal, with Lingan
China [and India] than in Europe." 6 0 "Basic functional literacy," adds F. Mote,
Iras not far behind. 55 India
"was m o r e widespread than in Western countries at that time, including among
and while its "pre-capitalist
w o m e n at all social levels."*'
the Japanese-Chinese level,
Moreover, in the recent f o r u m "Re-thinking 18th C e n t u r y China," Kenneth
'56
Pomcranz points to evidence that ordinary Chinese enjoyed a higher standard of
ae stereotype of the Indian
consumption than eighteenth-century Europeans:
ses in the face of n e w data ;re is compelling evidence
C h i n e s e life expectancy (and t h u s nutrition) w a s at r o u g h l y E n g l i s h levels (and so above C o n t i n e n t a l o n e s ) even in the late 1700s."(Chinese fertility was actually lower
-i their British counterparts
than E u r o p e ' s b e t w e e n 1550 a n d 1850, while its p o p u l a t i o n g r e w faster; thus mor-
financial security." Because
tality m u s t have b e e n low.) M o r e o v e r , m y estimates o f " n o n - e s s e n t i a l " c o n s u m p -
weavers and other artisans
tion c o m e out s u r p r i s i n g l y high. S u g a r c o n s u m p t i o n w o r k s o u t to b e t w e e n 4.3 and
nportantly, their unemploy1 superior rights of contract :aste agricultural labourers arm laborers.
57
(By 1900, in
average British household ges traditional conceptions
5.0 p o u n d s per capita ca. 1750 - a n d m u c h h i g h e r in s o m e r e g i o n s - c o m p a r e d with barely 2 p o u n d s per capita for E u r o p e . C h i n a circa 1750 s e e m s to have p r o d u c e d 6-8 lbs. o f c o t t o n cloth p e r capita; its richest area, the Y a n g z i D e l t a ( p o p u l a t i o n roughly 31 million), probably p r o d u c e d b e t w e e n 12 a n d 15 lbs. per capita. T h e U K , even in 1800, p r o d u c e d r o u g h l y 13 lbs. o f cotton, l i n e n a n d w o o l cloth c o m b i n e d per resident, a n d C o n t i n e n t a l o u t p u t w a s p r o b a b l y b e l o w China's."'-
Pomcranz has also calculated that "the Lower Yangzi appears to have pro-
; pathbreaking work of Li
duced roughly as m u c h cotton cloth per capita in 1750 as the UK did cotton,
; representative of this new
wool, linen and silk cloth combined in 1800 - plus an e n o r m o u s quantity of
nomic development of the
silk." M In addition, as Maddison demonstrates, the Chinese G D P in absolute
>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<
During the protracted period of stop-and-go growth from 1873 to 1896 (what
Dominions. T r u e , Britain al
economic historians misleadingly used to call the "Great Depression"), the rate
ance, banking a n d foreign i n
of capital formation and the growth of productivity of both labor and capital in
c e n t of British trade credit i r
Britain began a dramatic slowdown. 74 She remained tied to old products and tech-
w o u l d have b e e n forced to al
nologies while behind their tariff barriers Germany and the United States forged
have been forced to slow t h
leadership in cutting-edge oil, chemical and electrical industries. Since British
e c o n o m y might otherwise Y
STS
T H E O R I G I N S OF T H E T H I R D
WORLD
297
- "more revolutionary in • equality and democratizCANADA
rdict, and was, of course,
-R-25KINGDOM
:bat Britain supplied to the tecessarily depended u p o n ; on the contrary, the slave 1 m o r e strategic streams of iustrial take-off in Britain, has argued that the spoils
CONTINENTAL EUROPE.-R — 1 ? — > • AUSTRALASIA
Georgian order in an age is small change compared 7
Only the Netherlands, it
: - the profits of its brutal
Arrows indicate flow of settlement
Figure 9.] World System of Settlements, 1910 (£ Millions) Source: S. Saul, Studies in British Oversea* Trade, IS70-1914, Liverpool 1960, p. 58.
incipient industrialization imports and overseas investment still dynamized local g r o w t h from Australia to n o m e n t " in the Victorian
Denmark, the potential "scissors" between UK productivity and consumption
i, b u t towards its end. "The
threatened the entire structure of world trade. It was in this conjuncture that the
^stments first m a d e in the
starving Indian and Chinese peasantries were wheeled in as unlikely saviors. For
influential history of Brit-
a generation they braced the entire system of international settlements, allow-
of the nineteenth century,
ing England's continued financial supremacy to temporarily coexist with its rela-
tton goods and w h e n other
tive industrial decline. As Giovanni Arrighi emphasizes, " T h e large surplus in the
7
ndee and steel producers in
Indian balance of payments became the pivot of the enlarged reproduction of
>-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 <
mous industrial structure in India." 78 Thanks to a "government stores policy that
As a result India's seaborne f<:
reserved most government purchases to British products and by the monopoly
1840 and 18S(5.K< In addition •
of British agency houses in organizing the import-export trade," India was forced
cultures of indigo, cotton, w!
to absorb Britain's surplus of increasingly obsolescent and noncompetitive indus-
tence crops. Part of this p r o d
trial exports.'7'; By 1910 this included two-fifths of the UK's finished cotton goods
prices in the metropolis a f t e
and three-fifths of its exports of electrical products, railway equipment, books
Between 1875 and 1900. year
and pharmaceuticals. As a result, observes de Cecco, Britain avoided "having to
annual grain exports increase
restructure her industry and was able to invest her capital in the countries where
.is Romesh Dutt pointed out.
it gave the highest return." Thanks to India, "British financiers were not com-
people. By the t u r n of the cc
pelled to 'tie' their loans to British exports because the Imperial outlet was always
wheal consumption as well
available for British products."* 0
during shortages on the Com
T h e subcontinent was equally important to the rentier strata. T h e climate-detonated crisis of English agriculture in the late 1870s and the subsequent decline of farm o u t p u t produced a sharp fall in agricultural rents in England and Wales from £53 million in 1876 to only £37 million in 1910.B1 Indian army and civil service sinecures were accordingly f a m o u s for rescuing the fortunes of Britain's landed aristocracy. But, as Cain and Hopkins have argued in making their case for a hegemonic "gentlemanly capitalism," even bigger spoils were returned to the middle
But Indian agriculture's system, from the Last India C was the income it earned in the 1880s and 1890s. the sul imbalances with Britain were cotton thread vis-a-vis the re; of India depended in large p
ISTS
THE
ORIGINS
OF T H E T H I R D
WORLD
299
classes of London and the H o m e Counties as government-guaranteed intereston railroad debentures and Indian bonds. "This constituency of s o u t h e r n invesermany, were able to con.•ritain's surplus with Asia, ivc been able to subsidise ut India and China in parinternational economy at ch Britain was able to earn lopment would have been
tors, and its institutional representatives in banking and shipping, fell in readily behind the flag of empire and gave full support to policies of free trade and sound money. If British rule in India was helpful to British industry, it was vital to British investment." H2 As Hobsbawm points out, "not even the free-traders w ished to see this goldmine escape from British control." 8 1 But how, in an age of famine, could the subcontinent afford to subsidize its conqueror's suddenly precarious commercial supremacy?*"' In a word, it couldn't, and India was forced-marched into the world market, as w e shall sec. by revenue
i world history, rising from >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<
importance in the Victorian world system that transcended other far larger flows
stantial surplus in the China ti
of commerce. If China generated only a tiny 1.3 percent of the total v o l u m e of
"Arrow" War - which increase
world trade in the late nineteenth century, it was nonetheless immensely valu-
was the turning point."" Brita
able to the British Empire, which monopolized fully 80 percent of China's foreign
by Victorian funrolm/ianii™ v
trade in the 1860s and 60 percent as late as 1899. (British firms, which controlled
imperium. "China," summari;
two-thirds of coastal shipping, also t o o k an important slice of China's domestic
through India, enabled Britaii
commerce.)"
Europe on which those cotmi
7
From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the East India C o m p a n y had
of the United States, capital ir
relied on opium exports f r o m Bengal t o Canton (which in 1832 earned a net
Moreover, China was fore
profit "at least fourteen times the prime cost") to finance the growing deficits
the British inspector-general <
generated by its expensive military operations on the subcontinent. By forcibly
a d e facto imperial proconsul
enlarging the Chinese d e m a n d for the narcotic and, thus, the taxes collected on
cign Office than did the British
its export, the two O p i u m Wars (1839-42 and 1856-58) and the punitive Treaty
cit became intractable by 188
of Tianjin (1858) revolutionized the revenue base of British India. "Opium," says
century ] showed a surplus; th
Opium ship-
roughly about 10 percent o f
ments from India reached a peak of 87,000 chests in 1879, the biggest d r u g trans-
annual imports o r just u n d e r
action in world history/"
ditional monopolies, tea was i
John Wong, "serviced the cost of imperial expansion in India."
88
This extraordinarily one-sided trade - in 1868 India supplied over 35 percent of China's imports but b o u g h t less than 1 percent of its exports - also subsidized the imports of US cotton that fueled the industrial revolution in Lancashire. 90 "The sale of Bengal opium to China," Latham explains, "was a great link in the chain of commerce with which Britain had surrounded the world. T h e chain worked like this: The United Kingdom paid the United States for cotton by bills upon the Bank of England. T h e Americans took some of those bills to Canton and swapped them for tea. T h e Chinese exchanged the bills for Indian opium. Some of the bills were remitted to England as profit; others were taken to India to buy additional commodities, as well as to furnish the money remittance of private fortunes in India and the funds for carrying on the Indian government at home."
91
W h e n , after 1880, the Chinese unofficially resorted to domestic cultivation of opium (an early example of "import-substitution") to reduce their trade deficit, British India found a lucrative new advantage in the export of factory-spun cotton yarn, which, as w e shall see, had a devastating impact on Chinese folk textiles.
o
while japancse silk competed India, China w a s unable to f deficit" via trade surpluses w incomes, like Britain, from it increasingly dependent u p o n nese emigrants in southeast . States."" Although the govern trade, it had little alternative "yellow peril'' that English v consequcncc of Asia's incre; Emigrant Chinese plantation anced England's accounts o n
USTS
T H E O R I G I N S OH T H E T I U R D
WORLD
n had a strategic economic
Moreover, in the later nineteenth century Britain herself started e a r n i n g a sub-
;nded other far larger flows
stantial surplus in the China trade for the first time. T h e Second O p i u m War - o r
cent of the total volume of
"Arrow" War - which increased British exports to China tenfold in a single decade
>netheless immensely valu-
was the turning point.''-1 Britain's dominant role in Chinese foreign trade, built
0 percent of China's foreign
by Victorian narcotrnficantcs with gunboats, t h u s leveraged the w h o l e free-trade
rish firms, which controlled
imperium. "China," summarizes Latham, "directly through Britain a n d indirectly
it slice of China's domestic
through India, enabled Britain to sustain h e r deficits with the United States a n d Europe on which those countries depended for export stimulus and, in the case
le East India Company had
of the United States, capital inflow to some degree."*'5
v'hich in 1832 earned a net
Moreover, China was forced at bayonet p o i n t to cede control over tariffs to
inance the growing deficits
the British inspector-general of the Imperial Maritime Customs Administration,
,e subcontinent. By forcibly
a de facto imperial proconsul w h o "came to enjoy more influence w i t h the For-
thus, the taxes collected on
eign Office than did the British Minister in Peking." 9 '' China's g r o w i n g trade defi-
-58) and the punitive Treaty
cit became intractable by 1884. " N o t a single year [in the rest of the nineteenth
British India. "Opium," says
century] showed a surplus; the average annual deficit rose to 26.6 million taels -•
3n in India." 8 " O p i u m ship-
roughly a b o u t 10 percent of the yearly total trade, but over 20 p e r c e n t of the
1879, the biggest d r u g trans-
annual imports or j u s t under 30 percent of the annual exports."" 5 A m o n g its tra-
a supplied over 35 percent of
while Japanese silk competed with the famous brands of southern C h i n a . Unlike
ditional monopolies, tea was undercut in the world market by Indian production exports - also subsidized the
India, China was unable to finance any of its "consistent and g r o w i n g overall
lution in Lancashire. 90 "The
deficit" via trade surpluses with a third party, n o r could it siphon compensatory
,vas a great link in the chain
incomes, like Britain, f r o m its overseas colonies. As a result, the Q i n g became
ie world. The chain worked
increasingly dependent upon foreign exchange remittances from 5 million Chi-
tes for cotton by bills upon
nese emigrants in southeast Asia, Oceania, Peru, the Caribbean and the United
f those bills to Canton and
Slates."" Although the government publicly expressed its disgust with the coolie
>ills for Indian opium. Some
trade, it had little alternative but t o collaborate in its expansion. T h e so-called
lers were taken to India to
"yellow peril" that English writers would help to popularize was t h u s a direct
ie money remittance of pri-
consequence of Asia's increasing subsidization of faltering British hegemony.
n the Indian government at
Emigrant Chinese plantation workers and railroad laborers, like Indian ryots, balanced England's accounts on their bent backs.
id to domestic cultivation of to reduce their trade deficit, xport of factory-spun cotton act on Chinese folk textiles.
302
LATK
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
THl:
Militarism and the Gold Standard
O R1(i
most under threat, over the v: we shall see later, their aband<
In addition to being at the losing end of the imperialism of free trade, the Indian
canal navigation, essential t o t
and Chinese economies were also throttled by military expenditures and the
predictably catastrophic c o n s
Gold Standard. In the Victorian era, no other m a j o r countries were forced to
later nineteenth century.
devote such excessive portions of their national income to war. India, already sad-
T h e two great nations o f .
dled with a huge public debt that included reimbursing the stockholders of the
m o n e t a r y system established
East India Company and paying the costs of the 1857 revolt, also had to finance
Standard in 1821, the rest oi
British military supremacy in Asia. In addition to incessant proxy warfare with
bimetallic system. Supply a n d
Russia on the Afghan frontier, ordinary Indians also paid for such far-flung adven-
only minor fluctuations in t h
tures of the Indian Army as the sacking of Beijing (1860), the invasion of Ethiopia
however, G e r m a n y shifted t o
(1868), the occupation of Egypt (1882), and the conquest of the Sudan (1896-98).
the rest of Europe and eventt
As a result, military expenditures were never less than 25 percent (or 34 percent
flooded the world market, d
including police) of India's annual budget, and viceroys were constantly search-
m a j o r nations outside the h e g
ing for creative ways to purloin monies for the a r m y from other parts of the
Standard after 1893.)
budget, even from the Famine Fund. Victorian England, on the other hand, never
As John McGuire has s h o \ \
expended more than 3 percent of its net national product on its army and navy,
tivriia and China, which f m a r
a serendipitous situation that considerably diminished domestic tensions over
of quasi-state influence o v e r
imperialism/ 7
her of C o m m e r c e enjoyed c
The Chinese case, of course, was even more extreme. From 1850 to 1873
silver had obvious advantage?
China was aflame with social and ethnic conflict on a scale that utterly dwarfed
nated in gold) to India increas
the contemporarv US War Between the States. As m o s t historians have recog-
declined in value. "From 187
nized, this carnage was largely rooted in the structural recession and increasing
value in gold of 100 to an inch
insecurity of existence that followed the First O p i u m War. T h e fiscal effects of
annual payments to London I
epic civil war. in turn, were e n o r m o u s / * T h e Taiping revolutionaries and their
ol state .s office, and so on - w
Triad allies for several years cut off Beijing from the revenues of half a d o z e n
cost Indians an additional t i e
southern provinces. Nian rebels simultaneously disrupted administration in large
Likewise it is estimated
parts of four northern provinces, while a Muslim revolt in Gansu and Shaanxi
purchasing p o w e r of the sib
grew into a nightmarish and immensely expensive w a r of ethnic extermination.
c o m m o n people. 1 " 2 While th
In the worst years, 75 percent of the imperial budget was expended on the main-
remained stable to the benefu
tenance of vast field armies (without, however, leading to real military modern-
was sharply inflated to the d(
ization.) 99 The staggering costs of their survival forced the Qing, in Pomeranz's
d c r b u r n pointed out: "Indiai
phrase, to "triage" state expenditure b e t w e e n regions. They ultimately chose to
famine: (a) domestic hoards
favor the coastal cities, where customs revenues were soaring but sovereignty was
the village moneylender, w h (
i
i
\
LISTS
T H E O R I G I N S O F THi- T H I R D
WORLD
.5 0 9
most under threat, over the vast subsistence e c o n o m y of inland n o r t h China. As m of free trade, the Indian :ary expenditures and the • countries were forced to ; to war. India, already sadng the stockholders of the revolt, also had to finance :essant proxy warfare with id for such far-flung adven0), the invasion of Ethiopia est of the Sudan (1896-98).
w c shall see later, their a b a n d o n m e n t of imperial mandates for flood control a n d canal navigation, essential to the ecological security of the Yellow River plain, h a d predictably catastrophic consequenccs when the ENSO cycle intensified in the later nineteenth century. The two great nations of Asia were also victimized by the new international m o n e t a r y system established in the 1870s. Although Britain adopted the Gold Standard in 1821, the rest of the world clung to either a silver standard or a bimetallic system. Supply and demand for b o t h metals w e r e relatively stable with only minor fluctuations in their exchange ratio. After defeating France in 1871, however, Germany shifted to'gold and was soon followed by the United States, the rest of Europe and eventually Japan. Vast quantities of demonetarized silver
i 25 percent (or 34 percent
flooded the world market, depreciating the currency of India a n d China, t h e
)ys were constantly search-
major nations outside the hegemonic gold bloc. (India b e g a n to move to the Gold
iy from other parts of the
Standard after 1893.)
.d, on the other hand, never
As John McGuire has shown, the London-based Chartered Bank of India, Aus-
>duct on its army and navy,
tralia and China, which financed much of t h e Indian trade, had t h e same kind
.ed domestic tensions over
of quasi-state influence over Indian monetary policy as the Manchester Chamber of Commerce enjoyed over Indian agriculture. Keeping the r u p e e tied to
treme. From 1850 to 1873
silver had obvious advantages for Britain, since the value of its exports (denomi-
a scale that utterly dwarfed
nated in gold) to India increased in value while its imports (denominated in silver)
nost historians have recog-
declined in value. "From 1873 to 1895 the value of the rupee fell f r o m an index
ral recession and increasing
value in gold of 100 to an index value of 64." 100 Since India's "home charges"- the
•n War. The fiscal effects of
annual payments to London for pensions, b o r d e r wars, public debt, the secretary
ig revolutionaries and their
of state's office, and so on - were fixed in gold, the devaluation of the silver rupee
e revenues of half a dozen
cost Indians an additional £105 million between 1874 and 1894.101
pted administration in large
Likewise it is estimated that the Gold Standard stole one-quarter of the
evolt in Gansu and Shaanxi
purchasing power of the silver ornaments that constituted the savings of the
;ar of ethnic extermination,
c o m m o n people. 102 W h i l e the gold-denominated export price of Indian grains
was expended on the main-
remained stable to the benefit of British consumers, their domestic cost in rupees
ing to real military modern-
was sharply inflated t o the detriment of the Indian poor. , ( U As Sir William Wed-
:ed the Qing, in Pomeranz's
derburn pointed out: "Indian peasants in general had three safeguards against
is. They ultimately chose to
famine: (a) domestic hoards of grain; (b) family ornaments; and (c) credit with
soaring but sovereignty was
the village moneylender, w h o was also the grain dealer. But towards the close of
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
THE ORIC
h o l o c a u s t s
hi China's case, the shock
the n i n e t e e n t h century all w e r e lost by t h e peasants." 1 0 4 E c o n o m i c historians celebrate the irony of impoverished Indians providing
t h e m o n e t a r y chaos inheritet
a How of cheap credit to Britain. W h i l e "at every harvest season," De Cecco
erless to stop t h e drain of sil
writes, "Indian interest rates w o u l d s h o o t u p to u n b e a r a b l e levels," British-owned
sition of the o p i u m trade, ;
Presidency banks "received deposits f r o m the g o v e r n m e n t and f r o m other public
c o p p e r supply in the 1860s w l
bodies w i t h o u t paying on t h e m o n e anna of interest." In addition, "The reserves
Accordingly. Beijing had to fi
on w h i c h the Indian m o n e t a r y system w a s based provided a large masse dc
p a p e r m o n e y a n d systematic
manoeuvre which British m o n e t a r y authorities could use to s u p p l e m e n t their o w n
lions. T h e d e b a s e m e n t of ca
reserves and t o keep L o n d o n t h e centre of t h e international m o n e t a r y system." 1 " 1
Yellow River provinces w h e
Kiishnendu Ray expands this point: "By preventing India f r o m t r a n s f o r m i n g its
c o p p e r (versus only 30 p e r c e
annual surpluses into gold reserves t h e India Office c o n t r i b u t e d towards keeping
still assessed in silver, the c o m
British interest rates low. English b a n k s w e r e able t o b o r r o w f r o m the India Office
e m p h a s i z e d - u n d e r c u t the si
2 p e r cent and reinvest on the L o n d o n m a r k e t at 3 per cent."
106
Even m o r e
importantly, m o n e t a r y policy w a s used, in Dieter R o t h e r m u n d ' s phrase, "to flush
t h e late 186(Js t o reclaim t h e ' t h e tax burden. K W
out India's produce." Until fiscal exigencies forced a partial d e m o n e t a r i z a t i o n of
T h e conversion of world t
silver in 1893, inflation greatly abetted t h e British campaign t o recruit peasants
C h i n a ' s external and internal
lo the p r o d u c t i o n of export crops like w h e a t , indigo, o p i u m a n d j u t e that helped
of silver p l u m m e t e d : "Withi
balance the Empire's accounts.
of its exchange value." 11 " S o advantage that cheaper intei
At an earlier time the Dutch had adopted a deliberate method of extracting cash crops from Java by circulating a large amount of worthless copper coins. In India the British did not have to do this deliberately because by simply keeping the mints open to the free flow of depreciating silver they got practically the same result. The management of credit facilitated the extraction of cash crops. By advancing money to the peasants who grew cash crops for export the British and their agents preempted the productive capacity of India's agriculture. The area under cash crops expanded even at times when food grain for home consumption would have fetched a better price. What was grown for export has to be rated as a cash crop in this context. The depreciation of the currency and the preemption of the productive capacity of vast parts of the country combined so as to achieve the miracle that India could export produce at "stable" export prices even at a time when severe famines tormented the country. By absorbing silver and exporting wheat at the lowest price India served as the buffer at the base of the world economy of the late nineteenth century.107
and Shanghai c o t t o n goods, m o r e expensive, which was p investment in China was also standard." 1 " Yet precisely because C h i o u t f l o w or "dehoarding" of s c o p p e r coinage that circulat gold in international trade ( t a n t export of coolie labor) v especially in t h e north. T h e o r d e r to pay t h e i r taxes they e x c h a n g e rates t h a n the priv in 1851, m o n e t a r y instability c e n t u r y later. 112
t h e
STS
o r i g i n s
oi- t h e
t h i r d
w o r l d
30 5
In China's case, the shock of t h e Gold S t a n d a r d in the late 1870s c o m p o u n d e d t h e m o n e t a r y chaos inherited f r o m the civil w a r s of t h e 1850s and 1860s. Pow-
-rished Indians providing irvest season," De Cecco
erless to stop the drain of silver t h a t the British had e n g i n e e r e d w i t h t h e impo-
iblc levels," British-owned
sition of t h e o p i u m trade, the Q i n g had also lost c o n t r o l of t h e i r domestic
ent and f r o m o t h e r public
c o p p e r supply in the 1860s when Muslim rebels seized t h e f a m o u s Yunnan mines.
In addition, " T h e reserves
Accordingly, Beijing h a d to finance its struggle for survival b y issuing worthless
•rovided a large masse de
p a p e r m o n e y and systematically r e m i n t i n g c o p p e r cash i n t o higher denomina-
t to s u p p l e m e n t their o w n
tions. T h e d e b a s e m e n t o f cash relative t o silver created particular h a v o c in the
onal m o n e t a r y system."' 0 5
Yellow River provinces w h e r e an estimated 99 percent of exchanges were in
dia f r o m t r a n s f o r m i n g its
c o p p e r (versus only 30 percent in t h e Yangzi Delta). 1 " 3 Since land r e v e n u e s were
n r i b u t e d towards keeping
still assessed in silver, t h e c o n t i n u i n g high price o f the m e t a l - as Mary Wright has
rrow f r o m t h e India Office
e m p h a s i z e d - u n d e r c u t t h e s u b s e q u e n t a t t e m p t of the T o n g z h i restorationists in
106
t h e late 1860s t o reclaim the loyalty o f the p e a s a n t r y t h r o u g h an amelioration of
5 p e r cent."
Even m o r e
t h e tax burden. 1 0 9
e r m u n d ' s phrase, "to flush artial d e m o n e t a r i z a t i o n of
T h e conversion of world trade t o the universal Gold S t a n d a r d aggravated both
npaign t o recruit peasants
China's external and internal exchange crises. First of all, t h e international price
.pium and j u t e that helped
o f silver p l u m m e t e d : "Within a g e n e r a t i o n , t h e tael had lost nearly two-thirds of its exchange value." 110 Some mercantile elites may have benefited f r o m the advantage t h a t cheaper international prices gave their exports, particularly tea a n d Shanghai cotton g o o d s . But " i m p o r t s f r o m gold-standard countries became
nethod of extracting cash ess copper coins. In India simply keeping the mints actically the same result, cash crops. By advancing lie British and their agents ire. The area under cash consumption would have i be rated as a cash crop in . •reemption of the producto achieve the miracle that at a time when severe famorting wheat at the lowest economy of the late nine-
m o r e expensive, which w a s particularly serious f o r railway d e v e l o p m e n t . Foreign investment in China w a s also discouraged, for fear of r e p a y m e n t in a depreciated standard.""1 Yet precisely because China's g r o w i n g c o m m e r c i a l d e b t was financed by the o u t f l o w o r " d e h o a r d i n g " of silver, silver's internal value actually rose vis-a-vis the c o p p e r coinage that circulated in village e c o n o m i e s . T h e country's shortage of gold in international t r a d e (partly c o m p e n s a t e d , as we have seen, b y the reluctant export o f coolie labor) was m i r r o r e d by t h e c o n t i n u i n g depreciation of cash, especially in the n o r t h . T h e r e t h e c o m m o n p e o p l e were also o u t r a g e d that in o r d e r to pay their taxes they had t o convert t h e i r copper t o silver at m u c h higher exchange r a t e s than t h e privileged gentry. A principal g r i e v a n c e of t h e Taipings in 1851, m o n e t a r y instability also h e l p e d fuel t h e Boxer Rebellion n e a r l y a half c e n t u r y later. 112
jkm
6
T i
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
thii
oric; I
T h e Myth of 'Malthusia'
of world population declined f
Forcibly imposed trade deficits, export drives that diminished food security, over-
while Europe w a s rising from 1
taxation and predatory merchant capital, foreign control of key revenues and
M o d e r n ease-sttidies coi r o b
developmental resources, chronic imperial and civil warfare, a Gold Standard that picked the pockets of Asian peasants: these were key modalities through which the burden of "structural adjustment" in the late Victorian world economy was shifted from Europe and North America to agriculturalists in newly minted "peripheries." But surely we must also concede that demography - especially in India and China where partible systems of inheritance were the rule - played a major role in undermining food security in the nineteenth century. Malthus is still a potent figure a m o n g at least the older generation of economic historians. Princeton's W. Arthur Lewis, one of the leading authorities on the nineteenth-century world economy, assumed as a matter of course in an influential 1978 study that the underlying cause of famine in Victorian India was not the "drain of wealth" to England as alleged by c o n t e m p o r a r y critics, but "a large population that continued to live at subsistence level on inadequately
like G. V. Josh in 1 890, who argr the fact of an alleged overpopu production." ( j o s h estimated d ' cated as revenue.) 1 '" If cultivate were relentlessly pushed o n t o crop failures w e r e inevitable, r "British land revenue system it after a careful inquisition of c< nue collectors' inflexible claims ants to cultivate marginal ianc situation where most of them 1 ductivity."' r Likewise contemporary sc
Similarly, the histori-
image of late imperial China £
ography of late imperial China has been haunted by the spectre of "agricultural
thusia" depicted by generation?
watered marginal lands, without a profitable cash crop."
113
involution" and the so-called "high-level equilibrium trap" - b o t h euphemisms for how the presumed population explosion of the eighteenth century squeezed arable land to the threshold of chronic famine. Recent scholarship offers a more complex picture of the relationship between demography and subsistence in Asia. (Malthus is not an issue in the cases of Brazil and Africa where land/population ratios were high and labor shortages chronic until at least the middle of the twentieth century.) As Charlesworth points out, "It is indisputable that land was, in absolute terms, hardly under great pressure from population in the Dcccan of the early British period." T h r o u g h the 1840s, at least, "only about half of the cultivable land in most Deccan districts, according to formal British estimates, was being tilled."11'1 Although population grew rapidly in the 1850s and 1860s, partly as a result of the cotton b o o m , the demographic m o m e n t u m came to an a b r u p t halt with the catastrophe of 1876. In India as a whole during the half century between 1870 and 1920 there was only a single decade (1880s) of significant population g r o w t h . (South Asia's percentage
recently, most scholars have a century population explosion lation. Demographic reductioi ing h o w population growth tl century (promoting a dvnami b e c o m e so grimly Malthusian tiviiy). (Esther Boserup. of c o argue that population increase and social progress. )"" Moreov graphic pressure alter the e n d China's population was no Hit was significantly lower."" Pomeranz, w h o has examir that population pressures alon worsened after the mid-nine' (comprising parts of Shandon
I
sts
1 mii o r i g i n s
oi- t h i :
t h i r d
w o r l d
of world population declined from 1750 to 1900 from 23 percent to 20 percent) nished food security, overitrol of key revenues and warfare, a Gold Standard •e key modalities through : Victorian world economy ilturalists in newly minted emography - especially in e were the rule - played a m t h century. ; older generation of ecoof the leading authorities is a matter of course in an nine in Victorian India was contemporary critics, but ;nce level on inadequately )p."
113
Similarly, the histori-
:he spectre of "agricultural trap" - both euphemisms ghteenth century squeezed
while Europe was rising from 17 percent to 2i percent. 115 Modern case-studies corroborate the position of nationalist critics of the Raj, like G. V J o s h in 1890. w h o argued that "the problem of India lies not so much in the fact of an alleged overpopulation as in the admitted and patent evil of underproduction." (Josh estimated that fully half of the net savings of India was confiscated as revenue.) 11 " If cultivators in the Deccan and other droughl-prone regions were relentlessly pushed onto marginal lands where productivity was low and crop failures were inevitable, the culprit was less likely overpopulation than the "British land revenue system itself." This is certainly the finding of Bagchi, who, after a careful inquisition of colonial agricultural statistics, argues t h a t the revenue collectors' inflexible claims on a high "average" harvest "compelled the peasants to cultivate marginal lands, a n d also forced them to 'mine' their land in a situation where most of them had few investible resources left to improve its productivity."" 7 Likewise c o n t e m p o r a r y scholars are dramatically revising the traditional image of late imperial China as a "demographic profligate": the hopeless "Malthusia" depicted by generations of economic theorists and d e m o g r a p h e r s . " s Until recently, most scholars have accepted fragmentary evidence for an eighteenthcentury population explosion that doubled or even tripled China's 1700 population. Demographic reductionists, however, have always had difficulty explain-
)f the relationship between ot an issue in the cases of ; high and labor shortages century.) As Charlesworth e terms, hardly under great -ritish period." T h r o u g h the d in most Deccan districts, id."11"1 Although population ilt of the cotton b o o m , the th the catastrophe of 1876. 870 and 1920 there was only th. (South Asia's percentage
ing how population g r o w t h that was clearly so "Boscrupian" in the eighteenth century (promoting a dynamic expansion of productive forces; could abruptly become so grimly Makhusian in the nineteenth (blocking all advances in productivity). (Esther Boserup, of course, inverted Malthus in a famous 1965 study to argue that population increase was really the motor, not the brake, of economic and social progress.)"" Moreover, there is little evidence for any increase in demographic pressure after the end of the Qing Golden Age. As Maddison points out, China's population was no higher in 1890 than in 1820 while per capita income was significantly lower. 170 Pomeranz, w h o has examined this issue in t h e context of north China, agrees that population pressures alone "do not explain why ecological problems greatly worsened after the mid-nineteenth century." His study area, the Huang-Yun (comprising parts of Shandong, Zhili and H e n a n around the intersection of the
l a t i: v i c t o r i a n
TIN-
h o l o c a u s t s
ORIG
G r a n d Canal and t h e Yellow River), "after the wars, floods and d r o u g h t s of the
Moreover, p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h <
1850-80 period ... d i d - n o t significantly exceed its 1840s p o p u l a t i o n until after
est a n d most e n v i r o n m e n t a l l y
1949"! IZI Moreover, t h e vast h u m a n losses of the Taiping revolution c r e a t e d a
tionships will t h u s figure p r o n
d e m o g r a p h i c v a c u u m in the middle and lower Yangzi that w a s refilled after
crisis and disaster vulnerability
1864 by millions of i m m i g r a n t s f r o m congested provinces, including H o n a n and
the self-acting, a r c h i m e d c a n Ur
1
torians.
Kiangsu. " T h e r e a f t e r famine and epidemic, followed by war and revolution, kept population g r o w t h in n o r t h China at a m i n i m u m until 1948.
The Irrigation Deficit
Recently s o m e experts o n Q i n g China, led by Princeton's F.W. M o t e and Martin Heijdra, have frontaliy challenged t h e o r t h o d o x view of a p o p u l a t i o n dou-
As P o m c r a n z p o i n t s out, E u r o
bling o r even tripling d u r i n g t h e eighteenth century. T h e y advance compelling
logical pressures at the b e g i n
a r g u m e n t s for a late Ming population of 250 t o 275 million, r a t h e r than t h e 150
resolve them w i t h the help ol
million conventionally a d o p t e d as a baseline circa 1700 for Q i n g d e m o g r a p h y .
e m i g r a t i o n and, eventually, ui
This implies a n annual g r o w t h rate of 0.3 percent (the same as India a n d less
o t h e r words, is less p o p u l a t i o n
than t h e world average) r a t h e r than t h e 0.6 to 0.9 p e r c e n t claimed in m o s t histo-
to escape its incipient " h i g h - l c
ries. 123 Moderate, r a t h e r t h a n exponential, p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h d u r i n g the G o l d e n
In addition t o the factors al
Age w o u l d perforce revise neo-Malthusian explanations of C h i n a ' s s u b s e q u e n t
frequently missing from his t o r i
nineteenth-century crises. As M o t e carefully explains:
ing t o P o m c r a n z ) the chief " e c tic E u r o p e at t h e beginning o f
A major implication of the proposed outline of Qing population growth is that it discredits what usually has been taken as die most significant demographic fact about Qing: the idea of a "population explosion" in the eighteenth century. That supposed phenomenon is given high explanatory value in relation to many social and political contexts. If, however, the population did not suddenly increase during that century, but started from a higher plateau and grew moderately, many social issues must then be otherwise explained, l-'or example, calculations using those earlier population figures in conjunction with equally suspect Ming and Qing figures for land in cultivation show a disastrous fall in the ratio of cultivated land to consuming population; the implicit crisis in that ratio of productive land to population must be reexamined. Related views about the "optimum population" of China, perhaps in itself a suspect notion, also must be reconsidered.... 124
fiber crops and timber, in h o t ! observes, "up to half of the pc have subsisted o n land w h e r e increasing agricultural o u t p u t ental despots.' a n d a major at the Mogul z e n i t h , had b e e n l investment in f l o o d control a n n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r v was c h a r a i merit. "Traditional water-harvesti l e g r a t e d and disappeared in la
Rejecting d e m o g r a p h i c d e t e r m i n i s m , of course, does n o t m e a n that p o p u -
[and] high rates o f land-tax le
lation regimes played n o role in China's nineteenth-century crisis. O n the con-
g a t i o n systems." 1 ' 7 Despite t h
trary, it is clear that the very success of agricultural intensification in the G o l d e n
nies of the P u n j a b , irrigation
Age e n c o u r a g e d excessive subdivision of land in m a n y regions as well as ecologi-
c u l t u r e until I n d e p e n d e n c e . Ir
cally destructive reclamations of previously uncultivated highlands and wetlands.
c o n t r o l , and g r a i n storage faci
i
t h e
LISTS
o r i g i n s
of
thi-
t h i r d
w o r l d
.5 0 9
floods and d r o u g h t s of the
Moreover, p o p u l a t i o n ' g r o w t h o f t e n seems t o have been c o n c e n t r a t e d in the p o o r -
840s population until after
est and m o s t environmentally vulnerable areas. Local p o p u l a t i o n - r e s o u r c e rela-
aiping revolution created a
tionships will thus figure prominently in s u b s e q u e n t discussions o f subsistence
ngzi that was refilled after
crisis and disaster vulnerability in north China. But p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h w a s hardly
inces, including H o n a n and
t h e self-acting, a r c h i m e d e a n lever of history i m a g i n e d by so many e c o n o m i c his-
by w a r a n d revolution, kept
torians.
il 1948. Princeton's F.W. M o t e and
The Irrigation Deficit
>x view of a p o p u l a t i o n dou-
As P o m e r a n z points o u t , Europe faced even m o r e severe d e m o g r a p h i c and eco-
/. T h e y advance c o m p e l l i n g
logical pressures at t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, b u t w a s able t o
million, r a t h e r t h a n the 150
resolve t h e m with t h e help of N e w World n a t u r a l resources, massive colonial
1700 for Q i n g d e m o g r a p h y ,
e m i g r a t i o n and, eventually, u r b a n industrialization. 1 2 5 T h e relevant question, in
(the s a m e as India a n d less
o t h e r words, is less p o p u l a t i o n pressure per se t h a n why W e s t e r n E u r o p e was able
rcent claimed in m o s t histo-
t o escape its incipient "high-level equilibrium t r a p " and Q i n g China wasn't.
n g r o w t h during t h e G o l d e n
In addition to t h e factors already highlighted, there is another variable that is
•ions of China's s u b s e q u e n t
frequently missing f r o m historical discussions o f " u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t . " If (according to P o m e r a n z ) t h e chicf "ecological b o t t l e n e c k " to e c o n o m i c g r o w t h in Atlantic Europe at the b e g i n n i n g of t h e nineteenth century w a s the inelastic supply o f
y population growth is that significant demographic fact he eighteenth century. That le in relation to many social not suddenly increase during ew moderately, many social calculations using those earspect Ming and Qing figures :io of cultivated land to con•roduciive land to population m population" of China, per12 1
red.... '
fiber crops a n d timber, in b o t h India and C h i n a it was water. As Patrick O'Brien observes, " u p to half of the populations of Asia, Africa, a n d South America m a y have subsisted on land w h e r e w a t e r supply constituted t h e key c o n s t r a i n t u p o n increasing a g r i c u l m r a l o u t p u t . " U 6 This was, o f course, c o m m o n s e n s e to "Oriental despots," and a m a j o r achievement of t h e Q i n g G o l d e n Age, as well as o f the Mogul zenith, h a d been the high sustained levels of state and village-level investment in flood c o n t r o l and irrigation. As w e shall see in detail, however, the nineteenth ccntury w a s characterized by the near-collapse of hydraulic improvement. "Traditional water-harvesting systems," e m p h a s i z e s David H a r d i m a n , "disintegrated and disappeared in large parts of India during t h e early colonial period
does not mean that popuh-century crisis. On the conintensification in the Golden my regions as well as ecologi/ated highlands and wetlands.
[and] high rates of land-tax left n o surplus for the effective m a i n t e n a n c e of irrigation systems." 1 2 7 Despite the later d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e celebrated canal colonies of t h e Punjab, irrigation in British India lagged b e h i n d expansion of agriculture until I n d e p e n d e n c e . In China, m e a n w h i l e , "irrigation, water storage a n d control, and grain s t o r a g e facilities were n o t e x t e n d e d o r improved b e y o n d their
3 10
LATE V I C T O R I A N
H O L O C A U S T STHEORIC
eighteenth-cenrury levels."128 Indeed irrigated acreage shrank from its Qing high point of 19.4 percent of the arable in 1820 to only 18.5 percent of the arable in 1952. In Brazil's drought-stricken Nordeste, there was no state support whatsoever fop irrigation. 129 This irrigation deficit undergirded the Malthusian illusion of helpless "involution" in China and elsewhere. W h e t h e r as a result of population pressure or displacement by export crops, subsistence in all three lands was pushed onto drier, often less productive soils, highly vulnerable to ENSO cycles, without parallel improvements in irrigation, drainage or reforestation to ensure sustainability. Modern irrigation-based revolutions in agricultural productivity in n o r t h e r n
India: The M<
India and north China (since 1960), as well as in the Nordeste (since 1980), only dramatize the centrality of water resources and the political capacities to ensure their development to any discussion of "carrying capacity" or "demographic ceilings."
Let u s g o to the us w h o can do so, m
More broadly, it is clear that any attempt to elucidate the social origins of
in h i s h o m e , a n d fii
late Victorian subsistence crises must integrally incorporate the relevant histo-
m a k e h i m unable t o
ries of c o m m o n properly resources (watersheds, aquifers, forests and pastures)
or o f .sobriety, o r o f
and social overhead capital (irrigation and flood control systems, granaries, canals
sober, the most f r u ;
and roads). In the case-study chapters that follow, I argue that ecological poverty -
face o f the earth.
defined as the depletion or loss of entitlement to the natural resource base of traditional agriculture - constituted a causal triangle with increasing /loifje/iold poverty and sfrttc decapacitation in explaining both the emergence of a "third world" and its vulnerability to extreme climate events. 130 If the history of British rule is this: there w a s no increase Indeed, in the last half of th< m o r e than 50 percent. 2 T h e r sense of the t e r m . "Static ov that output everywhere was always cancelled out by reg interspersed w i t h periods o h a n d in hand with declining the cotton-growing souther: at the end of t h e Raj had fa
1
USTS
; shrank from its Qing high S.5 pcrcent of the arable in is no state support whatsoillusion of helpless "invo: of population pressure or
Ten
/ee lands was pushed onto ENSO cycles, without paration to ensure sustainabilal productivity in northern
India: The Modernization of Poverty
Nordeste (since 1980), only political capacities to ensure acity" or "demographic ceilicidate the social origins of jrporate the relevant histo-
Let u s g o to the r o o t o f the matter. Let u s , o r those
of
u s w h o c a n d o so, m a r k the c o n d i t i o n o f the I n d i a n cultivator in his h o m e , a n d find o u t w h a t c a u s e s i m p o v e r i s h h i m a n d m a k e h i m u n a b l e to save. T h e r e a s o n is not a w a n t o f frugality,
uifers, forests and pastures)
o r o f sobriety, o r o f p r u d e n c e . T h e I n d i a n p e a s a n t is the m o s t
ol systems, granaries, canals
sober, the m o s t frugal, a n d the m o s t p r u d e n t p e a s a n t o n the
rgue that ecological poverty -
face o f the earth.
natural resource base of tra-
- Romesh Chunder Dutt
ith increasing household povnergence of a "third world" If the history of British rule in India were to be condensed into a single fact, it is this: there was n o increase in India's per capita i n c o m e from 1757 to 1947.1 Indeed, in the last half of the nineteenth century, income probably declined b y more than 50 percent. 2 There was no economic development at all in the usual sense of the term. "Static overall yield figures," Tomlinson adds, "do not m e a n that o u t p u t everywhere was stagnant, but rather that progressive forces w e r e always cancelled o u t by regressive ones, and that periods of dynamism w e r e interspersed with periods of enervation." 3 Celebrated cash-crop b o o m s w e n t hand in h a n d with declining agrarian productivity and f o o d security. In much o f the cotton-growing s o u t h e r n Deccan, for instance, per acre yields of food crops at the end of the Raj had fallen t o only two-thirds to one-half t h e average level
«
T 312
LATIi V I C T O R I A N
l.\l)l a:
HOLOCAUSTS
i 11 i-:
of 1870.4 Moreover in the age of Kipling, that "glorious imperial half century"
the imposition of Free T r a d e
from 1872 to 1921, the life expectancy of ordinary Indians fell by a staggering
it) even won formal instituti
20 percent, a deterioration in h u m a n health probably without precedent in the
the appointment ol Sir Loui:
subcontinent's long history of war and invasion.'
Cobden s assistant at the Boa
These dismal trends vindicate the often derided claim of nineteenth-century
Indian Olfice "to represent i
nationalists that British "Progress" was Indian ruin. Yet India's economic stagna-
trying to decipher codes of p<
tion under the Raj has puzzling aspects. Where were the fruits of modernization,
real s o w reigns ruled I rom N
of the thousands of miles of railroad track and canal? And where were the profits
h a m Palace. " T h e most blata
of the great export b o o m s that transformed the subcontinent's agriculture in the
imperial favoritism occurred
second half of the nineteenth century? Here, if anywhere in rural Asia, integra-
entire council to a c c o m m o d
tion into the world market should have resulted in significant local increases in
ing all import duties on Brit;
agricultural productivity and profitability Apart from the plantation crops of tea
m o r e revenue in a year of w
and indigo, most export production - opium, wheat, rice and cotton - remained
Maharashtra.
in native hands under a regime of m o d e r n property rights. British commissions
In the case o f Berar. the
and surveys, moreover, were forever applauding the saplings of Indian peasant
tling of the fw/ufcddri systen:
capitalism.
exercised managerial control
Yet, as macroeconomic statistics demonstrate, such prosperity was usually
ing communal irrigation a n c
ephemeral and quickly reabsorbed into the huge inertia of rural poverty. Peas-
that the upper castes had clai.
ant agriculture, even in the most dynamic cash crop sectors, remained radically
itself. After p u r g i n g the "dis
undercapitalized. Only moneylenders, absentee landlords, urban merchants and
years (1861-77) reorganizing
a handful of indigenous industrialists seemed to have benefited consistently f r o m
and 10.5 million acres of cul
India's renewed importance in world trade. "Modernization" and commercializa-
varient of the ryolwaii mod<
tion were accompanied by pauperization. Why this should be so is revealed by
western India, it was herakh
recent research (beginning with Laxman Satya's important case-study of Berar)
sions of the English yeomai
on the cotton- and wheat-producing regions that were both dynamos of India's
landlord with peasant t e n u r
late-Victorian export economy and epicenters of mass mortality in the famines of
punctual payment of rcvenu
the 1870s and 1890s.
T h e complicated red p r o gave way to b r u t a l and unihu
Cotton's Naked Misery
- "the characteristic feature!
Prised away from Hyderabad in 1853, the Marathi province of Berar, together
"standardization and sedenu
with the adjoining district of Nagpore, had been selected by the Cotton Supply
marketing of t h e cotton c r o |
Association - an a r m of the Manchester C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e - as platforms
chants who b e c a m e the cruc
for specialized cotton monoculture.
6
T h e Association wielded extraordinary
power over the reshaping of the Indian e c o n o m y in the wake of the Mutiny a n d
between the village world,
1
on local woven goods and a
ISTS
I N D I A : T i n ; M O D E R N I Z A T I O N OF P O V E R T Y
31 3
the imposition of Free Trade. In the ";870s the "millocracy" (as Karl Marx called
>us imperial half century"
i
idians fell by a staggering
;
it) even w o n formal institutional recognition in the government o f India with
without precedent in the
t i
the appointment of Sir Louis Mallet - "a doctrinaire free trader w h o served as Cobden's assistant at the Board of Trade" - as permanent under-secretary at the
jim of nineteenth-century
Indian Office "to represent Lancashire's interests." 7 Indeed to ordinary Indians
:t India's economic stagna-
trying to decipher codes of power within the Raj, it sometimes seemed as if their
le fruits of modernization,
real sovereigns ruled from Manchester's Royal Exchange rather t h a n Bucking-
\nd where were the profits
h a m Palace. "The m o s t blatant example," Stanley Wolpert points o u t , "of such
ntinent's agriculture in the
imperial favoritism occurred in 1 879, when Viceroy Lytton actually overruled his
here in rural Asia, integra-
entire council to accommodate Lancashire's lobby [the Association] by remov-
gnificant local increases in
ing all import duties on British-made cotton, despite India's desperate need for
the plantation crops of tea
more revenue in a year of widespread famine and tragic loss of life throughout
•ice and cotton - remained
Maharashtra." 8
ights. British commissions
In the case of Berar, the Association cncouraged the administrative disman-
saplings of Indian peasant
tling of the balutedari system through which dominant local clans o r castes had exercised managerial control over a complex network of social production includ-
ch prosperity was usually
ing communal irrigation and cotton weaving. T h e essence of the old order was
rtia of rural poverty. Peas-
that the upper castes had claims o n agricultural produce but did not o w n the land
hectors, remained radically
itself. After purging the "disloyal" leading families, the British spent seventeen
)rds, urban merchants and
years (1861-77) reorganizing the vast peasant universe of Bcrar (7,000 villages
)enefited consistently from
and 10.5 million acres of cultivatable land) i n t o the so-called fc/mrcrfari system. A
:ation" and commercializa-
varient of the ryotwaii model that had been imposed on most of southern and
hould be so is revealed by
western India, it was heralded as establishing the /dictators as sturdy Bcrari ver-
)rtant case-study of Berar)
sions of the English yeomanry. In reality the government became the supreme
c both dynamos of India's
landlord with peasant tenure, unlike Tudor England, strictly conditional upon
mortality in the famines of
punctual payment of revenue. The complicated reciprocities of the old balutedari system, Satva explains, gave way to brutal and unilateral relations of exploitation. Diversity and mobility - "the characteristic feature| s] of precolonial Berar" - w e r e replaced by coercive
rovince of Bcrar, together
"standardization and sedentarization." The collection of taxes as well as the local
cted by the Cotton Supply
marketing of the cotton crop e n d e d up in the hands of m o n e y l e n d e r / g r a i n mer-
Commerce - as platforms
chants w h o became the crucial intermediaries controlling almost all transactions
on wielded extraordinary
between the village world, Calcutta and Manchester. Meanwhile punitive taxes
le wake of the Mutiny and
on local woven goods and a flood of cheap English i m p o r t s in the wake of t h e
T 3 14
l a i'h v i c t o r i a n
INDIA:
h o l o c a u s t s
11 t H
arrival of the Great India Peninsular Railway destroyed domestic manufacture
in Bcrar. A society formerly
and forced ruined artisans into the fields as propertyless laborers. The railroad
unclothed by poverty as pe:
inflicted the same fate on most of the banjaras, the colorful and ethnically diverse
ratio to soaring exports ol r
stratum of traditional porters and carters.
Berari men were hall-clad, ;
9
selves in rags."" Although r
From a British perspective, the reengi nee ring of Berari society was a stunning
tion's export infrastructure,
success. By 1867 Berar alone was sending as much cotton to Manchester as all of Egypt, and cultivated acreage probably doubled by 1890.
10
feeder roads, n o n e <>f it p e r
But the khatedars and
conditions, especially the c
their tenants had no way to participate in the profits of the b o o m . Precisely as the
spread cholera and gastroint
Cotton Supply Association had intended, Beraris were captives of Lancashire's
food security was eroded b}
lopsided monopsony. As o n e agent of the Association explained in 1869, "Speak-
doubled its acreage in the las
ing generally, the cultivator w h o produces and sells the cotton cannot in any way
D u r i n g the famine of 1899-
regulate the market price. For this h e is dependent on the h o m e market and m a n y
tion, the province exported
causes which combine to raise and lower the price in Liverpool." 11 Berari cotton
incredible 747.000 bushels o
exports had been nurtured in the first place during the 1850s to buffer fluctua-
in the 1890s, the population
tions in the premium American cotton supply and ensure price stability for Lan-
dipped into t h e 15 years rai
cashire mills. "In short," Charlesworth explains, "British industry wanted Indian
the "extremely bad year" of
raw cotton as a sort of p e r m a n e n t twelfth man, always ready in the pavilion but
Bcrar was not unique,
only occasionally brought on to the field of play. This role hardly produced the consistency of demand necessary to p r o m o t e a more extensive commercial agri-
throughout the Deccan. Wi
culture." 12
of the 1877 Madras famine
T h e khatedars, in other words, were a contingent workforce for the Associa-
cultivation was "associated
tion, which had no intention of ever allowing them to wield any a u t o n o m o u s bar-
gressive crisis in agriculiuri-
gaining power within the international cotton market. Instead, they were sucked
heavy black volcanic soil w;
into a vortex of high taxes, chronic debt and subsistence instability. The khate-
driest cultivated districts in
dars with more resources attempted to escape from the debt trap by becoming
acres of average-quality lar
micro-exploiters themselves, and by the 1870s holdings were being fragmented
By the 1870s, however, m o
into smaller parcels and worked by subtenants known as b/irtgimirtrs. Satya esti-
of several thousand rich u
mates that the bhagindars paid rack-rents three- or four-fold greater than revenue
!
demands imposed on the khatedars. By the great droughts of the 1890s, the stra-
|
heavy metal ploughs pullec
t u m of authentically independent cultivators had been reduced to a minority,
i
ploughing. 1 * Before British harvest shortfalls with a d d
and at least 70 percent of the population were either impoverished bhagindars or
soldiering. Pax Victoria ex
landless laborers whose fates h u n g on the capricious dance of cotton prices in faraway exchanges. 12 This layering of exploitation had a devastating impact on overall welfare
b r o o k argues were almost <
I
commercial agriculture de~ Thus caught in a tighu
india:
usts
t h e
m o d e r n i z a t i o n
of
p o v e r t y
>yed domestic manufacture
in Ber.ir. A society formerly celebrated for its rich cotton fabrics was virtually
yless laborers. T h e railroad
unclothed by poverty as per capita textile consumption plummeted in inverse
•lorful and ethnically diverse
ratio to soaring exports of raw cotton. "Most Berari children w e n t naked, m o s t
•erari society was a stunning
selves m rags."1'1 Although massive sums o f capital were sunk into the Associa-
Berari men were half-clad, a n d a majority of the Berari women clothed t h e m tions export infrastructure, including railroad spurs, cotton yards, and metalled
>tton to Manchester as all of 890.
