Floods, Famines, and Emperors

by Fagan, Brian M.

• ISBN13: 9780465011216
• ISBN10: 0465011217
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-10
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In 1997 and early 1998, one of the most powerful El Ninos ever recorded disrupted weather patterns all over the world. Europe suffered through a record freeze as the American West was hit with massive floods and snowstorms; in the western Pacific, meanwhile, some island nations literally went bone dry and had to have water flown in on transport planes.Such effects are not new: climatologists now know the El Nino and other climate anomalies have been disrupting weather patterns throughout history. But until recently, no one had asked how this new understanding of the global weather system related to archaeology and history. Droughts, floods, heat and cold put stress on cultures and force them to adapt. What determines whether they adapt successfully? How do these climate stresses affect a people's faith in the foundations of their society and the legitimacy of their rulers? How vulnerable is our own society to climate change?In this dazzlingly original new book, archaeologist Brian Fagan shows that short-term climate shifts have been a majorand hitherto unrecognizedforce in history. El Nino-driven droughts have brought on the collapse of dynasties in Egypt; El Nino monsoon failures have caused historic famines in India; and El Nino floods have destroyed whole civilizations in Peru. Other short-term climate changes may have caused the mysterious abandonment of the Anasazi dwellings in the American Southwest and the collapse of the ancient Maya empire, as well as changed the course of European history.This beautifully written, groundbreaking book opens a new door on our understanding of historical events.

Author Biography

Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A former Guggenheim Fellow, he has written many internationally acclaimed popular books about archaeology, including The Little Ice Age, Floods, Famines, and Emperors, and The Long Summer. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xix
The Christmas Child
The Great Visitation	p. 3
Guano Happens	p. 23
ENSO	p. 39
The North Atlantic Oscillation	p. 55
El Ninos in Antiquity
A Time of Warming	p. 73
Pharaohs in Crisis	p. 99
The Moche Lords	p. 119
The Classic Maya Collapse	p. 139
The Ancient Ones	p. 159
Climate Change and the Stream of Time
The Little Ice Age	p. 181
"Drought Follows the Plow"	p. 203
El Ninos That Shook the World	p. 223
The Fate of Civilizations	p. 243
Notes and Sources	p. 261
Index	p. 276
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