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Weathering the Late Maunder Minimum in the Ottoman Empire, 1675-1715

Fri, April 12, 8:30 to 10:00am, Hyatt Regency Columbus, Clark

Abstract

This paper seeks to combine evidence of meteorological anomalies found in archival and narrative sources with the latest climate reconstructions to examine how the Ottoman Empire weathered the extreme climatic conditions of the Late Maunder Minimum (1675-1715). In the late seventeenth century, Istanbul had to deal with two devastating conflicts: war with the Holy League north of the Danube (1683-1699) and a rural uprising in the lower Tigris and Euphrates (1690s). The paper will demonstrate how climate-induced disasters such as droughts, famines, and floods hampered Ottoman efforts to wage war and restore order in both fronts. Moreover, it will underscore the complex web of factors (epidemiological, political, and financial) that made the climatic crisis of the period exceptionally destructive. The paper will conclude with an analysis of how prolonged drought in southeastern Anatolia in 1687-1688 destabilized the Euphrates flow and contributed to a channel shift in its lower reaches.

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