10
feeder roads, n o n e of it percolated to the village level where degraded sanitary
But the khatedars and
conditions, especially the contamination of drinking water by h u m a n waste,
)f the b o o m . Precisely as the
spread cholera and gastrointestinal disease as well as tuberculosis. Similarly, local
ere captives of Lancashire's
food security was eroded by the advance n o t only of cotton production (which
n explained in 1869, "Speak-
doubled its acreage in the last quarter of the-century) but of grain exports as well.
he cotton cannot in any way
During the famine of 1899-1900, when 143,000 Beraris died directly from starva-
the h o m e market and many
tion, the province exported n o t only tens o f thousands of bales of cotton b u t an
l Liverpool."" Berari cotton
incredible 747,000 bushels of grain. 15 Despite heavy labor immigration into Bcrar
the 1850s to buffer fluctua-
in the 1890s, the population fell by 5 percent and "life expectation at birth" twice
nsure price stability for Lan-
dipped into the 15 years range before finally falling t o less than 10 years d u r i n g
itish industry wanted Indian
the "extremely b a d year" of 1900.16
ays ready in the pavilion but lis role hardly produced the
Berar was not unique. Food security w a s also sacrificed to cotton export
e extensive commercial agri-
throughout the Deccan. Writing about the Bellary district, one of the epicenters of the 1877 Madras famine, David Washbrook observes that commercial c o t t o n cultivation was "associated n o t with a broadening prosperity, b u t with a pro-
it workforce for the Associa-
gressive crisis in agricultural production a n d social reproduction." 1 7 Although its
) wield any a u t o n o m o u s bar-
heavy black volcanic soil was ideal for short staple cotton, Bellary was one of the
;t. Instead, they were sucked
driest cultivated districts in India and, w i t h o u t irrigation, a family required 15-20
;tence instability. T h e khatc-
acres of average-quality land to produce its subsistence (in millet) and pay taxes.
l the debt trap by becoming
By the 1870s, however, most ryots were lucky to farm 7 acres, and only an elite
ings were being fragmented
of several thousand rich mmjitiflra (an emergent "magnate class" whom Wash-
wn as Wujgiwirtrs. Satya esti-
brook argues were almost entirely "made" by the colonial state) could afford the
mr-fold greater than revenue
heavy metal ploughs pulled by up to a d o z e n bullocks that were required for d e e p
oughts of the 1890s, the stra-
ploughing. 18 Before British direct rule, small farmers traditionally mitigated their
been reduced to a minority,
harvest shortfalls with additional family income f r o m stockraising and seasonal
• impoverished bhagindars or
soldiering. Pax Victoria excluded the mercenary option while the expansion of
dance of cotton prices in far-
commercial agriculture devoured pasture. 1 9 Thus caught in a tightening vise b e t w e e n their undersized farms and rising
y impact on overall welfare
V
3 1 6
l a t e
vic t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
I N D I A : T 11 I'
debt, small producers made the apparently surprising choice of substituting
[ T ] h e entile shift o f c o t t o i
cotton for millet, raising and selling the former in order to purchase the latter
as a m e c h a n i s m whereby, tl
from.grain merchants. Moreover they m a d e the switch in face of declining or stagnant cotton prices. "In straightforward terms," Washbrook writes, "this'deci-
magnate-creditors s o u g h t it market a n d to continue t o s m a j o r financiers and advan<
sion' would seem to make no sense as a subsistence strategy. It m e a n t producing
nate farmers were able to d
a crop whose relative value against grain halved across this period. It also involved
tage - u n p a i d family l a b o u r ,
its producers in a three-sided structure of risk: from the climate, f r o m the oscilla-
m o s t of the profits o f its w c
tion of grain prices and the oscillation in cotton prices which, being internation-
o n l y did the n e w e c o n o m i c
ally determined, were scarcely calculable in Bellary itself."
20
critically it cheapened it - i r
T h e decisive advantage of cotton - as we shall see again in the case of n o r t h China - was that "for land-short peasants, [its] higher returns per acre provided a
T h e Wheat Boom's H u n
better chance of approaching subsistence targets than did grain cultivation itself
T h e producing classes, to b e
- even if, at 9.5 necessary acres, the majority of small farmers would still not have
Indian commercial agricultt
been able to quite reach it." 21 C o t t o n o u t p u t was also more responsive to labor
study, the f a m o u s wheat b o
intensity than millet: desperate peasants (ignorant of marginal economics) could
p a r t of Madhya Pradesh) I
hope to increase their harvest incrementally by the application of massive quanti-
"almost unbroken agricultu
ties of unpaid family labor. But at all times, cotton-growing was a survival strat-
soil mining and crushing h o
egy wagered against the u n k n o w n variables of weather and the world market
"impetuous and auihoritari;
where the price of cotton from the US South generally determined demand for
sively pushed landowners (t
other varieties.
especially wheat. 2 ' Celebra
The peasantry's creditors, however, were eager to oblige the gamble. As small
Lancashire cloth that flooc
farmers - "more [in] response to economic adversity than to market opportu-
Bombay- Calcutta railroad,
nity" - turned towards cotton (which increased its percentage of the Deccan
using the railroad to export-
arable from 4 percent in the 1870s to nearly 12 percent in 1911),22 the "magnates,"
based exporters and their 1
who had dominated production during the bonanza years of the "cotton famine"
lagers cash advances if they
in the 1860s. abandoned cotton cultivation. In a parodic rebuke to British h o p e s
Narmada wheat, which
of an "improving yeomanry," they aggressively switched their assets in the oppo-
arrived in English grain e x
site direction from that predicted by Ricardian theory: f r o m cultivation to u s u r y
exports in the wake of t h e
and cotton-factoring. As Washbrook points out, it was simply easier for t h e m to
Russia was Britain's mam :
expropriate the agrarian surplus through the credit system and the m o n o p s o n y
season when other importc
of the grain market than to bear the risks involved in the direct organization of
tive re-export during grain
production:
t h r o u g h ihe good rainfall y disastrous c r o p failures in cultivator can now sell his
ITS
india:
t h e
m o d e r n i z
\ i" 1 o n o f
p o v u r t y
g choice of substituting
[ T ] h e entire shift o f c o t t o n p r o d u c t i o n f r o m large to s m a l l farms c a n be seen
ier to purchase the latter
as a m e c h a n i s m whereby, t h r o u g h the application o f u s u r y a n d " s e r v i c e " capital,
h in face of declining or hbrook writes, "this 'deci-
magnate-creditors s o u g h t to r e s p o n d Co the c o n d i t i o n s o f depression i n the cotton m a r k e t a n d to c o n t i n u e to s q u e e z e a healthy profit out o f the crop. B y a c t i n g as its m a j o r financiers a n d a d v a n c i n g it the factors o f p r o d u c t i o n w h i c h it lacked, m a g -
itegy. It meant producing
nate f a r m e r s were able to d r a w returns f r o m s m a l l f a r m i n g ' s one s u p p o s e d advan-
his period. It also involved
tage - u n p a i d family labour. T h e family n o w l a b o u r e d l o n g e r a n d harder a n d passed
climate, from the oscilla-
m o s t o f the profits o f its w o r k to the m a g n a t e s in interest p a y m e n t s a n d rents. N o t
which, being internationlf."
20
o n l y d i d the n e w e c o n o m i c s y s t e m " r a t i o n a l i z e " the d e p l o y m e n t o f labor, m o s t critically it c h e a p e n e d it - in this case, literally, to the price o f n o t h i n g . 2 3
igain in the case of north iturns per acre provided a
The Wheat Boom's Hunger
did grain cultivation itself
T h e producing classes, to be sure, fared little better in the other ieading sectors o f
rmers would still not have
Indian commercial agriculture. As D. E. U. Baker has s h o w n in a n o t h e r revealing
m o r e responsive to labor
study, the famous w h e a t b o o m in the Central Provinces' Narmada Valley (today
marginal economics) could
part of Madhya Pradesh) f r o m 1861 to 1890, officially heralded as a reign o f
lication of massive quanti-
"almost unbroken agricultural prosperity," was in reality subsidized by destructive
s i n g was a survival strat-
soil mining and crushing household debt. In the decade following t h e Mutiny, the
ler and the world market
"impetuous and authoritarian" administration of Sir Richard Temple had aggres-
y determined demand for
sively pushed landowners (milguzars) into commercial production of cotton a n d especially wheat.-' 1 Celebrated local handicrafts had been ruined by the cheap
blige the gamble. As small
Lancashire cloth that flooded north-central India after the completion of t h e
than to market opportu-
Bombay-Calcutta railroad, and farmers were encouraged to save themselves by
jercentage of the Deccan
using the railroad to export the soft wheat that British millers preferred. Bombay-
in 1911)," the "magnates,"
based exporters and their local malguzar agents went door-to-door offering vil-
ars of the "cotton famine"
lagers cash advances if they would grow wheat rather than millet and gram. 2 5
lie rebuke to British hopes
Narmada wheat, which began to reach Liverpool via the Suez Canal in 1S71,
ed their assets in the oppo-
arrived in English grain exchanges just in time to buffer the decline of Russian
: from cultivation to usury
exports in the wake of the emancipation of the serfs (1873 was the last year t h a t
; simply easier for t h e m to
Russia was Britain's main grain supplier), ft stabilized the price of flour in the
fstem and the monopsony
season w h e n other imported grains were scarce and provided a reserve for lucra-
. the direct organization of
tive re-export during grain shortages on the Continent. Demand g r e w steadily through the good rainfall years of the 1880s, reaching a peak in 1890-91 after t h e disastrous crop failures in Russia. Proud British officials boasted that "the smallest cultivator can now sell his produce direct to the agent of a European firm at t h e
T
3 18
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
INDIA:
IIIi:
not in touch with their t e n a r m a n who rented then shop* accompanied by a progrcssiv producers. As early as T e m p depletion of local grain stool reported g r o w i n g immiserati Even more than in the c o upon precarious climatic a n d sized, the soaring export d e r expansion of cultivation i n t o millets, where harvests w e r e monsoons from 1884 to 189^ by ecological crisis as the rail and commercial wheat acreaj F i g u r e 10.1
mada's cattle. "By 188.T 84 t h
T h e U n d e r s i d e o f the W h e a t B o o m
were becoming too expensive price current in the world's market." 2 6 Meanwhile "traders in grains speculated
m a n u r e shortage (aggravate
wildly" and land prices skyrocketed. In the main export districts, like Saugor,
resort to cattle droppings as
wheat occupied two-thirds of the acreage once devoted to subsistence grains.
27
Behind the facade of prosperity, however, official policies had inexorably laid a
ther reduced productivity. Eii ject to famine" and that loca
"basis for an agrarian crisis between 1891 and 1901 that created famine, wrecked
to build, the government n e g
the wheat economy, and exposed the Central Provinces to bankruptcy." 28 Once
the rural population in the ex
again the inflexible revenue demands of the government drained capital from the
Mass vulnerability t o d i s a j
countryside and put tenants at the mercy of a top stratum of maiguzars who,
government u n d e r t o o k a dra.
no longer bound by any of the patrimonial obligations of the pre-British village system, ruthlessly combined the functions of moneylender and grain merchant. As smaller landowners defaulted, moreover, this elite acquired direct ownership
Wheat E
of a vast swathe of the iMarmada wheat belt. Baker estimates that "by 1889 m o r e than half the malguzari area transferred in the Central Provinces since settlement had passed to moneylending castes, and 47 percent of the revenue on land sold since settlement was being paid by moneylenders." 2 9 The wealth generated by usury and rackrenting was almost entirely parasitic,
I S71-7C I S76-.8 I
IS81- 8
]S<>1 -9<
with negligible productive reinvestment in cattle, irrigation or farm equipment. Indeed, "absentee landlords did not normally visit their villages, and were thus
Source: F r o m Hatvuv, h
INDIA:
ISTS
Tin;
M O D E R N I Z A T I O N O F P O V E R T Y313
n o t in t o u c h with their tenants, w h o w e r e n o m o r e i m p o r t a n t to t h e m than t h e m a n w h o rented their shop> 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<
pampas together with high-quality wheat from the canal colonies of the Punjab
modities. T h e c o n d i t i o n s i n
and the western United Provinces. (Argentine wheat exports surged from 4.1 million bushels in 18S9 to 28 million in the early I S90s.) T h e impact on local produc-
this area c a m e u n d e r c o l o r m o r e m a r k e d in d r o u g h t a n
ers - especially the heavily indebted tenants cultivating inferior soils - was nothing short of catastrophic: by the eve of the great drought of 1896, Narmada's 3 1
"export of wheat, g r a m and millets had b e c o m e insignificant." " Saddled with h u g e debts, carrying the b u r d e n of exorbitant revenues, and n o w locked o u t of the world market, the peasantry of the Central Provinces was already in a free fall w h e n the rains stopped. Just as the Berari cotton growers ended up naked, the famous wheat farmers of Narmada were living off imported millet and rice by the beginning of the twentieth century. Famine, as Navtej Singh and others have shown, was also the underside of the export b o o m in the wheat-growing regions of n o r t h e r n India. Although the "irrigation revolution" in the Victorian Punjab (predecessor to the "green revolution" a century later) is usually cited as the Raj's most unqualified success in sponsoring indigenous agrarian capitalism, the reality was considerably grimmer. 3 5 Certainly some of the big landlords in the canal colonies spectacularly enriched themselves through the wheat exports, but their capital was quickly diverted into usury and grain-trading. "The object of the merchant-moneylender," points out Neeladri Bhattacharya in a discussion of debt in the Punjab countryside, "was not to earn interest as such, but to control prices of purchase and sale, and ensure regular channels for the supply and disposal of commodities." 3 6 Like the elite malguzars in Narmada, they discovered that it was more profitable to b e c o m e 5/iflJmfcar.s or middlemen than to act the role of improving farmers as prescribed by British political economists. Meanwhile, the majority of small zamindars and their labor-
As in the Central Provinces, n o t guarantee their own f a i r a n d the prospect of governr shortages and pushing price: o f exports increased the vul n o r m a l times and harvest fa Starvation also quickly f< in Bihar. Here the reluctant t h r o u g h the so-called assan were hated throughout e a s t contempt for the law. T h e w h o m they would use to cc As early as 1866, peasants c o m m o n front against the ii sistence agriculture, "in she: right of cultivation have be. less grain producing land, a which for the last few year h u m a n lives...." As an otfici; indigo - a net loss of 150,( m a r g i n between survival ai Fisher points out. "why t h e
ers faced radical n e w insecurity: "the commercialization of agriculture merely
g r o w i n g lowlands like Bet
increased their indebtedness and consequent poverty."
peculiarly liable to famine."
T
;TS
:ssed on the basis of speeds this amounted to a 50 would last forever," mon-
IM)IA: THE MODERNIZATION
O V POVERTY
32 1
T h e y w e r e generally indebted to the s h a h u k a r s w h o c o m p e l l e d them to t h r o w their p r o d u c e at a low m a r k e t price a n d thus acted as c o m p u l s o r y m i d d l e m e n . I n m a n y cases, the s h a h u k a r s financed the cultivation o f these c r o p s a n d carried t h e m away from the z a m i n d a r s ' t h r e s h i n g f l o o r s as s o o n as the h a r v e s t i n g was d o n e . T h e peas-
ure credit. Then, as Nar-
ants w e r e robbed not o n l y b e c a u s e o f l o w prices but o f false weight m e n ts b y these
:ir British buyers suddenly
shahukar-tradcrs. It m a y also be n o t e d that the s h a h u k a r s financed a g r i c u l t u r e in
grain from the Argentine
order to have control o n tiie p r o c e s s o f fixation o f prices o f the agricultural c o m -
lal colonies of the Punjab ports surged from 4.1 mil-
modities. T h e c o n d i t i o n s in the south-east o f the p r o v i n c e w e r e the w o r s t because this area c a m e u n d e r colonial c o n t r o l l o n g b a c k in 1809 a n d was c o m p a r a t i v e l y m o r e m a r k e d in d r o u g h t a n d p o v e r t y e n v i r o n s . 3 '
le impact on local producl inferior soils - was nothiUght of 1896, Narmada "s gnificant." 3 '' Saddled with >s, and n o w locked out of nces was already in a free jwers ended up naked, the iported millet and rice by
As in the Central Provinces, the cultivators w h o put bread on English tables could not guarantee their o w n families' subsistence. "The e n o r m o u s [market] demands and the prospect of g o v e r n m e n t purchases led to speculative hoarding, creating shortages and pushing prices to famine levels. Depletion of stocks as an o u t c o m e of exports increased the vulnerability of the exporting areas to famines both innormal times and harvest failures." 38 Starvation also quickly followed on the heels of the celebrated indigo b o o m in Bihar. H e r e the reluctant peasantry was forcibly married to the world market,
s also the underside of the n India. Although the "irnr to the "green revolution" lified success in sponsoring rably grimmer. 3 5 Certainly ularly enriched themselves
through the so-called (usmm'vvflr system, by British compulsion. "The planters were hated throughout eastern India because of their racial arrogance and t h e i r contempt for the law. They maintained small private armies of strong m e n , w h o m they would use to cocrce the peasantry, forcing them to g r o w indigo." 59 As early as 1866, peasants in the drought-stricken rice lands had organized a c o m m o n front against the indigo planters w h o m they blamed for displacing sub-
dy diverted into usury and
sistence agriculture. "In short the paddy and bhit land in which the ryots had a
nder," points out Neeladri
right of cultivation have been converted into indigo lands. Thus there has b e e n
mtryside, "was not to earn
less grain producing land, a decrease in the quantity of grain has b e e n the result
id sale, and ensure regular
which for the last few years has caused scarcity and famine, and thousands o f
"3* Like the elite malguzars
h u m a n lives...." As an official report later corroborated, the 220,000 acres u n d e r
blc to become j/ia/mfcars or
indigo - a net loss of 150,000 acres of grain - in n o r t h Bihar represented t h e
•.rs as prescribed by British
margin between survival and famine in a b a d year "This also explains," Colin
1 zamindars and their labor-
Fisher points out, " w h y the m o s t spectacular indigo agitations occurred in rice
ition of agriculture merely
growing lowlands like Bettiah, Sitamurhi, and Madhuban, areas which w e r e peculiarly liable to famine."4*1
?2 2
LATE V I C T O R I A N
1 NDI
HOLOCAUSTS
Nor, finally, did India's most notorious export crop - opium - guarantee full bellies to its producers. Any profit to the cultivator was again intercepted by khatadars who purchased the poppy harvest on behalf of the g o v e r n m e n t (who "rarely m a d e less than 100% net profit") at a fixed price, then loaned money for tax payments and household consumption at usurious rates. " Binay Chaudhuri summarizes the three evils which weighed on the Bengali peasantry: "the lowness of the price paid for crude opium; the increasing rigour of the Government in collecting arrears resulting from crop failures; [and] the uncontrolled exactions by the khatadars and zamindars." Although Bengal was spared the cataclysm of drought in 1876-77, the failure of the poppy crop in 1878 and the refusal of Calcutta to remit taxes nonetheless brought famine to many doorsteps. 4 2 Peasants in other export sectors, including ground nuts, oilseeds and tobacco, could tell similar stories; only the special cases of j u t e cultivation in Bengal and some of the deltaic paddy-growing districts seemed to have offered small farmers any opportunity to exploit price trends o r draw a profit f r o m world markets.' 13
T i l li
cers between high lard value o n the other. In his iulluenti; finds that the commci cializa have been often an artificial a o u t genuine g r o w t h .
|Thc]
significant advances m p r o d u Bipan Chandra, the British r immobilized society. "
T h e Colonial StateIt was the state itself, as N a tiques, that ultimateiv ensut f r o m export b o o m s to d i r e b u d g e t largely financed by t agriculture a n d education, £
Far more commonly, cash cropping, especially in the drier interior regions, w e n t
while devoting a full third t o
hand in hand with rural immiseration and the decline of food security. As Ragha-
observe two of the H e w e c
van shows in another case-study of the Narmada Valley, financial entanglements
w o r k s at a lower rate than t h
in export markets tended to reinforce "'traditional' causes of peasant differentia-
the Princely States. Moreove
tion: rainfall, local price fluctuations, and the structure of landholding in t e r m s of
over time, in India they p e a k pared to a progressive and in
the quality of the soil hcld."' : ' ; The situation was little different with commodities primarily grown for the domestic market. Although native crude sugar (gur) was famously lucrative,
shillings per capita on cducat m c n i in " h u m a n capital" ( o n
small-scale cultivators in the eastern United Provinces were caught in a seasonal
was a miserable p i t t a n c e . L ;
trap - a coincidence of labor and revenue demands - that forced t h e m to hypoth-
considers to be the tvpical <
ecate their crops (and potential profits f r o m market fluctuations) to merchants
Bombay Deccan where the ;
and rich-peasant traders. "Far f r o m leading to surplus accumulation, sugarcane
in taxes but returned only 2,
cultivation in Gorakhpur [district] barely enabled the majority of the peasants to
a n d a rundown school.'11
reproduce their conditions of economic existence on a year to year basis. It was
(On the extractive side, Ri<
the importance of sugarcane as a cash-raising and debt-servicing crop, rather than
of producers' subsistence. Ii
its value as a surplus accumulator, that imbued it with a special role in the small-
i n t o modernizing market-oi
peasant economy of Gorakhpur in the late nineteenth century.'
MS
In the absence of urban e m p l o y m e n t alternatives or productivity-raising inputs to agriculture, cultivators across India were increasingly caught in a pin-
settlements instead subjugai lenders and nouveaux riches a n d Indian local practice w a
»T S
- opium - guarantee full jvas again inicrcepted by of the government (who e, then loaned money for rates. 41 Bin.iy Chaudhuri igali peasaniry: "the lowigour of the Government he uncontrolled exactions is spared the cataclysm of
I N D I A : T H E M O D E R N I Z A T I O N O F P O V i RTY
J23
cers between high land values and interest rates on one side, and low crop prices on the other. In his influential overview of the history of the Raj, Sumit Sarkar finds that the commercialization of Indian agriculture "emerges o n analysis to have been often an artificial and forced process which led to differentiation witho u t genuine growth.... [The] built-in tendency of the entire system [was] against significant advances in productive technology and organization." ,r> 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
HOLOCAUSTS
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<
debtor relationship," Bagchi continues, "was easily transformed into one in which
of the ryot. T h e y looked leu
the debtor delivered up whatever surplus produce he had to the creditor. The
sowkar's serf.
creditor became Ins landlord, and de facto the master of his whole family."52 Brit-
Mercantile exploitation <
ish rule, which replaced traditional patrimonial obligations with the inflexible
of production, and Baker's <
enforcement of debt laws, provided massive institutional support for this system-
applied to most of latc-Vict<
atic pillage of the direct producers. "The colonial state was fully aware," writes
plus from agriculture tried f
Kaiwar, "that this kind of relationship was inimical to development, [but] did
were many apprentice dcsp(
little to bring capital into a productive relationship with landed property. The
500,000 by the 1 870s) and w e
colonial state [thus] came to resemble a classic agrarian bureaucracy rather t h a n a
tal for eminently neoclassica
capitalist state." 53 Guilty post facto initiatives to prevent the total expropriation of
gressively more 'economica
the peasantry (like the famous Deccan Act, which followed the anti-bmti
cion and the natural' decline
1875) typically went hand in hand with revenue settlements and court decisions
r a t h e r than to p u t valuable c
that bolstered the power of the very same creditors.
"creditors gave o u t 'loans' in
^TS
I N D I A : T H E M O D E R N I Z A I ION OF P O V E R T Y
325
[n the late-nineteenth-century Bombay Deccan, for example, the annual process of revenue collection began with the i m p o u n d i n g of grain in village stockyards. In order to eat from their own harvest, the ryots had to immediately borrow m o n e y to pay off the taxes. Typically the moneylenders b o u g h t the crop at half of the current market value but lent m o n e y at a usorious 38 percent interest. 51 If the peasant was unable t o promptly repay the principle, t h e exorbitant rates of interest ballooned to astronomical dimensions. "I r e m e m b e r one case which came before me," wrote a f o r m e r district officer, "in which a cultivator was sued for 900 rupees, principal and interest, the original debt being only ten rupees worth of grain, b o r r o w e d a few years previously." 55 W h e n ryots balked at payment, Indian courts applied English civil law against, t h e m with the deadly efficiency of a Maxim gun. (Indeed, as L y t t o n s critic, Lt.Col. Osborne, emphasized in 1879, British rule in India was "so hard and mechanical in its character" that "to the great mass o f the people, the English official is simply an enigma ... a piece of machinery possessing p o w e r s to kill and tax a n d imprison.") 56 Lord Elgin's land transfer investigation in 1895 revealed that fully a fifth of the land in the Bombay Deccan was held by "non-agriculturalist moneylenders": b o t h indigenous brahmins and Marwaris f r o m Rajasthan. 57 As the produce of rhe land with
Famine Commission of 1901 itself admitted, while the authors o f the Bombay
it certain that a n u m b e r of
revenue system "expected the accumulation of agricultural capital," in operation
every year." "The creditor-
"their plans did not p r o m o t e thrift, nor did they conduce to the independence
nsformed into one in which
of the ryot. They looked for the capitalist cultivator; and [instead] we find the
te had to the creditor. T h e
sowkar's serf." 5s
of his whole family." 52 Brit-
Mercantile exploitation of the small cultivator was a ubiquitous relation
i«ations with the inflexible
of production, and Baker's characterization of Tamilnadu undoubtedly can be
•nal support for this system-
applied to most of late-Victorian India: "Virtually everyone who realized a sur-
ite was fully aware," writes
plus f r o m agriculture tried his hand at trade and moneylending, a n d thus there
. to development, [but] did
were many apprentice despots." 59 As we have seen, the moneylenders (at least
with landed p r o p e r t y T h e
500,000 by the 1870s) and wealthy landowners were profoundly anti-developmen-
,n bureaucracy rather than a
tal for eminently neoclassical reasons. As Washbrook points out, "It became pro-
nt the total expropriation of
gressively m o r e 'economically rational' to sustain accumulation t h r o u g h coer-
lowed the anti-banw riots of
cion and the 'natural' decline in the share of the social p r o d u c t accorded to labour
ements and court decisions
rather than to put valuable capital at risk by investment." 6 0 Likewise, Baker adds, "creditors gave out 'loans' in order to be able t o secure dependents and it would
32 6
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
have been foolish to m a k e 'loans' which, by improving the productivity of the debtor's land, helped him to b e c o m e more independent." 6 1
1 n i) i a : t h li
d u n g was t u r n e d into a revem As in Britain itself (so f a m e
Although the British regularly denounced the "parasitism" of the moneylend-
the enclosure o f c o m m o n re
ers and grain speculators, they were both father and m o t h e r t o the system. T h e
ecology. As a n g r y Berar farm<
vast majority of smallholders could neither make production decisions indepen-
tivator is now put to expenses
dent of lenders nor take any advantage of market trends. "In these circumstances
pays more for his cattle t h a n h
I not surprisingly] peasant agriculture had n o chance of developing into capitalist
place he likes to provide h i m
62
As Kaiwar reminds us, it was not so much the rich peasant, zamindar
H e has now to practically ex)
or khatedar w h o failed to play the prescribed theoretical role of a n "improving
and the grass with which h e a
landlord" as the colonial state itself. 63
merely cut and carried as it us
Victorian Enclosures
managed; by t h e end of t h e
Village economy in India, as elsewhere in monsoonal Asia, augmented crops and
agents of the state. 6S For p l o u
handicrafts with stores of free goods f r o m c o m m o n lands: dry grass for fodder,
tial for wood, b u t also for le
shrub grass for rope, w o o d and dung for fuel, dung, leaves and forest debris for
the British had been concern<
fertilizer, clay for plastering houses, and, above all, clean water. Ail classes utilized
tion might be m a k i n g the clit
these c o m m o n property resources, but for poorer households they constituted
m a n reminds us, was "to assui
farming."
Until 1870 all forests (20 p
the very margin of survival. In an outstanding study of a contemporary Gujarati
shipbuilding, urban construct
village struggling with seasonality and drought, Martha Chen has shown h o w
already consumed a million ti<
decisive nonmarket resources and entitlements remain for laborers and small
for fuel. The second Indian F
farmers. "Standard definitions of work, worker and income," she writes, "do not
unoccupied o r waste lands be
capture how poor households generate livelihoods." In the village of Maatisar
lively depriving villagers t h r o
(which she visited during the severe drought of 1985-87) fully 70 percent of the
sequence for millions of villa
fuel and 55 percent of the fodder requirements of the poor are provided from free
l u m b e r had b e c o m e so scarcc
sources. The forest and pasture commons, which altogether generate thirty-five
their carts and ploughs so t h e
different useful products, "not only serve as a buffer against seasonal shortages, but also contribute to rural equity." 64
according to the season."1 T h e cash-crop boom g r e a
T h e British consolidated their rule in India by transferring control of these
as Christopher Baker points c
strategic resources from the village community to the state. ' A m o n g all the
develop the remaining areas c
interventions into village society that nurtured the Anglo-Indian empire," David
right, and thus tried to separ
Ludden argues, "dividing public from private land stands out as the most impor-
This was the "great running s<
tant." 65 C o m m o n lands - o r "waste" in the symptomatic vocabulary of the R a j -
cultivators, the 'big men,' c o
were either transformed into taxable private property o r state monopolies. Free
the government had looked tl
goods, in consequence, b e c a m e either commodities o r contraband. Even cow
1860s had deforested the f u t u
ISTS
; the productivity of the "61
INDIA:
Tin;
MODERNIZATION
OF
POVERTY
3
1
d u n g was turned into a revenue source for Q u e e n Victoria." 6 As in Britain itself (so famously described by Marx in Volume O n e of Capita/),
itism" of the moneylend-
the enclosure of c o m m o n resources deeply u n d e r m i n e d traditional household
o t h e r to the system. T h e
ecology. As angry Berar farmers told the Famine Commission in 1881: "The cul-
action decisions indepen-
tivator is n o w put to expenses which in f o r m e r times h e did n o t know.... He n o w
5. "In these circumstances
pays m o r e for his cattle than he did yore, and h e can no longer fell a tree from any
developing into capitalist
place he likes to provide him with a shaft for his plough, o r a yoke for his oxen.
ne rich peasant, zamindar
He has n o w to practically expend coin where before he needed only to labour,
:al role of an "improving
and the grass with which he annually thatches his hut has n o w to b e b o u g h t , n o t merely cut a n d carried as it used t o be." 07 Until 1870 all forests (20 percent of India's land area) h a d been communally managed; by the end of the decade, they w e r e completely enclosed by armed
isia, augmented crops and .
agents of the state. 68 For plough agriculturalists the forests were not. only essen-
mds: dry grass for fodder,
tial for wood, but also for leaf manure and grass and leaf fodder. 69 Although
eaves and forest debris for
the British h a d been concerned since the late eighteenth century t h a t deforesta-
n water. All classes utilized
tion might be making the climate more arid, their overriding interest, as Hardi-
iuseholds they constituted
man reminds us, was "to assure a continuing supply of w o o d for imperial needs":
f a contemporary Gujarati
shipbuilding, urban construction and, above all, the railroads which by the 1860s
tha Chen has shown h o w
already consumed a million ties a year for track, as well as vast quantities of wood
ain for laborers and small
for fuel. T h e second Indian Forest Act of 1878 "allowed the authorities to take
come," she writes, "do not
unoccupied or waste lands belonging to villages into the reserved forests, effec-
In the village of Maatisar
tively depriving villagers t h r o u g h o u t India of their c o m m o n lands." 7 " T h e con-
-87) fuily 70 percent of the
sequence for millions of villagers was an acute wood famine. Indeed in Berar,
?oor are provided f r o m free
lumber h a d become so scarce by the 1870s that khatedars ingeniously designed
)gether generate thirty-five
their carts and ploughs so they could be assembed from t h e same pieces of wood
against seasonal shortages,
according to the season. 7 '
ansferring control of these
as Christopher Baker points out in his study of Tamilnad, the British "aimed to
The cash-crop b o o m greatly increased the demand for forest resources, yet, the state. "Among all the
develop the remaining areas of m a j o r forest as economic resources in their own
nglo-Indian empire," David
right, and t h u s tried t o separate t h e m off f r o m the plains agrarian economy."
mds out as the most impor-
This was the "great r u n n i n g sore o f Madras administration," and "only the richer
atic vocabulary of the Raj -
cultivators, the 'big men, 1 could afford to bribe the forest officials." 72 Although
:y or state monopolies. Free
the government had looked the o t h e r way w h e n the Madras Railways in the late
s o r contraband. Even cow
1860s had deforested the f u t u r e famine districts of Salem, Cuddapah and North
3
T 32x
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
INDIA:
Arcot. illegally cutting down hundreds of thousands of trees, the Forest Act of
TH
ated irresistible pressure o n
1878 (crafted by B. Baden-Powell to remove all ambiguity a b o u t the "absolute
Punitive g r a z i n g taxes (whi
proprietory right of the state") was ruthlessly wielded against the survival econ-
off the land, while cultivate
o m y of the poor. 73
leases, even patelships. 77 ' X
Even in the midst of the most terrible famines, as in 1899, the foresters pie-
vided the f r a m e through v
vented local residents from gathering fodder for their dying cattle or firewood
Within this regime of p r o p
to heat their homes. Vaughan Nash, the Guardian's famine correspondent, cas-
classified a n d fixed. Within I
tigated the forest guardians for the fodder famine that destroyed the Deccan's
unintelligible and illegitima
plough oxen and cattle. "The Forest D e p a r t m e n t has a pretty long queue of sins
Radical changes in social
waiting at its door for the day of reckoning, and so have the Indian railway com-
logical transformations. Th<
panies [who refused to haul fodder], and the two of t h e m may n o w apportion the
tion and long fallow, w h i c h
responsibility as best they may for the catastrophe which has robbed India o f her
became difficult to maintaii
cattle." 74
numerous. "More than a n y
The British also cut off c o m m u n a l access to grassland resources and dissolved
use of agricultural bullocks
the ancient ecological interdependence of pastoralists and farmers. While the
1850 and 1930 the ratio o f p
fundamental agricultural division in China lies between the n o r t h e r n w h e a t belt
declined, m a k i n g it almost
and the southern rice lands, India is divided roughly along the eightieth merid-
capita agricultural output. 7 "
ian between the humid, rice-growing cast and the dry western interior where
rated as expert nomad cattle
wheat and millet are the staples. Here extensive agriculture, s o m e of it shifting
o m y M Similarly, the govern
and semi-nomadic, interacted for centuries with a vast pastoral economy linked
resistant fodder crops. 81 K;i
to Central Asia. Great margins of uncultivated grassland buffered intercultural
n u m b e r s in the Deccan fell
contact and invited physical mobility. "The labour force moved constantly over
several million more, with i
short and long distance in the everyday conduct of subsistence, to work land,
in some districts." After c o
trade, fight, tend animals, flee drought, seek water, open and defend territory."
75
" w o m e n were seen to be p u cast Punjab. Ki
Far from a backland, Rajasthan and the western Deccan were the hearth of the warrior elites, both Hindu and Muslim, who created a series of formidable
T h e decline in labor p r o c
empires from the twelfth century onward. Indeed, Jos G o m m a n s has recently
cattle was m a t c h e d by a cor
claimed, "it w a s . . . the inner frontier of the Arid Z o n e that molded South Asian
ing shortage o f fertilizer. Ii
history." 76
was depicted o f nitrogen. "1
After 1857, however, the British pursued a relentless campaign, especially in
dilemma that had vexed th
the Deccan, against n o m a d s and shifting cultivators w h o m they labeled as "crim-
should scarce cattle dung bi
inal tribes." Although the agroecology of the Deccan for centuries h a d ' b e e n
c o t t o n and o t h e r export c r o
dependent u p o n the symbiosis of peasant and nomad, valley agriculture a n d hill-
soils of the Deccan vaileys.
slope pastoralism, the colonial state's voracious appetite for n e w revenue gener-
could produce only one-thii
\ 0
T
;TS
I N D I A : T H E M O D E R N I Z A T I O N OP
POVERTY
119
if trees, the Fores i Act of
ated irresistible pressure on the ryots to convert "waste" into taxable agriculture.
^uity about the "absolute
Punitive grazing taxes (which tripled between 1870 and 1920) drove pastoralists
against the survival ccon-
off the land, while cultivators w e r e lured into the pastoral margins with special leases, even patelships. 77 "Landed tenures," Neeladri Bhattacharya writes, "pro-
in 1899, the foresters pre-
vided the f r a m e t h r o u g h which the pastoral tenurial structure was conceived.
• dying cattle or firewood
Within this regime of property, all rights to land were segregated, fragmented,
imine correspondent, cas-
classified a n d fixed. Within it the rights claimed by n o m a d i c pastorafists appeared
at destroyed the Deccan's
unintelligible and illegitimate." 78
i pretty long queue of sins
Radical changes in social relations were accompanied by equally sweeping eco-
ye the Indian railway com-
logical transformations. T h e traditional Deccan practices of extensive crop rota-
may n o w apportion the
tion and long fallow, which required large f a r m acreages and plentiful manuring,
ch has robbed India of her
b e c a m e difficult to maintain as t h e land b e c a m e more congested a n d cattle less
.nd resources and dissolved
use of agricultural bullocks was vital to efficient farming operations." Between
n u m e r o u s . "More t h a n any single asset, in t h e dry-crop regions of Bombay, t h e ts and farmers. While the
1850 and 1930 the ratio of plough cattle to cultivated land in the Deccan steadily
sn the n o r t h e r n wheat belt
declined, m a k i n g it almost impossible, according to Charlesworth, to raise p e r
along- the eightieth merid-
capita agricultural output. 7 9 At the same time, the quality of bullocks also deterio-
Iry western interior where
rated as expert n o m a d cattlebreeders were deliberately squeezed o u t of the econ-
culture, s o m e of it shifting
omy.^ Similarly, the g o v e r n m e n t did little t o sponsor t h e planting of drought-
st pastoral economy linked
resistant fodder crops. 81 Kaiwar estimates that between 1843 and 1873 cattle
sland buffered intercultural
n u m b e r s in the Deccan fell by almost 5 million. The 1876-78 drought killed off
>rce moved constantly over
several million more, with cattle populations p l u m m e t i n g by nearly 60 percent
subsistence, to w o r k land,
in some districts." After comparable destruction during the 1896-97 drought,
pen and defend territory." 75
" w o m e n were seen to be pulling the plough" in districts like Hissar in the south-
Deccan were the hearth of
east Punjab." 3
iated a series of formidable
The decline in labor productivity entailed by fewer and less powerful plough-
Jos G o m m a n s has recently
cattle was matched by a corresponding fall in soil fertility because of the grow-
ne that molded South Asian
ing shortage of fertilizer. Irrigation water alone was of little value if the soil was depleted of nitrogen. T h u s Indians, for t h e first time, had to confront t h e
[less campaign, especially in
dilemma that had vexed the Chinese in the Yellow River plain for centuries:
whom they labeled as "crim-
should scarce cattle d u n g be used as fertilizer or fuel? By the 1860s, moreover,
:can for centuries had been
cotton and other export crops w e r e displacing cereal agriculture f r o m the fertile
d, valley agriculture and hill-
soils of the Deccan valleys. In m o s t cases the light soils converted from pasture
etite for n e w revenue gener-
could p r o d u c e only one-third of the average jowar (millet) yield o f the heavier,
330
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
I N D I A ; T 11 L- i\
gram) in crop rotation, a s t r a i maximized s h o n - t e r n i i n c o m e dar, crushed b e t w e e n g r o w i n g o n e district official explained, <. crop t o o often o r to grow it o sion of cereals.' As a result, c pasture but even the t r a d i t i o n s ing. C o u n t i n g every square inauctioned off village c o m m o r mission to build homes, whicf cut i n t o agricultural land a n d j Finally, in m o s t of India • c o m m o n resource. "Generally, w a t e r resources." In British c c w a t e r rights w e n t along with I Figure 10.3 "Women pulled ploughs after the cattle died..."
H a r d i m a n emphasizes, "this n to t h e w a t e r on it. In this way, t
valley soils. T h e s e p o o r e r quality soils e r o d e d rapidly and soon b e c a m e useless for
excluded from access to w a t e
agriculture o r even grazing. By t h e e n d of t h e colonial period, n o less than 38 per-
m a n a g e m e n t structures." s s Ta:
cent of the soil in the Deccan w a s e s t i m a t e d to be "highly eroded."*' " C o m m e r -
q u e n c c (as ,Satya points out in
cialised agriculture, in t a n d e m with a largely subsistence-oriented cultivation of
scarcity became a problem a n c
foodgrains," observes Kaiwar, " p r o d u c e d a particularly intensive regime o f soil
cattle alike."*'1 T h e refusal o f tl
depletion and erosion." S 5 Eroded soils, of course, retained less r u n o f f and thus
a smoldering grievance, not ot
increased vulnerability to d r o u g h t . It is n o t surprising, then, t h a t food security was most t e n u o u s in districts like P o o n a a n d Sholapur w h e r e t h e largest acreages of land f o r m e r l y classified as "uticultivable" had been reclaimed for grain in compensation for c o t t o n p r o d u c t i o n o n t h e g o o d soils. Both districts w e r e epicenters of famine and resistance in 1876 and again in 1899. 86 In t h e c o t t o n districts, overcultivation in the face of declining soil productivity w a s a structural p r o b l e m over which peasants had scant control, "The poverty in Berar," Satya says, was "directly related t o the fate of culturable w a s t e lands u n d e r survey." C o t t o n cultivation is, of course, n o t o r i o u s all over t h e world for its rapid depletion of soil nutrients a n d its insatiable d e m a n d for virgin soil. Everyw h e r e in the Deccan, moreover, c o t t o n supplanted nitrogen-fixing l e g u m e s (like
The Decline of Indigenous British rule in India, according the m o s t extraordinary act o f degree unheard o f and u n t h o T h e c o u n t r y has b e e n covcred bridged, 9000 m i l e s of railwa structed.... [I]t is n o t the least m e n t of all this w o r k , and t h e c to an extent absolutely incalc India, have added nothing to tl
>TS
INDIA: Till; M O D E R N I Z A T I O N
OT
POVERTY
gram) in crop rotation, a strategy, dictated by revenue demands a n d debt, that maximized short-term income at the cost of longer-term soil fertility. T h e khatedar, crushed between growing debts and revenue obligations, had little choice, as one district official explained, except "to exhaust h\s land, by repeating his cotton crop too often or to g r o w it over t o o large a surface to the almost entire exclusion of cereals." As a result, cotton or displaced food grains took over not only pasture but even the traditional public spaces reserved for threshing a n d winnowing. Counting every square inch as potential tax base, the British privatized and auctioned off village c o m m o n land. Villagers even had to beg government permission to build homes, which "was seldom given for the fear that t h e buildings cut into agricultural land and jeopardized the government revenue." 8 7 Finally, in most of India water had always been a communally managed c o m m o n resource. "Generally, there was no n o t i o n of selling titles to land and its water resources." In British c o m m o n law as witlessly applied to India, however, water rights w e n t along with land titles as private property. "In effect," as David Hardiman emphasizes, "this m e a n t that only those who o w n e d land had a right to the water on it. In this way, all those who did n o t hold colonial land-deeds were nd soon became useless for
excluded f r o m access to water ... [leading to] the collapse of traditional water
period, no less than 38 per-
management structures." SR Tanks and wells w e r e also privatized, with the conse-
ghly e r o d e d . " C o m m e r -
quence (as Satya points out in the ease of Berar) that "for the first t i m e ... water
nce-oriented cultivation of
scarcity b e c a m e a problem and this caused e n o r m o u s hardship to the people and
ly intensive regime of soil
cattle a l i k e . T h e refusal of the state, in turn, t o support local irrigation became
ained less runoff and thus
a smoldering grievance, not only in Berar, but everywhere in interior India.
g, then, that food security where the largest acreages
The Decline of Indigenous Irrigation
reclaimed for grain in com-
British rule in India, according to Sir Richard a n d General Sir John Strachey, was
th districts were epicenters
the most extraordinary act of charity in world history. "India has obtained, to a degree unheard of and u n t h o u g h t of before, protection for life and property....
of declining soil productiv-
T h e country has been covered with roads, her almost impassable rivers have been
scant control. "The poverty
bridged, 9000 miles of railway a n d 20,000 miles of telegraphs have been con-
; of culturable waste lands
structed.... [I]t is not the least remarkable part of the story that the accomplish-
ous all over the world for its
m e n t of all this work, and the expenditure of all this money, which have increased
n a n d for virgin soil. Every-
to an extent absolutely incalculable the wealth and c o m f o r t of the people of
itrogen-fixing legumes (like
India, have added nothing to the actual burden of taxation." 90 Although he would
i 1
0
L A T E V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U 5 I'S
332
have scoffed at the Stracheys' claims about Indians' "wealth and comfort," even Marx was impressed by the scale of railroad construction and the speed with which India was being integrated into the world economy. For liberal and nationalist critics of the Raj, on the other hand, the railroads - a captive, publicly subsidized market for English steelmakers and locomotive builders - were the chief symbol of Calcutta's misplaced priorities. Public w o r k s in post-Mutiny India were driven first by the exigencies of military control and, second, by the demands of export agriculture. 9 1 O n the eve of the 1876 famine, 29 percent of Indian public-works capital was invested in military installations in contrast to only 21 percent for irrigation, canals and drainage. ("Our soldiers' barracks," boasted the Stracheys, "are beyond comparison the finest in the world.") 9 2 T h e railroad system, meanwhile, c o n s u m e d (to 1880) thirteen times as m u c h investment as all hydraulic works. As the pro-irrigation lobby led by Sir Arthur Cotton and Florence Nightingale protested during the 1876-77 famine: " N o w we have before our eyes the sad and humiliating scene of magnificent Works [railroads] that have cost p o o r India 160 millions, which are so utterly worthless in the respect of the first want of India, that millions are dying by the side of them." 9 3 (Gandhi, echoing this critique, would later denounce the railroads that "depleted the countryside of its [food] stocks and killed the handicrafts" as an underlying
to water the fertile soils of the rian hydraulic engineering, a n American West. They have als experts on Indian ag ricuitural 1 For his part, Ian Stone has c canals brought relative prosper lions of northern farmers." 7 Lili the canals which replaced well logical disaster. They might h cane, but at h u g e , unforeseen age, for example, the capillary : surface, leading to such extens superintendent o f the Geologi were on the verge of b e c o m i later, it was estimated that s o n farmland - an immense area lated in clumps upon i t s s u r f a o In addition, wherever flush tional well irrigation, the n e w J water tables or lateral seepage
9 1
cause of famine.) '
T h e irrigationists eventually succeeded in lobbying Parliament to appoint a select committee to investigate their claims that the Indian government's exorbitant promotion of railroads was partially to blame for the recent famine, but the committee rejected their analysis as well as their proposal for a comprehensive canal system. Instead, the Secretary of State for India, Lord Salisbury, reaffirmed that railroads were the best safeguard against hunger and would continue to receive the lion's share of public investment. As a result, only about a fifth of public works expenditure in the 1880-95 period f o u n d its way to major irrigation projects, 90 percent of which were concentrated in the Punjab and the Northw e s t Provinces (later, United Provinces), where canals watered commercial crops like cotton, opium, sugar cane and w h e a t and financial returns to the government were therefore highest.
i N D I A: I'll [• N
95
As puny as they might have been in comparison t o the
vast capital sunk in the railroad network (only 11 percent of the cropped area of India was irrigated in 1921),
96
the canals that tapped the Ganges and Jumna Rivers
cases, the water tables fell a n d concedes, peasants' efforts to s brick were opposed by landow any improvement that might This was especially so in Bula the proprietors ' n o t only failct been directly and actively des: is almost universal practice fen masonry and half-masonry or, : Canal embankments, m o r e water in swamps, creatcd idea tos. T h e canal districts, conseq incidences of malaria, India's doubt that death a n d debilitatio
INDIA: Till: M O D E R N I Z A T I O N
STS
01-'
POVERTY
vealth and comfort," even
to water the fertile soils of the D o a b plain w e r e nonetheless the pride of Victo-
iction and the speed with
rian hydraulic engineering, a model for emulation in Australia, Palestine and the American West. They have also b e e n the subject of m u c h controversy amongst
>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<
107
The
exorbitant revenue rate on irrigated land, ten to fifteen times the assessment of
irrigation" - especially deep ti the Green Revolution, partic.u mid-1960s.) I,s Although such founts of ig trayed native irrigation as n o veled at the skill with which prtion to the needs of semi-arid
dry farmland, discouraged peasants f r o m using irrigation for anything b u t cash
\ «
INDIA:
ISTS
theory was firmly estab
Tin;
M O D E R N I Z A T I O N OF
POVERTY
3
13
crops. 108 Alternately, as Kaiwar points out, "villagers found it best to abandon the irrigated fields [altogether] and concentrate on lower-taxed unirrigated fields." As
contra Stone) export-on
a result of perverse water-pricing disincentives, "there w e r e in 1875, three major
tion of Jdmrif crops, acpu
irrigation works [in the whole Bombay Deccan] capable of supplying water to
irally speaking, canal irri
41,150 acres, but only 457 acres were actually being irrigated!" 109
of scarcity by expanding
If, then, "even the best channel-watered villages had few signs of wealth." and
kerned to be the reverse,
"most of the people were forced t o seek the moneylender's help and were in
with the stimulus of the
debt," the situation was m u c h worse in British-ruled areas that still relied on tra-
n the late 1870s."
102
Simi-
ditional well and tank irrigation. 11 " In stark contrast to the practice o f the native
developmental objectives
states as well as the old Mogul tradition of subsidizing well construction, ryots
:ns f r o m a state-controlled
in British India who sank wells at their own expense on their own land were
Jir. T h o m a s Higham, chief
punitively taxed 12 rupees per year. 111 Indeed, the British enthusiasm for revenue-
on Commission, "but they
generating irrigation in the Doab and the P u n j a b was counterbalanced by their
should be the end and aim
the hydraulic backbone of agriculture in w e s t e r n and southern India since the
ns hearings after the 1877
early medieval period. 112 T h e Raj, Hardiman observes, "placed a low value on any
ary of state always treated
irrigation system which the peasantry themselves were responsible for." 1 1 '
disregard for the small-scale, peasant-managed irrigation systems that had been
a shopkeeper in London
Yet m o d e r n studies of "industrial" versus "indigenous" irrigation in India and
whether he should open
elsewhere in monsoon Asia have shown an inverse relationship between the scale
is W h i t c o m b e emphasizes,
of the system, on one hand, and productivity (output per unit of land over time)
the Central Provinces and
and efficiency (output per unit of energy), o n the other. Indigenous irrigation
.'xpectalion of profitability
systems, according to many m o d e r n developmental economists, avoid the prob-
re miles devastated by the
lems of salinization and mosquito-borne disease associated with t h e big canal
• and the Centra] Provinces,
complexes and are generally "(1) m o r e efficient in the use of energy, capital, and
1-irrigated farmland in the
natural resources; (2) have more stable yields over the long t e r m ; and (3) are more equitable in terms of opportunities, benefits, a n d risks.""' 5 (Indeed, it was "minor
:er rates, and their protests
irrigation" - especially deep tube wells - that "played a pivotal role in ushering
ce. "There is nothing more
the Green Revolution, particularly in Punjub, Haryana and Western UP." in the
J. O'Donnell, "than a scien-
mid-1960s.) 115
>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
HOLOCAUSTS
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 <:
tropical meteorologist w h o observed t h e Madras d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of 1789-92 at
... as a reserve against d r o u g h t
close h a n d . In his official r e p o r t o n the famine, he praised precolonial irrigation
all s u b s e q u e n t pleas (like H. M
systems and openly worried that India w a s b e c o m i n g m o r e arid and drought-
t e m p o r a r y p a m p h l e t s ) after th<
p r o n e as a result of their d e t e r i o r a t i o n . " s In the 1850s C o t t o n , p e r h a p s the great-
canal projects t o t h e repair of n
est connoisseur of indigenous engineering, r e s u m e d the critique of this "most
the appeals of R o m e s h Dutt a
u n a c c o u n t a b l e neglect." In up-country Salem district (an epicenter of mortality
newly established Famine F u n d
in 1877) he e n u m e r a t e d the scale of a b a n d o n m e n t with characteristic precision:
1877-78 t o 1896--7 there is n o e
"8,864 wells, 21S dams, 164 small channels and 1017 small tanks." In Madras as
that p a r t of the F u n d which w n
a whole, he estimated that 1,262,906 acres of once-irrigated land had reverted
Yet at the s a m e time, as Bak
into uncultivated w a s t e . " 0 In 1865 the Madras g o v e r n m e n t rejected the advice o!
mission after a n o t h e r c h u r n e d •
Cotton's friend William W e d d e r b u r n to continue "the system p u t into place by
the rapidly deteriorating local
the native rulers in the Ceded Districts which granted a reduction in the land-tax
reported on the g r e a t famine c
rate to induce the ryots to u n d e r t a k e the repairs themselves." 1 2 0
on t h e urgent n e e d for irrigati
In the Bombay Deccan, meanwhile, a century of warfare h a d already done
It r e c o m m e n d e d a reform of tf
m u c h d a m a g e to the tens of t h o u s a n d s of wells and tanks (small reservoirs),
to i m p r o v e the condition of tl
but British negligence w a s worse. As Bagchi has s h o w n , t h e Bombay govern-
Restoration S c h e m e . Although
m e n t completely abdicated public expenditure on irrigation d u r i n g the first quar-
approved the S c h e m e , and u r j
ter c e n t u r y of direct rule. 121 In the f a m i n e year 1877-78, g o v e r n m e n t loans for
equipped with m e n and funds,
local irrigation i m p r o v e m e n t s "hardly exceeded a t h o u s a n d p o u n d s for the whole
ment, a n d had already been a b c
Presidency of Bombay."
