Editing Little Ice Age (section)

==By region==
===Europe===
[[File:16 The Frost Fair.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|[[River Thames frost fair]], 1684]]

[[Drangajökull]], Iceland's northernmost glacier, reached its maximum extent during the LIA around 1400 CE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harning |first1=David J. |last2=Geirsdóttir |first2=Áslaug |last3=Miller |first3=Gifford H. |last4=Anderson |first4=Leif |date=15 November 2016 |title=Episodic expansion of Drangajökull, Vestfirðir, Iceland, over the last 3 ka culminating in its maximum dimension during the Little Ice Age |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379116304024 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=152 |pages=118–131 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.001 |bibcode=2016QSRv..152..118H |access-date=5 June 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>
[[File:La Seine le 3 Janvier 1880 - Vue du quai Saint-Michel.jpg|thumb|The [[Seine]] frozen, 3 January 1880. At the end of the 19th century, the climate was still colder than today.]]
The [[Baltic Sea]] froze over twice, in 1303 and 1306–1307, and years followed of "unseasonable cold, storms and rains, and a rise in the level of the Caspian Sea".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tuchman |first=Barbara Wertheim (1912–1989) |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1259448710 |title=A distant mirror: the calamitous 14th century |publisher=Ballantine |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-241-97297-7 |pages=24 |language=en |oclc=1259448710}}</ref> The Little Ice Age brought colder winters to parts of Europe and North America. Farms and villages in the [[Swiss Alps]] were destroyed by encroaching glaciers during the mid-17th century.<ref name="aspects">{{cite book |author=Cowie |first=Jonathan |title=Climate change: biological and human aspects |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-69619-7 |page=164 |language=en}}</ref> Canals and rivers in Great Britain and the Netherlands were frequently frozen deeply enough to support ice skating and winter festivals.<ref name="aspects" /> As trade needed to continue during the prolonged winter often spanning 5 months, merchants equipped their boer style boats with planks and skates (runners), hence the [[iceboat]] was born. The first [[River Thames frost fairs|River Thames frost fair]] was in 1608 and the last in 1814. Changes to the bridges and the addition of the [[Thames Embankment]] have affected the river's flow and depth and greatly diminish the possibility of further freezes.<ref>{{cite web | last=Davies | first=Caroline | title=Part of River Thames freezes amid sub-zero temperatures | website=The Guardian | date=12 February 2021 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/12/part-of-river-thames-freezes-amid-sub-zero-temperatures | access-date=12 February 2021}}</ref><ref name="lock1">{{Cite journal |last1=Lockwood |first1=M. |display-authors=etal |date=April 2017 |title=Frost fairs, sunspots and the Little Ice Age |url=https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/69443/ |journal=[[Astronomy & Geophysics]] |language=en |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=2.17–2.23 |doi=10.1093/astrogeo/atx057 |issn=2115-7251|doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Tåget över stora bält.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[March Across the Belts]], 1658|left]]
In 1658, a Swedish army [[March Across the Belts|marched through Denmark and across the Great Belt]] to attack [[Copenhagen]] from the west. 

The winter of 1794–1795 was particularly harsh: the French invasion army under [[Pichegru]] marched on the frozen rivers of the Netherlands, and the Dutch fleet was locked in the ice in [[Den Helder]] harbour.

Sea ice surrounding [[Iceland]] extended for miles in every direction and closed harbors to shipping. The population of Iceland fell by half, but that may have been caused by [[skeletal fluorosis]] after the eruption of [[Laki]] in 1783.<ref name="Stone2004">{{cite journal |last1=Stone |first1=R. |year=2004 |title=Volcanology: Iceland's Doomsday Scenario? |journal=Science |volume=306 |issue=5700 |pages=1278–1281 |doi=10.1126/science.306.5700.1278 |pmid=15550636 |s2cid=161557686}}</ref> Iceland also suffered failures of cereal crops and people moved away from a grain-based diet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gestgjafinn.is/english/nr/349|first=Nanna |last=Rögnvaldardóttir |title=What Did They Eat? – Icelandic food from the Settlement through the Middle Ages|website=Gestgjafinn|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220165654/http://www.gestgjafinn.is/english/nr/349|archive-date=20 February 2012}}</ref> 

After [[Greenland]]'s climate became colder and stormier around 1250, the diet of the Norse Viking settlements there steadily shifted away from agricultural sources. By around 1300, [[Pinniped|seal]] hunting provided over three quarters of their food.  By 1350, there was reduced demand for their exports, and trade with Europe fell away. The last document from the settlements dates from 1412, and over the following decades, the remaining Europeans left in what seems to have been a gradual withdrawal, which was caused mainly by economic factors such as increased availability of farms in Scandinavian countries.<ref name="www.spiegel.de">{{Cite web |last=Stockinger |first=Günther |date=10 January 2012 |title=Archaeologists Uncover Clues to Why Vikings Abandoned Greenland |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/archaeologists-uncover-clues-to-why-vikings-abandoned-greenland-a-876626.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |work=[[Der Spiegel]]}}</ref> Greenland was largely cut off by ice from 1410 to the 1720s.<ref name="SVS Science Story: Ice Age">{{cite web| publisher=NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | title=SVS Science Story: Ice Age |url=http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/iceage_20011207/ | access-date=2 August 2007}}</ref>

Between 1620 and 1740, the Yzeron Basin in the [[Massif Central]] of France witnessed a phase of decreased [[fluvial sediment processes|fluvial activity]]. This decline in fluvial activity is believed to be linked to a multidecennial phase of droughts in the western Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Delile |first1=Hugo |last2=Schmitt |first2=Laurent |last3=Jacob-Rousseau |first3=Nicolas |last4=Grosprêtre |first4=Loïc |last5=Privolt |first5=Grégoire |last6=Preusser |first6=Frank |date=15 March 2016 |title=Headwater valley response to climate and land use changes during the Little Ice Age in the Massif Central (Yzeron basin, France) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169555X16300095 |journal=[[Geomorphology (journal)|Geomorphology]] |volume=257 |pages=179–197 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.01.010 |bibcode=2016Geomo.257..179D |access-date=21 April 2023}}</ref>

In southwestern Europe, a negative [[North Atlantic oscillation]] (NAO) combined with increased aridity caused an increase in wind-driven sediment deposition during the LIA.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Costas |first1=Susana |last2=Jerez |first2=Sonia |last3=Trigo |first3=Ricardo M. |last4=Goble |first4=Ronald |last5=Rebêlo |first5=Luís |date=24 May 2012 |title=Sand invasion along the Portuguese coast forced by westerly shifts during cold climate events |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379112001217 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=42 |pages=15–28 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.03.008 |bibcode=2012QSRv...42...15C |hdl=10400.9/1848 |access-date=30 August 2023|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove, Pompenburg met Hofpoort in de winter.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Winter skating on the main canal of Pompenburg, [[Rotterdam]] in 1825, shortly before the minimum, by Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove]]
In his 1995 book, the early climatologist [[Hubert Lamb]] said that in many years, "snowfall was much heavier than recorded before or since, and the snow lay on the ground for many months longer than it does today."<ref name="Lamb1995">{{Cite book |last=Lamb |first=Hubert H. |title=Climate, history and the modern world |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-415-12734-9 |location=London, England |pages=211–241 |language=en |chapter=The little ice age}}</ref> In [[Lisbon]], Portugal, snowstorms were much more frequent than today, and one winter in the 17th century produced eight snowstorms.{{cn|reason=Previously cited a web forum, which is not a [[WP:RS|reliable source]]|date=February 2025}} Many springs and summers were cold and wet but with great variability between years and groups of years. That was particularly evident during the "Grindelwald Fluctuation" (1560–1630); the rapid cooling phase was associated with more erratic weather, including increased storminess, unseasonal snowstorms, and droughts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Evan T. |last2=Hewlett |first2=Rose |last3=Mackay |first3=Anson W. |date=5 May 2021 |title=Weird weather in Bristol during the Grindelwald Fluctuation (1560–1630) |journal=Weather |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=104–110 |bibcode=2021Wthr...76..104J |doi=10.1002/wea.3846 |s2cid=225239334 |doi-access=free|hdl=1983/28c52f89-91be-4ae4-80e9-918cd339da95 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Crop practices throughout Europe had to be altered to adapt to the shortened and less reliable growing season, and there were many years of scarcity and [[famine]]. One was the [[Great Famine of 1315–1317]], but that may have been before the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{cite book |first=Karen J. |last=Cullen |title=Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of The 1690s |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=RiLjHZdt-sMC|page=20}} |date=2010 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-3887-1 |page=20}}</ref> According to Elizabeth Ewan and Janay Nugent, "Famines in France 1693–94, Norway 1695–96 and Sweden 1696–97 claimed roughly 10 percent of the population of each country. In Estonia and Finland in 1696–97, losses have been estimated at a fifth and a third of the national populations, respectively."<ref>{{cite book |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Ewanu |first2=Janay |last2=Nugent |title=Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=6oOCfHxQDtwC|page=153}} |year=2008 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-7546-6049-1 |page=153}}</ref> [[Viticulture]] disappeared from some northern regions, and storms caused serious flooding and loss of life. Some of them resulted in the [[Saint Marcellus's flood|permanent loss of large areas of land from the Danish, German, and Dutch coasts]].<ref name="Lamb1995"/>

The violinmaker [[Antonio Stradivari]] produced his instruments during the Little Ice Age. The colder climate may have caused the wood that was used in his [[violins]] to be denser than in warmer periods and to contribute to the tone of his instruments.<ref name="Whitehouse2003">{{Cite news |last=Whitehouse |first=David |title=Stradivarius' sound 'due to Sun' |date=17 December 2003 |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/3323259.stm}}</ref> According to the science historian [[James Burke (science historian)|James Burke]], the period inspired such novelties in everyday life as the widespread use of buttons and button-holes, as well as knitting of custom-made undergarments for the better covering and insulating of the body. Chimneys were invented to replace open fires in the centre of communal halls to allow houses with multiple rooms to have the separation of masters from servants.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Thunder in the Skies |series=[[Connections (British documentary)|Connections]]|first1=James |last1=Burke|network=BBC |date=21 September 1978}}</ref>

