Climate and society in European history

Abstract

This article evaluates 165 studies from various disciplines, published between 2000 and 2019, which in different ways link past climate variability and change to human history in medieval and early modern Europe (here, c. 700–1815 CE). Within this review, we focus on the identification and interpretation of causal links between changes in climate and in human societies. A revised climate–society impact order model of historical climate–society interactions is presented and applied to structure the findings of the past 20 years' scholarship. Despite considerable progress in research about past climate–society relations, partly expedited by new palaeoclimate data, we identify limitations to knowledge, including geographical biases, a disproportional attention to extremely cold periods, and a focus on crises. Furthermore, recent scholarship shows that the limitations with particular disciplinary approaches can be successfully overcome through interdisciplinary collaborations. We conclude the article by proposing recommendations for future directions of research in the climatic change–human history nexus. This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Ideas and Knowledge

The significance of climate variability on early modern European grain prices

“…The influence of long-term climate variability on early modern grain yields and prices, and more generally on the economy, has for a long time been a matter of contrasting views. Positions in historical scholarship have ranged from climate determinism to, more commonly, an outright rejection of detectable climate influences (for a review, see Ljungqvist et al 2021). A pioneering study by Brückner (1895), covering the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, concluded that higher rainfall decreased grain yields and increased grain prices in western and central Europe, whereas the opposite was observed in eastern Europe, promoting climate-influenced grain trade patterns and policies.…”

“…The impact of climate variability on grain prices is likely mitigated by different adaptation strategies making grain agriculture more resilient to climate fluctuations . A growing body of literature has shown how farming, and society at large, in early modern Europe adopted and adjusted to climatic change and variability [for a review, see Ljungqvist et al (2021)]. Cultivation at various elevations and sites with different soil properties and climate sensitivities along with a growing diversification of grain crops altered climate resilience.…”

“…Cultivation at various elevations and sites with different soil properties and climate sensitivities along with a growing diversification of grain crops altered climate resilience. The cultivation of different crops, with different climate response, as well as the entire change of crops to cope with long-term climatic changes were potentially successful adaptation strategies practised at different spatio-temporal scales (Ljungqvist et al 2021). Both wheat and rye were grown in most regions of Central Europe (Landsteiner 2005), with barley taking the role of rye on the British Isles (Campbell 2016), to reduce the risks of harvest failure of one grain crop.…”

The spatiotemporal distribution of historical malaria cases in Sweden: a climatic perspective

“…Even comparably small changes in temperature and precipitation can result in measurable impacts on diseases [ 2 ]. Although many health risks are associated with secondary climatic influences, such as shifting patterns of disease vectors or affects on food production, water supplies, social disruption, and migration [ 3 – 5 ], climate is ranked as one of the most important drivers of infectious disease [ 6 ]. Hence, studies of human health vulnerability in relation to changing climate or extreme weather events need to include both direct and indirect impacts of climate change [ 7 ].…”

“…The decrease in malaria transmission has been mainly attributed to improved socioeconomic conditions, which included better healthcare (the increase in treatment of quinine [ 43 ]) and better hygiene conditions (draining of wetlands [ 34 ]). Although it has been speculated that the comparably low summer temperatures during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries perhaps also played a role in the long-term decline in malaria transmission [ 43 , 44 ], this explanation appears highly questionable since palaeoclimate records show even colder conditions during the seventeenth century [ 5 , 45 , 46 ]. Notably, long-term warming at higher latitudes have not shown decisive influences on malaria dynamics in the long run [ 29 , 36 ] as has been predicted by some malaria models [ 47 ].…”