 First UK edition | |
| Author | Simon Winchester |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 2003 |
| Pages | 432 |
| ISBN | 0-141-00517-3 |
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded is a 2003 book by Simon Winchester covering the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
| First UK edition | |
| Author | Simon Winchester |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 2003 |
| Pages | 432 |
| ISBN | 0-141-00517-3 |
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded is a 2003 book by Simon Winchester covering the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
Winchester examines the annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa, which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. Effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France, and the sound of the island's destruction—per Winchester—could be heard as far away as Australia and India. [1]
In The New York Times , critic Janet Maslin called Krakatoa "a trove of wonderfully arcane information." Maslin added, "The author has been able to attach so many tentacles to a single event – the spectacular and catastrophic explosion of the title volcano – that there seems to be nowhere he can't go." [2] The book was a New York Times bestseller after its initial release. [3]
Krakatoa, also transcribed Krakatau, is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group comprising four islands. Two, Lang and Verlaten, are remnants of a previous volcanic edifice destroyed in eruptions long before the famous 1883 eruption; another, Rakata, is the remnant of a much larger island destroyed in the 1883 eruption.
The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Simon Winchester is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at The Guardian newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. Winchester has written or contributed to more than a dozen nonfiction books, has written one novel, and has contributed to several travel magazines, among them Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma causes near-instantaneous evaporation of water to steam, resulting in an explosion of steam, water, ash, rock, and volcanic bombs. At Mount St. Helens in Washington state, hundreds of steam explosions preceded the 1980 Plinian eruption of the volcano. A less intense geothermal event may result in a mud volcano.
Rakata, also called Greater Krakatau, is a partially collapsed stratovolcano on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java. Standing 813 m (2,667 ft) tall, it was the largest and southernmost of three volcanoes that formed the island Krakatoa and the only one not totally destroyed in the 1883 eruption. Rakata is the last remnant of the original island prior to its destruction. However, Rakata did lose its northern half in that eruption, leaving just its southern half. The exposed cliff is quite striking visually, partially of a large exposed dike terminating in a large lenticular extrusion at the middle of the almost vertical cliff. The feature has been called "the Eye of Krakatoa."
The Twenty-One Balloons is a novel by William Pène du Bois, published in 1947 by the Viking Press and awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1948. The story is about a retired schoolteacher whose ill-fated balloon trip leads him to discover Krakatoa, an island full of great wealth and fantastic inventions. The events and ideas are based both on scientific fact and imagination, and the descriptions are accompanied by illustrations by du Bois.
Anak Krakatoa is a volcanic island in Indonesia. On 29 December 1927, Anak Krakatoa first emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption that destroyed the island of Krakatoa. There has been sporadic eruptive activity at the site since the late 20th century, culminating with a large underwater collapse of the volcano that caused a deadly tsunami in December 2018. There has been subsequent activity since. Due to its young age, the island is one of several in the area that are of interest to, and the subject of extensive study by, volcanologists.
Krakatoa, East of Java is a 1968 American disaster film starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. During the 1970s, the film was re-released under the title Volcano. The story is loosely based on events surrounding the 1883 eruption of the volcano on the island of Krakatoa, with the characters engaged in the recovery of a cargo of pearls from a shipwreck perilously close to the volcano. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Special Visual Effects.
Port of Merak is a seaport located in the Pulo Merak District of the city of Cilegon, Banten, on the northwestern tip of Java, Indonesia. The port and district are named after the green peafowl, which once lived in the region, but now only lives in the nearby Ujung Kulon National Park. The port is connected to Jakarta via the Jakarta-Merak Toll Road and is also connected to the Bakauheni port which is located at the south of the Trans-Sumatran Highway.
Janet R. Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as a Times film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, Maslin helped found the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. She is president of its board of directors.
Verlaten Island is an island that was likely created in the 535 Eruption of Krakatoa. It is located in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, between Java and Sumatra. It is part of the Krakatoa Archipelago, above the famous Krakatoa volcano. Other than some minor collapse in the southeast, Verlaten suffered little damage in the 1883 eruption. Instead, it grew almost 3 times in area due to pumice fall, although most of the gain was quickly eroded away.
Raikoke, also spelled Raykoke, is, as of 2019 a Russian uninhabited volcanic island near the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) distant from the island of Matua. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from the Hokkaido Ainu word “hellmouth.”
Anyer, also known as Anjer or Angier, is a coastal town in Banten, formerly West Java, Indonesia, 82 miles (100 km) west of Jakarta and 15 kilometers (9 mi) south of Merak. A significant coastal town late 18th-century, Anyer faces the Sunda Strait.
Krakatoa is a volcano in Indonesia.
Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, has attracted a significant literature and media response to the 1883 eruption and subsequent events in the vicinity.
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago were destroyed as it collapsed into a caldera.
The Second Dutch Expedition to East Indies was an expedition that took place from 1598 to 1600, one of the Dutch forays into the East Indies spice trade that led to the establishment of the Dutch East India Company. It was led by Jacob Cornelius van Neck.
The Krakatoa Archipelago is a small uninhabited archipelago of volcanic islands formed by the Krakatoa stratovolcano located in the Sunda Strait, nestled between the much larger islands of Java and Sumatra. As of 2018, the archipelago consists of four main islands: Verlaten, Lang, Rakata, and the currently volcanically active Anak Krakatoa. Together, the islands are a part of the Indonesian island arc system, created by the northeastward subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate. As part of a dynamic volcanic system, the islands have been continuously reshaped throughout recorded history, most notably in the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
The RMS Norham Castle was a Royal Mail Ship and passenger liner of the Union-Castle Line in service between London, England and Cape Town, South Africa between 1883 and 1903.
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