Planet Earth switched to dark mode for a year when Mount Tambora erupted on April 5th, 1815.
A series of super-colossal eruptions from the Indonesian volcano reached a violent climax a few days after and only stopped on July 15th. By then, heavy volcanic ash had rained as far as 2,000 kilometres away. And the thick plume travelled upwards and westwards towards Europe and North America, blanketing the air with substantial amounts of atmospheric dust that blocked sunlight in the stratosphere and cause temperatures to fall worldwide.
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Not only did Mount Tambora's eruption reduced earth’s temperature by 3ºC, it also poisoned drinking water and crops, and brought starvation, illness and death to millions.
The monsoon season in China was disrupted, causing massive floods in the Yangtze Valley. Snow was reported in the coastal cities of Taiwan. Famine in Yunnan blew the fortunes of the ruling Qing dynasty.
In Europe, failed harvests resulted in the worst famine of the century, causing food riots in many Europeans cities. To make matters worse, a major typhus epidemic spread in Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Scotland. Hungary saw brown-coloured snow while northern Italy witnessed red snow (it was mixed with volcanic ash).
North America experienced a persistent dry fog that devastated crops, firewood, and farm animals. Major cities in Canada ran out of bread and milk and many folks had to boil foraged herbs for sustenance.
Yet, out of this calamity during “the year without summer”, Mary Shelley wrote the masterpiece, Frankenstein; Karl Drais invented the bicycle (because horses were slaughtered from lack of food); and chemist Justus von Liebig concocted baby formula to alleviate infant mortality.
Similarly, during the Covid-19 pandemic, online shopping skyrocketed; tele-health was embraced; online learning became the new normal; and mRNA technology progressed at warp speed to save millions of lives.
It goes to show that what doesn't kill us indeed make us smarter, quicker and stronger.