This handbook offers the first comprehensive, state-of-the-field guide to past weather and climate and their role in human societies. Bringing together dozens of international specialists from the sciences and humanities, this volume describes the methods, sources, and major findings of historical climate reconstruction and impact research.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• 1 General Introduction: Weather, Climate, and Human History - Christian Pfister, Sam White and Franz Mauelshagen
• 1.1 Climate History and Historical Climatology
• 1.2 Methodological and Conceptual Challenges
• 1.3 Background
• 1.4 New Influences: Environmental History, Globalization, and Global Warming
• 1.5 Prospects
• 1.6 A Guide to this Handbook
• Bibliography
• Part I Reconstruction
• 2 The Global Climate System - Eduardo Zorita, Sebastian Wagner and Fredrik Schenk
• References
• 3 Archives of Nature and Archives of Societies - Stefan Brönnimann, Christian Pfister and Sam White
• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 The Archives of Nature
• 3.3 The Archives of Societies
• 3.4 Reconstructing Past Climate from Proxies
• 3.5 Conclusion: Combining the Archives of Nature and Society
• References
• 4 Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Documentary Evidence—Overview - Christian Pfister
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 Institutional Sources
• 4.3 Personal Sources
• 4.4 Dating
• References
• 5 Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Personal Documentary Sources - Christian Pfister and Sam White
• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 The Objectivity of Weather Narratives
• 5.3 (Weather) Chronicles
• 5.4 (Weather-Related) Pamphlets and Broadsides
• 5.5 (Weather) Diaries
• 5.6 (Personal) Plant-Phenological Observations
• 5.7 (Personal) Ice-Phenological Data
• References
• 6 Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Institutional Sources - Christian Pfister
• 6.1 Introduction
• 6.2 Agricultural Phenological Series
• 6.3 Municipal Accounts
• 6.4 Hydrological and Ice-Phenological Series
• 6.5 Rogation Ceremonies
• 6.6 Ships’ Logbooks
• 6.7 Mandatory Reporting
• References
• 7 Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Early Instrumental Observations - Dario Camuffo
• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.2 Early Temperature Observations
• 7.3 Early Pressure Observations
• 7.4 Early Precipitation Observations
• 7.5 Early Meteorological Networks
• 7.6 Conclusion
• References
• 8 Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Historical Sources in Glaciology - Samuel U. Nussbaumer and Heinz J. Zumbühl
• References
• 9 Analysis and Interpretation: Homogenization of Instrumental Data - Ingeborg Auer
• 9.1 Why Do We Need to Homogenize Instrumental Data?
• 9.2 The Practice of Homogenization
• 9.3 An Example from the European Alpine Region
• 9.4 Conclusion
• References
• 10 Analysis and Interpretation: Calibration-Verification - Petr Dobrovolný
• 10.1 Introduction
• 10.2 Establishing Documentary-Based Series
• 10.3 The Practice of Calibration
• References
• 11 Analysis and Interpretation: Temperature and Precipitation Indices - Christian Pfister, Chantal Camenisch and Petr Dobrovolný
• 11.1 Introduction
• 11.2 History of the Index Approach
• 11.3 The Structure of Documentary-Based Temperature and Precipitation Indices
• 11.4 Guidelines for Generating Indices
• 11.5 Shortcomings and Uncertainties
• 11.6 Evaluations and Results
• 11.7 Applications
• References
• 12 Analysis and Interpretation: Spatial Climate Field Reconstructions - Jürg Luterbacher and Eduardo Zorita
• 12.1 Introduction
• 12.2 Concepts
• 12.3 Applications
• 12.4 Uncertainties
• 12.5 CFR Methods and Climate Models
• References
• 13 Analysis and Interpretation: Modeling of Past Climates - Eduardo Zorita and Sebastian Wagner
• 13.1 Introduction
• 13.2 How Models Work
• 13.3 Examples and Regional Simulations
• 13.4 Conclusion
• References
• 14 The Denial of Global Warming - Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, David J. Karoly, Joelle Gergis, Urs Neu and Christian Pfister
• 14.1 Introduction
• 14.2 The USA (adapted from Merchants of Doubt)
• 14.3 The George C. Marshall Institute
• 14.4 Discrediting Ben Santer, Derailing Rio
• 14.5 How Disinformation Took Hold
• 14.6 The Debate in Europe
• 14.7 The Debate in Australia
• 14.8 Conclusion
• References
• Part II Historical Climatology: Periods and Regions
