On the morning of April 5th, 1815, began what would become the largest volcanic eruption ever recorded. Mount Tambora, a volcano located on the island of Sumbawa, had been collecting smoke around its peak for nearly three years before this eruption, and in the weeks before it small tremors were reported across the island. Tambora, locally known as Tomboro, had been assumed to be inactive, as its eruptions had never been witnessed before. As a result of these peculiar events around the mountain locals asked the British authorities to investigate. That they did, and on April, 5th as their representative – Mr. Israel – ascended the mountain, Tambora erupted, and Israel never returned (Behringer, chapter 2). The first day of eruptions was heard from hundreds of miles away, and described as “mortar fire” and “thunderclaps” by those who did not know of the eruption on islands like Java and Bali (Behringer, chapter 1). In fact, several military officers mistakenly reported mortar fire to their higher ups before realizing their mistake. Over the next 4 days, small but violent eruptions continued and the “thunderclaps” were frequently reported, with outdoor activity across the island becoming difficult due to smoke and ash, necessitating any indoor work to be done by candlelight. However, on the evening of the 10th of April the pattern changed. At around 5pm the peak of Mount Tambora blew off, ejecting over 150 cubic kilometers of rock and sulfur nearly 27 miles into the atmosphere (Boers). Three massive pillars of lava erupted from the volcano, and molten pyroclastic flow engulfed the surrounding area of the volcano while moving at estimated speeds of up to 200 meters per second. Almost instantaneously, the 2 nearest principalities of Tambora and Pekat were erased, and subsequently buried in over 120cm of ash (Wood).

    The eruption itself was only the beginning of the disaster, however. The force of the eruption created a 12 foot tsunami that wreaked havoc on sumbawa and the surrounding islands, and the combination of heat and sulfur in the air formed cyclone level winds that devastated the land. Over 95% of the island’s crops were destroyed, and of the 170,000 occupants of Sumbawa it is estimated that nearly 48,000 were killed in the immediate aftermath, while another 36,000 fled for shelter on neighboring islands (Kramer). However, those islands did not fare much better than Sumbawa. By 1818, just three years after the eruption, only between 20 and 80 thousand of Bali’s 200 thousand person population remained living (Behringer, chapters 2+3). Parents reportedly killed children being unable to support them while famine and plague ravaged the island. The accumulation of ash devastated most farming capabilities, and it wouldn’t be until 5 years after the eruption that the first successful harvests would occur. Because of this, the reliance on imports drove up food prices, imported rats and disease along with food, and left the general population surrounding Tambora to be decimated by this combination of factors.