The Volcano That Changed the World

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The LCANO VThatO Changed the World Two hundred years ago, an unknown volcano caused death and destruction around the world. BY LAUREN TARSHIS

en-year-old John Hoisington stared out the morning porridge to the chicken and potatoes in their window of his family’s Vermont farmhouse supper-time stew. John saw the look of fear in his in shock. It was June 8, 1816. Summer was father’s eyes as they watched the snow swirling outside. just two weeks away. Yet outside, a wild This storm would kill all the crops. There would be little snowstorm was raging. food for the family or their animals. TNearly a foot of snow covered the fields the family How would they survive? had planted only weeks before. The vegetable garden John and his family didn’t know it, but during that was buried. The apple and pear trees shivered in the strange summer of 1816, similar weather disasters freezing wind, their delicate buds coated with ice. would unfold throughout New England—and the world. Like most people in 1816, the Hoisingtons grew Snow destroyed thousands of other East Coast farms, almost everything they ate, from the corn in their from Virginia to Maine. Snowstorms and floods struck

22 Scholastic Scope • SEPTEMBER 2014 Nonfiction & Infographic

A Ruined Land Mount Tambora sits on the island of Sumbawa, which today is part of the nation of Indonesia. In 1815, perhaps 50,000 people lived on Sumbawa, a beautiful land of rushing streams, gentle hills, and thick jungles. Looming over the northern side of the island was Mount Tambora, a quiet mountain dotted with villages and rice farms. Nobody had any reason to suspect that the peaceful mountain was in fact a volcano, that underneath its velvety green slopes were snaking tunnels filled with lava and explosive gases. Like many volcanoes, Tambora looked like an ordinary mountain, having been dormant for centuries. But on April 5, 1815, Tambora woke up. A The first eruption sent up great plumes of fire and N ash. That was nothing compared with what would come O five days later, on April 10. Kaboom! The volcano exploded with terrible fury, spewing out towers of fire. A tremendous cloud of gas and ash shot into the air. The sky turned black as the mountain glowed red with rivers of lava gushing down its slopes. That Changed the World The eruption went on for more than three days, a deadly storm of fire, gas, ash, and rock, until a wave of flames and gases swept down the mountain at speeds of 400 miles per hour. This pyroclastic surge devastated everything in its path.

Ignored and Forgotten The eruption instantly killed at least 12,000 people Europe. There were droughts and floods in India and living on and around Mount Tambora. Ash and lava killing frosts across northern China. ruined the island’s soil and poisoned its rivers and At the time, people struggled to understand what streams. Rice paddies were destroyed. No fruits or had caused the weather to change so wildly. Were vegetables would grow. There were no fish to catch; witches to blame? almost every animal had been killed. Trapped without It is only now, nearly 200 years later, that scientists food on their ruined lands, more than 90,000 people

Imag e s / N wsc o m have finally solved the mystery. John Hoisington and his on Sumbawa and the nearby island of Lombok starved family surely would have been astonished to learn the to death. truth: The cause of their family’s suffering was an event The eruption of Tambora in 1815 was the most

N A E G/AFP/Getty that took place a year earlier and 10,000 miles away. deadly and powerful volcanic eruption in

A RL N It all started with a volcano called Mount Tambora. human history. Its explosive energy was 10 times 

