Impact of Climate Change in the Little Ice Age on Mountain Communities of the 15th and 16th c. The Polish Carpathians: a Case Study

The aim of this article is to trace reactions to the cooling of climate in the 15th and 16th century caused among the communities living in mountain areas, who were particularly affected by the consequences of this phenomenon. The Polish Carpathians are the subject of a detailed study here, but it would be tempting to compare the obtained results with research analyses of other mountain areas in the northern hemisphere. This work examines in detail the condition of settlement networks in the mountains in the above mentioned period, and it analyses their economic profile. Particular attention is given to rapid changes observed there, undoubtedly associated with the progressing climate cooling. At the same time, a crisis of an older settlement process based on agricultural activities was taking place. Its most evident symptoms were poverty and, as a consequence, the abandonment of villages by their residents and depopulation of entire settlements. On the other hand, this phenomenon was simultaneously accompanied by a progressing wave of new colonization, introducing a different economic model based on a skillful joining of pastoral activities with agriculture, as well as other tasks. On the other hand, this phenomenon was simultaneously accompanied by a progressing wave of new colonization, introducing a diff erent economic model basedon a skillful joining of pastoral activities with agriculture, as well as other tasks. It turned into an enormous success resulting in the settlement of hundreds of new villages in the 16th century. The sources refer to this process as „the settlement based on the Wallachian law”. It was initiated by immigrants from the Balkans, but soon its elements were adopted by the local population, primarily Ruthenian. This colonizing movement entailed deep transformations of social, ethnical, and religious nature in the examined area, the consequences of which are visible even today.