Why the Year 1816 Was the Year Without Summer

In 1816, our planet experienced one of the earliest recorded instances of global climate change

It all started with the 1815 eruption of Indonesia's Mount Tambora, which spurred droughts and crop

failures, altered weather systems, triggered disease, and destabilized regimes. So today, we're going to take a look at why 1816 is known as the year without a summer

Mount Tambora, also known as Tamboro, is located in West Tunusa Tangata in the northern part of

Sumbawa, on one of the lesser Sunda islands of Indonesia. Its 1815 eruption is the largest

recorded volcanic eruption in human history, with some scientists believing it to be four

to 10 times as mighty as the eruption of Krakatau in 1883

In the aftermath, the world faced one of its most significant and challenging geological events

However, a while passed before the world felt Tambora's effect. During this time, Europe was reeling from the Napoleonic Wars, the United States was

constructing a new nation, and the Chinese Qing Dynasty was pursuing an aggressive resettlement plan

As the enormous ash plume made its way across the world, it put additional pressure on all of

these situations and wreaked havoc on entire communities. The event began with an initial

eruption on April 5, 1815. Despite its moderate size, this first eruption was accompanied by a

detonation sound so loud it could be heard nearly 900 miles away. The following day, volcanic ash

began to fall in Java, and additional eruptive noises, similar to the sound of guns being fired

could be heard a full 1,600 miles away on Sumatra. By that night, columns of flame rose into the sky

and Mount Tambora itself was covered by fire. Pumice rained down from the sky, and lava flowed down

all sides of the volcano to the sea, completely destroying the village of Tambora

ysts disagree on an exact number of lives lost due to Mount Tambora's eruption

However, even the most conservative estimates suggest around 10,000 people perished from

pyroclastic flows during the initial eruption, and another 70,000 passed in the subsequent

months from disease and hunger. To drive home the fact that the eruption was the largest volcanic event in modern history

the 1815 burst garnered a volcanic explosivity index of 7 on a scale that goes up to 8

Spinal Tap would be mildly impressed. In modern times we constantly hearing about and indeed beginning to see the effects of global warming But back in 1816 the eruption of Mount Tambora caused a similarly troublesome bout of global cooling to the tune of

three degrees. Though a three degree temperature drop may not sound particularly profound

this change in weather actually had wide-reaching consequences. The ash cloud generated by the

volcano made its way to the stratosphere, reflecting incoming sunlight and cooling the

earth. The wind disrupted weather systems and increased rainfall across much of the northern

hemisphere. Europe, China, and even North America all experienced below average temperatures that

year, and entire harvests were ruined. Switzerland saw an ice dam form in the middle of the summer

and China and India documented disruptions to the monsoons which caused flooding

As regular viewers of Weird History might know from our 2020 video on a timeline of the potato

famine that changed Ireland forever, the most widely known Irish potato famine occurred between

1845 and 1849. However, many primary sources insist a different series of potato famines

affected the country in the 18th and 19th centuries. These earlier famines are believed

to be caused by Mount Tambora's eruption, which caused an eight-week-long rainy period in Ireland

As a result, local crops failed and famine ensued, leading to a typhus epidemic from 1816 to 1819

Roughly 100,000 people perished. The eruption of Mount Tambora didn't just bring killer famines in its wake

To everyone's surprise and probably no one's joy, it also led to a new strain of cholera

This more deadly form of the disease had mutated due to the Bay of Bengal's altered weather

patterns and the chemical changes in the soil. The population couldn't fight the microbe that targeted the immune system, and the sickness

quickly traveled all over Asia. By the century's end, the entire world felt cholera's effects

While the exact number of people who died from the new cholera isn't known

it easily claimed the lives of millions. At the height of his power, Napoleon Bonaparte

seemed unstoppable. He cut a swath across Europe, and until his defeat at Waterloo

which we also covered in a video, he held brief dominion over most of the continent

But as bad as Napoleon's conquest was, the eruption of Mount Tambora proved even more disruptive to Europe

The eruption caused ash, rain, and freezing temperatures to circulate throughout the continent

Hardly anyone was prepared for these effects, and food stores were low. As the strife disrupted agricultural processes

many European nations found themselves having to rely on American imports to avoid widespread starvation

