Reset Password
Reset Link Sent
| Blogs > saturn1019 > My Blog |
TAMBORA: How a Massive Volcanic Eruption in the Early 19th Century Impacted Our World
|
TAMBORA: How a Massive Volcanic Eruption in the Early 19th Century Impacted Our World Here is an old joke: What do Catherine the Great, Bozo the Clown and Winnie the Pooh have in common? If you don’t know this , you are about groan. They all have the middle . Now for a tougher . What do starving horses, the bicycle and Frankenstein’s monster have in common? Interestingly, the answer is the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. Sumbawa Island is located on the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. In , the landscape of the island was dominated the thousand foot volcano known the locals as Tambora. The natives were unaware of the dangers the mountain presented. Geologists would later determine the volcanic mountain had been quiet for thousands of years, the most recent previous eruptions of the volcano probably occurred before humans reached the island. all changed on April 10, . At about 8 PM local time day, the mountain exploded back life with the first of a series of violent eruptions. Ash was thrown 20 miles into the atmosphere, spreading around the entire planet. The island itself was covered with ash to a depth of 1.5 meters. Entire villages occupied thousands of residents were wiped almost instantly. Several other eruptions were follow, but all of them were little more than a cork pop in comparison the eruption would occur on April . The most violent eruption took place on day. So much ash was erupted of the volcano the sun was not seen in Indonesia for several days after. The sound of the explosive event was reported over 500 miles away. Flaming magma bombarded the ocean, creating explosions of steam. A foot tsunami was created and the explosion of the volcano reduced its height from ,000 feet 9000. So much dust was thrown into the atmosphere spectacular sunsets could be seen nightly across the globe for most of the rest of the year. This set off dramatic alterations of the climate for nearly 3 years. Snow fell in New England in the summer of 1.8.1.6 , over a year later, and was widely referred to as “the year without a summer” and “Eighteen hundred and froze to death” in both Europe and the Americas. More than 100,000 deaths were attributed to the direct and indirect effects of the eruption. In Indonesia alone, at least 40,000 were killed as the direct result of the eruption. Naturally, the cold summers were accompanied widespread crop failures. In Germany, the oat crop failed almost completely in the summer of . Horses became so weak from the lack of oats for feed they had to be slaughtered. Without horses, transportation between villages became almost impossible. A German revolutionary the of Baron von Drais, later known simply as Karl Drais, began looking for a solution the transportation problem arose in the absence of sufficient numbers of capable horses. Drais upon the idea of placing wheels in a on a frame, and balance could be achieved through dynamic steering. The vehicle he invented was narrow and could be ridden easily with a little practice. He called the device the Laufsmaschine. It became a popular device, and was nicknamed the dandy- or hobby-. A copy cat device called the velicopede was soon introduced in France. The biggest issue was roads in most of Europe, particularly in the cities, were not particularly smooth and riding on them very far required considerable skill. overcome the hazards of using roads, people began riding the invention on sidewalks, causing rather severe danger other pedestrians. Numerous cities began banning the devices, including Milan, London, New York and Philadelphia. But , the atmospheric effects of the eruption of Tambora dissipated sufficiently crop failures had become less severe. Drais’ Laufsmaschine didn’t disappear entirely though, and it was the direct ancestor of the modern bicycle. He was responsible for a of other interesting inventions, including the first typewriter with a keyboard and he made significant improvements on temporal wood stoves. But his radical political views brought him into disfavor with the ruling of the time. They attempted have him declared insane and locked up. effort failed, but they were able strip him of the pensions due from his inventions and he died a pauper in 51. During the wet, cold summer of , a of British authors decided vacation in Switzerland. It was a included Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and a young Mary Shelley vacationed at a villa near Geneva, Switzerland. But the miserable weather forced them remain indoors for most of the stay. The decided spend the miserable days indoors writing the most fearsome horror tales they could conceive. It was young Mary took the prize for the most terrifying with her work, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.” Shelley’s gloomy and stormy settings throughout the novel stand as a testament to the conditions plagued Europe for 3 years after the eruption. Cold weather, crop failures, rainy summer days and massive flooding were common in Europe and North America. Shelley published her story in . The massive eruption of a volcano on the other side of the planet had spawned a revolution in transportation, and an iconic monster. And now you know....the rest of the story. |
|||
|
cool It takes balls of steel to live in Indonesia.
| ||
|
Volcanic eruptions in that part of the world are not of the relatively non-violent, shield volcano type we see in the Hawaiian Islands, or even the more dramatic type of the Pacific Northwest. They tend to be of a much larger scale, as evidenced by Tambora and Krakatoa. When volcanoes erupt in that area, entire islands disappear instantly and nearby islands are slammed with enormous tsunamis. You can live there a lifetime and experience something resembling paradise, but the occasional unfortunate generation experiences Earth's most dramatic firework shows. Incidentally, a quick apology to all readers of my blogs. For some reason, this site occasionally drops some numbers and letters. I haven't had a chance to do reediting on my posts to correct them. They should all be completely updated soon.
|
Become a member to create a blog
