Histoire du climat du Royaume de Suède à l’époque modern : Climate history of the early modern Swedish Realm

• In this article, we assess the scholarship of climate history in the former Swedish Realm (roughly, present-day Sweden, Finland, and Estonia) during the early modern period. The research has primarily focused on impacts of climate change and variability on human history, but also on producing documentary-based reconstructions of past climate. Recent advances in palaeo-climatology, in particular dendroclimatology, during the past two to three decades has made the study of the impacts of climate in early modern history possible. However, while the field of climate history has developed substantially in much of Europe, it remains rather underdeveloped and has drawn limited interest in the Nordic countries. Besides some recent studies for Finland, the climate history of the former Swedish Realm is not reaching the standards of the field in contemporary European scholarship. Existing scholarship has nevertheless demonstrated the link between cold springs and summers and poor harvests, particular in Finland, but few studies have assessed the effects of climate on society besides for periods of severe food shortage or famines. The article concludes with outlines and reflections for future scholarship in climate history of the early modern Swedish Realm.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)