Author | Leng Yan Author Team - Sui Feng
Word count: 4482, Reading time: about 12 minutes
Editor's note: In the 14th to 19th centuries, hundreds of years ago, there was a long and harsh cold period that shrouded the world. When the last cold period came, the two empires of the East and the West, Rome and Han Dynasty were both devastatingly hit. After a thousand years of development, human civilization faced the same dilemma. The recent Little Ice Age directly led to the turmoil in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and Europe. This article will talk about the history of the latest Little Ice Age.
▲Disaster paintings in Europe during the Little Ice Period
Ming Dynasty
Academics generally recognized by the academic community as the beginning of the Little Ice Period was in the 14th century, and it lasted until the second half of the 19th century, with a period of more than 500 years. However, the Little Ice Period is not a period of coldness that continues to cool continuously, but a period of constant fluctuation and frequent extreme climates. In terms of average temperature, the temperature in the Little Ice Period is not much lower than now, while the warmth in the Middle Ages was 3℃ higher than now. The devastating power of the Little Ice Age lies in its coldest periods and extreme climate environments, and in different regions, the frequency of cold dates and extreme climates is different.
In East Asia, the impact of the Little Ice Age is very obvious. In 1332, a major flood occurred in Yellow River , which drowned 7 million people. Two years later, a plague broke out in Hubei. After that, wars broke out frequently, and tens of millions of people died in China, which directly destroyed Yuanchao .
▲The Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty
When Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368, although the world was undergoing the Little Ice Age, the land of China was still given a warmer period, and this warming period lasted until the 1530s. During this period, the rice yield in the Jiangnan region increased greatly, and two ripens per year became the norm, and there was even a bumper harvest of three ripens per year in many years.
Under the efforts of Hongwu and Yongle , the Ming Dynasty vigorously reclaimed wasteland and farmland, and supplemented by a warm and stable climate, the grain output of the whole of China was very considerable. Zhu Yuanzhang once said proudly: " My capital raised millions of soldiers, so that the people could spend a grain of rice. " Except for the famine that occurred in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia in 1369-1373, there were almost no famine in the early 50 years of the Ming Dynasty.
▲ "Southern Capital Farming Picture" depicts the prosperity of Nanjing. It was written around 1520
However, the good weather was fleeting. Since the 15th century, the temperature in China began to cool down, and the average temperature was 0.7℃ lower than the current level. The coldness caused Bohai , Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake , and Taihu to freeze all year round, among which the thickness of the ice layer in the Bohai Sea can reach nine meters.
In addition to cooling down, extreme rainwater distribution has also caused huge damage to agriculture. In the 15th century, the Yellow River broke dozens of times and cut off its currents dozens of times. The tributaries in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River also often cut off its currents, leaving the people with no water available.
Affected by this climate, the rice in Jiangnan region has changed from two ripens in a year or three ripens in a year to one ripens in a year. The farming areas in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty also retreated south due to the cold. The military farmhouse that was previously located north of the Yellow River, but now it retreats to the south of Hetao Plain. Mongols also took this opportunity to enter Yinshan .
▲The location of the garrison in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty also changed with the changes in the agricultural and pastoral interlacing zone
Such a harsh climate change caused the Ming Dynasty's treasury revenue to plummet. From 1419 to 1421, the actual collection amount of land tax in the country was 22.5338 million stones, with an average annual rate of 7.51 million stones, which is less than 1/3 of the last year of Hongwu. In the following time, the situation became more and more difficult. Due to the lack of income, more and more troops fled from the garrison. The northern garrison, which could support themselves during the Hongwu period and export tribute to the central government, had to transport grain from the mainland by the 15th century.
The most direct result of the decline in grain output is famine.In the 15th century, three major famines that lasted for several years and had a profound impact were three periods: 1434-1445, 1460-1470, and 1484-1489. "Having spring and summer, the wind has strong sand and the seedlings in the fields are growing, and the autumn is hopeless... Pingliang is a reflection of the poor grain harvest at that time.
But soon, after entering the 16th century, the new warmth period brought another favor to the Ming Dynasty.
In the 70 years between 1500 and 1570, the average temperature increased by 0.8℃ compared with the last century. three-season rice reappeared on the stage of history, and military farms and sanitation centers in various places also flourished again.
