Eruption of Mount Tambora

Name: Eruption of Mount Tambora
Start: 1815
Location: Sumbawa, Indonesia

1815 · Sumbawa, Indonesia · Asia · Nature

The mightiest blast in recorded history cools the whole planet

Eruption of Mount Tambora — myself · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In April 1815 Tambora produced the most powerful eruption in recorded history: the mountain lost over a kilometre of height and an estimated 70,000+ people died. Its stratospheric ash cooled the planet. Two months later, Napoleon lost at Waterloo.

Wikipedia (English) · 19th century

Did you know

Two months before Waterloo, in April 1815, Indonesia's Tambora erupted — its ash brought the 'Year Without a Summer' to Europe and North America.

Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)

Europe

1796 Jenner's first vaccination — 19 years earlier
1804 Coronation of Napoleon — 11 years earlier
1814–1815 Congress of Vienna — 1 year earlier
1815 Battle of Waterloo — same year
1816 Year Without a Summer — 1 year later

Eastern Europe & Russia

1812 Napoleon's invasion of Russia — 3 years earlier

Middle East

1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay — 13 years later
1839 The Edict of Gülhane opens the Tanzimat — 24 years later
1839–1842 First Anglo-Afghan War — 24 years later

Africa

1798 Battle of the Pyramids — 17 years earlier
1804–1903 Usman dan Fodio's jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate — 11 years earlier
1805–1848 Muhammad Ali becomes ruler of Egypt — 10 years earlier
c. 1835–1846 The Great Trek — 20 years later

Americas

1803 Louisiana Purchase — 12 years earlier
1810–1826 Spanish American wars of independence — 5 years earlier
1817 San Martín's Crossing of the Andes — 2 years later
1822 Independence of Brazil — 7 years later
1835 Darwin in the Galápagos — 20 years later