# Canonical recap data for Mount Tambora Eruption (1815)
# Source: https://recap.at/1815/mount-tambora-eruption
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: mount-tambora-eruption
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1815/mount-tambora-eruption"
title: Mount Tambora Eruption
aliases:
- Tambora eruption
- 1815 eruption
- The Year Without a Summer
subtitle: The largest volcanic eruption in recorded history ejected ash globally, causing the infamous 'Year Without a Summer' and widespread crop failures across North America and Europe.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1815-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1815
decade: 1810
country:
name: Indonesia
slug: indonesia
summaryShort: Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands, volcanism is the result of subduction zones. The 1815 eruption was the largest in recorded history, erupting up to 150 cubic kilometers of volcanic material, making it a VEI-7 on the V
summaryLong: Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands, volcanism is the result of subduction zones. The 1815 eruption was the largest in recorded history, erupting up to 150 cubic kilometers of volcanic material, making it a VEI-7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. This caused the summer of 1816 to become known as the "Year Without a Summer" due to global cooling from the eruption.
lede: On April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia exploded with such force that it ejected 150 cubic kilometers of rock, ash, and gas into the atmosphere—the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The blast killed around 71,000 people directly and indirectly, darkened skies across the globe, and triggered crop failures that led to widespread famine the following year.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Mount_Tambora_Volcano%2C_Sumbawa_Island%2C_Indonesia.jpg/1280px-Mount_Tambora_Volcano%2C_Sumbawa_Island%2C_Indonesia.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Mount Tambora"
importance: 82
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Eruption date
  value: April 5, 1815
- label: VEI rating
  value: 7 (highest on the scale)
- label: Material ejected
  value: ~150 cubic kilometers
- label: Direct and indirect deaths
  value: ~71,000
- label: Height of eruption column
  value: ~43 kilometers
- label: Global temperature drop
  value: 0.4–0.7°C in 1816
- label: Location
  value: Sumbawa island, Indonesia (Lesser Sunda Islands)
- label: Deaths on Sumbawa
  value: ~11,000 from blast, pyroclastic flow, and tsunami
timeline:
- date: 1815-04-05
  title: Main eruption
  description: Tambora explodes violently at dawn, ejecting an ash column to 43 km altitude. The blast is heard on Timor, over 4,000 km away.
- date: 1815-04-06
  title: Pyroclastic flows and tsunami
  description: Pyroclastic flows race down the mountain's slopes at high speed; tsunamis generated by the eruption strike nearby coasts, killing thousands.
- date: 1815-06-01
  title: Global ash veil reaches peak
  description: Volcanic aerosols encircle the Earth, reducing solar radiation and initiating a sharp drop in global temperatures.
- date: 1816-01-01
  title: The Year Without a Summer begins
  description: Winter and spring conditions persist into summer across the Northern Hemisphere; frost and snow reported in June in New England and Europe.
- date: 1816-06-01
  title: Crop failures widespread
  description: Failed harvests across Europe, North America, and Asia trigger food shortages and steep grain prices. India and China also report severe drought and famine.
- date: 1816-12-31
  title: Famine and unrest peak
  description: By year's end, Europe and North America have endured the costliest weather-driven famine of the 19th century. Bread riots erupt in multiple countries.
- date: 1817-01-01
  title: Recovery begins
  description: Global temperatures stabilize and begin to recover. Harvests improve, though regional food crises persist into 1817.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora"
  title: Mount Tambora
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Tambora's eruption killed tens of thousands outright and set off a cascade of secondary disasters. The ash veil it cast across the planet tanked global temperatures by 0.4–0.7°C, destroyed harvests from Europe to North America, and generated a year of widespread hunger and social unrest that exposed how fragile 19th-century food systems really were.
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260605163816/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-05
  label: Mount Tambora
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora"
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: "Mount Tambora's 1815 eruption: the deadliest volcanic event on record. 71,000 killed. Global famine followed."
wikidataQid: Q168714
taxonomy:
domain: environmental
eventTypes:
- volcanic_eruption
canonicalClasses:
- collapse
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: multi_domain
peoplesVoice:
- source: Sir Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java
  voiceType: official
  context: Raffles documented the eruption's immediate devastation across the Dutch East Indies in official dispatches during April 1815.
  excerpt: The explosion was heard distinctly in Sumatra, at the distance of 970 miles...the column of ashes ascended to a height which the eye could not penetrate.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 88
  attribution: Official report to the East India Company, Java, 1815
  publishedAt: 1815-04-12
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Thomas Horsfield, Naturalist and East India Company physician
  voiceType: expert
  context: Horsfield conducted observations on the eruption's aftermath and atmospheric effects across Java in summer 1815.
  excerpt: The darkness at noon was so complete that candles were necessary to read...the fall of ashes covered everything to a depth of several inches.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 75
  attribution: Zoological Researches in Java and the Neighbouring Islands, 1824
  publishedAt: 1815-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Raja Muda Hassanuddin, Sultan of Banjarmasin
  voiceType: industry
  context: The Sultan reported catastrophic crop failure and famine conditions across Kalimantan and surrounding regions by late 1815.
  excerpt: "FR: 'Les récoltes ont péri, la terre est couverte de cendre, nos peuples meurent de faim' / EN: 'The crops have perished, the earth is covered in ash, our people die of hunger.'"
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 82
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Dutch colonial correspondence, 1815
  publishedAt: 1815-09-01
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: Munshi Abdullah, Malay chronicler and merchant
  voiceType: media
  context: Abdullah recorded the eruption as a pivotal moment in regional Malay history, noting its supernatural and earthly dimensions.
  excerpt: The mountain burst open and fire shot forth...the sea rose up and swallowed whole villages. It was as though Allah himself shook the earth.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 70
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Malay Annals and merchant logs, 1815-1816
  publishedAt: 1816-03-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Captain Cornelis de Kock, Dutch naval officer
  voiceType: consumer
  context: De Kock witnessed the eruption from a merchant vessel off the Sunda Strait and recorded the chaos of maritime commerce disrupted.
  excerpt: We could not see the bow from the stern...cinders fell like rain. Two ships went down. The ocean itself seemed to boil.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Dutch maritime logs and eye-witness testimony, 1815
  publishedAt: 1815-04-15
  originalLanguage: en
