Finnish famine of 1866–1868

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The Famine of 1866–1868 was the last

In Finland, the famine is known as "the great hunger years", or suuret nälkävuodet. About 8.5% of the entire population died of hunger;[2] in the hardest-hit areas up to 20%. The total death toll was 270,000 in three years, about 150,000 in excess of normal mortality. The worst-hit areas were Satakunta, Tavastia, Ostrobothnia, and North Karelia.

Causes

Parts of the country had suffered poor harvests in previous years, most notably in 1862. The summer of 1866 was extremely rainy, and staple crops failed widely:

After a promisingly warm midsummer, freezing temperatures in early September ravaged crops; as a result, the harvest was about half the average. By the autumn of 1867, people were dying by the thousands.[3]

Actions

The government of the

Aftermath

The weather returned to normal in 1868, and that year's harvest was somewhat better than average, yet,

Programs were launched to increase the diversity of Finnish agriculture, and rapidly improving communications made a recurrence of such a famine less likely.

In general, ordinary Finns at the time saw the famine as an act of God. Few would have expected the crown to be able to do much more, and blame was directed mainly at local officials. No significant working class political movement had developed yet that could have capitalized politically on the crisis. The urban population was small, and for the people of the countryside, the first priority was to resume normal lives. In short, the famine did not threaten the social order, but its memory cast a long shadow.

Because of the famine, many Finns immigrated into Murmansk.^[4]

See also

• Great Famine of 1695–1697
• List of famines
• Russian famine of 1601–1603

References