Sharon -

Okay, so the "event" possibility has been thoroughly discussed. There is a _bug_ which causes farmers to make lousy judgment calls. They will farm empty soil when they should be fishing, and they just loooove those coconuts.

However, I *think* that even with a high (max, even?) population this _bug_ is not severe enough to cause mass starvation. As LadyCFII suggested, you can take a look at the game log.

If you haven't already done so, take a look at LadyCFII's very helpful post on backing up savegame files. Then, if you awaken to an empty village, you can always restore to a happier time.

Good luck!