Learn All About Krakatoa

Before the 1883 eruption, the name Krakatoa referred to three main islands: Lang, Verlaten, and Krakatoa itself. There was also an islet near Lang named Poolsche Hoed, along with several additional small rocks or banks between Krakatoa and Verlaten. There were three volcanic cones on Krakatoa - Rakata, Danan, and Perboewatan.

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)

* The novel Krakatit by Czech writer Karel Capek, dealing with lethal menace of a fictional explosive, was inspired by the name of the volcano.

* In the novel Songs of Distant Earth, by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, communications with a new human colony on far away planet Thalassa are interrupted when a giant Volcano named "Krakan" erupts. "Child of Krakan", a smaller volcano, is also featured in the novel.

* In Chapter 3 of Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge McDuck rides out the tsunami from the eruption of Krakatoa.

* Krakoa, the living island from Giant-Sized X-Men #1, was most likely named for Krakatoa. The issue is less famous for Krakoa than for its introduction of the "all-new, all-different X-Men" including Nightcrawler, Storm and the immensely popular Wolverine.

* Fantasy author Graham Edwards' Stone trilogy begins with the eruption of Krakatoa, which becomes the catalyst for the events that befall the main character Jonah Lightfoot and his companion Annie West. The force of the eruption blasts the two into a mysterious world called Amara. Volcanic eruption in general becomes a device later used when the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 sends another person from our world into Amara.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Some scientists believe that a violent eruption of Krakatoa in 535CE may have been responsible forglobal climate changes that took place between 535 and 536CE. Additionally, it has been argued that it was the eruption in 535CE which created the islands of Verlaten and Lang (remnants of the original) and the beginnings of Rakata.

At least two Dutch travelers reported that Danan and Perboewatan were seen erupting in May 1680 and February 1681.

In February 1780, the crew of HMS Discovery on the way home after Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii, stopped for a few days on Krakatoa. They found two springs on the island, one cold water and the other hot, evidently fueled by the volcanic core.

In 1809, the Dutch established a penal colony on the islands. (No information on exactly where or how long it lasted.)

(Photo Credit: Raul Heinrich)

In the years just before the 1883 eruption, seismic activity around the volcano was so intense that some earthquakes were felt as far away as Australia. Approximately three months before the final explosion, steam venting began to occur regularly from Perboewatan, the northern of the island's three cones. All of this activity died down, however, by the end of May.

The volcano began erupting again around June 19, 1883. The violence of the eruption caused tides in the vicinity to be unusually high, and ships at anchor had to be moored with chains as a result. On August 11, 1883, larger eruptions began, intensifying through August 24th, 1883.

At about 1pm local time) on August 26th, the volcano began it's giant eruption. An hour later, a black cloud of ash some seventeen miles high could be seen. Then, every ten minutes or so, explosions could be heard almost every ten seconds. Ships at sea up to a distance of fourteen miles of the volcano reported heavy ash fall with large pieces of pumice landing on the decks.

Afterwards, between 6pm and 7pm, a small tsunami hit the shores of Java and Sumatra some twenty-eight miles away.

(Photo Credit: Thomas Schiet)

On August 27th, 1883, the volcano entered its final cataclysmic stage. Four enormous explosions took place at 5:30 a.m., 6:42 a.m., 8:20 a.m., and 10:02 a.m. Each explosion was accompanied by very large tsunamis believed to have been over 100ft high in places. Ash spewed from the vents to a height of 50 miles!

The explosions were so violent that they were heard 2,200 miles away in Australia. In fact, the sound level was measured at 180dBSL at a distance of 100 miles away, making this the loudest sound in recorded history.

After the 10:02am explosion, the eruptions diminished quickly, and had stopped almost completely by the morning of August 28th. Some minor eruptions continued through October.

When scientists were able to survey the area, it was found that the island of Krakatoa had almost entirely disappeared, except for the southern half of the Rakata cone. So disastrous was the event that there were no survivors on the island of Sebesi, located about 13km from Krakatoa. Previously, this island had been home to some 3,000 people. Lava flows killed another 1,000 people in Ketimbang on the coast of Sumatra, lcoated about 40km north of the volcano.

Dutch authorities recorded the official death toll at 36,417 people. Settlements destoryed included Teluk Betung and Ketimbung in Sumatra, and Sirik and Semerang in Java. Some of the affected land on Java was never repopulated. Eventually it reverted to jungle and is now the Ujung Kulon National Park.

Ships as far away as South Africa felt the resultant tsunamis, and the bodies of victims were found floating in the ocean for weeks after the event. Such was the devastation that there are numerous documented reports of groups of human skeletons floating across the Indian Ocean on rafts of volcanic pumice and washing up on the east coast of Africa up to a year after the eruption.

(Photo Credit:NASA/Wikimedia Commons)

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa is among the most violent volcanic events in modern times. The explosion is said to have ad the power equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT, and be approximately about 13,000 times the blast strength of the 'Little Boy bomb' which devastated Hiroshima, Japan.

Concussive air waves from the explosions traveled seven times around the world, and the sky was darkened for days afterwards. Waves from the tsunamis were noted as far away as the English Channel.

As a result of the huge amount of ash and other materials deposited by the volcano the land masses of Verlaten and Lang were increased. The island referred to as 'Polish Hat" disappeared completely. A new rock isle, Bootsmansrots, was left. Two nearby sandbanks were built up into islands by the ash, but were later washed away by the action of the sea.

(Photo Credit: USGS/Public Domain)

The eruption of Krakatoa has inspired the following films and other media:

* Krakatoa, a short 1933 movie about the volcano, won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Novelty. This movie was notable for overwhelming the sound systems of the cinemas of the time, and forced many movie houses to upgrade their systems.

* In the TV series Time Tunnel, the episode "The Crack of Doom" aired on 14 October 1966.

* Krakatoa, East of Java - a 1969 Hollywood film - featured the 1883 eruption. In fact, Krakatoa is west of Java. This mistake is considered to be the most memorable thing about the film.

* The television series Doctor Who has featured the eruption several times. The third Doctor implied that he had heard the sound of the eruption. In the episode "Rose," a sketch dated 1883 showing the ninth Doctor in front of the volcano was said to have washed ashore following the eruption.

* Ultimate Blast: Eruption at Krakatau has been aired on Discovery Channel, as part of the "Moments in Time" series.

* In the SpongeBob Squarepants episode "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy 5," Squidward is "Captain Magma". He says "Krakatoa" before lava spews out of the volcano shaped helmet.

* In the 1996 SNES game Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, the lost world of that game is a volcanic island by the name of "Krematoa," an obvious nod to the real-life Krakatoa. In addition, the Brothers Bear that lives in Krematoa, Boomer, specializes in bombs, spoofing the original Krakatoa's explosive nature.

* The 1883 eruption is reconstructed in the BBC drama 'Krakatoa - The Last Days', first broadcast in May 2006

(Source: Wikipedia)
(Photo Credit: Jean-Marie Hullot)