Variability of climate in Meridional Balkans during the periods 1675-1715 and 1780-1830 and its impact on human life

The periods from 1675-1715 (Late Maunder Minimum; LMM) and 1780-1830 (Early Instrumental Period; EIP) delineate important parts of the so-called `Little Ice Age' (LIA), in which Europe experienced predominant cooling. Documentary data, assembled from a number of sources, in the course of the EU funded research project ADVICE (Annual to Decadal Variability of Climate in Europe), has been used to locate and describe events in the southern Balkans and eastern Mediterranean. The resulting data has been used firstly to investigate the incidence of phenomena such as crops sterility, famine and epidemics and their relationships with climate, and secondly to analyse the extent of variability, particularly the occurrence of extreme events, such as severe winters (cold, wet or snowy), long periods of drought and wet periods. During the LMM and EIP, more such extreme situations were apparent compared with the last 50 years of the twentieth century. From the scattered data found for 1675-1715 and 1780-1830, the winter and spring climate in southern Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, especially during the LMM, can be characterised as cooler and relatively rainier with a higher variability compared with the recent decades.