The memorial of during the Jiajing period described the situation at that time like this: " The ploughing person hides millet and wheat, the herders cattle and sheep are covered with wild cattle and sheep, and people are happy to live, and harmony is reached. " In the 19th year of Jiajing (1540), the area of military farms in the Five Guards of Ningxia was more than 14,800 hectares. By the 33rd year of Jiajing (1554), it had increased to more than 130,000 hectares. Not only did the old military farming develop, the Mongolians also began to farm. In the 26th year of Jiajing (1547), Altan Khan " "" "
▲ The Mongolians who once dominated the Eurasian continent
After passing this last warm period, East Asia began a long cold period of 130 years. During this period, the Ming Dynasty came to an end.
During the Jiajing period, the yield per mu of Zhengding area could reach 1 shi, but by Wanli html for 4 years, it was less than 5 shi. The yield per mu in Chaoyang area, Guangdong Province was 3.8 shi in 1596, and by 1635, it had decreased to 2.5 shi. At that time, Zhang Luxiang, the author of farming books, said: "HTM3 will not get five years of farming for ten years. "
Extreme climate also frequently broke out at this time. "A Brief History of Henan Changes" records that Henan " Chongzhen drought in the third year (1630); four years, drought; five years, severe drought; six years, floods in Zhengzhou, and the Yellow River is as cold as stones; seven years, summer drought locusts; eight years, summer drought locusts; nine years, summer drought locusts..." This record lasted until the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), with extreme weather records, and Henan is not an isolated case. At that time, all regions in China suffered disasters year by year, and countless records of droughts, floods, locust plagues, and human vegetation.
It is also because of the colder climate, and the Jurchens located in the northeast cannot bear the reduction in grain production. Nurhaci Before the rebellion began, the Jurchens had already experienced a food crisis. The climate here is originally colder than the south, the crops grow for a short time, and the extreme climate has turned the originally small grain output into nothing, making it possible to see Jurchens begging everywhere at that time. In 1627, the Jurchens even had a situation of eating each other. Nurhaci's method was to plunder from the Ming and North Korea, so he started a war with the Ming Dynasty for more than 20 years.
▲Portrait of Nurhaci
This time, Ming did not survive. Years of natural disasters, uprisings and rebellions across the country, and the increasing military pressure of the Later Jin made the Ming Dynasty, which was already overwhelmed, finally reach its end.
Europe during the Little Ice Age
Like East Asia, in the 14th century, Europe suffered a severe blow from the Little Ice Age, and famine and plague reduced Europe's population by one third. But between the disaster in 1350 and 1570, Europe endured much less suffering than the Ming Dynasty. It was only a great famine broke out between 1430 and 1440. At that time, 300 rural areas in France became deserted villages, but after that, France did not experience any food shortages for a long time.
▲The Black Death that once ravaged Europe eliminated one-third of the population in Europe
The real cold started in 1570. During this period, the temperature was 1℃ lower than the present, the climate was colder, the winter was longer, the growth time of crops decreased by 1 month, and the maximum altitude suitable for farming dropped by 100 to 200 meters. From 1570 to 1629, half of the harvest was less than two-thirds of the previous year.
The decline in agricultural output directly led to the rise of food prices. All industries have to pay higher prices for food and clothing demand, and their living standards have also been reduced, which further led to increased social pressure and more severe social turmoil. For example, witch hunting, the sudden bad climate frightened the farmers. Driven by superstition, they began to hunt "witches", because they believed that it was the witches that caused natural disasters to come to their fields. There were more than 40,000 "witches" tied to the stolen rack by them in Germany and France.
▲Women who are recognized as "witches" are usually beaten up and finally tied up on a stolen rack to roast them to death
The more serious consequence of social unrest is war. According to statistics, in modern Europe, the average number of wars in the cold period was 41% more than in the warm period, and the damage was greater. The 30 Years War of , which occurred in 1618-1648, is particularly cruel. It is the most cruel war before World War I. Its death rate is 12 times that of the war between 1500-1619. The entire German lost more than one-third of the population, of which 65% of the population in the Pomeranian region disappeared. The Habsburg dynasty, which was once the overlord of the European continent, was in a slump after that.
▲Thirty Years' War is the first European war, and its cruelty is far greater than the previous
The consequences of food shortage also include the prevalence of plague. Due to lack of food, many people were unable to consume enough food. By the 17th century, the per capita height in Europe was 2 to 4 cm lower than in the warmer period of the Middle Ages. Inadequate nutritional intake leads to a decline in human immunity, and bacteria are more likely to invade the human body. In the 1740s, in this worst decade, famine occurred 11 times, three large-scale plagues broke out, and the population directly decreased by tens of millions.
This cold period did not end in the 1940s. Until 1700, the severe cold still attacked Europe, as if it wanted to give European countries a fatal blow.
