Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

Davis shows that study of the scientific reasons for droughts that caused famines across parts of Asia and South America had political and economic repercussions for imperial powers, particularly the British. How does this historical phenomenon compare to modern political controversy over the scientific evidence indicating that greenhouse gases cause global warming (and thus more frequent natural disasters, like wildfires)?

Davis views the Western response to the drought-famines of the late 19th century as a form of genocide. Why? Use evidence from the text in support of your response.

How did liberal capitalism inform and shape government responses to these late Victorian disasters?

How did Indigenous people in India, China, and Brazil respond to these crises?

How and why did 18th-century Qing prosperity, effective infrastructure management, and efficient famine relief fail in the 19th century?

Davis writes, “British rule in India, according to Sir Richard and General Sir John Strachey, was the most extraordinary act of charity in world history” (350). What does this statement reveal about colonialist perspectives on colonized populations?

What lessons can the modern world learn from these Victorian disasters?

Davis suggests that it was a deliberate, imperial policy choice to allow millions of people to die during the climate crises of the late Victorian era. What evidence supports his position?