CatastropheThe 1970s

Catastrophe in the 1970s

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters, narrowed to the 1970s — 5 of them, drawn from 5 nations, running from 1971 to 1978. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
5
Nations
5
Earliest
1971
Latest
1978
Africa
3
Asia
1
South America
1

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Africa

    Uganda

    Mass killings under Amin

    Amin's regime murders soldiers, professionals, clergy and dissidents through bodies such as the State Research Bureau; estimates of the dead run up to about 300,000.

    Era: Idi Amin and the War that Ousted Him

    Sources: Idi Amin · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Amin Regime Terrorizes Uganda · EBSCO Research Starters

  2. Africa

    Burundi

    The Ikiza mass killings

    State and army reprisals kill an estimated 100,000–300,000 people, overwhelmingly Hutu, with educated Hutu deliberately targeted; many scholars regard the events as a genocide. Hundreds of thousands flee abroad.

    Era: The Ikiza: The 1972 Mass Killing

    Sources: Ikiza or Burundi Killings of 1972 · EBSCO Research Starters, The Burundi Killings of 1972 · Sciences Po, Mass Violence and Resistance, History of Burundi · Wikipedia

  3. Africa

    Equatorial Guinea

    Mass killing and exile

    Under Macías tens of thousands were killed — figures of roughly 35,000–50,000 deaths are commonly cited — and by 1979 around a quarter of the population had fled into exile; the Bubi and Nigerian workers were among those targeted. Figures remain estimates.

    Era: The terror of Macías Nguema

    Sources: 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état · Wikipedia, Francisco Macias Nguema · GlobalSecurity.org, History of Equatorial Guinea · Wikipedia

  4. Asia

    Cambodia

    The Cambodian genocide

    Under the Khmer Rouge an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people, about a quarter of the population, die from execution, forced labour, starvation, and disease.

    Era: War, Revolution, and Genocide

    Sources: Cambodian genocide · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Khmer Rouge · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  5. South America

    Guyana

    The Jonestown tragedy

    At the Peoples Temple settlement of Jonestown, more than 900 followers of the American preacher Jim Jones die in a mass murder-suicide after the killing of a visiting U.S. congressman.

    Era: The Burnham Era and the Shadow of Jonestown

    Sources: Jonestown · Encyclopaedia Britannica