The Great Famine of 1876-1878, also known as the Southern India famine or the Madras famine of 1877, struck India under British Crown rule after an intense drought caused widespread crop failure on the Deccan Plateau beginning in 1876. Estimates place the death toll between 5.6 and 9.6 million people, even though the affected region continued to produce enough food to avert famine; colonial grain exports instead swelled to record levels during the crisis, a policy widely cited by historians as having deepened the catastrophe rather than mitigating it.
Facts
Milestone Year WhenSpread northward into the Central Provinces and North Western Provinces by 1877 1 LocationPresidencies of Madras, Punjab and Bombay, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad 1 Classification
Type/ClassificationAgricultural Famine or Disaster 1 Connections
Associated With
Wheat, Crops Even as drought failed Deccan food crops, the colonial government exported a record 6.4 million hundredweight of wheat from India to England during the famine.
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Source Great Famine of 1876-1878, Wikipedia
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1. Great Famine of 1876-1878, Wikipedia
Background section, sentence on the drought's onset
It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulted in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau.
Spread section, sentence on 1877 expansion
In 1877, famine came to affect regions northward, including parts of the Central Provinces and the North-Western Provinces.
Extent section, sentence on affected presidencies
It affected north, south and Southwestern India, the British-administered presidencies of Madras, Punjab, Bombay, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad
lead description (milestone-kind)
The Great Famine of 1876-1878, also known as the Southern India famine or the Madras famine of 1877, struck India under British Crown rule after an intense drought caused widespread crop failure on the Deccan Plateau beginning in 1876.
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