{"id":420644,"date":"2026-01-09T12:40:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T11:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=420644"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:40:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T11:40:59","slug":"global-warming-powered-an-empire-that-dwarfed-the-vikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=420644","title":{"rendered":"Global warming powered an empire that dwarfed the Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Great Living Chola Temples – Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “Global warming powered an empire that dwarfed the Vikings” refers to a recent article by Vijay Jayaraj<\/a> saying that the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 900\u20131300 AD) boosted agricultural productivity in southern India, enabling the rise of the Chola Empire as a major maritime power- far larger in influence, wealth, and naval reach than the Viking realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Vikings are iconic for their North Atlantic raids and settlements during the same era, their “empire” was decentralized, spanning Scandinavia, parts of Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and brief North American outposts, but lacked the centralized scale or longevity of true empires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj<\/a> telling about warmer, favorable conditions during the Medieval Warm Period enhanced monsoon reliability in the Cauvery Delta, allowing multiple rice harvests per year, surplus food production, and economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This funded massive temple construction and a powerful navy that conquered parts of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and raided the Srivijaya Empire in Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Chola art and architecture – Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

_____________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Norse raiders scraped by in the cold, the Chola Empire thrived during a warm climate \u2014 building fleets, feeding millions, and dominating Indian Ocean trade.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The CO2 Coalition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Illustration
chola ship | Kvramakrishnarao’s Blog<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Popular culture is full of gritty dramas about Norsemen shivering in fur pelts, launching raids on British monasteries, and navigating the icy fringes of the North Atlantic. Yet, while the Vikings were struggling to eke out a subsistence living on the thawing margins of Greenland, a far more sophisticated, wealthy and powerful maritime colossus arose in the tropical warmth of Southern India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the Chola Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its peak between A.D. 985 and 1044, this dynasty projected power on a scale that made the forays of Viking longships look like backyard skirmishers. The Chola ships<\/a> were technological marvels<\/a> of their time. These floating fortresses transported cavalry, infantry and weeks of provisions over thousands of miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cholas launched a naval expedition against the Srivijaya Empire<\/a> \u2013 a dominant maritime power based in what became modern Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. This was an amphibious assault thousands of miles from home ports, a feat of logistics that rivals today\u2019s naval operations. They toppled kings, secured the key trade artery of the Malacca Strait, and ensured that merchant guilds could trade safely from the Middle East to China. On land, they maintained a standing army with thousands of elephants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cholas built the majestic Great Living Chola Temples that stretched over all of south India and neighboring islands and are now on the UNESCO World Heritage<\/a> list. Without the aid of modern machinery, elephants<\/a> moved huge rocks from as far away as 60 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chola society was blessed with excess labor, food and wealth. But how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What enabled a civilization to acquire the immense caloric and economic surplus needed to build huge stone monuments and launch armadas across the Indian Ocean? Much of the credit goes to global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ascension of the Chola Empire coincides perfectly with a climatic phenomenon known as the Medieval Warm Period \u2013 from approximately A.D. 900 to 1300.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This cause-and-effect relationship between warmth and thriving populations is one that the climate industrial complex chooses to ignore because it disrupts their narrative of \u201cdoom.\u201d However, warmth fuels the tropical monsoons on which an agrarian economy like the Chola\u2019s depended, as confirmed by recent scientific research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fluctuations in the Indian summer monsoon influenced agriculture and the rise of major dynasties. Civilization in India flourished during the Roman Warm Period, struggled during the Dark Ages Cold (a period of political fragmentation), and rose to new heights under the Chola and others during the Medieval Warm Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chola empire was fueled by<\/a> the very global warming that modern activists describe as an existential threat. In the Cauvery Delta, the heartland of the Cholas, this climatic gift turned the region into the \u201cRice Bowl of the South.\u201d Three harvests a year became the norm rather than the exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With overflowing granaries and a treasury flush with revenues, Chola emperors could afford to divert labor from subsistence farming to imperial ambition. The Chola\u2019s innovative trade guilds prospered with surplus goods \u2013 textiles, spices and grains \u2013 to sell to the Chinese Song Dynasty<\/a>, another empire that thrived during this warm epoch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, we are in the midst of another warming trend \u2013 a recovery from the brutal depths of the Little Ice Age that ended in the middle of the 19th<\/sup> century. Global crop production has repeatedly hit record highs over the last few decades. India is once again a major exporter of grain. The Earth is experiencing a \u201cgreening\u201d effect, as higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide fertilize plants and warmer temperatures open new latitudes for cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we are told to feel guilty. Coal, oil and natural gas \u2013 fuels that protect us from the elements and power economies \u2013 are demonized.  Environmental extremists suggest that the ideal climate is colder, like ones that brought plague and hunger in between warm periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the Chola Empire is a record of what human ingenuity can achieve when the climate cooperates. Their ships sailed on prosperity sustained by a warm, fertile planet. Their temples were built by a society rich in calories and confidence. Their civilization was the envy of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, we today have before us a \u201cgolden age\u201d provided we do not shackle ourselves with fear of the very conditions that engender our prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commentary was first published by The Blaze<\/a> <\/em>on January 7, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the <\/em>CO2<\/sub> Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor\u2019s in engineering from Anna University, India.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “Global warming powered an empire that dwarfed the Vikings” refers to a recent article by Vijay Jayaraj saying that the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 900\u20131300 AD) boosted agricultural productivity in southern India, enabling the rise of the Chola Empire as a major maritime power- far larger in influence, wealth, and naval reach than the Viking realms.<\/p>\n

