If you think life in today's world is bad, then you know absolutely nothing about suffering. 1,500 years ago, there were conditions on Earth that no one wants to experience.
Many think it is a year 2016 with the many deaths of entertainers such as David Bowie and Prince and the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States, one of the most tragic in the history of the world. Historians disagree with this belief. According to them, nothing can be compared to the events of the year 536.
Authors of an article published in a journal Antiquities, they are Michael McCormick, professor of history at Harvard University, Christopher Loveluck, Professor of History at the University of Nottingham, and glaciologist Paul Mayewski from the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.
As part of their study, the team of researchers focused on studying ice samples from the Swiss Alps. Thus, she managed to discover new information regarding volcanic eruption in Iceland, which occurred in 536.
The eruption led to the formation of a huge clouds of black ash, which is the sun's rays for what 18 months blocked the way to the surface of Europe and Asia. As a result, crops did not receive the light they needed to grow, and people were left without food. She performed great hunger.
Six years later, also in Eastern Roman Empire erupted bubonic plague. So life at that time was really terrible.
The first eruption of the volcano was followed by two more within years 540 and 547. They worsened the situation and plunged the world into a 30-year-long recession economic recession.
However, the eruption did not bring only bad things. The researchers also found particles in the ice lead, who later played an important role in recovery of the European economy.
More information:
cambridge.org
sciencemag.org
