A thematic collection

Catastrophe

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters. 113 of them, drawn from 83 nations, running from 2500 BCE to 2025. Indexed below by period; each period opens the full text, with the sources every entry was verified against and a link back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
113
Nations
83
Earliest
2500 BCE
Latest
2025
Densest period
The 1940s14 events
Europe
32
Africa
31
Asia
30
North America
14
Oceania
5
South America
1

Each period below opens a page holding those events in full — summary, era and citations. Every entry is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

2 events · 2 nations

The 3rd millennium BCE

Every theme in the 3rd millennium BCE →

  1. c. 2500 BCE

    The temple builders disappearMalta

  2. c. 2500 BCE

    The desert returnsNiger

All 2 events in the 3rd millennium BCE →

4 events · 4 nations

The 2nd millennium BCE

Every theme in the 2nd millennium BCE →

  1. c. 1900 BCE

    Decline of the Harappan citiesIndia

  2. c. 1900 BCE

    Decline of the Harappan citiesPakistan

  3. c. 1200–1100 BCE

    Bronze Age collapse and the Greek Dark AgesGreece

  4. c. 1180 BCE

    Bronze Age collapseTürkiye

All 4 events in the 2nd millennium BCE →

1 event · 1 nation

The 6th century

Every theme in the 6th century →

  1. Destruction of ScupiNorth Macedonia

All 1 events in the 6th century →

1 event · 1 nation

The 7th century

Every theme in the 7th century →

  1. Joya de Ceren buried by ashEl Salvador

All 1 events in the 7th century →

2 events · 2 nations

The 10th century

Every theme in the 10th century →

  1. The Classic Maya collapseBelize

  2. Classic Maya collapseGuatemala

All 2 events in the 10th century →

2 events · 2 nations

The 13th century

Every theme in the 13th century →

  1. Mongol destruction of MervTurkmenistan

  2. St. Lucia's floodNetherlands

All 2 events in the 13th century →

2 events · 2 nations

The 14th century

Every theme in the 14th century →

  1. The Black Death reaches EnglandUnited Kingdom

  2. The Black Death reaches NorwayNorway

All 2 events in the 14th century →

3 events · 3 nations

The 15th century

Every theme in the 15th century →

  1. The Norse settlements vanishGreenland

  2. St. Elizabeth's floodNetherlands

  3. Decline and abandonmentZimbabwe

All 3 events in the 15th century →

3 events · 3 nations

The 16th century

Every theme in the 16th century →

  1. Collapse of the TainoHaiti

  2. Depopulation of the BahamasBahamas

  3. Collapse of the TainoCuba

All 3 events in the 16th century →

4 events · 4 nations

The 17th century

Every theme in the 17th century →

  1. León Viejo abandonedNicaragua

  2. Extinction of the dodoMauritius

  3. The Great Dubrovnik earthquakeCroatia

  4. Port Royal earthquakeJamaica

All 4 events in the 17th century →

7 events · 6 nations

The 18th century

Every theme in the 18th century →

  1. Smallpox devastates the KhoekhoeSouth Africa

  2. The great Lisbon earthquakePortugal

  3. The Great Bengal FamineBangladesh

  4. Santa Marta earthquakes ruin AntiguaGuatemala

  5. The Laki eruptionIceland

  6. The Móðuharðindin famineIceland

  7. Smallpox devastates Aboriginal peoplesAustralia

All 7 events in the 18th century →

1 event · 1 nation

The 1820s

Every theme in the 1820s →

  1. Loropéni settlement abandonedBurkina Faso

All 1 events in the 1820s →

2 events · 2 nations

The 1840s

Every theme in the 1840s →

  1. The Great Famine (An Gorta Mór)Ireland

  2. The Great Irish FamineUnited Kingdom

All 2 events in the 1840s →

1 event · 1 nation

The 1860s

Every theme in the 1860s →

  1. Zariba slave and ivory raidsSouth Sudan

All 1 events in the 1860s →

2 events · 2 nations

The 1870s

Every theme in the 1870s →

  1. Depopulation by introduced diseaseVanuatu

  2. Measles epidemic devastates FijiFiji

All 2 events in the 1870s →

1 event · 1 nation

The 1890s

Every theme in the 1890s →

  1. The rubber regime and the Force PubliqueDR Congo

