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The year 536 was like a never-ending eclipse, because of a huge volcanic eruption that threw ash everywhere. This eruption caused a "volcanic winter" with debris blocking the sunlight. Crops failed, and famine was widespread. The next year, 537, was not much better, because another eruption kept things cold and dark. Historians call this period the "Late Antique Little Ice Age". It was as if the planet stopped everything, leaving people confused and cold. ❄️ #brightside #brightsideglobal TIMESTAMPS: 0:01 Worst year ever 08:47 A year without summer 17:40 How ancient people would survive winters This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00The year was 536. Changes happened fast, literally overnight.
00:06People began to wonder if it was indeed the end of the world as they knew it.
00:10They soon noticed that their silhouettes didn't cast any shadows, even at noon.
00:15The sun was becoming weirder by the day, turning bluish in color.
00:19The moon had lost its shine altogether.
00:23Soon enough, it already looked as if the seasons were all mixed together in one single day.
00:29Frost and snow started to appear in the middle of summer.
00:33The oceans seemed to become angrier too, with currents moving at unseen speeds.
00:38At one point, the sun was only shining for about 4 hours a day, and it had lost most of
00:44its power.
00:45The rain stopped falling altogether, and the temperatures dropped lower than ever before.
00:50If you look at historical writings from back then, it's easy to see why people lost all hope.
00:56Since there was no sun and no rain, crops were badly affected.
01:01There was not much food going around for people or animals.
01:05Territories that now belonged to Italy or Ireland, to Japan and Central America,
01:10were all affected by what would become a decade-long thick fog that shifted the planet's temperature.
01:16The human population decreased by about 100 million, while those that survived seemed to have lost their sense of purpose.
01:24So soon enough, cities collapsed.
01:27It's for good reason that the year 536 is considered by a lot of historians to be the worst time
01:33to be alive.
01:34It took scientists years to figure out this mysterious period in our history and what might have caused such a
01:41shift in the global climate.
01:43But with the help of an ultra-precise analysis of ice from a Swiss glacier, we might finally have the
01:50answer.
01:51The team behind the research figured out that the culprit was a volcanic eruption that began in Iceland.
01:57The result was a large amount of volcanic ash getting transported all over the northern hemisphere at the beginning of
02:04536.
02:05This event was followed by two other similar eruptions, one in 540 and the other in 547.
02:14If that wasn't unlucky enough, the world would soon be overwhelmed with disease, which disrupted the world's economy.
02:20It took humankind until 640 to bounce back to normalcy.
02:25Even though we have this piece of the puzzle in place, how can a volcanic eruption on a small island
02:31cause so much damage?
02:32It turns out that when a volcano erupts, large amounts of sulfur, bismuth, and other damaging substances get mixed in
02:41the atmosphere.
02:42The larger the eruption, the more substances get sprayed into the protective gas layer.
02:48All these elements create an aerosol veil which acts like a mirror.
02:53It reflects sunlight back into space.
02:56As a result, the whole planet gets darker and colder.
02:59And if we look at the data, it makes a lot of sense.
03:03Almost every unusually cold summer we've had over the past 2,500 years happened after a volcanic eruption.
03:12Back in the 6th century, these eruptions occurred really fast, one after another,
03:17which could also explain why the whole period lasted 18 months.
03:22This wasn't the only year that baffled scientists when it came to Earth's climate.
03:27The year 1816, for example, was also dubbed the year without a summer.
03:33Mount Tambora in Indonesia is probably to blame for this one since it erupted in 1815.
03:39This event was the largest of its kind in 10,000 years.
03:43As a result, the global average temperature ranged by almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:49Globally, a lot of events happened, although at the time, they seemed isolated.
03:54In New England, for example, because of the cooler temperatures, crops failed,
03:59so a lot of farmers had to move to the west.
04:02The demographic of the country remained reshaped forever.
04:05However, in continental Europe, the potato harvest was lost almost in its entirety,
04:11resulting in some of the worst periods of famine people had ever experienced there.
04:17Humankind aside, what could really be considered the worst day on Earth?
04:22Scientists have come up with this candidate almost unanimously.
04:25The worst day in our planet's history happened almost exactly 66 million years ago.
04:31It was when an asteroid about the size of Manhattan broke through the Earth's atmosphere
04:36and landed on the Yucatan Peninsula.
04:39People believed it happened somewhere in June or July.
04:43This space traveler created a 20-mile-wide hole in our planet's surface.
04:48Chunks of soil and rock were displaced, some even making it halfway to the moon.
04:53They didn't stay up there, though.
04:55Some came back at an astonishing speed, having been turned into spheres of molten glass.
