Samalas eruption
Blast wipes out Pamatan and leaves traces at both poles
In 1257 Samalas on Lombok exploded in one of the strongest eruptions in millennia, destroying the capital Pamatan. Its trace is found in ice at both poles; Europe's cold summer of 1258 and mass graves in London may be linked to it.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 13th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1237–1240 Mongol invasion of Rus' — 20 years earlier
- 1240 Batu Khan takes Kiev — 17 years earlier
- c. 1242 The Golden Horde is founded — 15 years earlier
Middle East
- 1258 Mongol sack of Baghdad — 1 year later
Oceania
- c. 1250 The moai of Easter Island — 7 years earlier
- c. 1280 Polynesians settle New Zealand — 23 years later
Alive at the time
- Kublai Khan (aged 42)
- Alexander Nevsky (aged 36)
- Marco Polo (aged 3)
- Rumi (aged 50)
- Saint Louis (Louis IX) (aged 43)
- Rudolf I (aged 39)
- Thomas Aquinas (aged 32)
- Edward I Longshanks (aged 18)
- Henry III (aged 50)
- Philip III the Bold (aged 12)