SCOPE.scholastic.com • SEPTEMBER 2014 23 24 Tambora erupted. inspired bywhat Turner must have seenover England in the years after the volcanoMountVesuvius.Experts believe that the colorof the skywas Above: Around1817,BritishartistJ.M.W. Turner createdthispaintingof frosts thatblackenedmillionsofacres offarmland summer, wheatfieldsintolakes, floodsthatturned weather—snowstormsin 1816,wastheterrible inthe ignored by mostoftheworld—andthenforgotten. did makeitbacktoEngland, butfewpaidattention. Eventually, reports oftheeruption fourmonths.have takenperhaps to New York orLondonwould ship. The voyage from Sumbawa across an oceanwasonasailing way togetaletter(orperson) traveled slowly in1815. The only but news witnessed theeruption, or theAmericas. Some British sailors connections tofar-off landslikeEurope led simplelives. Few ofthemhadany Sumbawa andthesurrounding islands disaster.terrible The peopleof aboutthis the blastzone learned 1883, alsoinwhatisnow Indonesia. most famousvolcano, in whicherupted stronger thanthatofKrakatoa, history’s What peoplewere payingattentiontoayear later, Somehow, was thedeadliestvolcano inhistory Yet, incredibly, fewpeopleoutside tic Scope • Scope Schola stic SEPTEMBER 2014 stormy Switzerland during the endless Frankenstein. Mary wrote the novel in summer of 1816. Shelley (right) We can thank gloom ofthe Tambora for forever changed. And manymore lives—like theHoisingtons’—had been as 30millionpeoplehaddied from Tambora’s effects. climate returned three tonormal years later, asmany its effectsmore devastating. Indeed, by thetime violent. It tookthree years forthe foamyhaze toclear. and light. Temperatures becamemore dropped; storms the sky, thecloudblockedoutsomeofsun’s heat the world.Likealayer ofsunscreen slathered across scientists tracked Pinatubo’s cloudasitspread across Tambora’s cloudwouldhave beeneven bigger, was known aboutclimateorvolcanoes. these weather events were connected.Little Solving aMystery which killedmillions. outbreak ofadiseasecalledcholera, children. Floods inIndia triggered an families couldnolongerfeedtheir steal sacksofflour. In China,starving grain wasstored, theirlives to risking people broke intowarehouses where grew desperate. In Paris, mobsof their crops. Across Europe, farmers down theEastCoast oftheU.S.lost around theworld.Farmers upand scientists wouldhave believed that not aspowerful as Tambora, butitwas Pinatubo’s inJune eruption 1991.It was Mount PinatubointhePhilippines. studying recent volcanic eruptions, like worldwide. They’ve muchby learned can have amajorimpactonweather Today, scientistsknow thatvolcanoes In 1816,noteven themostbrilliant Scientists monitored every phase of Scientists monitored phaseof every and remained inthesky. stratosphere. It intofoam turned mixed withwaterandgasesinthe cloudrose sohighthatit eruption quickly dissipate, butPinatubo’s monstrous. Most volcanic clouds Using satellitesandcomputers,

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), Mount Vesuvius in Eruption, 1817. W/c on paper. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, USA/The Bridgeman Art Library (painting); UNIVERSAL/The Kobal Collection (frankenstein); DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images (Shelley) INFOgraphic

KAS HM The Eruption Felt AroundIR the World From China to the Arctic, Tambora’s volcanic cloud caused misery

Arctic Ocean Europe Ireland suffered crop failures and major famine; England had massive rains, flooding, North and crop failures; America Switzerland had crop Arctic Region Europe failures and rain. Temporary warming Pacific caused melting of sea U.S. Asia Ocean ice. British explorers mistakenly believed the Atlantic China melting was permanent, Ocean (Yunnan and many were later Arabian Bay of Province) trapped by refrozen Africa Sea Bengal Climate change ice. caused INDONESIA famine. Pacific New England Ocean South (Massachusetts Indian America Ocean up to Maine) Mt.Tambora Ohio Valley Snow in the summer and today’s Australia

Imag e s (Shelley) of 1816 resulted in Indiana crop failures. India Migration of New (areas along the Bay England farmers led of Bengal) to huge population An irregular monsoon LI B R A RY /Getty f or Briti s h Art, P a ul Mellon Colle c tion, growth in these areas, season caused a and statehood for major outbreak of Indiana. cholera. DE A P I C TURE Ya le Center

pap er. John and his family survived the loss of their crops. months. John’s older sister Sabrina recorded the trip But they gave up their farm and moved west to Ohio. in her diary. She described the family’s meeting with They started their trek in June 1817, traveling in an Native Americans, long days slogging through mud, oxcart piled with their possessions. and some enjoyable visits with friends they met along Tens of thousands of other New England farmers the way. They arrived in Ohio in August and were soon E ru p tion, 1817. W/ c on made similar journeys, all driven west by the hardships settled on their new farm. of 1816. It was one of the biggest migrations in U.S. Meanwhile, 10,000 miles away, the volcano that had V e s uviu in history. Most people went to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. nearly destroyed their lives went back to sleep, sitting in

UNIVER SA L / T he Ko ba l Colle c tion ( f r a n k en s tein); The Hoisingtons’ 1,000-mile journey took three silence to this day—until it wakes again. •

writing contest T urner (1775-1851), Mount L i b r a ry ( pa intin g ); Screenwriter Ted Perry once wrote, “All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.” What does he mean? How did the eruption of Mount Tambora demonstrate that “all things are connected”? Answer both questions in a short MA H on/MAPMA N ™ essay. Use text evidence from the article and infographic to support your ideas. Send your essay to VOLCANO CONTEST. Five winners will receive Eruption! by Elizabeth Rusch. Get this activity U SA/ T he Brid g e ma n Art Jo s e p h M a llord Willi am MAP: J I M c M Online

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