1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: I am Tracy and I'm Holly Frying. So perhaps you 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: have heard of Mary Robinett Kal maybe you're a listener 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: to this podcast. She has written, among other things, a 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: series of novels that are known as The Glamorous Histories. 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: And these are basically Jane Austen novels with magic. So 8 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: if that sounds delightful to you and you have not 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: read them, you will probably be delighted because they are 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: pretty charming and touching and funny. And the third one 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,160 Speaker 1: was some of my most recent airplane reading while I 12 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: was on a flight, and that book is called Without 13 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: a Summer. It's said in eighteen sixteen, And in addition 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: to several running mentions of past podcast subjects the Luddites, 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: there's ongoing this cussion about about whether that year's unseasonably 16 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: cold weather is caused by magic. Basically, so this is 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: not unseasonably cold like chillier than normal. It's unseasonably cold 18 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: like it's snowing in July and all of the crops 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: have frozen in the ground. So in spite of the 20 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: similarities and their names. I was so absorbed in this 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: book that it wasn't until the very end that I 22 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: made the connection that this unseasonably called fictional setting is 23 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: the same as the real world event the Year Without 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: a Summer, which is also a listener request from listener Cecile. 25 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: So Cecil, you can thank Mary Robin at Koal for 26 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: for bumping this to the top of the list, because 27 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: after we landed, I was like, I want to learn 28 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: more about that and what really happened. So this story 29 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: actually starts with a volcano. And the volcano, which was 30 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: Tambora on the island of Simbawa, Indonesia, was probably not 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: the only factor in eighteen sixteen of bizarre weather, and 32 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that a little bit more later, but 33 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: it was definitely a very significant major part of it, 34 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: and it had immediate devastating effects in Asia and the 35 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: tropical Pacific, and a lot of these are unfortunately really 36 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: glossed over when people talk about the Year Without a Summer. 37 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: There were several major volcanic eruptions in the early eighteen teens. 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: One was suffer Air on St. Vincent Island in the 39 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: Caribbean in eighteen twelve. Mount Mayon and the Philippines erupted 40 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 1: in eighteen fourteen. And then there was an immense explosion 41 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: from Tambora which started on April five, eighteen fifteen, and 42 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: went on for days, with the worst of the eruption 43 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: really getting going on the tenth. And in the memoir 44 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: of Sir Stamford Raffles, the British Lieutenant Governor of Java 45 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: at the time, quote, the first explosions were heard on 46 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: this island in the evening of the fifth of April. 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: They were noticed in every quarter and continued at intervals 48 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: until the following day. The noise was in the first 49 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: instance almost universally attributed to distant cannon, so much so 50 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: that a attachment of troops were marched from Joke, Jakarta, 51 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: in the expectation that a neighboring post was attacked, and 52 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: along the coast boats were in two instances dispatched in 53 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: quest of a supposed ship in distress. On the following morning, however, 54 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: a slight fall of ashes removed all doubt as to 55 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the cause of the sound, and he goes on to 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: say that it sounded so close that they really all 57 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: believed it was a volcano. That was actually much closer 58 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: to them than Tambora. When the eruptions started, eyewitnesses on 59 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: the island of Zimbabwa reported three extremely tall, very distinct 60 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: columns of flame that came up from the volcanoes crater, 61 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: and then they kind of crashed into one another high 62 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: up above it before cascading back down. Stones that were 63 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: on average the size of a walnut also rained down, 64 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: along with tons and tons of ash. Also falling in 65 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: the vicinity of the mountain were trees and even animals 66 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: that had been on the upper slopes, which were torn 67 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: apart by the eruption. The eruption of Tambora, in case 68 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: you could not surmise this from Tracy's description, was huge. 69 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: It was much bigger and much deadlier than the far 70 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: more well known eruption of Krakatoa that happened almost seventy 71 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: years later. People reported hearing it as far away as Sumatra, 72 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: which is more than a thousand miles away from where 73 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: it was happening. There was also so much ash in 74 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: the air that it, was, according to reports, dark for 75 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: three days or three hundred miles around the volcano. After 76 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: the eruption peaked, the volcano itself also got a lot shorter. 