Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Geography

Sub-Department

College of Arts and Sciences

First Advisor

Amy Mills

Abstract

Weather can determine social, agricultural, and economic impacts on a society. There has been a lot of contemporary research on adaptation and experiences in severe weather events. However, there is a lack of historical research. This study uses primary sources, such as journals, newspapers, and maps, to look into the impact that weather has on people during a study time. Primary sources, like Thomas Chaplin’s Tombee Plantation Journal, provide more than a physical description of the event that occurred. These historical sources present various perspectives, such as personal and emotional, of people in South Carolina’s Beaufort District and its sea islands in the antebellum period. Through the assessment of primary and secondary sources during the Great Carolina Hurricane of 1854, this study shows that these historical sources help explain the social and economic impact on people during a meteorological event. This thesis helps raise questions about other meteorological events and offers suggestions for other sources that might help us find out more about impacts from historical meteorological and climatological events.

Rights

© 2017, Jennifer A. Simmons

Included in

Geography Commons

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