Rinderpest
Also called: Cattle plague · Topic: The Making of a Global World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "The Making of a Global World"
Meaning
Rinderpest, also called cattle plague, was a deadly disease of cattle. It reached Africa in the late 1880s with infected cattle brought from British Asia to feed Italian soldiers who were invading Eritrea. It entered Africa in the east and spread west "like forest fire". On the way it killed about 90% of the cattle. Africans depended on cattle for their living, so the disease helped Europeans force them to work for wages.
Example
Rinderpest reached Africa's Atlantic coast in 1892 and the Cape in the far south in 1897. Planters, mine owners and colonial governments took control of the few cattle that survived. Africans were left with no way to live except working on plantations and in mines.
Don't confuse with
- Smallpox in the Americas: this was a human disease that killed people in the Americas in the 16th century. Rinderpest killed cattle, not people.