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Eruption of Samalas

The Samalas volcano on the island of Lombok exploded in one of the largest eruptions of the past several thousand years: searing pyroclastic flows buried the capital of a local kingdom, and the gases blasted into the stratosphere cooled the climate of the entire planet.

Date
between May and October 1257exact date unknown: an interval is given
Place
Samalas volcano (Lombok)today: Rinjani caldera, Lombok, Indonesia · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Threads
Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th century
Also known as
Извержение Самаласа; Извержение 1257 года

Pyroclastic flows buried much of Lombok and crossed the sea to neighboring Sumbawa; the town of Pamatan, the capital of one of the island’s kingdoms, was destroyed. Where the volcano stood, a caldera remains, holding the lake Segara Anak. The disaster is described in the Babad Lombok, a chronicle written on palm leaves.

The sulfate trace of a huge mid-13th-century eruption was found in the ice of Greenland and Antarctica long before the volcano itself was found: only in 2013 did scientists link it to Samalas, using radiocarbon dates and the text of the chronicle. The eruption probably took place between May and October 1257 (1258 cannot be ruled out). The cooling that followed has been linked to crop failures and famine in Europe and elsewhere, although their scale is debated.

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Meanwhile in the world

Other regions, within 5 years of this event

Eastern Europe

Balkans and Anatolia

Middle East and Egypt

The same period

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): 1257 Samalas eruption
  2. Wikipedia (Russian): Извержение вулкана Самалас (1257)
  3. Wikipedia (Russian): Самалас
  4. Lavigne F. et al. Source of the great A.D. 1257 mystery eruption unveiled, Samalas volcano, Rinjani Volcanic Complex, Indonesia // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. — 2013. — Vol. 110, № 42. — P. 16742–16747.
  5. Wikidata: Q2535354