05:01They lit up forests and large areas of land until fires were raging everywhere.
05:07Some got stuck in outer space and eventually blocked the sun's rays, cooling the planet altogether.
05:13What followed immediately were multiple powerful earthquakes and damaging tsunamis sweeping across the Gulf of Mexico.
05:21By the time our planet regained some form of normalcy, 75% of all species on Earth had vanished.
05:28The most famous of all, dinosaurs.
05:31This asteroid theory was first proposed in 1980, but it's still up for debate in the scientific community.
05:38None of our planet's other large-scale extinctions were triggered by an asteroid impact.
05:43What made this one so special was that it caused dinosaurs to disappear altogether, even the most resilient.
05:51Leave it to passionate scientists to come up with another interesting story.
05:55The impact might have altered the chemical composition of Earth's oceans.
05:59The seawater might have become acidic, and tiny plankton that sit at the base of the marine food chain could
06:06have disappeared for a while.
06:08What followed might have been a series of species vanishing in a domino effect.
06:13Top that with other events that followed the asteroid impact, like the lack of sunlight and the overall cooling down
06:20of our planet.
06:21Now it's easy to see why this really might have been the worst day in our planet's history.
06:27But Earth is millions of years old, and not all of them were that bad.
06:32Let's travel back to ancient Egypt, which was way ahead of its time when it came to technology, science, medicine,
06:39and architecture.
06:40A lot of people had access to education and medical care.
06:44They had an opportunity to do sports and take up other leisure activities.
06:48A lot of things that are familiar to us these days, and that we consider to be quite modern, were
06:53available for ancient Egyptians.
06:55Pens, breath mints, toothpaste, board games, and even makeup.
07:00Others say Athens, in the 4th to 5th century BCE, was quite a nice time too.
07:06People there had equal rights, no matter what their social or educational level was.
07:11And speaking of wealth, it was also distributed between people pretty equally.
07:15If you had lived in those days, and liked wandering through the city, you might have stumbled upon Aristotle, Plato,
07:22and Hippocrates.
07:23Their ideas became the base of what we now know as Western civilization.
07:28Theater, literature, and architecture also flourished during that time.
07:33Italy during the Renaissance period was also pretty nice.
07:37That's when the country saw an economic, cultural, and artistic transformation following a gruesome period of famine and disease.
07:45Workers now had the ability to ask for better working conditions and higher wages.
07:50The economy was flourishing too, which allowed arts and culture to expand.
07:55Wealthy members of Italian society had enough funds to become patrons for artists, writers, architects, and scientists.
08:03Now let's take 1804.
08:05It was the year we got introduced to the modern railway, and our ways of transportation were changed forever.
08:11It was the year when Englishman Richard Trevithick came up with the first practical steam locomotive.
08:17It was the first time when a large number of passengers were transported over a really long distance.
08:23And how about the year 1876?
08:26That's when the telephone was invented.
08:29Can you imagine a life without your cell phone today?
08:32It was Alexander Graham Bell that patented the first phone in the 19th century.
08:37As for the cell phone, it was Martin Cooper, an engineer from Motorola, who came up with the first handheld
08:44phone.
08:47As much as we all wait for the summer, this season is going crazy.
08:51I mean, a typical summer in Death Valley can be as hot as 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
08:57But you know what?
08:58The year 1816 was a total bummer.
09:02Guess why?
09:03Because that year, there was literally no summer at all.
09:07Seriously, where was all the warmth and sunshine in Europe and North America?
09:11Well, turns out the answer lies on the other side of the world, at Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
09:18Now picture this.
09:19On April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora, a mighty volcano far away in Bali, started making some serious noise.
09:28And boy, did it explode.
09:30It was the biggest volcanic eruption ever recorded in history.
09:34The eruption was so intense that it spewed tons of ash and aerosols into the atmosphere,
09:39blocking out the sun and turning the sky into a gloomy mess.
09:43The ash even fell on nearby towns, burying them under layers of ash.
09:49There were reports of several feet of ash floating on the ocean's surface.
09:53Imagine sailing through that mess.
09:55But here's where it gets really crazy.
09:58Those tiny particles of ash and aerosols were light enough to travel through the atmosphere for months.
10:04They made their way into the stratosphere, spreading all over the world.
10:08Do you see what I'm driving at?
10:10They caused the Earth's average temperature to drop nearly 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
10:15Thankfully, it was only temporary.
10:18And eventually, even the smallest particles fell out of the atmosphere, allowing the sunshine to return.
10:24If you imagine the year without a summer as a year when you have to wear a down jacket even
10:29in July, you're right.
