Russia experienced a famine from 1601 to 1603 after extremely poor harvests, with nighttime temperatures in the summer months often below freezing. The famine is believed to have been caused by the Little Ice Age, also a cause of the General Crisis; a probable cause of the Little Ice Age was the eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru in 1600. Mass starvation led to the death of about two million Russians, one-third of the population. The government distributed money and food to poor people in Moscow, leading to refugees flooding into the capital and increasing economic disorganization. Rural districts were desolated by famine and plague.