122
Radical M P H e n r y Fawcett c o m p l a i n e d in The Times:
C o n d i t i o n s w e r e no differeni
INDIA:
ISTS
Tin;
MODERNIZATION
OF
POVERTY
313
i d e m native rulers for i h c
" H o w is it t h a t there are so m a n y ruined t a n k s and disused canals in a country
r s o u t h o n e g o e s , a n d the
which has o f t e n to d e p e n d o n t h e m not only f o r the c r o p s b u t for t h e cattle? A
i r b i n g influence o f foreign ; m o f agriculture a n d irrio f s u p p l y w a s utilised, a n d i k s ('reservoirs] have b e e n ,, but for exceptional rainid c o m b i n e d , w a s also car-
sad misgiving has o f t e n suggested itself that t h e f o r m e r r u l e r s of India, if not s o g r e a t or s o p o w e r f u l , yet h a d m o r e of that s i m p l e craft a n d h o m e l y benevolence which s h o w t h e m s e l v e s in storing t h e rain a n d diverting t h e t o r r e n t t o the first necessities of man." 1 2 3 O n t h e eve of the g r e a t famine, t h e g o v e r n m e n t ' s archives were b u l g i n g with ignored c o r r e s p o n d e n c e o n t h e irrigation crisis. S o m e oi' t h e most knowledge-
. w a s the subject of peren-
able observers, disagreeing with C o t t o n ' s e m p h a s i s on m a j o r projects, advocated
i e g o v e r n m e n t in Calcutta,
t h e subsidization of traditional, b u l l o c k - p o w e r e d well irrigation with its intensive
le Hast India C o m p a n y for
focus o n careful w a t e r i n g and m a n u r i n g . In a prescient 1874 report, Sir Allan
nsuring higher famine mor-
Octavian H u m e (later t h e f o u n d e r o f t h e I n d i a n National C o n g r e s s ) urged the
3urke's line of criticism w a s
g o v e r n m e n t , as an alternative to costly canals t h a t did not benefit p o o r peasants,
npany surgeon and pioneer
to u n d e r t a k e a crash p r o g r a m of " i n n u m e r a b l e small w o r k s , tanks a n d reservoirs
DUght-famine of 1789-92 at
... as a reserve against drought." 1 2 4 But Calcutta ignored H u m e ' s p l a n as well as
raised precolonial irrigation
all s u b s e q u e n t pleas (like H. M. H y n d m a n ' s a n d John Dacosta's in s e p a r a t e con-
n g m o r e arid and drought-
t e m p o r a r y p a m p h l e t s ) a f t e r the 1876-78 catastrophe to s h i f t the f o c u s from big
s C o t t o n , p e r h a p s t h e great-
canal projects t o the repair of traditional wells a n d reservoirs. 1 2 5 It also disdained
d the critique of this "most
t h e appeals of R o m e s h D u t t and o t h e r m o d e r a t e nations lists who w a n t e d the
:t (an epicenter of mortality
newly established Famine Fund t o s u p p o r t local irrigation: " D u r i n g t h e period of
vith characteristic precision:
1877-78 t o 1896-7 there is n o evidence that s u c h works w e r e constructed out of
7 small tanks." In Madras as
that part of t h e Fund w h i c h was allocated for protective p u b l i c works." 1 2 6
:-irrigated land had reverted
Yet at t h e s a m e time, as Baker points o u t in t h e case o f Taniilnad, o n e com-
n m e n t rejected the advice of
mission after a n o t h e r c h u r n e d o u t largely u n i m p l e m e n t e d schemes f o r repair of
the system put into place by
t h e rapidly d e t e r i o r a t i n g local irrigation infrastructure. " T h e c o m m i s s i o n that
;d a reduction in t h e land-tax 1
mselves." '" of warfare had already d o n e a n d tanks (small reservoirs), shown, the B o m b a y governrigation d u r i n g the first quar77-78, g o v e r n m e n t loans for lousand p o u n d s for the w h o l e :ett complained in The Times:
r e p o r t e d o n t h e g r e a t famine of 1877-78 ... s p e n t a lot of its time c o m m e n t i n g o n the u r g e n t n e e d for irrigation i n the r e g i o n , and particularly o n t h e plains. It r e c o m m e n d e d a r e f o r m of t h e law on k u d i m a r a m a t , a n d a c o n c e r t e d scheme to improve t h e c o n d i t i o n of t h e tanks. T h e m a i n result o f this w a s t h e Tank Restoration S c h e m e . A l t h o u g h t h e Irrigation C o m m i s s i o n in 1901-03 fulsomely a p p r o v e d t h e Scheme, a n d u r g e d t h a t it b e intensified, it w a s n e v e r properly e q u i p p e d w i t h m e n a n d funds, w a s always vulnerable t o g o v e r n m e n t retrenchm e n t , and h a d already b e e n abolished and reconstituted t w i c e by 193 5. "1:27 C o n d i t i o n s w e r e n o different in t h e Madras d r y f a r m i n g z o n e s w h e r e , accord-
338
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ing to the research of Ludden, the decay of tank irrigation was well advanced by mid-century and hardly any new wells were dug between 187n and 1900. 128 As
j
INDIA: THE N
In addition t o their failure irrigation, the British also tyf
The Hindu (Madras) editorialized during the 1900 drought: "The tanks and lakes
allowed villages to undertake
to be found in the country are too few, and for w a n t of occasiop.il digging u p and
revenue with individual ryots,'
cleansing are often found silted up and too shallow to hold any large quantities
vidual authority needed to dii
of water. Nor is any attention paid to improving the facilities for gathering
provided the structural u n d e r p
rain water falling over large areas of land into existing tanks and reservoirs.
and regulating w a t e r use. In tl
O w i n g to this state of things, the occurrence of famine in years when m o n s o o n s
supervened to create a system
fail is almost inevitable." lzv Likewise, in the late Victorian Punjab, as Singh has
of agriculture (e.g., cattle, fod-
shown, the neglect of small-scale irrigation improvements in the noncanal dis-
with ecological breakdown (e.
tricts brought about increased dependence upon rainfall and thus greater vulner-
luted water tables, waterloggir
ability to drought. 1 3 0 And in Berar, Satya argues that the government's failure to
Indeed, the sahibs thcmselv.
keep up "the small-scale irrigation systems of dams and reservoirs traditionally
nal institutions h a d been a d i s
constructed and maintained by local rulers, patrons and magnates" was a symp-
of t h e Manchester Guardian, " v
tom of their larger unwillingness or inability to "coordinate the supply of public goods at the village level."
131
T h e British constantly complained about the" 'inertia' of India, but when it came to potentially life-saving local public works, they themselves w e r e the e m b o d i m e n t of decisive inaction. This is anecdotally illustrated by one district officer's frustrated attempts over more than a decade to persuade his superiors to finance a small reservoir dam to check floods and store water for droughts: The engineering question was referred to the engineer at Bhaugulpore, an eminent authority on hydraulics, who began by picking to pieces the plans and calculations of my engineer, not an eminent authority; putting conundrums, calling for statistics, and demanding a thorough survey of the whole catchment basin. Years passed, l ie went away, leaving ihe question unsettled; and his successor refused to give an opinion until he had seen the place. He in his turn left, without having seen the site. The next man went to the spot without letting us know, and utterly condemned the project. 1 could not understand why, and persuaded him to go again with me. I walked him all over my site, and he then said he must have been shown the wrong place. This was quite a good project. He promised to put his revised opinion on record, but retired from the service soon after without doing so. About this time I came to the conclusion that the next famine would be on us before I should have dragged an opinion on my pattern from our professional experts, and I reluctantly abandoned this form of relief work.... 132
have destroyed t h e corporate 1 bloody tumults o f Mogul and I\ nor pestilence disturbed.""' 1 Ur India, where colonialism forge cultural labor, British rule in d" warrior elites a n d the rapid d i s Bombay Dcccan, Kaiwar adds, the village communities were were fragmented into discrete, merly enjoyed an intimate reh districts of the Madras Deccan ihc dissolution of landowning • of mirasidar assemblies akogc pated local political chiefs and nity resources and public institt made good by the government As David Hardiman suggest were usually I lobbesian in p r a new property f o r m s freed villi encouraged them t o exploit irr:
I
STS
INDIA: THE MODERNIZATION
;ion was well advanced by k-een 1870 and 1900
m
As
O
POVERTY
In addition to their failure to finance the upkeep or expansion of small-scale irrigation, the British also typically destroyed t h e social mechanisms that had
.ght: "The tanks and lakes
allowed villages to u n d e r t a k e irrigation works bv themselves. "Settling the land
occasional digging u p and
revenue with individual ryots," Kaiwar emphasizes, "broke down the supra-indi-
> hold any large quantities
vidual authority needed to direct the working of the co-operative system that
he facilities for gathering
provided the structural underpinning for building and maintaining the bandharas
ling tanks and reservoirs,
and regulating water use. In this way, the British methods of taxing agriculture
e in years when m o n s o o n s
supervened to create a system in which an absolute decline in the technical base
orian Punjab, as Singh has
of agriculture (e.g., cattle, fodder, manure, tools, and so on) went h a n d in hand
n e n t s in the noncanal dis-
with ecological breakdown (e.g., soil erosion, nutrient depletion, falling o r pol-
all and thus greater vulner-
luted water tables, waterlogging, and so on)." 133
:he government's failure to
Indeed, the sahibs themselves often conceded that the devaluation of c o m m u -
and reservoirs traditionally
nal institutions had b e e n a disaster. "In the n a m e of liberty," Nash told readers
:nd magnates" was a symp-
of the Manchester Guardian, "we have made the individual a bond slave; and we
•dinate the supply of public
have destroyed the c o r p o r a t e life - thai seemingly imperishable thing which the bloody tumults of Mogul and Mahratta left untouched, and which neither famine
nertia' of India, but when
rior pestilence disturbed." 1 3 4 Unlike the rice-growing deltas of Bengal and eastern
, they themselves were the
India, where colonialism forged alliances with zamindars to jointly exploit agri-
y illustrated by one district
cultural labor, British rule in the dry lands led to the displacement of traditional
to persuade his superiors to
warrior elites and the rapid disintegration of c o m m u n i t a r i a n institutions. In the
-re water for droughts:
Bombay Deccan, Kaiwar adds, "within a half a ccntury of the British conquest
at B h a u g u l p o r e , a n e m i n e n t
were fragmented into discrete, indeed, antagonistic social g r o u p s which had for-
.•s t h e p l a n s a n d c a l c u l a t i o n s
merly enjoyed an intimate relationship of interdependence." 1 ^ Likewise in the
the village communities were divested of their cohesion a n d vitality, and they
n u n d r u m s , calling l o r statist c h n i e m basin. Years p a s s e d , s u c c e s s o r r e f u s e d t o g i v e an
districts of the Madras Deccan, the "development of private property rights and the dissolution of landowning collectivities ... destroyed the investment capacity
w i t h o u t h a v i n g s e e n t h e site.
of mirasidar assemblies altogether." 1 ^' "British rule, in various ways, emanci-
IOW, a n d utterly c o n d e m n e d
pated local political chiefs and big m e n from the obligation to invest in c o m m u -
d h i m to go again with m e . I
nity resources and public institutions such as tank systems. T h e shortfall was not
have b e e n s h o w n the w r o n g
made good by the government's o w n public works." 1 !T
o p u t his revised o p i n i o n o n tt d o i n g so. A b o u t this t i m e 1
As David Hardiman suggests, British policies, however Smithian in intention,
•e on us b e f o r e 1 s h o u l d h a v e
were usually Hobbesian in practice. In the case of Gujarat, which h e cites, the
>nal e x p e r t s , a n d I r e l u c t a n t l y
new property f o r m s freed village caste-elites f r o m traditional reciprocities and encouraged t h e m to exploit irrigation resources to their selfish advantage. "This
340
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
two-fold process created a situation in which dominant communities exchanged water amongst themselves on strictly controlled terms, and supplied w a t e r to subordinate groups in highly exploitative ways, normally involv.ng sharecropping arrangements."' 3 8 T h e entitlement to water thus openly became a relation of inequality and a means of exploitation.
China:
W h e n the w e a l t h s d i s p l a y while t h e p the p o o r do n o t er comfortable; w h e n k e e p piling u p trea: an ominous vapor a n d earth with its c
The kaleidoscopic variation of partly mirrored in late imperia. sity t h e r e was also a f u n d a m e n terpart in the subcontinent. T h by almost a millennium. Every dramatic contrasts between t h t the seemingly frozen subsistenc T h e silk and cotton m o n o c imports from the middle river p the Q i n g Golden Age of the eij divisions between absentee l a n
Eleven
China: Mandates Revoked
W h e n the w e a l t h y vie w i t h each o t h e r in s p l e n d o r and display w h i l e the p o o r squeeze each other to death; w h e n the p o o r d o not enjoy a m o m e n t ' s rest while the rich are c o m f o r t a b l e ; w h e n p o o r lose m o r e a n d m o r e w h i l e the rich keep p i l i n g u p treasures ... all of this w i l l finally c o n g c a l in a n o m i n o u s v a p o r w h i c h will fill the spacc b e t w e e n heaven a n d earth w i t h its darkness. - G o n g Zizhcn
T h e kaleidoscopic variation of rural social patterns in Victorian India was only partly mirrored in late imperial China. Amid vast ecological and cultural diversity there was also a f u n d a m e n t a l geo-economic polarity that had n o real counterpart in the subcontinent. The reality of "two Chinas" predated t h e Cold War by almost a millennium. Every foreign traveler in Qing China was struck by the dramatic contrasts b e t w e e n the bustling mercantilism of the Yangzi Valley and the seemingly frozen subsistence economy of the Yellow River basin. The silk and cotton monocultures of the lower Yangzi, supported by rice imports f r o m the middle river provinces, generated impressive prosperity during the Qing Golden Age of the eighteenth ccntury at the cost of deepening social divisions b e t w e e n absentee landlords, leaseholding tenants, and landless semi-
1
342
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
'. i l l N
proletarians. T h e great recession of the nineteenth century, induced by opium
Sidney Gamble discovered in 1
imports, silver outflows and ecological decline, culminated in the anti-Confucian
lered little except in quantity i:
Taiping Revolution, whose millenarian, leveling impulses threatened landlord as
Although these farms aiv
well as mandarin power. T h e i m m e n s e destruction of the Taiping wars, espe-
u l i s m . Huang has shown th.v
cially in the middle Yangzi, sapped decades of economic g r o w t h and bankrupted
enterprises only in their use <>!
the Qings, while leaving intact the h e g e m o n y of the lower Yangzi merchant elites
advances in labor productivi; >
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<
same time, vital rural handicrafts were under siege f r o m manufactured imports.
sold to purchase food and p a
Although the only indications of overseas trade (as opposed to traditional inter-
Murray emphasizes, "land u:
Asian trade) that Nichols could find in the markets of Zian were imported cotton
w h e n population density reac
thread and some cotton fabrics (marked "Fall River, Massachusetts"), these were
to supply adequate subsisten<
potent enough symbols of the destabilizing impact of the world market upon
vive on plots t o o small for si
inland China. 10
cash crops. Most counties wit deficits, and their residents d e
The Commercialization of Subsistence The so-called "single whip" reforms u n d e r Z h a n g j u z h e n g in the late sixteenth
T h e Wei Valley case was piping throughout north C h i n
century, which transmuted corvees and revenues-in-kind into cash taxes, had
Philip Huang, and Ramon My
inexorably monetarized subsistence production. As immigration and high fertil-
size, the vast majority of pc
ity rates supported by Qing antifamine policies began to rebuild populations in
by the ability to intensily. t o
the provinces devastated by late Ming warfare (especially Henan, Shaanxi and
cash crops." M Fluang, in parti
Shanxi, where as much as one-third of the cultivated land had been depopu-
development theorists that so
lated) to their historical maximums, the customs of partible inheritance gener-
commodity networks, were si
ated growing pressure on farmland. 1 1 In the absence of the European alternatives
capitalist subjects of neoclass
of rapidly growing cities and overseas colonies to absorb supernumery agricul-
should not be mistaken for e:
tural labor, Qing China struggled to sustain its standard of living within tradi-
behavior be mistaken for p r o
tional parameters of land use and agricultural technique.
ity of survival, not of profit n
Initially, there was stunning success. In her recent study of Shaanxi's densely
tinction between the "surviv;
populated Wei River Valley - the site of terrible mortality in 1877-78 and again
China and the "extraction-dri
in 1899-1901 - Laura Murray confirms the role of n e w world crops (especially
Yangzi Delta, where peasants
sweet potatoes and maize) and marginal land reclamation in accommodating
payments co landlords and int
STSC H I N A : M A N D A T E S
rrs
REVOKED
3 59
•,omic continuity of con-
population growth at constant levels of per capita output through t h e mid eigh-
As a courageous critic of
teenth century. By the 1780s, however, the Wei Valley peasantry w a s caught in
orgiven for romanticizing
what Murray (borrowing from Mark Elvin) characterizes as a "high-level equi-
:ze the changed relations
librium trap" in which increasing labor inputs realized diminishing returns in
us starvation during the
crop yield. With average cultivated land per capita reduced to three-quariers of
ig economic and ecologi-
an acre, even the most intense efforts by Wei farmers could barely produce the
of the nineteenth century
caloric m i n i m u m of grain to maintain their continued labor. In this context, cash
cash crops like opium and
crops' higher value per unit of land made t h e m irresistibly attractive to the poor-
rsally entrapped in a hope-
est strata of the peasantry. 12 Commercialization on these terms was usually more "a gamble for survival"
;inimal plots that annually nd rainfall patterns. At the
than an exercise in optimal resource utilization, and cash crops were immediately
>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<
"The eighteenth century," Susan Naquin and Evelyn Rawski emphasize, "was
the Qing had mixed success i
a period of surplus revenues for the Qing state: bulging treasuries and a fat Privy
customs revenue to arrest the <
Purse, the product not only of peace and prosperity but also of the successful
increasing reliance on tax f a r i r
ST S
CHINA: MANDATES
REVOKED
3 59
ity ro natural disaster and
tightening of control over tax remittances f r o m the provinces under Yongzheng
llow River after 1855 and
[emperor]."' 4 On the eve of the French Revolution, the Q i n g treasury still had a
icd with an increased fre-
surplus of 70 million taels, hut this was rapidly expended in costly military cam-
d regions along the Shan-
paigns or squandered by corrupt courtiers. By the time t h a t the Jiaqing emperor
ever more dependent on
took the throne in 1796, the Golden Age had ended and fiscal crisis was becom-
J too lacking in alternative
ing chronic. The turning point was a millenarian peasant uprising in the disas-
the treaty p o r t economies
ter-prone border region of western Shandong ("repeatedly afflicted by either
lands," western Shandong
drought or flooding of the Huai a n d Yellow Rivers"). 35 T h e ensuing decade-long
; of its traditional markets
w a r (1796-1804) against the W h i t e Lotus rebels - "the first major h u m a n calam-
imports were the dragons'
ity (renhuo) in about 120 years'' - sapped b o t h the treasury and tribute grain
/ into peasant insurrection.
reserves. 36 "The food supply priorities of the state shifted to provisioning large numbers of troops": a diversion that would b e c o m e almost total d u r i n g the later Taiping, Nian and Muslim civil wars.'17
was only weakly supported
Immensely costly flood catastrophes, which had no equivalent in the eigh-
cotton handicrafts, wheat,
teenth century, also conspired to push the late Qing state deep into insolvency.
incipally exchanged within
There were no less than seventeen consecutive years of flooding b e t w e e n 1839
»unty boundaries or, more
and the final Yellow River cataclysm of 1855.3R "The cost to the state in social dis-
re was an insufficient two-
ruption, lost agricultural income, and relief a n d repair f u n d s was immense. Com-
ificit north and the surplus-
bined with the expense of the O p i u m War and the state's already w e a k e n e d fiscal
shortfalls on a large scale,
conditions, these floods left the state treasury barren." 3 " Even greater calamities,
roducts was only 7 percent
of course, followed in the 1850s when the rain-swollen Yellow River hijacked the
ance grain trading was con-
course of the Daqing River (one of its ancestral channels) to switch deltas from
- for example, from Sichuan
the Yellow Sea to the Gulf of Bohai just as the Taiping revolution was cutting off
gxi to Guangdong - where
Beijing's all-important revenues and grain tributes from the Yangzi Valley.
contrast, the flow of grain
The Qing fiscal system, as we saw earlier, was additionally u n d e r m i n e d by
j of market prices, required
price inflation rooted in China's opium-generated trade deficits as well as the
nically, as northern peasants
exchange perturbations that followed the Great Powers' adoption of the Gold
y became, if anything, more
Standard in the 1870s. Despite desperate efforts to insulate taxes f r o m monetary
ter-regional redistribution of
erosion by maintaining a favorable copper/silver ratio, W a n g Ych-chicn has esti-
nded, in the first place, on the
mated that the real value of land revenues declined by almost two-thirds Irani the Golden Age of the 1750s to the Boxer uprising. From the m i d nineteenth century
elyn Rawski emphasize, "was
the Qing had mixed success in using commercial taxes, special surcharges and
ging treasuries and a fat Privy
customs revenue to arrest the erosion of their traditional agrarian tax-base. Their
ity but also of the successful
increasing reliance o n tax farmers t o collect old and new revenues only increased
3 52
L AT L V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
C HIN
the illegal "ieakage." At the end of day, however, the fiscal crisis came to weigh
T h e empire-wide r u n d o v
most heavily upon provincial and county governments, which depended even
accompanied by an increasin,
m o r e than Beijing on land revenue yet were increasingly expected to shoulder
n o r t h China plain. Although, ;
additional responsibilities for self-defense, flood control, irrigation and famine
g o i n g north to Peking was t r r
relief.1*'
per cent i," it represented a b o i
Fiscal crisis directly translated into reduced administrative capacity and indi-
m e n t , and, as w e saw in t h e
rectly into diminished peasant food security, at least in areas poorly served by
famine reserve close at h a n d
the inter-regional rice trade. T h e ever-normal and charity granary systems which
by f o u r provinces ( Jiangsu, J i a
stored as much as 48 million s/ri/t of reserve rice, wheat and millet in the high
intense lobbying by the Jiang:
Qing were rapidly depleted." "Even in the early eighteenth century, when the
G r a n d Canal. "Beginning in th
population of China was not m u c h more than half of its 1840 (or 1930) level, this
tribute junks on the Grand C
a m o u n t probably represented little more than 3 or 4 per cent of the nation's grain
of grain carried by canal j u n
output."' 12 Will cites an edict of 1799 complaining that only one-quarter of the
Beijing's port of Tianjin ( T i e
ever-normal granaries had stored their full quotas.' 13 Reduced to these levels, the
entrepots with their large w o t
imperial granaries were no longer able to act as an economic flywheel "normaliz-
cies of the Boxer uprising) d e
ing" grain prices. By the 1820s, according to R. Bin Wong, the empire-wide grain
imperial granaries at T o n g z h o
reserves had fallen below 30 million shih; by the 1850s, they were under 20.mil-
relic! campaigns, Will shows i
lion/'' Twenty years later, at the onset of famine in 1876, there was probably less
grain had ceascd to play a m a j
than 10 million shih left in the entire system.' 15
As the state infrastructure
At a local level, this was often equivalent to complete collapse. Even in the
combination of cash handout*
Golden Age, the ever normal mechanism of restocking granaries with a u t u m n
the Daogunng emperor, n o t i n
purchases had broken down in much of the northwest. Granaries in Shaanxi and
l ies, "remarked that 'for this r<
Gansu were forced to distribute grain more frequently than they could afford by
authorities] rarely ask that |th<
their own account, and the ensuring deficit had to be financed by Beijing. '0 From
era], thev content themselves
the calamitous watershed of the White Lotus Rebellion, the regional disequi-
sury and converting it into c o
librium between annual harvest and m i n i m u m consumption was exacerbated
Although the Tongzhi r e f o n r
by a vicious circle of declining agricultural producdvity, ethno-religious warfare
approach to famine relief w h
and government insolvency. 47 Gentry-managed community and charity grana-
baked by drought and drowne
ries, which took up some of the burden of food security elsewhere (Hunan and
fucian statecraft in the heroic
Sichuan, for example), were ineffective in braking the decline of state granaries
principal response to weather
in the impoverished loess areas. As a result, granary inventories in s o m e counties ,s
of Shaanxi had fallen to less than 10 percent of their quotas by t h e early 1870s.*
On the eve of the great drought, in other words, northwest China was ripe for catastrophe.
have seen in the accounts of t relief had fatal flaws.
,J
T h e market, for example, v d e m a n d . Either t h e explosion
;TS
CHINA: MANDATES
REVOKED
353
iscal crisis came to weigh
T h e empire-wide r u n d o w n in ever-normal granary inventories was also
ts, which depended even
accompanied by an increasing diversion of tribute grain flows f r o m the inland
lgly expected to shoulder
north China plain. Although, as Dwight Perkins points out, the " a m o u n t of grain
:ol, irrigation and famine
going n o r t h to Peking was trivial in comparison to total national o u t p u t (0.2-0.3
strative capacity and indi-
ment, and, as we saw in the case of the 1743 drought, constituted a strategic
per cent)," it represented about 15 percent of the revenues of the central governin areas poorly served by
famine reserve close at hand in north China. Most of t h e tribute was supplied
iry granary systems which
b y four provinces (Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui and northern Zhejiang), a n d there was
teat and millet in the high
intense lobbying b y the Jiangnan elites to substitute the maritime route for t h e
iteenth century, w h e n the
Grand Canal. "Beginning in the 1870s, the coastal steamer rapidly replaced grain-
its 1840 (or 1930) level, this
tribute j u n k s on the Grand Canal. By the 1890s, the only substantial a m o u n t s
;r cent of the nation's grain
of grain carried by canal j u n k were the shipments of millet f r o m Shantung."
at only one-quarter of the
Beijing's p o r t of Tianjtn (Tientsin) b o o m e d as a result, while t h e older Canal
leduced to these levels, the
entrepots with their large workforces of b a r g e m e n and laborers (key constituen-
momic flywheel "normaliz-
cies of the Boxer uprising) declined into p e r m a n e n t depression.' 9 Although the
ong, the empire-wide grain
imperial granaries at Tongzhou, near Beijing, were still theoretically available for
Os, they were under 20 mil-
relief campaigns, Will shows that by the end of t h e j i a q i n g reign in 1820 tribute
876, there was probably less
grain had ceased to play a major role in combating famine. 5 0
aplete collapse. Even in the
combination of cash h a n d o u t s a n d local philanthropy t o relieve famines. In 1831,
As the state infrastructure deteriorated, the Empire increasingly relied o n a <.ing granaries with a u t u m n
the D a o g u a n g emperor, noting "the wretched condition" of the imperial grana-
:st. Granaries in Shaanxi and
ries, "remarked that 'for this reason, when a province is hit by calamity, [ the local
tly than they could afford by
authorities] rarely ask that [the victims] be aided with ever-normal grain; in gen-
2 financed by Beijing."' From
eral, they content themselves with applying for silver f r o m the provincial trea-
>ellion, the regional disequi-
sury and converting it into copper cash to be distributed [to the population j.'" 51
nsumption was exacerbated
Although the Tongzhi reformers temporarily returned to a vigorous hands-on
ivity, ethno-religious warfare
approach to famine relief when the region around the capital w a s successively
mmunity and charity grana-
baked by drought a n d drowned b y flood in 1867-68, it w a s a last h u r r a h for Con-
curity elsewhere (Hunan and
fucian statecraft in t h e heroic m o d e of Fang Guancheng. Henceforth Beijing's
the decline of state granaries
principal response to weather disasters was the tardy donation of cash. As w e
• inventories in some counties
have seen in the accounts of the 1877 and 1899 famines, the resort to monetary
ir quotas by the early 1870s.',,!
relief had fatal flaws.
northwest China was ripe for
52
The market, for example, was frequently unable to a c c o m m o d a t e emergency demand. Either the explosion in grain prices quickly exceeded the minimal sur-
T 354
LATH V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c h i n
vival value of cash relief, or, as in the extreme ease of Shanxi, there was simply
time defense and mc food su
not enough grain locally available at any price. Attempts to purchase and trans-
over time grow into a princip
port large amounts of grain at one time into the loess highlands only produced
and other northern base arec:
catastrophic traffic pile-ups like that at Guguan Pass in 1877. Unlike the Yangzi
road-building a top priority o
Valley, where water transport of rice remained cheap and efficient, grain commerce in the drier northern provinces, especially during droughts, suffered from
C o r r u p t i o n a n d Devolutic
the paucity of navigable waterways. In John Lossing Buck's epic study. Land Uti-
The monetarization of relief
lization nj China, only two out of fifty-one northern villages had access to water
funds. The rampant practicc
transport in contrast to twenty-three out of eighty in the s o u t h . " From the per-
to generate relief funds dran
spective of a society dependent on commercial grain for survival during famine,
predators. The ever-normal i
overland transport was staggeringly expensive and inefficient. Summarizing the
especially lush targets for coi
Royal Asiatic Society's extensive 1893-94 investigations of inland communica-
the notorious late-eighteenth
tions in China, T. Kingsmill marveled that a civilization so brilliant in its develop-
long emperor probably had a
ment of water transport could entirely abdicate road construction. "Probably no
late Qing China, from the e n
country in the world," he wrote, "has paid so little attention to roads," especially
efficiency in local governmen
in the north where "neglect culminates."' 4 A s early as 1S01. the year the T a b l e 11.1
s i n e s carried out in Ziiili i n
T r a n s p o r t in the N o r t h C h i n a Plain: C o m p a r a t i v e E f f i c i e n c y Tonnage River junks
C o s t Index
40-100 tons
1.0
Carts
1 ton
3.3
Pack mules
.125 ton
8,2
Coolies
.09 ton
S.6
Source: Data f r o m George Cressey, CiinirA Oroijn'Jj'Ji^ /wmJiiln'in, N e w York 1931. p.
troubling t h o u g h t that the sk b a p s better explained by the n u m b e r of r u i n e d peasants p rials spoke o f the extortions i h o r i z e d d e d u c t i o n s from pr< w i t h o u t veriiie.ition of any k .ii'iuai needs, g r u e l cont.tinin; to cupper, a n d o i l i e r abuses. '
17^. Mary Wright long ago suggested that deliberate neglect of inland arteries of
By the coronation of the
transport was rational policy from Beijing's point of view. State-power in imperial
these abuses, seemingly m a i
China was frequently equated with immobilization of the peasantry and their iso-
.sovereignty, had become cor<
lation from disruptive ideological or economic influences. The Qing, in this inter-
turned into famine through n
pretation, were no more eager to encourage the peasantry to move around the
rupt local magistrates conniv<
country than they were to invite foreign powers to use railroads to bring troops
butions from the local granai
and cheap factory goods into the interior. Even the reformers of the 1860s "were
higher." 1 * When, ultimately, r
interested in improved communications only in so far as they might affect mari-
ing peasants attempted to o p
STSC H I N A : M A N D A T E S R E V O K E D359
Shanxi, there w a s simply
time defense and t h e food supply o f rhe capital." 5 ' This neglect, however, w o u l d
us t o purchase and trans-
over time g r o w into a principal p o p u l a r grievance. T h e C o m m u n i s t s in Shaanbei
highlands only p r o d u c e d
and o t h e r n o r t h e r n base areas in the late 1930s won g r e a t popularity for m a k i n g
i 1877. Unlike t h e Yangzi
road-building a top priority of t h e i r rural reconstruction p r o g r a m . 5 6
and efficient, grain comig droughts, suffered f r o m iuck's epic study, Land Uli-
Corruprion and Devolution T h e m o n e t a r i z a t i o n of relief also m a d e it even easier f o r venal officials to pilfer
illages had access to w a t e r
funds. T h e r a m p a n t practice in the n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y o f selling local offices
the south.'" 3 From the per-
t o g e n e r a t e relief f u n d s dramatically e x p a n d e d the n u m b e r of lower-level fiscal
for survival during famine,
predators. T h e ever-normal g r a n a r i e s and t h e grain-tribute administration w e r e
efficient. S u m m a r i z i n g the
especially lush targets for c o r r u p t officials in t h e Rasputin-like m o l d o f H c s h e n ,
j n s of inland c o m m u n i c a -
t h e n o t o r i o u s late-eighteenth-century m i n i s t e r of revenue with w h o m the Q i a n -
•n so brilliant in its develop-
l o n g e m p e r o r probably h a d a h o m o s e x u a l liaison. As Will points o u t , everyone in
construction. "Probably n o
late Q i n g China, f r o m the e m p e r o r to secret societies, believed t h a t honesty a n d
:cntion to roads," especially
efficiency in local g o v e r n m e n t h a d declined dramatically from the 1790s: As early as 1801, the year the J i a q i n g e m p e r o r closely s u p e r v i s e d the spccial-measures carried out i n ZhiJi in the w a k e o f severe flooding, he was s t r u c k b y the
nniiiiiiiii-s N i w York l l >3l, p.
: neglect of inland arteries of view. State-power in imperial of the peasantry a n d their isolences. T h e Qing, in this inter>easantry t o m o v e a r o u n d the ) use railroads to b r i n g troops : r e f o r m e r s of the 1860s "were ) far as they m i g h t affect mari-
t r o u b l i n g t h o u g h t that the s k y r o c k e t i n g cost o f relief in o t h e r p r o v i n c e s was perhaps better explained b y the profits m a d e b y the "clerks a n d r u n n e r s " t h a n by the n u m b e r o f r u i n e d peasants p u r e a n d simple; a n d later in the reign, v a r i o u s m e m o rials s p o k e o f the extortions exacted b y investigators a n d s u b b u i e a u c r a t s , unaut h o r i z e d d e d u c t i o n s f r o m p r o v i n c i a l funds, registers o f disaster v i c t i m s d r a w n u p w i t h o u t verification o f any k i n d , distribution centers established w i t h attention to actual needs, g r u e l c o n t a i n i n g s a n d , fraudulent exchange rates in c o n v e r t i n g silverto copper, a n d o t h e r abuses. 5 '
By the c o r o n a t i o n of the u n h a p p y Xiangong e m p e r o r a half c e n t u r y later, these abuses, seemingly magnified by the Qings' i n a b i l i t y to d e f e n d C h i n e s e sovereignty, h a d b e c o m c corc revolutionary grievances. As p r o l o n g e d d r o u g h t t u r n e d i n t o famine t h r o u g h m u c h of G u a n g x i and G u a n g d o n g in 1848-49, "corr u p t local magistrates connived w i t h local g r a i n m e r c h a n t s to m a n i p u l a t e distrib u t i o n s f r o m the local granaries so as to drive the already exorbitant rice p r i c c h i g h e r . " " W h e n , ultimately, rice b c c a m e "as high as t h e price of pearls," starving peasants a t t e m p t e d t o o p e n granaries a n d were slaughtered b y the magis-
\
V>
3 56
LATn VICTORIAN'
HOLOCAUSTS
c: f 11 N A
trates' troops. As a direct result, countless thousands flocked to the angry mil-
bought up grain surpluses dur:
lenarian banner of "God's Chinese Son," H o n g Xiuquan. Later, in the s u m m e r
drought destroyed the harvest
of 1852, when the Taiping kings paused in Daozhou (southern H u n a n ) to issue
to find that the granary a d m i
their famous proclamations against the Qing, they accused their rulers of "with-
inventory"' As a result, the c o n
holding public relief from victims of flood, famine and other natural calamities in
empress-mother arrived in Z i a
order to decrease the Chinese population." 5<J T h e benevolent eighteenth-century
review of the famine-relief ace
welfare state of the Yongzheng e m p e r o r was n o t even a distant memory. " W h e n -
of the most p r o m i n e n t rnanda
ever floods and droughts occur, [the Manchus] do not show the slightest compas-
In face of s u c h obdurate coi
sion; they sit and watch the starving people w a n d e r by until the bleached b o n e s
imperial government disengag
grow like wild weeds." 60
food security. As Mary Rankin
The Tongzhi Restoration did little to restore popular confidence in local gov-
midable state capacities'of t h e
e r n m e n t ' s ability to provide protection against disaster. Despite the reformers'
non-office-holding gentry d n r i
rhetorical exaltation of the social compact between the Qing and the peasantry,
ism and domestic rebellion. Nc
one of their most significant initiatives (in the n a m e of rewarding the loyal elites
ingly coordinated tax collectic
w h o had fought the Taiping) was a vast sale of Confucian merit that increased the caste of degree-holders from 1.1 million to 1.45 million.
61
T h e venal appetite
relief. When the resources o f their privately stocked charit)
of this enlarged gentry explains why peasants were groaning u n d e r new fiscal
Qing state turned ro the weald
oppressions while Beijing was simultaneously complaining that it was broke.
vided assistance with transpor
Granary administration, in particular, was treated as a spoils system by local col-
gees from the north. But this :
lusions of corrupt officials and grain merchants. By 1893, when the first Western smdy of Chinese finances was completed, more than half of the north's tribute
in 1877 and 1899, was never t infrastructure of the previous normal granaries as well as to
grain was estimated as lost to pilferage.
made large-scale and long-lasti T h e officials in charge o f the g r a n a r i e s j o g g l e w i t h the rice, a n d e v e r y few y e a r s a great scandal o c c u r s ; o l d a n d d e c a y e d rice is paid o u t i n the place o f n e w
rice,
T h e reconstruction of t h e security accordingly, became
w e i g h t s a n d m e a s u r e s are falsified, rhe M a n c h u s o l d i e r y are f o u n d to b e selling t h e i r
Long before Mao's "Yenan YY
n o m i n a l rights for w h a t they w i l l fetch, a n d to b e actually b u y i n g eatable rice in t h e
Land System of the Heavenly Dyt
m a r k e t , a n d s o o n . P e k i n g , i n s h o r t , is like a filthy c o l o n y o f rats, e a c h official l i v i n g i n a h o l e o f his o w n , a n d p r e y i n g , w h e n h e c a n a n d w h e r e h e can, u p o n the p u b l i c storehouse."2
Although honest local officials still struggled heroically to restock the granaries, their efforts were everywhere undercut by corrupt subordinates. Murray cites the example of a magistrate in Shaanxi's Han-ch'eng county - which in the early 1890s had not yet recovered from the 1877-78 disaster - w h o conscientiously
system for redistributing the ci lies.
A l l land u n d e r h e a v e n will he c [ T h e p r o d u c e f r o m ] all land u i scarcity. T h e p r o d u c e of o n e k t o g i v e relief to a n o t h e r p l a c e
CHINA: MANDATES
St s
REVOKED
3 59
locked to the angry mil-
bought up grain surpluses during good years t o fill twenty local granaries. W h e n
tn. Later, in the s u m m e r
drought destroyed the harvest in 1900, he turned confidently to his reserves only
outhern Hunan) to issue
to find that the granary administrators had secretly sold off two-thirds of the
sed their rulers of "with-
inventory. 63 As a result, the county was almost depopulated by famine. ( W h e n the
ither natural calamities in
empress-mother arrived in Zian at the end of the famine, she ordered a thorough
'olent eighteenth-century
review of the famine-relief accounts "that ended in cutting off the heads of three
distant memory. "When-
of the most prominent mandarins of the province.") 64
i o w the slightest compas-
In face of such obdurate corruption and overwhelmed by fiscal exigencies, the
until the bleached bones
imperial government disengaged itself even f u r t h e r from direct administration of food security. As Mary Rankin, Mark Elvin and others have emphasized, the for-
ir confidence'in local gov-
midable state capacities of the eighteenth century were gradually devolved to the
ir. Despite the reformers'
non-office-holding gentry during the long nineteenth-century siege by imperial-
.e Qing and the peasantry,
ism and domestic rebellion. Nouveaux riches merchants a n d landowners increas-
' rewarding the loyal elites
ingly coordinated tax collection, local law-and-order, flood control a n d famine
acian merit that increased illion.
61
The venal appetite
groaning under new fiscal laining that it was broke, spoils system by local col93, when the first Western half of the north's tribute
relief. W h e n the resources of die locally managed z/itrujii (relief bureaus) and their privately stocked charity granaries w e r e inadequate t o the task, the late Qing state turned to the wealthy Jiangnan elites, who donated ricc and cash, provided assistance with transportation, and o p e n e d their city gates to f a m i n e refugees from the north. But this makeshift system, which failed so catastrophically in 1877 and 1899, was never a real alternative to the vertically integrated state infrastructure of the previous century with its abilities to maintain local evernormal granaries as well as to carry out the inter-regional transfers that "alone made large-scale and long-lasting famine relief possible." 65
rice, a n d every few y e a r s
The reconstruction of the granary system and restoration of peasant food
; in the place o f n e w ricc,
security, accordingly, b e c a m e central demands of all anti-Qing revolutionaries.
ire f o u n d to be s e l l i n g their
Long before Mao's "Yenan Way," the Taipings in their Utopian manifesto, The
y b u y i n g eatable rice i n the ' o f rats, e a c h official l i v i n g :re he can, u p o n the p u b l i c
lly to restock the granaries, subordinates. Murray cites county - which in the early ster - w h o conscientiously
Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty, had envisioned a more directly "communist" system for redistributing the entire agricultural surplus t h r o u g h new state grana-
A l l land u n d e r h e a v e n w i l l b e c u l t i v a t e d in c o m m o n b y all w h o live u n d e r heaven.... [ T h e p r o d u c e f r o m ] all l a n d u n d e r h e a v e n w i l l circulate to e q u a l i z e a b u n d a n c e a n d scarcity. T h e p r o d u c e o f o n e locality w h e r e the h a r v e s t is g o o d w i l l he t r a n s p o r t e d to g i v e relief to a n o t h e r place w h e r e f a m i n e occurs.... A t h a r v e s t time the (umg-
T"
.5 > S
ssu-ma
I. ATE \ 1 C 'i'O !l \ A \
i i OI.O C A U S T S
c i 11 n
[ h e a d m e n o f twenty-five h o u s e h o l d s ! will s u p e r v i s e the ivii-r/jajigfheadmen
with skyrocketing costs of ff
o f five h o u s e h o l d s ] a n d will, li ter d e d u c t i n g [quantities o f g r a i n ] sufficient for f o o d
led to the gradual devolutioi
for each o f the p e r s o n s b e l o n g i n g to the twenty-five h o u s e h o l d s until the nexi h a r vest, [collect] the s u r p l u s a n d send it to the state granaries.
antry and unwilling gentry.
66
m o s t severe climate stress in 2 1890s) precisely when the stai
Paying the Bill for the Golden Age
mandates.
North China's history has been shaped by its paradoxical position within the
T h e Qing Golden Age in i
larger spatial economy of the Empire: economically peripheral, it remained
was based on a "massive r e m a
the administrative core. The geographical separation of economic and political
g r o w t h under a system of p a
power in China - equivalent to the distance between London and Berlin - has
partly induced by the rising "
been unique for a land-based state. Since the early Sung Dynasty, the greater part
handicraft production, put inc
of the economic surplus had been produced in the lower Yangzi Valley, but the
Unlike Europe, this populatio
largest center of surplus consumption usually has b e e n in the n o r t h (Chang'an,
g r o w t h of urban centers or c
Dadu, Kaifeng and Beijing) on the edge of the steppe, close to the nomadic
to Maddison, "by 1820 the C h i
sources of Jurchen, Mongol and Manchu military hegemony.
than it had been a thousand y
T h e extraordinary transportation infrastructure - comprising the G r a n d
Q i n g (6.8 percent of populatic
Canal, its feeder waterways and storage depots - used to move surplus wealth
long economic recession in t h .
from south to north also made it possible for the Qings to ecologically stabilize
na's case to the negative balai
northern agriculture with vital imports of rice, fuel, timber and stone. In the
imports - caused widespread
mid eighteenth century, as we have seen, the imperial bureaucracy could mobi-
into the countryside.*"'
lize famine relief more effectively than any European polity. Yet a century later.
Instead, the eightcenth-ceu
Beijing seemed almost powerless to intervene in one of the most deadly chain
range wildly f r o m a 33 percen
reactions of civil war, foreign intervention, climate disaster, disease and famine in
dated by ecologically unsustai
history. This collapse in state capacity to control the natural as well as social envi-
tains, foothills and wet lowlai
ronments has long vexed historians of modern China. "Why did ecological deg-
brought nearly 25,000 square
radation," asks Kenneth Pomeranz in a recent forum, "which up until the mid-
the eighteenth century - m o s t
eighteenth century was arguably under better control than in Europe or Japan
ate advantages were great. 70 L
assume crisis proportions thereafter?"
67
ests that still protected the w a u
Recent scholarship suggests the necessary distinction between two discrete,
tion in the fertile valleys and pi
if ultimately convergent, environmental crises, developing at separate t e m p o s
into foothill and mountain pei
and levels in the social formation. In the first case, peasant land clearances in
sweet potatoes allowed cultivai
the mountainous watersheds of the Yellow, Wei and Huai Rivers accelerated the
previously regarded as untillaf
erosion cycle with inevitably devastating consequences for the plains below. In
urban speculators built dikes t<
the second case, the mid-Victorian fiscal crisis of the Qing state, which coincided
marsh and bottom land for c o n
I
ST S
e the ivii-i-lunij5 [ h e a d m e n ' g r a i n ] sufficient for f o o d c h o l d s until the next har-
CHINA:
MANDATES
REVOKED
3 59
with skyrocketing costs of flood control arising from increased sedimentation, led to the gradual devolution of hydraulic m a n a g e m e n t to a pauperized peasantry and unwilling gentry. North Chinese agriculture was thus exposed to the m o s t severe climate stress in 200 years (the extreme ENSO cycles of the 1870s and 1890s) precisely when the state was in full retreat from its traditional ecological mandates.
ixical position within the
The Qing Golden Age in the eighteenth century, R o b e r t Marks reminds us,
y peripheral, it remained
was based on a "massive remaking" of Chinese environmental space. Population
of economic and political
growth under a system of partible inheritance between 1750 and 1850, at least
. London and Berlin - has
partly induced by the rising "protoindustrial" demand for family labor in rural
g Dynasty, the greater part
handicraft production, p u t increasing stress o n agro-ecological carrying capacity.
iwer Yangzi Valley, but the
Unlike Europe, this population explosion was not absorbed through the parallel
:ri in the north (Chang'an,
g r o w t h of urban centers or emigration to overseas colonies. Indeed, according
>pe, close to the nomadic
t o Maddison, "by 1820 the Chinese degree of urbanisation was not m u c h greater
emony.
than it had been a thousand years earlier," a n d actually declined from the early
- comprising the Grand
Qing (6.8 percent of population) t o the late Q i n g (5.9 percent).* 5 As in India, the
id to move surplus wealth
long economic recession in the first half of the nineteenth century - due in Chi-
lgs to ecologically stabilize
na's case to the negative balance of trade a n d silver o u t f l o w s caused by opium
, timber and stone. In the
imports - caused widespread urban unemployment and pushed m a n y workers
i\ bureaucracy could mobi-
into the countryside. 69
1 polity. Yet a century later,
Instead, the cighteenth-century population b o o m (estimates, as w e have seen,
2 of the most deadly chain
range wildly from a 33 percent to a 200 percent increase) was largely accommo-
master, disease and famine in
dated by ecologically unsustainable settlement in formerly uncultivated moun-
latural as well as social envi-
tains, foothills and w e t lowlands. Peasant pioneers and improving landowners
a. "Why did ecological deg-
brought nearly 25,000 square kilometers of n e w land u n d e r the plough during
n, "which up until the mid-
the eighteenth century - most of it hilly or periodically inundated. T h e immedi-
ol than in Europe or japan
ate advantages were great. 7 0 Legendary profits were m a d e clear-cutting the for-
:tion between two discrete,
tion in the fertile valleys and plains was temporarily relieved by mass emigration
eloping at separate tempos
into foothill and m o u n t a i n peripheries where N e w World crops like maize and
ests that still protected the watersheds of China's great rivers. Worrisome conges-
peasant land clearances in
sweet potatoes allowed cultivators t o wrest a living f r o m sandy, unfertilized soils
Huai Rivers accelerated the
previously regarded as untillable. At the s a m e time, land-hungry peasants and
ices for the plains below. In
urban speculators built dikes to reclaim hundreds of thousands of acres of rich
Qing state, which coincided
marsh and b o t t o m land for commercial agriculture.
LATE V I C T O R I A N
360
HOLOCAUSTS
By the last quarter of the eighteenth century, however, the marginal returns
CHIN A
erosion that eventually b e c a m e
f r o m forestry and land conversion were near the vanishing point. Manchuria
Within a few generations, j
aside, Rhoads Murphcy estimates that Chinese forests "were already largely g o n e
threshold and gullies grew w i t
by 1820, almost wholly by 1860."7I Too many peasants clung to eroding hillsides
eral hundred feet within the sp
or struggled lo drain malarial wetlands. Overflow basins that managed flood
teenth century," writes Murra^
waters, as well as reservoirs that stored water for irrigation in dry spells, had
were blocked up." 7 " The first r
been ill-advisedly turned into fields, with predictably disastrous results. 72 T h u s
hofen in 1870, gave vivid accoi
the great clearances that had subsidized the Golden Age became root causes of
tion systems, particularly the m
intractable ecological crisis during the century that followed. This previously lit-
hearth of civilization. Similarly,
tle-understood environmental history of Q i n g population g r o w t h has been admi-
Polo had praised for verdancy a
rably explored in recent case-studies of the Pearl River watershed (Marks) and the
treeless near-deserts by Victor
Dongting Lake region in the middle Yangzi Valley (Perdue). In b o t h regions, the
m o d e r n and ancient dccay (se
early windfalls of virgin soil cultivation were inevitably followed by environmen-
dated back to T a n g times), t h e r
tal degradation and increased vulnerability to natural hazards. Nature collected
tal c o u p de grace.
the bill for eighteenth-century prosperity in deferred payments of drought, flood and famine. 7 3
The Denudation of North China
For peasants, meanwhile, tl increasingly grim battle for s u r the lower slopes, by the later ni of m a i z e cultivation with only-
The greatest downstream tragedies, however, took place in the system of the
Potato crops began to suffer s e
Yellow River and its major tributaries. Shaanxi's Wei River Valley, studied by sev-
price of food began to rise, d<
eral authors, is a sobering example. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the foothills
increasing population and static
of the Chinling Mountains, which formed the valley's southern border, were still
tain farmers were unable ro p r o
heavily wooded. During the early and mid-Qing, however, huge "timber facto-
to fruit trees as a cash crop. " T h
ries" mobilizing armies of 3,000 to 5,000 woodcutters and laborers systemati-
by the authors of the local hist
cally denuded the forests. Subsequently, thousands of poor peasants from con-
ol the entire year depended o n
gested counties as far away as Szechwan and Hupei were officially encouraged by
extremely poor, lacking even ac
tax exemptions and other subsidies to emigrate to the region.- (Edward Vermeer stresses the perverse role of Qing tax policies that often rewarded the exploita-
T h e mid-century civil wars forested watersheds:
tion of marginal lands while penalizing farmers for improvements on existing, high-quality plots.)7'1 New World crops allowed cultivation on soils that were "too
A c c o u n t s o f the t i m e ... repeat
sandy, too acidic, too infertile and drought-prone to have supported settled popu-
T a i p i n g s , and e q u a l l y massive a
lations in any numbers in the past." 75 Maize and potatoes, especially, could be
s h e l t e r to the rebels. The m a j o r
cultivated on sloping, unterraced hillsides with thin soil layers otherwise unsuitable for rice or wheat. However, the price of this cheap subsistence was increased
t i o n s o f f o r m e r forests w h i c h by h u n d r e d s of s q u a r e miles. A i l •
1
TS
vcr. the marginal returns
CHINA: MANDATES
REVOKED
361
erosion that eventually became catastrophic.
lishing point. Manchuria
Within a few generations, g e o m o r p h o l o g i c a l forces h a d crossed a dynamic
were already largely gone
threshold and gullies grew with alarming speed, deepening sometimes by sev-
clung to eroding hillsides
eral h u n d r e d feet within the span of a single h u m a n lifetime. "By t h e mid-nine-
isins that managed flood
teenth century," writes Murray, "the m o u n t a i n s became barren a n d the rivers
igation in dry spells, had
w e r e blocked up.""" T h e first m o d e r n European visitors, like Baron von Richt-
disastrous results. 72 T h u s
hofen in 1870, gave vivid accounts of the silting up of t h e famous Qing irriga-
ge bccame root causes of
tion systems, particularly the magnificent complex that h a d made t h e Wei plain a
lowed. This previously lit-
h e a r t h of civilization. Similarly, m a n y of the areas in the loess country that Marco
ion growth has been admi-
Polo h a d praised for verdancy a n d the a b u n d a n c e of m u l b e r r y trees h a d become
watershed (Marks) and the
treeless near-deserts by Victorian times. 77 Although foreigners o f t e n confused
rdue). In both regions, the
m o d e r n a n d ancient decay (serious hydraulic deterioration in t h e Wei Valley
y followed by environmen-
dated back to Tang times), the nineteenth c e n t u r y administered the environmen-
. hazards. Nature collected
tal coup d e grace.
layments of drought, flood
For peasants, meanwhile, the easy living of early pioneer days became a n increasingly grim battle for survival on eroding islands of semi-arable soil. " O n the lower slopes, by the later nineteenth century, there h a d been u p to a century of maize cultivation with only limited fertilizer; yields b e g a n to fall drastically.
place in the system of the
Potato crops began to suffer seriously from disease.... Yields were unstable; t h e
River Valley, studied by sev-
price of food began to rise, doubling in the nineteenth century, o w i n g to t h e
Ming Dynasty, the foothills
increasing population a n d static o r declining supplies." 78 Eventually m a n y moun-
5 southern border, were still
tain farmers were unable to p r o d u c e their o w n family subsistence, s o they turned
iwever, huge "timber facto-
to fruit trees as a cash crop. "This specialization," Murray explains, "was regarded
:ers and laborers systemati-
by the authors of the local history as particularly precarious, because the profit
of poor peasants from con-
of the entire year depended on a single harvest. Many of t h e fruit growers were
/ere officially encouraged by
extremely poor, lacking even adequate iood a n d clothing." 7 9
le region. (Edward Vermeer
The mid-century civil wars completed the denudation of China's surviving forested watersheds:
Dften rewarded the exploitar improvements on existing, /ation on soils that were "too have supported settled popu>otatoes, especially, could be . soil layers otherwise unsuit;ap subsistence was increased
Accounts of the time ... repeatedly mention wanton destruction of forests by the Taipings, and equally massive assaults by the Imperial forces in their effort to deny shelter to the rebels. The major weapon seems to have been fire. There are descriptions of former forests which by the 1860s consisted only of blackened stumps over hundreds of square miles. All of this activity was concentrated in the remaining
T I. A I E V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
c m NA.