All 1 events in the 1890s →

4 events · 4 nations

The 1900s

Every theme in the 1900s →

  1. Famines kill at least 100,000Cape Verde

  2. Kishinev pogromMoldova

  3. Shark Island and the concentration campsNamibia

  4. Scorched earth and the Great HungerTanzania

All 4 events in the 1900s →

1 event · 1 nation

The 1910s

Every theme in the 1910s →

  1. The Armenian GenocideArmenia

All 1 events in the 1910s →

5 events · 5 nations

The 1930s

Every theme in the 1930s →

  1. The Kazakh famine (Asharshylyk)Kazakhstan

  2. The Holodomor and the Soviet famineRussia

  3. The HolodomorUkraine

  4. Stalinist terror and KurapatyBelarus

  5. The Great RepressionMongolia

All 5 events in the 1930s →

14 events · 12 nations

The 1940s

Every theme in the 1940s →

  1. The June deportationEstonia

  2. The HolocaustGermany

  3. The June 1941 deportationsLatvia

  4. Mass deportations to SiberiaLithuania

  5. Bengal famineIndia

  6. Deportation of the Hungarian JewsHungary

  7. Confiscation under the Beneš decreesLiechtenstein

  8. Great Vietnamese FamineVietnam

All 14 events in the 1940s →6 more not shown here

3 events · 3 nations

The 1950s

Every theme in the 1950s →

  1. North Sea flood and the Delta WorksNetherlands

  2. The Batepá massacreSão Tomé and Príncipe

  3. Great Leap Forward and the great famineChina

All 3 events in the 1950s →

5 events · 5 nations

The 1960s

Every theme in the 1960s →

  1. Cotton monoculture and the death of the Aral SeaUzbekistan

  2. The Skopje earthquakeNorth Macedonia

  3. Reprisals against the TutsiRwanda

  4. The Great Sahel droughtNiger

  5. The 13 May communal riotsMalaysia

All 5 events in the 1960s →

5 events · 5 nations

The 1970s

Every theme in the 1970s →

  1. Mass killings under AminUganda

  2. The Ikiza mass killingsBurundi

  3. Mass killing and exileEquatorial Guinea

  4. The Cambodian genocideCambodia

  5. The Jonestown tragedyGuyana

All 5 events in the 1970s →

7 events · 7 nations

The 1980s

Every theme in the 1980s →

  1. The great famineEthiopia

  2. An estimated two million deadSouth Sudan

  3. The Chernobyl disasterBelarus

  4. Chernobyl disasterUkraine

  5. Spitak earthquakeArmenia

  6. Ntega and Marangara killingsBurundi

  7. Mass killing of Isaaq civilians (Isaaq genocide)Somaliland

All 7 events in the 1980s →

8 events · 7 nations

The 1990s

Every theme in the 1990s →

  1. Retreating Iraqis torch the oil fieldsKuwait

  2. Famine and Operation Restore HopeSomalia

  3. The Arduous March famineNorth Korea

  4. The killing beginsRwanda

  5. Genocide against the TutsiRwanda

  6. Pyramid scheme collapse and unrestAlbania

  7. Hurricane MitchHonduras

  8. Mass expulsion of Kosovo AlbaniansKosovo

All 8 events in the 1990s →

4 events · 4 nations

The 2000s

Every theme in the 2000s →

  1. Destruction of the Bamiyan BuddhasAfghanistan

  2. Indian Ocean tsunamiSri Lanka

  3. Post-election violenceKenya

  4. Conakry stadium massacreGuinea

All 4 events in the 2000s →

11 events · 10 nations

The 2010s

Every theme in the 2010s →

  1. Catastrophic earthquakeHaiti

  2. Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima disasterJapan

  3. The Ebola epidemicLiberia

  4. The Ebola epidemicSierra Leone

  5. Gorkha earthquakeNepal

  6. Cyclone Pam devastates the islandsVanuatu

  7. Hurricane MariaPuerto Rico

  8. Famine declared in Unity stateSouth Sudan

All 11 events in the 2010s →3 more not shown here

8 events · 5 nations

The 2020s

Every theme in the 2020s →

  1. Honiara riotsSolomon Islands

  2. UN estimates 377,000 war-related deathsYemen

  3. Drought, famine risk and renewed offensiveSomalia

  4. Human cost of the warSyria

  5. ICJ provisional-measures order in South Africa v. IsraelPalestine

  6. UN Special Rapporteur's 'Anatomy of a Genocide'Palestine

  7. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch findingsPalestine

  8. UN Commission of Inquiry finds genocidePalestine

All 8 events in the 2020s →