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.  

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

• Mongol Expansion (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

• Droughts and famine in Africa, India, and Russia (c. 1970s)
• Wildfires (recent)
• Sea level rise and coastal flooding (recent)
• Heat waves (recent)
• Saharan dust clouds (recent)
• Urbanization (recent)
• Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples Globally  

Europe

• The Arctic Expedition of Sir John Franklin (1845 – 1848)

The Middle East

• The Syrian Refugee Crisis (2011 – present)

The United States

• The Eruption of Mount Tambora (1815-1819)
  • Western Migration (c. 1816)
    
  • Relations with Indigenous Peoples (c. 1816)
  • The Panic of 1819
• 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) 
    

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

• Climate History .Net