The year was 1816, the world was just starting to enter a new period, America had won it's revolution and was now constructing it's country around a new republic. In Europe the French Emperor Napoleon had just been removed from power, the French government has returned to a constitutionality monarch. The world was just returning to it's normal state when an event that would change every human perception on weather was to occur. In this year where the world was trying to return to what, as the 1700's was concerned, there was no summer.
How was there a year with no summer?
There are other theories than the official one, but they do not hold much ground and have no scientific backing. The main cause of this year with no summer is the eruption of Mount Tambora, a large volcano on the island of Soembawa which is in the Indonesian archipelago. The eruption itself actually happened on April 15th, the year prior (Lee).
What exactly did the eruption do?
The eruption of Mount Tambora, like all volcanoes but much soot and other debris in the air, but what made Mount Tambora different from other eruptions you may be asking yourself. Well to start Tambora was a massive volcano measuring about 13,000 feet high. Tambora also released much more debris than a normal volcano would by putting out approximately 12 cubic miles worth of gases and other sorts of debris. Tambora was so bad, that at the time of its eruption it killed 10,000 people instantaneously (Evans). Because of the debris being put into the air, like all volcanoes debris, it was carried around the Earth, yet due the amount blasted into the air it caused parts of the Earth to get "shrouded" by it. Blocking sunlight and making the Earth colder it made for things like crop failure, yet its most awesome effect was the actual destruction of the summer season (Evans).
Effects of eruption on the Earth
There were two effects caused by the Volcano, the society and Human effect and the effect on the environment. The effect on the environment was a harsh one. It put mass amounts of debris and gas into the atmosphere which chilled the Earth down for the sunlight was unable to reach the surface. This caused adverse effects on all life of course not only human. Animals of course were unable to find food and other sorts of necessities. The eruption also caused an Ozone hole to open (Smith), yet to keep in mind that this is pre-industrial revolution.
Effects on Humans and Society
Humans are very used to a strict four seasons that occur once every single year. Well if one of those seasons were to not occur it would shift the Human mindset to think of something very strange was occurring. This is also before the time of the telegraph and the telephone, so to transport information it was all ships, horse messengers, and also trains, this meaning that to get the information of the volcano eruption to people in Europe and America would take a long time, making people wonder on what was occurring. Of course since the society was still pre-industrial farming was still a very important part of life, When farmers rely on seasons like summer to have their crops grow, and summer never comes crops are lost and people have to starve.(Spark) The human mindset must have been changed as well seeing as in the summer months snow was falling in areas such as New England. (Spark)
Interesting Information
Due to crop failure food was being stolen often from farmers, also since it was rare it was hard for them to feed their horses, so it ended up being that people needed a new way to get around, and that is when a German inventor would make a great invention still very commonly used today. The Bicycle (Spark)
Works Cited:
Lee, Foster. "The Year Without Summer." The Year Without Summer. NOAA, n.d. Web. 28 May 2013.
Evans, Robert. "Smithsonian.com." Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian, July 2002. Web. 29 May 2013.
Smith, Jacob. "Climatic Effects of the 1815 Eruption of Tambora."Http:hilo.hawaii.edu///. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2013.
"Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer." Spark. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2013.
By: Michael Laganella
Information on the time period
The year was 1816, the world was just starting to enter a new period, America had won it's revolution and was now constructing it's country around a new republic. In Europe the French Emperor Napoleon had just been removed from power, the French government has returned to a constitutionality monarch. The world was just returning to it's normal state when an event that would change every human perception on weather was to occur. In this year where the world was trying to return to what, as the 1700's was concerned, there was no summer.
How was there a year with no summer?
There are other theories than the official one, but they do not hold much ground and have no scientific backing. The main cause of this year with no summer is the eruption of Mount Tambora, a large volcano on the island of Soembawa which is in the Indonesian archipelago. The eruption itself actually happened on April 15th, the year prior (Lee).
What exactly did the eruption do?
The eruption of Mount Tambora, like all volcanoes but much soot and other debris in the air, but what made Mount Tambora different from other eruptions you may be asking yourself. Well to start Tambora was a massive volcano measuring about 13,000 feet high. Tambora also released much more debris than a normal volcano would by putting out approximately 12 cubic miles worth of gases and other sorts of debris. Tambora was so bad, that at the time of its eruption it killed 10,000 people instantaneously (Evans). Because of the debris being put into the air, like all volcanoes debris, it was carried around the Earth, yet due the amount blasted into the air it caused parts of the Earth to get "shrouded" by it. Blocking sunlight and making the Earth colder it made for things like crop failure, yet its most awesome effect was the actual destruction of the summer season (Evans).
Effects of eruption on the Earth
There were two effects caused by the Volcano, the society and Human effect and the effect on the environment. The effect on the environment was a harsh one. It put mass amounts of debris and gas into the atmosphere which chilled the Earth down for the sunlight was unable to reach the surface. This caused adverse effects on all life of course not only human. Animals of course were unable to find food and other sorts of necessities. The eruption also caused an Ozone hole to open (Smith), yet to keep in mind that this is pre-industrial revolution.
Effects on Humans and Society
Humans are very used to a strict four seasons that occur once every single year. Well if one of those seasons were to not occur it would shift the Human mindset to think of something very strange was occurring. This is also before the time of the telegraph and the telephone, so to transport information it was all ships, horse messengers, and also trains, this meaning that to get the information of the volcano eruption to people in Europe and America would take a long time, making people wonder on what was occurring. Of course since the society was still pre-industrial farming was still a very important part of life, When farmers rely on seasons like summer to have their crops grow, and summer never comes crops are lost and people have to starve.(Spark) The human mindset must have been changed as well seeing as in the summer months snow was falling in areas such as New England. (Spark)
Interesting Information
Due to crop failure food was being stolen often from farmers, also since it was rare it was hard for them to feed their horses, so it ended up being that people needed a new way to get around, and that is when a German inventor would make a great invention still very commonly used today. The Bicycle (Spark)
Works Cited:
Lee, Foster. "The Year Without Summer." The Year Without Summer. NOAA, n.d. Web. 28 May 2013.
Evans, Robert. "Smithsonian.com." Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian, July 2002. Web. 29 May 2013.
Smith, Jacob. "Climatic Effects of the 1815 Eruption of Tambora."Http:hilo.hawaii.edu///. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2013.
"Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer." Spark. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2013.