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Civilizations ended by environmental collapse

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  Quote Decebal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Civilizations ended by environmental collapse
    Posted: 07-Aug-2005 at 23:27
I was wondering if any of you know of civilizations whose end can be directly or indirectly traced to environmental collapse. Off the top of my head, I can think of Nubia, Mayans and the Khmers. Also, the Middle East has lost its prominent role in world civilization due in large part to environmental degradation.

Could you give more examples of this, and elaborate on the causes and circumstances of the event?
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  Quote Tobodai Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 00:05
Easter Island, Tanganyka, Anasazi.
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  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 00:26
It's assumed that the ancient capital of Ghana, Kumbi-Kumbi or Kumbi Saleh is buried somewhere under the sands of the Sahara in Mauritania - though the inmediate cause of its fall seems to have been islamization under the Almoravids.


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  Quote Belisarius Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 02:39
The Minoan civilization was ended before of earthquakes that occured all over the island of Crete.
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  Quote vagabond Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 04:08

As Tobodei said - the Anasazi -  Most probably erosion of the topsoil due to deforestation and then drought caused famine, famine caused warfare and internal strife - and left them vulnerable to outside attack.  Link to some discussion of their culture:

http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1578& ; ;PN=4

 



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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 08:10
Vikings on Greenland
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  Quote Perseas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 09:05

The Harappan civilization of India's Indus River.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harappan

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  Quote The Guardian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 12:52

Originally posted by Mixcoatl

Vikings on Greenland

what happened to them?

 

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  Quote Kenaney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 13:23
Pompei in Italy?
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  Quote yan. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 13:55
Everything before Noah's Ark
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 14:25
Originally posted by The Guardian

Originally posted by Mixcoatl

Vikings on Greenland

what happened to them?

 


they died

most likely caused by a decline in temperature.
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  Quote Tobodai Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Aug-2005 at 19:26
And also they were displaced by the Inuit settlers, who had a better adapted lifestyle for the environment of Greenland.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Aug-2005 at 06:40
They were possibily even assimilated by the Inuit. Some explorers in the 18th century noted Inuits with Scandinavian characteristics.
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  Quote Berosus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Aug-2005 at 21:39
Jared Diamond fans, you all forgot a big one--classical Greece and Rome.  The lands around the Mediterranean have been so used, misused and abused for the past 3,000+ years that the local ecology just isn't what it used to be.  Much of the topsoil has eroded away, many forests were cut down, many species of animals have been driven to extinction.  Even the amount of rainfall appears to have dropped over the ages.  As early as the fourth century B.C., Plato described the environmental damage done to Greece with these words: "What now remains, compared with what existed, is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth wasted away and only the bare framework of the land being left."  By the time the Romans were finished, the same could be said for the whole Mediterranean basin.
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  Quote Belisarius Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Aug-2005 at 22:18
Originally posted by Berosus

Jared Diamond fans, you all forgot a big one--classical Greece and Rome.  The lands around the Mediterranean have been so used, misused and abused for the past 3,000+ years that the local ecology just isn't what it used to be.  Much of the topsoil has eroded away, many forests were cut down, many species of animals have been driven to extinction.  Even the amount of rainfall appears to have dropped over the ages.  As early as the fourth century B.C., Plato described the environmental damage done to Greece with these words: "What now remains, compared with what existed, is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth wasted away and only the bare framework of the land being left."  By the time the Romans were finished, the same could be said for the whole Mediterranean basin.

Yes, but the damaged ecosystem did not cause the fall of any civilizations.
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  Quote Tobodai Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Aug-2005 at 23:18
It certainly helps their fall, more than any political action ever could contribute to decline.
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  Quote Berosus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Aug-2005 at 20:23
And I think it made sure they didn't come back.
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  Quote Idanthyrus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2005 at 13:08

Originally posted by Belisarius

The Minoan civilization was ended before of earthquakes that occured all over the island of Crete.
And don't forget the eruption of Thera, geologists say it was bigger than Krakatao!

The mighty Xiong-Nu empire can fault its rapid decline as much to unrelenting disease and environmental change as to Han armies.

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  Quote Jalisco Lancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2005 at 14:11


The Mayans
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  Quote ITAIM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Aug-2005 at 02:21
Originally posted by Jalisco Lancer



The Mayans
OK
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