Serious famine in Bengal

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Resources

Severe and successive droughts from November 1769 to April 1770 led to crop failures and extensive famine in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar which were only relieved when new crops were harvested in August 1770. Contemporary reports of thousands of dead in the streets were confirmed by later reliable estimates by the British administration that around 10 million people had died. The economy was devastated. The death of large numbers of children produced the near entire loss of an entire social generation. The death of many cotton weavers and spinners - a staple industry of the region led to higher prices for cotton goods and reduced quality which made it difficult for the East India Company to sell Indian cotton goods in Europe, and this at the very moment that the mechanisation and…

308 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Serious famine in Bengal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 March 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=12933, accessed 29 March 2024.]

12933 Serious famine in Bengal 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.