In Western Europe, 1816 was a time of optimism. The Napoleonic wars, which had ravaged the continent, were over. Unfortunately, a little known volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia had erupted the previous year and its impacts were about to be felt across the northern hemisphere …

Tambora, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, may once have been the highest peak of the East Indies as they were known in the colonial period. Sailing eastwards past Bali, it appeared as high on the horizon, despite being further away, as the 3726-metre-high Mt Rinjani on Lombok Island, suggesting it may have reached over 4000 metres above sea level. We shall never know for certain because the cone was toppled in April 1815 by the largest eruption of recorded history. The events also resulted in the greatest-known death toll attributable to a volcanic eruption [18], and the associated climate change has been implicated in ‘The last great subsistence crisis in the Western world’ (see Further Reading).