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Fire, flood or disaster · 1695

Great Famine

In 1695–1697 cold, wet summers and early autumn frosts ruined harvest after harvest across the Swedish provinces of Estland and Livland. People ate bark, chaff and weeds, and dysentery, typhus and fevers followed hunger. Deaths peaked in spring 1697. Historians estimate that 60,000 to 75,000 people died, roughly a sixth to a fifth of the population, and the famine was remembered for generations as the 'great hunger'. The pin marks central Estonia, as the disaster struck the whole country.

Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today

Eesti keeles

Aastatel 1695–1697 rikkusid külmad ja vihmased suved ning varajased sügiskülmad Rootsi Eesti- ja Liivimaa provintsides saagi saagi järel. Inimesed sõid puukoort, aganaid ja umbrohtu ning nälja kannul tulid kõhutõbi, tüüfus ja palavikud. Suremus oli suurim 1697. aasta kevadel. Ajaloolaste hinnangul suri 60 000 – 75 000 inimest ehk umbes kuuendik kuni viiendik rahvastikust ning näljahäda jäi põlvkondadeks meelde kui 'suur nälg'. Märk on Kesk-Eestis, sest õnnetus tabas kogu maad.

Map of the area around Great Famine
58.75000° N, 25.75000° E · Map: Maa- ja Ruumiamet

Source: https://tuna.ra.ee/en/the-defeat-of-the-plague-twenty-five-decades-ago/ ↗

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