''The Little Ice Age'', by the anthropologist [[Brian Fagan]] of the [[University of California at Santa Barbara]], describes the plight of European peasants from 1300 to 1850: famines, [[hypothermia]], [[bread riots]] and the rise of despotic leaders brutalizing an increasingly dispirited peasantry. In the late 17th century, agriculture had dropped off dramatically: "Alpine villagers lived on bread made from ground nutshells mixed with [[barley]] and oat flour."<ref name="Fagan">{{harvnb|Fagan|2001}}.</ref> Historian [[Wolfgang Behringer]] has linked intensive [[witch hunt|witch-hunting]] episodes in Europe to agricultural failures during the Little Ice Age.<ref name=Behringer1999/>

[[File:Vinckboons Landscape with skaters.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[David Vinckboons]], ''Winter Landscape with Skaters and Ice-Sailing'' (c. 1615)]]
''The Frigid Golden Age'', by the environmental historian [[Dagomar Degroot]] of [[Georgetown University]], points out that some societies thrived, but others faltered during the Little Ice Age. In particular, the Little Ice Age transformed environments around the [[Dutch Republic]] and made them easier to exploit in commerce and conflict. The Dutch were resilient, even adaptive, in the face of weather that devastated neighboring countries. Merchants exploited harvest failures, military commanders took advantage of shifting wind patterns, and inventors developed technologies that helped them profit from the cold. The 17th-century [[Dutch Golden Age]] therefore owed much to its people's flexibility in coping with the changing climate.<ref>Dagomar Degroot, ''The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560–1720'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018) {{ISBN|978-1-108-41931-4}}.{{page needed|date=July 2021}}</ref>

==== Cultural responses ====
Historians have argued that cultural responses to the consequences of the Little Ice Age in Europe consisted of violent [[scapegoating]].<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Oster |first1=Emily |year=2004 |title=Witchcraft, weather and economic growth in Renaissance Europe |journal=[[Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=215–228 |citeseerx=10.1.1.526.7789 |doi=10.1257/089533004773563502 |jstor=3216882 |s2cid=22483025 |ssrn=522403}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |last=Behringer |first=Wolfgang |title=A Cultural History of Climate |publisher=Wiley |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7456-4529-2 |pages=121–167 |language=en |chapter=Cultural Consequences of the Little Ice Age}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |chapter=The Little Ice Age |title=Global Crisis: War, Climate Change, & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-300-20863-4 |pages=3–25 }}</ref><ref name="Behringer1999">{{cite journal |last1=Behringer |first1=Wolfgang |date=September 1999 |title=Climatic change and witch-hunting: the impact of the Little Ice Age on mentalities |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005554519604 |journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]] |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=335–351 |doi=10.1023/A:1005554519604 |bibcode=1999ClCh...43..335B |s2cid=189869470 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last1=Lehmann |first1=Hartmut |year=1988 |title=The Persecution of Witches as Restoration of Order: The Case of Germany, 1590s–1650s |journal=[[Central European History]] |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=107–121 |doi=10.1017/S000893890001270X |s2cid=145501088}}</ref> The prolonged cold, dry periods brought drought upon many European communities and resulted in poor crop growth, poor livestock survival, and increased activity of pathogens and disease vectors.<ref name=":02">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/203592 |pmid=11617361 |jstor=203592 |title=Climatic Variability and the European Mortality Wave of the Early 1740s |journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–30 |last1=Post |first1=John D. |year=1984}}</ref> Disease intensified under the same conditions that unemployment and economic difficulties arose: prolonged cold, dry seasons. Disease and unemployment generated a lethal positive feedback loop.<ref name=":02" /> Although the communities had some contingency plans, such as better crop mixes, emergency grain stocks, and international food trade, they did not always prove effective.<ref name=":1" /> Communities often lashed out via violent crimes, including robbery and murder. Accusations of sexual offenses also increased, such as [[adultery]], [[bestiality]], and [[rape]].<ref name=":2" /> Europeans sought explanations for the famine, disease, and social unrest that they were experiencing, and they blamed the innocent. Evidence from several studies indicate that increases in violent actions against marginalized groups, which were held responsible for the Little Ice Age, overlap with the years of particularly cold, dry weather.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=Behringer1999/><ref name=":1" />

One example of the violent scapegoating occurring during the Little Ice Age was the resurgence of [[witch-hunt|witchcraft trials]]. Oster (2004) and Behringer (1999) argue that the resurgence was brought by the climatic decline. Prior to the Little Ice Age, witchcraft was considered an insignificant crime, and victims (the supposed witches) were rarely accused.<ref name=Behringer1999/> But beginning in the 1380s, just as the Little Ice Age began, European populations began to link magic and weather-making.<ref name=Behringer1999/> The first systematic witch hunts began in the 1430s, and by the 1480s, it was widely believed that witches should be held accountable for poor weather.<ref name=Behringer1999/> Witches were blamed for direct and indirect consequences of the Little Ice Age: livestock epidemics, cows that gave too little milk, late frosts, and unknown diseases.<ref name=":2" /> In general, the number of witchcraft trials rose as the temperature dropped, and trials decreased when temperature increased.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=Behringer1999/> The peaks of witchcraft persecutions overlap with the hunger crises that occurred in 1570 and 1580, the latter lasting a decade.<ref name=Behringer1999/> The trials targeted primarily poor women, many of them widows. Not everybody agreed that witches should be persecuted for weather-making, but such arguments focused primarily not upon whether witches existed but upon whether witches had the capability to control the weather.<ref name=Behringer1999/><ref name=":1" /> The [[Catholic Church]] in the [[Early Middle Ages]] argued that witches could not control the weather because they were mortals, not God, but by the mid-13th century, most people agreed with the idea that witches could control natural forces.<ref name=":1" />

Jewish populations were also blamed for climatic deterioration during the Little Ice Age.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> The Western European states experienced waves of [[anti-Semitism]], directed against the main religious minority in their otherwise Christian societies.<ref name=":2" /> There was no direct link made between Jews and the weather; they were blamed only for indirect consequences such as disease.<ref name=":2" /> Outbreaks of the [[Black Death]] were often blamed on Jews. In Western European cities during the 1300s, [[Persecution of Jews during the Black Death|Jewish populations were murdered]] to stop the spread of the plague.<ref name=":2" /> Rumors spread that Jews were either poisoning wells themselves, or telling [[leprosy|lepers]] to poison the wells.<ref name=":2" /> To escape persecution, some Jews converted to Christianity, while others migrated to the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Italy in the Middle Ages|Italy]] or the [[Holy Roman Empire]], where they experienced greater toleration.<ref name=":2" />

Some populations blamed the cold periods and the resulting famine and disease during the Little Ice Age on a general divine displeasure.<ref name=":3" /> Particular groups took the brunt of the burden in attempts to cure it.<ref name=":3" /> In Germany, regulations were imposed upon activities such as gambling and [[alcohol law|drinking]], which disproportionately affected the lower class and women were forbidden from showing their knees.<ref name=":3" /> Other regulations affected the wider population, such as prohibiting dancing, sexual activities and moderating food and drink intake.<ref name=":3" /> In Ireland, Catholics blamed the [[Reformation in Ireland|Reformation]] for the bad weather. The ''[[Annals of Loch Cé]]'', in its entry for 1588, describes a midsummer snowstorm as "a wild apple was not larger than each stone of it" and blames it on the presence of a "wicked, heretical, bishop in Oilfinn", the [[Protestant]] [[Bishop of Elphin]], [[John Lynch (bishop of Elphin)|John Lynch]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100010B/text012.html |title=Part 12 of ''Annals of Loch Cé'' |website=Corpus of Electronic Texts |publisher=University College Cork}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcCxCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Reformations in Ireland: Tradition and Confessionalism, 1400–1690 |first=Samantha A. |last=Meigs |date= 1997 |publisher=Springer |via=Google Books |isbn=978-1-349-25710-2 }}</ref>

====Depictions of winter in European painting====

[[File:Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808) Skating on Duddingston Loch.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[The Skating Minister|The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch]]'', attributed to [[Henry Raeburn]], 1790s]]
William James Burroughs analyzes the depiction of winter in paintings, as does [[Hans Neuberger]].<ref name=neu1>{{cite book|title=Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=W2eDDMIeqpoC|page=225}} |first=Douglas |last=Macdougall |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004|page=225 |isbn=978-0-520-24824-3}}</ref> Burroughs asserts that it occurred almost entirely from 1565 to 1665 and was associated with the climatic decline from 1550 onwards. Burroughs claims that there had been almost no depictions of winter in art, and he "hypothesizes that the unusually harsh winter of 1565 inspired great artists to depict highly original images and that the decline in such paintings was a combination of the 'theme' having been fully explored and mild winters interrupting the flow of painting."<ref name="Earth Environments p. 863">{{cite book|first1=David |last1=Huddart|first2=Tim |last2=Stott|title=Earth Environments: Past, Present and Future|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ohpdmnPFlHEC|page=863}}|year=2010|page=863|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-470-74960-9}}</ref> Wintry scenes, which entail technical difficulties in painting, have been regularly and well handled since at least the early 15th century by artists in [[illuminated manuscript]] cycles that show the ''[[Labours of the Months]]'', typically placed on the calendar pages of [[book of hours|books of hours]]. January and February are typically shown as snowy, as in ''February'' in the famous cycle in the {{lang|fr|[[Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry]]}}, painted in 1412–1416 and illustrated below. Since [[landscape painting]] had not yet developed as an independent genre in art, the absence of other winter scenes is not remarkable. On the other hand, snowy winter landscapes, particularly stormy seascapes, became artistic genres in the [[Dutch Golden Age painting]] during the coldest and stormiest decades of the Little Ice Age.<ref name="deg254"/> Most modern scholars believe them to be full of symbolic messages and metaphors, which would have been clear to contemporary viewers.<ref name="deg254">{{cite book |author=Degroot |first=Dagomar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqhJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA254 |title=The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560–1720 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-108-41931-4 |location=New York |page=254 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Hunters in the Snow (Winter) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[The Hunters in the Snow]]'' by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]], 1565]]
All of the famous winter landscape paintings by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]], such as ''[[The Hunters in the Snow]]'' and the ''[[Massacre of the Innocents (Bruegel)|Massacre of the Innocents]]'', are thought to have been painted around 1565. His son [[Pieter Brueghel the Younger]] (1564–1638) also painted many snowy landscapes, but according to Burroughs, he "slavishly copied his father's designs. The derivative nature of so much of this work makes it difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the influence of the winters between 1570 and 1600".<ref name="Earth Environments p. 863"/><ref name="Information1980">{{cite magazine |title=The art of the weather |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ainC3-wuz_kC|page=768}} |last=Burroughs |first=William |magazine=New Scientist |date=18-25 December 1980 |volume=88 |number=1232–1233 |pages=768–771 |issn=0262-4079 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="lock1"/> Bruegel the Elder painted ''Hunters in the Snow'' in Antwerp, so the mountains in the picture probably mean it was based on drawings or memories from crossing of the [[Alps]] during his trip to Rome in 1551–1552. It is one of 5 known surviving paintings, probably from a series of 6 or 12, known as "the Twelve Months", that Breugel was commissioned to paint by a wealthy patron in [[Antwerp]], [[Nicolaes Jonghelinck]] (''Hunters in the Snow'' being for January): none of the other four that survive show a snow-covered landscape and both ''[[The Hay Harvest]]'' (July) and ''[[The Harvesters (painting)|The Harvesters]]'' (August) depict warm summer days. Even ''[[The Return of the Herd]]'' (thought to be the painting for November) and ''[[The Gloomy Day]]'' (known to be for February) show landscapes free of snow.<ref name="lock1"/>

