The Little Ice Age made a big impact on the Ottoman Empire as well. Just like the Thames, the Bosphorus froze over in the winter of 1621, leading to a famine in Istanbul.
Sam White, whose book I recently reviewed for my own publication, talks about how the Ottomans continued to wrestle with the negative effects of the Little Ice Age throughout the 1600s and how this may be one of the key reasons why the Ottoman Empire was actually weaker vis-a-vis its rivals in the 18th century. Here is the link to my article if you are interested:
Thanks for your kind words Doga. It's much appreciated.
The point about the Bosphorus freezing is an important parallel - thank you. I knew about it from Parker's 'Global Crisis' but have never looked at it in detail. So will read your article now.
Thanks August! My knowledge of a certain Time Lord only extends to Tom Baker and Peter Davison (showing my age!). So I'll check out this episode having seen the synopsis
I made the same mistake of saying the same thing to Erica regarding the Demons Of Punjab (Jodie Whittakers Dr) and put it on at the end of a South Asian history seminar. Regrettably that episode was done by Chris Chibnall (godawful dr who writer) so the dialogue was awkward, the plot was dismissive and reductive and worst of all the intro shot into Pakistan IMMEDIATELY shows an English wildflower field which bugged me to no end. I know its just Dr Who but DEAR GOD *some* standards wouldn't go amiss. There's a special place in hell for Chibnall. I think he's to blame for alot of the heat Whittaker faced for being a female Dr Who runing the show when it was really his poor writing. He also oversaw but did not take credit for an episode called Kerblam which is very Amazon esque and theres a radical revolutionary young guy whos protesting union rights in a fairly extreme way and chibnall writes in that Dr Who would be on the side on the company and then lets young guy die and protrayed him as a terrorist. If you search Boom vs Kerblam vs Oxygen you can see the difference of opinion 12, 13 and 15 have. Alot of Chibnalls written or overseen episodes are just uncharacteristically unheroic and passive for the drs usual schtick.
Thank you, Ariel. It must have been a lot of fun to be at those fairs. In these times of global warming, when will we see the Thames freezing again?...
Thanks Diego; yes, contemporary accounts are fascinating. The modern Thames is a different river - old London Bridge impeding ice flow removed; construction of Thames Embankment; Thames Barrier in place, etc. And, as you say, noticeable warming too. So I wouldn't expect it to freeze during our lifetimes.
Fascinating read. Very interesting to consider how extreme weather conditions were monetised then versus how they're monetised now (e.g. frost fairs versus ULES). Is there any indication as to how these conditions were perceived by 17th century society at large? I get the sense that rather than seek blame, people were more inclined to consider severe weather as something beyond their control? It's certainly intriguing how the modern climate crisis has been politicised by comparison.
Thanks Leah, glad you liked it! Yes, the causes of extreme weather were seen as something beyond people's control since they mostly attributed it to God. And that's a really interesting point about monetisation. Likewise political involvement in our modern climate crisis which is partly concerned with changing behaviours, and in the early modern period when the concern was very much with ameliorating suffering.
Always a fascinating topic - thanks for this great essay
Thanks for your kind words Peter; glad you liked it!
Thank you very much for the essay!
The Little Ice Age made a big impact on the Ottoman Empire as well. Just like the Thames, the Bosphorus froze over in the winter of 1621, leading to a famine in Istanbul.
Sam White, whose book I recently reviewed for my own publication, talks about how the Ottomans continued to wrestle with the negative effects of the Little Ice Age throughout the 1600s and how this may be one of the key reasons why the Ottoman Empire was actually weaker vis-a-vis its rivals in the 18th century. Here is the link to my article if you are interested:
https://afewthoughtson.substack.com/p/can-climate-be-a-historical-actor
Thanks for your kind words Doga. It's much appreciated.
The point about the Bosphorus freezing is an important parallel - thank you. I knew about it from Parker's 'Global Crisis' but have never looked at it in detail. So will read your article now.
Thank you again for reminding me of Parker’s book. I hope to read it soon!
Gripping my nails into my desk and frothing at the mouth trying not to mention Peter Capaldi's S10 Dr Who Episode "Thin Ice" that covers this. 🤐
Thanks August! My knowledge of a certain Time Lord only extends to Tom Baker and Peter Davison (showing my age!). So I'll check out this episode having seen the synopsis
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Thin_Ice_(TV_story)
I made the same mistake of saying the same thing to Erica regarding the Demons Of Punjab (Jodie Whittakers Dr) and put it on at the end of a South Asian history seminar. Regrettably that episode was done by Chris Chibnall (godawful dr who writer) so the dialogue was awkward, the plot was dismissive and reductive and worst of all the intro shot into Pakistan IMMEDIATELY shows an English wildflower field which bugged me to no end. I know its just Dr Who but DEAR GOD *some* standards wouldn't go amiss. There's a special place in hell for Chibnall. I think he's to blame for alot of the heat Whittaker faced for being a female Dr Who runing the show when it was really his poor writing. He also oversaw but did not take credit for an episode called Kerblam which is very Amazon esque and theres a radical revolutionary young guy whos protesting union rights in a fairly extreme way and chibnall writes in that Dr Who would be on the side on the company and then lets young guy die and protrayed him as a terrorist. If you search Boom vs Kerblam vs Oxygen you can see the difference of opinion 12, 13 and 15 have. Alot of Chibnalls written or overseen episodes are just uncharacteristically unheroic and passive for the drs usual schtick.
Thank you, Ariel. It must have been a lot of fun to be at those fairs. In these times of global warming, when will we see the Thames freezing again?...
Thanks Diego; yes, contemporary accounts are fascinating. The modern Thames is a different river - old London Bridge impeding ice flow removed; construction of Thames Embankment; Thames Barrier in place, etc. And, as you say, noticeable warming too. So I wouldn't expect it to freeze during our lifetimes.
This is a fascinating article. Thank you for posting this, Ariel.
Thanks so much Lois; glad you found it interesting!
Fascinating read. Very interesting to consider how extreme weather conditions were monetised then versus how they're monetised now (e.g. frost fairs versus ULES). Is there any indication as to how these conditions were perceived by 17th century society at large? I get the sense that rather than seek blame, people were more inclined to consider severe weather as something beyond their control? It's certainly intriguing how the modern climate crisis has been politicised by comparison.
Thanks Leah, glad you liked it! Yes, the causes of extreme weather were seen as something beyond people's control since they mostly attributed it to God. And that's a really interesting point about monetisation. Likewise political involvement in our modern climate crisis which is partly concerned with changing behaviours, and in the early modern period when the concern was very much with ameliorating suffering.