32498YNHHDABHOT3/4 Biological myDiPoverty LINES...
Q&@
SO LET'S
START WITH FAMINE,
WHICH FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS
HAS BEEN HUMANITY'S WORST ENEMY!
Until recently most humans lived on the very edge of the biological poverty line,
below which people succumb to malnutrition and hunger? A small mistake or a bit of bad luck
could easily be a death sentence for an entire family or village. If heavy rains destroyed your wheat crop,
or robbers carried off your goat herd, you and your loved ones may well have starved to death. Misfortune
or simple stupidity on the collective level resulted in mass famines. When severe drought hit ancient Aegypt
or medieval India, it was not uncommon that 5 or 10 per cent of the population perished. Provisions became
scarce; transport was too slow and expensive to import sufficient food; and governments were far too weak to
save the day. Open any history book and you are likely to come across horrific accounts of famished populations,
driven mad by hunger. In April 1694 a French official in the town of BEAUVAIS described the impact of famine and
of soaring food prices, saying that this entire district was now filled with 'an infinite number of poor souls, weak from
hunger and wretchedness and dying from want, because, having no work or occupation, they lack the money to buy bread.
Seeking to prolong their lives a little and somewhat to appease their hunger, these poor folk eat such unclean things as
cats and the flesh of horses flayed and cast onto dung heaps. [Others consume] the blood that flows
when cows and oxen are slaughtered, and the offal that cooks throw into the streets.
Other poor wretches eat nettles and weeds,
or roots and herbs which
they boil in water!'
START WITH FAMINE,
WHICH FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS
HAS BEEN HUMANITY'S WORST ENEMY!
Until recently most humans lived on the very edge of the biological poverty line,
below which people succumb to malnutrition and hunger? A small mistake or a bit of bad luck
could easily be a death sentence for an entire family or village. If heavy rains destroyed your wheat crop,
or robbers carried off your goat herd, you and your loved ones may well have starved to death. Misfortune
or simple stupidity on the collective level resulted in mass famines. When severe drought hit ancient Aegypt
or medieval India, it was not uncommon that 5 or 10 per cent of the population perished. Provisions became
scarce; transport was too slow and expensive to import sufficient food; and governments were far too weak to
save the day. Open any history book and you are likely to come across horrific accounts of famished populations,
driven mad by hunger. In April 1694 a French official in the town of BEAUVAIS described the impact of famine and
of soaring food prices, saying that this entire district was now filled with 'an infinite number of poor souls, weak from
hunger and wretchedness and dying from want, because, having no work or occupation, they lack the money to buy bread.
Seeking to prolong their lives a little and somewhat to appease their hunger, these poor folk eat such unclean things as
cats and the flesh of horses flayed and cast onto dung heaps. [Others consume] the blood that flows
when cows and oxen are slaughtered, and the offal that cooks throw into the streets.
Other poor wretches eat nettles and weeds,
or roots and herbs which
they boil in water!'
27 aug 2018 - bewerkt op 29 aug 2018
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