34008YuNoHaHomoDeusABriefHistoryOfTomorrow@myDiary

Q&@
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 his entire district
was now filled with 'an infinite number of poor souls, weak from hunger & 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. [Òthers 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.' Similar
scenes took place all over France. Bad weather had ruined the harvests throughout the king-
dom in the previous two years, so that the spring of 1694 the granaries were completely
empty. The rich charged exorbitant prices for whatever food they managed to hoard, &
the poor died in droves. About 2.8 million French - 15% of the population - starved to
death between 1692 & 1694, while the Sun King, Louis XIV, was dallying with his
mistresses in Versailles. The following year, 1695, famine struck Estonia, killing
a fifth of the population. In 1696 it was the turn of Finland, where a quarter to
a third of people died. Scotland suffered from severe famine between 1695 &
1698, some districts losing up to 20% of their inhabitants.

26 feb 2019 - bewerkt op 01 mrt 2019 - meld ongepast verhaal
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