77 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: It lost almost a third of its pre eruption height, 78 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: dropping from four thousand, two hundred to two thousand, eight 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: hundred meters. Not Surprisingly, the island of Simbabwa was devastated. 80 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: More than ten tho Bill died in the eruption itself. 81 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: The entire island was covered in ash, and this ash 82 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: had an average depth of between fifty and sixty centimeters, 83 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: so between twenty and thirty of ash. The ash was 84 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: deeper the closer you got to the volcano, and so 85 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: much of it fell that buildings collapsed under its weight, 86 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: and a two thousand four archaeological expedition found a village 87 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: that was buried under an ash layer ten feet thick. 88 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: Ash spread to the north and northwest, blanketing the sea 89 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: and the neighboring islands. British vessels reported patches of ash 90 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: in the sea around Indonesia that was several feet deep 91 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: and had to be essentially plowed through. Two of Zimbabwa's 92 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: princedoms were completely destroyed and their common languages became extinct, 93 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: and the influx of volcanic material into the ocean also 94 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: spawned a tsunami that struck other parts of the island 95 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: as well as neighboring islands, so that people who had 96 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: survived the initial eruption wound up being killed in the tsunami. Afterward, 97 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: most of the crops in the surrounding area were destroyed, 98 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: and as is so often the case when there's such 99 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: a massive natural disaster, famine and disease spread and its wake, 100 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: including among livestock and wild animals. People became so hungry 101 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: that they resorted to eating their horses, which were working 102 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: animals that were necessary for transportation and for work. And 103 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: all of this wasn't limited just to the island of Sumbawa. 104 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: People in neighboring islands starved to death as volcanic ash 105 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: killed their rice crops. There was a massive migration to 106 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: other islands, and some of those islands could not sustain 107 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: the needs of all of these newcomers that were causing 108 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: their economies and their food supplies to collapse, and many 109 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: of those islands were facing famines and epidemics of their 110 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: own in the wake of the volcano. Bali and Lombach 111 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: were particularly hard hit. Estimates of the total death toll 112 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: in Indonesia are really very but sources generally agree that 113 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: it was at least one hundred seventeen thousand people who 114 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: died in the eruption and it's it's aftermath. It took 115 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: more than five years before crops could be harvested again. 116 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: On the most affected parts of Sumbawa, recovery was extremely 117 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: slow to Government officials wrote that the princedoms of Sumbawa 118 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: and Dambo were quote beginning to recover in eighteen twenty four, 119 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: so we're talking about almost a decade later. Other princedoms were, 120 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: in their words, still quote a desolate heap of rubble. 121 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: The whole thing had an extremely long lasting effect on 122 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: the island's ecology. You could probably even say that it 123 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: was permanently changed in places. Ash made the ground more fertile, 124 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: but it was also drier, So Bali and Lombox so 125 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: neighboring islands wound up with really bounciful rice harvests a 126 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: few years later, thanks to all the ash and the soil. 127 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: But on Sumbawa, the volcano in the ash destroyed all 128 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: the veted tatian, and the streams and springs that the 129 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: vegetation had been sheltering consequently dried up. So While the 130 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: soil was richer, it was also a lot drier, so 131 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: why it didn't get quite the same benefit as some 132 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: of the other outlying islands did once it had started 133 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: to recover. The dust from the ash spread around the world, 134 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: caused brilliant sunsets, and it also reaked havoc with the 135 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: weather over the following months. In the US, dust in 136 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,559 Speaker 1: the air was reported in the Washington, d c. Daily 137 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: National Intelligencer on May one, eighteen sixteen, and in the Norfolk, 138 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: Virginia American Beacon on the ninth. The editor of the 139 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: Boston Columbia Sentinel remarked that the sun itself seemed dimmer 140 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: on July fift which he thought was because of sun spots, 141 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 1: And while there was a lot of sun spot activity, 142 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 1: it was almost certainly because of all of the ash 143 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere. So we're going to talk about exactly 144 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: what that ash caused in terms of the weather after 145 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 1: a brief word from a sponsor, and now let's get 146 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: back to the slightly less peppy discussion of the year 147 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: without a summer, So to return to Tambora before we 148 