EnvironmentEurope

The Little Ice Age

Jan 1, 1550 – Jan 1, 1750

A couple of cold degrees that brought famine and revolt

In depth

The seventeenth century is called the "general crisis": civil war in England, the Fronde in France, the fall of the Ming in China and revolts in the Ottoman empire coincided in time. The historian Geoffrey Parker links them to climate, with food shortage as the trigger. Witch trials peaked in the same decades, often after failed harvests.

For children

For two centuries summers were colder and wetter across much of the globe. Harvests failed, rivers froze, and glacier fronts in Norway took farms. Famine and revolt followed in many countries at once.

Connects to

The American population collapseJan 1, 1520 – Jan 1, 1600
The Thirty Years' War and the Peace of WestphaliaJan 1, 1618 – Jan 1, 1648
The Qing dynastyJan 1, 1644 – Jan 1, 1912
The English Civil WarJan 1, 1642 – Jan 1, 1651

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org