Why Was the Year 687 AD the Darkest Century?

Imagine someone blew up a giant party balloon made of smoke and ash right over the middle of the world. That is what happened in ancient times! When volcanoes erupt, they shoot tiny specks called sulfate particles high into the sky.

These specks are like a huge curtain that blocks out the sun. For about ten years after the boom, the Earth got much colder than usual. It was so cold that rivers froze and crops could not grow. People were hungry because there was no food to eat. Birds stopped singing because they had nothing to drink. The sky looked gray and sad.

Without enough sun, everything slowed down. Kings worried about their armies running out of grain. Farmers waited for the sky to clear up. It felt like a very long winter that did not want to end. Eventually, the smoke drifted away or rained down, and life went back to normal.

When people look back at history books, they see stories about dark times. They wonder if it was magic, but we know now it was just a big volcano doing its job.