| The period between 1695
- 1697 was notorious for its crop-failures and famine in
Estonia, Livonia and also Ingermanland. The people were
wont to call it "the long famine".
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The crops failed several years running and it was a
catastrophe for the area the main sustenance of which
was grain. About 70 000 people, i.e. 20 per cent of the
whole population died from famine and epidemics.
Tallinn was the centre of
grain trade in Estonia and it was the main source of
income for the town. Thus in 1697 the economic situation
had gone from bad to worse and there was only grain to
feed the people. The trade subsided completely. Hungry
fugitives crowded the town and brought along diseases
and epidemics. In 1697 typhus broke out and ravaged the
town till September. Special squads were formed to
patrol the town-gates and send back the healthy,
directing the sick to the town hospitals. The dead were
buried In big common graves dug in the suburbs. |
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