h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

you've gotten me into

Thanks for that Woodpigeon, I'm a sucker for this sort of thing

One thing, I have read or hear somewhere that there was an extensive settlement of Vikings on Greenland around the 11th century AD (ish) and that a mini-Ice age happened and the ice sheet advanced so quickly (presumably to its present extent) that they mostly abandoned the place yet I see no mention of this timing anywhere.
Have I been misled or is this new to you too?

I've got my shovel. And I'm giving up on the idea of solar panels on the roof. Thanks for this great entry.

Hear! Hear! Top entry.

Thanks a lot!

Orcus, I think the period you mention is the start of the Little-Ice Age which hit the Northern hemisphere from the 1300's onwards until the 1800's (we are now in the transition period out of this cold-snap). It seems to have been particularly harsh in the transition period from warm conditions (the average temperatures during the early part of the 2nd millennium were actually *warmer* than today, and as a result the Vikings were able to found colonies in Iceland, Greenland and Eastern Canada). What happened during the 14th century was that temperatures plummetted suddenly, and as a result of this, the Vikings disappeared and a severe famine hit Northern Europe as crops failed everywhere. Over the next few centuries climatic conditions actually got worse, but because it was more gradual, people and species had more time to adjust. Most of the traditional concepts of Christmas (spruce trees, sleighs, snowball fights etc.) originate from the depth of the cold snap in the 1700's.

Nothing as bad as the Younger Dryas though, which hit us over 10,000 years ago and wiped out most plant and animal life in a very,very short time.

Woodpigeon

Fair enough, I guess calling them Vikings invokes thoughts of Men in Horned Helmets pillaging Monasatries really, hadn't really thought of them as around during the 14th century.

Interesting that it seems to coincide with the Black Death too.

Such facts are extremely interesting when people get all panicy about Global Warming.

I agree. Not enough is said about the fact that the world goes through natural climatic cycles. The bottom line though, is that the world *is* warming, there is very little we can do about this fact, and we need to work on preparing ourselves for the changes this warming is going to bring. Even if we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, the effect would not appear for another century, if there was a major effect at all.

I'll second what's been said--this a really great entry. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more entries by this author.

There's another one on the way!