Drought and failed harvests strike Bengal, newly under East India Company control. Millions die while revenue collection continues, a scandal that feeds calls to regulate the company.
Contested history
Consensus: Drought caused crop failure in Bengal in 1769 and 1770; the scale of deaths and the East India Company's share of blame are debated.
Drought and harvest failure triggered the famineEstablished
Monsoon failure in 1768 and 1769 is recorded in contemporary sources.
Company revenue policy worsened the death tollDebated
Revenue collection was kept up and relief was minimal, but historians differ on how much this added to mortality.
About a third of Bengal's population diedDebated
This figure comes from Warren Hastings' report; some historians consider it an overestimate made without a census.