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: talk about how this eruption affected the weather in parts 149 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: of the world. We have a couple of caveats. One 150 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: is that the measurement and record keeping related to weather 151 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: statistics have really improved dramatically in the years since all 152 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: of this happened. Most of the places that we're talking 153 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: about did not have any sort of methodical pattern of 154 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: observing the weather and writing it down, which is something 155 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,680 Speaker 1: we pretty much take for granted today. So that means 156 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: a lot of the records that we have are erratic 157 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: and subjective. But there is a ton of documentation overall 158 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:48,199 Speaker 1: in the historical record, in the form of newspapers, letters, journals, diaries, 159 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: and other documents. So there's so much of it that 160 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: we know just from that part uh that this was 161 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,719 Speaker 1: a real event and not just somebody overreacting about a 162 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: cul snap. Also, we have a lot of documentation about 163 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: eighteen sixteens, whether in North America and Europe and parts 164 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: of Asia. But while it's pretty logical to conclude that 165 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: the weather was completely weird everywhere as a consequence of 166 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: all of this volcanic activity, we have much less in 167 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: the way of actual records from Africa, South America and Australia. 168 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: So when we walk through what we know, it is 169 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: mostly from North American, European and Asian points of view. 170 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 1: In North America, particularly on the east coast, stretching from 171 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: the Carolinas all the way up through what's now Ontario 172 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: and Quebec, the spring of eighteen sixteen was overall cooler 173 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: and drier than normal, although there were some big warm 174 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: spells mixed in. Temperatures kind of swung wildly from balmy 175 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: to freezing and back again. Then the summer had three 176 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: extreme cold spells in June, July, and August. The first 177 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: huge cold wave stretch from June five to June eleven. 178 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: Temperatures in New England dropped from the eighties to the 179 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: forties in the wake of a thunderstorm, and that actually 180 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: became the high for the next several days. Eighteen inches 181 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: of snow was reported in Cabot, Vermont on the eighth, 182 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,079 Speaker 1: and a hard frost that stretched well into the south 183 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: on the eleventh killed most of the crops that had 184 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: managed to survive up until that point. People started to 185 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: talk about the real possibility of a famine. Within weeks, 186 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: New England temperatures were really unseasonably hot again, breaking one 187 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: hundred in parts of Massachusetts, which doesn't happen all that often, 188 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: especially not this early in the season. Another four day 189 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: cold snap hit eastern North America starting on July six. 190 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: In this case, frosts killed the replanted crops, although it 191 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: was not as snowy this time around. Most of the 192 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: snow reported in the U s was in the mountains 193 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: of Vermont, but further north in Montreal, bodies of water 194 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: completely froze over with a layer of ice. This snap 195 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: also reached even farther south was in cold weather and 196 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: frosts in places that had escaped in the June wave. 197 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,679 Speaker 1: The cold weather came back again on August one, causing 198 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 1: more snow in the Vermont Mountains, along with frosts as 199 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: far south as North Carolina and as far west as 200 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: Kentucky and Ohio. Just as alarming at this point was 201 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: a drought which had affected much of the southern and 202 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: eastern US, and it's estimated that up to half of 203 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: the cotton crop in the south failed because of this 204 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: dry weather. Grain prices skyrocketed and the drought didn't break 205 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: until September, after the cold weather was over, only to 206 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: be about to start again. Because it was heading into autumn. 207 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: The price of flour rose from four dollars a barrel 208 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: to between eleven and twenty dollars per barrel. The wholesale 209 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: price of wheat nearly doubled, and the price of virtually 210 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: every food staple shot up. There was also a huge 211 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: increase in migration of farmers from the Eastern United States 212 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: into the West, as people hoped that they would find 213 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: better growing conditions and because the West really hadn't seen 214 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: the kind of unseasonable cold that the East Coast had. 215 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: About twice as many people decided to move west that year, 216 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: as was typical at that point. In several states, including 217 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, people called for 218 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: a ban on distillery because of the grain shortage. When 219 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: people couldn't afford grain to feed their livestock and they're 220 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: working animals, they ate the animals instead. So that was 221 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:37,680 Speaker 1: North America's eighteen sixteen summer. In Europe, the summer was 222 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: similarly wintry, but it also seemed like it got all 223 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: the rain that North America had been missing. Western Europe 224 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: was the most affected, but crops failed all over the 225 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: continent thanks to the fields being flooded and later frozen. 