How the Little Ice Age Changed History

Most people imagine cavemen, woolly mammoths, and enormous ice plains when they think about ice ages, such as those that occurred during the Pleistocene (approximately 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) or the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods (about 300 million years ago). Mile-high ice sheets covered vast sections of continents during various periods of Earth’s history, and their presence has influenced weather and temperature around the globe.

Indeed, evidence exists to suggest that during one prehistoric time, the Cryogenian (approximately 720 million to 635 million years ago), the entire world was either frozen in ice or covered in ice with only a thin sheet of slush around the Equator. Consider Europa or Enceladus now.

However, the intensity of the Little Ice Age, which lasted from the early 14th century to the mid-nineteenth century, was not as severe as the old ice ages. After all, during the Little Ice Age, human civilisation prospered and spread as various civilizations sent ships to explore, occupy, and exploit new regions.

The Little Ice Age affect the Middle Ages

Many experts believe that a reversal of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a large-scale atmospheric-circulation pattern across the North Atlantic and neighbouring areas, caused the Little Ice Age in Europe. The NAO is thought to have a significant impact on European winter weather. The route of North Atlantic storms is broadly concentrated over the British Isles and northern Europe during its “positive” phase, which is marked by a powerful subtropical high-pressure cell over the Azores and a low-pressure cell over Iceland.

Moisture is pushed toward the Mediterranean during the NAO’s “negative” phase, which is defined by a weak high-pressure cell over the Azores and a weak low-pressure cell over Iceland, and cold Arctic air from Russia travels over northern Europe. Changes in the NAO phases may explain some of the climate variability throughout the Little Ice Age, as well as known cooler-than-normal periods in several European regions.

Explosive volcanic eruptions, such as those of Laki in Iceland in 1783 and Tambora on Sumbawa Island in 1815, may have influenced cool conditions in different parts of the world during the Little Ice Age. Gases and ash are propelled into the stratosphere by explosive eruptions, where they reflect incoming solar energy.

As a result, they’ve been connected to a period of lower global average temperature that could last a few years. Some scientists believe that volcanic activity will strengthen and lengthen the NAO’s negative phase, bringing cooler weather to northern Europe. Other experts, on the other hand, believe that explosive eruptions are linked to greater winter temperatures in northern Europe.

Effects on civilization

The consequences of the Little Ice Age are well known throughout Europe and the North Atlantic region. Alpine glaciers have receded far beyond their previous (and present) bounds, obliterating farms, churches, and villages in Switzerland, France, and other countries. Crop failures and famines devastated most of northern and central Europe as a result of frequent cold winters and cool, wet summers. Furthermore, as ocean temperatures dropped in the 17th century, the North Atlantic cod fisheries collapsed.

As pack ice and storminess in the North Atlantic grew in the early 15th century, Norse settlements in Greenland were shut off from the rest of Norse civilization; the western colony died of hunger, while the eastern colony was abandoned. When the southern boundary of sea ice extended to encircle the island and seal it in ice for longer and longer periods of the year, Iceland became increasingly isolated from Scandinavia. Sea ice coverage increased from nil before the year 1200 to eight weeks in the thirteenth century and 40 weeks in the nineteenth century.

As drier conditions set in and a shift from agriculture to hunting occurred in North America between 1250 and 1500, Native American cultures in the upper Mississippi valley and western plains began to deteriorate. In Japan, glaciers expanded, the average winter temperature fell by 3.5 degrees Celsius (6.3 degrees Fahrenheit), and summers were marked by excessive rains and poor harvests.

Little Ice Age Causes

The exact cause of the Little Ice Age is unknown; however, climatologists believe that diminished solar output, changes in atmospheric circulation, and explosive volcanism may have all played a part in its onset and extension.

Impact on Economy

There were other examples of economic consequences from the extreme cooling of the environment, including higher grain costs and lower wine production. Many farmsteads were destroyed owing to starvation, storms, and glacier growth, resulting in lower tax income due to the decreasing value of the properties (Lamb, 1995.)

As the cod went further south, fishing became much more difficult, particularly for Scottish anglers. Between 1675 and 1704, the Faeroe Islands’ cod fishery began to deteriorate around 1615, and it was completely shut down for thirty years (Lamb, 1995.) The gold mines of the Archbishop of Salzburg, who was one of the empire’s wealthiest dukes, were shut down by rising glaciers in the Austrian Alps’ Hohe Tauern highlands. The workers’ inability to rely on work in the mines over the course of two or three disastrous summers forced them to look for work elsewhere, bringing the mining operations to a halt (Bryson, 1977.)

Not all of the economic consequences were negative. Fishermen in the late 1400s are considered to have discovered the prolific fishing grounds of today’s Newfoundland Banks while searching for fish stocks that had fled their prior grounds due to the flow of cooler seas from the north (Lamb, 1995.)

The southern relocation of herring, which is generally found in the waters off Norway, helped English fishermen. This expansion in deep-sea fishing contributed to the country’s maritime population and strength (Lamb, 1995.) Crop failure in Norway between 1680 and 1720 was a major factor in the country’s rapid rise of merchant ships. When their crops failed, coastal farmers shifted to selling their lumber and building ships to transport it themselves (Lamb, 1995.)

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the Little Ice Age was not a formal ice age, it was a significant phenomenon connected with a range of climatic changes affecting many different parts of the globe. Because the climate of the Earth changes frequently over time, this chilly 450-year period was far from unique. There have also been warm periods.

One example is the recent warming that began after the Little Ice Age ended and continues to this day (due to a combination of natural and human influences). Another example is the widely contested mediaeval warm era (another period of relative warmth) that lasted from 900 to 1300 CE, according to some experts. Unlike the Little Ice Age and contemporary periods of warming, however, there is considerable debate over the scope of the mediaeval warm period, as well as whether it occurred at all.