Archives Krakatau version 1.0, Part 3   Published: 11/28/2003   I have fallen behind on my weekly postings. A major cause was the loss of a notebook I had been keeping with over forty pages worth of scribbled notes. To the best of my knowledge I left it behind at a library... To recap: "The whole world was greatly shaken and violent thundering, accompanied by heavy rain and storms took place, but not only did not this heavy rain extinguish the eruption of the fire of the mountain Kapi, but augmented the fire; the noise was fearful, at last the mountain Kapi with a tremendous roar burst into pieces and sank into the deepest of the earth. The water of the sea rose and inundated the land, the country to the east of the mountain Batuwara, to the mountain Raja Basa, was inundated by the sea; the inhabitants of the northern part of the Sunda country to the mountain Raja Basa were drowned and swept away with all property " How accurate then is the Book of Kings? The eruption account described last week was from the 1869 AD manuscript put together by a Javanese nationalist. Therefore he would have had no direct knowledge or could have embellished his manuscript of the famous eruption that followed in 1886 AD. As is the case with old manuscripts, there is an uncertainty with the dates assigned. It was originally decided by Western historians that the eruption in question happened in 416 AD. If we match up against the ice core data and give precedence to the Antarctic ice core study there's a problem with that date. Nothing happened in 416 AD. There are no known volcanic eruptions indicated by acid spikes in that timeframe within the ice cores. Tarumenagarna was the Javanese Kingdom directly impacted by the eruption, adding on to what I described last week - this kingdom was the one that flourished in central Java from the arrival of the Hindu Prince Aji Kaja until the eruption. Sunda country, possibly the center of Tarumenagarna culture was sunk beneath the waves, never to be seen again. The Strait of Sunda now separate the islands of Java and Sumatra from each other. The other Hindu Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago managed to survive and prosper in new forms within a hundred years of Kapi's eruption, but what was left of Tarumenagarna was absorbed by Srivijaya. I believe Kutai suffered the fate described by Pellegrino in reference to Thera. A death cloud beyond belief, laced with burning ash and driven driven by the northeast monsoon (December to April) must have blanketed most of the the island of Borneo. For the immediate survivors, there followed waves of tsunamis along the coastlines. If this hypothesis is correct, then there must be evidence of an ash layer in Borneo. To the best of my knowledge, no one has looked for it. Kutai does not emerge again historically until centuries later, and in a diminished role. Most interesting, there is a distinct lack of records from the sixth century throughout Indonesia. The direct death toll can't even be guessed at with the lack of historical records. The 1883 AD eruption killed 40,000 in Indonesia alone, mostly through tsunamis generated by the shock waves. But how would an eruption of this magnitude, the largest volcanic eruption of the last 10,000 years - eclipsing both Thera -1628BCE and Tambora 1816 AD in size, effect the course of history? For the eruption did change the world in more ways than can be imagined. Based on the observations of observers from throughout the known world, the ice core samples, and the tree ring records, Ken Wohletz of the Los Alamos National Laboratory hypothesizes that the following global changes occurred dependent on the location: 1. "Initial global cooling by 5 to 10 degrees C or more lasting over 10 to 20 years, caused by the increased global albedo." 2. "Subsequent global warming with remaining water vapor acting as a greenhouse gas and decreased ozone." Where to start? Like a handful of pebbles tossed in a pond, the ripples spread and collide. There are so many causal relationships between Kapi Krakatau and the events that follow worldwide. I will only describe a few. For a more in depth examination I recomend the following book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization by David Keys. In Northern China a great drought swept the provinces. Cannibalism was prevalent, and in one area it was estimated that 70% to 80% percent of the population died. This was recorded in the annals as happening over several years after 535 AD. In the South, there was snow in August that ruined the crops - similar to the accounts from New England after Tambora. (1815 AD) But the worst part was that the crop failures continued over several years to such an extent that the kingdom repealed all taxes due to the famine deaths. The economic straits of the Southern Chinese Kingdom became so dire that it was severely weakened and eventually conquered by the Northern Sui Kingdom - leading to a unified China. In Mongolia, the effects of the droughts were even worse. The worst climactic conditions in 1900 years struck the region. The Turks, the Avars and the Slavs did what all nomadic people do. They migrate, away from drought stricken China and the steppes.. to the west where they will all make their mark on Europe. But while the dry spells cause famine and drought, the sudden increase in wet weather in areas that are normally dry are a catalyst for something far worse. "...diseases afflicting plants and animals can send ripples through economies and societies no less disastrous than those affecting humans." Paul Epstein, Harvard School of Public Health "But for this calamity it is quite impossible either to express in words or to conceive in thought any explanation, except indeed to refer it to God. Procopius The climactic change brought not only immediate drought, but was then followed increased rainfall to regions that were normally dry. What happened then in Central/South Africa in the wake of Kapi Krakatau was a sudden increase in vermin - the animals who are naturally immune to the plague bacterium - but who are the carriers. A recent example happened in 1994 AD when an irregular monsoon period in Northern India caused an outbreak of pneumonic plague in Surat. The cause? A sudden increase in the rat population. There is even synchronicity in the timing of the Black Plague of the Middle Ages with the onset of the environmental period known as The Little Ice Age. The US Centers for Disease Control have noted consistent patterns of plague outbreaks throughout history with climactic changes. So this is not speculation. The first to be struck by the plague were the ancient trading cities of Eastern Africa. The Sabaeans of Yemen had cultivated and protected these maritime ports as described in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. In the wake of the plague, the cities were abandoned and the surviving remnants of the population revert to a pastoral existence. The plague spread north - striking hard at the Sabaean Kingdom and then being introduced into the Mediterranean Basin at the port of Pelusium in Egypt. The Roman Empire under the Emperor Justinian had made significant progress in reclaiming the lost territories of the west when the plague struck Europe. But within a century, Constantinople after the various outbreaks went from a city of half a million to just under one hundred thousand. Some cities were "rendered empty of almost all their inhabitants" - Evagrius. The possibility of a renewed Roman Empire reclaiming the Mediterranean Basin had been lost. Their rivals the Parthians suffer equally. As if the plague wasn't enough of a tribulation, the Sabaeans in Yemen were faced with waves of drought and heavy flooding. The Dam at Marib eventually burst. With a diminished population the Sabaeans were not able to maintain the Dam, one of the great architectural wonders of the ancient world. It is thought that the population of Marib fell to a sixth of what it had been. Two of the tribes of Marib, leave and migrate north to central Arabia - to the oasis at Medina, soon to be a focal point in the birth of Islam. In conclusion, the described events only scratch the surface of the turmoil spread by Kapi Krakatau. It's distressing to realize how much we are at the mercy of what can be described as environmental triggers. I would rather not present the display of humanity as victim, the concept of determinism as absolute, but it certainly puts into context the behavior of individuals and populations within that time. One feels rather antlike when regarded from such a distance. But if we don't take into account the actual causes of these disturbances, if we persist in our illusions and biases, and refuse to learn about the facts - then we can't possibly understand the background causes. PS: I found an interesting article concerning the volcanic eruption at Thera that can be seen as validation for some of the points I made about Krete, best of all it has information that is newer than what I had to work with. I have some complaints though; the reporter comes up with 1645 BCE as the date, and is unaware of Kapi Krakatau existence. Then again, since Thera is given credit for the plagues of Egypt it gets all the media attention. Here is the url: http://www.iht.com/articles/114750.html last revised: November 28, 2003     Back

New material is added to The Anthropogene once a month or when convenient. 

Editor: John Sweat
Coding, format, and on-site content copyright ©

The Anthropogene