In April 1815, Mount Tambora, on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, erupted. It was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The material cast into the atmosphere, including ash and an estimated 60 megatons of sulfur, prevented so much sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface that the average global temperature dropped by as much as 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius).
The first and worst affected were Sumbawa and surrounding islands, but western Europe and eastern North America experienced colder weather too: The year 1816 was dubbed the “year without a summer.” Unseasonable cold (caused at least in part by the eruption) led to crop failures and even famine. Although people typically relied on horses to travel, some people killed their horses for lack of food to feed them (or themselves).
