Great Plains, 1930 An ongoing drought led to severe dust storms that spread across North America’s Great Plains, ruining the livelihood of farmers. The affected area was known as the Dust Bowl.
Britain, 1936 People marched against poverty and unemployment in northeast England.
Seattle, 1932
The value of shares on the Wall Street stock market fell rapidly, marking the start of the Great Depression.
Seattle
One of the largest “Hoovervilles” (see key) sprang up near the port of Seattle.
Dust Bowl
Detroit
TED U N I ES OF T STA ERICA AM
Migration to California, 1932
Riots erupted in Paris as people Detroit, 1930 tried to bring down Businesses across the US laid off workers, what they believed was a corrupt including those in the government. automobile industry in Detroit.
SPAIN
AL GE
RI
A
War broke out between a government that wanted to combat poverty and the army and landowners, who wanted to keep things as they were.
A
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BR
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Chile, 1930 Out-of-work tin miners lined up outside “soup kitchens,” which were handing out free food. Santiago
CHILE
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FRANCE
Spain, 1936–39
How did it happen?
An American family left homeless by the Depression
GERM
France, 1934
New York
Thousands of farmers migrated from the Dust Bowl to find work in California.
During the 1920s, the economy of the world expanded greatly, as farmers, factories, and other businesses produced more and more, believing there was an ever-growing market for their goods. Meanwhile, many people in the US bought stocks and shares in those businesses, hoping that they would earn a share of the profits. But eventually the expansion slowed, producers found they could not sell their goods, and companies started going bankrupt. This led to job losses and poverty.
UK
New York, 1929
NORTH AMERICA
SOUTH AMERICA
Algeria, 1937 A famine affected landless peasants displaced by European settlers; 1937 is still remembered as the “Year of Great Hunger.”
Brazil, 1937 The Depression caused the price of coffee to fall. This forced the government to burn some of it to increase its scarcity and its value.
“I see nothing to give ground to hope— nothing of man.” Calvin Coolidge, US president, 1923–29, speaking during the Great Depression in 1932
BEFORE THE START OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, THERE WERE 25,000
