How a French botanist brought famine to Madagascar by weaponizing a parasite
www.fedfedfed.com
France had spent centuries trying to establish a long-term colony on the island by the time he introduced the cochineal — with disastrous consequences for the Malagasy people |
The original post: /r/todayilearned by /u/Kintpuash-of-Kush on 2024-12-24 00:28:38.

Original Title: TIL in 1924 French colonists deliberately introduced an insect to Madagascar in order to kill off plants which native pastoralists used as food and animal feed - leading to a famine which killed hundreds and displaced thousands, but cleared land and made labor available for French sugar plantations