A Blast Heard 1,200 Miles Away
It has been over 200 years since Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted violently, resulting in death and disorder on a global scale.
According to The Guinness Book of World Records it is the deadliest volcano in history.
Here MailOnline Travel reveals the horrifying – but fascinating – history of the blast and how tourists today can take a peek at its incredible crater.
Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano – meaning it is made up of layers of ash and lava – on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, once known as the Dutch East Indies.
Its eruption in 1815 killed around 10,000 people instantly, while the fallout from the blast included formidable tsunami waves and then famine and starvation, which took the death toll up to some 100,000 people.
The exact number of fatalities varies with some sources saying as many as 120,000 people were killed while others put the figure at around 70,000.
Mount Tambora began to erupt just before sunset on 5 April 1815 and continued for five further days, blasting even more ferociously on 10 April.
The eruptions were heard 2,000 kilometres (1,242 miles) away.
Molten rock shot more than 40 kilometres (24 miles) into the sky and a thick veil of ash spread over a million square kilometres (386,000 square miles). In total, around 140billion tonnes of rock, ash and debris was flung into the sky.
The entire region was plunged into darkness.
Debris hit the sea surrounding the island with such force and in such huge volumes that deadly tsunamis up to four metres high (13ft) were set in motion.
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