While Vikings are iconic for their North Atlantic raids and settlements during the same era, their “empire” was decentralized, spanning Scandinavia, parts of Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and brief North American outposts, but lacked the centralized scale or longevity of true empires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":420661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover how global warming fueled the Chola Empire's rise, enabling vast trade and impressive temple construction during a warm climate.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"How Global Warming Fueled the Rise of the Chola Empire","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvMEFRT29YcmVnOTNWNE9LYjdjY3pORVBUa0NOZlhiNFpCelhEaUJfMy1TcVNRZThrc1VPWV9nd1ktd3pDc0tQaVhIRnR0Wnp2Z003MUpkVk9PTHFxUHdpNEdMS2JiODQyeXNCeVRPSDBRTW1yOVNFaUl2dU5VRlplLUxXSE1vU1EtMS0xMDI0eDY2OS5qcGVnIiwidHh0IjoiR2xvYmFsIHdhcm1pbmcgcG93ZXJlZCBhbiBlbXBpcmUgdGhhdCBkd2FyZmVkIHRoZSBWaWtpbmdzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.DhcDh6YdBJk59Mblad_VvnuCVjXcaCOhLQhPua-daPAMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691840618,691840617,691840615,691818087,691818237,691840616,691835209],"class_list":{"0":"post-420644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-greening-effect","9":"tag-chinese-song-dynasty","10":"tag-chola-empire","11":"tag-global-warming","12":"tag-india","13":"tag-malacca-strait","14":"tag-medieval-warm-period-900-1300","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0AQOoXreg93V4OKb7cczNEPTkCNfXb4ZBzXDiB_3-SqSQe8ksUOY_gwY-wzCsKPiXHFttZzvgM71JdVOOLqqPwi4GLKbb842ysByTOH0QMmr9SEiIvuNUFZe-LWHMoSQ-1.jpeg?fit=1400%2C915&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1LqA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":209126,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=209126","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":0},"title":"New Study: The Reality of the Medieval Warm Period Confirmed by Changes in Agricultural Practices","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to a \u201crelatively stable warm climate\u201d the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1300 CE) was a period of expanding Scandinavian population, increasing trade, food and goods production. There has been a ~500 zettajoule (ZJ) increase in global ocean heat energy since 1750. The Medieval Warm Period global ocean had\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0Ocean-Heat-Content-changes-since-1750-Gebbie-and-Huybers-2019-Gebbie-2021.jpg?fit=1045%2C812&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0Ocean-Heat-Content-changes-since-1750-Gebbie-and-Huybers-2019-Gebbie-2021.jpg?fit=1045%2C812&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0Ocean-Heat-Content-changes-since-1750-Gebbie-and-Huybers-2019-Gebbie-2021.jpg?fit=1045%2C812&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0Ocean-Heat-Content-changes-since-1750-Gebbie-and-Huybers-2019-Gebbie-2021.jpg?fit=1045%2C812&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":427588,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427588","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":1},"title":"Scafetta: Climate Models Fail to Reproduce the Medieval Warm Period, Undermining Claims of Unprecedented Man-Made Warming","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Modern climate models are used to support the claim that recent warming is unprecedented and largely man-made. This claim is based on the assumption that the models can accurately reproduce Earth's past climate behavior. But they don\u00b4t. A closer look at Nicola Scafetta's new\u00a0study\u00a0shows that climate models repeatedly fail to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CMIP6 climate model\"","block_context":{"text":"CMIP6 climate model","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=cmip6-climate-model"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0-Ma.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0-Ma.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0-Ma.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0-Ma.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0-Ma.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":378998,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378998","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":2},"title":"Human extinction is a baseless climate scare, Slate","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In a recent Slate article, titled \u201cI Used to Hope Humans Were Headed for Extinction. Now I Know That Fantasy Allows Us the Easy Way Out\u201d author Lizzie Wade argues that humanity is on the path to extinction due to climate change, suggesting that a 4\u00b0C rise in global temperatures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"climate propaganda\"","block_context":{"text":"climate propaganda","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-propaganda"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-29.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-29.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-29.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-29.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":369333,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=369333","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":3},"title":"Medieval Warm Period Undeniable, pronounced in Antarctica and Poland, 2 New Studies Show","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Medieval Warm Period, the natural warm phase between 700 and 1300 AD, cannot be reproduced climate models because the simulations react primarily to CO2. Back then CO2 was not a factor because its concentration level in the atmosphere was pretty much constant. That\u2019s why people would rather keep the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Antarctica\"","block_context":{"text":"Antarctica","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=antarctica"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Emperor-Penguins-with-chick.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Emperor-Penguins-with-chick.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Emperor-Penguins-with-chick.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Emperor-Penguins-with-chick.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Emperor-Penguins-with-chick.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":371202,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371202","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":4},"title":"Study Destroys Basis of EPA Climate Regulations","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"For two decades, the public has been bombarded with dire warnings of an impending climate-induced agricultural apocalypse. The claim is that a climate warmed excessively by the\u00a0carbon dioxide\u00a0emissions of human activity will ravage the food supply and plunge humanity into famine and chaos.","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Massive-global-crop-yield-variations-explained-by-climate-extremes.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Massive-global-crop-yield-variations-explained-by-climate-extremes.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Massive-global-crop-yield-variations-explained-by-climate-extremes.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Massive-global-crop-yield-variations-explained-by-climate-extremes.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Massive-global-crop-yield-variations-explained-by-climate-extremes.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":170061,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=170061","url_meta":{"origin":420644,"position":5},"title":"Climate Change Contributes to Another Year of Record Crop Production in India","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/10\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Vijay Jayaraj One of the largest agricultural countries in the world, India, expects its highest summer crop production for 2021\u20132022. This comes at a critical juncture when energy shortage crippled food production in China. The record numbers will play a critical role in maintaining global food security. The record\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=420644"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420662,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420644\/revisions\/420662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/420661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=420644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=420644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=420644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}