I n the absence ol' both an offii o f infrastructurai repair a n d dt W h o l e villages were deserted, t r a n s p o r t r o u t e s fell into disrtrp e a r t h e n c o n s t r u c t i o n s in loess < disappeared. W a t e r wells, i r r i g a g r a n a r i e s , a n d p a t h w a y s were n
T h e same dismal sequence, throughout the foothills and lo h u m a n s had set o u t to reduce land: carefully maintained, prod unproductive, c o m m o n wastela turn-of-the-century Shandong r tation of die foothills and m o to walk and carry a basket are and any kind of herbage that c iron grubbing h o o k , and thus c< at this task with cheerful cnerg
Figure 11.2 Hillside F a r m s in S h a a n x i
locusts the mountains are d e n
A s f a r m i n g deforested hillsides the e r o s i o n rate increased exponentially.
up." Si The stubble that remairx ash run-off for fields downhill. s
area within, o r a r o u n d the edges of, rhe m a j o r center o f p o p u l a t i o n i n C h i n a p r o p e r w h i c h still h a d s o m e vestigial forest cover. T h e m o u n t a i n o u s far w e s t w a s u n a f -
As the last local sources of In
fected, but forests there were o f little use to the rest o f C h i n a , w h e r e the vast m a j o r -
began to u n d e r m i n e agriculture
ity o f the people lived. Those forests were in t u r n heavily exploited in the course o f
poorly mined, coal deposits in S
the great M u s l i m rebellions a n d their s u p p r e s s i o n , concentrated in Y u n n a n a n d in
afford coal, and the breakdown
Shensi-Kan.su, between I S 5 5 a n d l S 7 S . s "
m o m e n t , inflated its price as wt Cheap Manchurian timber was
Depopulation and ecological devastation was perhaps most extreme in Shaanxi,
not imported i n t o the interior
where genocidal ethnic warfare killed or displaced an estimated 90 percent of the
an American authority on Chii
Muslim population and left much of the province outside the Wei Valley a wilder-
supply, until in northern Slicnsi
ness for the Chinese Communists to resettle a full half-century later. As Pauline
are chopsticks, a n d only the do<
Keaung points out, the financially strapped Qing "invested only in the pacification of Shaanxi, not its reconstruction."
of \vood." s<5 Likewise in southw j
supply per peasant household ;
.
quarter of what was tradition a
T 1
USTS
CIIIM:
MANDATES
RiiVOKED
!n the absence o f b o t h an otiicial resettlement strategy a n d a sustained p r o g r a m o f infrastructural repair and d e v e l o p m e n t , local e c o n o m i c s y s t e m s disintegrated. W h o l e villages were deserted, the distances b e t w e e n settlements b e c a m e longer, t r a n s p o r t routes fell into disrepair
process m a d e swifter b y the rapid e r o s i o n o f
earthen c o n s t r u c t i o n s in l o e ^ c o u n t r y ) , a n d m a r k e t centers a n d t r a d i n g n e t w o r k s disappeared. W a t e r wells, irrigation and d r a i n a g e systems, c r o p l a n d e m b a n k m e n t s , granaries, a n d p a t h w a y s were n o t maintained." 1
T h e same dismal sequence, if less apocalyptically, was repeated everywhere t h r o u g h o u t the foothills and loess plateaux of northwest China. "It seemed as if h u m a n s had set out to reduce their original environment to only t w o types of land: carefully maintained, productive, private farmland, a n d ruthlessly exploited, unproductive, c o m m o n wasteland." s ; Nor was deforestation, as an account from turn-of-the-century Shandong makes clear, the last stage in the economic exploitation of the foothills and mountains. "All t h e boys of t h e village big enough to walk and carry a basket are sent out over the hillsides to collect grass, twigs, and any kind of herbage that can be used as fodder or fuel. Each b o y carries an iron grubbing hook, and thus equipped he clambers up the slopes, w o r k i n g away at this task with cheerful energy. Through the industry of this a r m y of human exponentially.
locusts the mountains are denuded of herbage and even roots o f t e n grubbed up."" T h e stubble that remained on the slopes was b u r n t to provide fertilizing
.f p o p u l a t i o n in C h i n a p r o p e r
ash run-off for fields downhill.' 11
m t a i n o u s far west w a s unaf-
As the last local sources of firewood were exhausted, a fuel and l u m b e r famine
C h i n a , w h e r e die vast, major-
began to u n d e r m i n e agriculture throughout north China. Despite vast, although
i t y exploited in die c o u r s e o f incentrated in Y u n n a n a n d in
poorly mined, coal deposits in Shandong and Shanxi, the rural poor could seldom a fiord coal, and the breakdown of the Grand Canal system, to be discussed in a m o m e n t , inflated its price as well as that of imported w o o d from central China.
aps most extreme in Shaanxi,
Cheap Manchurian timber was available in the coastal cities, but w a s generally
m estimated 90 percent of the
not imported into the interior." "Demand for construction material," wrote
utside the Wei Valley a wilder-
an American authority on Chinese forestry in the 1920s, "has been reduced to
half-century later. As Pauline
supply, until in northern Shensi about the only articles of wood within a house
'invested only in the pacifica-
are chopsticks, and only the door and the paper window lattice of t h e house arc of wood." s , ; Likewise in southwest Shandong, Pomeranz estimates that the fuel supply per peasant household at the time of the Boxer upheaval was barely a quarter of what was traditionally held to be the subsistence m i n i m u m . Scarce
LATE V I C T O R I A N
3 64
CHIN
HOLOCAUSTS
m i g h t in I act h a v e derived a r<_> siltation in m a n y area> 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<
F i g u r e 11.3 A Silted-up C h a n n e l i n the W e i Valley.
cover in many p a r t s of the w a t cattle dung, therefore, had to be burnt for heat and less fertilizer was applied to the soil.
87
Alternatively, more intensive efforts had to be made gathering residual
vegetation from the hillsides, thus ensuring their complete denudation.
38
bedrock and sand instead. As tied about the vast quantities o the deforested hillsides, cloggi
As in India, deforestation enhanced the frequency of hydrological d r o u g h t by
below. ("People suffer greatly b
lowering water tables, increasing runoff, and ruining irrigation systems and res-
deposited sand w a s smothering
ervoirs with sedimentation.*" Fatalistic peasants, all too conscious that they were
Finally, the denudation ol tl
involuntary actors in a vicious circle of poverty and environmental destruction,
supply available d u r i n g drough
quoted Mencitis to each other: "mountains empty
Hooding," Murphev explains,
rivers gorged." The accel-
eration of the erosion cycle became nearly exponential. The.American forestry
ing the water (able, especially <
expert W. C. Lowdermilk estimated in 1930 that slope denudation in Shanxi and
on shallow traditional wells, wl
Shandong in the previous century or so had "increased superficial runoff fifty-
especially on slopes, to retain at
fold." But the "rate of erosion is increased from o n e hundred t o several thou-
recharged as they should be
sand-fold."
90
As a result, visitors frequently encountered deforestation's ubiqui-
tous m o n u m e n t s : great stone bridges completely mired in sediment:
cconomy that lacked cheap e n lie p u m p s , the lowering of t h e ated windlasses or level poles \
Their arches were partially or entirely blocked by silt, although they had been designed originally to accommodate a deeper, more regular flow of water. One
Drought-stricken peasants knev fields but had no m e a n s to p u n t
CHINA: MANDATES
S TS
REVOKED
365
might in far. have derived a round measure of the chronology of deforestation and siltation in many areas by fixing the date of the bridges (many of them as old as Ming, some more recent) as an indication of the time when the streams were less silt-laden a n d c o m p a r i n g this w i t h t h e d e p t h a n d a p p a r e n t r e c e n c y of d e p o s i t i o n since.
si
Traveling in L>23 t h r o u g h n o r t h e r n Shaanxi, t h e future redoubt of Mao's Long Marchers, Lowdermilk was stunned by the extent to which overcultivation had .eroded the landscape into badlands. As soil exhaustion in the eighteenth century led to the substitution of pasturage for agriculture, shepherds began t o systematically burn off" shrub cover to open land for grass. "The result was that 50% of the groundspace in the region was occupied by erosion gullies, some several hundred feet deep." 9Z Erosion on this scale led to radical changes in the composition of the sedim e n t load carried downstream. For millennia, t h e Yellow River and its tributaries had conveyed rich loess silt to replenish and fertilize the n o r t h China plain. By the nineteenth century, however, accelerated erosion had removed the deep loess cover in many parts of the watershed and the highlands w e r e beginning to erode bedrock and sand instead. As early as 1810, Shaanxi officials were already wor-
ess fertilizer was applied to be m a d e gathering residual
ried about the vast quantities of sand and gravel that were annually w a s h e d from
lplete denudation. 8 8
the deforested hillsides, clogging u p irrigation ditches and canals in the valleys below. ("People suffer greatly because of this!")'J3 By the end of the century, flood-
of hydrological drought by
deposited sand was smothering s o m e of the best cropland in north China.
I irrigation systems and resoo conscious that they were
Finally, the denudation of the mountains a n d hills directly aifectcd the water
environmental destruction,
supply available during droughts in the plains below. "In addition to erosion and
- rivers gorged." T h e accel-
flooding," Murphey explains, "deforestation h a d the predictable effect of lower-
ltial. The American forestry
ing the water table, especially critical in north China with its heavy dependence
pe denudation in Shanxi and
on shallow traditional wells, which increasingly ran dry. W i t h o u t a d e q u a t e cover,
ased superficial runoff fifty-
especially on slopes, to retain and absorb rainfall, ground w a t e r reserves were not
ne hundred to several thou-
recharged as they should be by slow release a n d seepage."''' 1 hi a fuel-famished
tered deforestation's ubiqui-
economy that lacked cheap energy sources (even bullocks) for running hydrau-
ired in sediment:
lic pumps, the lowering of the water tables b e l o w the reach of manually oper-
ik, although they bad been regular flow of water. One
Drought-stricken peasants knew that there was plenty of w a t e r underneath their
ated windlasses or level poles was a constant a n d sometimes deadly frustration. fields but had no means to p u m p it t o the surface. It was n o t until after Liberation
V
i
366
CHINA
L VI'H V I C T O R I A N H O L O C A U S TS
that suitably deep wells with clectric p u m p s revolutionized farming in the n o r t h
hired labor (the Q m g had a h n
China plain.
troops and thcir-ovi r>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<
than millions of ruined peasants in Shandong and Hebei. Even established water
ing bottleneck was fatal to relief
agencies, like the General Office for the Control of the Huai, "unable to compete
the 1890s the water-starved nortl
with the armies for funds," were forced to close up shop, and thus "water control
in 1901 the grain tribute was f o r i
111
continued to be dealt with in piecemeal fashion." ' T h e resulting decline in hydraulic control after 1870, in the Yangzi as well as
railroad between Tianjin and Bci great profit of the t w o British-ov
i II1NA: M A N D A T E S
1 STS
REVOKED
the Yellow River basins, has been graphically depicted by B. Stavis as a sudden spike in locally reported disasters (see Figure 11.5).
Abdicating Hydraulic Control T h e Tongzhi Restoration's failure to resolve the flood control crisis ignited an epic battle between regional elites. The wealthy Jiangan gentry, for their part, were delighted by the northern migration of the Yellow River, which relieved t h e m of their traditional burden in taxes, labor duties, flood relief and periodic flood damage. O n the other side, local gentry in western Shandong faced ruin: by the early 1880s the channel had grown high above the plain and flooding had
igzi River gion 1S90
1900 "
become chaotic and almost impossible to contain. Then "in 1886-87, it briefly appeared that the river gods had c o m e to Shandong's aid as the Yellow broke its banks in H e n a n and returned to a southern course. Shandong peasants were said
3910
to have resisted government requisitions of millet stalks to repair the break, while
ing
Shandong officials lobbied Beijing to let the river resume its old course. But the
ir.
province's political weight was n o match for that of Jiangnan and its powerful governor-general.... After a year's respite, the breach was repaired and the river
/ splintered the Kingdom of
returned to continue its devastation of northwest Shandong." 1(W onts, meanwhile, the Empire
This political decision to keep flood waters channeled through the n o r t h China
r plain. Only after the defeat
plain, Esherickpoints out, reflected the emergent control of the rich coastal cities
>n the complex, almost over-
over inter-regional resource flows. It was also a decisive step in the long campaign
. Arguing that neglect of the
by the Jiangnan commercial elites t o shift the transport of Beijing's annual grain
se of the Taiping and Nian
tribute from the Grand Canal to coast al shipping. 11,(1 Indeed one of the m a j o r con-
.* of old waterworks and the
sequences of the Yellow River's change of channel was to cut off the clear waters
cardinal point in Restoration
of the Wen River that fed the Grand Canal and kept critical sections navigable
fellow back into its old chan-
during El Nino droughts. Periodic attempts to use the Yellow River t o replenish
lebei, however, collided with
the Canal were no solution since its waters deposited too m u c h silt. As a result,
ization and the reconquest of
traffic along the Canal began its steep decline, with only the smallest boats able to
y, were a m o r e powerful lobby
proceed along the stretches vulnerable to drought. 1 1 0 As we have seen, the result-
-lebei. Even established water
ing bottleneck was fatal to relief efforts during the 1876 -78 drought-famine. In
the Huai, "unable to compete
the 1890s the water-starved northern sections of the Canal were abandoned, and
shop, and thus "water control 1870, in the Yangzi as well as
!
in 1901 the grain tribute was formally consigned to coastal shipping a n d the new
j
railroad between Tianjin and Beijing. The decline of the Canal redounded to the
i
great profit of the two British-owned steamship lines - the E w o (Jardine Mathc-
i I i
1
:
4, \
—
T 372
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
CH I \ A
last t h r e e years; o n e to two yea
son & Co.) and Taikoo (Butterfieid & Swire) - w h o f r o m the 1870s dominated
ing t h e plant's roots, would dec
1
the m a r i t i m e transport of rice, cotton a n d other staples. " (Japan, by contrast,
of t h e specialized battalions o !
b a n n e d foreign flags from its coast.ii trade.)
and devolved responsibility f o r
This abdication of hydraulic-control in inland n o r t h China was perhaps the
ished counties of the plain. W
m o s t p o r t e n t o u s consequence of the g r o w i n g imperialist pressure on the Qing.
net i n c o m e and a n equivalent p
" T h e foreign onslaught," writes P o m e r a n z , "destroyed basic principles of Ming-
y p h e a n efforts t o defend agricu
Q i n g statecraft, particularly a c o m m i t m e n t to social reproduction that had often
T h i s unraveling of centralis
required rich areas to subsidize the infrastructure of p o o r e r ones. Instead foreign
level of environmental m a n a g e
pressures helped i m p a r t a quasi-mercantilist logic t o t h e actions of a state that
hydraulic infrastructure in d r y
was struggling to survive. Resources h a d t o be used w h e r e t h e y did the m o s t to
(wells, ditches a n d tanks) that s
protect China's a u t o n o m y from direct intervention o r t h e consequences of for-
public works in n o r t h China f t
eign d e b t or b o t h . " In effect, Beijing resorted to "regional triage" by abandoning
hierarchy. Flood control, canal
the costly u p k e e p of t h e Yellow River dikes and the G r a n d Canal in order t o con-
inseparable. Shuili ("water ben<
centrate on creating n e w armies, coastal arsenals a n d flood-control works a r o u n d
as local drainage, depended u p
the m o u t h of the Yellow River "where m a j o r floods s e e m e d likely to provide
of dikes, levees a n d master c a n a
excuses f o r f u r t h e r foreign e n c r o a c h m e n t . " W h e r e a s in the eighteenth c e n t u r y
vancy may have b e e n designed
Q i n g policies had served to reduce regional inequalities, using tribute grain as a
of w a t e r from t h e raised river
tool t o regulate the flow of resources within the Empire, the decision to place all
breaching the dikes), but its reiki
bets o n the coastal-oriented e c o n o m y exploded regional differentials. T h e Yangzi
culture of any kind. "Until the r
landlords, coastal merchants and British shipping interests profited directly from
the American agricultural expei
this ncomercantilist orientation, while the inland N o r t h n o w b e c a m e peripheralized in every sense. 112
will b e of limited value." 11 " Po-
Except in the Tianjin-Beijing region, which was n o w provisioned by sea, the
problem of land scarcity. Marsh
ruin of the G r a n d Canal system grievously u n d e r m i n e d f o o d security in the
local streams, and vast sections
n o r t h , especially in the event of drought-famines, which t e n d e d to be longer in
salinization and sand sedimenta:
d u r a t i o n and larger in area than Hood-famines. It also w r e c k e d t h e e c o n o m i e s of
Finally, as in India, "small irri
the f a m o u s canal t o w n s and grain depots. From the jobless r a n k s of f o r m e r boat-
the recessions and fiscal retrcnc scale, Maddison calculates an ab.*
m e n a n d Canal laborers the Boxers recruited s o m e of their m o s t militant leaders a n d fighters; as did the C o m m u n i s t Party in the 1930s a n d 1940s from their
I
descendants. 1 1 3
attention given t o irrigation u n
Moreover without the Canal to transport timber and stone, it became increas-
nineteenth century. Thus in t h e
ingly difficult to keep the Yellow River within its embankments. "Lacking stone,
mandarin, Wang Hsin-Chitig, p
brick, or often even wood, dike builders used various inferior materials. The most c o m m o n was gaoliang (a type of sorghum) stalks.... At best, they might
lion hectares (or 29.4 percent of cent) in 1952. i r O n a regional s<
1
the W e i Valley u r g i n g the gover
STS
f r o m rhe 1870s dominated pies.111 (Japan,.by contrast,
C H I N A : M A N D A T E S R E V O K E D.W,7
last three years; one to two years was c o m m o n , and improperly cut stalks, lacking the plant's roots, would decay in m o n t h s . I n 1895 Beijing disbanded most of the specialized battalions of "river troops"
•rth China was perhaps the
maintained the dikes
and devolved responsibility for flood control, like famine relief, to the impover-
ialist pressure on the Qing.
ished counties of the plain. Within a generation, fully one-fifth of the region's
ed basic principles of Ming-
net income and an equivalent proportion of its labor-time were consumed in Sis-
reproduction that had often
yphean efforts to defend agriculture against almost annual flood destruction. 1 1 5
poorer ones. Instead foreign
This unraveling of centralized hydraulic control had repercussions at every
D the actions of a state that
level of environmental m a n a g e m e n t . In contrast to India, where the traditional
where they did the most to
hydraulic infrastructure in dry regions consisted of free-standing improvements
or the consequences of for-
(wells, ditches and tanks) that seldom depended upon a massive central project,
jional triage" by abandoning
public works in north China functioned only as an integrated and coordinated
Grand Canal in order to con-
hierarchy. Flood control, canal m a n a g e m e n t and local irrigation were largely
J flood-control works around
inseparable. Shuili ("water benefits") or village-level irrigation farming, as well
>ds seemed likely to provide
as local drainage, depended upon the hegong ("riverworks"): regional networks
:as in the eighteenth century
of dikes, levees and master canals. A hegong system like the Yellow River Conser-
lities, using tribute grain as a
vancy may have been designed for flood control rather t h a n irrigation (diversion
npire, the decision to place all
of water from the raised river channel was outlawed bccause of t h e danger of
ional differentials. The Yangzi
breaching the dikes), but its reliable operation w a s the prerequisite for stable agri-
nterests profited directly from
culture of any kind. "Until the main drainage arteries are m a d e effective," wrote
forth now became peripheral-
the American agricultural expert Loessing Buck in 1938, "focal drainage systems will be of limited value." 116 Poor water m a n a g e m e n t , in turn, exacerbated the
s n o w provisioned by sea, the
problem of land scarcity. Marshes formed where the Yellow River dikes bisectcd
e r m i n e d food security in the
local streams, and vast sections of valuable cropland were lost to waterlogging,
which tended to be longer in
salinization and sand sedimentation.
also wrecked the economies of
Finally, as in India, "small irrigation" lost m u c h of its state sponsorship during
e jobless ranks of former boat-
the recessions and fiscal retrenchments of the nineteenth century. O n a macro-
ne of their most militant lead-
scale, Maddison calculates an absolute decline in irrigated cropland f r o m 21.7 mil-
:he 1930s and 1940s from their
lion hectares (or 29.4 percent of arable) in 1820 t o 20 million hectares (18.5 percent) in 1952.117 On a regional scale, studies of Shaanxi's Wei Valley contrast the
er and stone, it became increas-
attention given to irrigation under the early Q i n g to its political neglect in the
embankments. "Lacking stone,
nineteenth c e n t u r y T h u s in the a f t e r m a t h of" t h e drought o f 1690-92, a famous
various inferior materials. T h e
mandarin, W a n g Hsin-Ching, published a treatise on f a m i n e administration in
i) stalks.... At best, they might
the Wei Valley urging the g o v e r n m e n t to help peasants t a p plentiful groundwa-
\
o
T 374
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ter reservoirs. Given the region's unreliable transport links with the surplus-pro-
C
HI \ A
struction and dike repair in t h e
ducing provinces, Wang advocated well-digging and self-sufficiency as the "only
well revolution in the north C.
'solid and reliable' plan for preventing future drought-famines." 1 ' 15 Later agricul-
p u m p horsept >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<
the valley, where neglect of water control was also blamed for the decline of local
millions of acre-feet from t h e
agriculture. Not only had the irrigation ditches often b e c o m e useless, b u t the
upper reaches of the Mekong
natural waterways had silted up, and flooding along the riverbanks had destroyed
T h r e e Gorges 13am on the Yanj
much of the county's best farmland." 1 2 1 Neglect of irrigation (only 6.8 percent
environmental a n d geopolitical
of cultivated acreage in north China in 1932) continued through the Republican period. The famous Mass Education Movement study (1926-33) of Ting Hsien in Hcbci concluded that 30,000 additional small wells were needed in this single county to fully realize its agricultural potential. 122 T h e failure of successive warlord, G u o m i n d a n g and Japanese occupation governments to improve local irrigation, like their similar inability to t a m e the Yellow River, became powerful factors in rallying the northern peasantry behind the p r o g r a m of the C o m m u n i s t Party. After Liberation (and despite the costs of the Korean intervention), water conservancy was duly accorded the highest priority in successive agricultural plans, and, according to E. Vermeer, "during 1946-1954 the State funds expended on anti-flood work on the Yellow River constituted 22-fold the total invested during the period 1914-1932." D a m con-
T
JS TS
CHINA: MANDATES
REVOKE D 375
links with the surphfs-prose If-sufficiency as the "only t famines."' 1 8 Later agricul;ommendations about peas.gainst large-scale, centrally on, pitted upstream against }able. T h e r e is considerable ry governors authorized sigunder the direct supervision y cases was a 200 percent to
struction and dike repair in the 1950s was followed in the early 1970s by a pumpwell revolution in the north China plain which (measured from 1949) increased p u m p horsepower 400-fold and quadrupled t h e irrigated acreage along the Yellow River. 123 Irrigation, in tandem with the expansion of the chemical fertilizer industry, was the most important productive force unleashed by China's agrarian
reforms just as it was the principal engine powering India's contemporaneous "Green Revolution." Yet real environmental stability in north China has proven elusive. Modern hydraulic control has been achieved in the style of the Colorado Basin or Soviet Central Asia: at the cost of e n o r m o u s wastage without systematic efforts at recycling. Indeed, by the 1990s, the profligate water-use m a d e possible b y reservoirs
n subsidies were m o r e or less
and electric p u m p s had both dried up the lower Yellow River (which n o w fails to
sharp decline in agricultural
reach the Bohai Sea m o s t of the year) and lowered the wetter table 60 meters in
ability to d r o u g h t and flood,
the Beijing region. T h e northern water shortage, according to experts, is "with-
lest county in the entire Wei
out a d o u b t the country's most serious ecological problem," a direct threat to
nineteenth century as a result
further breakneck economic expansion. T h e recent intensification o f the ENSO
milarly depressing scene was
cycle only magnifies t h e danger of growth-choking drought. Accordingly, Beijing
in the southeastern sector of
has opted for the ultimate "Confucian fix": a vast scheme to divert northward
blamed for the decline of local
millions of acre-feet f r o m the headwaters o f the Yangzi, and possibly from the
iften b e c o m e useless, but the
upper reaches of the Mekong a n d Irrawaddy. Even m o r e than the controversial
g the riverbanks h a d destroyed
Three Gorges D a m o n the Yangzi, such diversions are fraught with unpredictable
^f irrigation (only 6.8 percent
environmental and geopolitical hazards. I U
inued through the Republican tudy (1926-33) of T i n g Hsien rells were needed in this single
y and Japanese occupation govsimilar inability to tame the the n o r t h e r n peasantry behind aeration (and despite the costs was duly accorded the highest :ording to E. Vermeer, "during 3od work on the Yellow River : period 1914-1932." D a m con-
Brazil: in
D e f i n i t i o n of
"d
p r o c e s s ot" a c c u t r in the Northeast.
Nineteenth-century Brazil. als< two other things in c o m m o n independent, its economy, e s p glish investors a n d creditors th mal colony" in m o d e r n literal development on a national scs nineteenth century with no a p tivity. While per capita GDP sc United States and even 150 p e A fabulous coffee boom in th equally spectacular economic the Deccan, a formerly core re Even the zona da mala, the N<
Twelve
Brazil: Race and Capital in the Nordeste
Definition of "drought": "a strategic element in the process of accumulation by large rural production units in the Northeast." - G. Dias
Nineteenth-century Brazil, also a subcontinent much visited by El Nino, shared two other things in c o m m o n with contemporary India. First, while nominally independent, its economy, especially in the Nordeste, was so dominated by English investors and creditors that it has b e c o m e the classic example of an "informal colony" in m o d e r n literature on economic dependency. 1 Second, economic development on a national scale ground to a halt during the second half of t h e nineteenth century with no appreciable increase in per capita income or productivity. While per capita G D P soared by 600 percent b e t w e e n 1800 a n d 1913 in t h e United States and even 150 percent in Mexico, there was zero g r o w t h in Brazil. A fabulous coffee b o o m in the Sao Paulo region was counterbalanced by the equally spectacular economic retrogression of the Nordeste. 2 As in the case o f the Deccan, a formerly core region was transformed into a periphery of hunger. Even the zona da mata, the N o r d e s t e l u s h littoral, suffered a drastic decline in
^7S
LATE V I C T O R I A N
H R A Z 1 I . : RACE
HOLOCAUSTS
AND
nutrition as real wages plunged 60 percent from 1870 to 1890.3 Whereas in India,
eign banks were notorious ... |
however, increasing vulnerability to famine went hand in hand with notable infra-
agriculture or domestic c o n c e n
structural modernization in the late nineteenth century, the m o d e r n history of
eign middlemen and British i m p
the sertao is striking for the absence of any significant state developmental role
example, only o n e of eleven lit
until the 1960s and the threat of revolution.
sixty-four import houses spccia
Informal Colonialism and State Capacity
eiious industrialism like that i m
British commercial and financial hegemony in Brazil had ancient roots in Por-
lin Tavora. ("If capital and cre<
tal, moreover, vigilantly policed
tugal's vassalage to London during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
artistic markets were put in p h
W h e n the Bragan^a monarchy was relocated under "tremendous British pres-
a N e w York....")" When local c
sure" to Brazil in 1808, the immediate payotf was a commercial treaty that gave
added income by setting up c o t
British imports preference over those f r o m Portugal. T h e n in 1827 Emperor D o m
tually retaliated. Warren Dean
Pedro, in return for British recognition of his slave empire, codified dependency
in Alagoas that was purchased b
in one of the most inequitable trade agreements in history: a nonreciprocal treaty
fling it and d u m p i n g the machi:
that limited taxes on British imports to 15 percent ad valorum while allowing the
Despite its elites' vast aspira
British to impose 300 percent tariffs on Brazilian coffee. T h e Commercial Treaty,
opmental a u t o n o m y of the Bi
according to Cain and Hopkins; transformed Brazil into a "virtual British protec-
debt, a primitive banking syso
torate."'' Although the United States m a d e substantial commercial inroads during
argues that in land-rich Brazil,
the 1850s, the Civil War cotton b o o m re-established British preeminence. On the
pressure of population on land, was small." The Empire, as wt
eve of the Grande Seca, Britain supplied 51 percent of Brazil's imports and consumed 37 percent of its exports.
in 1889, relied o n export taxes
s
But the deepest level of British hegemony was financial Chronic trade deficits
century, the volume and grow11
were repeatedly financed by punitive British loans whose interest payments gen-
a high level of government ex;
erated p e r m a n e n t budget deficits which, in turn, were financed by yet more for-
then fell, debt service soared tc:
eign bonds/' "The London Rothschilds were the empire's exclusive bond-raising
again desolated the Nordeste, i bullets to kill Conselheiro's loll
agents, the leading exporters and importers were all British, and all the early railroads were British owned or financed. T h e largest British bank, t h e London and
|
Brazilian, had considerably greater financial resources than the semi-official Bank
j
T h e adoption of the inter: mated," as it were, Brazil's unt
of Brazil." 7 T h e domestic banking system was stunted and undeveloped. As late
balk at British attempts to stec
as 1888, thirteen of the twenty Brazilian provinces had no local banks at all, a n d
early 1900s quasi-veto power o
the total capital of the entire national system was only 48 million. T h e state b a n k
omy. W h e n some Brazilians p r
largely confined itself to the conservative management of the m o n e y supply in
of 1898, which confiscated t h e
the interest of its British creditors. 8 Domestic capital formation as a consequence was severely bridled. "The for-
they were forccably reminded j
of last resort. "Lord Rothschi
BRAZIL:
s t s
RACK A N D
CAPITAL
I N T H E N O ROES
T !•
-i
79
eign banks were notorious ... [for] their reluctance to make long-term loans to
o 1890.3 Whereas in India, in hand with notable infra-
agriculture or domestic concerns." 9 Commerce, in turn, was skewed toward for-
ry, the modern history of
eign middlemen and British imports, above all in the Nordeste. In 1890s Bahia, for
t state developmental role
example, only one of eleven licensed exporters was Bahian; and twenty-four of sixty-four import houses specialized in imported British textiles.1" Foreign capital, moreover, vigilantly policed the growth of any saplings of competitive, indigenous industrialism like that imagined in the Utopian litcratura do Norte of Frank-
had ancient roots in Por-
lin Tavora. ("If capital and credit were mobilized, if agriculture, industrial and
and eighteenth centuries,
artistic markets were put in place, we would see at every a i m a Manchester or
"tremendous British pres-
a New York....")" W h e n local entrepreneurs occasionally tried to increase value-
ommercial treaty that gave
added income by setting up cotton-related manufactures, British exporters punc-
"hen in 1827 Emperor Dom
tually retaliated. Warren Dean cites the telling example of a sewing thread mill
npire, codified dependency.
in Alagoas that was purchased by an English firm for the soje purpose of dismantling it and dumping the machinery into the Sao Francisco River.12
;tory: a nonreciprocal treaty valorum while allowing the
Despite its elites' vast aspirations to a modernizing tropical empire, the devel-
ie. The Commercial Treaty,
opmental autonomy of the Brazilian state was thus circumscribed by foreign
ito a "virtual British protec-
debt, a primitive banking system and the volatility of its export income. Leff
I commercial inroads during
argues that in land-rich Brazil, as contrasted to India and japan, there was "little
British preeminence. On the
pressure of population on land, " thus "Ricardian rent, the basis for land taxation,
of Brazil's imports and con-
was small." The Empire, as well as the conservative Republic that succeeded it in 1889, relied on export taxes for revenue, b u t "until t h e end of t h e nineteenth
ancial. Chronic trade deficits
century, the volume and growth of Brazil's foreign trade were too small to permit
'hose interest payments gciv
a high level of government expenditure." 13 In the 1890s, as coffee prices stalled
TC financed by yet more for-
then fell, debt service soared to half the federal budget. 1 ' 1 As drought and famine
ipirc's exclusive bond-raising
again desolated the Nordeste, the Republic was hard-pressed even to pay for the
British, and all the early rail-
bullets to kill Conselheiro's followers.
British bank, the London and
i
es than the semi-official Bank
!
The adoption of the international Gold Standard during the 1870s "automated," as it were, Brazil's unequal exchange relationships. Although Rio might
ted and undeveloped. As late
balk at British attempts to steer its foreign policy, London retained through the
had no local banks at all, and
early 1900s quasi-veto power over major capital flows within the Brazilian econ-
nly 48 million. The state bank
omy. W h e n some Brazilians protested the draconian t e r m s of the Funding Loan
n e n t of the money supply in
of 1898, which confiscated the entirety of customs revenue for debt repayment,
/as severely bridled. "The for-
of last resort. "Lord Rothschild, anticipating that the resolve of the recipients
they were forceably reminded that dreadnaughts were t h e City's debt collectors j
T 380
[.ati-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
BRAZIL:
RA1
1:.
ANI
might weaken, took care to poini out, in a m a n n e r which was unauthorised but Uncqi
managed to sound authoritative, that the alternative, repudiation, would involve not only 'the complete loss of the country's credit' but might also 'greatly affect
18
Brazil's sovereignty, provoking complaints that could arrive at the extreme of foreign intervention.'"
Ceara
15
informal colonialism, however, did not affect Brazil's regions equally. If the northeastern sugar fazendas were the very paradigm of dependence upon Brit-
"
£2
Rio Grande d o N o n e
£<1
Bahia
£4
S a o Paulo
£3
ish capital, the southern coffee industry was relatively more independent. "The paulistic market," Ruthanne Deutsch points out, "was never the private sphere of influence of a single country or a single financial combine." 1 6 First linked to the
Sourcc: Muvua Ruescti. ' Region; Nineteenth Century," in fi.uioch a
coast by railroad in 1872, the fertile Sao Paulo region was supplying half of the
as "Belindia: Belgium m the s
world's coffee by the 1890s. An informal pact between the Republican parties of
"around 1870, t h e quality o f 1:
Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais after the overthrow of the Empire in 1889 "guaran-
Nordeste rivaled, if it did n o
teed these two states control of the economic policy of the central government,"
changed, however, as real p e r (
supplanting the old landowning elites of Rio who had been the chief beneficiaries
n o r t h fell by 30 percent ( t o
of the Empire. The new dispensation was sweetened, however, by an elaborate
exports. Sugar a n d cotton, w h i
system of bribes and concessions that buttressed the local power of the coroneis
income, contributed barely 3 \
in the smaller states. 17
by coffee. 21 Meanwhile, local n
Despite its nationalist rhetoric, the "Revolution of 1889-91," as Dean empha-
hubs and town life atrophied. '
sizes, did nothing to address export dependency or the financial dominance of
contrasted with relative deurb:
the City of London. Indeed, with the consolidation of Paulista power, Brazil
T h e dismal decade of t h e
became a monoculture. "It is remarkable that Brazil, a country of immense terri-
tional deflation of commodity
tory and varied resources, participated in world trade essentially as a planter of a
larly devastating in the Nordc
single crop: coffee." IS T h e developmental ambitions of the new Republic, more-
sugar exceeded the selling pri
over, were almost entirely concentrated on railroad construction in the dynamic
and juimi.v (sugar refineries) we
coffee-growing core. "National integration" meant little more than the Paulistas
avoided the overall economic
in Congress occasionally scratching the backs of other oligarchs. Unlike Victorian
cacao on the w o r l d market r o s
India with its impressive railroads and inter-regional grain trade, Brazil until the
from cheaper labor costs becai
early twentieth century remained an "archipelago" of distinctive economies sepa-
by drought.")^' 1
rated by dauntingly high internal costs of transportation. Indeed, "class interests were so disparate as to raise serious questions concerning the validity of using the nation as a unit of analysis."
19
E u g c n i c s and E c o n o m i c I n As Leff has pointed out, it is :
The rise of the coffee states inevitably accelerated the decline of the north-
century Nordeste should have
ern sugar littoral. C o n t e m p o r a r y Brazilians are used to thinking of their country
tton. Certainly o t h e r primary
T B R A Z I L : R A C E A N D C A P I T A L IN T H E
\USTS
which was unauthorised but
NORDESTE
385
Table 12.1 Unequal Regional Development
.
i, repudiation, would involve
( P e r Capita P r o d u c t )
but might .dso 'greatly affect j arrive at the extreme of forrazil's regions equally If the ;m of dependence u p o n Brit-
Ccani Rio Grande do Norte Bahia Sao Paulo
1872 £2.2 £0.4 £4.0 £3.1
1900 £0.8
Change
£0.2
-100%
£3.9 £15.7
+506%
-275% -3%
/ely m o r e independent. "The -as never the private sphere of 1
Girthine." * First linked to the
Source: Mircea Buescu, "Regional Inequalities in Brazil During rhr Sccond Halt" of rhe Nineteenth Century," in Barioch and Levy-Leboyer, p. 352.
o n was supplying half of the
as "Belindia: Belgium in the south, India in the north," but as Deutsch shows,
een the Republican parties of
"around 1870, the quality of life and the level of economic development in the
' t h e Empire in 1889 "guaran-
Nordeste rivaled, if it did not surpass, that of the Southeast."-' 0 This quickly
y of the central government,"
changed, however, as real per capita income in the once economically dominant
ad been the chief beneficiaries
north fell by 30 percent (to 1913) in tandem with the collapse of its chief
led, however, by an elaborate
exports. Sugar and cotton, which in 1822 comprised 49 percent of Brazil's export
he local power of the corone'is
income, contributed barely 3 percent in 1913 against the 60 percent represented by coffee. 21 Meanwhile, local markets were supplanted by warehouses at railroad
of 1889-91." as Dean emphaDr the financial dominance of
hubs and town life atrophied. T h e rapid urbanization of the southeast after 1880 contrasted with relative deurbanization in the north. 2 2
.ion of Paulista power, Brazil
The dismal decade of the 1890s, which combined drought with the interna-
il, a countrv of immense terri-
tional deflation of commodity prices and a national financial panic, was particu-
idc essentially as a planter of a
larly devastating in the Nordeste. By 1897, for example, the transport price of
ns of the new Republic, more-
sugar exceeded the selling price offered by brokers, and n u m e r o u s plantations
id construction in the dynamic
and tjjiiifi^ (sugar refineries) went belly up. 2e ("Only southern Bahia's cacao region
it little more than the Paulistas
avoided the overall economic decline of the 1890s, chiefly because prices for
:her oligarchs. Unlike Victorian
cacao on the world market rose during this period and planters were able to profit
lal grain trade, Brazil until the
from cheaper labor costs because of an influx of migrants driven f r o m the scrtao
' of distinctive economies sepa-
by drought.") 2 -'
r a t i o n . Indeed, "class interests jncerning the validity of using
Eugenics and Economic Involution As Leff has pointed out, it is not immediately obvious w h y the late-nineteenth-
rated the decline of the north-
century Nordeste should have undergone such extraordinary economic devolu-
e d to thinking of their country
tion. Certainly other primary producers m a d e up for falling export prices w i t h
T 382
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
URA/iL:
RACE
AND
higher productivity and increased output. "In view of the rapid growth of world
expensive subsidies i few were rei
d e m a n d for cotton and sugar during the nineteenth century, Brazil's failure to
part, wanted only "white" overse
expand its exports of these products m u c h more vigorously seems astonishing."
this federal policy in the new Rep
His own explanation hinges on the exchange-rate consequences of Brazilian cof-
to include Japanese as well as SOL
fee's dominant position in the world market. Under the gold standard system,
ers in the southeast more willing
strong coffee earnings led to the automatic appreciation of the milreis, which in
the northeast?" Leff believes t h a '
turn raised northern sugar and cotton prices to uncompetitive levels. The Nor-
lent racial attitudes on the part <
deste's biggest problem, in this view, was its m o n e t a r y integation with the rest
European to mulatto workers,"
of Brazil. "The coffee-dominated exchange rate," writes Leff, "squeezed factor
part of Southeastern planters a g ;
returns and priced ever-larger quantities of the northeast's sugar and cotton out
Both understate racism as p u b
of the world market." 25 T h e decline of export competitiveness brutally p r u n e d the foliage of the Nor-
era! discourse about drought a n c urban perceptions of the "dark, p
deste's class structure. If successive southern-dominated governments assuaged
inferiority and aversion to labor,
the great northern oligarchs with regular political kickbacks (often in the guise
portion of the nineteenth c c n t u
of "drought aid"), m o r e modest fazendeiros were left to the mercy of market
e n m e n t notions of progress, an<
forces. From about 1875, control over production began to pass into the hands of
like Buckle and Spencer, the b a
the owners (often foreign or foreign-born) of modernized usinas. "The capabil-
a bygone age, hut detriments t o
ity of the usinas to handle a greater load of cane called for f u r t h e r monopolistic
national culture, largely based in
consolidation of land resources; in the wake of this process, small and middle
ern Europe and the United Sta
landowners became uprooted." 2 6 T h e fate of ex-slaves, of course, was unimagin-
lamenting the inadequacies, intel
ably more difficult in an economic system that no longer required the same huge
population."" 1 The Brazilian R e p
levies of labor-power. As the Nordeste's economy slumped into a coma, supernu-
ment anywhere explicitly c o m m :
merary labor was either pushed into the sertao's "black, barren fields of hunger"
fm-de-siccle savants like the Bah)
(Tavora) or induced to gamble with disease and exploitation in the rubber forests
that "race mixing was responsib
of Amazonas.
gious heresy, and the like."' 1 V
W h a t did not happen in the last quarter of the nineteenth century was w h a t
United States in the 1890s was c c
neoclassical theory would have predicted as an automatic reflex: the emigration
economy, Brazil's elites also w a r
of n o r t h e r n labor to southeastern growth poles. Instead, beginning in the late
the nation's racial physiognomy,
Empire, national and local governments began to heavily subsidize mass immi-
"whitening" Brazil.
gration from Italy, Germany and Portugal. Even the elites of the Nordeste fer-
The War of Canudos, as w e
vidly embraced "Europeanization." An extraordinary example was Bahia during
driven by elite fears of the nortl
the terrible "Two Eights" drought-famine of 1888-89. While state authorities
racial caste strongly marked by
were roadblocking rctira?it«' route to the cities and forcibly interning them by
and African. The demonized fi
the thousands in camps, they continued efforts to lure European immigrants w i t h
invoked to justify the urgency of i
.USTS
BRAZIL: RACE AND CAPITAL
IN T H E
NORDESTE
3 83
f the rapid g r o w t h of world
expensive subsidies (few were tempted). 2 7 Southeastern coffee'planters, for their
r» century, Brazil's failure to
part, wanted only "white" overseas laborers after Emancipation, and soon made
;orously seems astonishing."
this federal policy in the new Republic. (The racial preference was later amended
•nsequences of Brazilian cof-
to include Japanese as well as southern Europeans.) "W'hy were the coffee plant-
:r the gold standard system,
ers in the southeast m o r e willing t o finance immigration from Europe than from
:tion of the milreis, which in
the northeast?" Leff believes that "part of the answer may have been the preva-
competitive levels. T h e Nor-
lent racial attitudes o n the part of the coffee planters, which led t h e m to prefer
tary integation with the rest
European to mulatto workers," while Deutsch points to "cultural biases on the
.vrites Leff, "squeezed factor
part of Southeastern planters against native Brazilian workers." 2 8
.heast's sugar and cotton out
Both understate racism as public policy. Gerald Greenfield has s h o w n h o w Lib.eral discourse about d r o u g h t and development in the late 1870s revolved around
runed the foliage of the Nor-
urban perceptions of the "dark, primitive world of the hinterland" a n d "retirante
nated governments assuaged
inferiority and aversion to labor." 29 "To the extent that Brazil during the latter
kickbacks (often in the guise
portion of the nineteenth century embraced the tenets of positivism, enlight-
left to the mercy of market
e n m e n t notions of progress, and the concomitant scientific racism of thinkers
egan to pass into the hands of
like Buckle and Spencer, the backlanders b e c a m e not merely curiosities from
ernized usinas. "The capabil-
a bygone age, but detriments to t h e nation's progress. Evolving institutions of
alled for f u r t h e r monopolistic
national culture, largely based in Rio and revealing marked influence from West-
lis process, small and middle
e r n Europe and the United States, stressed t h e nation's great potential while
ves, of course, was unimagin-
lamenting the inadequacies, intellectual as well as moral, of much of the nation's
onger required the same huge
population." 3 0 The Brazilian Republic, moreover, was probably the first govern-
lumped into a coma, supernu-
m e n t anywhere explicitly committed to large-scale "positive Eugenics." Leading
)lack, barren fields of hunger"
iin-de-siecle savants like the Bahian scientist Nina Rodrigues corroborated fears
Moitation in the rubber forests
that "race mixing was responsible for all social deviance such as banditry, religious heresy, and the like." 31 Whereas mass European immigration into the
nineteenth century was what
United States in the 1890s was conceived as simply providing human fuel for the
tomatic reflex: the emigration
economy, Brazil's elites also w r anted to use immigration t o radically transform
Instead, beginning in the late
the nation's racial physiognomy. T h e y were obsessed with "de-Africanizing" and
• heavily subsidize mass immi-
"whitening" Brazil.
the elites of the Nordeste fer-
The War of Canudos, as we have seen, b e c a m e a macabre racial allegory
.ary example was Bahia during
driven by elite fears of the n o r t h e r n poor w h o m they denigrated as caboclos: a
38-89. While state authorities
racial caste strongly m a r k e d by admixture of Indian ancestry with Portuguese
md forcibly interning t h e m by
and African. T h e d e m o n i z e d figure of Antonio Conselheiro was
u r e European immigrants with
invoked to justify the urgency of Europeanization. ("Always insecure over the rest
frequently
T 384
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
of Brazil's whispers that Bahia's leading families had intermixed so m u c h with the gente de cor during the heyday of slavery, the Baluans seized the conflict as a way to demonstrate their c o m m i t m e n t to continued progress o n the European model.") 3 2 In this way, European immigration became the deliberate substitute for either developing the sertao a n d / o r letting the n o r t h e r n p o o r move southwards. As a result, scientific racism helped create the m o t h e r of all dual labor markets. "The highly elastic supply of labor from overseas meant that output could expand at a rapid pace in Brazil's advanced sector without raising the wages of workers in the rest of the economy." 3 3 By 1889 the British consul in Pernambuco reported to London "that labor there was cheaper than anywhere in the world except in Asia."3'1 As Celso Furtado famously argued, the Nordeste, following the pattern of'previous export b o o m s and busts in Brazilian history regressed on a diet of super-cheap labor. As in Victorian India or late Qing China, the glut of labor-power created massive disincentives to productivity-raising capital investment (the usinas being a partial exception). "This economic 'involurion,' as Furtado called it, was the opposite of development because each historical export b o o m until coffee (brazilwood, sugar, gold, and c o n t e m p o r a n e o u s with coffee, rubber) led to retrogression, not to sustained growth." 3 5
Ecological Decline Since the emergence of the great fazendas degado in the late seventeenth century, the ecology and economy of the sertao repeatedly have been reshaped by El Nino droughts. T h e 'Leather Age" of the eighteenth century, w h e n fazendeiros made legendary fortunes selling their longhorned cattle and came do Ceara (dried beef) to coastal sugar plantations and the gold mines of Minas Gerais, was brought to an end by the terrible drought of 1791-93, which decimated the semi-wild herds. Some of the big fazendeiros clung to their feudal domains, while others moved to the coast and became absentee landlords, but even m o r e let their cattle ranges be broken up into impoverished shards. 36 T h e ecology of the sertao was ill-suited to the pressures of many small, marginal ranches. 'As a matter of fact," Kenneth Webb has argued, "the sertao is not really very g o o d for cattle," but was adapted to this use when the herds were forced out of the zona da m a t a by the sugar b o o m . T h e productivity of the sertao with its scant forage was notoriously low.
