WE have looked at volcanoes, tsunamis and other natural disasters in the recent past. The Tambora eruption of 1815 was the largest eruption in recorded history and possibly of all time. Rather than talk about explosions, lava flows and tons of debris scattered by the blast (all of which I find fascinating), let's focus on the human impact of this awe-inspiring display of nature's power. But first, a few details of the Tambora eruption.
Eruptions like Tambora, Karakatoa, or even Pinatubo do not happen all at once. There is usually a series of events stretched out over a week or more, which include earthquakes, lava flows, huge smoke columns and so on, punctuated by a very large eruption as the climactic moment. The main event of Tambora occurred in April 1815, which was four times larger than Krakatoa or Pinatubo, the only other recent volcanoes that even come close to it. The power unleashed by Tambora equaled 3,300 Hiroshima atomic bombs, enough destructive force to annihilate any modern country, including all of Europe.
Heavy volcanic ash coated Indonesia, killing tens of thousands of people. The sun was completely blocked out and the islands remained in darkness for more than two days. An ash cloud circled the globe and stayed in the atmosphere for years, reducing the earth's temperatures by about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. That may not sound like much but consider that modern scientists are alarmed by a current warming trend of less than one degree. Ice caps are melting and some are predicting worldwide catastrophe, for one degree! What resulted from Tambora's massive global cool-down?
The year without a summer
Beginning in 1815 a strange condition called "dry fog" was observed around the United States. The atmosphere was so murky that people could look directly at the sun and see sunspots on its surface. Rain and wind had no effect on the dry fog, but that was just the beginning of the strange effects. It soon turned deadly.
Disease and famine spread as crops failed. Millions of people starved. During the summer of 1816 Europe and North America experienced heavy snowfall in June, July, and August. More than simply a curiosity, it wiped out all the crops that year. The strange climate effects caused by Tambora led to an outbreak of typhus in Europe and the Mediterranean world from 1816 to 1819. We will never know how many died in that epidemic.
The monsoons were severely disrupted in Asia, leading to crop failure and mass starvation, which led to the spread of cholera in 1816. In Germany, crop failures led to a sharp increase in food prices and subsequent starvation. This led to great political upheaval as the masses turned against the government for their failure to avert the disaster. The unrest spread. Soon much of Europe was ablaze in riots, demonstrations, and vandalism.
Tambora proved how thin the veneer of civilization was. It showed how small the margin is for human life and prosperity. What would happen today if another Tambora occurred? Since Indonesia is the center for the Pacific Ring of Fire it is as likely to happen there as anywhere else. The current population of Indonesia is around 250 million. The next most likely location for a massive, Tambora-style volcano is Japan, with a population not far behind that.
While you contemplate the potential toll of another five degree change in the earth's temperatures, keep one thing in mind: Tambora is still active.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.