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Krakatau 1883: the loudest sound in recorded history

Krakatau's 1883 eruption was so loud that barometers around the world recorded it.

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The real story

The climax came on the morning of 27 August 1883. On Rodrigues Island, about 4,800 km away, people thought they heard distant cannon fire. The pressure wave circled the planet several times and showed up on weather barometers from Jakarta to London.

The explosion itself was not the main killer: the collapse of the volcano sent tsunamis into the coasts of Java and Sumatra, and about 36,000 people died. Ash in the upper atmosphere gave the world strange red sunsets for months. In 1927 a new cone, Anak Krakatau, broke the surface, and in 2018 part of it collapsed and caused another deadly tsunami.

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The facts we checked

  • Krakatau erupted on 27 August 1883, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra
  • The blast was heard about 4,800 km away, on Rodrigues Island — the loudest sound in recorded history
  • The collapse destroyed most of the island, leaving only part of Rakata; its ash made red sunsets around the world; Anak Krakatau ('child of Krakatau') rose from the sea in 1927

Sources

We checked every number and date on screen before the video was made.

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