Late Victorian Holocausts Summary

Over the course of this semester I’ve read The Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis in which he discusses the cross-global history of the devastating famines and natural disasters that effected significant portions of the world in the late 19th century. In reading through the chapters it made clear to me that Davis placed the blame on a number of factors. However, in this paper I will only be discussing three that I found to have the most significance.

These three themes are the fault for widespread misery: radical climatic change, the expansion of the world economy, and the new imperialism. In the first two parts of Late Victorian Holocausts, Davis explores the conjuncture of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) episodes with the social

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World (pg. 219). In reading these chapters your immersed with history that brings to light the fact that both climate cycles and the politics of famine played a major role in what happened during this era. It’s refreshing to learn more about how El Nino and La Nina, as well the huge differences between famine, drought, flood, crop failure, and

He develops an important argument about the “origins of the third world” (p. 279). The late nineteenth century’s ENSO droughts were no mere footnote. Rather, ENSO-driven climate change intersected with a century-long erosion of pre-capitalist state structures and the simultaneous expansion of commodity production and exchange, especially in South and East Asia. Famine and ecological crisis ensued, their lasting effects found in today’s extreme global inequality. Davis says that “The wealth generated by usury and rack-renting was almost entirely parasitic, with negligible productive reinvestment in cattle, irrigation or farm equipment” Davis, Mike (2002-06-17) Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World (pg.318). He seems to be saying that political ecology offers a holistic approach and sees the individual as responsible, but with a nod to the influence of geopolitics. The political element of the equation is all the more important when you realize that in the Third World, poor also means, poor in