226 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: Crops that are sensitive to having too much water. Like wine, 227 00:13:55,520 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: grapes really suffered in their quality when they managed to survive. Plus, 228 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,319 Speaker 1: all the incessant rain made things generally wet and moldy. 229 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: Because horses were the main source of transportation and grain 230 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: became so much more expensive, the cost of travel in 231 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: Europe skyrocketed. Famine spread in Switzerland and Ireland. In Switzerland, 232 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 1: the government had to distribute information about how to tell 233 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: poisonous plants from ones that were safe to eat as 234 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: people try to scavenge what they could from out in 235 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: the woods or the wilds. In Ireland, a typhus epidemic 236 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: spread in the wake of the famine. The story that 237 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: sticks in a lot of people's minds about how this 238 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: played out in Europe is that the infamous evening in 239 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: which George Gordon Lord Byron proposed that all of his 240 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: guests at his Lake Geneva villa write a story. That's 241 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: the visit in which Mary Shelley wound up writing Frankenstein. 242 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: That all happened in the middle of this cold, wretched summer, 243 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: and also written during this uh was Byron's poem Darkness, 244 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: and that poem begins. I had a dream which was 245 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and 246 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space, rayless 247 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: and pathless, and the icy earth swung blind and blackening 248 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: in the moonless air. Morn came and went and came 249 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: and brought no day, and men forgot their passions in 250 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: the dread of this, their desolation, and all hearts were 251 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: chilled to a selfish prayer for light in Asia. Moving 252 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: on to the third big place that we have lots 253 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: of information about, the volcano disrupted the monsoon cycle in 254 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: India and Korea, so things were dry when they were 255 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: supposed to be wet, and then way wetter than they 256 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: were supposed to be once the rain actually arrived. This 257 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: caused rice crops, which really rely on that monsoon cycle, 258 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: to fail all over. The change in the weather also 259 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: affected which bacteria could thrive in the Bay of Bengal, 260 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: and unfortunately, one species that did thrive was a new 261 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: strain of cholera, which people had less resistance too than 262 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: previous strains. Bengal Colora spread out of India to the 263 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: rest of the world in eighteen seventeen, and the strain 264 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: killed tens of millions of people. There's actually some debate 265 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: in the scientific community about just how much of this 266 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: shift had to do with the volcano and Unon province 267 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: in southwestern China, crops failed in the face of just 268 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: a bitter bitter cold and a much wetter season than normal, 269 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,720 Speaker 1: and the book Tambora, The Eruption That Changed the World, 270 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: author Gillan Darcy would connects this and this massive crop 271 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: failure and famine to the rise of opium growth in 272 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: Union as farmers turned to it in desperation is a 273 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: way to try to just make enough money to survive 274 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: when the rest of their crops had failed. A huge 275 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:49,359 Speaker 1: famine swept through southwest China and it lasted for years. 276 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: Neighboring parts of China had an influx of refugees, and 277 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: much of the nation faced a serious social unrest. So 278 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: before we talk about some of the theories at the 279 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: time for what was going on, let's have another pause 280 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: for a word from a sponsor, and now back to 281 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: the year without a summer. So, unsurprisingly, there were many 282 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: many explanations at the time for what was going on 283 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: and what was causing this just bizarre weather. These actually 284 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: start with a story about why the volcano erupted in 285 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:25,639 Speaker 1: the first place. The population of Zimbabwe was largely Muslim, 286 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: and there was a folk tale explaining the event, and 287 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 1: that was that a prince had fed a devout Muslim 288 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 1: a dog and then killed him, and the volcanoes eruption 289 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: was an act of divine retribution for that act. A 290 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,120 Speaker 1: range of explanations for the weather cropped up in North 291 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: America and Europe as well. A primary theory was sun spots. 