At the tail end of the witch craze in Europe, comes the Salem Witch Trials. The European witch craze lasted from the fourteenth century to mid-seventeenth century. During this time period, between “200,000 and 500,000 witches” were executed most of these people were women . The vast majority of these trials took place in a sixty-year time period between 1570 and 1630. During this time period “four out of five victims were women”. Most of these women were homeless, widowed, never married, poor or old. Some believe that during this time period people were going through a “redefinition of moral boundaries” which was the cause of witch craze in Europe. The Salem witch trials started in the year of 1692. This was more than sixty years after the witch craze occurred in Europe. The Salem witch trials occurring so long after the ones in Europe
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Salem Village was petitioning to separate and become independent of Salem Town. Initially Salem Town ignored and pushed off the petition. This caused much unrest in Salem Village. Salem Village was the poorer of the two. It was where the farmers resided and was much smaller then Salem Town. This segregation between the poor and rich in the two different towns led to issues between the towns.
The year 1692 was right in the middle of the Little Ice Age. The Little Ice Age was a period of time from about the fourteenth century to early nineteenth century, in which the climate cooled down drastically but not enough to be a true ice age. The winter proceeding the Salem witch trials was exceedingly cold because it was during the coldest segment of the Little Ice Age. The fall harvest of 1691, leading into this harsh winter, was exceptionally poor for the residents of Salem. The weather did not give the residents a break, leading into a hot, stormy summer, which caused the crops to produce
Salem Village was petitioning to separate and become independent of Salem Town. Initially Salem Town ignored and pushed off the petition. This caused much unrest in Salem Village. Salem Village was the poorer of the two. It was where the farmers resided and was much smaller then Salem Town. This segregation between the poor and rich in the two different towns led to issues between the towns.
The year 1692 was right in the middle of the Little Ice Age. The Little Ice Age was a period of time from about the fourteenth century to early nineteenth century, in which the climate cooled down drastically but not enough to be a true ice age. The winter proceeding the Salem witch trials was exceedingly cold because it was during the coldest segment of the Little Ice Age. The fall harvest of 1691, leading into this harsh winter, was exceptionally poor for the residents of Salem. The weather did not give the residents a break, leading into a hot, stormy summer, which caused the crops to produce