10:31If you could only pick three words to describe that summer, these would be cold, gloomy, and dark.
10:38That summer of 1816, it was snowing in New England.
10:42Western Europe had cold rain non-stop.
10:45It was a total climate roller coaster with temperatures.
10:48Europe was hit the hardest, with summer temperatures reaching record-breaking lows.
10:53We're talking about the coldest summer in over 200 years.
10:56Now, let's take a look at the year without summer's impact on Europe and North America.
11:01It was a disaster.
11:03A ton of serious problems happened all across the Northern Hemisphere.
11:08Crops were wiped out by frost or lack of sunlight, leaving people hungry and desperate.
11:13Farmers who managed to grow crops were terrified of being robbed because food became so valuable.
11:19And get this, with the scarcity of oats, which became super expensive, it cost a fortune to feed horses.
11:27Guess what that means?
11:28Travel became ridiculously expensive since horses were the main mode of transportation back then.
11:34But hey, maybe this crazy situation inspired a dude named Carl Dre to invent the bicycle.
11:40Who needs a horse when you can pedal your way around, right?
11:44This is how it happened.
11:45And Carl was like, hmm, maybe there's a better way to get around without relying on animals.
11:51Let's use some good old human power.
11:53And that's how the Laufmachina, pardon my German, the bicycle, was born.
11:58Fast forward a year, Carl decided to take his Laufmachina for its first ride in Mannheim.
12:04This thing was known as the Dreising, Velocipede, or Dandy Horse in England.
12:10It was basically the OG version of bicycles and motorbikes using the two-wheel principle.
12:15This machine weighed about 48 pounds, had wheels with brass ball bearings covered in iron, and was mostly made out
12:22of wood.
12:23No pedals, but it was still steerable and had a rear wheel brake.
12:27It even had a short tail in front to keep it balanced.
12:30On June 12, 1817, Carl hopped in his Laufmachina and rode from Mannheim to a coaching inn, which was about
12:388 miles away.
12:40He did it in under an hour.
12:42Not bad for a wooden bike without pedals, huh?
12:45The year without a summer also had a big impact on the settling of the American hardland.
12:50A ton of people, especially those poor farm families who got wiped out by the disaster, said peace out in
12:57New England and headed to western New York and the Northwest Territory.
13:01They were on the hunt for a better climate, richer soil, and just overall better conditions for growing stuff.
13:07Indiana became a state in 1816, followed by Illinois two years later.
13:12Plus, Vermont took a major hit in population during this time.
13:16Like we're talking about a decrease of 10,000 to 15,000 people.
13:21That's like erasing seven whole years of population growth.
13:24Now, to borrow a bicycle analogy, let's switch gears for a sec.
13:29In June 1816, it rained like crazy during the summer.
13:33So these famous peeps like Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John William Polidori were stuck inside the
13:43Villa Diodati in Switzerland.
13:45They were on vacation, but Mother Nature was not cooperating.
13:49So they decided to have a little contest to see who could write the scariest story.
13:55Mary Shelley ended up writing Frankenstein, which we all know is a classic.
14:00And Lord Byron wrote this thing called A Fragment, which Polidori later used as the inspiration for The Vampire, which
14:08was like a prequel to Dracula.
14:10Can you imagine being stuck inside with these literary geniuses?
14:13Anyway, those days at Villa Diodati were pretty intense.
14:17They were filled with tension and deep conversations about life and stuff.
14:21Mary Shelley even had a dream about Frankenstein while she was there, and that's how her famous story began.
14:28Oh, and Lord Byron got inspired to write a poem called Darkness, because one day it got so dark that
14:35the birds went to bed early and they had to light candles like it was midnight.
14:40The poem is all about the year without a summer, so it's like he turned the crazy weather into art.
14:46So, after Mount Tambora blew its top, the atmosphere was all filled up with tephra, creating this hazy sky that
14:54stuck around for a few years.
14:56And you know what?
14:57Those sunsets were absolutely stunning, with rich red hues that you would only see after a volcanic eruption.
15:04Paintings from that time totally back it up, too.
15:07They show that these vibrant reds weren't around before the eruption.
15:11But that's not all.
15:13The paintings also got all moody and dark, even when the sun and moon were shining.
15:18It's like everyone's mood took a turn for the worse.
15:21Instead of happy and carefree afternoons, the themes shifted to religion, industry, and just a hint of despair.
15:29The artists were all about capturing reality.
15:32So, these paintings were like snapshots of life before and after the eruption.
15:36Take Caspar David Friedrich's works, for example.
