The “little ice age” was a period in the seventeenth century when the climate changed for the worse, becoming colder and wetter. It induced bad harvests with a shorter farming season and lower yields. This meant a scarcity of food, which could lead to famine. Periodic famines often resulted in population decreases. Starvation wasn’t always the outright cause of death; people were susceptible to diseases such as smallpox and typhoid due to failed harvests, exhaustion, and malnutrition. In Europe, there were regular outbreaks of the bubonic plague until the 1720s.
2. What was the Peace of Westphalia? Why was it a turning point in history?
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of treaties in 1648 that ended the