about that global warming stuff | Emergency Preparedness | Forums

Here's an interesting op-ed by a history professor at Ohio State about the effects of the last mini ice age in the 17th century...

http://www.nytimes.c......html?_r=0

KVR said
thanks Ash, will read that later, IIRC wasn't the last one basically the cause behind the dark ages?

I'm not a history major, but usually the middle or dark ages refers to the time period starting with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 6th century and the Italian Renaissance in the 13th century.

Until today I had no idea there was a mini ice age in the 1600's. It puts colonization of the "New World", in a whole new light, though. There were already wars between Catholics and Protestants, and outbreaks of smallpox and plagues that would have been exacerbated by bad harvests and famines, probably caused by climate. There were probably a good number of potential colonists that were wiling to leave their homes because they were tired of the wars, diseases and famines.

The article is interesting because it even talks about the effects in China and Japan.  I took a Eastern Civilization course in college, but they never framed the events in the light of climate change.