Throughout history, there has been several "little ice ages!"

A “little ice age” was first recorded around 1300 and extends through the mid 1800s. It was the cold interval over the Northern Hemisphere for around 1000 years. It resulted in periodic plagues, famines, and natural diasters.

As there was relatively little pollution around at the time, the major cause may have been a drop in solar energy. Sunspot observations that began around 1610 show a near absence of reported sunspots between 1645 and 1715.

Like the medieval warm period, the little ice age appears to be prominent over the Northern Hemisphere’s continents. Some researchers even argue that both the mini warm and cold periods were primarily regional events, as opposed to the global-scale warming that is happening now.