Bengal famine of 1770
E545935
The Bengal famine of 1770 was a catastrophic food crisis in the Bengal region of British India that killed millions and severely disrupted the agrarian economy under early colonial rule.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Bengal famine of 1770 canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5736884 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Bengal famine of 1770 Context triple: [Sannyasi Rebellion, hasEconomicContext, Bengal famine of 1770]
-
A.
Bengal famine of 1943
The Bengal famine of 1943 was a catastrophic wartime food crisis in British-ruled India that led to the deaths of an estimated three million people and exposed the devastating impact of colonial policies on food security.
-
B.
Bangladesh famine of 1974
The Bangladesh famine of 1974 was a devastating food crisis in newly independent Bangladesh, marked by widespread starvation and mortality, that became a key case study in understanding how political and economic factors—rather than sheer food shortage—can cause famine.
-
C.
Great Famine
The Great Famine was a catastrophic mid-19th-century potato blight in Ireland that caused mass starvation, disease, and a huge wave of emigration, particularly to North America.
-
D.
Russian famine of 1601–1603
The Russian famine of 1601–1603 was a catastrophic nationwide food crisis that killed hundreds of thousands and helped trigger the political chaos and dynastic struggles of Russia’s Time of Troubles.
-
E.
Great Famine of 1315–1317
The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was a devastating pan-European food crisis marked by widespread crop failures, mass starvation, and social upheaval that profoundly weakened medieval European society.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Bengal famine of 1770 Target entity description: The Bengal famine of 1770 was a catastrophic food crisis in the Bengal region of British India that killed millions and severely disrupted the agrarian economy under early colonial rule.
-
A.
Bengal famine of 1943
The Bengal famine of 1943 was a catastrophic wartime food crisis in British-ruled India that led to the deaths of an estimated three million people and exposed the devastating impact of colonial policies on food security.
-
B.
Bangladesh famine of 1974
The Bangladesh famine of 1974 was a devastating food crisis in newly independent Bangladesh, marked by widespread starvation and mortality, that became a key case study in understanding how political and economic factors—rather than sheer food shortage—can cause famine.
-
C.
Great Famine
The Great Famine was a catastrophic mid-19th-century potato blight in Ireland that caused mass starvation, disease, and a huge wave of emigration, particularly to North America.
-
D.
Russian famine of 1601–1603
The Russian famine of 1601–1603 was a catastrophic nationwide food crisis that killed hundreds of thousands and helped trigger the political chaos and dynastic struggles of Russia’s Time of Troubles.
-
E.
Great Famine of 1315–1317
The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was a devastating pan-European food crisis marked by widespread crop failures, mass starvation, and social upheaval that profoundly weakened medieval European society.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
disaster in British India
ⓘ
famine ⓘ historical event ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Chhiattōrer manvantar
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Great Bengal famine of 1770 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| cause |
crop failure
ⓘ
disruption of traditional grain markets ⓘ drought ⓘ failure of grain price regulation ⓘ flooding in previous years ⓘ land revenue policies of the East India Company ⓘ smallpox epidemic ⓘ speculation and hoarding of grain ⓘ |
| country | British India ⓘ |
| describedBySource |
East India Company records
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Indian vernacular chronicles ⓘ contemporary European accounts ⓘ |
| endTime | 1773 ⓘ |
| estimatedNumberOfDeaths |
1000000+
ⓘ
10000000 ⓘ |
| followedBy | subsistence crisis in Bengal in the late 18th century ⓘ |
| hasContext |
Diwani rights of East India Company in Bengal
ⓘ
early phase of British colonial rule in Bengal ⓘ |
| hasEffect |
abandonment of villages
ⓘ
agrarian crisis ⓘ decline in land revenue collection ⓘ economic disruption in Bengal Presidency ⓘ increase in banditry ⓘ mass starvation ⓘ population decline in Bengal ⓘ social dislocation ⓘ |
| languageOfName | English ⓘ |
| location |
Bengal
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Bengal Presidency NERFINISHED ⓘ Bihar NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
agrarian economy of Bengal
ⓘ
colonial economic policy ⓘ food shortage ⓘ |
| partOf |
history of Bengal
ⓘ
history of British India ⓘ |
| pointInTime | 1770 ⓘ |
| precededBy |
Battle of Buxar
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Battle of Plassey NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| significantYear | 1770 ⓘ |
| startTime | 1769 ⓘ |
| studiedIn |
colonial studies
ⓘ
economic history of India ⓘ environmental history ⓘ |
| under | rule of the British East India Company ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Bengal famine of 1770 Description of subject: The Bengal famine of 1770 was a catastrophic food crisis in the Bengal region of British India that killed millions and severely disrupted the agrarian economy under early colonial rule.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.