Muhammad Reza Fahlevi

03111001107
Mount Tambora Was the Largest Volcanic Eruption of 19th Century

The tremendous eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 was the most powerful
volcanic eruption of the 19th century. The eruption and the tsunamis it triggered killed tens of
thousands of people. And the magnitude of the explosion is difficult to fathom. It has been
estimated that Mount Tambora stood approximately 12,000 feet tall before the 1815 eruption,
before the top one-third of the mountain was completely obliterated.
Adding to the disaster's massive scale, the huge amount of dust blasted into the upper
atmosphere by the Tambora eruption contributed to a bizarre and highly destructive weather
event the following year. And 1816 became known as The Year Without a Summer.
The disaster on the remote island of Sumbawa in the Indian Ocean has been
overshadowed by the eruption of the volcano at Krakatoa decades later, partly because the
news of Krakatoa traveled quickly viatelegraph.
Accounts of the Tambora eruption were considerably more rare, yet some vivid ones
do exist. An administrator of the East India Company, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles,
who was serving as governor of Java at the time, published a striking account of the disaster
based on written reports he had collected from English traders and military personnel.
Beginnings of the Mount Tambora Disaster
The island of Sumbawa, home to Mount Tambora, is located in present day Indonesia.
When the island was first discovered by Europeans the mountain was thought to be an extinct
volcano. However, about three years before the 1815 eruption the mountain seemed to come
to life. Rumblings were felt. And a dark smoky cloud appeared atop the summit. On April 5,
1815, the volcano began to erupt. British traders and explorers in that part of the world heard
the sound and at first thought it to be the firing of cannon. There was a fear that a battle of at
sea was being fought nearby.

The Massive Eruption of Mount Tambora

On the evening of April 10, 1815, the eruptions intensified. And a massive major
eruption began to blow the volcano apart. Viewed from a settlement about 15 miles to the
east, it seemed that three columns of flames shot into the sky. According to a witness on an
island about 10 miles to the south, the entire mountain appeared to turn into "liquid fire."
Stones of pumice more than six inches in diameter began to rain down on neighboring
islands.
Violent winds propelled by the eruptions struck settlements like hurricanes, and some
reports claimed that the wind and sound triggered small earthquakes. And tsunamis
emanating from the island of Tambora destroyed settlements on other islands, killing tens of
thousands of people. Investigations by modern day archaeologists have determined that an
island culture on the island of Sumbawa was completely wiped out by the Mount Tambora
eruption.
Written Reports of Mount Tambora's Eruption
As the eruption of Mount Tambora occurred before communication by telegraph,
accounts of the cataclysm were slow to reach Europe and North America. The British
governor of Java, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, who was learning an enormous
amount about the native inhabitants of the local islands while writing his 1817 bookHistory
of Java, collected accounts of the eruption. Raffles began his account of the Mount Tambora
eruption by noting the confusion about the source of the initial sounds:
The first explosions were heard on this Island in the evening of the
5th of April, they were noticed in every quarter, and continued at
intervals until the following day. The noise was in the first instance
almost universally attributed to distant cannon; so much so, that a
detachment of troops were marched from Djocjocarta [a nearby
province] in the expectation that a neighboring post was attacked.
And along the coast boats were in two instances dispatched in
quest of a supposed ship in distress.
After the initial explosion was heard, Raffles said it was supposed that the eruption
was no greater than other volcanic eruptions in that region. But he noted that on the evening

of April 10th extremely loud explosions were heard and large amounts of dust began to fall
from the sky.
Other employees of the East India Company in the region were directed by Raffles to
submit reports about the aftermath of the eruption. The accounts are chilling. One letter
submitted to Raffles describes how, on the morning of April 12, 1815, no sunlight was visible
at 9 a.m. on a nearby island. The sun had been entirely obscured by volcanic dust in the
atmosphere. A letter from an Englishman on the island of Sumanap described how, on the
afternoon of April 11, 1815, "by four o'clock it was necessary to light candles." It remained
dark until the next afternoon.
About two weeks after the eruption, a British officer sent to deliver rice to the island
of Sumbawa made an inspection of the island. He reported seeing numerous corpses, and
widespread destruction. Local inhabitants were becoming ill and many had already died of
hunger.
A local ruler, the Rajah of Saugar, gave his account of the cataclysm to the British
officer, Lieutenant Owen Phillips. He described three columns of flames arising from the
mountain when it erupted on April 10, 1815.
Apparently describing the lava flow, the Rajah said the mountain started to appear
"like a body of liquid fire, extending itself in every direction.". The Rajah also described the
effect of the wind unleashed by the eruption:
Between nine and ten p.m. ashes began to fall, and soon after a
violent whirlwind ensued, which blew down nearly every house in
the village of Saugar, carrying the tops and light parts along with
it. I n the part of Saugar adjoining [Mount Tambora] its effects
were much more violent, tearing up by the roots the largest trees
and carrying them into the air together with men, houses, cattle,
and whatever else came within its influence. This will account for
the immense number of floating trees seen at sea. The sea rose
nearly twelve feet higher than it had ever been known to be before,
and completely spoiled the only small spots of rice lands in Saugar,
sweeping away houses and every thing within its reach.
Worldwide Effects of the Mount Tambora Eruption

Though it would not be apparent for more than a century, the eruption of Mount
Tambora contributed to one of the worst weather-related disasters of the 19th century. The
following year, 1816, became known as The Year Without a Summer.
The dust particles blasted into the upper atmosphere from Mount Tambora were
carried by air currents and spread across the world. By the fall of 1815 eerily colored sunsets
were being observed in London, England. And the following year the weather patterns in
Europe and North America changed drastically.
While the winter of 1815-1816 was fairly ordinary, the spring of 1816 turned odd.
Temperatures did not rise as expected, and very cold temperatures persisted in some
places well into the summer months.
Widespread crop failures caused hunger and even famine in some places. And thus the
eruption of Mount Tambora may have caused widespread casualties on the opposite side of
the world.
Original Source : http://history1800s.about.com/od/crimesanddisasters/a/Eruption-Of-MountTambora.htm