Until recently, civilization (as a whole) had never endured severe climate change at global scale. Individual cultures, on the other hand, have confronted regional climate shifts time and again, and for the people involved, they’ve been no less devastating.
In fact, many of those cultures collapsed in the turmoil of fluctuating temperatures and dwindling precipitation (and, surely, other political and economic factors). From the deserts of the Middle East to the rainforest of Central America, just about every corner of our planet has been struck by climate-related disaster at one point or another in human history. Here are some of the casualties — starting with the world’s first empire.
1. Akkadian Empire
The Akkadian Empire formed 4,300 years ago, when Sargon the Great consolidated the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia under his rule. It extended along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from the Persian Gulf into modern Turkey. But within two centuries of its founding, around 2150 B.C.E., the empire suddenly collapsed.