15:40His pieces like The Monk by the Sea and Two Men by the Sea really show this change in mood.
15:47Right, if there was a year without summer, there must have been at least one year without winter.
15:52Yep, the winter of 1877-78 in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, was like no other.
16:01They even called it the year without a winter.
16:03It was the warmest winter on record, with an average temperature of 29 degrees Fahrenheit from December to February.
16:10Now, you might think that the people living there back then were loving this warm weather, right?
16:16Well, not exactly.
16:18See, back in those days, they relied heavily on horses and sleigh for travel.
16:22But with the lack of snow and dirt roads, it made getting around a real pain in the you-know
16:28-what.
16:28Businesses were also affected because they couldn't move their goods easily.
16:33Despite the overall warmth, there were a few freezing days in early January 1878 that froze the mighty Mississippi River
16:41in St. Paul.
16:42It was closed for navigation until the end of February.
16:46Only three days for the rest of the cool season had single-digit temperatures or lower.
16:51The warmth didn't stop there.
16:53Even March 1878 was unusually warm.
16:57The first boat arrived in Duluth, Minnesota, on March 17th, which was way earlier than usual.
17:03And lakes like Minnetonka and Osaka's lost their eyes way ahead of schedule, too.
17:08It was like spring came knocking on their doors super early.
17:12It may seem that all this warmth meant it was a dry winter, but nope.
17:17From December 1877 to February 1878, they actually had over three inches of precipitation.
17:24That's more than the average for that time.
17:27Mother Nature sure knows how to keep us on her toes.
17:32It's a snowy winter night.
17:34You're inside your cozy house and watching a historical movie that takes place during the Middle Ages.
17:39As you take another sip of your hot chocolate, you can't help but wonder how the people survived the winter
17:46back then.
17:46At that exact moment, your TV screen suddenly turns into a portal and pulls you inside!
17:53Whoa!
17:56You open your eyes to find yourself within the world of the movie you were just watching.
18:02A man approaches you and says,
18:05Welcome to my medieval village.
18:07Rich, I am Bartholomew, and I called you here to give you an answer to your question.
18:14First of all, let me tell you that conditions became extremely harsh when the cold arrives.
18:20And not just for the northern countries.
18:23Mainland Europe takes its share of the brutal weather, too.
18:27So, winter is kind of a slowing down time for all of us.
18:32You see, we usually associate winter with old age and poverty because of all the changes that occur in nature
18:40during this time.
18:41For example, we can't really grow any crops when snow covers all our land.
18:47And by the early 14th century, things started to get even worse because we started seeing the first signs of
18:55what you may know as the Little Ice Age.
18:58Cold temperatures peaked.
19:01Weather anomalies and extreme events such as sudden floods or hailstorms started to occur, which added to our agony.
19:10Take the winter of 1359, for instance.
19:14Across central Italy, the snow rose to extraordinary heights.
19:18People had to throw the snow into the streets to lighten up their roofs.
19:23And because of that, some towns were completely blocked.
19:27Their inhabitants were trapped in their homes for several days.
19:32Another example of this is the winter of 1389.
19:36The snowfall was so great in the Luzerne region of France that many people's farmsteads and houses were destroyed.
19:45Bartholomew notices that you start shivering.
19:48Ah, you were not prepared for this journey back to medieval winters, I see.
19:54Let's walk to my home and find you some warmer clothes.
19:59As you can see, I'm already wearing a cloak, a scarf, and mittens, which are all made out of wool.
20:07I also have boots that are made out of leather from a deer.
20:11Still, all these are not really enough to stay warm when one is outside.
20:16That's why we usually layer other clothes underneath them all, to keep the warmth trapped.
20:22By the way, the wool can get heavy and itchy sometimes.
20:26So beneath our woolen outer clothing, we wear linen undergarments, too.
20:32The linen acts as a barrier between the wool and the skin,
20:36therefore making things a bit more comfortable for us.
20:39It is also easier to wash linen clothes, and they dry way faster than woolen ones.
20:47The wealthier ones can line their winter clothing with fur.
20:51And us regular peasants sometimes use rabbit and lamb for the same purpose.
20:57It's not as glamorous, but still effective.
21:00We can also hunt some wild animals and birds with the permission of the lord.
21:05Yet again, the sumptuary laws, in other words, consumption laws,
21:10are very clear on who can wear what according to their social standing.
21:15Take the 1363 English Sumptuary Law, for example.
21:20It states that the wives and daughters of crops people and land-owning peasants
21:25were only allowed to wear lamb, rabbit, cat, and fox furs.
21:31You notice a weird-looking hinged metal sphere in Bartholomew's pocket,
21:36and ask him what that is.
