History/Social Studies

Introduction to Climate in Human History 

Climate events have played a major role in shaping the course of human history. Numerous examples of such events are listed below, and their impacts on human history are explored in this learning resource.

The drop-down menus below contain links to in-site webpages developed by the Smith College Climate in Arts and History team. The display below features selected images from these pages. The Exploration (In Progress) menu lists additional topics that are in development to become full-length entries. 

Abbreviations:
  • BCE = Before Common Era
  • CE = Common Era
  • c. = circa (approximately)
Map of the region where the green corridors appeared, including northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean (from Zittis, 2015).
Migration of Early Homo Sapiens Out of East Africa (c. 100,000 BCE)
Map of the Bering Strait and the Bering Land Bridge over time (Cal years BP: “calibrated years before the present” or “calendar years before the present”) (from Wood, 2020).
Migration of Humans into the Americas (c. 14,000 BCE)
Maps of the settlements of the Indus River Valley Civilization over time. Red dots represent towns and villages and white dots represent major cities. Notice how civilizations migrated east and how the number of cities decreased over time. Note that the years on the map are in years BP rather than BCE (from Nield 2020).
Decline of the Indus River Valley Civilization (c. 3300-1300 BCE)
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Decline of the Mycenaean Civilization (1250-1050 BCE)
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Rise and Fall of the Western Roman Empire (285–476 CE)
A scene depicting a harvest at the tomb of Petosiris, a high priest of Thoth, at Tuna el-Gebel, Egypt, from the Ptolemaic era (From De Agostini/Getty Images via St. Fleur, 2017).
Nile River Flood Failure in Ptolemaic Ancient Egypt (c. 300 BCE)
An illustration of a Viking longship (from Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017).
Vikings and the Establishment of Norse Settlements in Greenland and North America (c. 986-1000)
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The Great Dying (c. 1520 – 1700 CE)
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The Roanoke Colony (1587–1588)
An overhead view of St. Croix Island, which today is an International Historic Site (from Visit Maine).
The Abandoned French Colonization of St. Croix Island, Maine (1604–1607)
The burning of a witch in Vienna, Austria in 1538 by Ullstein Bild (from Little, 2018).
Witch Trials (c. 1500–1700)
The Great Fire of London (1797) by Philip-James de Loutherbourg, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut (from Heathcote, 2016).
The Great Fire of London (1666)
An illustration of people trying to purchase the limited amounts of food during the bread riots that lead to the French Revolution in 18th century France; Universal Images Group, Christophel Fine Arts (from McIlvenna, 2019).
The French Revolution (1789–1799)
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Wildfires (recent)
Screen Shot 2023-06-07 at 2.17.35 PM
Sea level rise and coastal flooding (recent)
STRIDE - GFC women
The Global Food Crisis (1972-1975)
The extreme heat in 2015 in the capital of India, New Delhi, melted the roads (from DW News).
Heat Waves (recent)
Image of a ski resort in France where the snow was dyed red from the Saharan dust (Finch for Accuweather 2022)
Saharan Dust Clouds (recent)
Photograph of flooded highway in California, U.S. after heavy winter storms in 2023. The state’s flood control system was overwhelmed by the intense precipitation, and many low-lying and flat areas were inundated (Bittle, 2023).
Atmospheric Rivers (current)
Thomas Phillips, unknown. Engraving of Sir John Franklin, 1845. Engraving on paper. D. Brogue. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA.
The Arctic Expedition of Sir John Franklin (1845 – 1848)
American Progress (1872) by John Gast. This painting symbolizes the belief of Manifest Destiny. Columbia, the female figure of America, leads Americans into the West. She is carrying the values of republicanism, as shown by her Roman garb, and progress, as shown by technological innovations like the telegraph and trains. In front of her, Indigenous Peoples and animals are forced into the darkness.
The Dust Bowl (c. 1930-1940)
Photograph of orchard in San Joaquin Valley, California in April 2021 after a year of historically low winter precipitation (Overpeck, 2021). Normally, this area is very productive and a major exporter of fruit and nuts.
Southwestern United States Megadrought (2000-present)
Artistic depiction of Genghis Khan riding a horse into battle (from Plester, 2012). Warm and wet climate conditions in the Central Asian steppes between 1211 and 1225 lead to an increase in vegetation which supported horses used by Mongol armies in their conquest of Eurasia.
The Expansion of the Mongol Empire (c. 1200s)
Caspar David Friedrich, German, 1774–1840. Woman in Front of Setting Sun, c. 1818. Oil paint on canvas. Acquisition was funded by the German Center for The Loss of Cultural Property. MUSEUM FOLKWANG.
The Eruption of Mount Tambora (1815-1818)
A potato infected with Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight (Stromberg, 2013, Smithsonian).
Social and Political Turmoil in Ireland (c. 1542–1850)
Map of the spread of the Black Death in Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East (from Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020).
The Black Death (c. early to mid 1300s)

This illustration shows temperature variations (in ℃) over the last 11,000 years and some corresponding events in human history (from “Climate in Human History” in Prothero, Donald R., and Robert H. Dott. Evolution of the Earth. 8th ed, McGraw-Hill, 2010).

