Wahania warunków klimatycznych jako katalizator zmiany społecznej w społeczeństwach historycznych
Climatic Changes as Catalysts of Societal Changes in Past Societies

Summary/Abstract: Impacts of climatic changes on the course of history do not occur along simple trajectories. Past climatic fluctuations occurred at different temporal and spatial scales, while at the same time the societies that experienced them were undergoing parallel ecological, economic, political and cultural pressures. For this reason, it is not legitimate to treat climate as the only isolated agent of societal change, but it should rather be regarded as one of several historical factors in a complex natural-social network. In this way, climatic changes are rightly seen as catalysts of societal change or factors that modify their scale, scope, or direction, rather than the main causative agent, coming from the external world. Th e article discusses this theoretical challenge using a number of examples from the ancient and medieval Mediterranean.

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