1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,600 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all. Eves here were doubling up today with two 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: events in history on with the show Hey, I'm Eaves 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: and Welcome to This Day in History class, a show 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: that uncovers history one day at a time. The day 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: was February three, nineteen seventy two. Iran had endured a 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,919 Speaker 1: four year drought, but on this day, an intense blizzard 7 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 1: started in Iran and didn't end for a week. All 8 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: over Iran, people were buried beneath the snow. The snowstorm 9 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: was the deadliest one in recorded history. Iran generally has 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: a pretty hot and dry climate, but snow is no 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: stranger to the mountainous areas of the country. This snowstorm, though, 12 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: hit northwest, central and southern Iran. There had been smaller 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: storms in January, but this one was so powerful that 14 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: it buried two hundred villages. From February three until February nine, 15 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: the snow storm ripped across the country, burying the land 16 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: in ten to six ft or three to eight meters 17 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: of snow. Iran was not prepared for this disaster, and 18 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: the storm was devastating. Temperatures got down to minus thirteen 19 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: fahrenheit or minus twenty five degrees celsius in some places, 20 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: causing pipes to freeze and a shortage of water. Cable 21 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: and telephone line snapped, roads were cut off, people were 22 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: trapped in cars and froze to death. US sources reported 23 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: that an American college student and two of her friends 24 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: who had been mountain climbing near Tehran when the storm hit, 25 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: were missing, and the five person team who went to 26 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: look for them also vanished in the search. And as 27 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: if the destruction caused by the snow weren't enough, a 28 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: flu was spreading through snowbound villages, killing some people and 29 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:21,399 Speaker 1: without water, food, heat, and medical assistance, some people who 30 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: had managed to survive the Wizard died from lack of resources. 31 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: When the snow let up on February nine, rescue workers 32 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: got the chance to go by helicopter out to places 33 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: where trains, cars, and entire towns have been buried by snowfall. 34 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: What they found was grim. In one case, a search 35 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,679 Speaker 1: team reached a village near the border of Turkey where 36 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: one people had lived, but the village at the bottom 37 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: of the Zagars Mountains was empty. They didn't find anybody 38 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: there alive, but they did find eighteen bodies buried in 39 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: the snow. On February eleven, another blizzard started up. Army 40 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: helicopters had dropped bread and dates in the hopes that 41 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: people would reach them, but many never did. Newspapers at 42 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: the time put the number of missing people at six thousand, 43 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: but it's thought today that around four thousand people died 44 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: because of the snowstorm. Most of those deaths were recorded 45 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: in a near arcticon in central Iran. I'm Eaves, Steff Coote, 46 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 47 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. You can subscribe to This Day 48 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: in History class on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, 49 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you here 50 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: in the same place tomorrow. Hey y'all, I'm Eaves, and 51 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: welcome to this Day in History class, where we uncover 52 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: a new layer of history every day. The day was 53 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: February three, nineteen fifty three. Portuguese landowners and colonial officials 54 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: killed hundreds of Creole workers in South Tomay in an 55 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: event that became known as the Batpa Massacre. The Portuguese 56 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: arrived at the islands of salth Tomay in Principal sometime 57 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: around fourteen seventy Alvaro Cominia got a land grant from 58 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: the Portuguese crown and established a successful community on South 59 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: Toomay in fourteen ninety three. As they attempted to colonize 60 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: the islands, they brought in many convicts, Jewish people who 61 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: had been expelled from Portugal, children who have been separated 62 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: from their parents, as well as enslaved Africans. Those enslaved 63 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: Africans were forced to work the land, turning the fertile 64 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: volcanic soil into sugar plantations. By the mid sixteenth century, 65 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: sal Tomay had become a major ex order of sugar, 66 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: but sugar cultivation soon declined on the island due to competition, 67 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: and an enslaved man named Amador brought together thousands of 68 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: enslaved people on the island in Fife in a revolt 69 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: that destroyed many plantations, sugar mills, and houses. As the 70 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: economy declined and many plantation owners left the island, sal 71 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: Tomay became a stop for ships engaged in the slave trade. 72 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,840 Speaker 1: By the early eighteen hundreds, coffee and cacao had displaced 73 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: sugar as Saltmay's cash crops. By the beginning of the 74 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: twentieth century, sal Tomay had become the world's largest producer 75 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: of cocao. Portuguese companies in absentee landlords owned huge plantations 76 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: called hostas that occupied all productive farmland. Even though Portugal 77 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: had officially abolished slavery in its African colonies by this time, 78 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: the practice of forced paid labor continued. This system essentially 79 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: operated as slavery. The Portuguese brought in contract laborers from 80 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 1: Cape Verde and Gola, Mozambique, and other parts of the 81 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: empire against their will and without repatriating them. Though the 82 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: laborers were technically free after purchase, they were bound to 83 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: contracts that were automatically renewed once they expired. They could 84 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: also be sold or inherited. Working conditions were poor and 85 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: laborers were abused, and the children of these laborers were 86 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: born into the system, but the system required new labor 87 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: constantly since birth rates were low and mortality rates were high. 88 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: People around the world took notice of the corruption and 89 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,119 Speaker 1: abuse that was taking place on the plantations in South 90 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: to May, and some boycotted products from the island. After 91 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: World War One ended, hospitals were added to the hostess 92 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: and cacao production declined, Still, abuse continued on the plantations 93 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: that remained, and social unrest persisted. A language developed on 94 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: the island that became known as Foho Creole. Descendants of 95 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: Portuguese colonists and enslaved Africans became known as Foe hosts. 96 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: Posts refused to do field work, as they considered it 97 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: beneath them and only fit for enslaved people or contract laborers. 98 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: But as a plantations faced labor shortages, Foe hosts feared 99 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: that they would be forced to do contract labor. Intension 100 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: between the colonial government and fo hosts escalated. This culminated 101 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: in the Botepa massacre on February third, ninety three. As 102 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: Foho protesters gathered that day in Botepa, the Portuguese moved 103 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: to crush what they deemed a communist rebellion. Militia's Portuguese 104 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: planters and colonial authorities tortured and killed hundreds of Foe hosts. 105 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: Many photosts were taken to a forced labor camp, and 106 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: other prominent Phoe hosts and sympathetic planters were sent to Principe. 107 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: Though it's likely that hundreds of people died, the exact 108 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: number of deaths is unclear. The massacre marks a pivotal 109 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: moment in the nationalist movement on Sal Tomay and Principe. 110 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: The event led to the formation of the Committee for 111 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: the Liberation of Sal Tomay and Principe. In July of nine, 112 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: the islands gained their independence. I'm Eve Jefco and hopefully 113 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 114 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: did it yesterday. If you're hungry for more history, you 115 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 116 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: d i h C Podcast, and you can email us 117 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: at This Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks 118 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: for going on this trip through history with us. We'll 119 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: see you again tomorrow with another episode.