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 plantelling 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

<t
t

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

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

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

"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

.Ausrs

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-

\
9

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

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

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

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-

ts; in Marrakech an estimated

of Polynesia, meanwhile, experienced environmental turmoil. Hawaiian sugar

shing daily. W h e n the cholera

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

But in the classic El Nino pattern, the climate system compensated deficit rain-

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

83. However, Morocco's long

:s, was not without "winners."

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

and plunging prices for corn and cattle, lost o n e harvest after another to the cold

>mprador fortunes and allowed

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

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

ight still brought massive and

Colony, N e w Guinea, the Aus-

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

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 cf 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

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)

18721881
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

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-

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

and 180,000 from poisonous or

cterized as "the most costly nat>here."96

j
i