Archival explorations of climate variability and social vulnerability in colonial Mexico (original) (raw)
Related papers
The resilience and adaptive capacity of social-environmental systems in colonial Mexico
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012
Civilization collapse scenarios highlight what for some are worrying parallels between past case studies and societies under threat from apparently unprecedented global environmental and climate change today. Archive-based studies of socio-economic responses to climate variability in colonial Mexico suggest that the complex interactions between environment and society influence the degree to which regional livelihoods may be vulnerable or resilient to disruption and also illustrate that vulnerability to change can lead to improved understanding of risk and increased adaptive capacity. In this paper, I draw on examples to argue that experience of climate variability, extreme weather events, or weather-related events and crises can challenge societal resilience, but can also increase opportunities for learning and innovation, extending the repertoire of adaptive responses. The historical examples selected might help inform the degree to which societies can develop strategies to deal w...
A Study of Historical Droughts in Southeastern Mexico
Journal of Climate, 2006
A catalog containing an unprecedented amount of historical data in the southeastern part of Mexico covering almost four centuries (1502–1899) is used to construct a drought time series. The catalog records information of agricultural disasters and includes events associated with hydrometeorological phenomena or hazards whose effects were mainly felt in the agricultural sector, such as droughts. An analysis of the historical series of droughts in southeastern Mexico for the period 1502–1899 is performed. The highest drought frequency occurred around the years 1650, 1782, and 1884; no droughts were reported around 1540, between 1630 and 1640, along the largest time lapse of 1672–1714, and between 1740 and 1760. From 1760 until the end of the period of study droughts definitively occur more often than they did from ∼1550 to 1760. In addition, most droughts lasted for 1–2 yr. Analyzing the frequencies of the drought time series it is found that the most conspicuous cycles are ∼3–4 and 7...
Community perception, adaptation and resilience to extreme weather in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Perceptions of climate change, the impacts of and responses to climatic variability and extreme weather are explored in three communities in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, in relation to livelihood resilience. These communities provide examples of the most common livelihood strategies across the region: small-scale fisheries (San Felipe) and semi-subsistence smallholder farming (Tzucacab and Calakmul). Although the perception that annual rainfall is reducing is not supported by instrumental records, changes in the timing of vital summer rainfall and an intensification of the midsummer drought (canicula) are confirmed. The impact of both droughts and hurricanes on livelihoods and crop yields was reported across all communities, although the severity varied. Changes in traditional milpa cultivation were seen to be driven by less reliable rainfall but also by changes in Mexico's agricultural and wider economic policies. Diversification was a common adaptation response across all communities and respondents, resulting in profound changes in livelihood strategies. Government attempts to reduce vulnerability were found to lack continuity, be hard to access and too orientated toward commercial scale producers. Population growth, higher temperatures and reduced summer rainfall will increase the pressures on communities reliant on small-scale farming and fishing, and a more nuanced understanding of both impacts and adaptations is required for improved livelihood resilience. Greater recognition of such local-scale adaptation strategies should underpin the developing Mexican National Adaptation Policy and provide a template for approaches internationally as adaptation becomes an increasingly important part of the global strategy to cope with climate change.
This dissertation uses new data from Woodrow Ruin to examine the Late Pithouse (AD 550-1000) to Classic period (AD 1000-1130) transition in the Mimbres region of southwest New Mexico. Prior explorations of the Mimbres Late Pithouse to Classic transition have lacked data from one of the largest sites in the region. Woodrow Ruin is a large, multi-component site that had previously received little professional investigation. Fieldwork at Woodrow Ruin for this dissertation demonstrated that it had a long, continuous occupation with a dense population during the Transitional period. Numerous techniques were used to procure data on the occupational history of Woodrow Ruin, and Late Pithouse to Classic period transformations. Surface survey, GPS mapping, and magnetometry were used to assess the number of structures present at the site and how the site’s population transformed through time. Eight structures were excavated to provide information on the Late Pithouse, Transitional, and Classic period occupations of the site. Ceramics, chipped stone, and botanical material from those structures was used to assess changes in subsistence, trade, and interaction between the Late Pithouse and Classic periods. Earlier archaeological investigations of the Mimbres Late Pithouse to Classic transition focused primarily on architecture. Data from Woodrow Ruin indicate that while significant architectural alterations occurred, these were only part of a suite of dramatic of transformations. Evidence of changes in trade and exchange networks, ritual practices, ideology, and social structure during the Transitional period were all found at Woodrow Ruin. Along with delineating multiple Transitional period changes, this dissertation examines causal factors for the Late Pithouse to Classic transformations. Environmental data indicates that the Transitional period occurred during a prolonged, severe drought. Resilience and vulnerability theories are used to examine the interplay of drought and social transformations during the Mimbres Transitional period. Anthropologists and archaeologists have used vulnerability and resilience to better understand socio-ecological transformations. Expectations from these theories suggest that while the inhabitants of Woodrow Ruin were susceptible prolonged drought during the tenth century, they were able to persist and stay in place through social reorganization.
The generation of paleoclimate series based on dendrochronological techniques, allows the historical analysis of climatic variability. Dendrochronology is an excellent alternative when the instrumental data bases of short extension are available, that limit to historically analyze its variability over time. The aim of this paper was to analyze the climatic variability over the past 600 years in northeastern Mexico, to determine the frequency of extreme hydroclimatic events (droughts) and their impact on society, using as proxy the growth rings of the species Pseudotsuga menziesi and Pinus cembroides. In this paper, paleoclimate series of over 400 years for the northeastern Coahuila and of 600 years for southern Nuevo León were analyzed, there were rebuilt severe droughts that had a significant impact on water availability, agricultural production, damage to livestock and therefore, a socioeconomic impact. Droughts in the northeastern region of Mexico for the period 1400-2004, have a recurrence of 50 years (p< 0.05); but more intense events were observed (p< 0.05) at intervals of 100 years; 1450, 1560, 1660, 1750-1760, 1850-1870 and 1950-1960, the latter with great social and economic impact. The reconstruction of paleoclimate series provide basic information for modeling extreme hydroclimatic events that may occur in the future under different climatic scenarios; information for substantiating technical decisions for the sustainable use of water resources in this region.
2015
Over the last decade, societies around the globe have experienced climatic extreme events (a.k.a. “natural disasters” or “natural catastrophes”) in increasing number and severity, a fact that climate scientists can now clearly link to anthropogenic climate change. Newspaper and TV reports have provided glimpses of the often long-term materially, politically and socially detrimental effects of such extremes on the affected societies. In this course we will take a deeper look at how societies in the disaster-prone Caribbean and parts of North America have coped with climatic and other extreme events (i.e. earthquakes) at different points in time. We will tackle the following questions: What is a “natural hazard” as opposed to a “natural disaster”? How do societies change through the repeated experience of extreme events over time? What role does memory play for coping with and adapting to natural hazards? Why are some societies more vulnerable to natural hazards than others? And why should we study disasters historically?