▲ During the Little Ice Period, frozen rivers often became places for people to move
However, the situation changed, and Europeans who were tortured by the cold for a long time found a new way out.
Change first occurred in , the most prosperous capital economy at that time, the Netherlands . Before the 17th century, European food crops continued the tradition of growing wheat in the ancient Roman era, and Dutch is no exception. When the climate turned colder and the unlucky wheat began to reduce its yield, the Dutch, who had been engaged in wheat trade for a long time, began to have a headache. For profit, they abandoned single wheat cultivation and began to try various new crops, such as the more cold-resistant turnip , buckwheat , and the new crop introduced from the Americas decades ago - potatoes.
▲In 1601, the potatoes painted by Europeans. At that time, potatoes had not yet promoted the cultivation of
in Europe. This attempt was a huge success. The trial planting of new crops and diversified planting allowed the Dutch to immediately obtain a stable and sufficient food supply, and even free up more land to plant cash crops for trade.
At that time, the landlords who were carrying out the vigorous land siege in the UK, immediately followed their example after seeing the success of the Dutch.
The two countries' agricultural revolution have allowed them to safely survive the coldest years of the Little Ice Age, while other countries that have not kept up, such as France, Germany, Ireland , etc., have encountered a great famine in the 1690s, and France has lost more than 10% of its population.
However, in the 18th century, all countries reacted and began to carry out the agricultural revolution, which made the European population more liberate, and more people could be liberated from agriculture and invested in other industries, which greatly promoted the occurrence of the industrial revolution .
under the Little Ice Age
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the newly established Qing Dynasty did not get rid of the Little Ice Age. In fact, the coldest time of the Little Ice Age was in the second half of the 17th century, reaching its peak in the 1990s. However, the Qing Dynasty successfully survived this cold winter and also opened up the Kangxi and Qianlong eras -What is the reason?
▲The "Future Map of Gusu" drawn during the Qianlong period depicts the prosperous scene of Suzhou at that time
is not like Europe. In the 17th century, sweet potatoes and corn were not popular in China. It was not until the Qianlong period that sweet potatoes and corn were truly popular. Before that, only sweet potatoes were used as disaster relief food in the southeast region to a certain scale. Obviously, this was not the reason why the Little Ice Age was successfully survived in the early Qing Dynasty.
The real reason why the Qing Dynasty could survive the Little Ice Age is the prosperity of cultivated arable land and the sparse population.
Some people believe that the natural disasters and wars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties caused the population to fall below 100 million, the rate of abandoned arable land reached 60%, and a large area of land was in a state of being developed. The Qing rulers also strongly supported the land reclamation operation. In the sixth year of Shunzhi (1649), the "Land Reclamation Order" was issued. After Kangxi ascended the throne, various encouraging reclamation policies continued to be implemented, and these policies achieved considerable results. By the 46th year of Kangxi, " has been destroyed by Fujian Province for more than 20 years, and the people have already resumed their business. ”
▲Xu Guangqi tried to grow sweet potatoes in Beijing, but it was not successful. During this period, famine was rare, and grain prices continued to decline. It was not until the end of the Kangxi reign that it rose again, and the population also rose all the way. By the 39th year of the Kangxi reign (1700), it had recovered to 150 million people. This is enough to prove the ease of human-land relations to the great effect of the Qing Dynasty in fighting against the Little Ice Age.
Conclusion
Overview, you can see that although the Little Ice Age means large-scale cooling and frequent extreme weather, which has brought heavy damage to human society, it is not an unavoidable disaster.
After thousands of years of civilization development, humans have solved the problem of food production reduction caused by cooling and extreme weather by diversifying planting, introducing cold-resistant crops, or cultivating large quantities of undeveloped arable land, and thus reducing the ensuing famine, plague, and war.
It can be said that the Little Ice Age is a challenge to mankind. As long as you find a way to deal with it, you can overcome the difficulties in the end. Modern humans are also facing increasingly urgent climate problems, but just like modern predecessors, humans can finally solve these problems.
Reference:
- "History of Chinese Agriculture"
- "Climate Change in China's All-Dynasties"
- "History of Population Development in China"
- "History of Climate Civilization: Climate Changes in 80,000 Years That Changed the World"
- "Little Ice Age: How the Climate Changes History"
- "Cambridge European Economic History"
- "Nature’s Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present》
This article is an original manuscript from the Cold Weapon Research Institute. The editor-in-chief Yuan Kuo and the author Sui Feng. No media may reprint without written authorization. Violators will be held legally responsible. Some pictures are from the Internet. If you have any copyright issues, please contact us.
