In many of
my articles and presentations I emphasize the importance of recognizing the
Little Ice Age with regard to family history research.
The Little
Ice Age is the name given to the cold period that lasted from about 1300 to
1850. It followed the benign, 400-year long Medieval Warm Period and predated
the Modern Warm Period which we are presently experiencing.
The Hunters in the Snow –
painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, ca 1565
The
Medieval Warm Period began about 900 AD, and was a time when:
·
Temperatures
around the world rose.
·
Weather
was generally stable, particularly in Europe.
·
Growing
conditions were favourable for long periods.
·
Arable
land expanded.
·
Towns
were established.
·
Population
grew.
In
contrast, during the Little Ice Age:
·
Growing seasons were shortened. Snow
stayed longer in the spring and frosts came earlier. Drought was common.
Weather was unstable.
·
Arable lands were significantly reduced
in extent. Those with poor soil and at higher elevations became unsatisfactory
for cultivation or suitable only for pasture.
·
Much of the land cultivated during the
Medieval Warm Period was abandoned during the period of the Little Ice Age and
has never seen agricultural activity since.
·
There was a substantial increase in
landless people, unemployment and poverty.
These
factors resulted in less food production and higher prices for what was
available, which caused even more stress on the populace. With the unstable
weather, cold and reduction in arable land, back-to-back harvest failures
became more frequent, resulting in repeated subsistence crises, including major
famines.
That became
a serious problem for a rising population adding to the problem of sufficient
food production. These elements would all have affected lives and livelihoods,
indeed, the very survival of people.
Much of
what we seek in terms of records having information about our ancestors comes
from the period of the 14th to 19th centuries. The harsh
physical conditions of the Little Ice Age would thus have had significant
impact on the way people carried out their daily activities and raised their
families.
Temperatures in the Northern
Hemisphere, from Climate, History and the Modern World (1995) by Hubert
lamb
In order to
construct detailed and realistic family histories, it is valuable to know
something about the conditions under which people lived and worked.
I offer many examples of how Mother Nature was
involved with the lives of people in my published
articles and in my presentations.
The more I look, the more instances I find where natural phenomena were part of
the stories of my ancestors’ lives. And the fact that so many of these factors
negatively affected the environment during the Little Ice Age makes that time
period of particular importance to family history studies.
