Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times
Pedro M. Raposeiro, Armand Hernández, Sergi Pla‐Rabès, Vítor Gonçalves, Roberto Bao, Alberto Sáez, Timothy M. Shanahan, Mario Benavente, Erik J. de Boer, Nora Richter, Verónica Gordon, Helena Marques, Pedro M. Sousa, M. Souto, Miguel G. Matias, Nicole Aguiar, Cátia Lúcio Pereira, Catarina Ritter, María Jesús Rubio, Marina Salcedo, David Vázquez‐Loureiro, Olga Margalef, Linda Amaral‐Zettler, Ana C. Costa, Yongsong Huang, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Pere Masqué, Ricardo Prego, Ana Carolina Ruíz-Fernández, Joan-Albert Sánchez-Cabeza, Ricardo M. Trigo, Santiago Giralt
Abstract
Common Era (CE), ca. 700 y earlier than historical records suggest the onset of Portuguese settlement of the islands. Settlement proceeded in three phases, during which human pressure on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems grew steadily (i.e., through livestock introductions, logging, and fire), resulting in irreversible changes. Our climate models suggest that the initial colonization at the end of the early Middle Ages (500 to 900 CE) occurred in conjunction with anomalous northeasterly winds and warmer Northern Hemisphere temperatures. These climate conditions likely inhibited exploration from southern Europe and facilitated human settlers from the northeast Atlantic. These results are consistent with recent archaeological and genetic data suggesting that the Norse were most likely the earliest settlers on the islands.