Two hundred years ago this week, an obscure volcano in Indonesia named Tambora rumbled to life after centuries of dormancy. On April 5, 1815, huge plumes of fire jetted from the mountain for three hours, rocking the ground and painfully assaulting the ears of the local residents. But the eruption suddenly stopped, and the great mountain lapsed back into a fitful slumber. During the week that followed, Tambora sent occasional plumes of ash into the air, but most of the residents that had fled the initial eruption returned to farm the fertile soils on the flanks of the volcano. But on April 10, 1815, the mightiest volcanic explosion ever witnessed and recorded by humans rent Tambora in a cataclysmic eruption heard more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) away.
More: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2953
Tambora Erupts in 1815 and Changes World History
Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... r-excerpt/