292 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: As we mentioned briefly earlier, there were a number of 293 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: extremely large sun spots that year, some of which were 294 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: visible to the unaided eye, and people thought these darker 295 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: areas of the sun were colder, which is true, and 296 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: a colder sun meant colder weather. Not everyone was on 297 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,199 Speaker 1: board with this idea, though, since the timing of the 298 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: sun spots did not always match up with the coldest weather. 299 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: There's actually a lot of continued study and discussion about 300 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: exactly how much sun spots can affect the Earth's weather 301 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: and climate. Uh And it's partly because this all happens 302 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: on such a huge scale, and the sun spots cycle 303 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: itself is so long that it's almost impossible to isolate 304 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 1: just sun spots from all of the other stuff in 305 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: the world that's going on while the sun spots cycle 306 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: is peaking. Yeah, you can't really turn off the sun 307 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,439 Speaker 1: to get a control group without it. Yeah, And you 308 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: can't turn off the volcanoes to study just the sun. 309 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: It's so I really tried to find a definitive answer 310 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: of good sun spots I've been and that there's not 311 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: a definitive answer. Another theory at this time is that 312 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: it had something to do with ice in North America. 313 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 1: I seem to persist in the Great Lakes for longer 314 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: than normal, and a number of ships for poorted huge 315 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,159 Speaker 1: ice floes floating in the North Atlantic. People thought that 316 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: all of this ice was actually sucking the heat out 317 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,399 Speaker 1: of the atmosphere. This is really more of a cause 318 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: and effects situation. There was more ice on the Great 319 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: Lakes because it was colder than normal, uh, But then 320 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 1: there was more ice floating in the Northern Atlantic because 321 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: this whole time actually caused a warming uh trend over 322 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: the poles, and so a lot of polar ice broke 323 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: up and floated away, so that it was more of 324 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,199 Speaker 1: a cause and effects situation than the ice sucking the 325 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: heat out of the air. Also, a series of pretty 326 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: large earthquakes had struck various points on the Earth in 327 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: the eighteen teens, and people also blamed the weather on this. 328 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: The idea was that the Earth's motion had somehow caused 329 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: some kind of fluid equilibrium between the surface of the 330 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: Earth and the atmosphere, and that until something broke that equilibrium, 331 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: that there would not be enough war available for crops 332 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: to grow. Other scapegoats that were named as the cause 333 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: of all of these problems Benjamin Franklin's lightning rods. They 334 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,879 Speaker 1: were stealing electricity and disrupting the weather, because you know, 335 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: he did invented them in the mid seventeen hundreds, and 336 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: they'd become more commonplace since then. So clearly, since that 337 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: happened before the weather, it must have caused this terrible weather. 338 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: There's so many explanations sound yet there. I mean, we 339 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,160 Speaker 1: still see this today when people don't totally understand something, 340 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,879 Speaker 1: and they'll feel like that because one thing happened before 341 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: another thing, that the first thing caused the second thing, 342 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: and it's often not true at all, Right, It's that 343 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: like chronological causality attribution that's not not always valid. So 344 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: the prevailing theory today is that the volcanic activity, including 345 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: that from Tambora and the other eruptions that were mentioned 346 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, was it lea one 347 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: of the primary contributors. And this was actually something that 348 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: people did discuss a little bit at the time. It 349 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: was certainly not a widespread theory, but there were people 350 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: who were like, you know, maybe all this ash in 351 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,920 Speaker 1: the atmosphere, which is from a volcano is making it colder. 352 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 1: Like people are pretty smart that way. Um. However, eighteen 353 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,959 Speaker 1: sixteen was not the only year in that time period 354 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: that had weird weather. In general, it was colder than 355 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: normal in a lot of places from eighteen twelve to 356 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,119 Speaker 1: eighteen seventeen, to the point that people took notice, and 357 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: by studying things like ice cores and tree rings and 358 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: that kind of long term documentation that the earth leaves 359 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: of itself, scientists know that this was not really just 360 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: a little five year window of a cold snap. The 361 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred spell at the end of a relative cool 362 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 1: snap that lasted around the world for almost five hundred years, 363 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,120 Speaker 1: starting in fourteen hundred and ending in around eighteen