H istory is full of crummy times . Flip to any chapter in the human story, and you'll find that peace and prosperity are the exception, not the norm. Sure, periods of plenty and politeness have been enjoyed, but they often came crashing down in an outbreak of violence or, if you were lucky, they slowly rotted away into obscurity. However, of all the times to be alive, one year is particularly prominent in the history of misery: 536 CE. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Nobody is completely certain which volcano was responsible, although El Salvador's Ilopango has long stood as a top contender. However, a study in 2018 put forward evidence that the eruption was in Iceland, as ice cores in Europe co

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