Abbreviations:
BCE = Before Common Era
CE = Common Era
c. = circa (approximately)
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 teaching resource.

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)
- Evolution and Diversification of Hominids in East Africa (c. 100,000 BCE)
- Migration of Early Homo Sapiens out of East Africa (c. 100,000 BCE)
- Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE)
- Migration of Humans into the Americas (c. 14,000 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
Asia
- Decline of Society in the Indus River Valley (c. 3000 BCE)
- Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE)
Europe
- Decline of the Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1250-1050 BCE)
- Hannibal’s Crossing of the Alps (218 CE)
- Rise and Fall of the Western Roman Empire (285-476 CE)
The Americas
- Development of the First City-States (c. 3000 BCE)
- Beginning and End of the Maya Classic Period (c. 250-900 CE)
- Dark Age in Maya Civilization (c. 540-640 CE)
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 Old Kingdom Egypt (c. 2200-1900 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)
- Nile River Flood Failure in Ptolemaic Ancient Egypt (c. 300 BCE)
Transition into the Little Ice Age (800-1500 CE)
Asia
- Expansion of the Mongol Empire (c. 1200s)
- Abandonment of the Mughul city Fatehpur Sikri in India (1585)
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)
The Viking Age and Norse Settlements
- Vikings and the Establishment of Norse Settlements in Greenland and North America (c. 986-1000)
- Abandonment of Norse Settlements in Greenland (c. 1450s)
The Little Ice Age (1300-1850 CE)
Asia
- Famines in Western India (1760 – 1860)
- Chinese opium trade (early 1800s)
Colonial America
- The Great Dying (c. 1520 – 1700 CE)
- Roanoke Colony (1587-1588)
- The Abandoned French Colonization of St. Croix Island, Maine (1604–1607)
- 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
- The Great Famine (1315-1317)
- Black Death (c. early to mid 1300s)
- Witch Trials (c. 1500-1700)
- Social and Political Effects on Ireland (c. 1600-1800)
- Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
- The Great Fire of London (1666)
- The French Revolution (1789-1799)
Modern Age (1800s CE-present)
Global
- The Eruption of Mount Tambora (1815-1818)
- The Global Food Crisis (1972-1975)
- Wildfires (recent)
- Sea level rise and coastal flooding (recent)
- Heat waves (recent)
- Saharan dust clouds (recent)
- Urbanization (recent)
- Climate Change and Mental Health Issues
- Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples Globally
- Atmospheric Rivers (recent)
Europe
The Middle East
The United States
- The Dust Bowl (c. 1930-1940)
- Manifest Destiny (1800s)
- The Homestead Act of 1862 (1862)
- The Great Depression (1929-1940)
- The Okie Migration (1930-1940)
- The New Deal (1933-1939)
- Southwestern United States Megadrought (2000-present)
Selected Resources
Books
- 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