Global climate change, war, and population decline in recent human history.

ABSTRACT: Although scientists have warned of possible social perils resulting from climate change, the impacts of long-term climate change on social unrest and population collapse have not been quantitatively investigated. In this study, high-resolution paleo-climatic data have been used to explore at a macroscale the effects of climate change on the outbreak of war and population decline in the preindustrial era. We show that long-term fluctuations of war frequency and population changes followed the cycles of temperature change. Further analyses show that cooling impeded agricultural production, which brought about a series of serious social problems, including price inflation, then successively war outbreak, famine, and population decline successively. The findings suggest that worldwide and sync

SUBMITTER: Zhang DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2148270 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature