The Russian famine of 1601–1603,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's worst

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

in terms of proportional effect on the population, killed perhaps two million people: about 30% of the

Russian people Russians ( ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian, the most spoken Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Orthodox Christianity, ever since the Middle Ages. By total numbers ...

. The famine compounded the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

(1598–1613), when the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

was unsettled politically and later invaded (1605–1618) by the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. The many deaths contributed to social disruption. The famine resulted from a volcanic winter, a series of worldwide record cold winters and crop disruption, which geologists in 2008 linked to the 1600 volcanic eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru.

Causes

A 2008 study by Kenneth L. Verosub and Jake Lippman documents worldwide famine after the eruption of a

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in 1600. Huaynaputina ejected 16 to 32 million metric tons of particulates into the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

, notably

sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

, forming

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

and creating a volcanic winter; this reduced the amount of

sunlight Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...

reaching the

Earth's surface Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

(see ''Albedo''), which scientists believe contributed to bitterly cold winters, loss of crops and animals, and massive famine around the world. As a result, people killed many animals with their bare hands to preserve their furs for warmth."The 1600 eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru caused global disruption"
, ''Science Centric''. The famine was documented across the world: "Records from

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and

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record exceptionally cold winters in 1600–1602; in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the 1601

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

harvest was late, and wine production collapsed in

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and Colonial Peru. In

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peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...

trees bloomed late, and Lake Suwa in

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had one of its earliest freezing dates in 500 years."

Famine

Following the poor harvest of 1601 the prices of grain doubled reaching 60-70 kopecks per quarter of rye. In the next year many peasants did not have enough seeds to sow the fields and by fall the prices grew to 3 rubles per quarter. The weather in 1603 was fine but many fields were empty and thus the famine intensified. Boris Godunov's government attempted unsuccessfully to help the people by selling grain from state granaries at half price and later by giving away grain and money to the poor in the major cities until the treasury was depleted. During this two-and-a-half-year period, 127,000 bodies were buried in mass graves in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

alone. According to a witness "one third of the Muscovite Tsardom perished from the famine."

Effects

The suffering and social disruption were part of the political unrest called the

. Petty gentry were hurt by the famine as badly as peasants and many were forced to sell themselves into slavery, joining the armed retinues of magnates. Others migrated to the steppe frontier and joined Cossacks, as did many runaway serfs. A large number of trained and armed individuals in the southern regions formed a large manpower pool which was tapped by multiple ensuing insurgencies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Famine of 1601-1603 Famines in Russia 1601 in Russia 1602 in Russia 1603 in Russia 1601 disasters 1601 in health 1602 disasters 1602 in health 1603 disasters 1603 in health 17th-century famines Volcanic winters

Causes

Famine

Effects

See also

References