536 AD: The Year That The Sun Disappeared | Catastrophe | Real History

A climatic catastrophe rocked the Earth in A.D. 535, causing two years of darkness, famine, drought and disease. Was it a comet? An asteroid? A volcano?

Written records from China, Italy, Palestine and many other countries suggest a huge catastrophe blighted the world in 536 AD. But the cause of it has been uncertain. Archaeologist David Keys reveals that a volcano is to blame for the Dark Ages of famine and plague that shaped the world order of today.

From the ancient civilizations of years past to the dawn of the Space Race, every week we'll be bringing you award-winning documentaries featuring some of the world's best historians. Subscribe so you don't miss out.

Real History is part of the History Hit Network.

[jimmyglea]

Nothing like a good apocalypse story to drift off to sleep to.

[dancom]

What's fascinating to me is that everybody who survived this, and every other hardship, are the ancestors of everyone alive, today. We are the lucky ones.

[ColleenJousma]

"if we were faced with a global event in the future it's not quite clear how we would cope". We would cope poorly, Prof Mike. We would definitely cope poorly.

[kazumahazeuzumaki]

The music guy on this series went HARD.

[tinasmith]

I recorded this video on VHS cassette tape when it first aired on PBS in 2000. Hard to believe it's been 22 years.

[scottnyc]

Having read and studied climatic events, solar minimums, volcanic eruptions for almost ten years now the analysis done in this video has been the best I’ve seen thus far.I appreciated the thorough analysis without biases and independent scientists worldwide who provided their own research.I wish more of these types of videos will be more like this.Thank you.

[aflinden]

I understand his fascination with the mid sixth century catastrophe, but the fact that he works on a computer from the same century is dedication to craft.

[isymfs]

Its so hard to find the perfect voice to completely ignore while I lay down - but this narrator's got it.

[SG-jsqn]

It's currently believed that three major volcanos - all unknown - went off in sequence, with one of them triggering this particular crisis. Before things fully warmed up again, another volcano went off, and then another a few years later. So there was an extensive period of chill, from 536-560.

[dlhfm]

Shoutout to the camera man for going back and recording all this for us

[duke]

Mt. Tambora’s eruption in 1815 caused the year without a summer. In 1883 Krakatoa erupted with an explosion that could be heard for a few thousand miles and it also caused weather disruptions.

[namiswannnnn]

genuinely one of if not the most interesting docs i have ever seen. i love the way this is told and formatted so much it’s so engaging

[jamesdalton]

Makes one realize our survival on this planet is due to a pretty narrow set of circumstances. We could easily encounter natural events that resulted in us being wiped out completely.

[suchendelokidottir]

I've always thought that this was the inspiration for the Norse Ragnarok, which, according to the Edda was to begin with a three year long winter.

[ThatAnimeGuyOG]

Went to sleep music, woke up to a volcano documentary. Can't say I'm disappointed, learned things I never would have known!

[rhondaholland]

This was fascinating. This one man’s dedication and research was amazing. Excellent documentary. !!

[stefanie]

The casual observance of Anak Krakatoa erupting and them calling it a “firework show” was so eerie. Anak Krakatoa’s eruption in 2018 caused the Sunda Strait tsunami.

[indy_go_blue]

In another video a study has shown that the supervolcano Ilopango in Central America also erupted in this time period. It's likely that the dust and debris was the result of not one but two major eruptions, Ilopango and Krakatoa.

[lea]

The best part of falling asleep to a topic as interesting as this is you can do it over and over again!

[Aieieo]

I live in Aotearoa (New Zealand). A few years back the fires in Australia caused the sky’s here to turn red.

I can not explain just how red it got, and just how quick it was. You could watch the sky’s getting redder by the minute.

It had blown over the ocean. Irs amazing just how powerful the climate is.