Human cannibalism

practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings

14 dated entries naming Human cannibalism, drawn from 14 separate years between 14 CE and 1972 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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1st century

14Famine hits China; some citizens turn to cannibalism.source

2nd century

177The churches in southern Gaul are destroyed after a crowd accuses the local Christians of practicing cannibalism.source

8th century

757Battle of Suiyang: A Tang garrison (7,000 men) under Zhang Xun defend their fortress against the rebel army at Suiyang. Zhang makes multiple attempts to get food from nearby fortresses, but this is refused. After a desperate 10-month siege, Suiyang is overrun by rebel forces who take the city. Because of famine an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 citizens are cannibalized, only 400 people are left.source
761A great Chinese famine in the Huai-Yangtze area, late in the year, drives many people to cannibalism (approximate date).source

9th century

873August 15 – Emperor Yi Zong (Li Cuī) dies after a 13-year reign. He is succeeded by his 11-year-old son Xi Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty. During his reign, a widespread failure of the agricultural harvest leads to famine (which causes people to resort to cannibalism) and agrarian rebellions.source

11th century

1098December 12 – Siege of Ma'arra: The Crusaders capture the city of Ma'arra after a month's siege and massacre part of the population. Short of supplies, the army is accused of widespread cannibalism.source

12th century

1190March 25 – Conrad of Montferrat sails south with a Crusader fleet (some 50 ships) from Tyre. As Conrad's fleet approaches the harbour of Acre, an equally sized Muslim fleet sorties out to meet the Crusaders in open battle. Eventually, the Ayyubid fleet is blockaded (supported by Danish and Pisan ships) in the port. Acre is again cut off from reinforcements; the city's supplies are exhausted, and the Muslim garrison has to resort to eating their own beasts. In the event, troops are driven to cannibalism.source

16th century

1528In Henan province, China, during the mid Ming dynasty, a vast drought deprives the region of harvests for the next two years, killing off half the people in some communities, due to starvation and cannibalism.source
1531A severe drought in Henan province, China, coupled with a gigantic swarm of locusts in the summer, forces many in destitute agricultural communities to turn to cannibalism to avoid dying by starvation.source
1551In Henan province, China, during the Ming dynasty, a severe frost in the spring destroys the winter wheat crop. Torrential rains in mid summer cause massive flooding of farmland and villages (by some accounts submerged in a metre of water). In the fall, a large tornado demolishes houses and flattens much of the buckwheat in the fields. Famine victims either flee, starve, or resort to cannibalism. This follows a series of natural disasters in Henan in the years 1528, 1531, 1539, and 1545.source

19th century

1820November 20 – After the sinking of the American whaleship Essex of Nantucket, by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean, the survivors are left afloat in three small whaleboats. They eventually resort, by common consent, to cannibalism to allow some to survive.source
1867July – The Reverend Thomas Baker, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary (born in Playden, East Sussex, England) is cooked and eaten by Navatusila tribespeople at Nabutautau, Fiji, together with eight of his local followers, the only missionary in that country to suffer cannibalism.source
1884December 9 – Tom Dudley and Edwin Stephens are convicted of murder in the survival cannibalism case of R v. Dudley and Stephens in the English courts.source

20th century

1972October 13 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571: A Fairchild FH-227D passenger aircraft transporting a rugby union team crashes at about 14000 ft m in the Andes mountain range, near the Argentina/Chile border. Sixteen of the survivors are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive.source