[[File:Hendrick Avercamp - Winterlandschap met ijsvermaak.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Winter landscape with iceskaters'', {{circa|1608}}, [[Hendrick Avercamp]]|left]]
Burroughs says that snowy subjects return to [[Dutch Golden Age painting]] with works by [[Hendrick Avercamp]] from 1609 onwards. There is a hiatus between 1627 and 1640, which is before the main period of such subjects from the 1640s to the 1660s. That relates well with climate records for the later period. The subjects are less popular after about 1660, but that does not match any recorded reduction in severity of winters and may reflect only changes in taste or fashion. In the later period between the 1780s and 1810s, snowy subjects again became popular.<ref name="Earth Environments p. 863"/> Neuberger analyzed 12,000 paintings, held in American and European museums and dated between 1400 and 1967, for cloudiness and darkness.<ref name=neu1/> His 1970 publication shows an increase in such depictions that corresponds to the Little Ice Age,<ref name=neu1/> which peaks between 1600 and 1649.<ref name="John1999">{{cite book |last1=Thornes |first1=John E. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=gbElMV-jhzQC|page=31}} |title=John Constable's skies: a fusion of art and science |last2=Constable |first2=John |publisher=Continuum International |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-902459-02-8 |page=32 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Winter (Adriaen van de Venne).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Winter ([[Adriaen van de Venne]]) 1614]]
Paintings and contemporary records in Scotland demonstrate that [[curling]], [[ice skating]] and [[Iceboat|icesailing]] were popular outdoor winter sports, with curling dating to the 16th century and becoming widely popular in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paperclip.org.uk/kilsythweb/Communityresources/Curlinghistory.htm |title=Kilsyth Curling |access-date=11 September 2010 |archive-date=5 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205002421/http://www.paperclip.org.uk/kilsythweb/Communityresources/Curlinghistory.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> An outdoor curling pond constructed in [[Gourock]] in the 1860s remained in use for almost a century, but increasing use of indoor facilities, problems of vandalism, and milder winters led to the pond being abandoned in 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gourockcurlers.co.uk/clubh.htm |title=The Story so Far!!! |year=2009 |publisher=Gourock Curling Club |access-date=11 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051310/http://www.gourockcurlers.co.uk/clubh.htm |archive-date=25 April 2012 }}</ref>

==== General Crisis of the seventeenth century ====
[[The General Crisis]] of the seventeenth century in Europe was a period of inclement weather, crop failure, economic hardship, extreme intergroup violence, and high mortality linked to the Little Ice Age. Episodes of social instability track the cooling with a time lapse of up to 15 years, and many developed into armed conflicts, such as the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648).<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=David D. |last2=Lee |first2=Harry F. |last3=Wang |first3=Cong |last4=Li |first4=Baosheng |last5=Pei |first5=Qing |last6=Zhang |first6=Jane |last7=An |first7=Yulun |date=18 October 2011 |title=The causality analysis of climate change and large-scale human crisis |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=108 |issue=42 |pages=17296–17301 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1104268108 |pmc=3198350 |pmid=21969578 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The war started as a war of succession to the Bohemian throne. Animosity between [[Protestants]] and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire (most of which is now in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic) added fuel to the fire. It soon escalated to a huge conflict that involved all the major European powers and devastated much of Germany. When the war ended, some regions of the Holy Roman Empire had seen their population drop by as much as 70%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Geographic |title=Essential Visual History of the World |publisher=National Geographic Society |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4262-0091-5 |pages=190–191 |language=en-us}}</ref>

===North America===
[[File:Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry février.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|"February" from the calendar of the {{lang|fr|[[Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry]]}}, 1412–1416]]

Early European explorers and settlers of North America reported exceptionally severe winters. In southwestern Alaska, preexisting flexibility in foraging habits among the native people lent itself to high adaptability to the LIA.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Masson-MacLean |first1=Edouard |last2=Houmard |first2=Claire |last3=Knecht |first3=Rick |last4=Sidéra |first4=Isabelle |last5=Dobney |first5=Keith |last6=Britton |first6=Kate |date=30 May 2020 |title=Pre-contact adaptations to the Little Ice Age in Southwest Alaska: New evidence from the Nunalleq site |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618218311315 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=549 |pages=130–141 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2019.05.003 |bibcode=2020QuInt.549..130M |access-date=18 August 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|hdl=2164/15121 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Both Europeans and indigenous peoples suffered excess mortality in [[Maine]] during the winter of 1607–1608, and extreme frost was meanwhile reported in the [[Jamestown, Virginia]], settlement.<ref name="Lamb1995"/> Native Americans formed leagues in response to food shortages.<ref name="SVS Science Story: Ice Age" /> The journal of [[Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes]], who led an expedition to [[James Bay]] in 1686, recorded that the bay was still littered with so much floating ice that he could hide behind it in his canoe on 1 July.<ref name="Kenyon1971">{{cite book |last1=Kenyon |first1=W. A. |title=The Battle for James Bay |last2=Turnbull |first2=J. R. |publisher=Macmillan Company of Canada Limited |year=1971 |location=Toronto, Canada |language=en}}</ref> In the winter of 1780, [[New York Harbor]] froze, which allowed people to walk from [[Manhattan Island]] to [[Staten Island]].

The extent of mountain glaciers had been mapped by the late 19th century. In the north and the south temperate zones, Equilibrium Line Altitude (the boundaries separating zones of net accumulation from those of net ablation) were about {{convert|100|m|ft}} lower than they were in 1975.<ref name=Broecker00/> Southwestern Alaska experienced a temperature nadir around 135 BP,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Forbes |first1=Véronique |last2=Ledger |first2=Paul M. |last3=Cretu |first3=Denisa |last4=Elias |first4=Scott |date=30 May 2020 |title=A sub-centennial, Little Ice Age climate reconstruction using beetle subfossil data from Nunalleq, southwestern Alaska |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618219301089 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=549 |pages=118–129 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2019.07.011 |bibcode=2020QuInt.549..118F |access-date=18 August 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|hdl=2164/14668 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and in south-central Alaska, mountain hemlock forests severely declined.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=R. Scott |last2=Kaufman |first2=Darrell S. |last3=Schiff |first3=Caleb |last4=Daigle |first4=Tom |last5=Berg |first5=Edward |date=15 October 2013 |title=The impact of Little Ice Age cooling on mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) distribution in southcentral, Alaska |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618213004643 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=310 |pages=228 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.058 |bibcode=2013QuInt.310..228A |access-date=18 August 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> In [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]], the last episode of glacier advance came in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.nature.nps.gov/synthesis/views/KCs/Glaciers/HTML/ET_IceAge.htm|title=Ice Ages|website=National Park Service|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050412073618/http://www2.nature.nps.gov/synthesis/views/KCs/Glaciers/HTML/ET_IceAge.htm|archive-date=12 April 2005}}</ref> In 1879, the famed naturalist [[John Muir]] found that Glacier Bay ice had retreated {{convert|48|miles}}. In [[Chesapeake Bay]], [[Maryland]], large temperature excursions were possibly related to changes in the strength of the North Atlantic [[thermohaline circulation]].<ref name="Cronin2003">{{cite journal |last1=Cronin |first1=T. M. |last2=Dwyer |first2=G. S. |last3=Kamiya |first3=T. |last4=Schwede |first4=S. |last5=Willard |first5=D. A. |year=2003 |title=Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age and 20th century temperature variability from Chesapeake Bay |url=https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/10161/6578/1/Cronin_2003_GlobalPlanetChange.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[Global and Planetary Change]] |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=17 |bibcode=2003GPC....36...17C |doi=10.1016/S0921-8181(02)00161-3 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/10161/6578/1/Cronin_2003_GlobalPlanetChange.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |hdl=10161/6578}}</ref> 

Because the Little Ice Age took place during the [[European colonization of the Americas]], it discouraged many early colonists, who had expected the climate of North America to be similar to the climate of Europe at similar latitudes. They found that North America, at least in what would become Canada and the northern United States, had hotter summers and colder winters than Europe. That effect was aggravated by the Little Ice Age, and unpreparedness led to the collapse of many early European settlements in North America.