Prehistory: Human Evolution and Migration (3 million years ago-3000 BCE)

Ancient Civilizations (5000 BCE-1200 CE)

Asia
Europe
The Americas
The Near East

Transition into the Little Ice Age (800-1500 CE)

Atlantic Ocean
The Little Ice Age
Modern Age (1800s CE-present)

Prehistory: Human Evolution and Migration (3 million years ago-3000 BCE)

  • Disappearance of Ancient Hominids in Europe (c. 1.1 million years ago)
  • Evolution and Diversification of Hominids in East Africa (c. 100,000 BCE)
  • Domestication of the Dog (c. 12,000 BCE)
  • Rise of Plant and Livestock Domestication in Western Asia (c. 9000 – 7000 BCE)
  • Decline of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Cultures (c. 6500 BCE)
  • End of the African Humid Period and Formation of the Sahara Desert (c. 3500 BCE)
  • Neolithic Dispersals

Ancient Civilizations (5000 BCE-1200 CE)

Africa
  • Rise and Fall of Civilizations in Northern Africa
  • Megadrought and Collapse of Old Kingdom Egypt (c. 2200-1900 BCE)
Asia
  • Collapse of the Liangzhu Civilization (c. 2500 – 2300 BCE)
  • Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)
  • Rise and Fall of the Tang Dynasty (618 CE – 906 CE)
Europe
  • Hannibal’s Crossing of the Alps (218 CE)
The Americas
  • Development of the First City-States (c.3000 BCE)
The Near East
  • Development of the First Great Civilizations in the Fertile Crescent and Their Agricultural Practices (c. 5000-4000 BCE)
  • Rise of Highly Complex, Centralized Governments (e.g., the Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian kings) (c. 3000 BCE)
  • Megadrought and Collapse of the Akkadian Empire (c. 2200-1900 BCE)
  • Collapse of the Hittite Empire (c. 1160 BCE)
  • Collapse of the Assyrian Empire (c. 600 BCE)
  • Decline of the Eastern Roman Empire (c. 540 CE)

Transition into the Little Ice Age (800-1500 CE)

Asia
  • Abandonment of the Mughul city Fatehpur Sikri in India (1585) 
Atlantic Ocean
  • Establishment of Icelandic Settlements (865-930)
North America
  • Rise and Fall of the City-State of Cahokia (1050-1350)
  • History of the Anasazi Puebloans in the American Southwest (1271-1285)
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Relationships to Climate (Pre-Colonialism) 
Pacific Ocean
  • Polynesian Voyaging and Settlement of Eastern Pacific Islands (c. 800 – 1500)
Africa
  • Egyptian Famine (1784)
Arctic
  • Expansion of the Whaling Industry (c. 1500 – 1800)
Colonial America
  • Pilgrims’ First Winter (1620)
  • Economies of the Thirteen Colonies
  • Pequot War (1636)
  • King Philip’s War (1675-1676)
  • Native American Raids (c. late 1600s)
  • Winter Encampment at Valley Forge (1777-1778)
  • Signing of the Treaty of Paris (1784)
  • Impact of Colonization on Climate and Indigenous Peoples
  • Climatic and Environmental Knowledge of the Northeast as an Advantage in Indigenous Resistance to Colonization 
Europe
  • Russian Famine (1601-1603)

Modern Age (1800s CE – present)

Global
  • Cholera Epidemic (1816 – 1823)
  • Influenza Pandemic (1918-1919)
  • Climate and Physical Health (recent)
  • Earthquakes and Volcanic Activity (recent)
  • Food and Agriculture (recent)
  • Human and Animal Conflicts (recent)
  • Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples Globally (recent)
  • Severe Storms (recent)
  • Shutdown of Ocean Circulation in the Atlantic Ocean (recent)
Asia
  • Chinese Opium Trade (early 1800s)
Europe
  • British Search for the Northwest Passage (1819 – 1845)
  • Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912)
The United States
  • Manifest Destiny (1800s)
  • Western Migration (c. 1816)
  • Relations with Indigenous Peoples (c. 1816)
  • The Panic of 1819
  • Stranding of the Donner Party (1846)
  • The Homestead Act of 1862 (1862)
  • The Great Depression (1929-1940)
  • The Okie Migration (1930-1940)
  • The New Deal (1933-1939) 

Books

  • Brooke, J.L. Climate Change and the Course if Global History: A Rough Journey. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  • Dartnell, L. Origins: How Earth’s History Shaped Human History. Basic Books, New York, 2019.
  • Lieberman, B. and Gordon E. Climate Change in Human History: Prehistory to the Present. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
  • Prothero, D. R. and Dott, R. H. Evolution of the Earth (8th ed). New York, McGraw-Hill Education, 2010.
  • Wood, G. D. Tambora: The Eruption that Changed the World. Princeton University Press. 2014.

Websites

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