Food and Famine:

Abstract

This entry investigates the relationships between famine, food problems, and imperialism and how they changed over time. It begins by providing a basic definition of the main concepts, which shows the problematic nature of the word famine. This is followed by a short review of how this subject has been treated in the available literature. It then proceeds to give a more comprehensive account of the relationships between famine, food problems, and imperialism at different times. The subject is divided into four periods: (i) primitive military imperialism in the Classical and medieval world; (ii) the rise of military mercantile imperialism from the medieval period through to world war; (iii) the collapse of military imperialism in two world wars; and (iv) internal imperialism, as underdeveloped states try to escape poverty through communist transitions. Keywords: capitalism; development; environment; famine; food; imperial history; migration; starvation