Historians agree that when colonists settled at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], it was one of the coldest periods in the last 1000 years. Drought was also a problem in North America during the Little Ice Age, and the settlers arrived in Roanoke during the largest drought of the past 800 years. Tree ring studies by the University of Arkansas discovered that many colonists arrived at the beginning of a seven-year drought. The droughts also decreased the Native American populations and led to conflict because of food scarcity. English colonists at Roanoke forced Native Americans of Ossomocomuck to share their depleted supplies with them. That led to warfare between the two groups, and Native American towns were destroyed. That cycle would repeat itself many times at Jamestown. The combination of fighting and cold weather also led to the spread of diseases. The colder weather helped the parasites brought by Europeans in mosquitoes to develop faster. That in turn led to many malaria deaths among Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wolfe|first=Brendan|date=2020-12-07|title=Little Ice Age and Colonial Virginia|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/little-ice-age-and-colonial-virginia-the/|access-date=2021-05-26|website=The Encyclopedia Virginia|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1642, Thomas Gorges wrote that between 1637 and 1645, colonists in Maine (then part of Massachusetts) experienced horrendous weather conditions. In June 1637, temperatures were so high that numerous European settlers died; travelers were forced to travel at night to stay cool. Gorges also wrote that the winter of 1641–1642 was "piercingly Intolerable" and that no Englishman or Native American had ever seen anything like it. He also stated that the Massachusetts Bay had frozen as far as one could see, and that horse carriages now roamed where ships used to be. He stated that the summers of 1638 and 1639 were very short, cold, and wet, which compounded food scarcity for a few years. To make matters worse, creatures like caterpillars and pigeons fed on crops and devastated harvests. Every year about which Gorges wrote featured unusual weather patterns, including high precipitation, drought, and extreme cold or heat.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Climate and Mastery of the Wilderness in Seventeenth-Century New England|url=https://www.colonialsociety.org//node/1742|access-date=2021-05-26|website=Colonial Society of Massachusetts|language=en}}</ref>

Many inhabitants of North America had their own theories about the extreme weather. The colonist [[Ferdinando Gorges]] blamed the cold weather on cold ocean winds. [[Humphrey Gilbert]] tried to explain Newfoundland's icy and foggy weather by saying that the Earth drew cold vapors from the ocean and drew them west. Many others had their own theories for North America being so much colder than Europe; their observations and hypotheses offer insight on the Little Ice Age's effects in North America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=White |first1=Sam |year=2015 |title=Unpuzzling American Climate: New World Experience and the Foundations of a New Science |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683166 |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=544–566 |doi=10.1086/683166 |jstor=10.1086/683166 |pmid=26685517 |s2cid=37331690 |access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref>

===Mesoamerica===
An analysis of several [[proxy (climate)|climate proxies]] undertaken in Mexico's [[Yucatán Peninsula]], which was linked by its authors to [[Maya civilization|Maya]] and [[Aztec]] chronicles relating periods of cold and drought, supports the existence of the Little Ice Age in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2004.11.004 |bibcode=2005QuRes..63..109H |title=Climate change on the Yucatan Peninsula during the Little Ice Age |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=109 |last1=Hodell |first1=David A. |last2=Brenner |first2=Mark |last3=Curtis |first3=Jason H. |last4=Medina-González |first4=Roger |last5=Ildefonso-Chan Can |first5=Enrique |last6=Albornaz-Pat |first6=Alma |last7=Guilderson |first7=Thomas P. |year=2005 |s2cid=129924750}}</ref>

Another study conducted in several sites in Mesoamerica like Los Tuxtlas and Lake Pompal in Veracruz, Mexico show a decrease in human activity in the area during the Little Ice Age. That was proven by studying charcoal fragments and the amount of maize pollen taken from sedimentary samples by using a nonrotatory piston corer. The samples also showed volcanic activity which caused forest regeneration between 650 and 800. The instances of volcanic activity near Lake Pompal indicate varying temperatures, not a continuous coldness, during the Little Ice Age in Mesoamerica.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=del Socorro Lozano-García |first1=Ma. |last2=Caballero |first2=Margarita |last3=Ortega |first3=Beatriz |last4=Rodríguez |first4=Alejandro |last5=Sosa |first5=Susana |date=9 October 2007 |title=Tracing the effects of the Little Ice Age in the tropical lowlands of eastern Mesoamerica |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=104 |issue=41 |pages=16200–16203 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10416200L |doi=10.1073/pnas.0707896104 |pmc=2000453 |pmid=17913875 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Atlantic Ocean===
In the North Atlantic, sediments accumulated since the end of the [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]], which occurred nearly 12,000 years ago, show regular increases in the amount of coarse sediment grains deposited from icebergs melting in the now-open ocean, indicating a series of {{cvt|1|-|2|C-change|F-change|0}} <!-- Please do not use AWB on temperatures --> cooling events that recur every 1,500 years or so.<ref>Bond et al., 1997.{{full citation needed|date=February 2019}}</ref> The most recent cooling event was the Little Ice Age. The same cooling events are detected in sediments accumulating off Africa, but the cooling events appear to be larger: {{cvt|3|-|8|C-change|F-change|0}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abrupt Climate Changes Revisited: How Serious and How Likely? |date=23 February 1998 |website=USGCRP Seminar |publisher=US Global Change Research Program |url=http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/seminars/980217DD.html |access-date=18 May 2005 |archive-date=11 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611060531/http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/seminars/980217DD.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> δ<sup>18</sup>O values from [[Chironomidae|chironomid]] remains in the Azores reflect the cooling of the LIA.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Raposeiro |first1=Pedro M. |last2=Ritter |first2=Catarina |last3=Abbott |first3=Mark |last4=Hernandez |first4=Armand |last5=Pimentel |first5=Adriano |last6=Lasher |first6=Everett |last7=Płóciennik |first7=Mateusz |last8=Berlajolli |first8=Violeta |last9=Kotrys |first9=Bartosz |last10=Pombal |first10=Xabier Pontevedra |last11=Souto |first11=Martin |last12=Giralt |first12=Santiago |last13=Gonçalves |first13=Vitor |date=1 May 2024 |title=Late Holocene climate dynamics in the Azores archipelago |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=331 |pages=108617 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108617 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2024QSRv..33108617R }}</ref>

===Asia===
{{See also|Kyungshin Famine}}
Although the original designation of a Little Ice Age referred to the reduced temperature of Europe and North America, there is some evidence of extended periods of cooling outside those regions although it is not clear whether they are related or independent events. Mann states:<ref name="Mann2003" />

{{quote|While there is evidence that many other regions outside Europe exhibited periods of cooler conditions, expanded glaciation, and significantly altered climate conditions, the timing and nature of these variations are highly variable from region to region, and the notion of the Little Ice Age as a globally synchronous cold period has all but been dismissed.}}

In China, warm-weather crops such as [[orange (fruit)|oranges]] were abandoned in [[Jiangxi Province]], where they had been grown for centuries.<ref name=cdc/> Also, the two periods of most frequent [[typhoon]] strikes in [[Guangdong]] coincide with two of the coldest and driest periods in northern and central China (1660–1680, 1850–1880).<ref name="Liu2001">{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Kam-biu |last2=Shen |first2=Caiming |last3=Louie |first3=Kin-Sheun |year=2001 |title=A 1,000-Year History of Typhoon Landfalls in Guangdong, Southern China, Reconstructed from Chinese Historical Documentary Records |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=453–464 |doi=10.1111/0004-5608.00253 |s2cid=53066209}}</ref> Scholars have argued that one of the reasons for the [[transition from Ming to Qing|fall of the Ming dynasty]] may have been the droughts and famines that were caused by the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fan |first1=Ka-wai |date=10 October 2009 |title=Climatic change and dynastic cycles in Chinese history: A review essay |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225663921 |journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]] |volume=101 |issue=3–4 |pages=565–573 |bibcode=2010ClCh..101..565F |doi=10.1007/s10584-009-9702-3 |s2cid=153997845 |access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref>

There are debates on the start date and the periods of Little Ice Age's effects. Most scholars agree on categorizing the Little Ice Age period into three distinct cold periods: in 1458–1552, 1600–1720, and 1840–1880.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cai |first1=Wenjuan |last2=Yn |first2=Shuyan |title=The freeze disasters in the Little Ice Age of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the Guanzhong Region |journal=Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment |publisher= College of Tourism and Environmental Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University |date=March 2009 |volume=23 |issue=3 |page=119 }}</ref> According to data from the U.S. [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]], the eastern [[monsoon]] area of China was the earliest to experience the effects of the Little Ice Age, from 1560 to 1709. In the western region of China surrounding the [[Tibetan Plateau]], the effects of the Little Ice Age lagged behind the eastern region, with significant cold periods from 1620 to 1749.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Xian |last2=Shao |first2=Xiaohua |last3=Wang |first3=Tao |date=3 May 2013 |title=Regional Climate Characteristics in China during the Little Ice Age |journal=Journal of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology: Natural Science Edition |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=317–325}}</ref> As the Medieval Warm Period transitioned into the Little Ice Age, the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) became much weaker and the summer monsoon limit (SML) migrated southeastwards.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lan |first1=Jianghu |last2=Xu |first2=Hai |last3=Lang |first3=Yunchao |last4=Yu |first4=Keke |last5=Zhou |first5=Peng |last6=Kang |first6=Shugang |last7=Zhou |first7=Kangen |last8=Wang |first8=Xulong |last9=Wang |first9=Tianli |last10=Cheng |first10=Peng |last11=Yan |first11=Dongna |last12=Yu |first12=Shiyong |last13=Che |first13=Ping |last14=Ye |first14=Yuanda |last15=Tan |first15=Liangcheng |date=1 April 2020 |title=Dramatic weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon in northern China during the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/48/4/307/579954/Dramatic-weakening-of-the-East-Asian-summer |journal=[[Geology (journal)|Geology]] |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=307–312 |doi=10.1130/G46811.1 |bibcode=2020Geo....48..307L |s2cid=212826794 |access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref> Southwestern China became significantly colder and drier as a result of the weakening of the EASM caused by the decreased pressure gradient resulting from the cooling of the southern Eurasian landmass, while northwestern China, dominated by westerlies, saw an increase in precipitation.<ref name="LiEtAl2021">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Ting-Yong |last2=Xiao |first2=Si-Ya |last3=Shen |first3=Chuan-Chou |last4=Zhang |first4=Jian |last5=Chen |first5=Chao-Jun |last6=Cheng |first6=Hai |last7=Spötl |first7=Christoph |last8=Huang |first8=Ran |last9=Wang |first9=Tao |last10=Li |first10=Jun-Yun |last11=Wu |first11=Yao |last12=Liu |first12=Zi-Qi |last13=Edwards |first13=R. Lawrence |last14=Yu |first14=Tsai-Luen |date=15 January 2021 |title=Little Ice Age climate changes in Southwest China from a stalagmite δ18O record |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018220306155#! |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=562 |page=110167 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110167 |bibcode=2021PPP...56210167L |s2cid=230543250 |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref>

The temperature changes were unprecedented for the farming communities in China. According to [[Coching Chu]]'s 1972 study, the Little Ice Age from the end of the Ming dynasty to the start of the Qing dynasty (1650–1700) was one of the coldest periods in recorded Chinese history.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=KeZhen |first1=Zhu |title=中国近五千年来气候变迁的初步研究 |journal=[[Acta Archaeologica Sinica]] |date=January 1972 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=25 |url=http://www.kaogu.cn/html/cn/xueshuziliao/shuzitushuguan/zuijinqikan/kgxb/}}</ref> Many major droughts during the summer months were recorded, and significant freezing events occurred during the winter months. That greatly worsened the food supply during the Ming dynasty.

