Final answer:
The people of Ghalas-at faced greater threats than drought during the Little Ice Age such as famines, diseases, and population loss due to drastic changes in weather patterns that disrupted agriculture and weakened human immune systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
The greater threat to the people of Ghalas-at during a period of light rains and potential drought was not thirst, but rather the far-reaching consequences of the Little Ice Age. This climatic event, beginning at the start of the fourteenth century, brought about extreme weather conditions including abnormally cold and wet winters, and in some regions, sweltering heat and reduced rainfall during summers. These conditions led to poor harvests, famines, starvation, the spread of diseases, and ultimately, significant population loss.
With agriculture being the mainstay of survival, any deviations in normal weather patterns could prove disastrous, as evidenced by the heavy summer rains and cold winters that occasionally washed away castle walls and compromised the ripening of grain. The poor nutrition resulting from failed crops weakened immune systems, leaving people more vulnerable to diseases like the bubonic plague.
Inhabitants of various regions, including the colonists in 1607, experienced extreme hardships due to these weather anomalies. The colonists, for instance, faced a peculiar type of cold that penetrated to the bone, while others struggled with harvests dampened by unrelenting rains. Such challenging conditions in the climate widely influenced every aspect of life during these harsh years.