After centuries of beneficial warmth during the Roman Warm Period (250 B.C. to A.D. 450), the human condition declined as cooling temperatures led to what is known as the Dark Ages (A.D. 450 to 850).
If you do an internet search for “worst year ever,” you will find that the overwhelming consensus is the year A.D. 536. The worst of the Dark Ages cold centered on that year and was probably associated with a giant volcanic eruption of unknown origin in the previous year.
The awful nature of the Dark Ages cold is particularly well documented in Europe. There, the population declined to levels not seen since the last cold era, which took place 1,000 years earlier. Entire areas were depopulated. In the year 784, one-third of the population perished, according to estimates.
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