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Late Victorian Holocausts
Late Victorian Holocausts - El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World is a book by Mike Davis concerning the connection between global climate patterns and political economy, particularly the meteorological phenomenon called El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It describes the impact of colonialism and the introduction of capitalism during the ENSO-related famines of 1876-1879, 1896-1897, and 1899-1902, in India, China, Brazil, Ethiopia, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and New Caledonia. It focuses on how colonialism and capitalism in British India and elsewhere increased rural poverty and hunger and how economic policies exacerbated famine.
In addition to a preface and a short section on definitions, the book is broken into four parts, 'The Great Drought, 1876-1878', 'El Niño and the New Imperialism, 1888-1902', 'Decyphering ENSO', and 'The Political Ecology of Famine'.
Thirty to sixty million were killed in two Indian famines that were caused by laissez faire and Malthusian economic ideology of the colonial government which refused to send food from areas with excess to the areas experiencing shortage. Previous to imperial rule, local governments in India had policies to transfer food from areas with excess to areas with shortage as an adaptation to the region's monsoon climate.
The Great Drought, 1876-1878[edit]
In this section, Davis outlines the severity and effeect of the the famines in India, China, Brazil, and a number of other colonized nations during the El Niño-related famines of 1876-1879.
Moral Equivalence to 20th century famines[edit]
Matthew White of the online Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century has said "If true, this accusation could easily create a moral equivalence between these famines and the devastating Communist famines of the 20th Century". [1]