sixty 364 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: at least in the US. The year without US Summer 365 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: prompted people to start making more routine observances and recordings 366 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: of weather conditions. The Commissioner General of the Land Office, 367 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: Josiah Meggs, sent out a memo to all of his 368 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: registers at twenty different land offices instructing them to make 369 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: and record a number of observations about everything from the 370 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: weather to animal migrations. The military also started making and 371 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: recording weather observations at the direction of Joseph Lovell, the 372 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: Surgeon General of the Army, and the Patent Office and 373 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Institution got in on the action as well, 374 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: and consequently, the first published weather forecasts came out in 375 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: the US in eighteen forty nine. So when I started 376 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: researching this episode, I kind of expected it to be 377 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: a little bit like The Long Winter Part two. So 378 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,199 Speaker 1: we talked about the Long Winter, which Laura Angeles Wilder 379 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: wrote about last time about this time of year, and 380 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: that was the weather was really cold, things were really hard. Uh, 381 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: things were tough, but overall everything worked out okay for 382 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: the most part. And I sort of thought this was 383 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: going to be similar to that. Uh. I was not 384 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: expecting all of the famines and deaths and the extreme 385 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: scale of how deadly the volcano was a lot of um. 386 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,479 Speaker 1: Like a lot of people who have written to suggest 387 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: the topic or other things that I've seen about it, 388 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: kind of go this was a year that had terrible weather, 389 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: a volcano caused it, and the that's sort of all 390 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: that said about the volcano, as though the volcano was 391 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 1: on an island that was totally uninhabited, right, uh, and 392 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: that is not the case at all. This episode gives 393 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: me um flashbacks to when I was a kid in 394 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: Mount Saint Helen's erupted because I lived in Washington State 395 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,120 Speaker 1: at the time, so I am very familiar with being 396 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: covered with ash. Yeah, I've never lived near an active volcano, 397 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 1: so I have not had that experience. Those are wild times. 398 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: I remember my biggest concern, and again I was a 399 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,639 Speaker 1: child at the time, so my biggest concern was that 400 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:02,919 Speaker 1: all the animals have been killed. I was really upset 401 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: about the animals that may have lost our lives, even 402 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: though probably most of them fled before the activity actually started. 403 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: I'm sure some still lost our lives, but that was 404 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: my big focus as a child. I did not care 405 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: that there was crap all over everything we owned and 406 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,879 Speaker 1: like a half inch of ash sitting everywhere. I was like, 407 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: what about the deer? I was really that was my focus? Wow. 408 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: So uh, I have some listener mail that is cheerier 409 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: than this episode. I actually actually have two pieces. This 410 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: is we are recording this episode as literally one of 411 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: the last things before for the holidays, and it's gonna 412 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,920 Speaker 1: be a while before it's my turn for listener mails. 413 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: So I'm doubling up today so that things don't get 414 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 1: overlooked later on. Uh. They are both about our episode 415 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: about the Gnomes Theorem run. And this person was from Karen. 416 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: Karen says, I listened to your podcasts during the hundreds 417 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: of hours literally that I spend on the trails training 418 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: my long distance dog team. I am not making that up. 419 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: I love that me too. Imagine my delight today to 420 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: queue up your Wednesday podcast and find it on a 421 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: subject near and dear to my heart, the Serum run. See. 422 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: I have competed in the Iditarod Trail sled dog race 423 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: eleven times. I have run dogs through Nanana, up the 424 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,679 Speaker 1: Yukon River, through Nulatto, across the very intimidating Norton Sound 425 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: and into Gnome. Each of my pure bred Siberian Huskies 426 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: can trace their roots back to dogs on Sappala's Serum 427 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: run team, which was Togo, who we talked about in 428 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: the episode. I just wanted to let you know that 429 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: I thought you did a very excellent job of covering 430 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: the subject. The pronunciations you were worried about were spot on, 431 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,439 Speaker 1: and you did a more accurate job with the subject 432 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,639 Speaker 1: than about anyone I've heard. Well done. Oh and I 433 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: wanted to say that you are right minus fifty is 434 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: ridiculously cold, and sled dogs are indeed amazing, the most 435 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,880 Speaker 1: amazing creatures on the planet if you ask me. I've 436 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: running dogs for over twenty years and they still amazed 437 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: me every day. Sincerely, Karen, and then I'm going to 438 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,680 Speaker 1: read another one. This one is from Marie, and Marie says, 439 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,680 Speaker 1: it was positively delightful to see some Alaskan history pop 440 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: up in my podcast this morning. Even if it isn't 441 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: an event I missed in history class, it was still 442 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: an interesting listen. I won't lie. Part of the fund 443 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: was listening to you both try really hard to say 444 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,880 Speaker 1: incredibly difficult Alaskan words correctly. I'm not surprised you could 445 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 1: not find any pronunciation guides online. I am a lifelong Alaskan. 