Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. New York: HarperCollins 2003. Print
It was early on a warm summer's evening in the 1970s, as I stood in a palm plantation high on a green hillside in western Java, that I saw for the first time, silhouetted against the faint blue hills of faraway Sumatra, the small gathering of islands that is all that remains of what was once a mountain called Krakatoa.
Description:
Maybe you've heard of the massive volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, possibly even seen the highly-scorned 1967 movie Krakatoa: East of Java (actually, the volcano is west of Java, a bad start for any movie). But if you want to learn about this colossal event which was the first cataclysmic natural disaster and aftermath to be recorded for history and scientifically analyzed, you should turn to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883.
Here, Winchester covers every element of this world-changing phenomenon, its causes, eyewitness accounts, and environmental aftermath both locally and internationally. He presents clear information about plate tectonics (a unknown theory in the 1800s) and its effect on the Indonesian islands. We read intimate portraits of the Javanese people, colonial rulers, and shipping merchants of the time, along with scientists equipped for the first time with tools to study the event; and the effects of Krakatoa's explosion.
Krakatoa was a sleepy, cone-shaped island visited by local fishermen, merchants, and even tourists enjoying its lush green slopes. (By the way, the origin of the name"Krakatoa" is hazy, but my favorite explanation offered by Winchester was from a local islander asked by an Indian ship captain about the name of the cone-shaped island. The response? "Kaga tau," meaning "I don't know." The author carefully details the early discovery, exploration, and colonial rule by Europeans of the Indonesian islands including Krakatoa, and the importance of the local islands for their highly valuable spices. But locals and Europeans alike never feared the island's potential for volcanic disaster.
Winchester puts readers right in the middle of this inferno of explosions ("like the battery of guns"). Using diaries, telegrams, ship captain reports, local observations, and newspaper articles, the event becomes almost as alive and terrifying as it was for international observers. For the locals experiencing it first-hand, they believed it was clearly the end of their world. One ship captain wrote in his log, "I am convinced that the Day of Judgment has come."
People around the globe followed these eruptions via the new international cable relaying Morse code messages to newspapers. For the first time in history, the people of all countries could learn about a disastrous natural event almost as it happened. In all, "165 villages were devastated, 36,417 people died, and uncountable thousands were injured."
Winchester provides plenty of unusual accounts from the time, including the circus actress who, the night before the eruption, brought her fidgety baby elephant into her hotel room, then left him alone while she went to dinner. Of course, the elephant totally destroyed her room. One man claimed to have escaped rising waters by clinging to the back of an alligator and holding on with his thumbs in the creature's eyes. Another man climbed a 130 foot hill, only to see the rising wave come within 10 feet of his shelter.
It's a fascinating, awe-inspiring natural disaster that Winchester portrays in minute but highly-readable, riveting detail. I couldn't put it down or stop telling friends and family the unusual details about this world and the colossal event that was the eruption and total devastation, as well as the recovery today of the island of Krakatoa. Highly recommended.
Maybe you've heard of the massive volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, possibly even seen the highly-scorned 1967 movie Krakatoa: East of Java (actually, the volcano is west of Java, a bad start for any movie). But if you want to learn about this colossal event which was the first cataclysmic natural disaster and aftermath to be recorded for history and scientifically analyzed, you should turn to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883.
Here, Winchester covers every element of this world-changing phenomenon, its causes, eyewitness accounts, and environmental aftermath both locally and internationally. He presents clear information about plate tectonics (a unknown theory in the 1800s) and its effect on the Indonesian islands. We read intimate portraits of the Javanese people, colonial rulers, and shipping merchants of the time, along with scientists equipped for the first time with tools to study the event; and the effects of Krakatoa's explosion.
Krakatoa was a sleepy, cone-shaped island visited by local fishermen, merchants, and even tourists enjoying its lush green slopes. (By the way, the origin of the name"Krakatoa" is hazy, but my favorite explanation offered by Winchester was from a local islander asked by an Indian ship captain about the name of the cone-shaped island. The response? "Kaga tau," meaning "I don't know." The author carefully details the early discovery, exploration, and colonial rule by Europeans of the Indonesian islands including Krakatoa, and the importance of the local islands for their highly valuable spices. But locals and Europeans alike never feared the island's potential for volcanic disaster.
They were blissfully ignorant of the tectonic complication then beginning to unravel many miles beneath their feet....[exhibiting] magnificent insouciance that was to be their motif for the next two centuries -- right up to the moment of the cataclysm.Then came the disaster when the beaches of Krakatoa split open, shaking the earth, throwing red hot stones and ash skyward, setting the jungle trees on fire over the entire island. Boats hundreds of miles away reported dodging floating trees and pumice rocks, gas and ash. But the worst to come were the monstrous tsunami waves 130 feet high and traveling over 60 miles per hour that swept entire cities away.
Winchester puts readers right in the middle of this inferno of explosions ("like the battery of guns"). Using diaries, telegrams, ship captain reports, local observations, and newspaper articles, the event becomes almost as alive and terrifying as it was for international observers. For the locals experiencing it first-hand, they believed it was clearly the end of their world. One ship captain wrote in his log, "I am convinced that the Day of Judgment has come."
People around the globe followed these eruptions via the new international cable relaying Morse code messages to newspapers. For the first time in history, the people of all countries could learn about a disastrous natural event almost as it happened. In all, "165 villages were devastated, 36,417 people died, and uncountable thousands were injured."
Winchester provides plenty of unusual accounts from the time, including the circus actress who, the night before the eruption, brought her fidgety baby elephant into her hotel room, then left him alone while she went to dinner. Of course, the elephant totally destroyed her room. One man claimed to have escaped rising waters by clinging to the back of an alligator and holding on with his thumbs in the creature's eyes. Another man climbed a 130 foot hill, only to see the rising wave come within 10 feet of his shelter.
It's a fascinating, awe-inspiring natural disaster that Winchester portrays in minute but highly-readable, riveting detail. I couldn't put it down or stop telling friends and family the unusual details about this world and the colossal event that was the eruption and total devastation, as well as the recovery today of the island of Krakatoa. Highly recommended.
To the outside world the eruption of 1883 may have spelled death and devastation. To the world of biology and botany, however, the subsequent energetic happenings...demonstrate the utterly confident way that the world, however badly it has been wounded, picks itself up, continues to unfold its magic and its marvels, and sets itself back on its endless trial of evolutionary progress yet again. The crucible of life turns out to be the most difficult of vessels to break.
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Walker, Gabrielle. Snowball Earth: The Story of the Great Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It.
Did you know the Earth was, for over 200 million years, completely covered by ice at a -40 degree Centigrade? Author Walker explores this phenomenon and the evidence produced by scientist Paul Hoffman. In all, it is lucid, exciting detail of a world-changing event that proves a fascinating read.
