1816, the year without a summer

Chichester Canal by J. M. W. Turner (1828) [Wiki] 

In 1816, whilst Reverend Hutchings was busy organising things in his selfless deed to set up facilities for English education, free from encumbrances of religion, race, creed and socioeconomic statuses, for natives on a small idyllic island of Penang, Europe and the rest of the 'civilised' world including North America were undergoing turmoils of their own kind.
In April the year before, the volcanic mountain, Mount Tambora in Sumbawa, Indonesia after building up energy over the years, decided enough was enough. It spewed lava, magma, shock waves and dust of such devastation estimated to have had volcanic eruption scale of 7. It is said to be the most massive volcanic eruption in human history and is dubbed 'Pompeii of the East'. The devastation that it left can also be described as callosal. Not only was the immediate human and property loss was immense, but the ash from the outburst also lingered on in the stratosphere long enough to affect climate the following year. As is generally accepted, weather changes affect economic activities and indirectly be a cause of social turmoil.

It is puzzling how an event occurring at one end of the world has such a profound effect on the opposite end of the world. Globalisation is not a new construct.

The lingering ash provided a picturesque view of nature. The view of the sunset with its exaggerated orangy hue had never been better. The snow, on the other hand, was tinged yellow. The presence of high sulphur content in the rain and a wet, cold summer devastated food cultivation for a couple of years to come. It was the nidus of famines to come.

Hong Kong sunset circa 1992
after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo [Wiki]

In the present area surrounding Myanmar, rice cultivation failed. Farmers eventually discovered opium to grow well during those colder climates. By the time regular weather patterns returned three years later, they had abandoned their ancestral vocation but pursued with the new more lucrative crop. This must have started the notorious drug route.

In New England of Northen America, failure of crop forced farmers to migrate west. This must have eventually opened the Western frontier, the mad Gold Rush, spurred genocide of the Natives, starting of fringe Christian societies like the Mormons and just perhaps the idea of the abolishment of slavery must have taken root.

Over the literary side of things, it is said that the cold summers of London forced a group of writers to stay on the icy lakes of Switzerland to write scary stories with dark, nihilistic themes. This later evolved to Frankenstein and Dracula storylines. A new revolution in writing had started. Human imagination had never been the same since.

It is intriguing how a single event can give such seismic shift in the direction of the path of mankind. With the rapidly and unpredictably changing weather patterns of late, I wonder what awaits the human race? Is it going to be all doom and gloom and are we just going to take a detour and head in another direction? Just like how we have done so many times.

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