ABSTRACT
The Great Famine of 1888–92 was one of a long series of natural calamities in northeast Africa which can be traced back for at least a millenium. This chapter aims to compare the progress and consequences of the drought and famine in both Ethiopia and the Sudan. It examines the concurrence of natural causes which precipitated famine, as well as some of the social and political factors which contributed to the inability of both the Ethiopian and Mahdist states to contain the effects of the natural disasters. The chapter presents a description of the Great Famine in Ethiopia, based on Richard Pankhurst’s earlier studies. It describes the Sudan’s famine, and the international response to the famines. The Great Ethiopian Famine had three natural causes: a deadly epidemic of rinderpest, an extensive drought, and numerous outbreaks of locusts and caterpillars.