While the eruption affected people globally, the most dramatic consequences occurred closer to the volcano For instance the annual Indian monsoon slowed down leading to a dizzying array of effects like the aforementioned cholera epidemic that started in Bengal

Mount Tambora also emitted a substantial amount of sulfate. According to historian Gillen Darcy Wood

the massive load of sulfate gases Tambora injected into the stratosphere produced an aerial dust cloud

consisting of up to 100 cubic kilometers of debris. This great sun-obscuring plume then circled the Earth

at the equator in a matter of weeks before drifting poleward. He also said that this plume would have played havoc

with the world's major weather systems for almost three years. Interestingly, one place the volcano

failed to affect a massive drop in temperature was in the Arctic

In fact, a strange conflux ended up forcing warm winds northward. Arctic ice melted and formed new pathways

into the uncharted frozen landscape. The British Navy, hoping to find a northern passage

prepared multiple Arctic expeditions. Taking advantage of the shifting weather patterns to cut through the frozen territory

no one had previously been able to navigate does sound like a great idea, but it didn't quite work out

The first of these expeditions, launched in 1818 and headed by Captain John Ross, arrived in the north

only to find that weather patterns had stabilized and their potential path had disappeared

However, in the following years, British explorers and other nations continued to launch Arctic journeys

Like most of the world, China's Yunnan province faced extreme consequences because of the Mount

Tambora effect. Unseasonable cold weather and rain disrupted the annual rice crop

and desperate farmers turned to poppies, a more reliable crop that, as most people know

is chiefly used to produce opium. As one of the defining economic conflicts of the 1800s

the Chinese opium trade resulted in major rebellions that took thousands of lives

It also birthed the modern golden triangle of heroin production in Southeast Asia

While scholars have yet to concretely prove that Thomas Jefferson had realized a commonality

between the collapse of his crops and the eruption at Mount Tambora, he certainly felt

the volcano's effects. In 1816, Jefferson had retired from the presidency and taken to farming

in Monticello. Newspapers from that year report that on account of the cold weather

most farmers in Virginia were facing crops that were one-half to two-thirds short

and Jefferson's harvest was no exception. Like many farmers in the United States

Jefferson is known to have faced deep financial peril in the year without a summer. In fact

his failed wheat crops compelled him to apply for a loan to make ends meet

The effects of the eruption weren all bad In fact from the point of view of literary horror fans

the eruption helped birth one of the all-time greatest works of genre fiction

You see, in the summer of 1816, Mary Godwin and her soon-to-be husband, Percy Shelley

traveled with a few close friends to Lake Geneva for vacation. When the bad weather, a direct result of the eruption at Mount Tambora

Trap them indoors? They spent their time sharing ghost stories. Lord Byron challenged Mary to tell a scary ghost story

She demurred. Later that night, she couldn't sleep and received a vision that she later described in writing

According to the author herself, I saw with shut eyes but acute mental vision

I saw the Palo student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together

I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out. and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life

Mary's vision prompted her to compose the novel Frankenstein, which still stands today as one of the most famous books ever written

Worth mentioning is that while Mary may have won the scary story contest

don't feel bad for Lord Byron. His relatively short entry was called The Vampire

And today, it's widely considered to be the first story in the now wildly popular genre about romantic vampires

Everything from Dracula to Twilight owes its existence to Byron's vampire. So you could say if it wouldn't have been for a year

without a summer, we wouldn't have Frankenstein or Dracula. While Mary Shelley was making literary history

things weren't going quite as well for everyone else in the arts. In fact, brilliant young composer Franz Schubert

was facing more than a few challenges in 1816. His hero, Goethe, rebuffed him, and he only received one commission the entire year

While that's more than enough reason for him to be bummed out, some music historians believe

Schubert's melancholy output was a direct result of seasonal affective disorder brought on by the

dark summer of 1816. That being said, while the unusual weather may have depressed the musician

certainly didn't slow him down any. During 1816, Schubert composed two symphonies and a variety of

other musical works, including chorales, leader, and chamber music. Planet Earth is home to an

estimated 20 active supervolcanoes. These massive magma deposits have incredible capabilities, and some landforms could prove more powerful than Mount Tambora. And while we don't mean to put

anyone on edge, it's a fact that most supervolcanoes could erupt at literally any time without a

trigger or earthquake. These lava emissions only occur about once every 100,000 years

and can significantly impact the climate. So there's something to look forward to, I guess