• 15 The Holocene - John L. Brooke
• 15.1 Introduction
• 15.2 The Early Holocene
• 15.3 Middle Holocene
• 15.4 Late Holocene
• Bibliography
• 16 Mediterranean Antiquity - Peregrine Horden
• 16.1 Introduction
• 16.2 Narrative
• 16.3 Problems and Conclusion
• References
• 17 China: 2000 Years of Climate Reconstruction from Historical Documents - Quansheng Ge, Zhixin Hao, Jingyun Zheng and Yang Liu
• 17.1 Introduction
• 17.2 Sources of Documentary Evidence
• 17.3 Types of Documentary Evidence
• 17.4 Temperature Reconstructions
• 17.5 Precipitation Reconstructions
• 17.6 Extreme Events
• 17.7 Climate Change Impacts
• References
• 18 Climate History of Asia (Excluding China) - George C. D. Adamson and David J. Nash
• 18.1 Introduction
• 18.2 Arabia and West Asia
• 18.3 The Indian Subcontinent
• 18.4 Japan and Korea
• 18.5 Southeast Asia and Indonesia
• 18.6 Siberia and Central Asia
• 18.7 Conclusion
• References
• 19 Climate History in Latin America - María del Rosario Prieto and Facundo Rojas
• 19.1 Pre-Colonial Records
• 19.2 Colonial and Modern Records
• 19.3 The Development of Climate History in Latin America
• 19.4 Studies of Climate Forcings
• 19.4.1 El Niño Southern Oscillation, Droughts, and Floods
• 19.4.2 Caribbean Cyclones
• 19.4.3 Ship Logs, Maritime Climate, and Southern Glaciers
• 19.4.4 Hydroclimatic Variability in South America
• 19.5 Conclusion
• References
• 20 A Multi-Century History of Drought and Wetter Conditions in Africa - Sharon E. Nicholson
• 20.1 Introduction
• 20.2 Multi-Century Drought Chronologies
• 20.2.1 Equatorial Regions
• 20.2.2 Sahelian West Africa
• 20.2.3 Southern Africa
• 20.2.4 Extratropical Margins
• 20.3 The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
• 20.4 Summary
• References
• 21 Recent Developments in Australian Climate History - Joëlle Gergis, Linden Ashcroft and Don Garden
• 21.1 Introduction
• 21.2 The South Eastern Australian Recent Climate History Project
• 21.3 Australian Droughts, 1788–1899
• 21.4 Australian Wet Periods, 1788–1899
• 21.5 Conclusion
• References
• 22 European Middle Ages - Christian Rohr, Chantal Camenisch and Kathleen Pribyl
• 22.1 Introduction
• 22.2 The State of the Field
• 22.3 Evidence
• 22.3.1 Narrative Sources
• 22.3.2 Administrative Sources
• 22.4 Methods
• 22.4.1 Dating
• 22.4.2 Indices
• 22.4.3 Phenological Series
• 22.5 Results
• 22.5.1 Before the Medieval Warm Period, or 500–1000
• 22.5.2 The Medieval Warm Period, or 1000–1300
• 22.5.3 After the Medieval Warm Period, or 1300–1500
• 22.6 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• 23 Early Modern Europe - Christian Pfister, Rudolf Brázdil, Jürg Luterbacher, Astrid E. J. Ogilvie and Sam White
• 23.1 Introduction
• 23.2 Geography
• 23.3 History and Periodization
• 23.4 Evidence
• 23.5 Climatic Variations and Extremes
• 23.5.1 European Temperature
• 23.5.2 Northern Europe
• 23.5.3 Western and Central Europe
• 23.5.4 The Mediterranean and Eastern Europe
• 23.6 Conclusion
• References
• 24 North American Climate History (1500–1800) - Sam White
• 24.1 Introduction
• 24.2 Geography, Climate, and Context
• 24.3 Sources
• 24.4 Climatic Trends and Events
• 24.5 Early Colonial Weather
• 24.6 The Maunder Minimum
• 24.7 Revolutionary Weather: The 1770s–90s
• 24.8 Conclusion
• References
• 25 Climate from 1800 to 1970 in North America and Europe - Stefan Brönnimann, Sam White and Victoria Slonosky
• 25.1 Introduction
• 25.2 Data
• 25.3 Climate Trends
• 25.4 Climate Events
• 25.4.1 The Tambora Eruption and the “Year Without a Summer” of 1816
• 25.4.2 The 1830s Climate Cooling and Glacier Advances around 1850
• 25.4.3 The Early Twentieth-Century Warming
• 25.4.4 The “Dust Bowl” Droughts in North America in the 1930s
• 25.4.5 Climatic Anomalies in 1940–2
• 25.4.6 Retraction of the Northern Tropical Edge after 1945
• References
• 26 Global Warming (1970–Present) - Stefan Brönnimann
• 26.1 Climate Data
• 26.2 Climate Trends
• 26.3 Atmospheric Composition Change
• 26.4 Climatic Events
• 26.4.1 The Sahel Droughts of the 1970s and 1980s
• 26.4.2 Change of European Winters around 1990
• 26.4.3 The 1991 Pinatubo Eruption
• 26.4.4 The El Niño Events of 1982–3 and 1997
• 26.4.5 Subtropical Droughts and Mid-Latitude Heatwaves in the New Millennium
• References
• Part III Climate and Society
• 27 Climate, Weather, Agriculture, and Food - Sam White, John Brooke and Christian Pfister
• 27.1 Introduction
