Since the start of the Quaternary period the northern hemisphere has undergone 21 major ice ages and this signal is also present in East Africa. The past climate of Kenya echos the climatic signal in Europe, entering and leaving cold phases at the same time. During the last glacial maximum, 20,000 years ago, the European Ice Sheet would have diverted the Atlantic weather systems over Kenya. This would have resulted in Kenya having a similar climate to present day Europe. Over the past 6,000 years Mount Kenya has had a series of at least six minor glacial advances as well, with the final maximum at the end of the little ice age in 1900.