This period of Little Ice Age corresponded to the period's major historical events. The [[Jurchen people]] lived in Northern China and formed a tributary state to the Ming dynasty and its [[Wanli Emperor]]. From 1573 to 1620, Manchuria experienced famine caused by extreme snowfall, which depleted agriculture production and devastated the livestock population. Scholars have argued that it had been caused by the temperature drops during the Little Ice Age. Despite the lack of food production, the Wanli Emperor ordered the Jurchens to pay the same amount of tribute each year. That led to anger and sowed seeds to the rebellion against the Ming dynasty. In 1616, Jurchens established the [[Later Jin (1616–1636)|Later Jin dynasty]]. Led by [[Hong Taiji]] and [[Nurhaci]], the Later Jin dynasty moved South and achieved decisive victories in battles against the Ming dynasty's military, such as during the 1618 [[Battle of Fushun]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xiao |first1=Jie |last2=Zheng |first2=Guozhang |last3=Guo |first3=Zhengsheng |last4=Yan |first4=Lisha |title=Climate change and social response during the heyday of the little ice age in the Ming and Qing dynasty |journal=Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, College of Geography Science, Shanxi Normal University |date=June 2018 |volume=32 |issue=6 |page=80 |doi=10.13448/j.cnki.jalre.2018.176 |url=https://www.ixueshu.com/document/a1a89c49bc6bff8037815933ef8c07f0318947a18e7f9386.html |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009135421/https://www.ixueshu.com/document/a1a89c49bc6bff8037815933ef8c07f0318947a18e7f9386.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After the earlier defeats and the death of the Wanli Emperor, the [[Chongzhen Emperor]] took over China and continued the war effort. From 1632 to 1641, the Little Ice Age began to cause drastic climate changes in the Ming dynasty's territories. For example, rainfall in the [[Huabei]] region dropped by 11% to 47% from the historical average. Meanwhile, the [[Shaanbei]] region, along the [[Yellow River]] experienced six major floods, which ruined cities such as [[Yan'an]]. The climate factored heavily in weakening the government's control over China and accelerated the fall of the Ming dynasty. In 1644, [[Li Zicheng]] led the Later Jin's forces into Beijing, overthrew the Ming dynasty, and established the short-lived [[Shun dynasty]] which were soon overthrown by [[Qing dynasty]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yi |first1=Shanming |title=明朝灭亡与"小冰期" |journal=Journal of Social Science of the North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power |date=May 2015 |volume=1 |issue=5 |page=3 |url=http://www.360doc.com/content/19/0409/13/6391637_827444582.shtml |access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref>{{failed verification|reason=No mention of Li Zicheng in source. Li also did not lead Later Jin.|date=November 2023}}

During the early years of the Qing dynasty, the Little Ice Age continued to have a significant impact on Chinese society. During the rule of the [[Kangxi Emperor]] (1661–1722), most Qing territories were still much colder than the historical average. However, the Kangxi Emperor pushed reforms and managed to increase the socio-economic recovery from the natural disasters. He benefited partly from the peacefulness of the early Qing dynasty. That essentially marked the end of the Little Ice Age in China and led to a more prosperous era of Chinese history that is known as the [[High Qing era]].<ref>{{cite journal |surname1=Xiao |given1=Lingbo |given2=Xiuqi |surname2=Fang |given3=Jingyun |surname3=Zheng |given4=Wanyi |surname4=Zhao<!--assuming Sage is giving these Chinese names in given-surname order--> |title=Famine, Migration and War: Comparison of Climate Change Impacts and Social Responses in North China between the Late Ming and Late Qing Dynasties |journal=The Holocene |volume=25 |issue=6 |date=June 2015 |pages=900–910 |doi=10.1177/0959683615572851|bibcode=2015Holoc..25..900X }}</ref>

In the [[Himalayas]], the general assumption is that the cooling events were synchronous with those in Europe during the Little Ice Age because of the characteristics of moraines. However, applications of [[Quaternary]] dating methods such as [[surface exposure dating]] have shown that glacial maxima occurred between 1300 and 1600, slightly earlier than the recorded coldest period in the Northern Hemisphere. Many large Himalayan glacial debris fields have remained close to their limits since the Little Ice Age. The Himalayas also experienced an increase in snowfall at higher altitudes, which results in a southward shift in the Indian summer monsoon and an increase in precipitation. Overall, the increase in winter precipitation may have caused some glacial movements.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rowan |first1=Ann |title=The 'Little Ice Age' in the Himalaya: A review of glacier advance driven by Northern Hemisphere temperature change |journal=[[The Holocene]] |date=1 February 2017 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=292–308 |doi=10.1177/0959683616658530 |bibcode=2017Holoc..27..292R |s2cid=55253587 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Since the end of the Little Ice Age, there has been an almost continuous retreat of glaciers to present.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Ethan |last2=Carrivick |first2=Jonathan L. |last3=Quincey |first3=Duncan J. |last4=Cook |first4=Simon J. |last5=James |first5=William H. M. |last6=Brown |first6=Lee E. |date=20 December 2021 |title=Accelerated mass loss of Himalayan glaciers since the Little Ice Age |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=24284 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-03805-8 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8688493 |pmid=34931039 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1124284L }}</ref>

The region in [[Balochistan]] became colder, and its native [[Baloch people]] started a [[mass migration]] and began to settle along the [[Indus River]] in [[Sindh]] and [[Punjab]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/688234/from-zardaris-to-makranis-how-the-baloch-came-to-sindh/ |title=From Zardaris to Makranis: How the Baloch came to Sindh |date=28 March 2014 |website=[[The Express Tribune]]}}</ref>

On [[Rebun Island]], a rapid cooling event occurred around 390 BP (as measured from [[Palynology|pollen samples]] in 2018<!--In 2028 the same date is 400 BP.-->) amidst a longer-term trend of cooling; this cooling event marked the onset of the Little Ice Age in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leipe |first1=Christian |last2=Müller |first2=Stefanie |last3=Hille |first3=Konrad |last4=Kato |first4=Hirofumi |last5=Kobe |first5=Franziska |last6=Schmidt |first6=Mareike |last7=Seyffert |first7=Konrad |last8=Spengler III |first8=Robert |last9=Wagner |first9=Mayke |last10=Weber |first10=Andrzej W. |last11=Tarasov |first11=Pavel E. |date=1 August 2018 |title=Vegetation change and human impacts on Rebun Island (Northwest Pacific) over the last 6000 years |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379118303561 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=193 |pages=129–144 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.011 |bibcode=2018QSRv..193..129L |access-date=14 April 2023}}</ref>

===Africa===
The Little Ice Age influenced the African climate from the 14th to the 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Barry |first2=Sylvia L. |last3=Chan |first3=Yvonne |last4=Wilkinson |first4=Paul |date=2001 |title=Decadal record of climate variability spanning the past 700 yr in the Southern Tropics of East Africa |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0083:drocvs>2.0.co;2 |journal=[[Geology (journal)|Geology]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=83 |doi=10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0083:drocvs>2.0.co;2 |bibcode=2001Geo....29...83J |issn=0091-7613 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref> Despite variances throughout the continent, a general trend of declining temperatures in Africa led to an average cooling of 1&nbsp;°C.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klein |first=Richard G. |date=December 2000 |title=The Earlier Stone Age of Southern Africa |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3888960 |journal=The South African Archaeological Bulletin |volume=55 |issue=172 |pages=107–122 |doi=10.2307/3888960 |issn=0038-1969 |jstor=3888960}}</ref>

In Ethiopia and North Africa, permanent snow was reported on mountain peaks at levels at which it does not occur today.<ref name="cdc">{{cite journal |last1=Reiter |first1=Paul |year=2000 |title=From Shakespeare to Defoe: Malaria in England in the Little Ice Age |journal=[[Emerging Infectious Diseases (journal)|Emerging Infectious Diseases]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.3201/eid0601.000101 |pmc=2627969 |pmid=10653562}}</ref> [[Timbuktu]], an important city on the trans-[[Sahara]]n caravan route, was flooded at least 13 times by the [[Niger River]], but there are no records of similar flooding before or since that time.<ref name="cdc" />

