MdM Seminar Series: “Climate change and colonial rivalries in the North Atlantic ca.1580-1610CE: Structure and contingency in climate history”, by Prof. Sam White
Event details
- Start: 10 Oct 2019
- End: 10 Oct 2019
MdM Seminar Series
Title: “Climate change and colonial rivalries in the North Atlantic ca.1580-1610CE: Structure and contingency in climate history”
Speaker: Prof. Sam White (Ohio State University), author of A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America (Harvard University Press, 2017)
Date: Thursday, October 10th 2019
Time: 12h
Venue: Room Z-023
During ca.1580-1610CE, the North Atlantic region underwent a period of persistent cooling related to large tropical volcanic eruptions and possible feedbacks in the climate system. At the same time, England and France successfully challenged the Spanish Empire’s colonial monopoly in North America. This talk will examine the complex interplay between climatic and human events during this period. It will make the case that this historical outcome must be understood at two levels: structural factors shaping the different climatic vulnerabilities of European empires, and contingent climatic and societal events whose effects snowballed in the chaotic unfolding of human history. Based on the author’s monograph A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America (Harvard University Press, 2017) and ongoing research within the PAGES-VICS and PAGES-CRIAS working groups, it will also discuss possibilities and challenges, both practical and epistemological, in integrating historical research and climate models.
