Krakatoa

[+susieice]

I've been reading a book called The Day The World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester about the eruption and explosion of the island of Krakatoa in the Dutch West Indies. (Between Java and Sumatra) I'm about in the middle of it now where the ship captains are describing what happened in their personal experiences and some of the testimony from people who were on land. The world-wide effects of this event is astonishing. It talks about 135ft. tsunamis and how the concussion surrounded the entire globe 7 times. Winchester also talks about how the explosion (there were actually 4 going from 5:30AM until the final one at 10:02AM) was heard in Australia and the waves generated were felt as far away as France. The event itself is just fascinating, especially since the island has been rising again for the last 50 years or so. Reading the synopsis, it appears to go on to say that the eruption would trigger in Java "a wave of anti-Western militancy among fudamentalist Muslims" and "one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere". I've read other books about Krakatoa but I've never heard of anything like this being mentioned before. He seems to think this natural disaster, horrible as it must have been, brought about a religious war between the Javanese Muslims and the Dutch Colonists. Anyone else ever hear of this? Not sure if I'm in the right forum so if the mods want to move it to the correct one please do.

[Ashotep]

I've never heard of that before but it does sound interesting.

[Damrod]

Yes it is very fascinating. The only bigger explosion in recorded history was Mount Tambora...which is said to be the loudest sound ever heard by the human species. Krakatoa's volcanic explosivity index was a 6, Tambora was a 7.

[Paracelse]

Never heard of Krakatoa event creating Muslim reaction towards Westerners however it's not the first time god is used in explaining natural disasters. When Lisbon got destroyed in 1755, first by a series of quakes then by a tsunami, many accused the inhabitants of Lisbon of being evil thus creating the wrath of god.

[+susieice]

Yes it is very fascinating. The only bigger explosion in recorded history was Mount Tambora...which is said to be the loudest sound ever heard by the human species. Krakatoa's volcanic explosivity index was a 6, Tambora was a 7.

According to this book, there was a police chief on the British owned island of Rodrigues named James Wallis, which is near Mauritius, that heard the explosions from Krakatoa and thought it was heavy guns possibly from a ship in distress. They sent out a rescue ship. This island is 2,968 miles away from the volcano and is recorded as the furthest any unamplified natural sound has been heard by human ears. He compared it to someone in Philadelphia hearing an explosion in San Francisco. Or the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's. IMO the fact that it traveled over water probably had something to do with it but that is just amazing. It was also heard by ranchers in the Hammersley Range of western Australia and in Perth.

[+susieice]

This is an excerpt from the book I'm reading describing the sunsets caused by the dust in the atmosphere after Krakatoa's eruption. Sounds breathtaking. Can't believe I found it online.

http://books.google.com/books?id=U4wywQfl5s4C&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq=sunset+over+the+ice+on+chaumont+bay&source=bl&ots=H7aFYfGhQx&sig=mDweOG8ddhQBVy0VoXs9W_Go3Xs&hl=en&ei=zjOFToSVL4To0QGOy9TvDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=sunset%20over%20the%20ice%20on%20chaumont%20bay&f=false

There's quite a few pages. Just keep scrolling down. It tells a lot about the aftermath.

Edited September 30, 2011 by susieice

[Travelling Man]

Sonova crap! A person that posts stuff about a book, and included enough info for us to actually FIND the book!

Kudos to you!! Bravo!

And thank you for forwarding the info - I have a new book to read!!!

[+susieice]

You're welcome. I'm just getting to the part where the muslims are starting to turn against the Dutch. It wasn't the eruption itself but the way they perceived they were treated in the aftermath. He mentions a book written by a former colonial offical about how the East Indies were run pre-Krakatoa called Max Havelaar that was written under the psuedonym of Multatull. Supposedly it informed the Dutch people how the companies were treating the peoples of the islands and instigated reform in education, public health and agriculture, however it was too little too late. It talked about Kultuurstelsel, which was the cultivation system used by the Dutch where the villagers had to put aside one fifth of their crops to pay a crippling high land tax. Within months, the Banten Peasants' Revolt began and as Mecca encouraged native Muslims to turn against their colonial oppressors, things got progressively worse, even in the British Colonies in India. It mentions a Javanese imam named Hajji Abdul Karim who was instrumental in leading the people to Islamic independence.

It talks about how Indonesia itself lies on a subduction zone that makes it proned to explosive volcanic activity. The worst eruption with a rating of 8 was Mount Toba which erupted 74,000 years ago in northern Sumatra. Tambora is a 7. Then Taupo in New Zealand. Fourth was Novarupta (Katmai) in the Aleutians, fifth was Krakatoa with a rating of 6.5. Calling this an immense factory, there are 87 volcanoes that make up Indonesia and the Phillipines alone. This really is an interesting book to read.

Edited October 1, 2011 by susieice

[ItsaDollThang]

Every time I read about that summer I think about Byron, the Shelly's and the birth of Frankenstein. That was what kept them inside to write. The weather was oddly cold and nasty all summer that year in Europe and they couldn't do much outside. We owe the birth of Frankenstein's monster to a volcanic eruption, a truly Promethean and appropriate thing when you get right down to it. I feel bad for all the people who died as a result, but Frankenstein? Horror fan that I am I can't ever regret that...

[Blackwhite]

Yes it is very fascinating. The only bigger explosion in recorded history was Mount Tambora...which is said to be the loudest sound ever heard by the human species. Krakatoa's volcanic explosivity index was a 6, Tambora was a 7.

If it wasn't for Tambora exploding there would be no Frankenstein's monster today.

Every time I read about that summer I think about Byron, the Shelly's and the birth of Frankenstein. That was what kept them inside to write. The weather was oddly cold and nasty all summer that year in Europe and they couldn't do much outside. We owe the birth of Frankenstein's monster to a volcanic eruption, a truly Promethean and appropriate thing when you get right down to it. I feel bad for all the people who died as a result, but Frankenstein? Horror fan that I am I can't ever regret that...

Ooops. Somebody beat me to it.

Edited October 1, 2011 by Blackwhite