European colonialists exterminated the American Indians, and thereby caused the Little Ice Age in the world. This seemingly paradoxical conclusion was reached by scientists from University College London.
In the 16-17th centuries, the global temperature dropped sharply on the planet. And that was preceded by the conquest of the New World. It would seem, what kind of connection can there be? But English experts have put forward a very elegant theory in this regard. As you know, many pre-Columbian civilizations were highly developed, they built huge cities - even more European ones. And at the same time they relied entirely on agriculture.
According to current estimates, at the time of the first meeting with the colonialists - this is the end of the 15th century - 60.5 million people lived in the New World. Accordingly, the area of cultivated land on the continent was enormous. However, after the arrival of the Europeans, the number of Indians began to decline rapidly. In 100 years, wars and imported diseases have killed up to 90% of Native Americans. And what was arable land was overgrown. As a result, according to scientists, by the beginning of the 17th century, "extra" 56 million hectares of forest had grown in America. It's as if the Amazon jungle suddenly increased by 10%! Vegetation began pumping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and thereby weakened the greenhouse effect. A global cooling began on Earth.
Just at the beginning of the 17th century, unprecedented frosts hit Europe. It was then that Greenland (translated as "green land") turned into an inhospitable ice land, the largest rivers of the Old World - the Thames and Danube - froze. Even the Bosphorus was covered with ice. Colds turned into crop failures and mass famine.
Of course, the decrease in global temperature during that period may have other explanations, in particular, the eruption of the Huaynaputin volcano, as well as a decrease in solar activity. However, the power of the cold snap suggests that it was probably caused not by one, but several factors at once. And among them, perhaps, was the death of American civilizations.
