The 1800s fell at the end of a relative cool snap that lasted around the world for almost 500 years, starting in 1400 and ending in around 1860. The year without a summer prompted people to start making more routine observances and recordings of weather conditions. The first published weather forecasts came out in the US in 1849. The volcano was not on an uninhabited island.
The 2015 episode covers a volcano eruption in Sumbawa, Indonesia in 1816, that combined with several other factors to create an unusual -- and catastrophic -- series of weather events.
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