"The most thorough and up-to-date analysis of the impact of El Niño on human events. It cogently explains El Niño, La Niña, Southern Oscillation, and other concepts to the non-meteorologist/oceanographer."--Ben Finney, University of Hawaii
"A staggering amount of historical research to pinpoint El Niño events in time and space, interpret them using physical theory, and correlate them with human history, ranging from locust swarms, the sinking of the Titanic, and the demise of the Roanoke colony, to the discovery of Easter Island."--Betty J. Meggers, Smithsonian Institution
César Caviedes provides the first comprehensive historical account of El Niño, the fascinating and disruptive weather phenomenon that has affected weather cycles all over the globe for thousands of years. Combining scientific accuracy with readable presentation, he brings together all existing information, references, and clues about past El Niño occurrences and their impact on political, military, social, economic, and environmental history. This sweeping demonstration of the impact of climatic fluctuation on human history will be fascinating to the scientific community as well as to the general public.
From the extraordinary discovery of Easter Island and Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas to the defeat of both Napoleon and Hitler in Russia and the sinking of the Titanic, Caviedes shows how this enigmatic phenomenon has swayed the course of history and human affairs. Searching historical sources, traditional accounts, archaeological findings, and geological evidence in North America, South America, and Europe, Caviedes discusses in length the toll that El Niños have taken on populations in various parts of the world and offers an overview of La Niña, the equally feared twin.
Presenting basic concepts necessary to understand the oceanic and meteorological processes associated with El Niño, Caviedes explains how air flows from the Pacific Ocean export heat and humidity to distant parts of the world, describes the impact of these climatic variations on ecological systems, and discusses the methods used to track down past episodes of El Niño and La Niña. He also looks back at the origins of the term El Niño among regional fishermen in northern Peru during colonial times and presents a compilation of El Niño events that have occurred in recent centuries.
César N. Caviedes, professor and past chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Florida, is the author or coauthor of nine books, including South America. A respected authority on El Niño for thirty years, he has published and lectured extensively on El Niño in North and South America, Europe, and Japan.