BRAZIL:
RACE
AT
" T h e carrying capacity of th cattle were supported by o n e ol' land were required by on< for example, might sustain on (10,000 hectares or more) rare In the early nineteenth cc laborers as well as fugitive si; b u c o or Bahia, began to m o required little o r no investiru s e r t a o of Inhamuns, "and a l t h effects of droughts than cattlc interior became a frontier safe slave economy. "The sertao a h d u r i n g the stagnant periods ol and energies of those who, i could not integrate themselvc ture.' M 0 Between 1822 and 1S5< by recognizing homestead clai disappearing indigenous peopl As the greatest twcntieth-cc inaraes Duque, has emphasizsive. midlatitude farming tecl infertile soils of the scrtao. !! T C u n h a pointedly named his far p a s s e s a s t u n n i n g variety of l a n
tomlands along the r ivers c o r n were monopolized by the cattl newcomers moved into the hi harvests for a year or two. b u error, they eventually adapted years of cultivation followed 1 population pressure eventually - characterized by shallow ro« unestablishcd or where- they
BRAZIL: RACE AND CAPITAL
.USTS
IN T H E
NORDESTE
d intermixed so much with
"The carrying capacity of the land was determined not by how m a n y head of
aians seized the conflict as a
cattle were supported by one hectare of cnatinga, but r a t h e r how m a n y hectares
d progress on the European
of land w e r e required by one beef critter." 37 A typical r a n c h of 1,000 hectares,
m e the deliberate substitute
for example, might sustain only 50 scrawny cattle; and even the biggest fazendas
n o r t h e r n poor move south-
(10,000 hectares or more) rarely pastured herds larger t h a n 1,000.'* In the early nineteenth century, large n u m b e r s of subsistence farmers and
nother of all dual labor mar-
laborers as well as fugitive slaves, mostly f r o m the adjacent dgrcste of Pernam-
;eas m e a n t that output could
buco or Bahia, began to move into the s e r t a o for the first time. "Agriculture
without raising the wages of
required little or n o investment," writes Chandler in h e r study of the Cearan
British consul in Pernambuco
sertao of Inhamuns, "and although it was even m o r e susceptible to t h e disastrous
• than anywhere in the world
effects of droughts than cattle, recovery was m u c h easier." 39 The vast northeast
ued, the Nordeste, following
interior b e c a m e a frontier safety valve for the social contradictions of the coastal
m Brazilian history, regressed
slave economy. "The sertao absorbed the surplus population of the z o n a da mata
ndia or late Qing China, the
during the stagnant periods of the sugar industry, and benefited f r o m the labors
to productivity-raising capital
a n d energies of those who, for economic, psychological, o r whatever reason,
This economic 'involution,' as
could not integrate themselves i n t o the f a m o u s casa grandc c scnzala sugar cul-
becausc each historical export
ture." 40 Between 1822 and 1850, t h e Empire officially s u p p o r t e d this immigration by recognizing homestead claims o n land formerly belonging to the sertao's fast-
.ontemporaneous with coffee,
disappearing indigenous peoples. As the greatest twenticth-century authority o n Nordeste agriculture, Jose Guimaraes Duquc, has emphasized, most of the n e w settlers brought labor-intenin the late seventeenth cenniry,
sive, midlatimde farming techniques ill-suited to the d r y tropical climate and
have been reshaped by El Nino
infertile soils of the s e r t a o . T h i s 650,000-square-kilometer region - Euclydes da
mtury, when fazendeiros made
C u n h a pointedly named his famous book Os Scrtocs rather than 0 Scrulo - encom-
: and came do Ceard (dried beef)
passes a stunning variety- of landscapes and local climates. But only the fertile bot-
f Minas Gcrais, was brought to
tomlands along the rivers corresponded to the i m m i g r a n t s ' experience and these
decimated the semi-wild herds,
were monopolized by the cattle fazendas, their orchards a n d loyal tenants. So the
il domains, while others moved
newcomers moved into the h u m i d senas (uplands). These hilly soils gave good
;ven m o r e let their cattle ranges
harvests for a year or two, but quickly lost their fertility. After tragic trial and
>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<
missiveness and crushing any resistance or attempts to challenge their monopoly
h o m e s and m o v e toward t h e b e
over the land." 45 As Hamilton Monteiro has emphasized, high levels of routine violence - whether between squatters and fazendeiros or b e t w e e n competing elite parentelas - organized and directed the relations of production in the Victorian scrtao.'" 5
t o w n s and cities like "... so m a r it, crossing a n d recrossing t h e i t i o n . " In the t o w n s they w o u l d b e g , but only u n t i l such t i m e a;
The slow deterioration of the landscape under the pressure of overgrazing
The drought-famine of 1825, \\
- visible since the late eighteenth century - was accelerated by the slash-and-
ecological precariousncss of tl
burn agriculture of the rural poor who cultivated maize, beans and manioc. "In
e c o n o m y in the absence of sy:
the caatinga especially, impermeable, crystalline rock formations are c o m m o n ,
"such widespread mortality a m
which slope towards the rivers, facilitating rapid run-off, soil erosion, silting up
alter radically the settlement a
of rivers and evaporation."' 17 Poverty b e c a m e synonymous with the lack of water
revealed that the biological e n
and clear title to the land. A snrali n u m b e r of big fazendas, the enduring centers
mined out. "Cattle were graz<
of oligarchical power, monopolized the perennial water sources and were usu-
previously s h u n n e d arid land a
ally well protected f r o m drought, but the rest of the population in the semi-arido
conflict with the similarly expi
was pitifully dependent upon the erratic rainfall. Every year the sertanejo m a d e a
the overstocked ranges did n o t
desperate wager with a devil we know as El Nino.
fodder by squatters. The infinite ble soil accelerated erosion. In t were denuded, runoff increase
USTS
B R A Z I L : R A C E A N D C A P I T A L IN T H E N O R D E S T E
18 7
T h e lives o f all t h e d w e l l e r s of t h e b a c k l a n d s w e r e inescapably linked t o t h e tl actuations o f t h e s e a s o n s , b u t n o n e s o closely, h e n c e s o v u l n e r a b l e , as the s m a l l subsis-
i, most new immigrants to on fazenda land. Although le picturesque figure of the ulation by midcenturv were ory agregados (day-laborers),
"certainly less than s% and 1 land."44 These poor sertaneminally free men, but access )rer confronted by the capan-
t e n c e f a r m e r . In N o v e m b e r and D e c e m b e r h e w o u l d b u r n o f f t h e dry stulk> remaining from t h e p r e v i o u s season, p r e p a r i n g t o p l a n t his b e a n s , c o r n , and m a n i o c in the ashes o f t h e p r e v i o u s c r o p ; if t h e land h a d y i e l d e d poorly t h e past year, h e m i g h t m o v e t o a n e w l o c a t i o n . W h e n t h e fiist r a i n s arrived, u s u a l l y in January, b e would p l a n t his s e e d s a n d h o p e f o r their c o n t i n u a n c c . In s e a s o n s o f relatively light rainfall, t h o s e a b l e t o p l a n t in t h e iwixos [ p o c k e t s o f rich soil in s t r e a m b e d s ] w e r e b e t t e r o f f t h a n t h o s e o n the h i g h e r g r o u n d , b u r rhey ran the risk o f l o s i n g t h e i r c r o p s to flash floods w h i c h m i g h t s w e e p d o w n t h e c i c e k b e d s w i t h o u t w a r n i n g w i t h h e a v y local s h o w e r s u p s t r e a m . If h e a v y s h o w e r s c a m e b e f o r e t h e s e e d l i n g s h a d t a k e n firm h o l d , rhey w o u l d b e w a s h e d o u t ; frequently, plants
:endeiro in each rural muni1 imperial Guardia Nacional, /iolence, which originated in
p a t i e n c e , h e w o u l d p l a n t t i m e a n d t i m e a g a i n , r e s e r v i n g o n l y a m i n i m a l s t o c k of
•ndas, became known as coro-
seed f o r f o o d until t h e h a r v e s t .
ploitation, allowing landlords icir work-force, eliciting sub; to challenge their monopoly asized, high levels of routine leiros or between competing is of production in the Victo; the pressure of overgrazing accelerated by the slash-andmaize, beans and manioc. "In ock formations are common, un-off, soil erosion, silting up lymous with the lack of water azendas, the enduring centers i water sources and were usuhe population in the icmi-arido very year the sertanejo made a
s p r o u t e d o n l y t o w i t h e r as the r a i n s s t o p p e d . In s u c h eases, t h e f a r m e r w o u l d plant again, arid if necessary, a third o r f o u r t h t i m e . E x h i b i t i n g a s t o n i s h i n g t e n a c i t y and
At i n t e r v a l s , t h e rain w o u l d fail completely, o r h o l d off s o l o n g as to m a k e a successful h a r v e s t i m p o s s i b l e . O n l y t h e n w o u l d t h e s t u b b o r n b a c k l a n d s f a r m e r s leave their h o m e s a n d m o v e t o w a r d t h e b e t t e r - w a t e r e d hills, t h e coast, or, as a last r c s o n , to the t o w n s a n d cities like " . . . so m a n y e r r a n t a n t s h u n t i n g f o o d w h e r e v e r t h e y c o u l d find it, c r o s s i n g a n d r e c r o s s i n g the t o a d s a n d o n t h e m m e e t i n g o t h e r s in s i m i l a r condition." I n t h e t o w n s t h e y w o u l d s e e k w o r k , o r failing that, s u r r e n d e r t h e i r p r i d e and b e g , b u t o n l y u n t i l s u c h t i m e as t h e y could s a f e l y r e t u r n t o t h e i r plots o f ground.''*
The drought-fa mine of 1825, which killed 30,000 in Ceara alone, exposed the full ecological precariousness of the sertao's hybrid cattle and subsistence fanning cconomy in the absence of systems of water storage and irrigation. 1 " It caused "such widespread mortality and h u m a n dislocation," according to Cumhff, "as to alter radically the settlement and economic patterns of the region." In effect, it revealed that the biological endowments of the scrtao were being dangerously mined out. "Cattle were grazed beyond the areas of natural pasture, into the previously shunned arid land and onto the w o o d e d hills, where they came into conflict w i t h the similarly expanding agriculture of the slopes." W h a t cattle o n the overstocked ranges did not eat up was quickly stripped away as firewood or fodder by squatters. T h e infinite n e t w o r k of cattle trails w o r n into t h e sterile, friable soil accelerated erosion. In the classic pattern, as the sparsely w o o d e d hillsides were denuded, runoff increased while water tables and springflows declined. It
388
LATE VICTORIAI\
HOLOCAUSTS
B R A Z I L • R A <: E A N I
was evident both to the sertanejos themselves as well as the occasional foreign Rise a n d I
visitor that they were desertifying parts of the backlands and probably altering the climate as well. Some dreamed of a vast irrigation network of wells, dams
Pcmair
and reservoirs; others envisioned reforestation "as the route back to the mythical once-verdant sertao." 50
Kilos Exported 1860
1.3 million
But there was n o source of investment to stabilize o r reverse the sertao's eco-
1862
2.8 million
logical decline. The backward cattle industry, little changed since the seventeenth
1864
8.4 million
century, supported the autocratic power of the local coroneis but failed to gen-
1866
18.2 million
1869
1 5.2 million
erate an accumulable surplus for irrigation works had such inclinations towards
1871
16.8 million
1873
1 5.2 million
das, hydraulic engineering consisted simply of shallow wells (cacimbas) in creek
1875
11.1 million
beds that were dug by hand every May as the surface waters dried up. T h e few
1877
2.6 million
improvement existed amongst the sertao's oligarchs. Even on the great fazen-
small reservoirs actually built during the nineteenth century were so unusual as to b e c o m e objects of local awe. 51 As discussed earlier, the capacity of any layer of government to sponsor irriga-
Price: 1864 = t.00 Sonrcc: Adapted from data in C u m Tabic 1, p. 20.
tion works was constrained by what might be called "triple peripheralization": the underdevelopment of the Brazilian financial system vis-a-vis British capital;
r e a c h e d into nearly every c o r n
the Nordeste's declining economic and political position vis-a-vis Sao Paulo; and
r e i n f o r c e d by t h e r e m a r k a b l e a
the sertao's marginality within state politics vis-a-vis the plantation elites of the
B u t high c o t t o n prices w e r e
coast. Politicians endlessly proposed irrigation schemes, but n o n e were built.
directionless subsistence farm*
Ironically, the State's impotence to develop the sertao was inverted by the littoral
t h e s h o r t v e g e t a t i v e cycle o f c o
elite into the racist caricature of the indolent, backward sertanejo.
o f s l a v e s , s o it w a s u s u a l l y c u l t
The Cotton Boom
w h o had no previous agricultu
s o m e larger landholders t u r n e c
The socio-ccological crisis in the backlands was temporarily hidden from view (as
ture." As workers deserted t h e
in India and Egypt) by the cotton b o o m that accompanied the US Civil War. The
of C e a r a ' s Cariri valley, the s u £
abdication of the irrigation debate, as Cunnilf points out, had ultimately fatal
l a b o r s h o r t a g e . 5 ' ' B y 1876 t h e p<
consequences. "Ironically, the most prosperous period in the history of the sertao
less agrcgados,
was to compound the errors and continue the trends of the previous years; the
of t h e 1877 d r o u g h t ) . s :
relative affluence of the 1860s was in large part responsible for the horrors of the 1870s."
52
A drought-resistant variety of arboreal cotton was introduced in the
c o m p r i s e d fully
A l t h o u g h it s h o u l d have b e < c o t t o n w o u l d s o o n flood the •
sertao and exports to English textile mills from the p o r t of Recife increased from
Manchester, whose
165,265 kilos in 1845 to nearly 8 million kilos in 1871. 53 Prices almost doubled
overstocked buyer's market
overriding
f r o m 885 reis in 1861 to 1,600 reis in 1863, and "the cotton b o o m at its zenith
even m o r e acreage u n d e r c u l t h
in
VUST S
B R A Z I L : R A C E A N D C A P I T A L IN T H E
N'ORDESTE
'ell as che occasional foreign
T a b l e 12.2
elands and probably altering
R i s e a n d Fall o f t h e S e r t a o C o t t o n B o o m
tion .network of wells, d a m s
Pernambuco
IC route back to the mythical '.e or reverse the sertao's ecohanged since the seventeenth al coroneis but failed to geniad such inclinations towards hs. Even on the great fazenllow wells (cacimbas) in creek ace w a t e r s dried up. T h e few
Kilos E x p o r t e d
1860 1862 1864 1866 1869 1871 1873 1875, 1877
1.3 million 2.8 million 8.4 million 18.2 million 15.2 million 16.8 million 15.2 million 11.1 million 2.6 million
h century w e r e so unusual as
Ceara
Price
1.00 .62 .71 .47 .35 -
Kilos E x p o r t e d
0.8 million 0.7 million t.O million 2.1 million 7.3 million 5.1 million 5.8 million 0.6 million
1.00 .74 .49 .35 .35 .24
Price: 1864=1.00
g o v e r n m e n t to s p o n s o r irriga-
Source: Adapted from data in Cunniff, Table II-l, p. 81 and Johnson, Sharccroppers ofthcScrtao, Tabic 1, p. 20.
ted "triple peripheralization": y s t e m vis-a-vis British capital;
reached i n t o nearly every c o r n e r of the sertao." 5 4 T h e m i r a g e of p r o s p e r i t y w a s
>sition vis-a-vis Sao Paulo; and
reinforced by the r e m a r k a b l e absence of d r o u g h t b e t w e e n 1845 a n d 1869.
vis t h e plantation elites of the
But high cotton prices were only a m a g n e t that a t t r a c t e d yet m o r e "landless,
:hemes, but n o n e w e r e built,
directionless subsistence f a r m e r s " to the backlands. T h e labor r e q u i r e d d u r i n g
tao w a s inverted by the littoral
the s h o r t vegetative cycle of c o t t o n did not a m o r t i z e t h e annual subsistence c o s t
:ward sertanejo.
o f slaves, so it was usually cultivated by free labor. 5 , "Although it is evident t h a t s o m e larger l a n d h o l d e r s turned t o cotton, it w a s essentially the c r o p of the poor, w h o h a d n o previous agricultural investment t o hinder t h e i r plunge into its cul-
nporarily hidden f r o m view (as
ture." As w o r k e r s d e s e r t e d the plantations o f P e r n a m b u c o for the c o t t o n frontier
n p a n i e d the US Civil War. T h e
of Ceara's Cariri valley, the sugar barons c o m p l a i n e d bitterly a b o u t t h e g r o w i n g
oints out, had ultimately fatal
labor shortage. 5 6 By 1876 the p o o r e s t s t r a t u m o f the s e r t a o social o r d e r , the land-
riod in t h e history of the sertao
less agregados, c o m p r i s e d fully 40 percent of t h e p o p u l a t i o n of C e a r a (epicenter
inds of the previous years; the
of the 1877 d r o u g h t ) . 5 7
responsible for the h o r r o r s of
A l t h o u g h it s h o u l d have b e e n evident a f t e r A p p o m a t t o x that high-quality US
al c o t t o n w a s i n t r o d u c e d in the
c o t t o n w o u l d s o o n flood t h e w o r l d market, t h e C o t t o n Supply Association o f
e p o r t of Recife increased f r o m
Manchester, w h o s e overriding interest (as w e saw in Berar) was a p e r m a n e n t l y
1871." Prices a l m o s t doubled
overstocked buyer's m a r k e t in r a w cotton, fiercely lobbied Brazilians to b r i n g
"the c o t t o n b o o m at its zenith
even m o r e acreage u n d e r cultivation. Before long, however, the r e t u r n of short-
c
390
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
B R A Z I L : R A C E A N L~
staple Southern cotton drove down the price of the varieties that Manchester
period of famine even before •
had p r o m o t e d so zealously in Egypt, India and Brazil. Desperate sertanejos tried
demiologica! evidence includes
to compensate by producing yet m o r e cotton. But as cotton parches blossomed
in 3 872 - attributed to the s e r
in the most remote corners of the sertao, the producers wejre caught in a vise
milled rice imported from Indi
between falling world market prices and high, rigid costs of overland transport to
yellow fever.60
the nearest river ports. Unlike India, the Nordeste lacked a railroad infrastructure,
T h e international shockwa-
and unlike China, which also suffered from transportation bottlenecks, it lacked
which inaugurated the depress
a huge domestic market to encourage value-added cotton handicrafts. T h e only
most drastic deflation in the i
hope for saving the sertao's cotton industry was a crash program of railroad and
prices of the agricultural e x p o n
road construction in the interior. As Cunniff explains, the imperial government
dos as well as fazendeiros. T h e
toyed in the late 1860s with a plan to build a railroad from Ceara's capital of
in b o o m times, dried up c o m p k
Fortaleza to the major cotton center of Uruburetama, but the project was aban-
[in t h e Nordeste] suspended lo;
doned in 1868 after the completion of a only few kilometers of track. As with
rium, while the Banco Nationa
irrigation, there was neither state capacity nor obvious foreign interest to take up
Alemao committed suicide. T h
the challenge of developing the sertao.
58
T h e provincial government
By 1869, when a new drought devastated subsistence crops in many parts of
they could no longer
finance.
the backlands, the same British cotton buyers w h o had orchestrated the b o o m a
Pernambuco, imposed o n c r o c
decade before were rejecting the Nordeste's "inferior," "poorly processed" cotton
despised legislation fatefully cc
shipments. T h e sertanejos - once again pariahs - had nowhere to turn. "From
government to introduce the r r
subsistence farmers and herdsmen, a large proportion of back landers had been
that was widely feared as an att
converted into the marginal commercial farmers and agricultural laborers exist-
sion was known as the Q u e b r i
ing in an extremely precarious economic state, more vulnerable than ever to
the agrcstc and sertao regions <
sudden crisis by virtue of the fact that their traditional ties to the large landholders had been greatly weakened or broken."
59
As in n o r t h China, the commercial-
ization of agriculture in the sertao had less to do with seedlings of rural capitalism than with increased social and ecological marginality.
Alagoas, armed crowds systen and b u r n e d tax r e c o r d s . T h e : ing m a n y rebellious sertanejos preying on the fazendas and tc
To make-matters worse, the overextension of cotton cultivation during the
government in the Nordeste w
1860s had been matched by the expansion of the catde population: from 1.2
spread, rioting had broken o u
million in Ceara in 1860 to 2 million in 1876. Like the pauper cotton-growers,
fazendas, and banditry was t h e
the fazendeiros had recklessly increased the size of their herds, despite legislation attempting to stabilize land/cattle ratios, to compensate for falling beef and
The Irrigation Charade
leather prices. Soil degradation and erosion were accelerated. Moreover the com-
Large northern landowners, r
bined pressure of cotton and cattle on the soil left less r o o m for traditional sub-
overstocked labor-supply w i t h
sistence crops, and Cunniff finds indications that the Nordeste "was entering a
their o w n underdevelopment.
0
IUSTS
B R A Z I L : R A C E A N D C A P I T A ! . IN T H E
NORDESTE
39 1
ie varieties that Manchester
period of famine even before t h e great d r o u g h t devastated the area." The epi-
il. Desperate sertanejos tried
demiological evidence includes the appearance of beriberi in Ceara and Paraiba
is cotton patches blossomed
in 1872 - attributed to the sertanejos' increasing dependence on cheap, poorly
lucers were caught in a vise
milled rice imported f r o m India - as well as outbreaks of smallpox, cholera and
:osts of overland transport to
yellow fever. 60
:ked a railroad infrastructure,
T h e international shockwavcs from the collapse of t h e US railroad b o o m ,
rtation bottlenecks, it lacked
which inaugurated the depression of 1873-79, reached t h e sertao in 1874. "The
cotton handicrafts. T h e only
mosi drastic deflation in the m e m o r y of m a n , " it depressed even f u r t h e r the
rash program of railroad and
prices of t h e agricultural exports t h a t were n o w the faltering livelihood of agrega-
ins, the imperial government
dos as well as fazendeiros. The small trickle of domestic credit, inadequate even
road f r o m Ceara's capital of
in b o o m times, dried u p completely. "By the end of the year the majority of banks
n a , but the project was aban-
[in the Nordeste] suspended loans. In 1875 the Banco Maua begged for a morato-
kilometers of track. As with
rium, while the Banco National stopped p a y m e n t s and t h e director o f the Banco
ous foreign interest to take up
Alemao committed suicide. T h e r e was no way to control t h e ensuing panic." 61 The provincial governments, meanwhile, were wrestling with public debts
stence crops in many parts of
they could n o longer finance. At the edge of default, several provinces, led by
• had orchestrated the b o o m a
Pernarnbuco, imposed onerous taxes on foodstuffs sold at regional fairs. This
Dr," "poorly processed" cotton
despised legislation fatefully coincided with simultaneous efforts by the imperial
had nowhere to turn. "From
government to introduce the metric system and reinforce conscription (a measure
:tion of backlanders had been
that was widely feared as an a t t e m p t to "enslave" frcedmen). The resulting explo-
ind agricultural laborers exist-
sion was k n o w n as t h e Quebraquilos ("smashing the kilos") revolt. T h r o u g h o u t
more vulnerable than ever to
the agreste and sertao regions of Paraiba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande d o Norte a n d
onal ties to the large landhold-
Alagoas, a r m e d crowds systematically destroyed decimal weights a n d measures
north China, the commercial-
and burned tax records. 62 The revolt was finally crushed by imperial troops, forc-
with seedlings of rural capital-
ing many rebellious sertanejos to flee into the hills where they became
ginality.
preying on the fazendas and towns." 1 Thus, o n the eve of the Grande Seca, local
cotton cultivation during the
government in the Nordeste was bankrupt, malnutrition a n d beriberi were wide-
he cattle population: from 1.2
spread, rioting had b r o k e n out in some of the towns, t h e poor w e r e pillaging
ke the pauper cotton-growers,
fazendas, and banditry was the only growth sector in the economy.
r
of their herds, despite legislarompensate for falling beef and
The Irrigation Charade
accelerated. Moreover the com-
Large n o r t h e r n landowners, needless to say, welcomed the emergence of this
ft less r o o m for traditional sub-
overstocked labor-supply without realizing that they w e r e , in effect, embracing
t the Nordeste "was entering a
their o w n underdevelopment. Indeed, as w e have seen, t h e y protested violently
392
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
against anything, like Conselheiro's saintly and autarchic city of Canudos, that appeared to threaten their abundance of labor. Elsewhere such a surfeit of immiscration might have produced a social revolution, but the northeastern littoral had the vastness of the sertao as a social safety-valve. Indeed, f r o m the 1870s onward, the Nordeste was elfectively capitalized on the fluxes of labor between the backlands and the coast. Potentially explosive accumulations of poor and unemployed laborers in the littoral were diverted into the subsistence economy of the sertao, then periodically regurgitated towards the coast by drought. T h e sertao, in effect, provided welfare for the poor, while drought guaranteed that desperate laborers would always be available to depress wages on the coast. Even in the Ceara sertao, virtually depopulated by the great secas of the 1870s and 1890s, local oligarchs as we have seen were able to find profit as labor contractors for Para and Amazonas. Thus whiie the coroneis had the most avid interest in "drought relief" (which they largely intercepted), they were little disposed toward any real development or ecological stabilization of the sertao. T h e all-out national mobilization to destroy Canudos was in stark contrast to official apathy over the fate of sertanejos in the four successive El Nino droughts b e t w e e n 1888 and 1902. T h e great domestic debate of the 1890s, symptomatically, was not over arrresting the decline of the Nordeste, but between Paulistas w h o urged m o r e state spending in the southeast and the opposition, which wanted to bolster Brazil's international credit after the milreis lost half of its value to runaway inflation between 1892 and 1897. The Rothschilds rescued the government in 1898 with a £10 million loan in return for a surcharge on import duties and a deflationary budget thai left n o spare changc for public works.'"1 The economic and political hegemonies, respectively, of the British and the Paulistas, plus the northeastern oligarchs' deepening investment in their own underdevelopment, thus explains m u c h of the structural context of the centurylong burlesque of "irrigating the sertao." In the wake of successive EI Ninos, national commissions and visiting foreign irrigation experts d r e w up sweeping, never-implemented plans for stabilizing agriculture and h u m a n settlement in the backlands. The few hydraulic projects that were actually built, beginning w i t h the Acude Quixada reservoir in Ceara in 1899, "stored water which benefited large landowners and protected their cattle by providing pasture and watering facilities
B R A Z I L : RACE
AN!
but ... left most of the Iow-inc 500 hectares of the sertao had , years later, when a military diet the Nordeste hired Israeli cons tion survey, conditions of life f sertanejos were little different f preached Apocalypse on the ba<
LUSTS
archic city of Canudos, that here such a surfeit of immisthe northeastern littoral had
BRAZIL: RACK AND C A P I T A L
IN T H E N O R D E S T E
39
;
but ... left most of the low-income agricultural population untouched." 6 5 Only 500 hectares of the sertao had actually been irrigated by 1941, and twenty-seven years later, when a military dictatorship worried about possible Guevarist/ocw in
eed, from the 1870s onward,
the Nordeste hired Israeli consultants to conduct the first comprehensive irriga-
s of labor between the back-
tion survey, conditions of life for millions of drought-stricken and immiserated
ons of poor and unemployed
sertanejos were little different from the days w h e n Conselheiro a n d Cicero first
ence economy of the sertao,
preached Apocalypse on the backroads of Ceara. 6 6
Irought. T h e sertao, in effect, Dteed that desperate laborers ,ie coast. Even in the Ceara he 1870s and 1890s, local olitbor contractors for Para and *st in "drought relief" (which toward any real development out national mobilization to thy over the fate of-sertanejos *8 and 1902. T h e great domesover arrresting the decline of re state spending in the southazil's international credit after r» between 1892 and 1897. The i £10 million loan in return for idget that left no spare change :ctively, of the British and the ning investment in their own ictural context of the centurywake of successive El Ninos, on experts drew up sweeping, e and h u m a n settlement in the tually built, beginning with the d water which benefited large I pasture and watering facilities
agregado
Tenant or t o l e another's l a n d
agreste
Intermediate humid coastal
bajra
Pearl millet: t than higher-st;
bania
Moneylender •
bcata(o)
Lay ascetic.
caatinga
Thorny s c r u b
caboclo
Mixed-race p e
cangaceiro
Outlaw.
cash
Bronze coin (1
coroncl
Rural political
culturrstelscl
"Culture syste duction in N e t
dacoit Deccan
Robbery/expr Peninusular in the volcanic D
durbar
State meeting
Encilhamento
Speculative b u
Glossary
agregado agrcsie bajra bania beata(o) caaringa caboclo cangaceiro cash co rone 1 culturrstelsel
dacoit Deccan durbar Encilhamento
Tenant or tolerated squatter (literally, one who lives by favor on another's land); same as morador. Intermediate zone between the - drought-stricken sertao and humid coastal zona de mata. Pearl millet: extremely drought resistant and more nutritious than higher-status grains. Moneylender (and usually trader). Lay ascetic. Thorny scrub forest. Mixed-race person. Outlaw. Bronze coin (1/ 1000th of a tael). Rural political boss (plural: coronas). "Culture system": obligatory regime of agricultural export production in Netherlands East Indies. Robbery/expropriation. Peninusular interior of India south of the Narmada River; also the volcanic Deccan Plateau. State meeting of officials. Speculative bubble in the early Brazilian Republic.
396
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
ENSO
El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
fazenda
Cattle ranch (in the Nordeste).
fazendeiro
ryotwari
System by w
Rancher (hacendado).
sabha
Association.
fellah
Peasant (pluralfellahin).
seca
Drought.
flagelado
"Ccourged one" (drought victim).
sertao
Back la rid regi Resident of if
nue.
genre dc cor
People of color.
gram
Pulse grown during rabi.
sertanejo shi
Measure of gi
hsicn
Chinese county.
SOI
Southern O s c
1TCZ
Intertropical Convergence Z o n e (of trade winds).
sowcar
jagunco
Pejorative t e r m for herdsmen of the sertao/follower of Consel-
SPCZ
Moneylender South Pacific 1
heiro.
SST
Sea surface to;
jawar
Sorghum vulgarc.
takavi
State-backed
khatedar
Equivalent of ryot in Berar.
tael
Chinese o u n o
kaoliang
All-purpose sorghum: milled for grain while stalks used in con-
taluk
Indian reventr
struction.
talukdar
Large landow:
kharif
Growing season of crops harvested in the a u t u m n .
teleconnection
Correlation b<
lakh
100,000.
thermocline
The sharp t e n
makhzan
G o v e r n m e n t / royal p o w e r (Morocco).
malguzar
Landowner, often with tenants (India's Central Provinces).
W a r m Pool
Trade Wind-c
of ocean f r o m
mandioca
Cassava (the root is poisonous unless carefully prepared).
western Pacif
maund
Unit of weight (82 lbs.).
largest tropic;
milreis
Nineteenth-century Brazilian currenc.
MSI.P
Mean Sea Level Pressure .
mu NAO Nian rebellion
International vaquciro
Cowboy i in R
One-sixth of an acre (China).
zaminda r
Property-hold
North Atlantic Oscillation.
zemstvo
Pi'ovincial a n d
Vast peasant uprising north of the Huai River (1851--6S) led by
zona de mala
We 11 -watered
Z h a n g Luoxing and defeated by U. S. Grant's host, Li Hong-
Nordeste.
zhan. Nordeste
Eight states of the Brazilian northeast whose vast interior is the sertao.
parceiro
Sharecropper.
rabi
Growing season of crops harvested in the spring.
retirante
Refugee (Brazil).
ryot
Peasant (Deccan).
k. •'
GLOSSARY
;AUSTS ryot w a n
3 97
System by which each peasant is assessed separately for revenue.
of t r a d e winds). h e sertao /follower of Consel-
grain while stalks used in coned in t h e a u t u m n . >cco).
sabh.t
Association.
seca
Drought.
sertao
Backland region of Brazil's Nordeste.
sertanejo
Resident of the sertao.
shi
Measure of grain: about 176 p o u n d s in weight.
SOI
S o u t h e r n Oscillation Index.
sowcar
Moneylender (also sa/mfcar).
SPCZ
S o u t h Pacific Convergence Z o n e .
SST
Sea surface t e m p e r a t u r e .
takavi
State-backed agricultural loan (also
tael
Chinese ounce of silver; n i n e t e e n t h - c c n t u r y m o n e t a r y unit.
taluk
Indian revenue division.
a n d tagai).
talukdar
Large landowner.
teleconnection
Correlation b e t w e e n widely separated climate events.
thermocline
T h e sharp t e m p e r a t u r e g r a d i e n t separating w a r m surface layer of ocean f r o m d e e p e r cold water.
W a r m Pool
Trade Wind-driven pooling of very w a r m surface water in t h e
India's Central Provinces),
western Pacific (Indonesia a n d Queensland); it drives earth's
nless carefully prepared).
largest tropical convection system; b o t h migrate towards the International D a t e Line d u r i n g El Nino events.
rrenc.
;he Huai River (1851-68) led by jy U S . Grant's host, Li Hong•theast w h o s e vast interior is the
sted in t h e spring.
vaqueiro
C o w b o y (in Brazil's Nordeste).
zamindar
Property-holder under p e r m a n e n t s e t t l e m e n t (Bengal).
zemstvo
Provincial and c o u n t y council.
zona de mata
Well-watered z o n e of s u g a r cultivation on the coast of t h e Nordeste.
N o t e s to the Preface T h e e p i g r a p h is f r o m J o h n H i d o U p p e r Saddle R i v e r , N.J. 1996, p. 9< 1. W i l l i a m McFecly, Cr N e w s C o m p a n y in 20 parts), N e w •f. Ibid., pp. 2 6 6 - 7 a n d 274. ). Ibid., pp. 278 a n d 284 -5. 6. Ibid., p. 622. 7. Ibid., p. 624. 8. " O n this o c c a s i o n ' o u r d i s t i n ; W e s t e r n Republic,' w h o g o t a s d r u lord. Me f u m b l e d M r s . A., kissed tl and b l u e - and r a n a t Miss D. i n t e r g u e s t s i n t o h y s t e r i c s by g e n e r a l l y 1 t u r e d b y m a i n f o r c e a n d carried (c India o f his d i s t i n g u i s h e d p r e s e n c e the p u b l i c s a l o o n c a b i n , w h e r e M r . t h e r e a n d t h e n his b a f f l e d lust o n t ously v o m i t e d d u r i n g t h e o p e r a t i c i n c r e d i b l e " ( L y t t o n q u o t e d in M c F
9. Adam Badeau, Gmnt in Pcacc, '. 10. Q u o t e d in M c F e c l y p. 474.
11. Young, p. 414. 12. H a n g A V e i H e , Drought
in No
Notes
Notes to the Preface T h e e p i g r a p h is from J o h n H i d o r e , Glolwf Environmental Change:
lis Nature
ami
Impact,
U p p e r S a d d l e River, N.J. 1996, p. 96. 1. W i l l i a m McFeely, G r a n t : A Biography, N e w York 1981, pp. 4 5 3 , 4 5 7 - 6 0 a n d 471. 2. Ibid., pp. 4 5 8 - 7 1 . 3. J o h n Russell Y o u n g , Around the World with General Grant, s u b s c r i p t i o n e d n . ( A m e r i c a n N e w s C o m p a n y in 20 p a r t s ) , N e w York 1S78-79, pp. 242 a n d 2 4 6 . 4. Ibid., pp. 2 6 6 - 7 a n d 274. 5. Ibid., p p . 278 a n d 2 8 4 - 5 . 6. Ibid., p. 622. 7. Ibid., p. 624. 8. " O n this o c c a s i o n ' o u r d i s t i n g u i s h e d g u e s t , ' t h e d o u b l e E x - P r e s i d e n t of the ' G r e a t W e s t e r n R e p u b l i c , ' w h o g o t as d r u n k as a fiddle, s h o w e d he c o u l d also be as p r o f l i g a t e as a lord. H e f u m b l e d Mrs. A., kissed t h e s h r i e k i n g M i s s B. - p i n c h e d t h e p l u m p Mrs. C. b l a c k a n d b l u e - a n d ran at Miss D. i n t e n t t o ravish her. Finally, a f t e r t h r o w i n g all t h e ... femaleg u e s t s i n t o h y s t e r i c s b y g e n e r a l l y b e h a v i n g like a m u s t e l e p h a n t , t h e n o b l e b e a s t was c a p t u r e d by m a i n force a n d carried ( q u a t r e p a t t e s d a n s f a i r ) by six sailors ... w h i c h relieved India of his d i s t i n g u i s h e d p r e s e n c e . T h e m a r i n e o f f i c e r ... r e p o r t s that, w h e n d e p o s i t e d in t h e p u b l i c s a l o o n c a b i n , w h e r e Mrs. G . w a s a w a i t i n g h i m ... t h i s r e m a r k a b l e n i a n satiated t h e r e a n d t h e n his b a f f l e d lust on t h e u n r e s i s t i n g b o d y of his l e g i t i m a t e s p o u s e , a n d c o p i ously v o m i t e d d u r i n g t h e o p e r a t i o n . If y o u h a v e s e e n Mrs. G r a n t you w i l l n o t think t h i s i n c r e d i b l e " ( L y t t o n q u o t e d in McFeely, p. 473). 9. A d a m B a d e a u , G r a n t in Peace, H a r t f o r d 1887, p p . 310-11. 10. Q u o t e d in McFeely, p. 474. 11. Young, p. 414. 12. H a n g - W e i H e , Drought
in Northern
China in the FMily Guang
Xu (1876-1879),
Hong
400
[.ATI-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
K o n g 1980, pp. 3 6 - 7 (in C h i n e s e ) . 13. Q u o t e d in McFecly, p. 557 fn43. 14. J.T. Headley, The Travels of Gninvil Gram, Philadelphia 1881, p. 444. 15. William Digby, "Prosperous" British India: A Revelation from Official Records, L o n d o n 190', p. 118. 16. Ibid., p. 122. 17. Alfred Russel Wallace, Fhe Wonderful Century: hs Successes and Its Failures, L o n d o n 1898, p. 341. 18. David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, N e w York 1998, p. 437. 19. W. A r t h u r Lewis, Growth and Fluctuations, 1870-1913, L o n d o n 1978, pp. 29, ! 87 a n d 215 especially. 20. Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, B o s t o n 1944, p. 160. 21. Ibid., pp. 159-60. 22. Slavoj Z i z e k , The Spectre Is Still Roaming AroundI An Introduction to the UOth Anniversary Edition of the Communist Manifesto, Z a g r e b 1998, p. 17. 23. Rosa L u x e m b u r g , The Accumulation of Capital, trans. A g n e s S c h w a r z c h i l d , L o n d o n 1951 [1913], pp. 370-71. 24. Bertolt Brechr, Poe»w 1913-J9J6, L o n d o n 1976, p. 204. 25. Sec C h a p t e r 7. 26. Jill Dias, " F a m i n e a n d Disease in the H i s t o r y of Angola, c. 1830-1930," Journal of African History 22 (1981). 27. P. W r i g h t , An Index of the Southern Oscillation, University o f East Anglia, C l i m a t e Research Unit Publication, N o r w i c h 1975; a n d William Q u i n n et al., "Historical T r e n d s a n d Statistics of the S o u t h e r n Oscillation, El N i n o , a n d I n d o n e s i a n D r o u g h t s , " HJ/I. Bull. 76(1978). 28. G e o r g e Kiladis a n d H e n r y Diaz, "An Analysis of t h e 1877-78 E N S O Episode a n d C o m p a r i s o n with 1982-83," iYIoii//ify Weather Review 114 ( J u n e 1986). A l t h o u g h they "resist the t e m p t a t i o n t o c o m p a r e t h e 'intensity'" of t h e t w o events, they p o i n t o u t t h a t t h e 1876 -78 event lasted l o n g e r and w a s associated w i t h sea-level pressure a n o m a l i e s a c r o s s a larger area of the tropics (p. 1046). 29. P e t e r W h e i t o n a n d Ian R u t h e r f u r d , "Historical E N S O T c l e c o n n e c t i o n s in the E a s t e r n H e m i s p h e r e , " Clinunic Change 28 (1994), p. 243. 30. Michael W a t t s . Silent Vio/cmv; Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria, Berkeley 1983. 31. David A r n o l d , Famine: Son'd! Crisis dm! 1 listoncal Change, L o n d o n 1988. 32. Alfred Sarivy, "Trois m o n d e s , u n e p l a n e t e , " L'OlKcmuciir 1 IS (14 A u g . 1952), p. 5. 33. See t h e discussion in C h a p t e r 9; also t h e m u c h - a w a i t e d s t u d y by K e n n e t h P o m c r a n z , 77ie Great Divergence: China, Europe, and t/ic Making of the Modern World Economy, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 2000, w h i c h a p p e a r e d while this b o o k w a s in proof.
Notes on Definitions 1. See Kevin T r c n b e t h , " G e n e r a l Characteristics of El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation," in M. Glantz, R. Katz, and N. Nichols (eds.), Tckcomtertton.? Linking Worldwide Climate Anomalies,
C a m b r i d g e 1991. p p . i3-42. 2 R. .Iando Garcia. Drought and O x f o r d 1 ys 1. p. 1 57. 3. Report on the Famine in (iic ttomb J. C r a w f o r d , Report on the Famine 1'HIO, N a g p u r 1901, p. 2. On Chin;; Fighteenth-Ccniury China, S t a n f o r d . ( •1. A m a r t y a Sen, Poverty and F.iun p. i. Also M e g b n a d Desai, " T h O x f o r d 19S8. 3. A r n o l d , pp. 4 4 - 5 and 85. 6. A m a r i t a R a n g a s a m i , '"Failure R e s p o n s e , " in Economic and Political M i c h a e l Watts, " D r o u g h t . E n v i DIOK^/II and Hunger in Afiica: Ocnvun <s. M i c h a e l W a t t s , " H e a r t of D a r k r A/Wain Filmute, N e w York 1991, p. 44 9. A l e x a n d e r De Waal, Famine That 10.
HI. Report of the Commissioners App J.V06, vol. 1. Calcutta 1867, p. 24. 11 Klein. "Plague, Polity and P o p u ! 12. M a h a r a t n a , pp. 7 - 8 . 1>. David W a s h b r o o k . " f l i c C o m r d u c t i o n , Subsistence a n d Reproduce Studies 28:1 (1994), p. H I . 14. Klein, p. 735. 15 Inga C l c n d i n n e n , RtWiiyj the lie Notes to C h a p t e r I t. W i l l i a m Digby. 'I'he Famine Ca 11"10, p. 505; r e f e r e n c e s are to v o l I i 2. "Philindus." "1'amincs and F"!< 244-5. i. D i g b y pp. 7 a n d 13. 4. British P a r l i a m e n t a r y Papers, /• Relief, c d . 2591, L o n d o n 1880, p. 191. in the imperial e c o n o m y , see C h e n Kuala L u m p u r 1968. 5. C o r n e l i u s W a l f o r d , The Fmnme. 6. M c e r u t district o f f i c e r q u o t e d ii m i hulid, vol. I of The United Provinc, 7. L e t t e r f r o m M a d r a s Govcrnmc-
NOTES
USTS
C a m b r i d g e 1991, pp. 13 -42. 2. R o l a n d o Garcia. Drought and Man: The 1972 Case History, voi. i, MitnrePlertris A.'i Guilty, O x f o r d 1981, p. 157.
1881, p. 444. from Official Records,
London
cesses and Its Failures,
London
4. A m a r t y a Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford 1984, p. 1. Also M e g h n a d Desai, " T h e E c o n o m i c s of F a m i n e , " in G. H a r r i s o n (ed. . FVimine, O x f o r d 198S.
York 1998, p. 437. i n d o n 1978, pp. 29, 187 a n d 215 160. •oduction to the 150lh
3. Report on the Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1899-1902, vol. 1, Bombay 1903, jv i ; a n d J. A. C r a w f o r d , Report on the Famine in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts in the Yean i S99 and 1900, N a g p u r 1901, p. 2. O n China, s e c P i e r r e - E t i e n n e Will, Snreflwcrrtcy and / amine in Eighteenth-Century China, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1990.
Anniversary
Agnes Schwarzchild, London
5. Arnold, pp. 4 4 - 5 a n d 85. 6. A m a r i t a R a n g a s a m i , '"Failure o f Exchange E n t i t l e m e n t s ' T h e o r y o f R e s p o n s e , " in Economic and Political Weekly 20:41 (12 O c t . 1985), p. 178.
Famine: A
7. Michael W a t t s , " D r o u g h t , E n v i r o n m e n t a n d F o o d Supply," in Michael G l a n t z (ed.), Drought and Hunger in Africa: Denying Famine a Future, C a m b r i d g e 1987, p. 205. 8. Michael W a t t s , " H e a r t of D a r k n e s s " in S t e p h e n Reyna (ed.), The Political Economy of Afiican Famine, N e w York 1991, p. 44. 9. A l e x a n d e r D e Waal, Faminf T/itir Kifo: Datj'ur, Sudan, 19&4-1985, Oxford 1989, pp. 6 and 10.
a, c. 1830-1930,"Journal of Afri-
10. Report of the Commissioners Appointed 1866, vol. 1, C a l c u t t a 1867, p. 24.
ersity o f East Anglia, C l i m a t e ^ u i n n et al., "Historical T r e n d s i d o n e s i a n D r o u g h t s , " Fish. Bull.
11. Kiein, " P l a g u e , Polity a n d P o p u l a r Unrest," p. 731. 12. M a h a r a t n a , pp. 7 - 8 . 13. David W a s h b r o o k , " T h e C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n o f A g r i c u l t u r e i n C o l o n i a l India: Prod u c t i o n , S u b s i s t e n c e a n d R e p r o d u c t i o n in the ' D r y S o u t h , ' c. 1870-1930," A'Iod: >H Asian Studies 28:1 (1994), p. 151.
ic 1877-78 E N S O Episode a n d u n e 1986). A l t h o u g h t h e y "resist events, they p o i n t o u t t h a t the evel p r e s s u r e a n o m a l i e s a c r o s s a ) T e l e c o n n e c t i o n s in the E a s t e r n itry in Norfltern Nigeria, Berkeley L o n d o n 1988. tcur 118 (14 A u g . 1952), p. 5. ed study by K e n n e t h P o m c r a n z , Iodem World F.conomy, P r i n c e t o n ,
l i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation," in M. Wng Worldwide Climate Anontrtlics,
to Enquire into the Famine in Bengal AIIJ Ori.«fl
14. Klein, p. 735. 15. Inga G l e n d i n n e n , Reading the Holocaust, C a m b r i d g e 1999, p. 14. N o t e s to C h a p t e r i 1. William D i g b y The Famine Campaign in Southern India: 1S76-1S7S, 1 vols.. L o n d o n 1900, p. 505; r e f e r e n c e s a r e t o vol. 1 u n l e s s o t h e r w i s e n o t e d . 2. "Philindus," " F a m i n e s and F l o o d s in India," MdcHiil/rtii'.T Al^rtsuic, J a n . 1S7.S, pp. 244-5. 3. Digby, pp. 7 and 13. 4. British P a r l i a m e n t a r y Papers, Report of the Indian Famine Commission, p a r t 1. Famine Relief, cd. 2591, L o n d o n 1880, p, 191. O n the r e v o l u t i o n a r y role o f B u r m e s e rice s u r p l u s e s in t h e imperial e c o n o m y , s e e C h e n g Siok-hwa, The Rice Industry of Burma, IS 12-1940, K u a l a L u m p u r 1968. 5. C o r n e l i u s Walford, The Famines of the World, L o n d o n 1879, p. 126. 6. M e e r u t district o f f i c e r q u o t e d in Elizabeth W h i t c o m b e , Agrarian Conditions in Northern India, vol. 1 o f The United Provinces Under British Rule, 1360-1900, Berkeley 1972, p. 195. 7. Letter from M a d r a s G o v e r n m e n t t o G o v e r n m e n t of India, 3 0 Nov. 1876, q u o t e d in
T 402
I, AT ii V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
B. Bhatia, Famines in India, IS50 -1945, B o m b a y 1963, p. 94. 8. The Nineteenth Century-, S e p t . 1S77, p. 177. 9. C h r i s c o p h e G u i l m o t o . " T o w a r d s a N e w D e m o g r a p h i c E q u i l i b r i u m : T h e Inception of D e m o g r a p h i c T r a n s i t i o n in S o u t h India,"The Indian Economic and Social History Review {hence, /ESHR) 29:3 (1992), p. 258. 10. Digby, pp. 33 a n d 361. 11. A n d r e w Roberts, Salisbury: Victorian Titan, L o n d o n 1999, p. 215. 12. The Times, 9 Jan. 1877; Aurelia H a r l a n , Oivin Meredith, N e w York 1946, pp. 218-2'); and B e r n a r d C o h n , " R e p r e s e n t i n g A u t h o r i t y in Victorian India," in Eric H o b s b a w m ami T e r e n c e Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition, C a m b r i d g e 1983, pp. 179-208. 13. Digby, voi. 1, p. 46. 14. R. N e e l a n k a n t e s w a r a Rao, famines and Relief Administration: A Case Study of Coastal Andhra, 18S8--1901, N e w Delhi 1997, p. 120. 15. R o b e r t s , p. 218. 16. For L y t t o n as a w a r h a w k w i t h i n Disraeli's g o v e r n m e n t , see R. Ensor, England: IS70-1914, O x f o r d 1936, p. 62; a n d Lt.-Col. R. O s b o r n e , "India U n d e r L o r d Lytton," G-uf t w / w r a r y R m ' c w , D e c . 1879, p. 555 (Liberal view). O n t h e effects of t h e G o l d S t a n d a r d on Indian finances, sec Lance B r e n n a n , " T h e D e v e l o p m e n t of t h e Indian F a m i n e C o d e s , " in W o l f T i e t z e , ed., Famine as a Geographical Phenomenon, D o r d r e c h t 1984, pp. 94 and 97. 17. " S w i n b u r n e called Lyiron's p o e m 'Lucille' an ' i n f a m o u s i m p o s t u r e ' in that t h e plot, c h a r a c t e r s , situations, a n d even m i n u t e d e s c r i p t i o n s w e r e b o r r o w e d f r o m G e o r g e Sand's novel Lavinia. T h e a c c u s a t i o n of p l a g i a r i s m w a s also m a d e b y Lytton's f a t h e r " ( J o h n L o w e D u t h i e , " L o r d Lytton and t h e S e c o n d A f g h a n W a r : A Psycbohistorical Study," Vtcton.iJi Studies [ S u m m e r 1984J, p. 471). 18. J a n e t O p p e n h e i m , "S/uiitcred Nrrves"; Doctors, Patients and Depression in Viek>ricm h'ngland, O x f o r d 1991, pp. 173-4. 19. R o b e r t s , p. 220. 20. A d a m S m i t h , An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the WraflJi of Nations (1776), fifth e d n . , L o n d o n 1930, pp. 27- 8. 21. S. A m b i r a j a n , Classic ill Political Economy and British Policy in India, C a m b r i d g e 1978, p. 63. 22. O s b o r n e , p. 553; ! lari Srivastava, The History of Indian Famines, A g r a 1968, p. i n ; Digby, pp. 50-51; and David Steele, Lord Salt shiny: A Political Biography, L o n d o n 1999, p. 93. C o m p a r e also to B e n t h a m : "l.aissez [aire, in s h o r t , s h o u l d be the g e n e r a l practice: every d e p a r t u r e , unless required by s o m e g r e a t g o o d , is a certain evil." In a n o t a b l e dissent f r o m u l t r a - o r t h o d o x y , however, J o h n Stuart Mill criticized the policy of a b s o l u t e n o n i n t e r v e n tion w h e n large n u m b e r s (if lives w e r e at stake: "Direct m e a s u r e s at t h e cost of t h e state, to p r o c u r e f o o d f r o m a distance a r e e x p e d i e n t w h e n , f r o m p e c u l i a r r e a s o n , t h e t h i n g is not likely t o b e d o n e by private s p e c u l a t i o n " ( q u o t e d in Rao, pp. 250). 23. Steele, p. 98 (it is u n c l e a r w h e t h e r this is a direct q u o t a t i o n o r p a r a p h r a s e f r o m a letter f r o m L y t t o n to Sir J o h n Strachey, O c t . 1877). 24. A n g u s M a d d i s o n , Mog/mi Chtss Structure and Economic Growth: India and Pakistan Sincc the Moghuls, N e w York 1971, p. 40. 25. D e r i v e d from Bhatia, T a b l e 5, p. 38.
\ o
26. Q u o t e d in J o h n Caldwell. " M of I n d i a , " P o p k m ' o n and Devclopnu 27. F r o m Pa rlia menta ry Pa pas, 1 f q u o t e d in S h e l d o n Watts, Epidcn 1 laven, C o n n . 1997, p. 2U3. 28. Caldwell, p. 683. 29. Q u o t e d in R o b e r t s , pp. 8 5 - 6 . 30. Q u o t e d in S t e e l e , pp. 95 a n d 1 31. " G e n e r a l T r e m e n h e e r e o n Mi 32. Salisbury in Steele, p. 98. 33. G o v e r n m e n t o f India, Report Relief, L o n d o n 1880, p. 59. 34. Digby, pp. 173-4 35. K. Surcsh Singh, The Indian Fa 36. Digbyi p. 105. 37. Ibid., pp. 103- 4. 38. " F a m i n e a n d D e b t in I n d i a , " Banaji. "Capitalist D o m i n a t i o n a n d N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y , " in Cyan P r a Juduj. D e l h i 1992, p. 124. 39. C o r r e s p o n d e n t for the Caleittl. 40. Digby, pp. 4 6 - 7 a n d 265; a n d W o d e b o u s e , see The Times, 5 Feb. 1 •11. Bhatin, pp. 8 5 - 7 . 42. 77ic Economist 3 2 (July 1874). p 43. S e c A i u b i r a j a n , p. 92. 44. Q u o t e d in ibid., p. 96. 45. The Times, 5 Feb. 1877. 46. C o p y of Victoria's t e l e g r a m u Library (San M a r i n o ) , Crcnville P a p C h u u d o s , S ' f C India, box 2 (file 7). 47. S e c r e t a r y of S t a t e for India qu< /•(iiHimw, London 1914, p. 57. 18. D e Waal, p 32. 49. ' A l t h o u g h n o o n e person c a n Tvevelyan p e r h a p s m o r e than a n y which increasingly w a s a mixture o f r e f o r m " (Christine Kinealy, T/n'.f Grcu 349-50). 50. C-f. Rao, p. 118, a n d Currie, p. • 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 Indian F a n Review, J a n . 1878, p. 145.
USTS NOTES 4 0 3
ic Equilibrium: T h e I n c e p t i o n Honiie and Socirt! History Review
999, p. 215. h, N e w York 1946, pp. 218-20; India," in Eric H o b s b a w m a n d ;c 1983, pp. 179-208. titration: A Case Study of Coastal
n m e n t , see R. Ensor, India U n d e r L o r d L y t t o n , " Concffects of t h e G o l d S t a n d a r d o n >f t h e Indian F a m i n e C o d e s , " in i r d r e c h t 1984, pp. 94 a n d 97. IOUS i m p o s t u r e ' in t h a t t h e plot, b o r r o w e d f r o m G e o r g e Sand's by Lytton s f a t h e r " ( J o h n L o w e ychohistorical Study," Victorian lis and Depression in Victorian En
the Wealth of Nations (1776), fifth olicy in India, C a m b r i d g e 1978, p. iuiii Failures', Agra 1968, p. 131; al Biography, L o n d o n 1999. p. 98. id be t h e g e n e r a l practice: every n evil." In a n o t a b l e dissent f r o m policy of a b s o l u t e n o n i n t e r v e n m e a s u r e s at t h e cost of the state, p e c u l i a r r e a s o n , t h e t h i n g is not pp. 250). quotation or paraphrase from a Growth: India and Pakistan
Since
26. Q u o t e d in John Caldwell, " M a l t h u s a n d t h e Less D e v e l o p e d W o r l d : T h e Pivotal Role o f India," Popii/.uion and Development Review 24:4 ( D e c . 1998.1, p. 683. 27. From Parliamentary Papers, 1881, 68, "Famine C o m m i s s i o n Financial S t a t e m e n t , " q u o t e d in S h e l d o n Watts, Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism, New Haven, Conn. 1 p. 203. 28. Caldwell, p. 683. 2.9. Q u o t e d in Roberrs, pp. 85-6. 30. Q u o t e d in Steele, pp. 95 a n d 102. 31. " G e n e r a l T r e m c n h e c r e o n Missions," Calcutta Review 128 (1877), [>. 278. 32. Salisbury in Steele, p. 98. 33. G o v e r n m e n t of India, Report of the Indian Famine Commission, Relief, L o n d o n 1H80, p. 59. 34. Digby, pp. 173-4
IS 78, P a r t I, F a m i n e
35. K. S u r e s h Singh, The Indian Famine 1967, N e w D e l h i 1975, p. 242. 36. Digby. p. 105. 37. Ibid., pp. 103-4. 38. " F a m i n e a n d D e b t i n India." The Nineteenth Century, Sept. 1877, p. 184; a n d Jairus Banaji, "Capitalist D o m i n a t i o n a n d t h e Small P e a s a n t r y : T h e D e c c a n Districts in t h e Late N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y , " in G y a n P r a k a s h , ed., The World of the Rural Labourer in Colonial India, Delhi 1992. p. 124. 39. C o r r e s p o n d e n t f o r d i e Calcutta Statesman
q u o t e d in Digby, p p . 276 81.
40. Digby, pp. 4 6 - 7 a n d 265; a n d B h a t i a , pp. 94-5. For the q u a r r e l b e t w e e n L y t t o n and W o d e h o u s e , s e e The Times, 5 Feb, 1877. 41. Bhatia, pp. 85^7. 42. The Economist 32 (July 1874). p. 802. 43. See A m b i r a j a n , p. 92. 44. Q u o t e d in ibid., p. 96. 45. The Times, > Feb. 1877. 46. Copy of Victoria's t e l e g r a m to t h e imperial A s s e m b l a g e , 1 J a n . 1877, in H u n t i n g t o n Library (San Marino), Grenville P a p e r s (Stowe Collection), 3rd D u k e of B u c k i n g h a m and C h a n d o s , S T G India, b o x 2 (file 7). 47. Secretary of State f o r India q u o t e d m A. Love day. The History mid Hi-o>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
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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
T i STS
NOTES
;77, p. 80. O f all c o m m o n cere:sion o f r u r a l d i e t a n d p r o t e i n dern Boigrti, O x f o r d 1982, p. 70 •i Economut, 15 O c t . 1870, p. 45 duI, L o n d o n 1901, p. 25). Vestern I n d i a , " p. 145. C o r n i s h columns Temple's contrasting lines - see h i s a c c o u n t in The '6. For T e m p l e ' s p o i n t of view,
in N o r t h e r n I n d i a , 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 2 1 , " : in Famine, Disease a n d Soricty,
405
Paradigm," Srieiia- 274 (20 Dec. 1996), p. 2030. 78. Cecil Woodham-Smith, Florence Nightingale: 1820-1910, New York 1983, p. 338. 79. Digby, pp. 361-5; a n d R i c h a r d T u c k e r , " F o r e s t M a n a g e m e n t a n d I m p e r i a l Politics: T h a n a District, Bombay, 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 8 7 , " IESHR 16:3 (1979), p. 288 ( q u o t e ) . 80. W a s h b r o o k , " T h e C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n o f A g r i c u l t u r e in C o l o n i a l I n d i a , " Modern Asian Studies Z8:1 (1994), p. 131; a n d W . Francis, Bellary District, M a d r a s 1904, p. 135. 81. Digby, vol. 2, p. 148. 82. K a t e C u r r i e , "British C o l o n i a l P o l i c y a n d F a m i n e s : S o m e E f f e c t s and I m p l i c a t i o n s o f ' F r e e T r a d e ' in t h e B o m b a y , Bengal a n d M a d r a s Presidencies, 1S60-1900," S o u t h /Isia 14:2 (1991), p. 43. 83. Loveday, p, 60. 84. Cf. Ira Klein, " W h e n t h e Rains F a i l e d : F a m i n e , Relief, a n d M o r t a l i t y in B r i t i s h India," 1ESHR 21:2 (1984), p. 195; a n d C h a r l e s Elliot, Report on ifie History of the Mysore Famine of 1876-1878, pp. xx-xxix. 85. Klein, p. 195. 86. Elliot, p. 4 2 . 87. Klein, pp. 196-7.
