Eruption of Krakatoa
A blast heard 4,800 km away, and tsunamis sweep away villages
On 27 August 1883 Krakatoa exploded with a bang heard 4,800 km away, and tsunamis wiped out hundreds of coastal villages, killing over 36,000 people. For several years, unusually vivid red sunsets were seen around the world.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
Did you know
The last quagga died at Amsterdam Zoo on 12 August 1883 — two weeks before Krakatoa's catastrophic eruption.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1861 Unification of Italy — 22 years earlier
- 1884–1885 Berlin Conference — 1 year later
- 1886 Benz's first automobile — 3 years later
- 1889 Eiffel Tower — 6 years later
- 1905 Einstein's miracle year and relativity — 22 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1861 Emancipation of the serfs in Russia — 22 years earlier
- 1867 Alaska Purchase — 16 years earlier
- 1869 Tolstoy's War and Peace — 14 years earlier
- 1877 Premiere of Swan Lake — 6 years earlier
- 1895 Popov's radio receiver — 12 years later
Middle East
- 1876–1878 The first Ottoman constitution — 7 years earlier
- 1905–1911 Persian Constitutional Revolution — 22 years later
- 1908 Oil struck at Masjed Soleyman — 25 years later
- 1908 Young Turk Revolution — 25 years later
Africa
- 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal — 14 years earlier
- 1879 Battle of Isandlwana — 4 years earlier
- 1885 The Mahdists take Khartoum — 2 years later
- 1885–1908 The Congo Free State — 2 years later
- 1886 The Witwatersrand Gold Rush — 3 years later
Americas
- 1867 Canadian Confederation — 16 years earlier
- 1869 First transcontinental railroad — 14 years earlier
- 1876 Invention of the telephone — 7 years earlier
- 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp — 4 years earlier
- 1888 Golden Law abolishes slavery in Brazil — 5 years later
Oceania
- 1893 New Zealand women win the vote — 10 years later
- 1893 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom — 10 years later
Alive at the time
- Karl Marx (aged 65)
- Queen Victoria (aged 64)
- Leo Tolstoy (aged 55)
- Dmitri Mendeleev (aged 49)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (aged 43)
- Thomas Edison (aged 36)
- Vincent van Gogh (aged 30)
- Nikola Tesla (aged 27)
- Marie Curie (aged 16)
- Mahatma Gandhi (aged 14)