<P> The last glacial period is sometimes colloquially referred to as the "last ice age", though this use is incorrect because an ice age is a longer period of cold temperature in which year - round ice sheets are present near one or both poles . Glacials are colder phases within an ice age in which glaciers advance; glacials are separated by interglacials . Thus, the end of the last glacial period, which was about 11,700 years ago, is not the end of the last ice age since extensive year - round ice persists in Antarctica and Greenland . Over the past few million years the glacial - interglacial cycles have been "paced" by periodic variations in the Earth's orbit via Milankovitch cycles . </P> <P> The last glacial period is the best - known part of the current ice age, and has been intensively studied in North America, northern Eurasia, the Himalaya and other formerly glaciated regions around the world . The glaciations that occurred during this glacial period covered many areas, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and to a lesser extent in the Southern Hemisphere . They have different names, historically developed and depending on their geographic distributions: Fraser (in the Pacific Cordillera of North America), Pinedale (in the Central Rocky Mountains), Wisconsinan or Wisconsin (in central North America), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland), Würm (in the Alps), Mérida (in Venezuela), Weichselian or Vistulian (in Northern Europe and northern Central Europe), Valdai in Russia and Zyryanka in Siberia, Llanquihue in Chile, and Otira in New Zealand . The geochronological Late Pleistocene comprises the late glacial (Weichselian) and the immediately preceding penultimate interglacial (Eemian) period . </P> <P> The last glaciation centered on the huge ice sheets of North America and Eurasia . Considerable areas in the Alps, the Himalaya and the Andes were ice - covered, and Antarctica remained glaciated . </P> <P> During the last glacial maximum which ran from 26,500 years ago to 20,000 years ago, average global temperatures were around 5.5 ± 1.5 ° C (9.9 ± 2.7 ° F) colder than present times (as of the 1800s). According to Berkeley Earth's list of average global temperatures by year, the average global temperature for the 1850 - 1899 period was 13.8 ° C (56.9 ° F). So during the last glacial maximum, average global temperatures were around 8.3 ± 1.5 ° C (47.0 ± 2.7 ° F). Year - round ice covered about 8% of Earth's surface and 25% of the land area Sea level was about 125 meters (410 feet) lower than in present times (2012). </P>

When did the most recent ice age begin and end