America (1930s) (submitted by Anonymous; added on 8/20/2000)
In the 1800s, Americans began moving westward to develop the fertile Great Plains states. The soil in the area was rich, and the farms that settled there became large and fruitful. In the 1930s, however, drought began to plague the region. The rain stopped coming. 1930 was one of the driest years on record. Crops began to fail. And worse yet, the drought didn’t end. It stayed until 1936 (and 1940 in some areas), affecting much of the entire nation with terrible devastation. As the crops died, many farming families were left without a means for survival. They began to migrate westward, to coastal regions where conditions were not as bad. These families were nicknamed the "Okies," because so many of them came from Oklahoma, one of the hardest-hit states. The drought also caused terrible dust storms. Because the crops and other vegetation died out, they left behind bare earth that was swept up in the wind. These dust storms were known as black blizzards because of the way they turned the sky black when they swept by. Containing millions of tons of dark soil and earth, they blew across the plains and down city streets. They covered automobiles, homes, and people with thick layers of dust. Some people choked to death while others wore gas masks for protection. Thousands of cattle and farm animals also died. It is from these huge dust storms that the decade got the nickname, the "dirty thirties." The areas of the Great Plains hardest hit came to be called the "Dust Bowl."

India (1700s and 1800s) (submitted by Anonymous; added on 8/20/2000)
India has seen more than its share of droughts. India depends on seasonal monsoons for its rainstorms. When these winds don’t blow, rain doesn’t fall and crops fail. This was the case in 1769 and 1770, when a terrible drought hit India. Epidemics of disease also attacked, taking the lives of many people who were already weakened by starvation and dehydration. By the end, 10 million people had perished. A hundred years later, in 1865 and 1866, another drought hit the country, taking another 10 million lives.

China (1876 to 1879) (submitted by Anonymous; added on 8/20/2000)
China is dependent on monsoons for rain. Millions of people were killed in a drought in northern China in 1876 through 1879. Perhaps as many as 13 million died over a period of four years.

Africa (1960s to 1980s) (submitted by Anonymous; added on 8/20/2000)
Recently, no place on earth has been more devastated by drought and famine than Africa, especially the Sahel region, a narrow stretch of land in the north. Because it is a semi-dry area on the border of the Saharan desert, it is sensitive to weather changes and is susceptible to drought. Indeed, a more-severe-than-normal drought occurred there in the late 1960s. It lasted for most of the decade, ending in the mid-1970s and taking 200,000 lives. More than 30 million farm animals also died during this time. Several other areas of Africa were also struck by drought in the 1980s, causing a mass famine that lasted much of the decade and took thousands more lives.