The great finnish famine in 1696–97

Abstract

If the catastrophes of history were to be measured by the proportionate losses in population that they cause the suffering nation, then the disaster of the 1696–97 famine in Finland must be accounted one of the most dreadful in the history of Europe. The Black Death, according to recent calculations, carried off one-fifth of the population of England. Its ravages on the continent are estimated to have been proportionately greater¹ but even so, it can hardly match in severity the events of the great famine year in Finland during which, it is customarily said, a quarter or even perhaps a third, of the country's population perished. Such an occurrence obviously constitutes a national calamity of the severest order and merits detailed investigation.