Famines During the 'Little Ice Age' (1300-1800) : Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies

Description

This highly interdisciplinary book studies historical famines as an interface of nature and culture. It will bring together researchers from the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. With reference to recent interdisciplinary concepts (disaster studies, vulnerability studies, environmental history) it will examine, how the dominant opposition of natural and cultural factors can be overcome. Such an integrated approach includes the "archives of nature" as well as "archives of man". It challenges deterministic models of human-environment interaction and replaces them with a dynamic, historicising approach. As a result it provides a fresh perspective on the entanglement of climate and culture in past societies. Read more... Abstract: This highly interdisciplinary book studies historical famines as an interface of nature and culture. With reference to recent interdisciplinary concepts (disaster studies, vulnerability studies, environmental history) it will examine, how the dominant opposition of natural and cultural factors can be overcome. Read more... Front Matter ....Pages i-vi Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Famines: At the Interface of Nature and Society (Dominik Collet, Maximilian Schuh)....Pages 3-16 Front Matter ....Pages 17-17 The European Mortality Crises of 1346–52 and Advent of the Little Ice Age (Bruce M. S. Campbell)....Pages 19-41 Combining Written and Tree-Ring Evidence to Trace Past Food Crises: A Case Study from Finland (Heli Huhtamaa)....Pages 43-66 Front Matter ....Pages 67-67 Two Decades of Crisis: Famine and Dearth During the 1480s and 1490s in Western and Central Europe (Chantal Camenisch)....Pages 69-90 Climate and Famines in the Czech Lands Prior to AD 1500: Possible Interconnections in a European Context (Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Kotyza, Martin Bauch)....Pages 91-114 Food Insecurity and Political Instability in the Southern Red Sea Region During the ‘Little Ice Age,’ 1650–1840 (Steven Serels)....Pages 115-129 Front Matter ....Pages 131-131 The Role of Climate and Famine in the Medieval Eastern Expansion (Andreas Rüther)....Pages 133-147 Famines in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: A Test for an Advanced Economy (Guido Alfani)....Pages 149-169 Bread for the Poor: Poor Relief and the Mitigation of the Food Crises of the 1590s and the 1690s in Berkel, Holland (Jessica Dijkman)....Pages 171-193 Educationalizing Hunger. Dealing with the Famine of 1770/71 in Zurich (Andrea De Vincenti)....Pages 195-208 Front Matter ....Pages 209-209 Starvation Under Carolingian Rule. The Famine of 779 and the Annales Regni Francorum (Stephan Ebert)....Pages 211-230 Staging the Return to Normality. Socio-cultural Coping Strategies with the Crisis of 1816/1817 (Maren Schulz)....Pages 231-254 Remembering Hunger. Museums and the Material Culture of Famine (Andrea Fadani)....Pages 255-269