The Legendary Volcano

Krakatau or Krakatoa

Krakatoa (Anak Krakatoa) volcano Krakatau, a small island group in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java is one of the world's most famous volcanoes. It is a mostly submerged caldera with 3 outer islands belonging to the rim and a new cone, Anak Krakatau, that has been forming a new island since 1927 and remains highly active. Krakatau exploded spectacularly in a devastating Plinian eruption 1883 that killed more than 30,000 people (mostly by the huge tsunamis triggered by the eruption). The eruption was one of the first global news events after telegraph lines had connected the different continents.
Volcano type	caldera
Location	Sunda Strait, Indonesia, -6.1°S / 105.42°E
Summit elevation	813 m (2,667 ft.) / Anak Krakatau: 189 m
Krakatau (Anak Krakatau) volcano eruptions	1530, 1680-81, 1684, 1883 (Plinian eruption), 1927-30, 1931-32, 1932-34, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938-40, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1946-47, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1958-59, 1959-63, 1965(?), 1969(?), 1972-73, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007-8, April 2009-early 2010, Oct 2010 - March 2011, July 2011, October 2011 - ongoing
Typical eruption style	Explosive. Construction of a cinder cone  island (Anak Krakatau) inside the caldera formed by the 1883 eruption. Frequent strombolian activity.

The legendary Krakatau lies about 50 km from Carita Beach. Today only a small part of the origin volcano remains, but when Krakatau blew itself apart in 1883, in one of the world’s greatest and the most catastrophic eruptions, the effects were recorded far beyond Sunda strait and it achieved instant and lasting infamy. For centuries Krakatau had been a familiar nautical landmark for much of the world’s maritime traffic  which was funneled through the narrow Sunda Strait. The volcano had been dormant since 1680 and was widely regarded as extinct but from may through to early August in 1883 passing ship reported moderate activity, by 26 August Krakatau was raging and explosions become more and more violent. At 10 am on 27 August Krakatau erupted with the biggest bang ever recorded on earth. On the island Rodriguez more than 4600 km to the SW, police chief reported hearing booming of “ heavy guns from eastward’; in Alice Spring, 3500 km to the SE , Resident also reported hearing strange explosions from the NW. With its cataclysmic explosion, Krakatau sent up a recorded column of ash 80 km high and threw to air nearly 20 cubic km of rock.
Ash felt on Singapore 840 km to the North and on ships as far as 600 km away; the darkness covered Sunda Strait from 10 am on 27 until dawn the next day. Giant tsunamis more than 40 meters high swept over the nearby shores of Java and Sumatra; and the sea wave’s passage was recorded far from Krakatau reaching Aden in 12 hrs over a distance ‘ traveled by good steamer in 12 days. Coastal java and Sumatra were devastated; 165 villages were destroyed and more than 40.000 people killed. The following days telegram sent to Singapore from Batavia (160 km east Krakatau) reported odd details such as’ fish dizzy and caught with glee by native’! Three months later the dust thrown into the atmosphere caused such vivid sunsets in USA that fire engines were being called out to quench the apparent fires and for three years it continued to circle the earth, creating strange  and spectacular sunset.
The astonishing return of life to the devastated island has been the subject of scientific study ever since. Not a simple palnt was found on Krakatau a few months after the event; 100 years later – although the island are virtually bereft of fauna except for snakes, insects, rats, bats and birds. It seems almost as though the vegetation was never disturbed. Krakatau basically blew itself to smithereens, but roughly where the 1883 eruption began. Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) has been vigorously growing even since its first appearance 1927. it has a restless and un certain temperament, sending out shower of glowing rock and belching smoke and ashes but boats can land on the east side and it is possible to climright up the cinder cones to the caldera. It is a hard scramble up to the loose slopes to the outer rim with fine view s of the fuming caldera and the surrounding sea and island. We venture farther to the very lip crater but be careful. In 1993 Krakatau belched a load of molten rock on one unfortunate  tourist who ventured too close.