Introduction
Brian Fagan is a well-known anthropologist who has written books regarding climate change in the world. One of the books that primarily concentrate on the climate change during the medieval period is the Great Warming climate change and the rise and fall of civilization. The book looks at the medieval warm period between 800 CE AND 1300 CE (Fagan, 2009). The medieval warm period has been used by many people to explain how the climate changes occurring in the world today is a part of the natural life cycle. People have often used the changes as a proof of climate change that occurred during the medieval period and that it is also going to happen again. The reason for stating this is that according to the modern scientists, they have fear that there are changes that are occurring due to warm temperatures that are rising at an alarming rate.
The medieval warm period’s change is very good for the scientist because it enables them to have a clear picture of what to expect. According to the evidence in history that was found by Fagan, it is quite clear that the medieval warm climate period had different effects on different parts of the world (Fagan, 2009). According to him, the Northern and Western European areas are claimed to have had a positive effect on them. The climate made England to start being one of the exportation countries of wines in the world. There were some negative effects of the climate change in Eurasian steppes. In these parts of the world, the countries got devastating droughts that brought about hunger among the people and animals thereby causing deaths of many (Crowley, 2000).
According to Fagan, drought was one of the disadvantages of the mediaeval warm periods. Many researchers have also come up with the same conclusion about drought being among the results of the medieval warm period. In America, it has been claimed that there have been long droughts since that period in area such as California and Alaska. This drought caused many people to be weak in that in the 10th century it caused the end of the Mayan empire (Kirkland, 2010). There is also some civilization that was finished such as the Chaco Canyon pre-Pueblo civilization. Fagan states that the medieval warm period had some major effect on china whose climate changed. In china, the climates were either droughts or rainy season that led to flooding.
According to the evidence that Fagan was able to get, was that the drought seasons were cyclical where the drought was on and off (Fagan, 2009). This was also the same as the rainy season where there would be flooding according to him he stated the climate to have dramatic rainfall shifts. Fagan found out that the crop production increased after the warm periods. According to the evidence, it has shown that the crop production before the medieval warm period was not the same as when the period ended (Fagan, 2009). Their lives changed in a good way for the people in Europe. The population of the people in Europe increased significantly and more people began to get wealthy. The bigger the population grew the greater the need for land increased.
It is considered that the lands of the temperate Central and Western Europe was once a forest was occupied by people in the 1300s. Other researchers have also come up with the same findings as Fagan about the growth of Europeans after medieval warm period (Grimes, 2008). When this happened, the people began to complain about the deforestation. Fagan stated that the warm weather caused many leaders to be very savage. An example that he gave was the Mongolian leader Ginghis Khan (Fagan, 2009). The wars in the regions began to have wars due to their frustrations caused by draughts.
Fagan believes that the events that came up after the warm weather affected the lives of so many people in the society. There are many who learnt how to adapt to the life conditions that life throws in their way. Fagan believes that the events and evidence that show about the medieval warm period should be something that teaches people on how to survive. In all the things that were written by Fagan many other researchers such as, the historians and the anthropologist have all come up with the same findings about the disadvantages that occur after global warming (Grimes, 2008). According to most of the evidence that were found by Fagan and other researches was that, the land has different reactions to it. there are those who think that there should be other ways in which they can be able to find the results about the global warming. The reason for saying this is because this global warming is supposedly going to affect more nations than the medieval warm periods. This will therefore be affecting more people in the world.
In conclusion, Fagan wrote books about global warming especially in the medieval period. In the book, he discusses about the evidence that he was able to come up with during the medieval warm period. According to the results, he found out that most of the lands in Asia and other parts in the world had droughts that caused many to be hungry and caused the deaths of many people (Fagan, 2009). The European nations were able to get the positive side of the warm winds. This occurred after the medieval warm period had ended. The other anthropologists and historians have also come up with the same findings. Some researchers believe that more evidence should be collected for global warming that might occur will affect many more people.
Reference
Crowley, T. (2000). How Warm Was the Medieval Warm Period? A Journal of the Human Environment.
Fagan, B. (2009). The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Grimes, W. (2008). Climate Change? Been There, Done That. New York Times.
Kirkland, W. (2010). The Great Warming: Climate Change andthe rise and fall of civilization. History of Climate Change.
