The European colonization of the Americas as an explanation of the Little Ice Age

Abstract

The hypothesis that the European colonization of the Americas was the driving force behind the onset of the Little Ice Age, through a mechanism involving reforestation and sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is here tested. On the basis of a literature review, and the assessment of the present temperature sensitivity to atmospheric carbon dioxide, it is concluded that the claim is overrated. The reforestation attributed to the European colonization of the Americas is excessive. Even this excessive atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration would not be enough to produce the Little Ice Age.