Locust invasions and climatic factors from the Middle Ages to 1800

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00865041
• Publication Date: 2004-12-23T17:04:23Z
• Authors: D. Camuffo; S. Enzi
• Keywords: Human settlement; Swarming (honey bee); plague

Locust migrations are strictly connected with climatic factors and a historical reconstruction of their invasions in Europe may be useful in dealing with this plague. From records of medieval chroniclers and more recent sources till 1800, some 100 detailed descriptions of locust invasions have been collected and analyzed. Some of them include the meteorological conditions which were associated with the arrival of the swarm of locusts, their path and the presumed country of origin, as well as the local effects such as famine and epidemics, these latter being mostly due to the putrification of the dead locusts.