Tambora eruption and the 1815 catastrophe

Record summary

Mount Tambora’s 1815 eruption is one of the best-documented volcanic catastrophes in Southeast Asian history. Colonial reports, geological deposits, oral traditions and demographic evidence describe the destruction of settlements and severe famine on Sumbawa, while climate records document wider hemispheric effects often associated with the 1816 “Year Without a Summer.” The lead is useful for comparing documentary, environmental and archaeological evidence. Estimates of deaths, displacement and longer-term regional consequences vary, and the event belongs to modern historical archaeology rather than deep prehistory.