... change. Deposits of carbon rose enormously during the seventeenth century, a phenomenon closely associated with a cooling climate, and possibly related to the reduction in the occurrences of sunspots which was recorded at the time. The 'Little Ice Age' is generally reckoned to have seen a fall in temperature across Europe of 1°C, the effect of which "restricts the growing season of plants by three or four weeks and reduces the maximum altitude for cultivation by about 500 feet." In a world in which the vast majority of the population depended directly on agriculture in order to make a living, and where the growth of population which took place in the previous century had driven most of Europe to the limits of subsistence, such a change produced a disastrous relative overpopulation, allowing both starvation and disease to take a heavy toll. essaybank.co.uk The climatic change and its impact on agriculture across ...

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