‘The Little Ice Age in the Dutch Atlantic’ Panel by the New Amsterdam History Center

Tue, Jan 24 - Tue, Jan 24  2023

The New Amsterdam History Center organizes the virtual panel ‘The Little Ice Age in the Dutch North Atlantic’ on January 24, from 6-7:30. The event features environmental historian Dagomar Degroot and historical geographer Chelsea Teale, who will explore how climate impacted Europe and North America. The discussion is followed by Q&A.

Register for the panel here.

About the Panel

The Dutch Republic experienced its so-called Golden Age from the 16th Century through the 18th Century, during an extended period of variable climate that often included colder temperatures and severe weather events. Although the Dutch Republic itself thrived during this “Little Ice Age,” the Amsterdam-based Dutch West India Company struggled to establish and maintain its New World colony of New Netherland between 1624 and 1664.

Join environmental historian Dagomar Degroot and historical geographer Chelsea Teale as they explore how weather, climate, and societal responses to those phenomena impacted life in the North Atlantic from Europe to eastern North America. The panel is moderated by Manhattan Borough Historian Robert Snyder.

About the Speakers

Dr. Dagomar Degroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His first book, The Frigid Golden Age, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018 and named by the Financial Times as one of the ten best history books of that year. His next book, Ripples in the Cosmic Ocean, is under contract with Harvard University Press and Viking. He publishes equally in historical and scientific journals, including Nature and the American Historical Review, and writes for a popular audience in, for example, the Washington Post, Aeon Magazine, and The Conversation. He maintains popular online resources on the history of climate change, including the podcast Climate History. He has shared the unique perspectives of the past with policymakers, corporate leaders, and journalists in many countries, from Wuhan to Washington, DC.

Dr. Chelsea Teale is a lecturer in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Analysis at Cal Poly Humboldt. Her research has emphasized the integration of proxy records (primarily plant fossils and tree rings) with written sources to reconstruct past environments, and she has published and presented work for both history and science audiences (such as Agricultural History Review and the Canadian and American Quaternary Associations). Her current project is a climate history of New Netherland, which will be the first chapter in a book tentatively entitled Environmental Encounters in Dutch New York. The book builds on her dissertation—focused on land use in the Dutch-settled northeast—by including the elements of climate, weather, flora, fauna, and other natural resources.