Prof. Dr Jan Pajak THE NEW ZEALAND EXPLOSION OF ... - Totalizm

D-52including Mediterranean and Bizancium. But the Tapanui explosion brought disastrousclimatic changes which undermined the roots of Vikings' existence. Soon afterwardsScandinavia became cold and icy placing environmental constraints into the survival andcontinuation of Vikings population. Also most of the sea routes they followed become frozenover and non-accessible. Thus the climatic consequences of the Tapanui explosionreversed Viking expansion, causing the gradual downfall of these adventurous people.The fate of the Norwegian colony in Greenland is a kind of condensed parable thatallegorically illustrates the doom of all Vikings. This colony was established by Eirik the Redin 982 A.D., when Greenland was green, thriving with life, and completely unpopulated.From an initial 450 souls in 982 it grew into some 3000 Norsemen around 1178. It declaredits own independence, built a cathedral, and settled small sub-colonies at what presently isthe territory of Canada and the USA. But the Tapanui explosion triggered global climaticchanges which gradually turned Greenland into an icy desert. These changes are confirmedby research, and well reflected in literature. Provided below are two quotations which givesome idea about their progress and effects. The first of these quotations, taken from thebook by Gwyn Jones "A history of the Vikings" (Oxford University Press, London, 1968,page 307), says: "The great voyages of Eirik the Red, Leif, and Karlsefni all took place at atime when the northern lands and seas were enjoying a comparatively favourable climate.But after 1200 it began to grow colder, and by the middle of the fifteenth century it was verycold indeed". The second quotation, taken from the book by Jacqueline Simpson "Everydaylife in the Viking age" (B.T. Batsford Ltd., London 1967, page 42), says: "It must be addedthat many climatologists believe that up to about 1100 the climate was warmer in thoseregions than it is today; the seas must have been freer of ice, and the conditions morefavourable for cattle-raising". The deterioration of Greenland's climate had three mainimplications for the Viking settlers there: (1) it prevented them from growing their own food,(2) it cut Greenland off from easy sea access to Norway, and (3) it created a link withCanada via ice, which allowed hostile Eskimo people to invade Greenland and graduallyannihilate Vikings there. By 1410 only a few Norwegian settlers in Greenland were stillalive, whereas a ship arriving there in about 1540 found the body of a single dead man lyingface downwards in the dust (see the book by Ole Klindt-Jensen, "The World of the Vikings",Allen & Unwin, London 1970, page 81).While the Tapanui explosion terminated and reversed expansion of Vikings, itseemingly raised the Mongolian empire. Some historians hypothesised that the rapiddroughts, which struck steppes of Mongolia exactly at the time of the Tapanui explosion,were the direct cause for the most famous medieval warrior-ruler, Genghis Khan (born1162, died 1227 A.D.), to raise to power and to extend his empire from China to Europe'sAdriatic Sea. "The New Encyclopedia Britannica" (Macropaedia, Volume 19, fifteenthedition, 1986) even tries to polemize with the hypothesis of these historians. This is whatthe Encyclopedia says on page 746 under the topic "Genghis Khan": "Nor is it true, assome have supposed, that these campaigns were somehow brought about by a progressivedesiccation of Inner Asia that compelled the nomads to look for new pastures." Although, inthe opinion of Macropaedia authors, the mentioned Asian droughts were not responsible forthe expansion of Mongols, this quote acknowledges that some historians have linked thehistoric records of these draughts with the formation of the Genghis Khan empire. Ofcourse, it is not the intention of this monograph to judge if there is a link between these twoevents; the above quote is only to show that the Tapanui explosion triggered a whole chainof climatic changes having global significance and consequence.Simultaneously with steppes of eastern Asia significant climatic changes wereoccurring also in Japan. It is historically documented that shortly after the Tapanui explosiona number of unusual typhoons occurred in the Japanese Sea. Because such typhoonshelped to defeat two approaches of the Mongolian (Genghis Khan grandson's) army whichtried to invade Japan, it was at that time when the term "Kamikaze" (i.e. the "Divine Wind")was coined.