Little Ice Age
E179500
The Little Ice Age was a period of cooler global temperatures and glacial expansion, roughly from the 14th to the mid-19th century, that significantly affected climate, agriculture, and societies, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Little Ice Age canonical | 13 |
| Dark Ages Cold Period | 1 |
| Little Ice Age (late phase) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1572209 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Little Ice Age Context triple: [Quaternary period, contains, Little Ice Age]
-
A.
Holocene climatic optimum
The Holocene climatic optimum was a warm period roughly 9,000–5,000 years ago when global temperatures, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, were higher than today, influencing the spread of forests and early human civilizations.
-
B.
Great Famine of 1315–1317
The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was a devastating pan-European food crisis marked by widespread crop failures, mass starvation, and social upheaval that profoundly weakened medieval European society.
-
C.
8.2 kiloyear event
The 8.2 kiloyear event was a sudden, short-lived global cooling episode during the early Holocene, likely triggered by massive meltwater outbursts disrupting North Atlantic ocean circulation.
-
D.
Pleistocene epoch
The Pleistocene epoch was a geological time period characterized by repeated ice ages, widespread glaciation, and the evolution and global spread of modern humans.
-
E.
4.2 kiloyear event
The 4.2 kiloyear event was a major global climatic downturn around 2200 BCE, marked by widespread aridification and cooling that is thought to have contributed to the collapse or transformation of several ancient civilizations.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Little Ice Age Target entity description: The Little Ice Age was a period of cooler global temperatures and glacial expansion, roughly from the 14th to the mid-19th century, that significantly affected climate, agriculture, and societies, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
-
A.
Holocene climatic optimum
The Holocene climatic optimum was a warm period roughly 9,000–5,000 years ago when global temperatures, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, were higher than today, influencing the spread of forests and early human civilizations.
-
B.
Great Famine of 1315–1317
The Great Famine of 1315–1317 was a devastating pan-European food crisis marked by widespread crop failures, mass starvation, and social upheaval that profoundly weakened medieval European society.
-
C.
8.2 kiloyear event
The 8.2 kiloyear event was a sudden, short-lived global cooling episode during the early Holocene, likely triggered by massive meltwater outbursts disrupting North Atlantic ocean circulation.
-
D.
Pleistocene epoch
The Pleistocene epoch was a geological time period characterized by repeated ice ages, widespread glaciation, and the evolution and global spread of modern humans.
-
E.
4.2 kiloyear event
The 4.2 kiloyear event was a major global climatic downturn around 2200 BCE, marked by widespread aridification and cooling that is thought to have contributed to the collapse or transformation of several ancient civilizations.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (95)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
climatic period
ⓘ
cooling event ⓘ |
| differentFrom |
Pleistocene ice ages
ⓘ
linked to:
Pleistocene epoch
current anthropogenic global warming ⓘ |
| endCause | combination of natural variability and early industrial-era forcing ⓘ |
| endTime | mid-19th century ⓘ |
| evidenceFrom |
coral records
ⓘ
glacier moraines ⓘ historical documents ⓘ ice cores ⓘ lake sediments ⓘ marine sediments ⓘ speleothems ⓘ tree rings ⓘ |
| follows | Medieval Warm Period ⓘ |
| geographicFocus |
Europe
ⓘ
North America ⓘ North Atlantic region ⓘ
linked to:
North Atlantic area
Northern Hemisphere ⓘ parts of Asia ⓘ |
| hasCause |
changes in ocean circulation
ⓘ
increased volcanic activity ⓘ internal variability of the climate system ⓘ reduced solar irradiance ⓘ |
| hasEffect |
advance of Alpine glaciers
ⓘ
advance of Icelandic glaciers ⓘ advance of North American mountain glaciers ⓘ advance of Scandinavian glaciers ⓘ advance of mountain glaciers ⓘ changes in agricultural practices ⓘ changes in fish populations in the North Atlantic ⓘ changes in forest composition in mid-latitudes ⓘ changes in lake levels in some regions ⓘ changes in monsoon intensity in some regions ⓘ changes in precipitation patterns ⓘ changes in river discharge patterns ⓘ changes in settlement patterns ⓘ changes in tree-line elevation in mountains ⓘ changes in wine production regions ⓘ cooler conditions in parts of East Asia ⓘ cooler conditions in parts of Europe ⓘ cooler conditions in parts of North America ⓘ cooler conditions in parts of the North Atlantic region ⓘ cooler global temperatures ⓘ cooling of North Atlantic sea surface temperatures ⓘ documentation of extreme winters in historical records ⓘ documentation of famines in historical records ⓘ documentation of glacier advances in historical records ⓘ documentation of poor harvests in historical records ⓘ documentation of sea-ice conditions in ship logs ⓘ documentation of unusual weather in chronicles ⓘ expansion of peatlands in some regions ⓘ expansion of sea ice around Iceland and Greenland ⓘ famines in parts of Europe ⓘ formation of moraines used for glacier reconstructions ⓘ glacial expansion ⓘ glacier advances threatening Alpine villages ⓘ growth of glaciers used as climate proxies ⓘ growth of mountain glaciers used for historical paintings ⓘ increased climate variability ⓘ increased demand for heating fuel ⓘ increased frequency of floods in some European rivers ⓘ increased frequency of glacier-related hazards ⓘ increased frequency of sea ice near European coasts ⓘ increased incidence of cold-related mortality ⓘ increased sea-ice obstacles for North Atlantic navigation ⓘ increased snowfall in some mid-latitude regions ⓘ increased storminess in parts of the North Atlantic ⓘ inspiration for winter scenes in European art ⓘ more frequent freezing of Dutch canals ⓘ more frequent freezing of the Thames River ⓘ more frequent harsh winters in Europe ⓘ population decline in some regions ⓘ regional crop failures ⓘ regional droughts in some subtropical areas ⓘ retreat of Norse settlements in Greenland ⓘ river freezing events in Europe ⓘ sea-ice expansion in the North Atlantic ⓘ shorter growing seasons ⓘ societal stress in agrarian communities ⓘ stress on forest resources in Europe ⓘ |
| hasPart |
Dalton Minimum
ⓘ
Maunder Minimum ⓘ Spörer Minimum ⓘ |
| partOf | natural climate variability ⓘ |
| significantEvent |
Great Famine of 1315–1317
ⓘ
frequent freezing of the Thames River fairs ⓘ harsh European winters of the 17th century ⓘ retreat of Norse Greenland colonies ⓘ |
| startTime | 14th century ⓘ |
| studiedBy |
climate modeling
ⓘ
glaciology ⓘ historical climatology ⓘ paleoclimatology ⓘ |
| temporalLocation |
Late Holocene
ⓘ
linked to:
Holocene
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Little Ice Age Description of subject: The Little Ice Age was a period of cooler global temperatures and glacial expansion, roughly from the 14th to the mid-19th century, that significantly affected climate, agriculture, and societies, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
Referenced by (15)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Little Ice Age
subject linked to:
The Year Without a Summer of 1816
linked to: Little Ice Age