The Ice Age was a period of time lasting many thousands of years, during which a lot of the earth's surface was covered with ice. one of the long periods of time, thousands of years ago, when ice covered many northern countries. or glacial age Any geologic period during which thick ice sheets cover vast areas of land. Such periods of large-scale glaciation may last several million years and drastically reshape surface features of entire continents. A number of major ice ages have occurred throughout the Earth's history; the most recent periods were during the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million-10,000 years ago)
The period from 1400 to 1800, characterized by expansion of mountain glaciers and cooling of global temperatures, especially in the Alps, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Alaska