This chapter provides a detailed historical background on Iceland during the 18th century, focusing on its societal structure, economy, and resilience in the face of natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather. It explores the Danish control over the country, the rural population, the limited crops due to soil conditions, and the prevalence of bartering. The chapter also highlights the geological setting of Iceland on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the impacts of volcanic activity on the population during the Little Ice Age.
The Laki Fissure Eruption was a volcanic event in Iceland in 1783 lasted for months, leading to the deaths of thousands of people and affecting the climate in a lot of the world.
Research:
- “Laki Fissure Eruption, 1783.” URI Graduate School of Oceanography. https://volcano.uri.edu/lava/LakiEruption/Lakierupt.html
- Barone, Jennifer. “World Versus the Volcano.” Discover. Mar 2007, Vol. 28 Issue 3, p20-20.
- Brahic, Catherine. “Giant eruptions in Iceland led to Nile famine.” New Scientist. 11/23/2006. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10649-giant-eruptions-in-iceland-led-to-nile-famine/
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Laki". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/place/Laki. Accessed 2 July 2024.
- Casey, Joan A. et al. “Sun smoke in Sweden: Perinatal implications of the Laki volcanic eruptions, 1783–1784.” Epidemiology. 2019 May ; 30(3): 330–333. doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000000977.
- Grattan, John and Mark Brayshay. “An Amazing and Portentous Summer: Environmental and Social Responses in Britain to the 1783 Eruption of an Iceland Volcano.” The Geographical Journal , Jul., 1995, Vol. 161, No. 2 (Jul., 1995). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3059970
- Grattan, John et al. “Modelling the distal impacts of past volcanic gas emissions. Evidence of Europe-wide environmental impacts from gases emitted during the eruption of Italian and Icelandic volcanoes in 1783.” Quaternaire Année 1998 9-1 25-35. https://www.persee.fr/doc/quate_1142-2904_1998_num_9_1_2103
- Gunnarsdóttir, Margrét. “Facing natural extremes: The catastrophe of the Laki eruption in Iceland, 1783–84.” 1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 19 (2022). 72–93. https://doi.org/10.7557/4.6611
- Harvard Map Collection. “Laki, 1783-1784.” A Exhibition in Pusey Library from 14 Dec 2016 to 19 April 2017. https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/wheredisasterstrikes/volcano/laki-1783-1784/
- Jackson, E.L. “The Laki Eruption of 1783: impacts on population and settlement in Iceland.” Geography , January 1982, Vol. 67, No. 1 (January 1982). https://www.jstor.org/stable/40570468
- Karlsson, Gunnar; Kristinsson, Valdimar and Matthíasson, Björn. "Iceland". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Jul. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland. Accessed 3 July 2024.
- Kleeman, Katrin. “A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy.” Historical Catastrophe Studies. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 2023.
- Kleemann, Katrin. “Telling Stories of a Changed Climate.” RCC Perspectives , No. 4, COMMUNICATING THE CLIMATE: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge (2019) Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26760163.
- Kleemann, Katrin. “The Laki Fissure eruption, 1783-1784.” Encyclopedia of the Environment. 1/14/2020. https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/en/society/laki-fissure-eruption-1783-1784/
- Klemetti, Erik. “Local and Global Impacts of the 1783-84 Laki Eruption in Iceland.” Wired. 6/7/2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/06/local-and-global-impacts-1793-laki-eruption-iceland/
- Najork, Daniel. “Jón versus the Volcano: Reading an Eighteenth-Century Icelandic Priest’s Account of a Moment of Crisis in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Medievalist.com. https://www.medievalist.com/articles/strongjn-versus-the-volcano-an-eighteenth-century-icelandic-priests-account-of-a-moment-of-crisisstrong
- National Science Foundation. “Tree rings and Iceland's Laki volcano eruption: A closer look at climate.” 2/3/2021. https://new.nsf.gov/news/tree-rings-icelands-laki-volcano-eruption-closer
- Oman, Luke. “High-latitude eruptions cast shadow over the African monsoon and the flow of the Nile.” Geophysical Research Letters. 9/30/2006. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027665
- Penn State. “Benjamin Franklin: Politician, Inventor, Climatologist.” https://www.e-education.psu.edu/rocco/node/1990
- The Economist. “The summer of acid rain.” 12/19/2007. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2007/12/19/the-summer-of-acid-rain
- White, Gilbert. “The Natural History of Selborne.” January 1st, 1788. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1408/pg1408-images.html
- Wieners, Claudia E. “Haze, Hunger, Hesitation: Disaster aid after the 1783 Laki eruption.” Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Volume 406, 15 November 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377027319305220
- Witze, Alexandra. “Island on Fire: Societal Lessons From Iceland's Volcanoes.” Natural Hazards Observer Volume XL - Number 1 Island on Fire. 9/28/2015. https://hazards.colorado.edu/article/island-on-fire-societal-lessons-from-iceland-s-volcanoes
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