Chronology Of Iranian History Analysis

Climate and the Chronology of Iranian History by Alan Mikhail Alan Mikhail focuses on the importance of creating a chronology for the history of Iran through a powerful environmental factor: climate changes. This is particularly different than the historical “norms” of politics, economics, and war that were typically associated with Iran. In this article, Mikhail uses climate change to chronicle four different accounts of climate cooling in the region from the early eleventh to the nineteenth century. For each separate account, Mikhail takes note of possible consequences that could have arisen from the cooling, and how these consequences affected Iran. Account I begins in the ninth-tenth centuries and focuses on an economic boom to their …show more content…
Wars and revolutions griped Iran, and though no written information on the climate was found it is believed that these kinds of unrests were proof of such issues. The Ottoman Empire faced serious economic and political troubles, with the ecological proof shown in droughts, famines, and increasing death rates for livestock and people. Historians focus on the conflicts of the time as human error, but Mikhail suggests it should all be focused on possible climate effects that contributed heavily to the numerous problems that arose there. In account III, the focus was on an explosion of a volcanic fissure in 1783 of the Laki volcano in Iceland, which had repercussions across the world. For eight months it released dust, smoke, and rock fragments that effected the environment that was recorded in Europe and China, but not as much information relating to the volcano was found from the Middle East. However, there were notes on the climate cooling effects including cooling weather and a weakening monsoon seasons in other areas of the Middle East, possibly hinting to ecological ramifications that struck …show more content…
Citizens fled, and the remaining farmlands fell into disarray and disrepair. The empire itself took advantage of free land to take it as land for the government and use it for cash crop only, only for violence to occur from those still living on the land and now dislocated. All four articles show how the history of a nation and all aspects of a civilization can be manipulated and transformed by environmental factors. Politics can be undone, economies damaged to almost beyond repair, and wars or violence can spring up thanks to powerful environmental