, pp. 3 4 7 - 8 . id and the Irish Exodus
88. Victoria's s p e e c h in TJie Economi-sr, 1 8 A u g . 1877. 89. A c l i p p i n g f r o m A u g u s t 1877 in G r e n v i l l e P a p e r s , STG I n d i a , o u t s i z e d b o x (file 5). 90. Ibid. to North
vVestern I n d i a , " p. 153.
91. M a r y L u t y e n s , TJit* Lyltons in I n d i a , L o n d o n 1979, pp. 1 1 1 - 1 2 . T h e M a d r a s G o v e r n m e n t , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , d e s c r i b e d its relief w o r k e r s as "an i n d u s t r i o u s , h a r d w o r k i n g set, fully alive t o t h e g r a v e s i t u a t i o n t h e y w e r e in, a n d g r a t e f u l f o r t h e w o r k p r o v i d e d for
them" (Report on the Buckingham Canal [Koitadatam] Division During the Madras Famine, Box 2[a], G r c n v i l l e P a p e r s , S T G India).
:ly P h a s e ( 1 8 7 0 - 1 8 8 0 ) , " IESHR 3
92. Digby, p p . 2 0 6 - 2 3 . 93. Rev. j . C h a n d l e r q u o t e d in Digby, v o l . 2, p. 148.
o w a r d s India's s t a r v i n g c h i l d r e n Excessive c h a r i t y " in 1874 - p e r ixt: p e r h a p s his f a t h e r ' s ( B u l w e r h e d e a t h o f his little s o n in 1871
94. David A r n o l d , " F a m i n e in P e a s a n t C o n s c i o u s n e s s a n d P e a s a n t A c t i o n : Madras, 1876-78," Subaltern Studies 3 (1984), p p . 8 6 - 7 a n d 93; and " D a c o i t y and R u r a l C r i m e in M a d r a s , 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 4 0 , " The Journal of Peasant Studies, p. 163. 95. S h a r m a , p. 359. 96. Neville Nicliolls, " C o m p l e x C l i m a t e - I l u m a n - E c o s y s t e m I n t e r a c t i o n s in t h e 1877 B1 N i n o , " j4/«trncrs, S e c o n d I n t e r n a t i o n a l C l i m a t e a n d H i s t o r y C o n f e r e n c e , N o r w i c h 199S, pp. 65-6; a n d j . Mayer, " C o p i n g w i t h F a m i n e , " Foreign Affairs 53:1 ( O c t . 1974), p. 101. 97. The Times, 9 July 1877.
f t h e s u c c e s s [in r e s t o r i n g r a t i o n s m d w a t c h f u l n e s s t a k e n u p b y rhe 1877, q u o t e d in Digby, p. 355. q u o t e d in A m b i r a j a n , p. 93.
98. Digby, p. 241. 99. Ibid., p p . 2 4 3 - 4 . 100. R e p r i n t e d as J a m e s W i l s o n , T/ie Government merce, L o n d o n 1878, pp. 9 a n d 13.
of India in Relation
to Famines and Com-
101. D. R a j a s e k h a r , " F a m i n e s a n d P e a s a n t Mobility: C h a n g i n g A g r a r i a n S t r u c t u r e in Kurn o o l D i s t r i c t o f A n d h r a , 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 0 0 , " f E S H R 28:2 (1991), pp. 143 ( q u o t e ) , 144 a n d 150. l e r a in I n d i a , 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 5 0 , " IESHR •tality in British I n d i a , 1 8 1 7 - 1 9 4 7 " Infectious Disease: T h e Cholera
102. T h i s is t h e h a r d l y u n b i a s e d r e c o l l e c t i o n o f a relief official, L e p e l Griffin, t o l d t o Harper's Weekly m a n y years l a t e r d u r i n g t h e f a m i n e of 1896 ("Indian F a m i n e , " 7 N o v . 1896, pp. 489-90).
•} 4 0
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
10). Bhatia, pp. 9 8 - 1 0 1 . 104. Q u o t e d in O s b o r n e , p. 563 (his e m p h a s i s ) . 1(|5. Ibid., pp. 563-7.
; C f L'Exploralion [Paris16 (KS77) >'81, p. 308. 2. G e o r g e Kiladis a n d H e n r y D i C o m p a r i s o n with 1982 -83," M o n t h and 1046.
106. W a k i m u r a , p. 286. 107. O s b o r n e , p. 564. J b s . Ibid., pp. 553 a n d 565. 109. D i g b y singles o u t K n i g h t ' s Statesman f o r p r a i s e f o r s e n d i n g a c o r r e s p o n d e n t t o s p e n d six m o n t h s r e p o r t i n g f r o m t h e f a m i n e districts o f B o m b a y , M a d r a s a n d M y s o r e (Digby, p. 21). T h e Statesman's s c a t h i n g e d i t o r i a l s a n d s i m i l a r l y critical l e t t e r s f r o m m i s s i o n a r i e s w e r e p u b l i s h e d in p a m p h l e t f o r m as Sir George Couper and the Famine in North Western Provinces ( C a l c u t t a 1878). T h i s e x c e r p t is f r o m Bhatia, p. LOO. 110. Cf. K a u s h a l y a D e v i D u b l i s h , Revolutionaries D e l h i 1982, pp. 3 - 4 ; a n d M e h r o t r a , pp. 3 1 0 - 1 1 .
and Their Activities
in Northern / n d i a ,
111. J o h n M c L a n e , Indian Nationalism and the Early Congress, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1977, p. 45. O n w i d e s p r e a d British a n x i e t y t h a t t h e 1 8 7 6 - 7 7 f a m i n e m i g h t lead t o " r e v o l u t i o n , " see E m s N a m b o o r d i r i p a d , A History of the Indian Freedom Struggle, T r i v a n d r u m 1986, p. 136. 112. 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, C a l c u t t a pp. 97-103. 113. N i g h t i n g a l e , q u o t e d in The Ninetenth Century, 8 S e p t . 1878. 114. F. B. S m i t h , Floraice Nightingale, L o n d o n 1982, p. 146. 11 5. " W h e n I w r o t e t h e s e n o t e s in 1873, o r r e a d t h e m in 1876, I little d r e a m t t h a t t h e y w o u l d s o s o o n o b t a i n s u c h t e r r i b l e c o n f i r m a t i o n as t h e p r e s e n t d e p l o r a b l e f a m i n e s have g i v e n t h e m " (D. N a o r o j i , Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, L o n d o n 1901, pp. 60 a n d 141); a n d R. M a s a n i , Dadabhai Naoroji: The Grand Old Man of India, L o n d o n 1939, p. 192. 116. Q u o t e d in O s b o r n e , p. 568. 117. B a n d y o p a d h y a y , p. 104. 118. Ibid., pp. 106 ( G l a d s t o n e ) a n d 113 ( f u n d s s p e n t ) . 119. B r e n n a n , p. 98. 120. Ibid., p. 108. 121. Ibid., pp. 103-7. 122. C a r o l H e n d e r s o n , "Life in t h e L a n d o f D e a t h : F a m i n e a n d D r o u g h t in Arid 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 University 1989, p. 66. 123. H . M. H y n d m a n , The Bankruptcy of India, L o n d o n 1886, p. 26. 124. N a o r o j i , pp. 212 a n d 216. 125. B r e n n a n , p. 107. 126. B a n d y o p a d h y a y , p. 109; a n d 1880 R e p o r t q u o t e d in Report of the Indian Famine mission, 1901, C a l c u t t a 1901, p. 2.
Com-
128. M a s a n i , p. 295.
3. O n t h e 1867- 68 f a m i n e in H e l Conservatism: 'Hie T'urig-Cliili Rest or 9. R. H . Tawncy, Landai\d Labom 1(1. U K , Foreign O f f i c e , Pa rlia in en t, 11. Rev. T i m o t h y R i c h a r d , q u o t e d bridge, Mass. 1972, p. 14. ! 2. W i l l , flurefliiiTdcy and I-amine, p ! 1. F r e d e r i c k W i l l i a m s , The Life a 432. !4. B o h r , p. 15. 15. Pari. Papers, N o . 2, p. 3. 16. R i c h a r d , pp. 9 8 a n d 117. ! 7. C i t e d in the Pa/i Ma/I Gazelle, 1 18. B o h r , p. 15; a n d T i m o t h y Ric 1916, p. I 19. 19. Q u o t e d in Pari. Papers, No. 2, ] 20. B o h r , pp. 60 63 a n d 218. 21. Times ( L o n d o n ) , 1 May 1877. 22. B o h r , pp. 35-41 a n d 227.
25. Pari Papers, N o . 2, p. 6. 16. A r t h u r Smith, Village Life in C, Peasant Society and Marxist Intellect
Notes to Chapter 2 t r a n s l a t e d in The Times ( L o n d o n ) , 21 J u n e 1877.
(i P. C a i n and A. H o p k i n s , Brit L o n d o n 1993, p. 371. 7. T h e Times (21 J u n e 1877) b l a m e pean investors to b u i l d a m a i n l i n e i
23. Pari. Papers, N o . 2. p. 6. 24. S r i n i v a s Wage!, Finance in Chit
127. M c L a n e , p. 49.
T h e s t a t e m e n t b y t h e g o v e r n o r o f S h a n x i a p p e a r e d in t h e lmpaial
i. E r i c Fuller, Rccojiilruction; A n t e pp. 5 12-13. 187 5 is a g r e a t e c o n c me mid-nineteenth c e n t u r y " ( D e r e York 1969, p. 232,. 4. E r i c H o b s b a w m , The Age of Cn 5 T h e extensive p l a n t a t i o n e c o r >ugar, actually s t a r t e d w i t h the c o t r M u n r o a n d E d w a r d B e e c h e r t , Plant 1993, p p . 3 - 4 .
Gazette
(15 M a r c h ) ,
27. J o s e p h Eshcrick, The Origins Oj 28. D a v i d Faure, " L o c a l Political
7 NOTES
ALSTS
4(i-
1. Cf. L'Exploration [ P a r i s ) 6 (1877), p. 43; a n d K. D e Silva, A History of Sri Lanka, Berkeley 1981. p. 308. 2. G e o r g e Kiladis a n d H e n r y D i a z , ' A n A n a l y s i s o f t h e 1 8 7 7 - 7 8 E N S O E p i s o d e a n d C o m p a r i s o n w i t h 1 9 8 2 - 8 3 . " Monthly Weather Review 114 (1986), p p . 1035 ( q u o t e ) , 1037 9 a n d 1046. ending a correspondent to spend iy, M a d r a s a n d M y s o r e (Digby, p. :al l e t t e r s f r o m m i s s i o n a r i e s w e r e Famine iti North Western Provinces rheir Activities
in Northern
India,
gress, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1977, p. 45. : m i g h t l e a d t o " r e v o l u t i o n , " see -wggie, T r i v a n d r u m 1986, p. 136. id Agrarian Problems, C a l c u t t a pp. >t. 1878. 16. in 1876, I little d r e a m t t h a t t h e y p r e s e n t d e p l o r a b l e f a m i n e s have dia, L o n d o n 1901, pp. 60 a n d 141); India, L o n d o n 1939, p. 192.
3. Eric F o n e r , Reeoiut ruction: Amaica's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, N e w York 198s, pp. 512-13. "1873 is a g r e a t e c o n o m i c divide. It w a s t h e p e a k o f the t r a d i n g b o o m uf t h e m i d - n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y " ( D e r e k Bcales, From Castlereagh to Gladstone, 1815-1885, New York 1969, p. 232). 4. Eric H o b s b a w m , The Age of Capital 1848-1875, L o n d o n 1975, p. 46. 5. T h e e x t e n s i v e p l a n t a t i o n e c o n o m y of O c e a n i a , u s u a l l y a s s o c i a t e d w i t h c o p r a a n d sugar, a c t u a l l y s t a r t e d w i t h t h e c o t t o n b o o m of t h e 1860s. S e e t h e p r e f a c e in Brij Lai, D o u g M u n r o a n d E d w a r d B e e c h e r t , P/aittarioit Workers: Resistance and Accommodation, Honolulu 1993, pp. 3 - 4 . 6. P. C a i n a n d A. H o p k i n s , BritLs/t Imperialism: huiovdrion a n d E r p a r m o n , 1658-19M, L o n d o n 1993, p. 371. 7. The Times (21 J u n e 1877) b l a m e d t h e f a m i n e o n t h e r e f u s a l o f t h e Q i n g t o a l l o w E u r o p e a n investors to build a mainline railroad into i n t e r i o r n o r t h e r n China. 8. O n t h e 1 8 6 7 - 6 8 f a m i n e in H e b e i (Xhili), s e e M a r y W r i g h t , The Last Stand of Conservatism: The T'ung-Chih Restoration, 1862-1874, S t a n f o r d , Calif, 1957, p. 135. 9. R. H . T a w n c y , Land and Labour in China, L o n d o n 1932, p. 77.
Chinese
10. UK, F o r e i g n O f f i c e , P a r l i a m e n t a r y Papers, C h i n a N o . 2 (1878), pp. 1-2. 11. Rev. T i m o t h y R i c h a r d , q u o t e d in Paul Bohr, F a m i n e in C/iiiw and the Missionary, Camb r i d g e , M a s s . 1972, p. 14. 12. Will, Bureaucracy and Famine, p. 36. 13. F r e d e r i c k W i l l i a m s , Tlie Life and Letters of Samuel Wells Williams, N e w York 1889, p. 432. 14. Bohr, p. 15. 15. Pari. Papers, N o . 2, p. 3. 16. Richard, pp. 9S a n d 11 7.
l 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 S. i 1886, p. 26.
n Report of the Indian Famine
Com-
17. C i t e d in t h e Pall Mali Gazelle, 1 M a y 1877. 18. Bohr, p. 15; a n d T i m o t h y R i c h a r d , Forty-Five Years in C/inia (third e d n . ) , N e w York 1916,p. 119. 19. Q u o t e d in Pari. Pa/>ei3, N o . 2, p. 11. 20. Bohr, p p . 6 0 - 6 3 a n d 218. 21. Timei ( L o n d o n ) , 1 M a y 1877. 22. Bohr, p p . 3 5 ^ 1 a n d 227, 23. Pari. Payer.c, N o . 2, p. 6. 24. Srinivas W a g e l , Fijiauce in Clnrni, S h a n g h a i 1914, p. 23. 25. Pari. Papers, N o . 2, p. 6. 26. A r t h u r S m i t h , Village Life m China, B o s t o n 1 9 7 0 [1899], p. 116. See a l s o K a m a l Sheel, Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1989, p. 12.
n t h e Imperial
Gazette
(15 M a r c h ) ,
27. J o s e p h E s h e r i c k , The Origins of the Boxer Uprising,
B e r k e l e y 1987, p. 101.
28. David F a u r e , " L o c a l Political D i s t u r b a n c e s in K i a n g s u P r o v i n c e , C h i n a : 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 1 1 , "
408
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P h . D . diss., Princeton, N.J. 1975, pp. 162-3. 29. Will, p. ••19. 30. Faure, pp. 162-5, 275 a n d 468. 31. J o h n H i d o r e , Global Environmental Change, U p p e r Saddle River, N.J. 1996, p. 96. 32. Pari Papers, No. 2, p. 6. T w o m e m b e r s o f t h e China Inland Mission h a d a t t e m p t e d to f o u n d a m i s s i o n in H e n a n in 1875 b u t w e r e q u i c k l y driven o u t . W i t h e n o r m o u s difficulty a f o o t h o l d w a s finally achieved in C h o w k i a k o w in 1884, b u t m i s s i o n a r i e s h a d little success a n d m o s t w e r e forced to flee d u r i n g t h e u p r i s i n g in 1900 (Marshall B r o o m h a l ) fed.], Tlic Chinese Empire: A General mid Missionary Survey, L o n d o n 1907, pp. 159-61). 33. R e s u m e s in LTxploration [Paris| 6 (187S), pp. 172 a n d 416. 34. Elizabeth Perry, "Social B a n d i t r y Revisited: T h e Case o f Bai Lang, a Chinese Briga n d , " Modern China 9:3 (July 1983), p. 362. 35. M i l t o n Siauffer, The Christian Occupation of China, S h a n g h a i 1922, p. 211. 36. In Ping-ti H o , Studies on the Population of China, 1366-19J3, C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1959, p. 232. 37. S. Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom, vol. 2, N e w York 1883, p. 736. 38. O n Shanxi's d e p e n d e n c e o n Wei Valley s u r p l u s e s , see H e l e n D u n s t a n , Conflicting Counsels to Confiisc the Age: A Documentary Histoiy of Political Economy in Qing China, 1644-1840, A n n A r b o r 1996, p p 2 5 0 - 5 1 . 39. Pari Papers, No. 2, pp. 5 - 7 . 40. Gazette (15 March), t r a n s l a t e d in The Times, 21 J u n e 1877. 41. New York Times, 24 F e b r u a r y 1878. 42. H a r o l d H i n t o n , The Grain Tribute System of China (1845-1911), C a m b r i d g e , MaSs. 1956, pp. 4 2 - 3 . 43. Pari. Papers, No. 6 (1878), p. 2. 44. Bohr, p. 43. 45. 77ie Times ( L o n d o n ) , 21 J u n e 1877. 46. A. B r o o m h a l ! , Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century: Book Seven (It Is Not Death to Die!), L o n d o n 1989, pp. 170 a n d 467 IT 13. Sec also Adrian B e n n e t t , iWLfsionrt^'joiirnrt/m in China: YoungJ. Alien and His Magazines, 1860-1883, Athens, G a . 1983, p. 174. 47. Bohr, pp. 16-21. 48. H a n g - W e i H e , Drought in jYortJi China in the Early Guangxu (1876-1879) fin C h i n e s e ] , H o n g K o n g 1980, p. 15. 49. William Soothiil, 'Fnnol/iv Ric/wrd of China, L o n d o n 1924, p. 102. 50. Richard, p. 130. 51. S y n d i c a t e d to the New York Times, 6 July 1878. 52. Pari. Papers, N o . 6, p. 1. 53. A. B r o o m h a l l , China's Open Century: Book Seven, pp. I l l a n d 163. 54. J a m e s Lcgge (trans.), The Famine in China. Pictures Illustrating the Terrible Famine in Honan That Might Draw Tears from Iron. Extracts from a Translation of the Chinese Texts, L o n d o n 1878 (Trinity College L i b r a r y [ D u b l i n ] p a m p h l e t ' collection). 55. Lillian Li, " I n t r o d u c t i o n : Food, F a m i n e , a n d t h e C h i n e s e State,"Journal of Asian Studies, 41:4 (Aug. 1982), p. 700. 56. Records of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China (Shanghai, 1 0 - 2 4
i i | : : • | |
May 1877). S h a n g h a i 1«7S, p. 44ft. ' 57. A. B r o o m h a l l . C7im
NOTES
JSTS
2 River, N.J. 1996, p. 96. a n d Mission h a d a t t e m p t e d t o o u t . W i t h e n o r m o u s difficulty : m i s s i o n a r i e s h a d little s u c c e s s M a r s h a l l B r o o m h a l l [ed.], The )7, pp. 159-61).
16. o f Bai L a n g , a C h i n e s e Brigi g h a i 1922, p. 211. 953, C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1959, p. :k 1883, p. 736. e e H e l e n D u n s t a n , Conflicting
>lilical Economy in Qing China,
77. -1911), C a m b r i d g e , M a s s . 1956,
409
M a y 1877), S h a n g h a i 1*78, p. 446. 57. A. B r o o m h a l l . China's Open Century, Bool: Sewn, p. 115; a n d A r t h u r S m i t h . The I'j'li/t of China (revised cdn.), N e w York 1912, p. 175. 58. A r n o l d , Famine, p 137. 59. R u d o i f W a g n e r , T h e Shenbao in Crisis: T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l E n v i r o n m e n t a n d t h e C o n flict B e t w e e n G u o S o n g t a o a n d t h e SheniMo," f a t e Imperial China 20:1 ( J u n e l ^99), p. 117. 60. Q u o t e d in B. MacCilIivray, A Century of Protestant Missions in China. S h a n g h a i 1907, p p . 7S-9. 61. W i l l i a m s , p. 433. 62. Ibid., p. 184. 63. A. B r o o m h a l l , China's Open Centtirv: tfoo/c Six, p p . 169 a n d 2 4 6 . 64. 65. 66. 67.
Ibid., pp. 176 7 Pari. Papers, N o . 2. p. 7. A. B r o o m h a l l , China's Open Century; Hook Six, p. 169. Ibid., pp. 175 and 1S1.
68. E u c l y d e s da C u n h a , Rebellion in the Bdcklands (Os Sertoes), t r a n s . S a m u e l P u t n a m , C h i c a g o 1944, p. 41. 69. P r o f e s s o r a n d Mrs, L o u i s Agassiz, A Journey to Brazil, B o s t o n 1869, p. 4 5 9 . 70. H e r b e r t S m i t h , tf>vizil: The Amazon and the Coast, N e w York 1879, p. 400. 71. D a C u n h a , p 24. 72. Ibid., p. 410. 73. R o g e r C u n n i f f , " T h e G r e a t D r o u g h t : N o r t h e a s t Brazil, 1877- 1880," P h . D . diss., U n i versity o f Texas, Austin 1970, p. 128. 74 P i e r r e D e n i s . Brazil, L o n d o n 1911. p. 330. 75. Ibid., p. 129. 76. S m i t h , pp. 411-13. 77. R o d o l f o T h e o f i l o , Hi.sforid d a s e c a doCeard,
y: Book Seven (h Is Not Death to B e n n e t t , MissionaryJournalist in G a . 1983, p. 174.
1877-1SS0,
R i o d e J a n e i r o 1922, p. 120.
78. S m i t h , ibid. 79. C u n n i f f , pp. 248- 50. 80. A c c o u n t o f 11 N o v e m b e r 1S77 cited in Billy J a y n e s C h a n d l e r . I'hc Fcitosas and Sertcio dos Inhamttns, Gainesville, H a . 1972, p. 162,
^ingxu (1 $76- 1879) [in C h i n e s e ] ,
81. C u n n i f f , pp. 152-3. 82. C h a n d l e r , pp. 1 6 0 - h i .
924, p. 102.
83. R o d o l f o T h e o f i l o , q u o t e d by A n t h o n y Hall in Drought Brazil, C a m b r i d g e 197S, p. 5.
in
84. G e r a l d G r e e n f i e l d , "Migrant B e h a v i o r a n d Elite A t t i t u d e s : Brazil's G r e a t 1877-1879," The Americas 43:1 (July 1986) p. 73; a n d C u n n i f f , i b i d . 85. S m i t h , pp. 4 1 5 - 6 .
11 a n d 163. Wnstraring the Terrible Famine Translation of the Chinese
atui Irrigttlian
in
Texts,
collection). icse S t a t e , " J o u r n a l of Asia?! Sum-
the
Nortii-l'.asl Drought,
86. C u n n i f f , p. 163. 87. F a t h e r C i c e r o R o m a o Baptista d e s c r i b i n g c o n d i t i o n s in C e a r a ' s Cariri Valley (ibid., p . 202). 88. S m i t h , p. 417. 89. C u n n i f f , pp. 166 a n d 192. 90. (bid., pp. 206-11 a n d 242.
maries of China ( S h a n g h a i , 10-24
nuw.^aso
T 418[.ATI-V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
91. S m i t h , p. 419. 92. C u n n i f f , pp. 212-13; Smith, pp. 419-35; K e m p t o n W e b b , The Changing Face of Northcast Brazil, N e w York 1974. pp 50-32; a n d Mai], p. 5. 93. N i c a n o r N a s c i m e n t o q u o t e d in J o s u e d c Castro, Death in the Northeast, N e w York 1969, pp. 51-2. 94. C h a n d l e r , pp. 164-5. 95. C u n n i f f , p. 299 96. Ibid., pp. 292-3.
Notes to Chapter 3 T h e q u o t e f r o m Mirza Asaduliah Khan G h a l i b a p p e a r s in S u g a t a Bose a n d Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia, Delhi 1999. p. 43. 1. Hilary Conroy, The Japanese Seizure of Korea: 1868-1910, Philadelphia 1974, pp. 9 0 - 9 1 . See also H a n W o o - K e u n , The History of Korea, S e o u l 1970, p. 403. 2. R e y n a l d o Ileto, "Religion a n d Anti-colonial M o v e m e n t s , " in N i c h o l a s T a i l i n g (ed.), The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, vol. 2, C a m b r i d g e 1992, pp. 2 2 0 - 2 1 . 3. Kiladis a n d Diaz, p. 1038. 4. H a n K n a p e n , "Epidemics. D r o u g h t s , a n d O t h e r U n c e r t a i n t i e s o n S o u t h e a s t B o r n e o D u r i n g t h e E i g h t e e n t h a n d N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r i e s , " in P e t e r R o o m g a a r d , Frcek C o l o m bijn, a n d David Henley, Paper Landscapes: Explorations in the Environmental Histoiy of Indonesia, L e i d e n 1997, p. 140. 5. H e n r y Forbes, " T h r o u g h B a n t a m and t h e P r e a n g e r Regencies in t h e Eighties," r e p r i n t e d in Pieter H o n i g and Frans V e r d o o r n (eds.), Science and Scientists in the Netherlands Indies, N e w York 194 5, pp. 112 13. 6. K n a p e n , p. 114. 7. W. H u g e n h o l z , " F a m i n e and Food Supply in Java, 1S30-1914," in C. Bayle and D. KoIIf (eds.), Two Colonial Empires, D o r d r e c h t 1986, pp. 169-71. 8. M. Rickiefs, A History of Modern Indonesia Since e. 1300, 2 n d e d n . , S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1993, pp. 121-23; C. Faseur, "Purse o r Principle: D u t c h Colonial Policy in t h e 1860s and t h e Decline of' the Cultivation S y s t e m . " Modern A.ficm Studies 25:1 (1991), p. 34. 9. J. Furnivall, Netherlands India: A Study of Political Economy, C a m b r i d g e 1944, pp. 138 and 162. For a synthesis of current research on t h e culhuirstciscl, see R. lilson, Village Java under the Cultivation System, ls.W-1870, Sydney 1994. 10. H u g c n h o l x , ibid. 11. Alfred McCoy, "Sugar Barons: F o r m a t i o n o f a Native P l a n t e r Class in t h e C o l o n i a l Philippines," The Journal of Peasant Studies, 19:3/4 (April/July 1992), pp. 109-14. 12. Violeta L o p e z - G o n z a g a , "Landlessness, I n s u r g e n c y and F o o d Crisis in N c g r o s Island," in Famine and Socicty. p. 111. 13. Angel M a r t i n e z Ducsra, //istory of Negros, Manila 1980, pp. 253, 2 5 9 - 6 1 , 378-9, 400, and 4 1 2 - 1 3 . 14. M i c h a e l Billig, " T h e Rationality of G r o w i n g S u g a r in N e g r o s , " Philippine Studies 40 (1992), pp. 156-7.
1 5. Filomeiio Aguilar, Clai/i of Sp (i Visayan Island, H o n o l u l u 1998, p 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid., pp. loo--70. 18. Myriani D o r n o v . Pol it j o in N e 19. Linda L a t h a m , "Revolt Re-exa na/ of Pacific History 10:3 (19751. p. 20. M a r t v n i y o u x . The Totem aiul 21. Ibid." 22. L a t h a m , p. 19. 23. Lyons, pp. 58--65. 24. L o u i s e Michel. 7'he Red Virgin: 25. S h a r o n N i c h o l s o n , " E n v i r o n A d a m s . A. G n u d i e and A. O r m c , 79; a n d Jill Dias. " F a m i n e and D i s African Histoiy 21 (1981). pp. 3 6 6 - ; 26. Dia.s. p. >68. 27. Ibid., p. .566. 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid., pp. :>6S-9. 30. D o n a l d M o r r i s , The Washing e 31. See Charles Ballard, " D v o u g ! Journal of Interdisciplinary Histoiy, 32. Nature, 28 M a r c h 1878, p. 4 3 6 33. M o r r i s , p. 2 54. 34. S h u l a Marks, " S o u t h e r n A f r i c Fhe Cambridge History of Africa, v e 35. M o r r i s , p. 267. 36. C a i n and H o p k i n s , p. 372. 37. O n the e e n t r a l i t y of the l a b o and Jell" Guv. The Destruction of th 38. 'I'. D a v e n p o r t . South A/Wcii; .-1 39. M o r r i s , p. 2S6. -10. G u y , p. N. •11. Michael l.ieven, ' ' B u t c h e r i n g in Z u l u l a n d . 1879." //i.vroi v S-1:27<: 42. Karl Iku/.cr. "i listory of N i l e a Scarce Resourec, C a m b r i d g e 1994 43. 'I'he Times ( L o n d o n ) , I Jan. 183 •14. L u x e m b u r g , p. 43 7. L u x e m b t the e n s u i n g f a m i n e in Egypt (pp. 45. L a d y C o r d o n q u o t e d in R o g e 2nd e d n . , L o n d o n 1993, p. 142. 46. W i l f r e d Blunt, Secret Ihstorv
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Philadelphia 1974, pp. 90-91. . 403. :s," in Nicholas T a r l i n g (ed.), >92. pp. 2 2 0 - 2 1 . taintics o n S o u t h e a s r B o r n e o ir B o o m g a a r d , Freek ColornEnvironmental History of hidoRegencies in t h e Eighties," and Scientists in the Netherlands
1914," i n C . Bayle a n d D. Kolff >nd e d n . , S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1993, il Policy in t h e 1860s a n d the 5:1 (1991), p. 34. omy. C a m b r i d g e 1944, pp. 138 ;telse(, sec R. Id son, Village Java
•. P l a n t e r Class in t h e Colonial ily 1992), pp. 109-14. i F o o d Crisis in N e g r o s Island," ;0, pp. 253, 259-61, 3 7 8 - 9 , 400, i N e g r o s , " Philippine Studies 40
NOTES
15. t ' i l o m e n o Aguilar, Clash of Spirits: The History of Power and Sugar Planter Hegemony on a ViMiyan Wand, H o n o l u l u 1998, p. 166. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid., pp. 166-70. 18. M y r i a m D o r n o y , Politics in New Caledonia, S y d n e y 1984, pp. 19, 2 4 - 5 a n d 26. 19. Linda L a t h a m , "Revolt R e - e x a m i n e d : T h e 1878 I n s u r r e c t i o n in N e w Caledonia,'"journal o f Pacific Histoiy 10:3 (1975), p. 62. 20. M a r t y n Lyons, The Totem and the Tricolour, K e n s i n g t o n , N S W 1986, p. 61. 21. Ibid. 22. L a t h a m , p. 49. 23. Lyons, p p . 58-65. 24. Louise Michel, The Red Virgin: Memoir; of Louise Michel, B i r m i n g h a m 1981, p. 114. 25. S h a r o n N i c h o l s o n , " E n v i r o n m e n t a l C h a n g e W i t h i n t h e Historical P e r i o d , " in J. A d a m s , A. G o u d i e a n d A. O r m e , The Physical Geography of Africa, O x f o r d 1996, p p . 75 and 79: and Jill Dias, " F a m i n e and Disease in the H i s t o r y of Angola, c. 1830-1930," Journal of African History 22 (1981), pp. 366-7. 26. Dias, p. 368. 27. (bid., p. 366. 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid., pp. 368-9. 30. D o n a l d Morris, The Washing of Spears, L o n d o n 1966, p. 267. 31 See C h a r l e s Ballard, " D r o u g h t a n d E c o n o m i c Distress: S o u t h Africa in t h e 1800s," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 17:2 ( A u t u m n 1986), pp. 3 5 9 - 7 8 . 32. Nature, 2 8 March 1878, p. 436. 33 Morris, p. 254. 34. Shula M a r k s , " S o u t h e r n Africa, 1867-1886," in R o l a n d Oliver a n d C. S a n d e r s o n (eds.), The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 6, C a m b r i d g e 1985, pp. 381 a n d 387. 35. Morris, p. 267. 36. Cain a n d H o p k i n s , p. 372. 37. O n t h e centrality of t h e labor-supply q u e s t i o n to British strategy, see M a r k s , p. 380; a n d Jeff Guy, The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, London 1979, p. 45. 3K T. D a v e n p o r t , South Africa: A Modern History, 4th edn., T o r o n t o 1991, p. 128. 39. Morris, p. 286. 40. Guy, p. 49. 41 Michael Lieven, ' " B u t c h c r i n g t h e Brutes All O v e r the Place': Total W a r a n d Massacre in Z u l u l a n d , 1S79," Histoiy 84:276 ( O c t . 1999), pp. 621 and 630. 42. Karl Butzer, " H i s t o r y of Nile Flows," in P. H o w e l l a n d j . Allan (eds.). T h e Nile: Sharing a Scarce Resource, C a m b r i d g e 1994, p. 105. 43. The Times ( L o n d o n ) , 2 J a n . 1878. 44. L u x e m b u r g , p. 437. L u x e m b u r g d e v o t e d m o s t o f a c h a p t e r t o debt i m p e r i a l i s m a n d t h e e n s u i n g f a m i n e in E g y p t (pp. 429-39). 4 5. Lady G o r d o n q u o t e d in Roger O w e n , The Middle East in the World Economy, 1800-1914, 2nd edn., L o n d o n 5993, p. 142. 46. W i l f r e d Blunt, Secret Histoty of the British Occupation of Egypt, N e w York 1922, pp.
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8-9. 47. Roger ( " w e n , Cotton and the Egyptian Economy: 1820-1914, O x f o r d 1969, p. 147. 48. J u a n Cole, Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's 'Urar: Movement, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1993, pp. 87-8. 49. Cited in T h e o d o r e R o t h s t c i n , Egypt's Ruin, L o n d o n 1910, pp. 69-70. 50. Cole, ibid. 51. Q u o t e d in t h e Earl o f C r o m e r , Modern Egypt, vol. 1, L o n d o n 1908, p. 35. 52. Cole, pp. S7-8. See also Allan Richards, "Primitive A c c u m u l a t i o n in E g y p t , 1798-1882," Review 1:2 (Fall 1977), pp. 46-48. 53. " T h e W i n t e r of 1876-7 in Algiers," Symons' Monthly Meteorological Magazine, O c t o b e r 1877, pp. 132-3. 54. Charles R o b e r t A g e r o n , Les Algericns musulmans et la France (1871-1919), vol. 1, Paris 1968, pp. 380-81. 55. Ibid., pp. 378-9. 56. A g e r o n . Histoirc de I'Algerie contemporaine, vol. 2, Paris 1979, p. 202. 57. Julia Clancy-Smith, Rebel and Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters, Berkeley 1994, p. 224. 58. A g c r o n . Histoid, pp. 201-2, 211 and 220. 59. Jean-Louis Miege, Le Maroc et I'Europc (1830-1894), vol. 3, Paris 1962, pp. 383-4, 403, 419 and 441. O n the m o n e t a r i z a t i o n of a g r a r i a n taxation, s e e E d m u n d B u r k e III, Prelude to Protectorate m Morocco, Precolonial Protest and Resistance, 1860-1912, C h i c a g o 1976, p. 22. 60. Miege, pp. 382-3, 390 a n d 398. 61. Q u o t e d in C o r n e l i u s W a l f o r d , The Famines of the World, L o n d o n 1879, p. 19. 62. Miege, pp. 385-8 a n d 393. 63. Ibid., pp. 395-7, 450-53 and 458. 64. Nature, 28 March 1878, p. 436. 65. W a l f o r d . p. 49. 66. L e t t e r to Nature, 4 April 1878; D o u g M u n r o a n d S t e w a r t Firth, " S a m o a n P l a n t a t i o n s : T h e Gilbertese L a b o r e r s ' Experience, 1867-1896." in Lai, e t al. (eds.), Plantation Workers: Resistance ami Accommodation, H o n o l u l u 1993, p. I l l ; and Kiladis and D i a z , p. 1040. 67. E n r i q u e Florescano a n d Susan Swan, Breve historia de la sequia en Mexico, X a lap a (Ver.) 1995, p. 57. 68. Walford. p. 70. 69. Kiladis and Diaz, p. 1042. k was the second w e t t e s t w i n t e r in San Francisco, the first e l s e w h e r e in N o r t h e r n California. 70. Walford i !879), p. 299. 71. H. Diaz, "A Possible Link of t h e 1877-78 M a j o r El N i n o Episode a n d a Yellow Fever O u t b r e a k in the S o u t h e r n U n i t e d States," Ahslracts, S e c o n d I n t e r n a t i o n a l C l i m a t e and H i s t o r y C o n f e r e n c e , University of East Anglia, N o r w i c h 1998. 72. W. Q u i n n a n d V. N e a i , " T h e Historical R e c o r d of El N i n o Events," in R. Bradley a n d P . J o n e s (eds.), Citmrtte Since AD 1500, L o n d o n 1992, p. 638. 73. Nature ('1878), p. 447. 74. M a r x to N. F. D a n i e l s o n (3 9 F e b r u a r y 1881) in Karl Marx and Friedrich EngeLs on Colonialism, M o s c o w n.d., p. 337.
75. R o r n e s h C h m x l e i Outi, Open L< 76. K o b e : W a k i i n u r a . Famines, E p in T i m F)> 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.
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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
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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.
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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,
>p. 3 2 - 6 ; a n d C a r l S o l b c r g , ina, 1880-1930,
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
and Riding: T h e Indian N a t i o n a l Congress 1SS5-I9S5, N e w D e l h i
< 1 9 6 6 , p. 96.
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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ralian Wheat
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ittle c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h E N S O . )
a n d J e r r y M e l i l l o , Asian Change
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ii Oscillation a n d C l i m a t e Vrtrialn'I-
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 -
30. L e r o y Vail a n d L a n d e g W h i t e , G i p i t a l f s m and Colonialism
:d M a l e n b a u m , The World
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Manchuria,
N e w York 1 9 7 5 , pp. 6 - 1 0 .
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M i n n e a p o l i s 1980, p p . 100-101.
31. D e n i s , p. 3 5 1 . p r o d u c e d g r e a t distress t h r o u g h Klopsch, the publisher of
New
N e b r a s k a t h a t " t h e r e w a s really
3 2 . G r a c i l i a n o R a m o s , B a r r e n Lives, A u s t i n , Tex. 1 9 7 1 , p. 121. 3 3 . A r t h u r D i a s , The Brazil
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IC U n i t e d S t a t e s " a n d t h a t t h o u -
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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-
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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
NOTES
JSTS
r a i e d by the c o n t r a s t b e t w e e n 3 " million b u s h e l s h a r v e s t e d : Money and Empire, N e w York avari c o m p l a i n e d t h a t despite relv o n t h e c o n d i t i o n in o t h e r in >)f C o m m o d i t y P r o d u c t i o n irav.ma provides a u s e f u l overnd a u t o m a t i c price m o v e m e n t : t e e n t h century, h Century, March 1902, pp. 479 ind 481 (price of millet). 3 Famine Analysis," in G. H a r -
Nov. 1896. pp. 168-9. n t e d f r o m t h e North American x 159. *97,p. 81. lia /'Relief A l l u r e s and Policies), ' Indian Famines. Agra 1968, pp.
le N e w P o o r Law of 1834 w a s lerc was n o c o m m i t m e n t to the
ilkhart. Ind. 1898, p. 144.
'SO, P o n d i c h e r r y 1981, p. 28. For o t o g r a p h s , s e e j . Rees, "Fighting , p p . 358-61. 1911, pp. 111-25. rcss, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1977, p. 71. ;ls a n d the Indian N a t i o n a l Con-
4I9
gress, 1870-1922," in Masselos, pp. 3 1 - 2 . 34. E. P r a t t , "India a n d H e r Friends," V/Vstim'tutcr Review, J u n e 1897, p. 647. 35. M c L a n e , p. 29 36. H. B i r d w o o d , "The Recent E p i d e m i c s of P l a g u e in B o m b a y , " journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, 1898, pp. 141-3. See also A l o k Sheel, " B u b o n i c p l a g u e in s o u t h Bihar: Gaya a n d S h a h a b a d districts, 1900-1924," IESHR, 35:4 (1998), pp. 4 2 6 - 7 . 37. R a j n a r a y a n C h a n d a v a r k a r , " P l a g u e Panic a n d E p i d e m i c Politics in India, 1896-1914," in T e r e n c e R a n g e r a n d Paul Slack (cds.), Epidemics and Ideas, C a m b r i d g e 1992, p. 213. 38. F. B. S m i t h , Florence Nightingale, L o n d o n 1982, p. 125. 39. Ira Klein, " U r b a n D e v e l o p m e n t and D e a t h : B o m b a y City, 1870-1914," Modern Asian
Studies 20:4 (5 986), p. 748. 40. R a d h i k a F a m a s u b b a n a n d Nigel C r o o k , "Spatial Patterns o f Health a n d Morality," in Sujata Patel a n d Alice T h o r n e r (eds.). Bom bay: Metaphor for Modern India, p p . 148-51. 41. Klein, p. 734. 42. See t h e Spectator, 16 J a n u a r y 1897, p. 81. 43. O n u n r e s t over g r a i n prices, s e e Kulkarni. p. 16; o n rioting, David A r n o l d , Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India, B e r k e l e y 1993, pp. 214 and 230. 44. Ira Klein, " P l a g u e , Policy a n d P o p u l a r U n r e s t in British India," Modern Asian Studies, 22:4 (1988), p. 737. 45. A r n o l d , p 204. 46. C h a n d a v a r k a r , p. 207. 47. N a y a n a G o r a d i a , Lord Curzon: The Last of the British MogJmts, Delhi 1993, p. 123. 48. " F o u r of every five patients w h o e n t e r e d B o m b a y hospitals perished t h e r e , " Klein, "Plague, Policy a n d P o p u l a r U n r e s t , " p. 742. 49. A r n o l d , " T o u c h i n g t h e Body," p. 71. 50. M c L a n e , p. 30. 51. Cf. D. T a h m a n k a r , Lokamanya Tilflfc. L o n d o n 1956, p. 68 passim; N. Kelkar, Life and Times of Lokamanya Tilak, Delhi, p. 338 passim; Richard C a s h i n a n , The Myth of the Lokamanya, Berkeley, pp. 123-50; and R o m e s h C h u n d e r Dint, The Economic History of India in the Victorian Age, 2nd e d n . , L o n d o n 1906, p. 456 ( q u o t e ) . 52. I. C a t a n a c h , "Plague and t h e Indian Village, 1896-1914," in Peter R o b b (ed.), Rural India: iMnd, Power and Society Umfcr British Rule, L o n d o n 1983, pp. 218 a n d 227. 53. C h a n d a v a r k a r , p. 210. 54. C a t a n a c h , ibid. 55. India in 1897, q u o t e d in Filon, p. 381. In his s a i d y of t h e history of f a m i n e in a p o o r district of Bihar, K. S u r e s h Singh o b s e r v e s t h a t a l t h o u g h " t h e [1896-97] f a m i n e was t h e m o s t lethal in P a l a m a u ' s r e c o r d e d h i s t o r y ... officially it was r e p o r t e d t h a t ' n o deaths w e r e caused b y s t a r v a t i o n " ' (The Indian Famine 1967, N e w Delhi 1975, p. 32). 56. " T h e F a m i n e in India," Missionaiy Review of the World, April 1897, p. 286. 57. H e j u d g e d 1897, n o t 1857 o r 1877, to be I n d i a ' s " m o s t c a l a m i t o u s y e a r of the c e n tury"; s e e R a m a b a i R a n a d e (ed.), Mi-iref/a neons Writings of the Late Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.G. Ranade, D e l h i 1992 (reprint), p. 180. 58. Singh, Staivation and Colonialism, pp. 9 8 - 9 .
T 428
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59. D u t l , pp. 219-22 (Indian N a t i o n a l C o n g r e s s ) ; Famine and Agrarian Problems, pp. 193 (Biiaspur) a n d 227 ( H a m i l t o n in H o u s e o f C o m m o n s 60. "finis claim (supposedly b a s e d o n t e s t i m o n y by Sir C h a r l e s Lyall in 3898) w a s m a d e b y . " E . C . " in " T h e Indian F a m i n e , " Westminster Review 155:2 (1901), p. 135. 61. D. E. U. Baker, Cobnialism in an Indian Hinterland: The Central Provinces, 1820-1920, Delhi 1993, pp. 174, 194 a n d 202. 62. F. M e r e w e t h e r , A Tour Through the Famine Districts of India, L o n d o n 1898, pp. 129-30. M e r c w e t h e r ' s a c c o u n t of t h e j u b b u l p u r p o o r h o u s e w a s s c o f f e d at b y j . Rees in The Nineteenth Century (March 1897), w h o c l a i m e d t h a t c o n d i t i o n s w e r e n o t radically different t h a n in Li m e h o u s e o r Mile E n d . "II t h e m i s e r y and d e s t i t u t i o n o f L o n d o n itself w e r e collected w i t h i n a ring fence, it is d o u b t f u l if a visitor f r o m t h e cast w o u l d t h i n k it o t h e r t h a n a sad spectacle" (p. 3 59). 63. See Pepper, p. 78. 64. The Memoirs of Julian Hawthorne, ed. E d i t h H a w t h o r n e , N e w York 1938, p. 295. 65. Julian H a w t h o r n e , "India Starving," Cosmopolitan 23:4 ( A u g u s t 1897), pp. 3 7 9 - 8 2 66. Ibid. Dr. Louis Klopsch of t h e Christian Herald p e n n e d equally s h o c k i n g a c c o u n t s from t h e A h m e d a b a d p o o r h o u s e w h e r e p r o s t r a t e v i c t i m s w e r e left o u t in t h e o p e n , to be e a t e n by flies in t h e 110-degree h e a t . " O h i n q u i r i n g w h y t h e s e p e o p l e w e r e e x p o s e d to the relentless rays o f the s u n w i t h o u t s h e l t e r o r s h a d e , I w a s t o l d t h a t they h a d b e e n b r o u g h t in f r o m the n e i g h b o r i n g villages o n c a r t s a n d w e r e t o r e m a i n u n d e r o b s e r v a t i o n for t w e n t y - f o u r h o u r s in o r d e r t o d e t e r m i n e w h e t h e r s y m p t o m s of c o n t a g i o u s disease d e v e l o p e d . T h e y h a d c o m e in d u r i n g t h e a f t e r n o o n , they h a d lain t h e r e f o r t h r e e o r f o u r h o u r s , t h e y w e r e to r e m a i n t h e r e all n i g h t a n d t o stay t h e r e all the n e x t f o r e n o o n . Possibly t h e e v e n i n g of t h e next day they w o u l d b e a d m i t t e d t o t h e i n h o s p i t a b l e s h e l t e r of the A h m e d a b a d p o u r - h o u s e . M y r i a d s o f flies w e r e feasting o n e a c h individual b u n d l e , a n d the eyelids, m o u t h s , nostrils and c a r s w e r e all b e s i e g e d w i t h b a t t a l i o n s of flies g o r g i n g t h e m s e l v e s o n the helpless v i c t i m s o f the India f a m i n e . " Klopsch f o u n d t h e "indescribable m i s e r y " of the small children a l m o s t " u n b e a r a b l e " t o relate ( q u o t e d in Pepper, pp. 79-80). 67. W. Aykroyd, The Conquest of Famine, L o n d o n 1974, pp. 64-7. 6S. R u d y a r d Kipling, "William t h e C o n q u e r o r , " in The Day's Work, L o n d o n 1898, p. 203. 69. Ibid., pp. 380-81. 70. C a p t i o n on p h o t o g r a p h s , inside f r o n t cover, Cosmopolitan 23:3 (July 1897). 71. Bandyopadhyay, p. 51. 72. For e x a m p l e , Harper's Weekly in 1900 c l a i m e d : " The f a m i n e of 1877 killed s o m e t e n million beings; t h a t of 1897, a b o u t sixteen millions; whilst t h e present o n e will p r o b a b l y break t h e r e c o r d with t w e n t y million" (p. 350). See also Digby, "Prosperous" British India, p. 129. 73. C. R a m a g e , T/ie Great Indian Drought of 1899, B o u l d e r 1977, pp. 1 - 3 . R a m a g e is a w o r l d a u t h o r i t y on the Indian m o n s o o n . 74. See D. M o o l e y a n d B. Parthasarathy, " F l u c t u a t i o n s in All-India S u m m e r M o n s o o n Rainfall D u r i n g 1871-1978,"Climate C/wnge 6 (1984), pp. 2 8 7 - 3 0 1 . 75. R a m a g e , p. 6. 76. B o m b a y G o v e r n m e n t , Report on the Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1899-1902, vol.
1, B o m b a y 1903, p. 114. 77. Ramage, p . 4. 78. Pierre Loti, India, English t 79. Bombay, Report, vol. 1. p. 3 80. Vaughati N a s h , The Great F, 81. Scott, pp. 142-3. 82. Frederick L a m b , The Gospel M y s o r e 1913, p. 49. 83. Scott, pp. 3 1 - 2 . 84. Singh, p p . 113-18. 85. Bombay, Report, vol. 1, p p . 86. C h a r l e s w o r t h , "Rich P c a s a i 87. McLane, pp. 26-7. 88. C . J . O ' D o n n e l l . The Failure 89. Q u o t e d in C . Ramage, p. 5. 90. O ' D o n n c l l , p. xviii. 91. Nash, p. 171. 9 2 . Bandyopadhyay, pp. 6 3 - 7 a n 93. Bernard S e m m e l , The Li hen " N e v e r sincc t h e C r i m e a n W a r , w r o t e Dutt, " h a s Imperialism b e e of h u m a n i t y a n d justice, of resf: n a t i o n s , been at a lower e b b " ( q N e w Delhi 1968, p. 63). 94. S. T h o r b u r n , Problems of />:< 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
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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<
India: Being a Selection af His Speed 137. Bombay. Report, p. 103. 138. T i m D y s o n . "Indian I listoi
Dyson i ed.), Indias Historical Den, 1989, p. 5: and J. A. Crawford. Rept
Years I sW «n
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 /7i<;
hall, 7Vie Chinese Empire: A General 1907, p. 206 ( m o r t a l i t y figures . 3. Broomliall. pp. 228-3 5 and 2 s u f f e r i n g in n o r t h e r n Anluti. A J c s m a n y p e o p l e were d y i n g in the c i t ; side t h e city walls to be devoured b Violence in N o r t h China,"Journal 4. A c c o r d i n g t o W i l k i n s o n ( T a b ter in 1S98. T h e d r o u g h t c o n t i n u l o w e d by w a r and b r i g a n d a g e affec 5. O n t h e centrality o f f e n g s h u i
NOTES
ists
.th " r e s t s in t h e h a n d s of t h e jority of t h e p e o p l e of India, v for their help and sympathy"
423
134. D u t t , Romcsh Chunder Dun, p- 2 5 2 . 135. A r u p M a h a r a m a , T h e Demography of Famines: An Indian Historical Perspective, Delhi 1996, p. 15 ( T a b l e M ) ; S t e i n , " T h e M a k i n g of A g r a r i a n Policy in India," p. IS; a n d Lewis , p. 173. 136. S p e e c h t o the Legislative C o u n c i l , Simla, 19 O c t . 1900 (in C u r z o n . Lord Cm-zon in India: Being a Selection of His Speeches..., L o n d o n 1906, p. 394. 137. B o m b a y , Riport, p. 103. 138. T i m D y s o n . " I n d i a n Historical D e m o g r a p h y : D e v e l o p m e n t s and P r o s p e c t s , " in D y s o n (ed.), India '< Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Disease and Society, L o n d o n 1989, p. 5; a n d J. A. C r a w f o r d , Report on the Famine in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts in the Years 1899 and 1900. vol. 1, N a g p u r 1901, p. 8.
Politics, N e w D e l h i 1993, p. 6 3 . ' r 27,710,258 I n d i a n m a u n d s fell nomic Life in the Bombay Gujarat iut h a l f of t h e cattle ( o r 800,000 24.
139. The Lancet, Hi M a y 1901. 140. Digby, "Prospcrou" British India, p p . 137-9. 141. Klein, " W h e n t h e R a i n s Failed," p. 186 (on Davis); a n d P i e r r e Le Roy, Le Faim dans le monde, P a r i s 1994, p. 16. 142. M a h a r a t n a , pp. 15 a n d 6 3 - 7 . 143. C h a n d a v a r k a r . p. 203. 144. Srivastava, p. 269. 145. Ibid., p. 219; a n d B. T o m l i n s o n , The Economy of Modern India, Cambridge History of India, 3:3), C a m b r i d g e 1993, p. 83. 146. B a n d y o p a d h y a y , p p . 192 a n d 2 0 0 . 147. S u m i t Sarkar. Modem India: 1885-1947, M a d r a s 1983, p. 36. 148.. W a k i m u r a , p. 301; a n d C h o k s e y , p. 44.
IS60-1970
(The
New
149. Report of the Indian Famine Commission, 1901, C a l c u t t a 1901, p. 7; Klein, " W h e n t h e R a i n s Failed," p. 204 f h 3 3 . i c P e a s a n t r y in B o m b a y PresiNotes to Chapter 6 T h e e p i g r a p h a p p e a r s in Euclydcs d a C u n h a , Rebellion in the Kacklnnds (Os Sertdes),
trans.
