The Most Powerful Volcanic Eruptions Through History

When Krakatoa erupted, the world heard its death cry. The sound circled the globe seven times, shattering eardrums 5,000 kilometers away. Tsunamis 40 meters high erased islands, and ash dimmed the sky for months. Painters captured sunsets the color of blood; poets wrote of the day the sun died. Over 36,000 lives were lost and

yet the island gave birth to another, Anak Krakatau, the child that rose from its ashes. The eruption marked the dawn of modern volcanology, a union of myth and measurement.