Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2015-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2015-2021
Research article
 | 
01 Oct 2021
Research article |  | 01 Oct 2021

Documentary evidence of droughts in Sweden between the Middle Ages and ca. 1800 CE

Lotta Leijonhufvud and Dag Retsö

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Cited articles

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Almquist, J. A. (Ed.): Konung Gustaf den förstes registratur, Del 23: 1552, Stockholm, Sweden, 1905. 
Almquist, J. A. (Ed.): Konung Gustaf den förstes registratur, Del 29: 1559, 1560, Stockholm, Sweden, 1916. 
Alvered, Z. (Ed.): Gregers Matssons kostbok för Stegeborg 1487–1492, Blom, Uppsala, Sweden, 1999. 
Åmark, K.: Spannmålshandel och spannmålspolitik i Sverige 1710–1830, Stockholms högskola, Stockholm, Sweden, 1915. 
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Short summary
Over the last 600 years, Sweden has occasionally suffered from severe summer droughts. But droughts caused by extreme heat are uncommon. They are instead usually caused by lack of rain. From historical documents it can be confirmed that such drought periods, with substantial consequences for agriculture and mining activities, have occurred on repeated occasions between the Middle Ages and 1800 CE, coinciding with a slightly colder climate and other social strains in the 17th and 18th centuries.