In the years 1064 to 1074, there was a very long period of famine in Egypt, known as Ash-Shiddatu Al-Mustansiriyyah. This happened during the reign of the Fatimids, a dynasty that was ruled by the Rafidhi Batini Ismaili sect of Shi'ism. This famine lasted for seven to ten years. The source of origin for this famine was partly due to the Nile River failing to flood, as well as a political crisis between rival slave-warrior factions. This famine caused at least 40,000 deaths due to starvation.
When the Nile River failed to flood, this resulted in little to no crops growing, because the crops did not have enough water for the irrigation. Hence, the agricultural output had gone down. Not enough food could be produced to feed the population of Fatimid Egypt. At least, they still had wheat and bread, but now at slightly more expensive prices. Inflation occured in this time.
Then two years later, in the year 1066, the Turkic Mamluk slave-warriors had a dispute against the Sudanese slave-warriors, as they both wanted to take control of and manipulate the weak ruler, Fatimid ruler Al-Mustansir. This dispute soon evolved into a full-scale civil war. The Turks were led by a Hamdanid prince, Nasir al-Dawla, while the Sudanese were led by the mother of Al-Mustansir himself, Umm Rasad. A siege of Cairo then happened, and this led to even more famine and food shortages. More armed conflicts spread throughout Egypt and this damaged most of the plantations that were left in the country.
Nasir al-Dawla became victorious in his fight against the Sudanese, and he expelled them from Egypt. His Turks then plundered the royal palace and stole all of the gold there, while Nasir al-Dawla himself became the de facto ruler of Egypt, the Fatimid ruler Al-Mustansir being nothing but a mere puppet under him. Al-Mustansir followed whatever Nasir al-Dawla told him to do. Nasir al-Dawla himself was not a very good ruler, and was often described as tyrannical.
Several tribes of the Berbers assisted in aggravating the distress; they intentionally destroyed the canals and embankments around the Nile River. All of Al-Mustansir's captive animals died of hunger, except for three horses, and it is said that eventually he himself was the only one who actually possessed a horse, and that when he rode out, his companions followed on foot as they did not have horses or mules. It is also said that the escort of the ruler once fainted from hunger as it accompanied him on a journey.
During these times, the prices of food slowly rose up, until they became too high, the average person could not purchase them. The treasury was also completely out of funds; the Turks had stolen whatever was in it. The famine resulted in the cities of Al-Qata'i and Al-Askar being entirely depopulated, while the majority of Fustat's population was annihilated due to the famine. No external support from the Seljuks or other contemporary ruling dynasties was present, either.
But perhaps the worst of these events is the spread of cannibalism. Whenever a criminal was executed, his body would be cut up and cooked before being eaten. The number of executed criminals eventually reached zero, and the people began eating other animals like cats and dogs. Dogs, especially, were sold at five silver dirhams. But eventually the dogs would decrease in number as well, until it was zero. The populations then resorted to cannibalism. The hunters would attach hooks to the bottom of rooftops that were hidden by plain view. Once these hooks attached onto a person passing by, the hunters pulled up the hooks and killed the victim, before cutting them up and cooking the body parts for eating. Cannibalism became a normal practice in Egypt, and this was a possible factor of the decreasing populations in several towns as well.
Al-Mustansir secretly requested help from the Armenian governor of Palestine, Badr al-Jamali. In the year 1073, Nasir al-Dawla was murdered along with his family. But this did not end the horrifying conditions of Egypt. Only a year later did Al-Mustansir fully regain power. By the end of 1073, Badr al-Jamali and his troops had reached the port of Damietta, and were making their way into Egypt. The Turks, who did not suspect anything about Al-Jamali and his troops, allowed him access to Egypt.
By 1074, Badr al-Jamali had already assassinated and killed all of the Turkic leaders. Al-Mustansir gave Badr al-Jamali the position of Vizier, and he was also given extra authoritative permissions. Al-Jamali managed to restore the country to the state it had been before 1064. He helped repair the economy, and even invited his Armenians into Egypt. Many cities were repopulated as Badr al-Jamali encouraged migration into Egypt. The country had been successfully restored.
Source:
Natural Disasters by Lee Allyn Davis, pages 120-121 (about the drying up of the Nile)
Ighathat al-Ummah bi-Kashf al-Ghummah by Al-Maqrizi (about the events that happened during the famine)
Al-Mawa'iz wa-al-Itibaar bi-Dhikr al-Khitat wa-al-Athaar by Al-Maqrizi (about the events that happened during the famine)
Army, Regime, and Society in Fatimid Egypt, 358–487/968–1094; International Journal of Middle East Studies by Yaacov Lev (about the end of Nasir al-Dawla's rule)
The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines by Farhad Daftary (about Badr al-Jamali and his rise to power as the new Vizier of the Fatimids)
No comments:
Post a Comment