Chasing Profits, Creating Famine - Bengal and the East India Company
The first of series of famines that struck Bengal were exacerbated by the greed and malfeasance of the East India Company's leaders.
A Profit Machine
Though born in 1600, it was in 1657 that the East India Company (EIC) set forth under new oaths, new orders, and a mixture committee. Created to drive trade across the Indian Ocean region, it was a catalyst for Great Britain’s economic ambitions.
It would succeed. The EIC grew into a dominant global power. It had immense influence, and when that influence failed, it turned to its very own army. But it is impossible to become one of history’s most powerful companies walking the straight and narrow.
The country of Bengal would bear some of the worst consequences of the EIC’s economic ambitions. Those consequences came in the form of famine. And unfortunately for Bengal, they came often under EIC rule.
Chasing Profits in the Face of Famine
The year was 1769. Bengal had been navigating a series of subsistence crises throughout the 18th century. Short and unseasonably dry monsoon seasons struck in 1768. This led to lower yields and unusually high market prices in 1769.
Also in 1769, word of the impending shortages was sent to Harry Verelst, the President of the Council at Fort William. Verelst served as a colonial governor for the EIC in Bengal. He chose to do nothing with the warning.
It would be one of the only times the warning would be recorded. Other letters during that same period reflected concerns for lost profits. Not a forthcoming famine.
Robert Clive, who served as the General Governor, ignored the warnings. Under his leadership, the EIC continued its exploitation, mismanagement and greed of the region. The EIC would provide little mitigation.
Taxation continued as normal and significant relief efforts were never activated. Peasants in the region were required to pay a tribute of fifteen percent of their cash harvest.
The EIC referred to them as tributes and not taxes as a means to suppress rebellion. The fifteen percent would increase to fifty percent.
Death Abounds
By May of 1770, the famine was in full swing. The EIC’s Court of Directors began estimating the death toll. Word that an average of 500 people were dying every day went around. Talk of the conditions in the rural hinterlands also spread. Cannibalism had been reported.
As citizens starved to death, they also had to deal with outbreaks of malaria and cholera. As the famine had started to spread, an outbreak of smallpox also ravaged the countryside.
When the monsoon season arrived in 1770, there was some relief. With the drought starting to recede, the EIC’s Council expressed regret. The reality of industrious peasants and manufacturers the famine had killed set in. There was concern the land now lacked tillers.
Unfortunately for Bengal, the famine of 1770 was not a freak event. It would happen again under Britain and EIC oversight in 1783 and 1866.
The Eyes of History
Historical evidence points to the EIC’s blatant disregard for starving Bengali families. Its officers engaged in crop hoarding to push the price of food higher. They would then turn around and sell their stores at significant profits.
Members of the EIC plundered villages. The EIC’s behavior towards local was so egregious one officer’s letter home read, “half the great cities of an opulent kingdom were rendered desolate; the most fertile fields in the world laid waste; and five million of harmless and industrious people were either expelled or destroyed.”
The loss of life was initially estimated to be ten million people. Modern historians believe the number was closer to 1.2 million. That still accounted for roughly five percent of the population. The same estimated impact of COVID-19 for the United States in 2020.
History for the Hurried:
April 26, 1937: During the Spanish Civil War, the ancient town of Guernica was attacked by German warplanes. After destroying the town, the planes machine-gunned fleeing civilians.
April 27, 1865: On the Mississippi River, the worst steamship disaster in U.S. history occurred. You can read about it here.