S a m u e l P u t n a m , C h i c a g o 1944, p. 133.
in t h e 1920s," in Masselos, pp. 36.
e a s a n t A g i t a t i o n s in K h e d a DisR a j , L o n d o n 1977, pp. 5 5 - 6 .
n F a m i n e s - P a r t 1," Population
1. P e p p e r , Life-Work of Louis Klopsch, p. 172. 2. F r a n c i s Nichols, Through Hidden Sliensi, N e w York 1902, p p . 2-9; M a r s h a l l B r o o m hall, The Chinese Empire: A Genera! a n d Missionary S n m - y , L o n d o n (China I n l a n d Mission) 1907, p. 206 ( m o r t a l i t y figures). 3. B r o o m h a l l , pp. 2 2 8 - 3 5 a n d 242. A r t h u r T i e d e m a n n d r a w s a t t e n t i o n t o c o m p a r a b l e s u f f e r i n g in n o r t h e r n A n h u i . "AJesuit priest at M e n g c h e n g o b s e r v e d , for e x a m p l e , that s o m a n y p e o p l e w e r e d y i n g in t h e city t h a t t h e n a k e d d e a d a n d d y i n g had t o b e d u m p e d o u t side t h e city walls to b e d e v o u r e d by h u n g r y d o g s " ("Boxers, C h r i s t i a n s a n d t h e C u l t u r e o f V i o l e n c e in N o r t h C h i n a , " Journal of Peasant Studies 25:4 [July 1899], p. 156). 4. A c c o r d i n g to W i l k i n s o n (Table 3, p. 144) 75 o f 90 S h e n x i d i s t r i c t s r e p o r t e d c r o p disast e r in 1898. T h e d r o u g h t c o n t i n u e d t h r o u g h 1900 (67 districts) a n d w a s p u n c t u a l l y foll o w e d b y w a r a n d b r i g a n d a g e a f f e c t i n g a g r i c u l t u r e in 68 districts. 5. O n t h e c e n t r a l i t y offengshtn
d o c t r i n c s t o t h e p o p u l a r C h i n e s e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e
~
424
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
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crisis, see S m i t h , vol. 1, p. >7. 6. Esherick, p. 299. 7. T i e d e m a n n (p. 159) cites t h e Nort/i-C/u'iw Herald o n "a g e n e r a l c r o p failure in the w h e a t - e x p o r t i n g area o f n o r t h w e s t e r n S h a n d o n g " p r e v i o u s to t h e i n u n d a t i o n . 8. Ibid., pp. 175-7. 9. Q u o t e d in Pepper, p 164. 10. Paul C o h e n , History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth, N e w York 1997, p. 69. 11. New York Times, 25 M a r c h 1899. 12. Lu Yao, " T h e O r i g i n s of t h e Boxers," Chinese Studies in History, 2 0 : 3 - 4 (1987), p. 54. 13. Esherick, pp. 179-80 14. Pepper, pp. 164-5. A vear later, however, t h e navy did provide K l o p s c h w i t h a transp o r t , t h e Quito, to c a r r y 5,000 t o n s o f Kansas relief g r a i n to India. 15. H a r l a n Beach, " T h e H i s t o r y of Christian Missions in C h i n a , " in G . Blakeslee (ed.), China and the Far East, N e w York 1910, p. 274. 16. E n d y m i o n W i l k i n s o n , "Studies in C h i n e s e Price History," Ph.D. diss., P r i n c e t o n University 1970, p. 52. 17. S m i t h , vol..2, p. 573. 18. S. T e n g , The Nien Army and Their Guerrilla Warfare, 1S51-I868, Paris 1961, p. 127. 19. S m i t h , vol. 1, pp. 155 6. 20. Elizabeth Perry, "Social Banditry Revisited: T h e C a s e of Bai L a n g , a C h i n e s e Briga n d , " Modern China 9:3 (July 1983), pp. 361, 366 a n d 369. 21. Esherick, pp. 174, 223 a n d 281-2. 22. S m i t h , p. 219. 23. Ibid., p. 244. 24. Lu, p.52. 25. C o h e n , pp. 35, 77-82 (first q u o t e ) and p. 95 (second q u o t e ) ; T i e d e m a n n , p. 156, 26. Lu, p. 55. 27. Q i A i z h a n g , 'Stages in the D e v e l o p m e n t of the Boxer M o v e m e n t a n d T h e i r C h a r a c teristics," Chinese Studies in History 20:3-4 (1987), p. 115. In t h e s a m e issue, Liao Yizhong ("Special F e a n n e s of t h e Boxer M o v e m e n t " ) denies t h e existence o f any "anti-feudal" d i m e n s i o n , a l t h o u g h his citations arc f r o m S h a n d o n g , n o t H e b e j (pp. 186-7). 28. B r o o m h a l l , vol. 7, p. 3 74. 29. G e o r g e s Lefebvre, The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in [{evolutionary France, N e w York 1973. 30. Eva Price, China Journal, 1889-1900: An American Missionary Family During the Boxer Rebellion, N e w York 1989. pp. 199 and 203-4. See also S a r a h Alice ( T r o y e r ) Young, l e t t e r from Shanxi (2 Dec. 1899) in coll. 542, box 1, f o l d e r 7, Billy G r a h a m C e n t e r . 31. Price, pp, 204 a n d 222. 32. C o h e n , p. 172. For similar populist, anti-foreign r e a c t i o n s to t h e d r o u g h t in t h e Beij i n g r e g i o n , see E. RuofF (ed.), Death Throes of a Dynasty: Letters and Diaries of Charles and Bessie Ewing, Missionaries to China, Kent, O h i o 1990, p. 68 (letters of S e p t . a n d Oct. 1899). 33. Price, pp. 191-4, 199 a n d 209. 34. Archibald Glover, A Thousand Miles of Miracle in China, L o n d o n 1904, pp. 6, 85, 195
a n d 244 tsong.i. 3 5. Price, p. 224. 36. Austin, p. 75. 37. Esherick, pp. xv- w i . >82 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
HOLOCAUSTS
National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s-l9<>0s, 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. < ;harl<:s\vorth. Peasants a nd h Presidency, ISW-'.9.V. Cambridge 106. Sir J o h n S t r a c h e y , India: Its .-1 107. G u h a . pp. 149-58. 108. Vasant K a i w a r , " T h e C o l o n d e n o . " Modern Asian Studies 28:4 . 109. Philip H u a n g . The Peasant !u 1985. pp. 85 -105. 110. Philip H u a n g , The Peasant /•'<[ .Stant- 'rd. Calif. 1990, p. 71. 111. ! luang. Peasant Iwonomv, p. I 112. i ' r n j o f T i c h e i m a n . ihcSocia, 113. I). R. C.adgil, The Industrial I p. 18o: .md Daniel Little, Understai 114. |an B r e m a n a n d H. Vak-ntu D a n i e l . Bernstein a n d Brass f e d s . L o n d o n 1992, p. 290. 11 5. Pauline K e a t i n g , Tiro Revolm in Northern Shaanxi, 1934-194), .Sn 116. Ibid., p. 33. 117. Ibid., pp. 1 0 - 1 3 , 23 and 30. B e s t i m a t e d to have d i e d of f a m i n e i vancy and Irrigation in China, T h e 1
\U
, \ O I l- s
S T S
?6, p. 128.
90. L o w pp. 16-17. 91. M a c k i n d e r , p. 99. 92. Frederick C o o p e r , Fro in Stoves to Squatter: Ptowrtlinn Labor and A^rietiitnre in Zanzibar and Coastal Kenya, 1890-1925, N e w H a v e r ; C o n n . 1980. pp. 59 o() a n d 220-22. 93. Low, pp. 110-11. 94. Ibid., p. 111; a n d W r i g h t , p. 576-7. 95. J a m e s Giblin, The Politics of Environmental Control in Northeastern Tanzania, 1840-1940, Philadelphia 1992, pp. 9 0 - 9 1 , 114-15, and 124 7 96. Leroy Vail and L a n d e g W h i t e , Capitals in a n d Colonidlism in Mozambique: A Study of Quelimane District, M i n n e a p o l i s 1980, pp. 97. Allen a n d Barbara Isaacman, The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique: The Zambesi Valley 18JO-1921, Berkeley 1976, p. 115. 98. ibid., pp. 134-42. 99. Palmer, ibid. 100. Ambler, p. 149. 101. T o m l i n s o n , p. 195. 102. Jairus Banaji, "Capitalist D o m i n a t i o n and t h e Small P e a s a n t r y : T h e D e c c a n Districts in the Late 19th C e n t u r y , " in Gyan P r a k a s h (ed.!. T h e World of the Rural Labourer in Colonial India, Delhi 1994, p. 123. 103. S u m i t G u b a , The Agrarian Economy of (he Kombav Deecan, p. 192. 104. Banaji, pp. 123-4; A r n o l d , " F a m i n e in P e a s a n t C o n s c i o u s n e s s , " p. 42. 105. C h a r l e s w o r t h , Peasants and Imperial Rule: Agriculture and Agrarian Society fn (he Bombay Presidency, 1850-1935, C a m b r i d g e 1985, pp. 10lJ 10. 106. Sir J o h n Strachey, India: its Administration and Progress, L o n d o n 1911. p. 249. 107. G u h a , pp. 149-58. 108. Vasant Kaiwar, " T h e Colonial State, Capital and the P e a s a n t r y in B o m b a y Presidency," Modern Asian Studies 28:4 (1994), p. S22. 109. Philip H u a n g , The Peasant Fconomvand Social Chang' in iYorth China, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1985, pp. 85-105. 110. Philip H u a n g , 77ie Peasant Family and Rinai Development in the Yan&zi Delta, 1350-198.S, Stanford, Calif 1990, p. 71. 111. 1 l u a n g , Peasant Fconoiny, p. 17. 112. Fritjof T i c h e l m a n , 'Fhe Social Froiiifion of Indonesia, T h e 1 I a g u e 1980, p. 33. 113. D. R. C a d g i l , The industrial Evolutie.n of India in Recent limes, IH6Q-1039, Delhi 1971, p. 180; and Daniel U t i l e , Cnders! an ding Peasani China, N e w H a v e n , Conn. 1989, p. 92. 114. Jan B r e m a n a n d H. Valentine Daniel, ' C o n c l u s i o n : t h e M a k i n g o f a Coolie," in Daniel, Bernstein a n d Brass (eds.). Plantations, Proletarians a n d Peasants in Colonial Asia. L o n d o n 1992, p. 290. 115. Pauline Keating, Two Revolirtions: Village ReeonsirKencn a n d the Cooperative Movement in Northern Shaanxi, 1934-1945, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1997. pp. 27 -8. 116. Ibid., p. 33. 117. Ibid., pp. 10-13, 23 and 30. B e t w e e n 1920 a n d 1936 18,350,000 p e o p l e w e r e officially e s t i m a t e d to have died o f f a m i n e in China, m o s t l y in the n o r t h (E. Vermeer, Water Conservancy and Irrigation in China, T h e H a g u e 1977, p. 32).
808-1990s," in Linblad, p. 36.
sease in the Colonial
427
Philippines,
e Pacific, 1902-1940, C h a p e l Hill, I m a n - R a y n o r a n d A n d r e w Cliff, •pidemic: Part I - E p i d e m i o l o g i - . -aphy 24:1 (1998), pp. 69-89. g r o s in Transition: 1899-1905,"
esia," in P a l m e r a n d Parsons, p. i," in Wigley , pp. 2 6 2 - 3 . w York 1998, p. 587. Hie D r y S u m m e r o n t h e U p p e r ; a n d Q u i n n , 'A Study of South: Neil P a r s o n s a n d Robin Palmer, •arsons (eds.), The Roots of Rural m d o n 1967, p. 148. 197-1900, Nairobi 1977, pp. 122 on a n d Kevin M c C r a c k e n , Plague ,'d. K. Michael B a r b o u r , L o n d o n t h e a u t h o r ' s lifetime, its editor t h e expedition's Swahili p o r t e r s
British Rule, 1895-1912," in Vinf o r d 1965, pp. 4 - 5 . a n d S a n d e r s o n , p. 576.
K
428
[.ATI-
VICTORIAN
HOLOCAUSTS
Notes to Chapter 7 T h e q u o t e is from Fraccr, Chasing the Monsoon, N e w York !
)g
1, p. 190.
1. " C l i m a t e " and " w e a t h e r " differ n o t only in time-scale m e a n versus individual value), b u t also in causal level. As Kevin T r e n b e r t h h a s p o i n t e d o u t , " C l i m a t e variation results f r o m t h e i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e a t m o s p h e r e and the o t h e r spheres ( h y d r o s p h e r e , cryos p h e r e , b i o s p h e r e , ctc.) in t h e E a r t h s y s t e m . W e a t h e r variations o c c u r f r o m instabilities w i t h i n t h e a t m o s p h e r e itself a n d a r c m u c h m o r e short-lived" (see E N S O C o l l o q u i u m , July 1997, at w w w . d i r . u c a r . e d u / e s i g / e n s o ) . 2. W h y n o t , then, a n Atlantic "El N i n o " as well? T h e trade winds also pool w a r m w a t e r off Brazil a n d leave a cold t o n g u e off Africa, b u t the Atlantic O c e a n a p p a r e n t l y d o e s n o t provide a w i d e e n o u g h basin for ENSO-scale fluctuations t o initiate o r b e c o m e a selfs u s t a i n i n g s y s t e m . See E Jin, "Tropica! O c e a n - A t m o s p h e r e I n t e r a c t i o n , t h e Pacific Cold T o n g u e , a n d the ENSO," Sciencc 274 (4 O c t . 1996), pp. 77-8. 3. Richard Grove, " T h e East India C o m p a n y , the Raj a n d the El N i n o : T h e Critical Role Played b y Colonial Scientists in Establishing the M e c h a n i s m s o f Global C l i m a t e T e l e c o n n e c t i o n s , >1770-1930," in R i c h a r d Grove, Vinita D a m o d a r a n , a n d Satpal S a n g w a n , Nature and the Orient: The Environmental History of South and Southeast Asia, Delhi 1998, pp. 301-23. 4. Frederik N e b e k e r , Calculating the Weather: Meteorology in the 20th Century, San D i e g o 1995, p. 12. By 1880 t h e r e w e r e 121 m e t e o r o l o g i c a l stations in India i n c l u d i n g B u r m a and C e y l o n (Nature, 23 August 1883, p. 406). 5. Blanford virtually f o u n d e d m o d e r n m o n s o o n m e t e o r o l o g y , and his 1877 b o o k , The Indian Meteorologist's Vade-Mecum, " b e c a m e t h e m o s t w i d e l y used t e x t b o o k o n tropical m e t e o r o l o g y for the rest of t h e c e n t u r y " (see Gisela Kutzbach, " C o n c e p t s of M o n s o o n Physics in Historical Perspective," in Jay Fein a n d Pamela S t e p h e n s [eds.], Monsoons, N e w York 1987, p. 181). 6. " O n t h e B a r o m e t r i c See-Saw B e t w e e n Russia and India in t h e Sun-Spot Cycle," Nature, 18 M a r c h 1880, p. 477. See also his Report on the Meteorology of India in 1878, C a l c u t t a 3880. 7. O n C h i n a , see " O n the B a r o m e t r i c See-Saw," p. 480. 8. T h e first use of the t e r m teleconnection w a s apparently A. A n g s t r o e m , "Teleconnections of C l i m a t e C h a n g e s in P r e s e n t T i m e , " Geogr. Ami. 17 (1935), pp. 2 4 2 - 5 8 . 9. Richard Grove, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, I'ropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, }600-1860, C a m b r i d g e 1995, p. 446. 10. J. N o r m a n Lockyer and W. H u n t e r , "Sun-Spots and Famines," The Nineteenth Century, Nov. 1877, p. 601. 11. Nature, 17 Aug. 1899, p. 374. 12. D o u g l a s H o y t a n d K e n n e t h S c h a t t e n , The Role of the Sun in Climate Change, O x f o r d 1997, pp. 36 a n d 144-5. 13. For a dessicationist perspective - i n f l u e n c e d b y Marsh's The Earth as Modified by Human Action - o n t h e f a m i n e of 1876, see "Philindus," " F a m i n e s a n d Floods in India," Maanillan's Magazine, Feb. 1878 ( q u o t e f r o m p. 256).
14. Lockyer a n d 1 luntcr, p. 5^9. 15. See the discussion by L l o y d of the World: Past and Present. 1.01 16. M e l d r u m a l s o viriuallv a c c u rainfall; see " S u n Spots and Rai; r e s e r v a t i o n s a b o u t a sunspot sigi in t h e T e m p e r a t e Z o n e in C o n n e « 61. 17. See. for e x a m p l e , the r i c h l y P r o c t o r : "Sun-Spot. Storm, a n d 1 18. E. Archibald. WAV. H u n t e r Calcutta Review 131 11878), p. 129 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e of the Rainfall a t e r i o n of Periodicity in a Series c M a y 1877. see l e t t e r of U. S t e w a r t of William Stanley Jevons, vol. 4, c< 19. See C. M e l d r u m . "Sun S p o t : " I n d i a n Rainfall," 25 April 1878, p 20. Blanford, " O n the B a r o m e t r i ' 21. Kutzbach, p. 199. 22. Archibald, pp. 14S- 9. 23. C u n n i f f , p. 195. Cunnilf pciir m a k e r " and a u t h o r of Menuvia 5 Brazilian to c o r r e l a t e sunspots a n 24. " T h e Rainfall of Brazil a n d tl •Vivos, Historia das seois (Seettlos X 25. C u n n i l f . pp. 1X5-9. 26. H o y t and S c h a u c n , p. 16.5. 27. " T h e Periodicitv of C o m m e i Statistical andSocinl hujuirv Socief I," Nature, 14 Nov. 1878: and " C o i 28. Walibrd, pp. 202 3. 29. W Jevons. " E c o n o m i c Folic v. 1002, p. 26. 50. Philip M i r o w s k i . " M a c r o e c o Neoclassical E c o n o m i c s . " J o u r n a l 31. Ibid., p. .549. In an earlier l e t crises h a s lire a p p e . u a n c e ol" b e i n ; its s u b s t a n t i a l t r u t h " (14 Nov. 187: 32. L e t t e r to The 'l imes, publisher 33. L e t t e r to The l imes, publisher 34. O n Jevons's i n t e r e s t in Brazili 5, p. 65. While s h e never saw s u i (19!.3) accepted p a r t of Jevons's a
NOTES
J ST S
•12 9
14. L o c k y e r a n d H u n t e r , p. 599. 15. S e e t h e d i s c u s s i o n b y L l o y d ' s e x p e r t H e n r y - j e u i a in C o r n e l i u s W a l f o r d ' s T h e Famines >91, p. 190.
of the World: Past and Present, London 1879, pp. 94-6.
m e a n versus individual value),
r a i n f a l l ; s e c " S u n - S p o t s a n d R a i n f a l l , " Nature,
>ut, " C l i m a t e v a r i a t i o n r e s u l t s
r e s e r v a t i o n s a b o u t a s u n s p o t s i g n a t u r e in h i g h e r l a t i t u d e r a i n f a l l c a n b e f o u n d in " R a i n f a l l
er spheres (hydrosphere, cryo-
i n t h e T e m p e r a t e Z o n e i n C o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e S u n - S p o t C y c l e , " Nature, 2 2 N o v . 1877, p p .
16. M e l d r u m a l s o v i r t u a l ! v a c c u s e d H u n t e r of p l a g i a r i z i n g h i s 1875 r e s e a r c h o n M a d r a s 4 A p r i l 1878, p p . 4 4 8 - 5 0 . F l u n t e r ' s e a r l i e r
ations o c c u r f r o m instabilities
59-61.
1" ( s e e E N S O C o l l o q u i u m , J u l y
17. S e c , f o r e x a m p l e , t h e r i c h l y s a r d o n i c c r i t i q u e o f H u n t e r ' s s p e c u l a t i o n s b y R i c h a r d P r o c t o r : " S u n - S p o t , S t o r m , a n d F a m i n e , " G e n t f o n a n ' s M a g a z i n e , D c c . 1877, p p . 7 0 5 - 6 .
le w i n d s a l s o p o o l w a r m w a t e r
18. E. A r c h i b a l d , "W. W . H u n t e r : T h e C y c l e o f D r o u g h t a n d F a m i n e in S o u t h e r n I n d i a , "
itic O c e a n a p p a r e n t l y d o e s n o t
Calcutta
s t o i n i t i a t e o r b e c o m e a self-
C o r r e s p o n d e n c e o f t h e R a i n f a l l at M a d r a s w i t h t h e S u n - s p o t P e r i o d , a n d o n t h e T r u e C r i -
e Interaction, the Pacific Cold
t e r i o n o f P e r i o d i c i t y in a S e r i e s o f V a r i a b l e Q u a n t i t i e s , " r e a d b e f o r e t h e R o y a l S o c i e t y i n
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131 ( 1 8 7 8 ) . p. 129; a n d f o r a n a c c o u n t of S t r a c h e y ' s p a p e r " O n t h e A l l e g e d
M a y 1877, s e e l e t t e r o f B. S t e w a r t t o W . S . J e v o n s , 5 J u n e 1877, i n Papers a n d
5. i n d t h e El N i n o : T h e
Critical
lechanisms of Global
of W i l l i a m S t a n l e y Jevons,
Correspondence
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Climate
19. S e e C . M e l d r u m , " S u n - S p o t s a n d Rainfall," 4 A p r i l 1878, p p . 4 4 8 - 5 0 ; E. A r c h i b a l d ,
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B r a z i l i a n t o c o r r e l a t e s u n s p o t s a n d d r o u g h t s " (ibid.).
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in 1878,
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of
c r i s e s h a s t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f b e i n g a little t o o i n g e n i o u s ... b u t I h a v e g r e a t c o n f i d e n c e i n its s u b s t a n t i a l t r u t h " (14 N o v . 1878 i n Papers and Correspondence, \e Sun in C l i m a t e Change, O x f o r d
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32. L e t t e r t o T h e 7'imes, p u b l i s h e d 1 7 J a n . 1879, i b i d . , vol. 5, p p . 1 0 - 1 1 . 33. L e t t e r t o The Times,
p u b l i s h e d 19 A p r i l 1879, i b i d . , vol. 5, p p . 4 4 - 8 .
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a n d F l o o d s in India," Maonil/an's
5, p. 65. W h i l e s h e n e v e r s a w s u n s p o t s , R o s a L u x e m b u r g in The Accumulation
of
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T 430
LATE V I C T O R I A N
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44. Halford Mackinder, "The Geographical Pivot of History," Geographical Journal 23 (1904), p. 422. 45. M a r k C a n e , "El N i n o , " Aim. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 14 (1986), p. 44. O n the o t h e r h a n d , c o n t e m p o r a r y geodesists - like J o h n H a y f o r d in A m e r i c a - had achieved s p e c t a c u l a r results (the figure of t h e e a r t h ) t h r o u g h massive c o m p u t a t i o n s w h e r e t h e "sheer b u l k of i n f o r m a t i o n " was m o s t i m p o r t a n t . (See the discussion of t u r n - o f - t h e - c e n t u r y g e o d e s y in N a o m i Oreskes, The Rejection of Continental Drift: Theory and Method in Aiuericati Earth Science, N e w York 1999, pp. 234-5.) 46. D o n a l d Mock, " T h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation: Historical Origins," N O A A ( w w w . c e d . noaa.gov / - d m / pubs / mock81). 47. Allan, Lindesay a n d Parker, p. 13. Walker's c o n c e p t o f t h e SO w a s p a r t l y anticipated by C. B r o o k s a n d H. Braby's 1921 article " T h e C l a s h of t h e T r a d e s in t h e Pacific" (Q.J. R. Meieorol. Soc. 47, pp. 1-13). 48. Peter W e b s t e r and S o n g Yang, " M o n s o o n a n d ENSO: Selectively Interactive Systems," Q.J. K. Meteorol. Soc. 1 IS (1992), p. 878. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid., p. 17. 51. Allan, Lindesay, a n d Parker, p. 14. 52. See the brief history of t h e Bergen School in N e b e k e r , pp. 49-57 a n d 84-6. 53. H . Berlage, " F l u c t u a t i o n s of t h e G e n e r a l A t m o s p h e r i c Circulation o f M o r e T h a n O n e Year: T h e i r N a t u r e a n d P r o g n o s t i c Value," K. Ned. Meteorol Inst. Meded. Verh. 69 (1957); a n d Allan, Lindesay a n d Parker, p. 5 ( q u o t e ) . An e v e n earlier p r e c u r s o r o f Bjerknes's f o c u s o n o c e a n - a t m o s p h e r e i n t e r a c t i o n w a s J. B. Lcighly's " M a r q u e s a n M e t e o r o l o g y " (Univ. Calif. Publ. Geogr. 6:4 [1933], pp. 147-72 ). a l t h o u g h as J. Wallace et al. n o t e , " T h e l a c k of citations of this r e m a r k a b l e p a p e r indicates t h a t it b a d little o r n o i m p a c t o n t h e field at t h e t i m e " (J- Wallace et al., " O n t h e S t r u c t u r e a n d E v o l u t i o n of E N S O - R e l a t e d C l i m a t e Variability in t h e Tropical Pacific: Lessons f r o m T O G A, "Journal of Geophysical Research 103 :C7
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rica - h a d a c h i e v e d s p e c t a c u l a r
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E N S O cycle: h e a l s t o r a g e in t h e W a r m P o o l o r t h e i n t e r n a l w a v e d y n a m i c s o f t h e Pacific. T h e l a t t e r is g i v e n p r i o r i t y in t h e f a m o u s " d a m p e n e d o s c i l l a t o r " o r " d e l a y e d a c t i o n oscil-
the SO was partly anticipated
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a C o u p l e d O c e a n - A t m o s p h e r e M o d e l , " J. Annas. S r i . 45 , pp. 5 4 9 - 6 6 ) . T h e i r r e v i s i o n o f W y r i k i w a s a r e s p o n s e t o t h e p u z z l i n g a b s e n c e o f a " c a n o n i c a l " b u i l d u p o f s e a level a n d
elcctively Interactive S y s t e m s , "
s e a s u r f a c e t e m p e r a t u r e in t h e w e s t e r n Pacific b e f o r e t h e m a s s i v e 1 9 8 2 - 8 3 El N i n o . 63. M i c h a e l M c P h a d e n , " G e n e s i s a n d E v o l u t i o n o f t h e 1997 -98 El N i n o , " Science 283 ( 1 2 Feb. 1999). p. 9 5 3 . 64. S e e G , Kiladis, G. M e e h l a n d K. W e i c k m a n n , " T h e L a r g e - S c a l e C i r c u l a t i o n A s s o c i a t e d w i t h W e s t e r l y W i n d B u r s t s a n d D e e p C o n v e c t i o n o v e r t h e W e s t e r n E q u a t o r i a l P a c i f i c , " /.
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af E N S O - R e l a t e d C l i m a t e Vari-
s c a l e s f r o m t h e s e a s o n a l t o t h e o r b i t a l , s e e M a r k C a n e a n d A m y C l e m e n t , "A Role f o r
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Report, N O A A / O R E S La N i n a S u m m i t . J u l y 1998, p. 14.
Notes to Chapter 8 T h e q u o t e is f r o m A c h e b e , A Man of the People, N e w York 1966, pp. 161-2. 1. It is i m p o r t a n t t o n o t e t h a t t h e f a m o u s p r o t r a c t e d d r o u g h t s of t h e 1930s in t h e U S G r e a t Plains, Australia a n d s o u t h e r n Africa o c c u r r e d d u r i n g o n e o f t h e w e a k e s t p e r i o d s o f
E N S O activit;. in the last 150 y e a 2. Kiladis Diaz, p. 1071. 3. Allan, L m d e s a y and P a r k e r . 4. ibid., pp 2 5 - 6 . 5. Ibid. 6. Peter W e b s t e r , " T h e V a r i a l 305. 7. David R. . d e n h u i s , " T h e W e ; The Great Floo.l of 1993, B o u l d e r . ( 8. P. Webster e t al., " M o n s o o n t i o n , " Journal.'! Geophysical Reseat 9. Alexander C e r s h u n o v , T i m O s c i l l a t i o n Seen a s Factor in E N : 80:3 (19 Jan. l>>98), pp. 25 a n d 2 9 10. Summary Report, La N i n a S u 11. Kevin T i e n b e r t h . " T h e DifFe 12. G r e g O ' l l a r e , " T h e I n d i a n t\ p. 335. 13. Seasonal d i s t r i b u t i o n is ever d u m p e d 20 i n c h e s of rain - h a l f a t h e h e i g h t ol t h e G r e a t D r o u g h t a n d t h e d r o u g h t c o n t i n u e d f o r six •148-9). 14. K. Rao, India's Water Wealth, 15. J. J u and J. Slingo, " T h e A s i a 121 (1995). pp. 1133-68. "Displace l i s b m e n t of a s e p a r a t e c o n v e c t i o n d r a w s air from a m u c h r e d u c e d . a d j u s t m e n t of t h e i r o p o s p h c r i c cit g c n c c . Weak M o n s o o n rainfall, a n 16. Webster ei al.. p. 14,476 ( t e x t 17. O ' H a r e . p. 349. See also P e t e lively Interacitve S y s t e m s , " Q. ). . K h a n d c k a r , "i 1 N i n o / S o u t h e r n ( A Synthesis." in M . El Sabh et al pp. 79 -95. E q u a t o r i a l s t n u o s p h e r i i n t e r a c t i n g with E N S O and E u r a s i " l i m e Structure o f M o n s o o n In l e i pp. 3057-9.) 18. B u w e n D o n g a n d Paul Valde E u r a s i a n W i n t e r / S p r i n g Snow M i 19. R. Kripalani a n d A. K u l k a r n M o n s o o n : A N e w Perspective," W 20. K. Krishna K u m a r , Balaji R a j .
JSTs
LlovJ Keigwin (eds.), Medial i n g t o n , D.C. 1999. lewski, "Secular Variability of IC V<) liability on Decadc-lo-CcnT i n i e Scales of Variability in :ars, abstract, N O A A El N i n o nciated w i t h ENSO: Seasonal /ersitv of C o l o r a d o , B o u l d e r
'Journal of Geophysical Research "Large Scale M o d e s of O c e a n n N a v a r r a (ed.). ^ - f r e q u e n c y E N S O variations ;ki, "Secular Variability of t h e -137. ,ocal C o n t r o l , " Sricncc 283 (19 u i o n with I m p a c t s o n S a l m o n 8:6 ( J u n e 1997), pp. 1069-79. N S O Predictability a n d Predic-
ince i b a t D a n s g a a r d / O e s c h g e r is well as t h r o u g h o u t the Q u a lillennial-Scale Cycle in N o r t h lov. 1997), pp. 1257-66. ere Born"; and D o n a l d Rodbell on in S o u t h w e s t e r n E c u a d o r , " jact of M e g a - N i n o Events o n [C 28 11994), p. 328-9. •crth a n d T. H o a r , "El N i n o a n d 199S,p. 14.
1966, pp. 161-2. r o u g h t s of t h e 1930s in t h e US g o n e of t h e w e a k e s t p e r i o d s o f
NOTES
E N S O activity in the last 150 years. 2. Kiladis a n d Diaz, p. 1071. 3. Allan, Lindesay a n d Parker, p. 77. 4. Ibid., pp. 25-6. 5. Ibid. 6. Peter Webster, " T h e Variable a n d Interactive M o n s o o n , " in Fein a n d Stephens, p. 305. 7. David R o d e n h u i s , " T h e W e a t h e r T h a t Led to t h e Flood," in Stanley C h a n g n o n (ed.), The Great Flood of 1993, B o u l d e r , C o l o . 1996, pp. 4 4 - 5 . 8. P. W e b s t e r et al., " M o n s o o n s : Processes, predictabiliiv. and t h e prospects f o r prediction,^"Journal of Geophysical Research 103:C7 ( 1 9 J u n e 1998). p. 14,459. 9. A l e x a n d e r G e r s h u n o v , T i m B a r n e t t and Daniel Cayan. " N o r t h Pacific Interdecadal Oscillation S e e n as F a c t o r in HNSO-Related N o r t h A m e r i c a n C l i m a t e A n o m a l i e s , " t'OS 80:3 (19 J a n . 1998), pp. 25 a n d 29-30. 10. Summary Report, La N i n a S u m m i t , p. 10. 11. Kevin T r e n b e r t h , " T h e D i f f e r e n t Flavors of La N i n a , " I.a N i n a S u m m i t . 1998, p. 2. 12. G r e g O ' H a r e , " T h e Indian M o n s o o n , Part T w o : T h e Rains." Geography 82:4 (1997), p. 335. 13. Seasonal d i s t r i b u t i o n is e v e r y t h i n g . For e x a m p l e , the c y c l o n e of 18- 20 May 1877 d u m p e d 20 i n c h e s of r a i n - half a year's precipitation over M a d r a s in t h r e e days d u r i n g t h e height of t h e G r e a t D r o u g h t . As Digby p o i n t s out,"it did m o r e h a r m t h a n g o o d " a n d the d r o u g h t c o n t i n u e d for six m o n t h s m o r e (Digby, The Famine Campaign, vol. 1, pp. 148-9). 14. K. Rao, India's Water Wealth, D e l h i 1975. pp. 10 and In 15. J. Ju a n d j . Slingo, " T h e Asian S u m m e r M o n s o o n and E N S O . " Q.J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 121 (1995), pp. 1133-68. " D i s p l a c e m e n t of the I A C Z into the Pacific results in t h e establ i s h m e n t o f a s e p a r a t e c o n v e c t i o n z o n e over s o u t h e a s t Asia d u r i n g M o n s o o n season. T h i s d r a w s air f r o m a m u c h r e d u c e d area c o m p a r e d t o a n o r m a l M o n s o o n , b c c a u s e of t h e a d j u s t m e n t of t h e t r o p o s p h e r i c circulation to c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m t h e central Pacific converg e n c e . W e a k M o n s o o n rainfall, and d r o u g h t in e x t r e m e cases, is t h e result." 16. W e b s t e r ct al., p. 14,476 (text differs f r o m 'Fable 2). 17. O ' H a r e , p. 349, See also Peter W e b s t e r and S o n g Yang. ' M o n s o o n and E N S O : Selectively Interactive S y s t e m s , " Q.J. R. Mc tec vol. Soc. 118 (1992), pp. 877-926; a n d Madhav Khandekar, "El N i n o / S o u t h e r n Oscillation, Indian M o n s o o n a n d World G r a i n Yields A Synthesis," in M. El S a b h et al. (eds,), l.nnd-Hascd and Marine Hazards, K l u w e r 1996, pp. 79-95. Equatorial s t r a t o s p h e r i c w i n d oscillation m a y be a t h i r d i n d e p e n d e n t variable i n t e r a c t i n g w i t h E N S O a n d Eurasian s n o w cover. (See K h a n d e k a r , " C o m m e n t s o n ' S p a c e T i m e S t r u c t u r e of M o n s o o n I n t e r a n n u a l Variability,' in Journal oj' Climate 11 (Nov. 1998), pp. 3057-9.) 18. B u w e n D o n g a n d P a u l Valdes, " M o d e l l i n g t h e Asian S u m m e r M o n s o o n Rainfall a n d Eurasian W i n t e r / S p r i n g S n o w Mass," Q.J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 124 (1998), pp. 2 5 6 7 - 9 . 19. R. Kripalani and A. Kulkarni, "Climatic I m p a c t of El N i n o / L a Nina o n t h e Indian M o n s o o n : A N e w Perspective," Weather 52:2 (1997), p. 45. 20. K. Krishna K u m a r , Balaji R a j a g o p a l a n and M a r k C a n e . " O n t h e W e a k e n i n g Relation-
4J4
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s h i p B e t w e e n the Indian M o n s o o n a n d E N S O , " Scicncc 284 (2:> J u n e W)9), pp. 2156See also I L A n n a m a l a i and Julia Siingo. " The Asian S u m m e r M o n s o o n . 1997." Wear/ier 53:9 (Sept. 1998), pp. 285-6. 21. R a m a s a m y Suppiah, "Relationships B e t w e e n the S o u t h e r n OM illation and t h e Rainfall o f Sri L.anka," International Journal oj~ Climatology 9 (19S9). 22. Y, K u e h , Agricultural Instability in China, 1931-1991, O x f o r d 19^'S. p. 29. 23. N e e d h a m , p. 246. 24. Keith B u c h a n a n , The Transformation of the Chinese Earth, L o n d o n 1970, p. SO; Walter Mallory, China: Land of Famine, N e w York 1926, p. 43. 25. G e o r g e Cressey, China's Geographic Foundations: A Survey of the Land and Its People, N e w York 1934, pp. 84-5. 26. T h e o c c u r r e n c e o f several severe Hi N i h o s in t h e m i d s e v e n t e e n t h c e n t u r y raises t h e possibility that t h e e x t r a o r d i n a r y a g r i c u l t u r a l crisis of t h e late M i n g dynasty - seven y e a r s of d r o u g h t followed by n i n e years of f l o o d i n g - w a s E N S O - r e l a t e d : 1640 w a s the driest y e a r in t h e last live h u n d r e d (cf. Z h a n g J i a c h e n g [ed.], The Reconstruction of Climate i?i ChinaJ'or Historical Times, Beijing 1988, p. 45; M a n f r e d D o m r o s and P e n g G o n g b i n g , The Climate of China, Berlin 1983, p. 19S; and J i a c h e n g Z h a n g a n d Z h i g u a n g Lin. Climate of China, S h a n g h a i 1992, p. 330). 27. Ye Z o n g w e i and W a n g C u n , " C l i m a t i c j u m p s in the F l o o d / D r o u g h t Historical C h r o n o l o g y of C e n t r a l C h i n a , " Climate Dynamics 6 (1992), p. 1 58. 28. D i n g Yihui, Monsoons over China. D o r d r e c h t 1996, p. 2 9 0 - 9 2 . 29. A p i o n e e r i n g c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f SO's possible role in d r o u g h t a n d flood w a s Tu C h a n g - W a n g , "China W e a t h e r a n d the W o r l d Oscillation," in A c i d e m i a Sinica, Collected Scientific Papers: Meteorology 1919-1949, Beijing 1954. 30. S h a o - W u in Gianiz, Curreiir.s of Change, p. 173; as well as Kuc-11. pp. i 59-61. 31. W e i - C h y u n g W a n g a n d K e r a n g Li, "Precipitation F l u c t u a t i o n over a Semiarid Region in N o r t h e r n China and t h e Relationship w i t h El N i n o / S o u t h e r n Oscillation," Journal of Climate (July 1990), p. 769. 32. W a n g Shao-wu, "La Nina a n d Its Impact on C h i n a ' s C l i m a t e , " La Nina S u m m i t , 199S, p. 1. 33. W a n g and Li. p. 777. 34. D i n g Yihui, pp. 273, 2S5. 3 5. See the La Nina impact m a p lor 1S98 in Allan, Lindesay and Parker, p, 139. .36. For w e a t h e r conditions in 1876, cf. B r o o m h a l l , p. 166; a n d Pari. Papers, China N o . 2 (1878), p. 1. 37. C h e n g l a n Ban and Yanzhen Xiang, "Relationship B e t w e e n El N i n o Event and A t m o spheric Circulation, T y p h o o n Activity and Flooding," in W. Kyle and C . C h a n g (cds.t, Proceedings, S e c o n d International C o n f e r e n c e o n East Asia a n d W e s t e r n Pacific M e t e o r o l o g y a n d C l i m a t e (Flong Kong, Sept. 1992), S i n g a p o r e 1993, p. 239. 38. Yihui, pp. 286-7. 39. P R C , National E n v i r o n m e n t a l P r o t e c t i o n Bureau, The Yellow River Runs Diy and Its Sustainable Development (in Chinese), Beijing 1997: cited in Z . Yang et al., " Yellow River's W a t e r a n d S e d i m e n t Discharge D e c r e a s i n g Steadily," EOS 79:48 (1 D e c . 1998), p. 592. 40. Z h e n h a o Bao el al,, " D r o u g h t / Flood Variations in E a s t e r n C h i n a D u r i n g the C o l d e r
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(1610-1719) a n d W a r m e r (1880-1989) P e u o d s a n d T h e i r R e l a t i o n s with t h e S o u t h e r n Oscillation," Geographical Reports of Tokyo Metropolitan University 3 3 (1998), p. 10. 41. H e n g y i W e n g et al.T " M u l t i - S c a l e S u m m e r Rainfall Variability O v e r C h i n a , " Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan 77:4 (19-'9), pp. 8 4 5 - 5 7 . 42. Cf. J a s p e r Becker, Hungry Ghosts: Maa's Secret Famine, N e w York 1996; a n d Philip S h o r t , Mao: A Life, L o n d o n 1999, pp. 504 to (on t h e severity o f t h e d r o u g h t ) . T h e r e is n o n e c e s s a r y discrepancy b e t w e e n t h e c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of t h e 1958 d r o u g h t as t h e most s e v e r e throughout C h i n a a n d t h e s t u d y (cit< J in fh 35) t h a t finds o t h e r d r o u g h t s in north C h i n a to have b e e n m o r e e x t r e m e .
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ecipitation D u r i n g t h e Middle p. 87-8. iations in t h e Sahel R e g i o n of '), pp. 77 (see Fig. 3) a n d 8 1 - 3 . ifrica: U n d e r s t a n d i n g D r o u g h t s iction Studies E N S O (1944-96) { p e r c e n t ; and n e u t r a l p h a s e , 51 h o w e v e r , gives w a r m p h a s e , 31 ICAR N e w s - L a Nina website). i, 22 May 1998; a n d "El N i n o , " lation Sea Surface T e m p e r a t u r e 56:3 (Aug. 1998), p. 391. For an : W i n t e r C l i m a t e in t h e N o r t h jp/iysiw! Research Letters 27:7 (1
re P a t t e r n s Associated w i t h the X. R o d o , E. Baert a n d F. C o m i n , ring t h e Present C e n t u r y : Rela>7). isonal Rainfall o v e r t h e Iberian 19 (1999), p. 889. : a n d Excessive M o i s t u r e Indices
U9
in a Historical Perspective in t h e Principal G r a i n - P r o d u c i n g R e g i o n s < >f the F o r m e r Soviet U n i o n , " Journal of Climate 10 (Oct.1997), pp. 2670-82. 118. Trevor Davies, " G u e s t Editorial - H u b e r t L a m b , " Weather 53 " (July 1998) p. 199. T h e s e data sets recently have b e e n u s e d to g e n e r a t e a l a n d m a r k atla> • Allan. Lindesay and Parker, 1996) of t h e global oceanic and a t m o s p h e r i c p a t t e r n s a c c o m p a n y i n g E N S O w a r m a n d cold p h a s e s since 1871. 119. Cf. W i l l i a m Q u i n n , "A Study of 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 Climatic Activity for A D 622-1900, I n c o r p o r a t i n g Nile River Flood D a t a , " in H e n r y Diaz, and V e r a M a r k g r a f (eds.), El Nifio: Historical arid Paleoclimaiic Aspccts of the Southern Oscillation, C a m b r i d g e 1992; a n d Q u i n n , Victor N e a l and Santiago A n t u n e z d e Mayolo, "El Nino O c c u r r e n c e s o v e r the Past F o u r a n d a H a l f Centuries," Journal of Geophysical Research 9 2 : C l 3 <15 Dec. 1987), p. 14,454. 120. W h e t t o n a n d R u t h e r f u r d , p. 225. 121. See discussion of d a t a sources in Allan, Lindesay and Parker, pp. 59-60. 122. Charles Ballard, " D r o u g h t and E c o n o m i c Distress: South Africa in the 1800s,"Journal of Interdisciplinary History 17:2 ( A u t u m n 1986), pp. 3 5 9 - 7 8 . 123. C h a r l e s w o r t h , Peasants and Imperial Rule, p. 76. 124. My r o u g h a n n u a l r a t i o s w o u l d , o f course, b e b e t t e r e x p r e s s e d as seasonal ratios. 125. O n m o d i f i c a t i o n o f E N S O cycle b y changes in Pacific O c e a n circulation, see R o b e r t D u n b a r et al., "PEP-1 C o n t r i b u t i o n s t o Increased U n d e r s t a n d i n g of Past Variability in E n s o a n d Its T e l c c o n n e c t i o n s , " p o s t e r session Abstracts, IGBP PAGES O p e n S c i e n c e s Meeting, "Past G l o b a l C h a n g e s a n d T h e i r Significance f o r the F u t u r e , " L o n d o n , 2 0 - 2 3 April 1998; a n d for a discussion o f a s h o r t e n e d , intensifed ENSO, see T a h l Kcstin et ah, ' T i m c F r e q u e n c y Variability o f E N S O and Stochastic S i m u l a t i o n s , " J o u r n a l of Climate 11 (Sept. 1998), pp. 2260-61. 126. " S i m u l t a n e o u s c o r r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n E N S O a n d t h e m o n s o o n is very r o b u s t over t h e p a s t 140 years. T h e sole exception, t h e drop d u r i n g t h e recent decades, o b v i o u s l y is o f g r e a t interest, a n d p e r h a p s a cause f o r concern": K. K u m a r et al.. " E p o c h a l C h a n g e s in Indian M o n s o o n - E N S O P r e c u r s o r s , " Geophysical Research Letters 26:1 (1 J a n . 1999), p. 78. "Before 1900, t h e E N S O i n f l u e n c e o n US m o i s t u r e balance w a s m o r e e x t e n s i v e than in l a t e r periods": Julia Cole a n d E d w a r d C o o k , " T h e C h a n g i n g Relationship B e t w e e n E N S O Variability a n d M o i s t u r e Balance in t h e C o n t i n e n t a l United S t a l e s , " Geophysical Research Letters 25:24 (15 Dec. 1998), p. 4530. 127. Q u i n n et al, "El N i n o O c c u r r e n c e s , " p. 14,459. 128. D. Rind, " C o m p l e x i t y and C l i m a t e , " Science 284 (2 April 1999), p. 106. 129. Brent Yarnal a n d G e o r g e Kiladis, "Tropical T e l e c o n n e c t i o n s Associated with El N i n o / S o u t h e r n Oscillation (ENSO) events," Progress in Physical Geography 9 (1985), pp. 541 a n d 544. 130. Q u i n n a n d Neal, p. 627. 131. David Engield a n d Luis Cid, " L o w - F r e q u e n c y C h a n g e s in El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation," J o u r n a l o / Climate 4 (Dec. 1991), p. 1139. 132. E u g e n e R a s m u s s o n , Xueliang W a n g and C h e s t e r R o p e l e w s k i , "Secular Variability o f t h e E N S O Cycle," in N a t i o n a l Research Council, Natural Climate Variability on Decade-toCcntury Time Scales, W a s h i n g t o n , D.C. 1995, pp. 4 5 8 - 7 0 .
•} 4 0
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOLOCAUSTS
133. D. H a r r i s o n a n d N . L a r k i n , "El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation Sea S u r f a c e T e m p e r a t u r e a n d W i n d A n o m a l i e s , 1 9 4 6 - 1 9 9 3 , " Reviews of Geophysics 36:3 (Aug. ]99S">. 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
1 7. H e l e n D u n s t a n . Conflicting Economv :n Q i « g China, 16-1-l-J S-i IS. W i l k i n s o n , pp. 122-9. S e e 2 2 0 21. •19. J a n e L e o n a r d , " C o n i r o l l i r E m p e r o r ' s C o n t r o l of G r a n d i A s i a n Studies 2 2 : 4 < 1988), p. 6 6 6 . 20. J o s e p h N e e d h a m , Science a 21 Will. p. 2 ^ 7 . 22. J a c q u e s C c r n e t , A History < 23. D w i g h t P e r k i n s , A ^ r i c u l t u r 24. E n d v m i o n W i l k i n s o n , " S u v e r s i f y P'70, p. 31. 25. Will. p. 32. 2o. J. A. G. R o b e r t s , A Concise i 27. O n the s p e c i a l tribute g r . K a n g x i reign, s e e Will and W o n 28. Food s e c u r i t y in the m i d a n n u a l Q i n g r e v e n u e . As W o n g p o s e o n a r e g u l a r basis for w e l l < ( " Q i n g G r a n a r i e s a n d Late I m p i 29. Sanjay S h a r m a . " T h e 1 8 3 7 IFS1 (R 3 0 : 3 ( 1 9 9 3 ) , p. 359. 30. Bhatia, p. 9. 3 1. D a r r e n Z o o k , " D c v e l o p i n j s i d e . 1860-1990," Ph.D. diss., U t b u i l t u p o n m y t h o l o g y and h a l l u u t e d t h e ruins s c a t t e r e d t h r o u g l z a t i o n s , w h e n , in {'act. m a n y w e 157). 32. Sugaia B o s e a n d Ayesha J.i 33. Ashok Desai, (1972), p. 61.
'Population
3 4 . C h e t a n S i n g h , "Forests, P.i A r n o l d and R a a c h a n d n i G u h a (» tal Histoiy of South Asia. Delhi 1 3 5. H a b i b u l K o n d k c r , "l-'amm E c o n o m y , " South Asia 9:1 ( J u n e Drought, Polity and Politics, N e w of f a m i n e h i s t o r y b e f o r e 1763 h See, for example, the apparent 1 5 8 6 - 1 8 1 9 : T h e P o l i c y of t h e M 3 6 . C . Blair, Indian Famines, l.< 37. D a v i d H a r d i m a n , "Well Ir
JSTS
NOTE ^
tion Sea S u r f a c e T e m p e r a t u r e 3 (Aug. 1998), pp. 3 8 6 - 9 1 . al C l i m a t i c C h a n g e by H i g h lacial Icc Layers, a n d M a r i n e
17. H e l e n D u n s t a n , Conflicting Counseb to Confute the Age: A Documentary Economy in Qing China, 1644-1840, A n n A r b o r , M i c h . 1996, p. 251.
44 t
Study of Political
18. W i l k i n s o n , pp. 1 2 2 - 9 . S e e also W i l l , " T h e ( : o n t r o l S t r u c t u r e , " in Will a n d W o n g , p p .
220-21. 19. J a n e L e o n a r d , " ' C o n t r o l l i n g f r o m Afar': O p e n C o m m u n i c a t i o n s and t h e T a o - K u a n g E m p e r o r ' s C o n t r o l o f G r a n d C a n a l - G r a i n T r a n s p o r t M a n a g e m e n t , 1 8 2 4 - 2 6 , " Modern Asian Studies 22:4 (1988), p. 666. 20. J o s e p h N e e d h a m , S r i e n c c a n d Civilisation in C/iina, vol. 4, C a m b r i d g e 1971, p. 326. 21. W i l l , p. 257. 22. J a c q u e s G e r n e t , A History of Chinese Civilization, 2 n d e d n . , C a m b r i d g e 1996, p. 468.
am /nirtgci of China and India,
23. D w i g h t Perkins, Agricultural Development in C/iina, 1365-1968, C h i c a g o 1969, p. 176. 24. E n d y m i o n W i l k i n s o n , " S t u d i e s i n C h i n e s e P r i c e History," P h . D . diss., P r i n c e t o n University 1970, p. 31.
imine, Epidemics and Mortals of 1 8 7 6 - 1 8 7 8 , " Economic and
25. Will, p. 32. •nine: A History of Climate Since
26. J. A. G . R o b e r t s , A Concise History of China. C a m b r i d g e , M a s s . 1990, p. 173. 27. O n t h e special t r i b u t e g r a n a r i e s at L u o y . t n g a n d S h a n z h o u o r g a n i z e d d u r i n g t h e Kangxi r e i g n , s e e Will a n d W o n g , p p . 32 a n d 301
e, L o n d o n 1980, p. 67. 3uld s w i t c h e p i s t e m o l o g i e s . In British a n d t h e i r allies p r i m n r 'f f a m i n e d e a t h s .
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
4-12
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HOI.OC
\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
irom t h e e x p a n d e d 1879 b o o k
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
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iVatioits - Poor Nations: The Long-Ran Perspective. C h e l t e n h a m 19<>6, 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 N
SI'S
n o t e s
e n t of M i n g Rural C h i n a 56; a n d M o t e , pp. 9 0 3 - 6 .
12. C h a r l e s w o r t h , p. 81. 13. Satya, pp. 68 a n d 298. 14. Ibid., p. 200. 15. Ibid., pp. 148, 2 8 1 - 2 a n d 296. 16. T i m D y s o n , " T h e H i s t o r i c a l D e m o g r a p h y o f Berar, 1 8 8 1 - 1 9 8 0 , " in D y s o n (ed.), India's Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Discosc a n d Society, L o n d o n 1989, pp.
o r l d D e v e l o p m e n t . " J o u r n a l of h a r a c t e i izing t h e c o n c l u s i o n s H a n d Potential of India's Tradi-
181-2.
17. D a v i d W a s h b r o o k , " T h e C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n o f A g r i c u l t u r e in C o l o n i a l India: P r o d u c t i o n , S u b s i s t e n c e a n d R e p r o d u c t i o n in t h e ' D r y S o u t h , ' c. 1870-1930," Modern Asian Studies 28:1 (1994), p. 131. 18. Ibid., pp. 137 a n d 161. In a n o t h e r article, W a s h b r o o k c l a i m s t h a t the a v e r a g e cultivat o r h a d o n l y half t h e d r y l a n d a c r e a g e n e e d e d f o r s u b s i s t e n c e ( " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t a n d Social S t r a t i f i c a t i o n in R u r a l M a d r a s : T h e ' D r y R e g i o n ' 1 8 7 8 - 1 9 2 9 " i n D e w e y a n d H o p k i n s [cds.], pp. 7 0 - 7 2 ) .
c c o n o m i c a n d ccological pov•f e c o n o m i c p o v e r t y c a n h a v e lity o r disasrer ("Village S t r a t e M a o lira," u n p u b l i s h e d p a p e r ,
i t t , Open Fetters to Lord
•14 7
19. D a v i d W a s h b r o o k , The Emergence of Provincial Politics: 1870-1920, C a m b r i d g e 1976, p. 69. 20. W a s h b r o o k , " C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n o f A g r i c u l t u r e , " p. 145. 21. Ibid., p. 146. 22. R i c h a r d s a n d M c A l p i n , p. 83
Curzon,
The
Madras
Presidency,
23. W a s h b r o o k , " C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n of A g r i c u l t u r e , " p. 153. 24. As e l s e w h e r e in I n d i a , British l a n d s e t t l e m e n t s in t h e 1860s h a d t r a n s f o r m e d t h e c o n d i t i o n a l t e n u r e of M o g u l o r (in this case) M a r a t b a t a x f a r m e r s i n t o a s i m u l a c r u m of a n English squirearchy. T h e r a n k s of t h e malguzars, h o w e v e r , w e r e severely p r u n e d in the t e r rible r e p r e s s i o n t h a t f o l l o w e d 1857. Rebel l e a d e r s w e r e s h o t f r o m c a n n o n , h a n g e d or, in o n e case, e v e n c r u c i f i e d b y v e n g e f u l British officers. Sec E). E. U. Baker, pp. 1 0 1 - 6 .
isionist a t i e m p t s ro claim an an u n d e n i a b l e collapse in life l a b i b in " S t u d y i n g a C o l o n i a l Asian Studies 19:3 (1985), pp.
