Category Archives: Environmental History

Climate Change and Religious Conflicts

Posted on October 16, 2025 by briansandberg

I am looking forward to the first session of a new research seminar on Climate Change and Religious Conflicts (Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux)! This is a seminar that my colleague Jérémie Foa (Aix-Marseille Université and TELEMMe) and I are … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Civilians and Refugees in War, Climate Change, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, Environmental History, European History, European Wars of Religion, French Wars of Religion, Globalization, Lectures and Seminars, Little Ice Age, Mediterranean World, Reformation History, Religious History, Religious Violence, Renaissance Art and History, Social History, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment

Attack on U.S. Research and Education: French Views

Posted on March 17, 2025 by briansandberg

I participated in a workshop on Guerres de Religion et Changement Climatique (Religious Wars and Climate Change) at the IMéRA (Institute for Advanced Study) in Marseille, France, on 11 March 2025. This was a workshop that I co-organized with Jérémie … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Freedom, Climate Change, Contemporary France, Current Research, Education Policy, Environmental History, European History, European Studies, European Union, French History, French Wars of Religion, History of Science, History of Violence, Little Ice Age, Mediterranean World, Religious Violence, Revolts and Revolutions, United States History and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World, Women and Gender History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Religious Wars and Climate Change

Posted on March 5, 2025 by briansandberg

Jérémie Foa (Maître de conférences habilité à diriger des recherches à Aix-Marseille Université) and I are co-organizing a workshop on Guerres de Religion et Changement Climatique at the IMéRA in Marseille, France, on 11 mars 2025. Jérémie Foa has definitely … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Comparative Revolutions, Conferences, Current Research, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, Environmental History, European History, European Wars of Religion, French History, French Wars of Religion, History of the Western World, History of Violence, Languedoc and Southern France, Little Ice Age, Mediterranean World, Religious Violence, Revolts and Revolutions, Warfare in the Early Modern World, World History | Leave a comment

DNA Studies of Pompeii Victims

Posted on November 8, 2024 by briansandberg

New DNA studies have been done the remains of residents of Pompeii who were killed in the disastrous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 Common Era (CE). The findings challenge previous interpretations about the identities of many of the victims. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient History, Environmental History, European History, History of the Western World, Italian History, Social History, World History | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pre-modern Whales and Whaling

Posted on September 16, 2023 by briansandberg

Pre-modern whaling may have contributed significantly to the decline and extinction of some species of whales, according to new research on whale bones. “Industrial-scale whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries nearly drove many whale species into extinction. Populations of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cartographic History, Cultural History, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Environmental History, Food and Cuisine History, Globalization, Maritime History, Material Culture, Medieval History, Renaissance Art and History, Social History | Leave a comment

Gruyère: The Latest Round in the Food Culture Wars

Posted on January 13, 2022 by briansandberg

Food is Culture! This proclamation is a both a popular idea and a serious anthropological approach to food, cuisine, and agricultural production. Food historians take the cultural dimensions of food production and consumption seriously as revealing important social dynamics. Food … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural History, Culture, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Environmental History, European Studies, European Union, Food and Cuisine History, Francophonie, French History, Globalization, History in the Media, Italian History, Material Culture, Renaissance Art and History, United States History and Society, World History | Leave a comment

History of Sleep in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Posted on January 11, 2022 by briansandberg

Nothing could seem more “natural” than our rhythms of sleep, yet there is a history of sleep. Historians have recognized various changes in sleeping patterns in the modern industrialized and post-industrial world, which have also been studied by scientists. Over … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival Research, Cultural History, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, Environmental History, European History, Globalization, History in the Media, History of Medicine, History of Science, History of the Western World, Italian History, Medieval History, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, Social History, World History | Leave a comment

Geckos, Environmental History, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Posted on August 4, 2021 by briansandberg

Historians are collaborating with scientists in new ways these days, especially in the growing field of environmental history. Scholars are making new and fascinating discoveries about the long history of human transformations of environments. Historians of the Columbian Exchange, beginning … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic World, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, Environmental History, Globalization, History of Science, Maritime History, Renaissance Art and History, World History | Leave a comment

New Research at Cahokia Mounds Site in Illinois

Posted on May 3, 2021 by briansandberg

New archaeological excavations at Cahokia, Illinois, have been investigating evidence of deforestation and flooding at the site of a major indigenous urban center. The New York Times reports that “A thousand years ago, a city rose on the banks of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural History, Environmental History, Illinois History and Society, Material Culture, Medieval History, Museums and Historical Memory, United States History and Society, Urban History, World History | Leave a comment

On the Backs of Tortoises

Posted on February 22, 2021 by briansandberg

The Department of History at Northern Illinois University will be holding a virtual colloquium lecture tomorrow.  All NIU students are invited to participate in this History colloquium event, which will be held virtually on Zoom. Elizabeth Hennessy from the University … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental History, Globalization, History of Science, Lectures and Seminars, Maritime History, World History | Leave a comment