Climate Change
The General Crisis overlaps fairly neatly with the so-called Little Ice Age which some authorities locate in the 17th century. Of particular interest is the overlap with the Maunder Minimum. Across the Northern Hemisphere, the mid-17th century experienced almost unprecedented death rates. Parker suggests that environmental factors may have been in part to blame, especially global cooling. A global phenomenon of this sort would go a long way towards explaining the seemingly universal state of warfare and decline in the mid 17th century.
Read more about this topic: The General Crisis
Famous quotes containing the words climate and/or change:
“A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples’ character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe.... What a terrible future!”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“One cannot long remain so absorbed in contemplation of emptiness without being increasingly attracted to it. In vain one bestows on it the name of infinity; this does not change its nature. When one feels such pleasure in non- existence, one’s inclination can be completely satisfied only by completely ceasing to exist.”
—Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)