• 27.2 The Role of Climate and Weather in Food Production
• 27.3 Climate Change and the Origins of Agriculture
• 27.4 Climate, Food, and Crisis in the Ancient and Medieval World
• 27.5 The Little Ice Age (LIA)
• 27.6 Beyond the Little Ice Age
• 27.7 Conclusion: Patterns and Lessons
• References
• 28 Climate, Ecology, and Infectious Human Disease - James L. A. Webb
• 28.1 Introduction
• 28.2 Climate Forces and the Ecological Parameters of Disease History
• 28.3 New Pathogens and Centers of Transmission
• 28.4 Processes of Epidemiological Integration
• 28.5 Biomedicine, Emerging Diseases, and Climate Change
• 28.6 Conclusion
• References
• 29 Climate Change and Conflict - Dagomar Degroot
• 29.1 Introduction
• 29.2 Climate Change and the Origins of War: Qualitative Approaches
• 29.3 Climate Change and the Origins of War: Quantitative Approaches
• 29.4 Climate Change and the Conduct of War
• 29.5 War and the Causes of Climate Change
• 29.6 Conclusion
• References
• 30 Narrating Indigenous Histories of Climate Change in the Americas and Pacific - Thomas Wickman
• 30.1 Introduction
• 30.2 Scope
• 30.3 The Arctic and Subarctic
• 30.4 Temperate North America
• 30.5 Mexico
• 30.6 South America
• 30.7 Pacific Islands
• 30.8 Indigenous Knowledge and Contemporary Research
• 30.9 Conclusion
• References
• 31 Migration and Climate in World History - Franz Mauelshagen
• 31.1 Introduction
• 31.2 Climatic Changes and the Peopling of the Earth
• 31.3 Climate and Migration in Early Agrarian Societies
• 31.4 Little Ice Age (LIA) Climate Change and European Emigration to the Americas
• 31.5 Acclimatization, Forced (Labor) Migration, and Resettlement
• 31.6 Global Warming, Displacement, and Climate Refugees
• 31.7 Conclusions
• References
• Part IV Case Studies in Climate Reconstruction and Impacts
• 32 The Climate Downturn of 536–50 - Timothy P. Newfield
• 32.1 Introduction
• 32.2 Texts
• 32.3 Tree Rings
• 32.4 Other Proxies
• 32.5 Ice Cores
• 32.6 Origins
• 32.7 Collapse and Resilience
• 32.8 Conclusion
• References
• 33 The 1310s Event - Philip Slavin
• 33.1 Introduction
• 33.2 The Wider Climatic Context: Transition from the MCA to the LIA
• 33.3 The Weather Anomaly of 1314–16
• 33.4 Agricultural Production Destroyed
• 33.5 From Shortage to Famine
• 33.6 Malnourishment and Mortality: Humans
• 33.7 Malnourishment and Mortality: Animals
• 33.8 Long-Term Impacts
• 33.9 Conclusion
• References
• 34 The 1780s: Global Climate Anomalies, Floods, Droughts, and Famines - Vinita Damodaran, Rob Allan, Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, Gaston R. Demarée, Joëlle Gergis, Takehiko Mikami, Alan Mikhail, Sharon E. Nicholson, Stefan Norrgård and James Hamilton
• 34.1 Introduction
• 34.2 Reconstructing Global Climate in the 1780s
• 34.3 The Laki Fissure Eruption of 1783
• 34.4 Protracted Episodes: El Niño 1782–84 and La Niña 1785–90
• 34.5 Case Study 1: Famines in India, 1780–1812
• 34.6 Case Study 2: The Influence of Climate on the First European Settlement of Australia, 1788–93
• 34.7 Case Study 3: Regional Events and Impacts during the 1780s in Japan
• 34.8 Case Study 4: Africa (Including Egypt)
• 34.9 Conclusions
• References
• 35 A Year Without a Summer, 1816 - Christian Pfister and Sam White
• References
• Part V The History of Climate Ideas and Climate Science
• 36 Climate as a Scientific Paradigm—Early History of Climatology to 1800 - Franz Mauelshagen
• 36.1 Introduction
• 36.2 The Geographic Tradition of Climates
• 36.3 Mapping Climates
• 36.4 Paradigm Shift
• 36.5 Climate Change and History
• 36.6 Conclusions
• References
• 37 Climate and Empire in the Nineteenth Century - Ruth A. Morgan
• 37.1 Recording the Colonial Climate
• 37.2 Pathologising the Colonial Climate
• 37.3 Changing Colonial Climates
• 37.4 The Archive of Colonial Climates
• 37.5 Climates of Disaster
• 37.6 Conclusion
• References
• 38 From Climatology to Climate Science in the Twentieth Century - Matthias Heymann and Dania Achermann
• 38.1 Introduction
• 38.2 “Classical Climatology” and its Expansion
• 38.3 The “Conquest of the Third Dimension”
• 38.4 Investigation of Climatic Changes
• 38.5 Making Climatology a Physical Science: The Physical Understanding of the Atmosphere
• 38.6 The Rise of Atmospheric and Climate Modeling
• 38.7 Data Networks and Satellites: The Observational Revolution
• 38.8 Earth System Analysis
• 38.9 Ice Core Research and Paleoclimatology
• 38.10 Conclusion
• References
• Epilogue
• Glossary