25. O n t h e credit s y s t e m a n d m e r c h a n t h y p o t h e c a t i o n o f h a r v e s t s , see T. R a g h a v a n , " M a l g u z a r s a n d P e a s a n t s : T h e N a r m a d a Valley, 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 2 0 , " in D a v i d L u d d e n (ed.), Agricultural Production and Indian History', Delhi 1994, p p . 309 a n d 3 3 9 - 4 0 .
',p- 22. >, C a m b r i d g e 1993, p. 31. agnation or Decline? Agricultural
26. Baker, p. 124 27. P e t e r H a r n e t t y , " C r o p T r e n d s in t h e C e n t r a ) P r o v i n c e s of I n d i a , 1861-1921," Modern Asian Studies 11:3 (1977), p. 347. 28. Baker, p. 106. 29. Ibid., p. 147. 30. Ibid., p. 151.
e t o n , N.J. 1951, p. 8. M e a s u r e d .bib (Table 2, p. 373) finds t h a t )00," P h . D . diss.. T u f t s Univerii a n d Free Trade; Lancashire a n d
31. Ibid., pp. 129 a n d 150. 32. R a g h a v a n , p. 311. 33. Ibid., pp. 137-41,
p. 51.
34. fbid., pp. 182-3; S o l b e r g , 7'lie Prairies and the Pampas, p. 36 ( T a b l e 3.3).
. p. 248.
35. S i n g h , Starvation and Colonialism, p. 220.
n d 333; a n d " I n t r o d u c t i o n " t o
36. N e e l a d r i B h a t t a c h a r y a , " L e n d e r s and D e b t o r s : P u n j a b C o u n t r y s i d e , 1880-1940" i n R o s e (ed.), Credit, Markets and {lie Agrarian Economy, p. 200. 37. S i n g h , Starvation a n d Colonialism, p. 220.
1997), p. 25. ' r o p e r t y a n d Polity in C o l o n i a l reage).
38. Ibid., p. 221. 39. H a r d i m a n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 13-14.
iL.
«
44.s
LATE V I C T O R I A N
HOI.OCAUSVS
40. Colin Fisher, "Planters and Peasants: T h e Ecological C o n t e x t o f A g r a r i a n U n r e s t on t h e Indigo P l a n t a t i o n s o f N o r t h Bihar, 1820-1920," in Clive D e w e y a n d A. Flopkins (eds.), The Imperial Impact: Studies in the Economic History of Africa and India, L o n d o n 1978, pp. 125-31. 41. C3rl T r o c k i , Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy I . o n d o n 1999, p. 67. 42. Binay C h a u d h u r i . " G r o w t h o f C o m m e r c i a l Agriculture," IESHR 7:2 (1970), pp. 231, 246-9. 43. Ibid., p. 251. O n sugar, sec Shahid A m i n , Sugar and Sugarcane in GoraWipur: An Inquiiy into Peasant Production for Capitalist Enterprise in Colonial India, Delhi 1983. 44. R a g h a v a n , p. 336. 45. S h a h i d A m i n , "Small P e a s a n t C o m m o d i t y P r o d u c t i o n a n d R u r a l I n d e b t e d n e s s : T h e C u l t u r e of S u g a r c a n e in E a s t e r n U.P., c. 1880-1920" in S u g a t a Bose (ed.), Credit, Markets and the Agrarian Economy of Colonial India, D e l h i 1994, p. 124. 46. Sarkar, pp. 30-31. 47. Bipan C h a n d r a q u o t e d in D. R o t h e r m u n d , Phases of Indian Nationalism, Bombay 1970, p. 264 f n l 9 . 48. B u r t o n Stein, A History of India, L o n d o n 1998, p. 263. 49. L a n c e Davis a n d R o b e r t H u t t e n b a c k , Mammon and the Pursuit of Empire: The Economics of British Imperialism, C a m b r i d g e 1988, pp. 101 ( q u o t e ) a n d l 35. 50. Vasant Kaiwar, " T h e Colonial State, C a p i t a l a n d t h e P e a s a n t r y in B o m b a y Presidency," Modern Asian Studies 28:4 (1994), p. 800. 51. David W a s h b r o o k , " E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t and Social S t r a t i f i c a t i o n , " p. 69. 52. Bagchi, pp. 6 a n d 38. 53. Kaiwar, p. 793. 54. G u h a , pp. 27 a n d 70. 55. S c o t t , p. 21. 56. O s b o r n e , p. 554. 57. C h a r l e s w o r t h , pp. 193-5. 58. Q u o t e d in ibid., p. 40. 59. C . Baker, " T h e Markets," in Sugata Bose (ed.), Credit, AJrnivts and the Agrarian Economy of Colonial India, Delhi 1994, p. 192. 60. David W a s h b r o o k , " P r o g r e s s and P r o b l e m s : South Asian E c o n o m i c and Social History, c. 1720-1S60," Modem Asian Studies 22:1 (198S), p. 90. 61. 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. 156. 62. B. C h a u d h u r i , "Agrarian Relations in Bengal: 1859-1885," in N. S i n h a (ed.), The History of Bengal (1751-1905), C a l c u t t a 1967, pp. 3 1 8 - 2 0 . 63. Kaiwar, p. 800. 64. M a r t h a C h e n , Coping with Seasonality and Drought, D e l h i 1991, p. 119, 65. David L u d d e n , Peasant History in South India, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1985, p. 122. 66. C h e t a n Singh, p. 44. 67. Satya, p. 299. 68. A t u l u r i Murali, " W h o s e Trees? Forest Practices and Local C o m m u n i t i e s in A n d h r a , 1600-1922," p. 100.
69. Madhav G a d g i i and R a m a c ish India," in H a r d i m a n (ed.), Pea 70. H a r d i m a n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n . " 71. Satya, p. 120. 72. Baker, p p . 1 57 and 161. 73. V. S a r a v a n a n , " C o m m e r c i a l a t i o n of Tribal Rights in M a d r a s R a m a c h a n d r a G u h a , "An Early 1 A c t . " JFSHR 27:1 (1990), p. 67. 74. Nash, pp. 21, 125 and 1 6 4 - 5 75. Ludden, " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " p p 76. J o s G o m m a n s , "The Silent World History. 9:1 (1998), p. 17. 77. Ludden, " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " p p 78. Neeladri Bhattacharya, " P a : 79. C h a r l e s w o r t h , pp. 77 and 2< 80. S u m i t G u h a , pp. 58-61, 6 5 81. Bandyopadhyay, p. 163. 82. Kaiwar, p. 57. 83. B h a t t a c h a r y a , p. 65. 84. Ibid., pp. 5 6 - 7 . 85. Kaiwar, " N a t u r e , P r o p e r t y 86. S u m i t G u h a , pp. 83 and 12 Deccan, 1865 1938, Bombay 1955. 87. Satya, pp. 72, 116 and 122. 88. H a r d i m a n , "Well Irrigation 89. Satya, ibid. 90. The Finances and Public Wo A g n n m n Conditions in Vcir/licm 1860-1 <>()(), Berkeley. Calif 1972. ] 91. U n d e r C o m p a n y rule, of i n u g a t o r y . T h u s J o h n Bright on< M a n c h e s t e r spent m o r e on p u l e x p e n d e d on all o f India d u r i n i 258). 92. Elizabeth W h i t c o m b e . "Irri History ofIndia, Volume Tuv: .'75": 93. G e n e r a l Sir A r t h u r C o t t o n , N i g h t i n g a l e , letter to the Mist m l 94. "Discussion w i t h W o o d r o v (no. 473. 13 April 1946). A h m e d a 95. S. Sharnia, "Irrigation." in 1966, pp. 165; a n d W h i t c o m b e , " 96. Famine and Agrarian Problcn
J STS
N O T !IS
i o n t e x t o f A g r a r i a n U n r e s t on D e w e y a n d A. H o p k i n s (cds.), i a n d India, L o n d o n 1978, pp. omy, L o n d o n 1999, p. 67. re," IESHR 7:2 (1970), pp. 231.
arcane in Gorakhpur: AH Inquiry \a, D e l h i 1983. i and Rural Indebtedness: T h e ;ata B o s e (ed.), Credit, Markets 4. f Indian
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; P e a s a n t r y in B o m b a y Presiial S t r a t i f i c a t i o n , " p. 69.
A 19
69. M a d h a v G a d g i l a n d R a i n a c h a n d r a G u h a , " S t a t e F o r e s t r y a n d Social C o n f l i c t in British India," in H a r d i m a n (ed. i. Peasant Resistance, p. 2 7 5 . 70. H a r d i m a n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 47 8. 71. Sacya, p. 120. 72. Baker, p p . 157 a n d 161. 73. V S a r a v a n a n , " C o m m e r c i a l i s a t i o n of Forests, E n v i r o n m e n t a l N e g l i g e n c e a n d Aliena t i o n of T r i b a l R i g h t s in M a d r a s P r e s i d e n c y , 1 7 9 2 - 1 8 8 2 , " IESHR 35:2 (1998), p. 139; a n d R a m a c h a n d r a G u h a , "An Early E n v i r o n m e n t a l D e b a t e : T h e M a k i n g of t h e 187S Forest A c t , " IESHR 27:1 (1990), p. 67. 74. N a s h , p p . 21, 125 a n d 164-5. 75. L u d d e n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 2 3 - 4 . 76. J o s G o m m a n s , " T h e Silent F r o n t i e r of S o u t h Asia, c. A D 1 0 0 0 - 1 8 0 0 . " Journal of World History, 9:1 (1998), p. 17. 77. L u d d e n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 2 3 - 4 . 78. N e e l a d r i B h a t t a c h a r y a , " P a s t o r a l i s t s in a C o l o n i a l W o r l d , ' p. 70. 79. SO. 81. 82. 83.
C h a r l e s w o r t h , pp. 7 7 a n d 295. S u m i t G u h a , pp. 5 8 - 6 1 , 65-6. B a n d y o p a d h y a y , p. 163. K a i w a r , p. 57. B h a t t a c h a r y a , p. 65.
84. Ibid., p p . 5 6 - 7 . 85. K a i w a r , " N a t u r e , P r o p e r t y a n d Polity," p. 14. 86. S u m i t G u h a , pp. 83 a n d 121-3. S e e also H . M a n n , A Study of Rainfall Dcccan, 1865-1938, B o m b a y 1955.
in the
Bombay
S7. Satya, pp. 72, 116 a n d 122.
Markets and the Agrarian Econsian E c o n o m i c a n d Social His-
>55: The Tamilnad Countryside, 85," in N. S i n h a (ed.), The His-
Ihi 1991, p. 119. m, N.J. 1985, p. 122.
,ocal C o m m u n i t i e s in A n d h r a ,
88. H a r d i m a n , "Well I r r i g a t i o n in G u j a r a t , " p. 1534. 89. Satya, ibid. 90. The Fi'timiccs and Public Works of India (pp. 7 - 8 ) , q u o t e d in E l i z a b e t h W h i t c o m b e , Agrarian Conditions in Northern India, vol. 1, T h e United Provinces Cnder UrilisJi Rule, 1860-1900, Berkeley, Calif. 1972, p. 2. 91. U n d e r C o m p a n y r u l e , of c o u r s e , i n f r a s t r u c t u r a l i n v e s t m e n t had b e e n i n f a m o u s l y n u g a t o r y . T h u s J o h n B r i g h t o n c e d e m o n s t a t e d in P a r l i a m e n t t h a t the C o r p o r a t i o n o f M a n c h e s t e r s p e n t m o r e o n public w o r k s in 1856 t h a n t h e L a s t India C o m p a n y h a d e x p e n d e d o n all of India d u r i n g t h e p r e c e d i n g f o u r t e e n y e a r s (cited in L a d y Mope. p. 258). 92. E l i z a b e t h W h i t c o m b e , " I r r i g a t i o n , " in D h a r m a K u m a r ( e d . ) . The Cambridge History of India, Volume Two: 1757-c. 1970, C a m b r i d g e 1983, p. 7 0 3 .
Economic
93. G e n e r a l Sir A r t h u r C o t t o n , The Madras Famine, L o n d o n 1877, p. 5. S e e a l s o Florence N i g h t i n g a l e , l e t t e r t o t h e Illustrated News, 29 J u n e 1877. 94. " D i s c u s s i o n w i t h W o o d r o w W y a t t , " The Collected Works of M a h a t m a G a n d h i , vol. 83 ( n o . 473, 13 April 1946), A h m e d a b a d 1981, pp. 4 0 4 - 5 . 95. S. S h a r m a , " I r r i g a t i o n , " in V. S i n g h , Economic History of India: 1966, pp. 165; a n d W h i t c o m b e , " I r r i g a t i o n , " pp. 6 7 8 , 7 0 3 - 7 . 96. Famine a n d Agrariaii Problems, p. 232.
1857-1956,
Bombay
450
[.atI-
v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
97. Ian S t o n e , Canal Irrigation in BrimJi India, C a m b r i d g e 1984. 98. W h i t c o m b e , Agrarian Conditions, p. 11. 99. Q u o t e d in S t o n e , p. 88. 100. Ibid., p. 154; a n d W h i t c o m b c , Agrarian Conditions, p. 81. 101. T o m iinson, p. 76. 102. W h i r c o m b e , Agrarian Conditions, pp. xi a m i 75. 103. Q u o t e d in W h i r c o m b c , " T h e E n v i r o n m e n t a l C o s t s o f Irrigation in British India: W a t e r l o g g i n g , Salinity, Malaria," p. 247. 104. Papers on the Revenue Returns of the Canals of the North-Western Provinces (1865), q u o t e d in S t o n e , p. 75. 105. Ibid., p. 260. 106. W h i t c o m b e , "Irrigation," pp. 716-17 a n d 720 ( q u o t e ) . 107. C . J . O ' D o n n e l l , The Failure of Lord Curzon, L o n d o n 1903, p. 99. 108. L u d d e n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 104 and 146. 109. Kaiwar, " N a t u r e , P r o p e r t y a n d Polity," pp. 23 and 25. 110. T h e Nrtsifc Gazetteer, 1883, q u o t e d in Kaiwar, ibid. 111. H y n d m a n , The Bankruptcy of India, p. 128. 112. See R a n a b i r ' C h a k r a v a r t i , " T h e C r e a t i o n a n d E x p a n s i o n o f S e t t l e m e n t s a n d M a n a g e m e n t of H y d r a u l i c R e s o u r c e s in Ancient India." in Grove, D a m o d a r a n a n d S a n g w a n , pp. 87-105. 113. H a r d i m a n , " S m a l l - D a m S y s t e m s of t h e Sahyadris," p. 204. 114. J o n a t h a n M a b r y a n d David Cleveland, " T h e Relevance of I n d i g e n o u s Irrigation," in M a b r y (ed.), Canals and Communities: Small-Scale Irrigation Systems, T u c s o n , Ariz. 1996, pp. 2 2 7 - 8 ( q u o t e ) a n d 236 (efficiency). 115. M. Q u r a i s h i , Drought Strategy, Delhi 1989, p. 42. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , private exploitation of u n d e r g r o u n d w a t e r r e s o u r c e s since t h e 1960s has led t o a p r o f l i g a t e d r a w i n g d o w n of the w a t e r table a n d a wholly avoidable w a t e r crisis. 116. "But for their listless a c c e p t a n c e of t h e w o r s t miseries in t h e h a n d of fate, India w o u l d ages a g o have b e e n fertilized by a s y s t e m o f irrigation, and saved a l m o s t f r o m the possibliiy of Famine. T h e Natives are o n e of t h e m o s t i m p r o v i d e n t as well as helpless races o n e a r t h " (The Times, 23 Jan. 1877). 117. Col. J. A n d e r s o n of t h e M a d r a s E n g i n e e r s q u o t e d in " P h i l i n d u s , " " F a m i n e s and Floods in India," Macmilfau's Magazinc, Jan. 1878, p. 237. 118. Grove, pp. 134-5. 119. Lady Flope, p. 194. Sec also G. Rao, " C a n a l Irrigation a n d A g r a r i a n C h a n g e in Colonial A n d h r a : A Study of C o d a v r i District, c. 1850-1890," IESHR 25:1 (1988). 120. Q u o t e d in Z o o k , pp. 163-4. 121. Bagchi, pp. 28-9. 122. W i l l i a m W e d d e r b u r n , Agn'aWlin-fi( Banks for India, p. 27. 123. Fawcettt in The Times q u o t e d in G e o r g e Chesney, " I n d i a n F a m i n e s , " The Nineteenth Century, Nov. 1877, p. 618. 124. Bcrar, p. 197. 125. H . M. H y n d m a n , The Indian Famine, L o n d o n 1877, p. 12; a n d J o h n D a c o s t a , Facts ami Fallacies Regarding Irrigation as a Prevention of Famine in India, L o n d o n 1878, pp. 2 - 4 . Simi-
lar a r g u m e n t s a r e advanced in "A 1877 ( p a m p h l e t collection, Trinii 126. Bandyopadhyay, p. 115. 127. Baker, p. 4 7 2 . 128. L u d d e n , Peasant History, p. 129. The Hindu (Madras), 10 M a 130. Navtej S i n g h , Starvation an British Punjab, 1858-1901, N e w D 131. Satya, p. 85. 132. R. Carstairs, The Little W o r i 133. Kaiwar, " N a t u r e . P r o p e r t y 134. Nash, p. 2. 135. Ravinder K u m a r , Western h 136. Ludden, " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " p£ 137. David M o s s c , "Colonial ai m e n t ' : T h e C a s e of Tank irrigai 3 3 : 2 ( 1 9 9 9 ) , p. 315. 138. H a r d i m a n , "Well Irrigation
Notes to Chapter 11 T h e e p i g r a p h is f r o m W o l f g a n g p. 257. 1. Karl W i u f o g e l . Oriental De C o n n . 1957, p. 290. 2. Susan N a q u i n and Evelyn H a v e n , C o n n . 1987, pp. 22, 146 2 3. H u a n g , Peasant Family, p. 4 4. Kamal S h e e l , Peasant Soeiet 9-1. 5. Little, Understanding Peasar 6. Sidney G a m b l e . Ting Hsicn 64 a n d 110. 7. H u a n g , Peasant Family, p. 5 8. H u a n g , / V a j a n t Economy, p j 9. Nichols, pp. 128-9. 10. Ibid., pp. 24S-50. 11. H u a n g , Peasant Economy, p. 12. Laura M u r r a y , "New W o r l W e i River Valley, 1650-1910," PI 13. Ibid., pp. 45, 68, 82 and 13* 14. M a d e l e i n e Zelin, " M o d e n : Nineteenth and Twentieth C e n '
<>
o
T NOTES
lusts
lar a r g u m e n t s are a d v a n c e d in ' A J o u r n a l i s t , " The Great Lesson of the Indian F a m i m . i . o n d o n 1877 ( p a m p h l e t c o l l e c t i o n , Trinity C o l l e g e Library, Dublin).
1984.
81.
: of Irrigation in British India: North-Western
Provinces
(1805).
903, p. 99.
on of S e t t l e m e n t s a n d ManageD a m o d a r a n and S a n g w a n , pp. >. 204. ce of I n d i g e n o u s Irrigation," in Systems, T u c s o n , Ariz. 1996, pp. ne o t h e r h a n d , private exploira•d to a profligate d r a w i n g d o w n ries in t h e h a n d of fate, India ion, a n d saved a l m o s t f r o m the m p r o v i d e n t as well as helpless in "Philindus," " F a m i n e s a n d
and A g r a r i a n C h a n g e in ColoISHR 25:1 (1988).
\7. idian Famines," The Nineteenth
12; and J o h n Dacosta, Facts and ia, L o n d o n 1878, pp. 2 - 4 . Simi-
126. B a n d y o p a d h y a y , p. 115. 127. Baker, p. 472. 128. L u d d e n , Peasant History, p. 146 (see Table 5). 129. The H i n d u ( M a d r a s ) , 10 May 1900. 130. N a v t e j Singh, Starvation and Colonialism: A Study of Famines in the Nineteenth Century British Pnnjab, 1858-1901. N e w Delhi 1996, p. 8. 131. Satya, p. 85. 132. R. C a r s t a i r s , The Little World of an Indian District Officer, L o n d o n 1912, pp. 564-5. 133. K a i w a r , " N a t u r e , P r o p e r t y a n d Polity," p. 23. 134. N a s h , p. 2. 135. R a v i n d e r K u m a r , Western India in tlie Nineteenth Century, L o n d o n 1968, p. 32 5. 136. L u d d e n , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " pp. 104 a n d 146. 137. D a v i d M o s s e , " C o l o n i a l a n d C o n t e m p o r a r y I d e o l o g i e s o f ' C o m m u n i t y M a n a g e m e n t ' : T h e C a s e of T a n k Irrigation D e v e l o p m e n t in S o u t h I n d i a , " Modern Asian Studies 33:2(1999), p. 315. 138. H a r d i m a n , "Well Irrigation in G u j a r a t , " p. 1541.
Notes to Chapter 11 T h e e p i g r a p h is f r o m W o l f g a n g Bauer, China a n d the Search for Happiness, N e w York 1976, p. 257. 1. Karl W i t t f o g e l , Oriental Despotism; A Comparative Study of Total Power, N e w H a v e n , C o n n . 1957, p. 290. 2. S u s a n N a q u i n a n d Evelyn Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century, N e w H a v e n , C o n n . 1987, p p . 22, 146 a n d 219; a n d Will, Bureaucracy and Famine, p p . 64 -5. 3. F l u a n g , Peasant Family, p. 42 (also pp. 74-6). 4. K a m a l Sheel, Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China, P r i n c e t o n , N.[. 1989, p. 94. 5. Little, Understanding Peasant China, p. 92. 6. S i d n e y G a m b l e , Ting Hsien: A North China Rural Community, New York 1954, pp. 52. 64 a n d 110. 7. H u a n g , Peasant Family, p. 5. 8. H u a n g , Peasant Economy, pp. 1 0 2 - 6 a n d 152. 9. N i c h o l s , pp. 128-9. 10. Ibid., pp. 2 4 8 - 5 0 . 11. H u a n g , Peasant Economy, p. 115. 12. L a u r a M u r r a y , " N e w World F o o d C r o p s in C h i n a : F a r m s , Food a n d Families in t h e W e i River Valley, 1650-1910," Ph.D. diss., University of P e n n s y l v a n i a , 1985, pp. 43-4. 13. Ibid., pp. 45, 68, 8 2 a n d 138. 14. M a d e l e i n e Z e l i n , " M o d e r n i z a t i o n a n d t h e S t r u c t u r e of t h e Chinese E c o n o m y in t h e N i n e t e e n t h a n d T w e n t i e t h C e n t u r i e s , " in F r e d e r i c W a k e m a n a n d W a n g Xi (eds.), China's
1 •152
Quest 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
l a t e
v i c t o r i a n
h o l o c a u s t s
for Modernization: A Historical Perspective, Berkeley 1997, p. 93. H u a n g , Peasant Family, pp. 102-6. H u a n g , Peasant Economy, p. 124; a n d Will, pp. 178 a n d 180-81. Dr. J. Edkins, Opium: Historical Note on the Poppy in China, S h a n g h a i 1898, p. 66. M u r r a y , pp. 7 4 - 5 a n d 79. Z c l i n . p . 108.
and the Cooperative
Movement
25. H u a n g , Peasant Economy, pp. 107-8 a n d 114. 26. K a m a l Sheel, Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China, P r i n c e t o n , N.J. 1989, pp. 5 4 - 7 ; a n d K C h a u d h u r i , " F o r e i g n T r a d e a n d Balance o f P a y m e n t s , " in D h a r m a K u m a r (ed.), The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 2, C a m b r i d g e 1983, p. 853. 27. C a l c u l a t e d f r o m T a b i c 7 in A l b e r t F e u e r w e r k e r , The Chinese Economy, ca. M i c h i g a n P a p e r s in C h i n e s e S t u d i e s , A n n A r b o r , M i c h . 1969, 28 H u a n g , Peasant Economy, p. 132.
1870-1911,
29. N i c h o l s , p. 248. 30. E s h e r i c k , pp. 7 2 - 3 . 31. W i l k i n s o n , pp. 1 9 8 - 9 . 32. P e r k i n s , Agricultural Development in China, 1368-1968, C h i c a g o 1969, p p . 119 a n d 136. 33. O n l o n g - d i s t a n c e c o m m e r c i a l flows, s e c R. Bin W o n g , " F o o d R i o t s in t h e Q i n g D y n a s t y , " Journal of Asian Studies 4 2:4 (Aug. 1982), pp. 7 6 8 - 9 . 34. N a q u i n a n d R a w s k i , p. 219. 35. Esherick, p. 40.
-51
50. Will, p 289. 51. Will, pp. 27652. T h e r e w e r e e x c e p t i o n s , o f c m i l l i o n taels w a s allotted f o r a o t h e s t r i c k e n p o p u l a t i o n " Will, p. 53. Land Utilization
20. A r t h u r S m i t h , Village Life in China (1899), B o s t o n 1970 (reprint), pp. 2 1 0 - 1 1 . 21. N a q u i n a n d R a w s k i , p. 143. 22. H u a n g , Peasant Econotny, p p . 7 a n d 118-19. 23. Ibid., p. 60. 24. P a u l i n e K e a t i n g , Two Revolutions: Village Reconstruction in Northern Shaanxi, 1934-194S, S t a n f o r d , Calif. 1997, p. 15.
49. P e r k i n s . p p . 1
in China:
St(
54. T. Kingsmill, Inland C o m n Royal Asiatic Society for the y e a r 1 55. W r i g h t , p. 175 also pp. 1 7 6 56. Keating, p. 25. 57. Ibid., p. 314. ' C o r r u p t i o n h t e e n t h c e n t u r y it r e a c h e d u n p r c c half of the t w e n t i e t h century" ( \ in C h i n a , " in P h i l i p H u a n g ( e d . t, s i n m , W h i t e P l a i n s . N.Y. 1980, p . ( 58. J o n a t h a n S p e n c e , ( i W s C / i n N e w York 1996, p. ! 58. 59. J e n Yu-wen, 7"lie Taiping Re a n d 94. " T o l e r a t i o n of c o r r u p t a r b r i b e s " w e r e a n o t h e r t w o of t h e 60. S p e n c e . p. 161. 61. Roberts, pp. IS 1-2. 62. E. Parker, " T h e Financial G ; Asiatic Society i 1893 1894 , S h a n g 6 3 . Murray, p. 2 7 0 . 64. Nichols, p. 23 5.
36. Will, p, 291. 37. " D e c l i n e a n d Its O p p o s i t i o n , " in Will a n d W o n g , p. 91. 38. M a n f r e d D o m r o s a n d P e n g G o n g b i n g , The Climate of China, Berlin 1988, p. 198, 39. R a n d a l l D o d g e n , " F l y d r a u l i c E v o l u t i o n a n d D y n a s t i c Decline; T h e Yellow R i v e r C o n s e r v a n c y , 1796-1855," Late Imperial China 12:2 (Dec. 1991), pp. 51 a n d 55-6.
65. Murray, pp. 3 15 and 318. 66. Ibid., p. 183. 67. K e n n e t h P o n i c r a t u . EH.Nil 16 D e c . 1997. 6S. M n d d i s o n . p p . 54-5.
40. W a n g Yeh-chien. Land Taxation pp. 113, 121 a n d 125-6.
69. Flans Van D e Veil, Rcccni ics. 30:2 (1996 s, p. 24 I. 70. R o b e r t M a r k s . Tigers, Ricc, South China. C a m b r i d g e 1998. p p
in Imperial China, 1750-1911,
C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1973.
41. K u n g - C h u a n H s i a o , Rural China: imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century, S e a t t l e 1960, p. 146. 42. P e r k i n s , p. 164. (As e x p l a i n e d in C h a p t e r 9, h o w e v e r , t h e p o p u l a t i o n in 1700 m a y have b e e n m u c h higher t h a n Perkins assumes.) 43. Will, p. 276. 44. W o n g , p. 783. 45. P e r k i n s , p. 164. 46. R. Bin W o n g , " T h e G r a n d S t r u c t u r e , 1736-1780," in Will a n d W o n g , pp. 6 0 - 6 1 . 47. O n t h e crisis in S h a a n x i ' s g r a n a r i e s , see " D e c l i n e a n d Its O p p o s i t i o n , " ibid., p. 78. 48. H s i a o , p. 154.
71. R h o a d s M u r p h e y , " D c f o r c R i c h a r d s (eds.). Global Dejorestut 19S3, p. 111. H e c a u t i o n s , h o w o w h a t C h i n a ' s f o r e s t cover was a t d e p l e t i o n in the c o u r s e of that c< 72. A n n e O s b o r n e , " T h e Local l a n d s , " Late Imperial China 15:1 (J 73. M a r k s , ibid.; a n d Peter Perc
NOTES
TS
p. 93.
49. Perkins , pp. 150-51. 50. Will, p. 289. 51. Will, pp. 2 7 6 - 7 . 52. T h e r e w e r e e x c e p t i o n s , o f c o u r s e , as in G a n s u in 1810 w h e r e " t h e large s u m o f o n e million taels w a s a l l o t t e d f o r a c o m p r e h e n s i v e a n d a p p a r e n t l y successful e f f o r t t o reach t h e strickcn p o p u l a t i o n " (Will, p. 296). 53. Land Utilization in China: Statistics, N a n k i n g 1937, p. 344, T a b l e 2. 54. T. Kingsmiil, "Inland C o m m u n i c a t i o n s in C h i n a , " Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (for t h e y e a r 1895-96), Shanghai 1899, pp. 3 a n d 147. 55. W r i g h t , p. 175 (also pp. 176-80). 56. Keating, p. 25. 57. Ibid., p. 314. " C o r r u p t i o n h a d always b e e n a w a y of life in C h i n a , b u t in t h e ninet e e n t h c e n t u r y it r e a d i e d u n p r e c e d e n t e d p r o p o r t i o n s , n o t to b e exceeded u n t i l t h e first half of t h e t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y " (Victor Lippit, " T h e D e v e l o p m e n t o f U n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t in C h i n a , " in Philip H u a n g (ed.), The Development: of Underdevelopment in China: A Symposium. W h i t e Plains, N.Y. 1980, p. 67). 58. J o n a t h a n S p e n c e , God's Chinese Son: The T a i l i n g Heavenly Kingdom of Hong X u q n a n , N e w York 1996, p. 158. 59. Jen Yu-wen, The Taiping Revolutionary Movement, N e w H a v e n , C o n n . 1973, pp. 54 a n d 94. ' T o l e r a t i o n of c o r r u p t a n d r a p a c i o u s officials" a n d t h e "selling of o f f i c e s t h r o u g h bribes" w e r e a n o t h e r t w o o f t h e " t e n m a j o r c r i m e s " o f t h e Q i n g ' p. 94). 60. Spence, p. 161. 61. Roberts, pp. 181-2. 62. I*. Parker, " T h e Financial C a p a c i t y of China," J o u r n a l of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Satiety (1893-1894), S h a n g h a i 1898, pp. 97-8. 63. Murray, p. 270. 64. Nichols, p. 235. 65. Murray, pp. 315 a n d 318. 66. Ibid., p. 183. 67. K e n n e t h P o m e r a n z , E H . N E T F o r u m : " R e t h i n k i n g 1 8 t h - C e n t u r y C h i n a , " I n t e r n e t , 16 D e c . 1997. 68. M a d d i s o n , pp. 3 4 - 5 . 69. H a n s Van D e Ven, " R e c e n t S t u d i e s of M o d e r n C h i n e s e History," Modern Asian Studies, 30:2 (1996), p. 241. 70. R o b e r t Marks, Tigers, Rice, Silk, and Si/t: Environment and Economy in Late Imperial South China, C a m b r i d g e 1998, pp. 277 a n d 307. 71. R h o a d s M u r p h e y , " D e f o r e s t a t i o n in M o d e r n C h i n a , " in Richard T u c k e r and J. F. Richards (eds.), Global Deforestation a n d trie Nineteenth-Century World Economy, D u r h a m 1983, p. 111. H e c a u t i o n s , however, t h a t "it is n o t k n o w n , o r discoverable b y a n y m e a n s , w h a t C h i n a ' s forest cover w a s at any p o i n t in t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y , or t h e e x t e n t of n e t d e p l e t i o n in t h e c o u r s e o f t h a t c e n t u r y " (p. 114). 72. A n n e O s b o r n e , " T h e L o c a l Politics of L a n d R e c l a m a t i o n in t h e Lower Yangtzi Highlands," Late Imperial Chitm 15:1 ( J u n e 1994), p. 2.
0-81.
. S h a n g h a i 1898, p. 66.
:print), pp. 210-11.
nd the Cooperative Movement
China, Princeton, N.J. 1989, yments," in D h a r m a K u m a r ridge 1983, p. 853. nese Economy, ca. 1870-1911,
icago 1969, pp. 119 a n d 136. "Food Riots in t h e Q i n g
ina, Berlin 1988, p. 198. Decline: T h e Yellow River ', pp. 51 a n d 55-6. ' I I , C a m b r i d g e , Mass. 1973, Nineteenth
•153
Century, Seattle
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1 a n d W o n g , pp. 6 0 - 6 1 . O p p o s i t i o n , " ibid., p. 78.
73. Marks, ibid.; and P e t e r P e r d u e , Exhausting
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74. E d u a r d V e r m e c r , " P o p u l a t i o n a n d E c o l o g y a l o n g t h e F r o n t i e r ir, Q i n g C h i n a , " in Elvin a n d Liu, pp. 2 4 9 - 5 1 a n d 261. Sincc Q i n g t a x r a t e s w e r e essential!-, c a p p e d , t h e easiest w a y t o i n c r e a s e l a n d r e v e n u e s w a s b y e n c o u r a g i n g t h e e x p a n s i o n of land area u n d e r cultivation. 75. A n n e O s b o r n e , " B a r r e n M o u n t a i n s , R a g i n g Rivers: T h e E c o l o g i c a l Effects of C h a n g i n g L a n d u s e o n t h e L o w e r Yangzi P e r i p h e r y in L a t e I m p e r i a l C h i n a , " P h . D . diss., C o l u m bia U n i v e r s i t y 1989, p. 158. 76. M u r r a y , p. 278. 77. Von R i c h t o f e n ' s l e t t e r s t o t h e North China Herald (1870-72) a r e d i s c u s s e d in W. L o w d e r m i l k , " F o r e s t r y in D e n u d e d C h i n a , " Annals of the American Academy \ 5 (Nov. 1930), pp. 137-8. 78. F r a n k L e e m i n g , The Changing 79. M u r r a y , p. 69.
Geography of China, O x f o r d 1993, p. 50.
82 (24
84 M u r p h c y , p. 116. 85. L o w d e r m i l k , p. 137. 86. Ibid., p. 139. 87. P o m e r a n z , p. 124. 88. O n t h i s p r o c e s s in S h a n d o n g a n d L i a o t u n g , see Cressey, pp. 2 0 8 - 9 . 89. Will, p. 129. 90. L o w d e r m i l k , pp. 130 ( p r o v e r b ) a n d 140 ( e r o s i o n rate). 91. M u r p h e y , pp. 126-7. 92. W. L o w d e r m i l k , 'A F o r e s t e r ' s S e a r c h f o r Forests in C h i n a , " Amen'cmi Forests and Forest Life 31 (July 1925), p. 239. 93. V e r m e e r , pp. 2 7 3 - 4 . 94. M u r p h e y , p. 125. 95. C h a r l e s Greer, Water Management in the Yellow River Basin of China. A u s t i n , Tex. 1979, p. 18. 96. M u r p h e y , pp. 124-5. 97. G r e e r , p. 33. 98. Ibid. T h e s t r u g g l e t o c o n t r o l t h e Mississippi in t h e late n i n e t e e n t h a n d early t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r i e s p r o d u c e d its o w n v e r s i o n of w a r r i n g hydraulic s c h o o l s w i t h t h e A r m y C o r p s as u n c o n s c i o u s C o n f u c i a n s a n d civilian e n g i n e e r s like C h a r l e s Ellet a n d J a m e s E a d s as s p o n t a n e o u s Taoists. See t h e f a s c i n a t i n g a c c o u n t (pp. 1 9 - 9 3 ) in J o h n Barry, Rising Tide, N e w York 1997. 99. R a n d a l l D o d g e n , " H y d r a u l i c E v o l u t i o n , " pp. 36 f n l a n d 50-51. In a significant diss e n t f r o m t h e m a i n s t r e a m o f late I m p e r i a l h i s t o r i a n s , D o d g e n a r g u e s t h a t t h e "crisis o f t h e Yellow R i v e r c o n t r o l s y s t e m w a s t h e p r o d u c t o f riparian realities, a n d w a s n o t p r i m a r i l y d e t e r m i n e d by Q i n g i n s t i t u t i o n a l v i t a l i t y o r d e c l i n e " (p. 59). 100. V e r m e e r , p. 265.
\
©
102. Randall D o d g e n . " C o n t r o l l i R i v e r in t h e L a t e D a o g u a n g , 1S.3 5 103. Will, p. 292; also N a q u i n a n c 104. 105. 106. 40. 107.
Dodgen, "Hydraulic Evoluti Ibid., p. 56. J o n a t h a n S p e n c c , The Search W r i g h t , pp. 161-3.
108. Esherick, p p . 14-15. 109. Ibid. 110. P o m e r a n z , T h e Making of a L
80. M u r p h c y , p. 119. 81. K e a t i n g , pp. 2 3 - 4 . 82. V e r m c e r , p. 235. 83. Elior Blackwelder, "A C o u n t r y T h a t H a s Used U p Its T r e e s , " The Outlook M a r c h 1906), pp. 6 9 3 - 7 0 0 .
101. M a r k Elvin a n d S u N i n g h u , o n H a n g z h o u Bay Since A.D. 100 Time: Environment and Society in Ci
111. J u r g e n O s t e r h a m m e l , " B r i t a i f o i y of the British Empire: The Ninet 112. Ibid., pp. 3, 15-16. 131 a n d I : 113. Esherick, p. 292. 114. P o m e r a n z , p. 183. 115. 116. 117. IIS.
Ibid., p. 16. B u c k q u o t e d in Kueh, p. 1 17. M a d d i s o n , p. 30. Murray, pp. 128 and 266.
119. N a q u i n a n d R a w s k i , p. 24. 120. M o d e r n s t u d i e s of the i m p r Conservancy and Irrigation in C h i n a 121. M u r r a y , pp. 276-7. 122. V e r m e e r , p. 172 fn26: and Sic 123. V e r m e c r , p p . 7. 182, l S 7 a n d 124. J a m e s Kynge, "Yellow R i v e r Times. 7 Jan. 200(1.
Notes to Chapter 12 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 N o r t h e a s t e r n Brazil." in R o l a n d o The Roots of Catastrophe. O x f o r d 1 1 1. C f . Bradford B u r n s . A History f r a n k , Capita/ism and UnderdeveU Brazil, N e w York 1967, pp. 162 -4: and Flistories, C h a p e l Hill, N.C. 19 2. N a t h a n i e l Leff, " E c o n o m i c t fed.). How I.at in America Felt Behi
USTS
NOTES
45 5
c F r o n t i e r in Q i n g C h i n a , " in
101. M a r k E l v i n a n d S u N i n g h u , ' A c t i o n at a D i s t a n c e : T h e I n f l u e n c e of t h e Y e l l o w R i v e r
re essentially c a p p e d , t h e easi-
o n I i a n g z h o u B a y S i n c e A . D . 1000," i n M a r k E l v i n a n d Liu T s ' u i - j u n g ieds.), Sediments of
expansion of land area u n d e r
Time: Environment
and Society
in Chinese
History,
C a m b r i d g e 1998, p p . 344 4 0 7 .
102. R a n d a l l D o d g e n , " C o n t r o l l i n g t h e D r a g o n : C o n f u c i a n E n g i n e e r s a n d t h e Yellow te E c o l o g i c a l E f f e c t s o f C h a n g -
R i v e r m t h e L a t e D a o g u a n g , 1 8 3 5 - 1 8 5 0 , " P h . D . diss., Yale U n i v e s i l y 198 l L p. 4 0 .
al C h i n a , " P h . D . diss., C o l u m -
103. W i l l , p. 2 9 2 ; a l s o N a q u i n a n d R a w s k i , p. 24. 104. D o d g e n , " H y d r a u l i c E v o l u t i o n , " p. 55. 105. Ibid., p. 56.
J - 7 2 ) a r e d i s c u s s e d in W an Academy
Low-
15 (Nov. 1930), p p .
106. J o n a t h a n S p e n c e , T h e Search for M o d e r n China,
N e w Y o r k 1 9 9 0 , p. 185; a n d T e n g , p .
40. 107. W r i g h t , p p . 1 6 1 - 3 .
"ord 1993, p. 50.
108. E s h e r i c k , p p . 1 4 - 1 5 . 109.
Ibid.
110. P o m e r a n z , T h e Making
of a H i n t e r l a n d , p. 179.
111. [ u r g e n O s t e r h a m m e l , " B r i t a i n a n d C h i n a , " in A n d r e w P o r t e r ( e d . . . T h e Oxford tory of the British Empire: ts T r e e s , " The Out/oofc 82 (24
The Nineteenth
Century,
His-
O x f o r d 1999, p. 1 6 0 .
112. Ibid., p p . 3, 1 5 - 1 6 , 131 a n d 1 5 7 - 6 0 . 113. E s h e r i c k , p. 292. 114. P o m c r a n z , p. 183. 115. Ibid., p. 16. 116. B u c k q u o t e d in K u e h , p. 117. 117. M a d d i s o n , p. 30.
:y, pp. 2 0 8 - 9 .
118. M u r r a y , p p . 128 a n d 2 6 6 . 119. N a q u i n a n d R a w s k i , p. 24. 120. M o d e r n s t u d i e s o f t h e i m p a c t o f i r r i g a t i o n in S h a a n x i c i t e d in F V e r m e e r , Conservancy
na," American
Forests and Forest
and Irrigation
Water
in C h i n a , T h e H a g u e 1977, p. 182.
121. M u r r a y , p p . 2 7 6 - 7 . 122. V e r m e e r , p. 172 fti26; a n d S i d n e y G a m b l e , T i n g Hsien, p. 23 5. 123. V e r m e e r , pp. 7, 182, 187 a n d 2 8 8 - 9 ( q u o t e ) . 124. J a m e s K y n g e , " Y e l l o w R i v e r B r i n g s F u r t h e r S o r r o w t o C h i n e s e P e o p l e , "
;in of China, A u s t i n , T e x . 1979,
Financial
Times, 7 J a n . 2 0 0 0 .
N o t e s t o C h a p t e r 12 ; n i n e t e e n t h a n d early t w e n t i schools with the A r m y C o r p s arles Ellct a n d J a m e s E a d s as >3) 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
T :AUSTS
NOTES
j.), The Cambridge History of Latin ical Aspects," in S i m o n Mitchell ast, L o n d o n 1981, pp. 5 0 - 5 2 . h e N o r t h e a s t : S o m e Historical itish Preeminence in Brazil: Its Rise' onal Power i?i the
World-Economy,
e v e l o p m e n t s , " in H a b e r (ed.), p. ies a n d R e g i o n a l E c o n o m i e s in >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, <88-91; d r o u g h t -
Algeria 106
f a m i n e o f 1 8 7 6 - 7 S 7 9 - S 2 , 114,188;
A n g o l a 12, 9 9 - 1 0 0
d r o u g h t - f a m i n e
A r g e n t i n a 120
191; N o r d e s t e 79 89, 1 8 8 - 9 5 , 379,
A r n o l d , D a v i d 15
381, 3 8 4 - 9 3 ; relief p r o g r a m s 83, 8 7 - S ;
Asia, d e v e l o p m e n t c o m p a r e d w i t h
racism 3 8 3 - 4 ; r e f u g e e s 8 4 - 9 ; R e p u b l i c 191-2, 380; slaverv in 9 0
Europe 292-6 Australia, c l i m a t o l o g y o f
254-5
British E m p i r e : a g r i c u l t u r e a n d grain i m p o r t s 6 3 - 4 ; and Brazil 291, 3 7 7 - 8 1 ;
B
C h i n a 12, 69, 291; India 3 1 - 3 , 50,
Bengal 36, 44
5 5 - 7 , 1 5 1 - 2 , 290; m i l i t a r y i n t e r v e n -
Bennett, James G o r d o n 2
t i o n s 2 9 5 - 6 ; S o u t h A f r i c a 101-3, 126,
Bihar 36
163-5; t r a d e balances a n d flows 152,
B j e r k n e s J a c o b 13, 2 3 0 - 1
296-300; 3 0 2 - 4
Blanford, H e n r y 217-20, 225-6
B u c k i n g h a m , D u k e of 26, 4 0 , 47, 48
B o e r W a r 163-5
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward 3 0
[.ATI- V I C T O R I A N
460
Burke, E d m u n d 336
HOLOCAUSTS
D e c c a n 4, 26, 33. 38, 40, 41. 48, 4 9 - 5 0 , 110,162; 3 2 8 - 9 , 336, 33^
B u r m a 44, 142
F f a m i n e : and colonialism 8-10, 3 2
d e f o r e s t a t i o n 327, 328. 360 6
thtisian e x p l a n a t i o n s of 3 0 6 - :
C
D i a m o n d , J a r e d 280
s y s t e m i c r e s p o n s e s 280-8; v c
C a n a d a 120
Digby, W i l l i a m 8, 3S. 13, 44. 50, 55
C a n e , M a r k 234
Disraeli, B e n j a m i n 28. .30, 43, 102, 103
C a n u d o s 13, 188-95. 383
D u t c h East Indies 92 4. 195-6, 296, 304
C a r n a r v o n , Lord 102-3
D u t t , R o m e s h C h u n d e r 55-6, 110, 165, 337
C c a r a 80, 86-90, 127
ivy t o 288 -92 F a m i n e C o m m i s s i o n s , 57-9, 110, 175, 286 Fiji, c l i m a t o l o g y o f 256 F r a n c e : colonial policies 97-9 F u j i a n 65
C e y l o n 61 Chile, a n d E N S O events 259
E
C h i n a : British imperialism a n d 12. 69;
East Africa, a n d E N S O events 263-7
G
c l i m a t o l o g y 248-251; d r o u g h t - f a m i n e
East India C o m p a n y 31, 296, 336
G a r c i a . Rolando
of 1877 5 - 6 , 65-79, 1 13-15; d r o u g h t -
Eliot, Sir J o h n 225-6
f a m i n e of 1897-99 177-80, e c o n o m i c
El N i n o - S o u t h e r n Oscillation ( E N S O )
Nature Pleads Not Guiity 19 G e r m a n y : colonial policy in Afri<
d e v e l o p m e n t 341-50; f a m i n e relief
1 3 - 1 5 , 6 1 - 2 , 121, 122, 159, 200;
69, 74; G o l d Standard and 304;
c h r o n o l o g y of 2 7 0 - 7 6 ; m u l t i d e c a d a )
g l o b a l w a r m i n g 238
G r a n t ' s visit 5-6; handicraft p r o d u c -
r e g i m e s 234 -8; r e g i o n a l climatologies
G o l d Standard 1 5, 27, 290, 3 0 2 - 5 .
tion 347-9; La Nina floods 124, 139;
and 2 4 5 - 7 6 ; scientific investigation
G r a n t , U.S. 1-6
l o n g - t e r m impacts of d r o u g h t - f a m i n e
of 110, 213-38; s u n s p o t theories o f
g r a m t r a d e 82, 168, 317, 320, 3 5 0 .
207-9; O p i u m Wars 12, 291; p e a s a n t
220-24; t e l e c o n n e c t i o n s and 2 4 0 - 5
living s t a n d a r d s 292-3; Q i n g f a m i n e
economic theory 9-11
relief 280-5, 344. 352- 3: Q i n g gov-
Egypt: f a m i n e of 1877 3 - 4 , 103-1;
e r n m e n t 64. 72, 177, 182, 183,343, 351-60; revolts in 13, 64, 70, 113,
in C h i n a 13. 178, 181
G r a n t ' s visit 2 - 3
exports during famines 26-7, 123 G u a n c h e n g , Fang 281, 283 G u a n g d o n g 65
Elgin, Lord 142, 146 7. 151-2
G u g u a n Pass 73 4
170-88, 296. 302. 3 50. 3.51; river con-
England: decline 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
trol 366-75
epidemics: 6, 44-5, 49, 79, 88, 108, 128-9,
Christian Herald, The 177 climate: w o r l d system 12, 61-2, 240-5, 270-6
148-50, 1 7 4 , 2 0 3 Estelita, C a c t a n o 83 Ethiopia: 11, 13S; c l i m a t o l o g y of 2 6 4 - 5 ;
11 H a w a i ' i , c l i m a t o l o g y o f 250 F l a w t h o r n e , Julian 154-6
C o n s e l h e i r o , A n t o n i o 188-95
d r o u g h t - f a m i n e o f 1888-82 127-33;
culturrstelsel 94, 296
d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of 1895-1902 138;
H e n a n 182
C u r z o n , Lord 162-5. 290
Italian colonialism 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
Europe: development compared w i t h
H e b e i 280
Flubci 76
D
Asia 2 9 2 - 6 ; a n d possible E N S O
H e n a n 71, 77
da C u n h a , Euclydes 191-2
impacts 268-9;
H o b s b a w m , Eric 8
I N D 1: X
CAUSTS
26, 33, 38, 40, 41, 48, 49-50, 62; 3 2 8 - 9 , 3 3 6 , 3 3 9
F
46 1
H u a n g , Philip 2 0 7 , 292, 345
f a m i n e : mid c o l o n i a l i s m 8 - 1 0 , 320; Mal-
H u m e , Allan O c a t a v i a n 5 4 - 5 , 59, 145,
.tion 327, 328. 3 6 0 - 6
thusian explanations of 306-10; and
1, J a r c d 280
systemic responses 280-8; vulnerabil-
H y d e r a b a d 110
ity t o 2 8 8 - 9 2
H y n d m a n , H . M . 58, 59, 142, 148
' i l l i a m 8, 38, 43, 44, 50, 55 B e n j a m i n 28, 30, 43, 102, 103
F a m i n e C o m m i s s i o n s , 5 7 - 9 , 110, 162, 175, 2 8 6
ist I n d i e s 9 2 - 4 , 195-6, 296, 304 m e s h C h u n d e r 5 5 - 6 , 110, 165,
337
Fiji, c l i m a t o l o g y of 256 F r a n c e ; c o l o n i a l policies 9 7 - 9 Fujian 65
I i m p e r i a l e x p a n s i o n 7, 1 2 - 1 3 , 15 -16. 91, 1 1 9 - 2 0 , 1 3 8 , 139-40, 181 I n d i a : British p o l i c y 3 1 - 3 , 50, 55- 7, 151-2. 2 9 6 - 3 0 0 , 302, 3 1 3 - 5 , 323-8; cli-
ca, a n d E N S O e v e n t s 2 6 3 - 7
C
a C o m p a n y 31, 296, 336
Garcia, R o l a n d o
Nature Pleach Not Guilty 19
J o h n 225-6 S o u t h e r n Oscillation ( E N S O )
m a t o l o g y o f 245-8; d r o u g h t - f a m i n e
G e r m a n y : colonial p o l i c y in Africa 204; in C h i n a 13, 178, 181
6 1 - 2 , 121, 122, 159, 200;
o f 1876-78 2 5 - 5 8 ; d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of 1 8 9 6 - 9 7 142-58; d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of 1 8 9 9 - 1 9 0 2 159-75; d r o u g h t - f a m i n e of 1 9 0 7 - 0 8 174; e c o n o m i c perfor-
lology of 270-76; muhidecadal
global w a r m i n g 238
m a n c e u n d e r British r u l e 311 40;
les 234-8; regional climatologies
G o l d S t a n d a r d 15, 27, 290, 302-5, 3 7 9
enclosures 326-31; G o l d Standard a n d
.45-76; scientific i n v e s t i g a t i o n
G r a n t , U.S. 1 - 6
302, 3 0 3 - 4 ; G r a n t ' s visit 4; l o n g - t e r m
0, 2 1 3 - 3 8 ; s u n s p o t t h e o r i e s of
g r a i n t r a d e 82, 168, 317, 320, 350, 3 5 3 - 4 ;
effects o f d r o u g h t - f a m i n e 175, 207;
>4; t e l e c o n n e c t i o n s a n d 2 4 0 - 5
e x p o r t s d u r i n g f a m i n e s 2 6 - 7 , 31, 51,
M o g u l a n d M a r a t h a f a m i n e relief
c theory 9-11
123
285-8; n a t i o n a l i s m 5 5 - 6 , 145, 148,
u n i n e of 1877 3 - 4 , 103 -4;
G u a n c h e n g , Fang 281, 283
162; p e a s a n t living s t a n d a r d s 292, 3 1 2 ;
t's visit 2 - 3
G u a n g d o n g 65
relief p r o g r a m s 33-43, 52, 110. 143,
>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