Several paleoclimatic studies of Southern Africa have suggested significant changes in relative changes in climate and environmental conditions. In Southern Africa, sediment cores retrieved from [[Lake Malawi]] show colder conditions between 1570 and 1820, which "further support, and extend, the global expanse of the Little Ice Age".<ref name="Johnson2001">{{cite journal |doi=10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0083:DROCVS>2.0.CO;2 |year=2001 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=83 |bibcode=2001Geo....29...83J |title=Decadal record of climate variability spanning the past 700 yr in the Southern Tropics of East Africa |journal=Geology |last1=Johnson |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Barry |first2=Sylvia L. |last3=Chan |first3=Yvonne |last4=Wilkinson |first4=Paul |s2cid=20364249}}</ref> A novel 3,000-year temperature reconstruction method, based on the rate of [[stalagmite]] growth in a cold cave in South Africa, further suggests a cold period from 1500 to 1800 "characterizing the South African Little Ice Age".<ref name="Holmgren2001">{{cite journal |author=Holmgren |first1=K. |last2=Tyson |first2=P. D. |last3=Moberg |first3=A. |last4=Svanered |first4=O. |year=2001 |title=A preliminary 3000-year regional temperature reconstruction for South Africa |journal=South African Journal of Science |volume=97 |pages=49–51 |hdl=10520/EJC97278}}</ref> The δ18O stalagmite record temperature reconstruction over a 350-year period (1690–1740) suggests that South Africa may have been the coldest region in Africa and have cooled by as much as 1.4&nbsp;°C in summer.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sundqvist|first1=H. S.|last2=Holmgren|first2=K.|last3=Fohlmeister|first3=J.|last4=Zhang|first4=Q.|last5=Matthews|first5=M. Bar|last6=Spötl|first6=C.|last7=Körnich|first7=H.|date=December 2013|title=Evidence of a large cooling between 1690 and 1740 AD in southern Africa|url= |journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1767|doi=10.1038/srep01767|issn=2045-2322|pmc=3642658|bibcode=2013NatSR...3.1767S}}</ref> Also, the solar magnetic and Niño-Southern Oscillation cycles may have been key drivers of climate variability in the subtropical region. [[Periglaciation|Periglacial features]] in the eastern [[Lesotho Highlands]] might have been [[relict (geology)|reactivated]] by the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.17159/sajs.2016/20160045 |title=A multi-disciplinary review of late Quaternary palaeoclimates and environments for Lesotho |journal=South African Journal of Science |year=2016 |last1=MacKay |first1=Anson W. |author-link1=Anson W. Mackay|last2=Bamford |first2=Marion K. |last3=Grab |first3=Stefan W. |last4=Fitchett |first4=Jennifer M. |volume=112|issue=7/8 |page=9 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Another archaeological reconstruction of Southern Africa reveals the rise of [[Great Zimbabwe]] because of ecological advantages from the increased rainfall over other competitor societies, such as the [[Mapungubwe]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Huffman|first=Thomas N.|date=January 1996|title=Archaeological evidence for climatic change during the last 2000 years in southern Africa|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1040-6182(95)00095-x|journal=Quaternary International|volume=33|pages=55–60|doi=10.1016/1040-6182(95)00095-x|bibcode=1996QuInt..33...55H|issn=1040-6182}}</ref> Pollen records derived from [[rock hyrax]] middens in the [[Cederberg|Cederberg Mountains]] of southwestern South Africa indicate an increase in humidity in the region at the start of the LIA.<ref name="ValsecchiEtAl2013">{{cite journal |last1=Valsecchi |first1=Verushka |last2=Chase |first2=Brian M. |last3=Slingsby |first3=Jasper A. |last4=Carr |first4=Andrew A. |last5=Quick |first5=Lynne J. |last6=Meadows |first6=Michael E. |last7=Cheddadi |first7=Rachid |last8=Reimer |first8=Paula J. |date=1 October 2013 |title=A high resolution 15,600-year pollen and microcharcoal record from the Cederberg Mountains, South Africa |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018213003301 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=387 |pages=6–16 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.009 |bibcode=2013PPP...387....6V |access-date=16 November 2022}}</ref>

Other than temperature variability, data from equatorial East Africa suggest impacts to the hydrologic cycle in the late 1700s. Historical data reconstructions from ten major African lakes indicate that an episode of *drought and desiccation" occurred throughout East Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nicholson |first1=Sharon E. |last2=Yin |first2=Xungang |date=2001 |title=Rainfall Conditions in Equatorial East Africa during the Nineteenth Century as Inferred from the Record of Lake Victoria |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/a:1010736008362 |journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]] |volume=48 |issue=2/3 |pages=387–398 |doi=10.1023/a:1010736008362 |bibcode=2001ClCh...48..387N |issn=0165-0009 |s2cid=130327434 |access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref> The period showed drastic reductions in the depths of lakes, which were transformed into desiccated puddles. It is very likely that locals could cross Lake Chad, among others, and that bouts of "intense droughts were ubiquitous". That indicates local societies were probably launched into long migrations and warfare with neighboring tribes, since agriculture was made virtually useless by the dry soil.

===Antarctica===
[[File:Lawdome75yrco2.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|{{CO2}} mixing ratios at [[Law Dome]]]]

Kreutz et al. (1997) compared results from studies of West Antarctic ice cores with the Greenland Ice Sheet Project Two [[GISP2]]; they suggested a synchronous global cooling.<ref name="Hreutz et al 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Kreutz |first1=K. J. |year=1997 |title=Bipolar Changes in Atmospheric Circulation During the Little Ice Age |journal=Science |volume=277 |issue=5330 |pages=1294–1296 |doi=10.1126/science.277.5330.1294 |s2cid=129868172}}</ref> An [[ocean sediment]] core from the eastern Bransfield Basin in the [[Antarctic Peninsula]] shows centennial events, which the authors link to the Little Ice Age and to the Medieval Warm Period.<ref name="Khim 2002 234–245">{{cite journal |doi=10.1006/qres.2002.2371 |bibcode=2002QuRes..58..234K |title=Unstable Climate Oscillations during the Late Holocene in the Eastern Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=234 |last1=Khim |first1=Boo-Keun |last2=Yoon |first2=Ho Il |last3=Kang |first3=Cheon Yun |last4=Bahk |first4=Jang Jun |year=2002 |s2cid=129384061}}</ref> The authors note that "other unexplained climatic events comparable in duration and amplitude to the LIA and MWP events also appear".

The [[Siple Dome]] (SD) had a climate event with an onset time that is coincident with that of the Little Ice Age in the North Atlantic, based on a correlation with the GISP2 record. The Little Ice Age is the most dramatic climate event in the SD Holocene glaciochemical record.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nsidc.org/data/waiscores/findings/mayewski_findings.html |title=Siple Dome Glaciochemistry |access-date=4 October 2017}}</ref> The Siple Dome ice core also contained its highest rate of melt layers (up to 8%) between 1550 and 1700, most likely because of warm summers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Das |first1=Sarah B. |last2=Alley |first2=Richard B. |title=Clues to changing WAIS Holocene summer temperatures from variations in melt-layer frequency in the Siple Dome ice core |url=http://igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov/wais/pastmeetings/abstracts00/Das.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007075240/http://igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov/wais/pastmeetings/abstracts00/Das.htm |archive-date=7 October 2006}}</ref> [[Law Dome]] ice cores show lower levels of CO<sub>2</sub> mixing ratios from 1550 to 1800, which Etheridge and Steele believe to be "probably as a result of colder global climate".<ref name="D">{{cite web |last1=Etheridge |first1=D. M. |last2=Steele |first2=L. P. |last3=Langenfelds |first3=R. L. |last4=Francey |first4=R. J. |last5=Barnola |first5=J. -M. |last6=Morgan |first6=V. I. |title=Historical CO<sub>2</sub> Records from the Law Dome DE08, DE08-2, and DSS Ice Cores |url=http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/lawdome.html |website=Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center |publisher=Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy |publication-place=Oak Ridge, Tennessee}}</ref>

Sediment cores in Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula, have neoglacial indicators by [[diatom]] and sea-ice taxa variations during the Little Ice Age.<ref name="M1998">{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0954102098000364 |bibcode=1998AntSc..10..269B |title=Record of Holocene glacial oscillations in Bransfield Basin as revealed by siliceous microfossil assemblages |journal=Antarctic Science |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=269 |last1=Bárcena |first1=M. Angeles |last2=Gersonde |first2=Rainer |last3=Ledesma |first3=Santiago |last4=Fabrés |first4=Joan |last5=Calafat |first5=Antonio M. |last6=Canals |first6=Miquel |last7=Sierro |first7=F. Javier |last8=Flores |first8=Jose A. |year=1998|s2cid=128443058 }}</ref> Stable isotope records from the Mount Erebus Saddle ice core site suggests that the Ross Sea region experienced average temperatures 1.6 ± 1.4&nbsp;°C cooler during the Little Ice Age than the last 150 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rhodes |first1=R. H. |last2=Bertler |first2=N. A. N. |last3=Baker |first3=J. A. |last4=Steen-Larsen |first4=H. C. |last5=Sneed |first5=S. B. |last6=Morgenstern |first6=U. |last7=Johnsen |first7=S. J. |year=2012 |title=Little Ice Age climate and oceanic conditions of the Ross Sea, Antarctica from a coastal ice core record |journal=[[Climate of the Past]] |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=1223 |bibcode=2012CliPa...8.1223R |doi=10.5194/cp-8-1223-2012 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Australia and New Zealand===
Its location in the Southern Hemisphere made Australia not experience a regional cooling like that of Europe or North America. Instead, the Australian Little Ice Age was characterized by humid, rainy climates, which were followed by drying and [[aridification]] in the 19th century.<ref name="sciencedirect.com">{{Cite journal |last1=Tibby |first1=J. |last2=Tyler |first2=J. J. |last3=Barr |first3=C. |date=2018-12-15 |title=Post little ice age drying of eastern Australia conflates understanding of early settlement impacts |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118302051 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |series=Archives of Humans, Environments and their Interactions – papers in honour of Professor C. Neil Roberts and Professor Henry F. Lamb |volume=202 |pages=45–54 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.10.033 |bibcode=2018QSRv..202...45T |s2cid=134005721 |issn=0277-3791}}</ref>

As studied by Tibby et al. (2018), lake records from [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]], [[New South Wales]], and [[Queensland]] suggest that conditions in the east and the south-east of Australia were wet and unusually cool from the 16th to the early 19th centuries. That corresponds with the "peak" of the global Little Ice Age from 1594 to 1722. For example, North Stradbroke Island's Swallow Lagoon data reveals a period of persistent wetness from 1500 to 1850 CE (exceeding 300 mm above average), followed by a significant decrease in rainfall after 1891.<ref name="sciencedirect.com"/> The rainfalls significantly reduced after around 1890. Similarly, the hydrological records of Lake Surprise's [[salinity]] levels reveal high humidity levels around from 1440 to 1880, and an increase in salinity from 1860 to 1880 points to a negative change to the once-humid climate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mercer |first1=D. |last2=Marden |first2=P. |title=Ecologically sustainable development in a 'quarry' economy: one step forward, two steps back |journal=Geographical Research |volume=44 |year=2006 |issue=2 |pages=183–202 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-5871.2006.00376.x|bibcode=2006GeoRs..44..183M }}</ref> The mid-19th century marked a notable change to eastern Australia's rainfall and humidity patterns.

