August 6: The worst year in history
If you think 2020 is rough, take a look at 536 AD.
Source: Saamir Ansari
Published: July 2020
The worst year in history
Circulated: August 6, 2020
2020 is one of the bleakest years in a generation. However, when speaking of the worst year recorded in human history, scholars and researchers agree on 536 AD.
That year, a massive volcanic eruption choked the atmosphere with ash.
Darkness loomed 24 hours a day, for two years.
Global temperatures plummeted, spawning the coldest decade in 2,000 years.
Crops failed worldwide, and famine was rampant, ushering Europe into five centuries of economic, cultural, and demographic decline, a period historians call the “Dark Ages.”