The timeline lists geological, astronomical, and climatological events in relation to events in human history which they influenced. For the history of humanity's perspective on these events, see timeline of the history of environmentalism.
Pre-Holocene
10th millennium BC
- Circa 10,000 BC — World: Sea levels rise abruptly and massive inland flooding occurs due to glacier melt.
- Circa 9700 BC — Lake Agassiz forms from glacial melt-water.
- Circa 9600 BC — Younger Dryas cold period ends. Pleistocene ends and Holocene begins. Large amounts of previously glaciated land become habitable again.
- Circa 9500 BC — Ancylus Lake, part of the modern-day Baltic Sea, forms.
- Circa 9000 BC - end of the pre-Boreal period of European climate change. Pollen Zone IV Pre-boreal, associated with juniper, willow, birch pollen deposits.
9th millennium BC
- Circa 8000 BC
8th millennium BC
- Circa 7640 BC — Date theorized for impact of Tollmann's hypothetical bolide with Earth and associated global cataclysm.
7th millennium BC
- Circa 6500 BC — English Channel formed
- Circa 6200 BC — The 8.2 kiloyear event, a sudden significant cooling episode
- Circa 6100 BC — The Storegga Slide, causing a megatsunami in the Norwegian Sea
- Circa 6000 BC — Climatic or Thermal Maximum, the warmest period in 125,000 years, with minimal glaciation and highest sea levels. (McEvedy)
6th millennium BC
- Circa 5600 BC — According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt water sea.
- Circa 5500 BC — Beginning of the desertification of north Africa, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Sahara desert. It's possible this process pushed some natives into migrating to the region of the Nile in the east, thereby laying the groundwork for the rise of Egyptian civilization.
- Circa 5000 BC — The Older Peron transgression, a global warm period, begins.
- 5000 BC — Use of a sail begins. The first known picture is on an Egyptian urn found in Luxor.
4th millennium BC
- Circa 3600 BC - 2800 BC — Climatic deterioration in Western Europe and the Sahara. In Europe Pollen zone VII Sub Boreal, oak and beech. Glacial advances of the Piora oscillation, with lower economic prosperity in areas not able to irrigate in the Middle East.
3rd millennium BC
- 2900 BC — Floods at Shuruppak from horizon to horizon, with sediments in Southern Iraq, stretching as far north as Kish, and as far south as Uruk, associated with the return of heavy rains in Nineveh and a potential damming of the Karun River to run into the Tigris. This ends the Jemdet Nasr period and ushers in the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer cultures of the area. Possible association of this event with the Biblical deluge.
- 2650 BC — Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh describes vast tracts of cedar forests in what is now southern Iraq. Gilgamesh defies the gods and cuts down the forest, and in return the gods say they will curse Sumer with fire (or possibly drought). By 2100 BC, soil erosion and salt buildup have devastated agriculture. One Sumerian wrote that the "earth turned white." Civilization moved north to Babylonia and Assyria. Again, deforestation becomes a factor in the rise and subsequent fall of these civilizations.
- 2500 BC — Sahara becomes fully desiccated. Desiccation had been proceeding from 6000 BCE, as a result of the shift in the West African tropical monsoon belt southwards from the Sahel. Subsequent rates of evaporation in the region led to a drying of the Sahara, as shown by the drop in water levels in Lake Chad. Tehenu of the Sahara attempt to enter into Egypt, and there is evidence of a Nile drought in the pyramid of Unas.
- 2200 BC — Beginning of a severe centennial-scale drought in northern Africa, southwestern Asia and midcontinental North America, which very likely caused the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt as well as the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia.
2nd millennium BC
- 1900 BC — The Atra-Hasis Epic describes Babylonian flood, with warnings of the consequences of human overpopulation.
- 1450 BC — Minoan civilization in the Mediterranean declines, but scholars are divided on the cause. Possibly a volcanic eruption was the source of the catastrophe (see Minoan eruption). On the other hand, gradual deforestation may have led to materials shortages in manufacturing and shipping. Loss of timber and subsequent deterioration of its land was probably a factor in the decline of Minoan power in the late Bronze Age, according to John Perlin in A Forest Journey .
- 1206 BC - 1187 BC — Evidence of major droughts in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hittite and Ugarit records show requests for grain were sent to Egypt, probably during the reign of Pharaoh Merenptah. Carpenter has suggested that droughts of equal severity to those of the 1950s in Greece, would have been sufficient to cause the Late Bronze Age collapse. The cause may have been a temporary diversion of winter storms north of the Pyrenees and Alps. Central Europe experienced generally wetter conditions, while those in the Eastern Mediterranean were substantially drier. There seems to have been a general abandonment of peasant subsistence agriculture in favour of nomadic pastoralism in Central Anatolia, Syria and northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, the Sinai and NW Arabia.
- c 2000 BC -1000 BC - The Sarasvati River dries up. Desertification of the Thar Region begins.
1st millennium BC
- 800 BC - 500 BC — Sub-Atlantic period in Western Europe. Pollen Zone VIII, sub-Atlantic. End of last Sea Level rise. Spread of "Celtic fields", Iron Age A, and Haalstadt Celts. Increased prosperity in Europe and the Middle East.
- Circa 225 BC — The Sub-Atlantic began about 225 BCE (estimated on the basis of radiocarbon dating) and has been characterized by increased rainfall, cooler and more humid climates, and the dominance of beech forests. The fauna of the Sub-Atlantic is essentially modern although severely depleted by human activities. The Sub-Atlantic is correlated with pollen zone IX; sea levels have been generally regressive during this time interval, though North America is an exception.
- Circa 200 BC — Sri Lanka first country in the world to have a nature reserve, King Devanampiyatissa established a wildlife sanctuary
1st millennium AD
2nd century
- 186 - Hatepe eruption in New Zealand turns the skies red over Rome and China]].
4th century
- Circa 300 - Migration period begins.
6th century
- 535-536: global climate abnormalities affecting several civilizations.
9th century
- Circa 850 — Severe drought exacerbated by soil erosion causes collapse of Central American city states and the end of the Classic Maya civilization.
2nd millennium AD
13th century
- Circa 1250 — Start of the Little Ice Age
14th century
- Great Famine of 1315–1317
- 1347 to 1350s — Bubonic plague decimates Europe, creating the first attempts to enforce public health and quarantine laws.
15th century
- 1453 - Eruption of Kuwae in Pacific contributes to fall of Constantinople.
17th century
- 1600 - Huaynaputina erupts in South America. The explosion had effects on climate around the Northern Hemisphere (Southern hemispheric records are less complete), where 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries, leading to a famine in Russia; see Russian famine of 1601–1603.
18th century
- 1789 - a recent study of El Niño patterns suggests that the French Revolution was caused in part by the poor crop yields of 1788-89 in Europe, resulting from an unusually strong El-Niño effect between 1789-93.
- Night of June 6 , 1796 - Ragundasjön was dired out in four hours when indalsälven accidentally took a new course.
19th century
- 1815 — Eruption of Mt. Tambora in what is now Indonesia, largest of Holocene. Leads to
- 1816 — "The year without a summer."
- 1883 - Eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia. The sound of the explosion is heard as far as Australia and China, the altered air waves causes strange colours on the sky and the volcanic gases reduce global temperatures during the following years. The vivd sunsets were captured in Edward Munch's Scream.
20th century
- 1900 - The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 hits Galveston, Texas and reverses the city's previously rapid growth.
- 1906 - San Francisco earthquake causes collapse of insurance markets and the Panic of 1907.
- 1918 - Spanish Flu kills between
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