Tibby et al. (2018) note that in eastern Australia, the paleoclimatic changes of the Little Ice Age in the late 1800s coincided with the agricultural changes resulting from European colonization. After the 1788 establishment of British colonies in the Australia, which were concentrated primarily in the eastern regions and cities like Sydney and later Melbourne and Brisbane, the British introduced new agricultural practices like [[pastoralism]].<ref name="sciencedirect.com"/> Such practices required widespread deforestation and clearance of vegetation. Pastoralism and the clearing of land are captured in works of art such as the 1833 painting by the prominent landscape artist John Glover ''Patterdale Landscape with Cattle''.

[[File:John Glover - Patterdale landscape with cattle - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Patterdale Landscape with Cattle'' (1833) by John Glover depicts agricultural practices like pastoralism, which contributed to the aridification of Australia's late Little Ice Age.]]
Over the next century, the deforestation led to a [[loss of biodiversity]], wind and water-based soil erosion, and soil salinity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=L. |last2=Dunlop |first2=M. |last3=Foran |first3=B. |title=Land cover change and water vapour flows: learning from Australia |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |issue=385 |year=2003 |volume=358 |pages=1973–1984 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2003.1381|pmid=14728792 |pmc=1693281 }}</ref> Furthermore, as argued by Gordan et al. (2003), such land and vegetation clearance in Australia resulted in a 10% reduction in the transport of water vapor to the atmosphere. That occurred in Western Australia as well, where 19th-century land clearing resulted in reduced rainfall over the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nair |first1=U. S. |last2=Wu |first2=Y. |last3=Kala |first3=J. |last4=Lyons |first4=T. J. |last5=Peilke |first5=R. A. |last6=Hacker |first6=J. M. |title=The role of land use change on the development and evolution of the west coast trough, convective clouds, and precipitation in southwest Australia |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |volume=116 |year=2011 |issue=D7 |page=D7|doi=10.1029/2010JD014950 |bibcode=2011JGRD..116.7103N }}</ref> By 1850 to 1890, those human agricultural practices, which were concentrated in eastern Australia, had most likely amplified the drying and aridification that marked the end of the Little Ice Age.

In the north, evidence suggests fairly dry conditions, but coral cores from the [[Great Barrier Reef]] show rainfall similar to today but with less variability. A study that analyzed isotopes in Great Barrier Reef corals suggested that increased water vapor transport from the southern tropical oceans to the poles contributed to the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hendy |first1=Erica J. |last2=Gagan |first2=Michael K. |last3=Alibert |first3=Chantal A. |last4=McCulloch |first4=Malcolm T. |last5=Lough |first5=Janice M. |last6=Isdale |first6=Peter J. |year=2002 |title=Abrupt Decrease in Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Salinity at End of Little Ice Age |journal=Science |volume=295 |issue=5559 |pages=1511–1514 |bibcode=2002Sci...295.1511H |doi=10.1126/science.1067693 |pmid=11859191 |s2cid=25698190}}</ref> [[Borehole]] reconstructions from Australia suggest that over the last 500 years, the 17th century was the coldest on the continent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pollack |first1=Henry N. |last2=Huang |first2=Shaopeng |last3=Smerdon |first3=Jason E. |year=2006 |title=Five centuries of climate change in Australia: The view from underground |journal=[[Journal of Quaternary Science]] |volume=21 |issue=7 |page=701 |bibcode=2006JQS....21..701P |doi=10.1002/jqs.1060|hdl=2027.42/55832 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The borehole temperature reconstruction method further indicates that the warming of Australia over the past five centuries is only around half that of the warming experienced by the Northern Hemisphere, which further proves that Australia did not reach the same depths of cooling as the continents in the north.

On the west coast of the [[Southern Alps]] of New Zealand, the [[Franz Josef Glacier]] advanced rapidly during the Little Ice Age and reached its maximum extent in the early 18th century. That was one of the few cases of a glacier thrusting into a [[rainforest]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Brian M. |year=2001 |title=The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300–1850 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02272-4}}</ref> Evidence suggests, corroborated by tree ring proxy data, that the glacier contributed to a {{cvt|-0.56|C-change}} temperature anomaly over the course of the Little Ice Age in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lorrey |first1=Andrew |last2=Fauchereau |first2=Nicholas |last3=Stanton |first3=Craig |last4=Pearce |first4=Petra |title=The Little Ice Age climate of New Zealand reconstructed from South Alps cirque glaciers: A synoptic type approach |journal=Climate Dynamics |date=June 2013 |volume=42 |issue=11–12 |pages=11–12 |doi=10.1007/s00382-013-1876-8}}</ref> Based on dating of a yellow-green lichen of the ''[[Rhizocarpon]]'' subgenus, the [[Mueller Glacier]], on the eastern flank of the Southern Alps within [[Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park]], is considered to have been at its maximum extent between 1725 and 1730.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Winkler |first1=Stefan |year=2000 |title=The 'Little Ice Age' maximum in the Southern Alps, New Zealand: Preliminary results at Mueller Glacier |journal=The Holocene |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=643–647 |bibcode=2000Holoc..10..643W |doi=10.1191/095968300666087656 |s2cid=131695554}}</ref>

===Pacific islands===
Sea-level data for the [[Pacific islands]] suggest that sea level in the region fell, possibly in two stages, between 1270 and 1475. That was associated with a 1.5&nbsp;°C fall in temperature, as determined from oxygen-isotope analysis, and an observed increase in the frequency of [[El Niño]].<ref name="Nunn2000">{{cite journal |last1=Nunn |first1=Patrick D. |year=2000 |title=Environmental catastrophe in the Pacific Islands around A.D. 1300 |journal=Geoarchaeology |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=715–740 |doi=10.1002/1520-6548(200010)15:7<715::AID-GEA4>3.0.CO;2-L|bibcode=2000Gearc..15..715N }}</ref> Tropical Pacific [[coral]] records indicate the most frequent and intense [[El Niño–Southern Oscillation]] activity was in the mid-17th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pac.ne.jp/IUGG2003/EN/program.asp?session_id=MC12&program_id=022025-1 |title=The Medieval Cool Period and the Little Warm Age in the Central Tropical Pacific? Fossil Coral Climate Records of the Last Millennium |first1=Kim M. |last1=Cobb |first2=Chris |last2=Charles |first3=Hai |last3=Cheng |first4=R. Lawrence |last4=Edwards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031120203254/http://www.pac.ne.jp/IUGG2003/EN/program.asp?session_id=MC12&program_id=022025-1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2003}}</ref> [[Foraminifera|Foraminiferal]] 18 O records indicate that the [[Indo-Pacific Warm Pool]] was warm and saline between 1000 and 1400, with temperatures approximating current conditions, but that it cooled from 1400 onwards and reached its lowest temperatures in 1700. That is consistent with the transition from the mid-[[Holocene]] warming to the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Field |first1=Julie S. |last2=Lape |first2=Peter V. |date=March 2010 |title=Paleoclimates and the emergence of fortifications in the tropical Pacific islands |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |publisher=Elsevier Incorporated |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=113–124 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2009.11.001 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> The nearby southwestern Pacific, however, experienced warmer-than-average conditions over the course of the Little Ice Age, which is thought to be from the increased trade winds, which increased the evaporation and the salinity in the region. The dramatic temperature differences between the higher latitudes and the equator are thought to have resulted in drier conditions in the subtropics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hendy |first=E. J. |date=22 February 2002 |title=Abrupt Decrease in Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Salinity at End of Little Ice Age |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1067693 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=295 |issue=5559 |pages=1511–1514 |bibcode=2002Sci...295.1511H |doi=10.1126/science.1067693 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=11859191 |s2cid=25698190}}</ref> Independent multiproxy analyses of Raraku Lake (sedimentology, mineralology, organic and inorganic geochemistry, etc.) indicate that [[Easter Island]] was subject to two phases of arid climate that led to drought. The first occurred between 500 and 1200, and the second occurring during the Little Ice Age from 1570 to 1720.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rull |first=Valenti |date=5 January 2020 |title=Drought, freshwater availability and cultural resilience on Easter Island (SE Pacific) during the Little Ice Age |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0959683619895587 |journal=[[The Holocene]] |publisher=Sage Publications |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=774–780 |bibcode=2020Holoc..30..774R |doi=10.1177/0959683619895587 |s2cid=214564573 |via=GeoRef In Process |hdl-access=free |hdl=10261/198861}}</ref> In between both arid phases, the island enjoyed a humid period from 1200 to 1570. That coincided with the peak of the [[Rapa Nui people|Rapa Nui civilization]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fischer |first=Steven Roger |title=Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2005 |isbn=1-86189-282-9 |location=London, England |language=en-uk}}</ref>

===South America===
{{see also|White Earthquake}}
Tree-ring data from [[Patagonia]] show cold episodes from 1270 and 1380 and from 1520 to 1670, during the events in the Northern Hemisphere.<ref name="Villalba1990">{{cite journal |last1=Villalba |first1=Ricardo |author-link=Ricardo Villalba |year=1990 |title=Climatic fluctuations in northern Patagonia during the last 1000 years as inferred from tree-ring records |journal=[[Quaternary Research]] |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=346–60 |bibcode=1990QuRes..34..346V |doi=10.1016/0033-5894(90)90046-N |s2cid=129024705}}</ref><ref name="Villalba1994">{{cite journal |last1=Villalba |first1=Ricardo |author-link=Ricardo Villalba |year=1994 |title=Tree-ring and glacial evidence for the medieval warm epoch and the little ice age in southern South America |journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]] |volume=26 |issue=2–3 |pages=183–97 |bibcode=1994ClCh...26..183V |doi=10.1007/BF01092413 |s2cid=189877440}}</ref> Eight sediment cores taken from [[Puyehue Lake]] have been interpreted as showing a humid period from 1470 to 1700, which the authors describe as a regional marker of the onset of the Little Ice Age.<ref name="S2005">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2005.06.005 |bibcode=2005QuRes..64..163B |title=Temporal evolution of sediment supply in Lago Puyehue (Southern Chile) during the last 600 yr and its climatic significance |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=163 |last1=Bertrand |first1=Sébastien |last2=Boës |first2=Xavier |last3=Castiaux |first3=Julie |last4=Charlet |first4=François |last5=Urrutia |first5=Roberto |last6=Espinoza |first6=Cristian |last7=Lepoint |first7=Gilles |last8=Charlier |first8=Bernard |last9=Fagel |first9=Nathalie |year=2005 |hdl=2268/24732 |s2cid=20090174 |url=http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/24732 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> A 2009 paper details cooler and wetter conditions in southeastern South America between 1550 and 1800 by citing evidence obtained via several proxies and models.<ref name="Inka">{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-2672-9_16 |chapter=The Little Ice Age in Southern South America: Proxy and Model Based Evidence |title=Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions |volume=14 |pages=395–412 |series=Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research |year=2009 |last1=Meyer |first1=Inka |last2=Wagner |first2=Sebastian |isbn=978-90-481-2671-2 }}</ref> [[Oxygen-18|<sup>18</sup>O]] records from three Andean ice cores show a cool period from 1600 to 1800.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Thompson | first1 = L. G. | last2 = Mosley-Thompson | first2 = E. | last3 = Davis | first3 = M. E. | last4 = Lin | first4 = P. N. | last5 = Henderson | first5 = K. | last6 = Mashiotta | first6 = T. A. | chapter = Tropical Glacier and Ice Core Evidence of Climate Change on Annual to Millennial Time Scales | doi = 10.1007/978-94-015-1252-7_8 | title = Climate Variability and Change in High Elevation Regions: Past, Present & Future | series = Advances in Global Change Research | volume = 15 | pages = 137–155 | year = 2003 |isbn=978-90-481-6322-9| s2cid = 18990647 }}</ref>

Although it is only anecdotal evidence, the [[Antonio de Vea expedition]] entered [[San Rafael Lake]] in 1675 through Río Témpanos (Spanish for "Ice Floe River"). The Spanish mentioned no [[drift ice|ice floe]] but stated that the [[San Rafael Glacier]] did not reach far into the lagoon. In 1766, another expedition noticed that the glacier reached the lagoon and [[ice calving|calved]] into large [[icebergs]]. [[Hans Steffen]] visited the area in 1898 and noticed that the glacier penetrated far into the lagoon. Such historical records indicate a general cooling in the area between 1675 and 1898: "The recognition of the LIA in northern Patagonia, through the use of documentary sources, provides important, independent evidence for the occurrence of this phenomenon in the region."<ref name=Araneda2006>{{cite journal |doi=10.1177/0959683607082414 |bibcode=2007Holoc..17..987A |title=Historical records of San Rafael glacier advances (North Patagonian Icefield): Another clue to 'Little Ice Age' timing in southern Chile? |journal=The Holocene |volume=17 |issue=7 |pages=987 |last1=Araneda |first1=Alberto |last2=Torrejón |first2=Fernando |last3=Aguayo |first3=Mauricio |last4=Torres |first4=Laura |last5=Cruces |first5=Fabiola |last6=Cisternas |first6=Marco |last7=Urrutia |first7=Roberto |year=2007 |s2cid=128826804 |hdl=10533/178477 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> As of 2001, the borders of the glacier had significantly retreated from those of 1675.<ref name=Araneda2006/>

It has been suggested that all glaciers of [[Gran Campo Nevado]] next to the [[Strait of Magellan]] reached their largest extent of the whole Holocene epoch during the Little Ice Age.<ref>{{Cite journal|title='Little Ice Age' glacier fluctuations, Gran Campo Nevado, southernmost Chile|journal=[[The Holocene]]|url=https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb6/prof/GEO/Kilian/Koch___Kilian-2005.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb6/prof/GEO/Kilian/Koch___Kilian-2005.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|last1=Koch|first1=Johannes|volume=15|pages=20–28|last2=Kilian|first2=Rolf|year=2005|issue=1|doi=10.1191/0959683605hl780rp|bibcode=2005Holoc..15...20K|s2cid=129125563}}</ref>

It has been proposed that the Little Ice Age, locally lasting from the 17th to the 19th centuries, may have had a negative impact on the productivity of marine ecosystems and on the navigability of the [[Fjords and channels of Chile|Patagonian fjords and channels]] being thus detrimental to the sea-faring [[Kawésqar]].<ref name=modelinpop>{{Cite journal |title=A modeling approach to estimate the historical population size of the Patagonian Kawésqar people |journal=[[The Holocene]] |last1=Estay |first1=Sergio A. |issue=6 |volume=32 |pages=578–583 |last2=López |first2=Daniela N. |last3=Silva |first3=Carmen P. |last4=Gayo |first4=Eugenia M. |last5=McRostie |first5=Virginia |last6=Lima |first6=Mauricio|year=2022 |doi=10.1177/09596836221080761 |bibcode=2022Holoc..32..578E |s2cid=247151899 }}</ref>

=== Middle East ===
The Ottoman LIA occurred from the early 14th century until the mid-19th century, with its most intense phase taking place between the 16th and 17th centuries. 

From the 14th to 15th century, the Ottoman Empire transformed from a small group of soldiers to a major world power.<ref name="White 1">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Sam |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511844058 |title=The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire |date=2011-08-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00831-1 |pages=1|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511844058 }}</ref> By the end of the 16th century, the LIA began <ref name="White 1" /> and had a profound impact on the Ottoman economy, society, and culture. During February 1621, it is noted that the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul had frozen over completely.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Sam |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511844058 |title=The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire |date=2011-08-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00831-1 |pages=123|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511844058 }}</ref> In the years 1265, 1277 and 1297–1298 Byzantine sources describe extremely harsh cold. Also, around 1300, there were harsh winters in 1298/1299 in the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raphael |first=Sarah Kate |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004244733 |title=Climate and Political Climate |date=2013-01-15 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-24473-3 |pages=22|doi=10.1163/9789004244733 }}</ref> This is followed by a drought which takes place in Asia Minor in 1302-1304 while there is the flooding of the Sangarious River in the summer of 1302.

The Ottoman Empire, whose territories stretched across three continents, and its economy was based on agriculture and trade, had a diverse range of climates and ecosystems, and was greatly affected by this phenomenon.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |title=Ottoman conquests |date=2011-11-13 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow464 |page=545 |access-date=2023-04-26 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Limited |doi=10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow464 |isbn=978-1-4051-9037-4 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of War}}</ref> The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most powerful empires in the world during the Little Ice Age. The effects of the Little Ice Age on the Ottoman Empire were significant, leading to changes in agricultural practices, increased food prices, and social unrest. During the 1590s the beginning of a wave of extremely cold winters began and the middle eastern longest drought in six centuries marked the beginning of the Little Ice Age in the Middle East.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=S. |year=2012 |title=Water on Sand: Environmental histories of the Middle East and North Africa |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=72}}</ref> Due to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Itzkowitz |first=Norman |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226098012.001.0001 |title=Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition |date=1980 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-38806-9 |pages=67 |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226098012.001.0001}}</ref> the population of the empire reached around 30 million people which led to a shortage of land and an increase in tax.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Changing Ottoman Empire |date=2010 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780755621231.ch-014 |title=Greece, the Hidden Centuries |pages=281 |access-date=2023-04-26 |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd|doi=10.5040/9780755621231.ch-014 |isbn=978-1-78076-238-8 }}</ref> The second half of the 16th century included inflation and rising cost in both the Middle East and Europe. The effect of this large population and lack of supplies created a strain on the Ottoman government.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gerber |first=Haim |date=September 1996 |title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914. Edited by Halil Inalcik. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. xxxix, 1026. $120.00 |type=book review |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700017216 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=413–414 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700017216 |s2cid=154949743 |issn=0022-0507}}</ref>

The cooling climate disrupted agricultural production, leading to food shortages and famines. The Ottoman Empire did not often have a shortage of grain due to its location, close to the Danube, Nile and the Black Sea, however, once the Little Ice Age began that all changed, and grain was rare<ref name="White 32">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Sam |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511844058 |title=The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire |date=2011-08-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00831-1 |pages=32|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511844058 }}</ref> due to the cooler temperatures which led to a shorter growing season, resulting in lower crop yields and decreased food production. The effects of the colder climate were exacerbated by extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and storms, which further reduced crop yields.<ref name="White 32"/> Each ancient Middle Eastern empire had a significant supply of food: the Byzantines had Anatolia and Syria, the Abbasids had the lower Tigris-Euphrates region, as well as Khurasan and Bukhara, and the Ottomans had Egypt.<ref name="archive.aramcoworld.com">{{Cite magazine |first=William J. |last=Griswold |title=Saudi Aramco World: Whither the Weather |date=September–October 1978 
|volume=29 |issue=5 |url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/197805/whither.the.weather.htm |access-date=2023-04-26 |magazine=Saudi Aramco World |pages=22–27}}</ref> However, there was an inherent political risk in such agricultural dependency, which finally materialised. Farmers who are unable or unwilling to relocate may be driven into revolt against the established authority if weather patterns shift. Nomads had the flexibility to move in response to climate shifts, unlike settled peasants who were unwilling to leave their traditional lands.<ref name="archive.aramcoworld.com"/> The impact of the Little Ice Age on the Ottoman Empire was not limited to agriculture and trade. The cooling climate led to changes in migration patterns, as some regions became uninhabitable while others became more attractive. This in turn affected the demographics of the empire and contributed to the emergence of new political and social structures.

The lengthy drought as well as the cold winters led to the destruction of imperial systems which all led to a series of uprisings collectively known as the [[Celali rebellions|Celali Rebellion]], c. 1596–1610. The rebellion became the longest-lasting internal challenge to state power in the Ottoman Empire's six centuries of existence.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=What the Ottoman Empire can teach us about the consequences of climate change – and how drought can uproot peoples and fuel warfare |first=Andrea |last=Duffy |magazine=The Conversation |via=Colorado State University |date=9 June 2021 |url=https://inst.colostate.edu/news/what-the-ottoman-empire-can-tell-us-about-climate-change/ |access-date=2023-04-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> The goal of the Celali Rebellion was not to overthrow the Ottoman government; rather, it was an attempt to get newly appointed governorships.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Nova |date=May 2019 |title=Betty Anderson, A History of the Modern Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rouges (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2016). Pp. 540. $44.95 paper. {{text|ISBN}}: 9780804783248 |type=book review |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743819000114 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=321–323 |doi=10.1017/s0020743819000114 |s2cid=167176658 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref> The Ottoman Empire did not fully recover from the Little Ice Age for around a hundred years, even then they were considered weakened with a large population loss.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Sam |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511844058 |title=The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire |date=15 August 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00831-1 |pages=2 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511844058}}</ref>