When did the last Ice Age end?

The last glacial period, popularly called the last Ice Age, reached its peak around 20,000 years ago, when enormous ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe, and Asia, and sea levels were roughly 120 metres lower than today. As Earth orbit and tilt shifted in cycles, the planet gradually warmed, and by about 11,700 years ago the great ice sheets had largely melted, ending the glacial period and beginning the current warm interval known as the Holocene. This warming reshaped coastlines, created new lakes and rivers, and allowed forests and human societies to spread. Importantly, we are technically still in an ice age in the broad sense, because permanent ice caps remain at the poles; we are simply in a warmer phase between glaciations called an interglacial.