The Great Plague (Ii)

Years of drought and locust infestation coupled with the outbreak of rinderpest along with a surge in human disease resulted in up to 20% of the Protectorate’s population perishing, along with most of the territory’s livestock and much of the wildlife.

A long-term outcome of these tribulations was an expansion in the flow of migrant labour out of the Protectorate. As bad became worse the Protectorate’s Annual report for 1897/98 noted that the territory was “flooded by both white and coloured persons calling themselves Labour Agents.”