Abstract

GASCON, MARGARITA  and  CAVIEDES, CÉSAR N. Climate and Society in Argentina and Chile during the Colonial Period. Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2012, vol.39, n.2, pp.159-185. ISSN 0120-2456.

The article analyzes the main climatic fluctuations during colonial times in territories that currently belong to the republics of Argentina (Mendoza, Córdoba and Buenos Aires) and Chile (Santiago) during colonial period. The communities under consideration are Santiago in Chile, and Mendoza, Cordoba and Buenos Aires in Argentina, though data is occasionally provided about Paraguay and Uruguay. The area is located in the extra-tropical third of the continent. The Little Ice Age was a period of increasing rains and cold weather, which began almost at the same time the Spaniards arrived in the Americas. The Maunder Minimum happened by the middle of seventeenth century. Finally, the Thermal Remount inaugurated a long period of drought and hot weather, which was acute in the second half of the eighteenth century. Special attention is devoted to the ENOS (El Nino Southern Oscillation) and its different effects in the areas under consideration. The main objective of the paper is to enrich interpretations of the colonial past, from the end of the sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century, by providing information about the climate. The guiding hypothesis is that since climate affected the diverse environments, the availability of natural resources, urban life, and trading routes, it cannot be excluded from the many explanations of colonial times.

Keywords : history of the climate; Little Ice Age; Maunder Minimum; Thermal Remount; Argentina; Chile.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )