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Click on the links to read about droughts which have occurred throughout history.

Southwestern United States (1200-1300)
A prolonged drought brought an end to the advanced agricultural society developed there among Indian tribes. The only remains of this culture are cliff dwelling ruins throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, including a large free-standing structure at Casa Grande, Arizona. Historically, many other civilizations have perished because of drought, including the Harappa and Mohenjodaro cultures of the Indus Valley, and the Mali Empire of West Africa.

Midwestern United States (1932-37)
This devastating drought was caused by overuse and abuse of the American prairie lands. Before settlement, natural deep-rooted grasses could survive drought periods. But after people began moving westward, these grasses were plowed under to raise crops or overgrazed by free cattle. The soil was exposed to the prairie winds, which soon blew away the rich topsoil. Overproduction of wheat in 1931 caused a drop in prices. Economic depression, a late freeze, violent storms, insect plagues, and drought affected about 50 million acres of the Great Plains region. The first “black blizzards,” or dust storms, began in November 1933. Dust particles blocked out the sun for days at a time, forcing people to use indoor lights throughout the day. Dirt blew under windowsill and through door jambs, settling on everything, including food, water, and machinery. Farm wives tried stuffing rags into cracks to block out the dust. The drought continued for the next two years with no relief, and the affected area expanded north and eastward. Dust storms continued to blow. Dust particles were carried as far east as New York City and on ships at sea. About 350 million tons of soil was carried into the air and blown away. In the affected area, livestock died of suffocation and starvation while crops grew stunted and grow. Black drifts formed around homesteads, blocking highways and railroad lines. Airports were closed due to reduced visibility. Sand and silt scrubbed the paint off houses and automobiles. They also created huge electrical storms that had no rain. As many as a hundred separate dust storms were recorded in a single year in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. Hundreds died from respiratory problems, and thousands more migrated and abandoned their farms. In 1936, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, which allocated $500 million to relieve those farmers who started planting soil-building crops. This program helped stop overproduction of crops and the grain surpluses that were being depleted by the long drought. Large-scale agricultural and conservation education programs were created along with “shelter belts,” rows of trees planted as windbreaks. The drought finally ended by 1937. Good weather returned with rising post-Depression prices. The weather remained good and large crop harvests continued through the crucial World War II years that followed.

Northeastern United States (1961-1966)
Unusual weather conditions sent warm, moisture-laden tropical air eastward to drop its crucial water on the ocean instead of on land. As a result, the longest and most severe drought in modern American history hit fourteen northeastern states, some 7% of the continental United States, and 5 million people, or 28% of the population. The drought caused relatively little hardship compared to the drought of the 1930s. However, many scientists feel the drought was evidence of the potential problem facing almost every over-urbanized, over-industrialized, and overpopulated nation. If water reserves are limited and pollution reduces the usability of other natural resources, any similar decrease in rainfall and precipitation can cause serious and catastrophic drought situations. One out of every eight communities was forced to reduce its water usage. In addition, the regional water quality decreased as pollutants became concentrated in the topsoil, and salt water intruded up river systems into wells. Crops failed, affecting dairy farms and cranberry bogs. Industries that depended on water decreased production. Recreational water activities became limited. Record forest fires also occurred during 1963. The drought finally ended after heavy snowfalls in 1966-67. Conditions returned to normal by spring, but hydrologists warned that another such drought could come again any time within the next 200 years. In fact, another drought did hit large areas of the Northeast in the mid-1980s.

The Sahel, Central Africa (1965 to present)
Hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) of people have died as a result of the extended drought throughout the huge semi-arid transition zone between the Sahara Desert and Equatorial Africa. Nomadic herdsmen have suffered famine, starvation, dislocation, and political strife as a result of the drought. Some 200,000 have died in Ethiopia, along with countless cattle. This, together with government inaction, led to an army rebellion against Emperor Haile Selassie. The streets of Timbuktu were swept full of sand. Many desert tribes, like the Tuaregs now found their lives changed forever. The drought is thought to represent evidence of a general global cooling off, a major climatic cycle change that could affect the entire world. Other meteorologists think the drought is only a local phenomenon caused by land over-usage. According to this hypothesis, the drought was caused by cattle and goat herds, which stripped away plants and increasing ground reflectivity. This caused more sunlight to be radiated into space. This atmospheric reheating produced dry, hot air layers above the ground, drying it out and discouraging rain cloud formation. Ironically, these large herds were made possible by a deep-water well network drilled by several Western countries to help the native people become self-sufficient.

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