21:39Ah, it's a hand warmer, he says, as he gives it to you.
21:44If we are going to be outdoors for a long time, we bring one of these with us.
21:49Otherwise, one's fingers can get numb, you know.
21:53Now, take a closer look at it, and you'll see that it has tiny holes on its surface.
21:59This helps the heat to escape, so that we can warm our hands without burning them
22:04once we fill it with hot coal.
22:08That's kinda heavy, you say,
22:11and think about how lucky you are to be living in modern times.
22:14With just one click from the comfort of your home,
22:17you can order Hot Hands Instant Hand Warmers from Amazon,
22:21and no coal is necessary.
22:23You can even put those inside your shoes to warm your toes,
22:26since they're pocket-sized, unlike this metal orb.
22:31You and Bartholomew arrive at his house.
22:34You realize that he does not take any of his outer garments off.
22:38We keep everything on during the coldest months,
22:42because the indoor heating isn't always great, he says.
22:46As you can see, the fireplace stands here at the center of our homes,
22:51and right above it, there is a ventilation hole, rather than a chimney,
22:56which causes us to lose so much of the heat.
22:59Yet again, we don't usually sleep in our outside clothes.
23:03Instead, we put bricks and stones in the fire,
23:07wrap them in fabric, and take them to our beds to warm the sheets.
23:11Wearing our nightcaps all night long also helps.
23:14And when we're not sleeping,
23:17we usually try to stay close to the fireplace as much as possible.
23:22You sure appreciate that hot water bottle of yours more now, right?
23:27And you didn't even need to cover it with a cloth,
23:30like these folks have to do.
23:31It already came with a knit cover for your convenience.
23:34And the best part is, it's much softer than a brick,
23:37and can be heated in the microwave within seconds.
23:41How rude of me.
23:43I forgot to offer you something to eat, Bartholomew says.
23:47I know I already told you winter means stillness for us,
23:51but we still need to put in some work to not starve.
23:55There's a lot of preparation to be done in advance
23:58to survive these medieval winters.
24:02First of all, we start gathering wood for the fire
24:05from as early as spring and through the summer.
24:08Then there's the food we harvest in the fall.
24:11We have to preserve that in a special way,
24:15so all will last over the winter months.
24:17The same thing goes for meat, too.
24:20The methods we use include pickling, drying, and brining.
24:24In terms of grains, cereals, and pulses,
24:28we dry them out and store them in ceramic or clay pots.
24:32We later use them for making potted stews and soups,
24:36in addition to vegetables.
24:38Basically, everything we can find goes into the pot.
24:42The most common foods we eat in our everyday lives
24:46include onions, peas, beans, lentils, and herbs such as parsley.
24:51We still have to include protein in our diet, though.
24:55And we do that by eating cheese, eggs, fatty bacon, or salted pork.
25:01In terms of fresh fruits and berries,
25:04they're hard to find during wintertime,
25:06so we preserve the ones we already picked
25:09by the air-drying method, too.
25:12You think to yourself,
25:14if only these people had a food dryer at home,
25:17their lives would be so much easier.
25:19They could use it for all the foods
25:21Bartholomew just mentioned,
25:23from fruits to meat.
25:24Then again, there's no electricity here.
25:29I wouldn't want you to think winters are so grim,
25:32long, and boring,
25:34after everything I've told you.
25:36We still do plenty of activities
25:38to keep ourselves entertained,
25:40Bartholomew says.
25:41But what?
25:42It's not like they can binge-watch
25:44their favorite TV shows.
25:47We play in the snow a lot,
25:49adults and children all together.
25:52You can see plenty of peasants
25:54ice skating on the frozen lakes.
25:56To be able to do that,
25:58we used to use pieces of polished wood
26:00or horse shin bones.
26:02But now, we have iron skates, too.
26:06I need to mention, though,
26:07here in Western Europe,
26:09ice skating is not as common
26:10as in Scandinavia.
26:12That is because they are more accustomed
26:14to snow and cold temperatures.
26:17Sledding is another fun activity we do.
26:20Then there are indoor games,
26:22such as chess, backgammon,
26:24and other dice games.
26:26Wool spinning and telling stories
26:28are also common ways
26:29to spend some nice time with our family.
26:32Not surprisingly,
26:34nobles have more opportunities
26:35in the entertainment area, too.
26:37For example,
26:39boar hunting is very common
26:40amongst the elite.
26:43At that moment,
26:45a portal appears at the door.
26:47Bartholomew says,
26:48Guess it's time for you
26:50to head back, traveler.
26:51Fare thee well.
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