Colonization of America by Europeans Cooled Earth's climate

[Michchamp]

It's not a great story though (link)...

The team says the disruption that followed European settlement led to a huge swathe of abandoned agricultural land being reclaimed by fast-growing trees and other vegetation.

This pulled down enough carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere to eventually chill the planet.

It's a cooling period often referred to in the history books as the "Little Ice Age" - a time when winters in Europe would see the Thames in London regularly freeze over.​

"disruption" = "genocidal conquest and mass murder"

Basically the theory is European-borne diseases killed off so many millions of native Americans, that it lead to natural forests temporarily reclaiming their cleared agricultural land, absorbing more CO2, and leading to a period of cooled climate worldwide.

 

[Michchamp]

this cooling - of course - was only temporary.

I think it took over a century for the population of the Americas to rebound, and I'm pretty sure it surpassed pre-1492 population levels even before the Industrial Revolution.

 

[Gulo Blue]

I'm a bit skeptical. Unless there was a significant dip in the global population, and I don't think there was, how would the overall land use shrink? 10% of the world's population dying in one place over the course of a century while the population keeps growing elsewhere doesn't yield an overall reduction.

 

[Michchamp]

I'm a bit skeptical. Unless there was a significant dip in the global population, and I don't think there was, how would the overall land use shrink? 10% of the world's population dying in one place over the course of a century while the population keeps growing elsewhere doesn't yield an overall reduction.

they died more rapidly than that.

Didn't you read "Guns, Germs, and Steel?"

 

[Michchamp]

But I agree... no one really knows how many native Americans there were prior to Columbus. All we have are estimates.

wonder if they did the reverse calculation, it would line up with those estimates, i.e. the CO2 reduction needed to cause that temperature drop would correlate to a decline in how
many people?

 

[Gulo Blue]

I suspect this is a case where the paper authors didn't word things the way the article authors did. The point of the paper might be that this is a contributing factor to the observed CO2 levels and then some BBC jerk runs with it.

 

[Gulo Blue]

But I agree... no one really knows how many native Americans there were prior to Columbus. All we have are estimates.

wonder if they did the reverse calculation, it would line up with those estimates, i.e. the CO2 reduction needed to cause that temperature drop would correlate to a decline in how
many people?

I think there are known other factors, like volcanoes, and I think the timeline doesn't line up for this to be a cause. In my mind, the little ice age is associated with Vikings.

 

[Michchamp]

I think there are known other factors, like volcanoes, and I think the timeline doesn't line up for this to be a cause. In my mind, the little ice age is associated with Vikings.

the article refers to a global cooling from the 1500's to the 1600's.

The Vikings were earlier, like 850's - 1100's.

 

[Gulo Blue]

the article refers to a global cooling from the 1500's to the 1600's.

The Vikings were earlier, like 850's - 1100's.

So I had it pretty much backwards. Little Ice Age arguably started before the events of this article, but the Vikings enjoyed the 'Medieval Warm Period'.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age#Dating

 

[biggunsbob]

Very Interesting work these guys did. Thanks for posting it.

 

[tinselwolverine]

But I agree... no one really knows how many native Americans there were prior to Columbus. All we have are estimates.

What about the census?