The Great Famine of 1876-1878, a catastrophic event that claimed the lives of up to 50 million people across Asia, Africa, and South America, is an episode of history the globalists advocating for “climate change” narratives prefer to leave in obscurity. Despite its staggering death toll, this famine remains overlooked, with little recognition or discussion in modern discourse. The reason? It undermines the narrative of exclusively human-caused climate change, showcasing instead the devastating power of natural climatic cycles and the compounding effects of human mismanagement.
The Natural Causes
This famine was triggered by a rare confluence of natural climatic events. A potent El Niño, combined with a strong Indian Ocean Dipole, disrupted weather patterns globally. These events, entirely natural and recurring within Earth’s climate systems, caused severe droughts in India, China, Brazil, and parts of Africa. Crops failed, rivers dried up, and entire populations were left without food or water.
The famine was not a result of industrialisation or carbon emissions but a natural cycle—one that has occurred for millennia. Yet the human response to the crisis exacerbated its effects. In British-controlled India, for instance, colonial policies prioritised grain exports over feeding the starving population, illustrating how governance and mismanagement can turn natural disasters into humanitarian catastrophes.
A Historical Parallel
The famine serves as a stark reminder of the Earth’s unpredictable climate and humanity’s vulnerability to it. This historical event highlights the limitations of attributing all modern climatic phenomena to human activity. While today’s “climate change” rhetoric often focuses on man-made contributions, the 1870s famine demonstrates that the Earth’s climate operates on vast natural cycles, capable of creating havoc without any human influence.
Lessons Buried by Ideology
Why is this event so rarely discussed? Perhaps because it challenges the narrative that humanity must radically alter its behaviour to “save the planet.” The Great Famine shows that, while human actions can exacerbate natural disasters, the underlying causes often lie beyond our control. It also underscores the importance of resilient governance and infrastructure, rather than fear-mongering and politicisation, in addressing such crises.
This buried chapter of history serves as a cautionary tale. Nature is powerful, cyclical, and unpredictable. Efforts to mitigate disasters should focus on human preparedness and adaptation, not ideological alarmism over natural phenomena. The globalists may want to obscure this truth, but the lessons of the Great Famine of 1876-1878 remain as relevant today as ever.
Stan Robinson