446 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: My father was born in Anchorage before Alaska became a state, 447 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: and wonder sometimes if the difficult names are purposeful to 448 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 1: point out who uh, to point out those who have 449 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: not lived here. I wanted to say thank you for 450 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: talking about how important dogs and dogs letting are to 451 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: the history of Alaska and its current culture. So many 452 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: outside the state it is difficult to comprehend the vastness 453 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: and sheer impassibility of a lot of the terrain, particularly 454 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,719 Speaker 1: north of the Bricks Range. To give you an idea 455 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 1: of the distances involved, Nome is just over five hundred 456 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: air miles from Anchorage. That is roughly the same distance 457 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,159 Speaker 1: from as from Atlanta, Georgia to Pittsburgh, Washington, d C. 458 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: And Chicago. I say air miles because that is the 459 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,199 Speaker 1: most common way to get to know It is not 460 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,679 Speaker 1: connected to the Alaska Highway system and does not have 461 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: a ferry service. The Iditarod Race, which you reference in 462 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: the podcast, is about a thousand miles, give or take 463 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,479 Speaker 1: a few dozen, depending on checkpoint locations. Even if this 464 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: were an actual highway, it would be the equivalent of 465 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: driving from Montreal, Canada to Atlanta Georgia. That's about twenty 466 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: one hours of driving, according to travel math dot com. 467 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: I do want to say a word of caution that 468 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,440 Speaker 1: I hope is out to your listeners. Sled dogs are 469 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: amazing creatures and incredible athletes. They are bread to work 470 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 1: hard in cold weather, have remarkable endurance, and the ability 471 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: to persevere in circumstances that most animals would block out. 472 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 1: These same qualities mean that they are not always suited 473 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: to be pets. While many breeds do make good pets, 474 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: it is in important with any working breed of dog 475 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,959 Speaker 1: to consider the traits that make them special also make 476 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: them challenging. A dog bread for cold weather is not 477 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: as well suited to a hot climate. Dog spread to 478 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: run long distances can become hyperactive when you confined to 479 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 1: a yard. As amazing as these animals are, please consider 480 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:21,159 Speaker 1: carefully before bringing one into your home. Not every house 481 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: or family is suited to an animal that is the 482 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: canine equivalent of a an Olympic athlete. Thanks for your 483 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: knowledge and keep up the good work. Marie. Thank you 484 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 1: so much. Karen and Marie. I love both of those 485 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: email an I love them both so much too, and 486 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: I do want to have kind of a full disclosure. 487 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: They both said that we did a good job on 488 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: saying things other people have said that we did not 489 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: do a good job. Um, I pronounced Nanana as Nanana 490 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: again because we've gotten three different pronunciations. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 491 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: I think I said Nanana in the show, and we've 492 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: heard Nanana, Nana, and Nanana. I don't know which is 493 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: the right one. So um. This is the case with 494 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: many things that we try to say correctly in the show. 495 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: So uh, I just want to talk about dogs somewhere. 496 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 497 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, you can. We're at History Podcast 498 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. We're also on Facebook, 499 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: Facebook dot com slash miss in history and on Twitter 500 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: at MS and history. Our tumbler is miss in history 501 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: dot tumbler dot com, and we're on Pinterest at pentress 502 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: dot com slash miss in History. 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You can also come to our website, 510 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: which is missing history dot com, where we have an 511 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: archive of every single episode we have ever done, show 512 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,120 Speaker 1: notes for all the episodes that Holly and I am on, 513 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 1: the blog posts for past hosts of the podcast, all 514 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 1: kinds of cool stuff. So you can do all that 515 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: and a whole lot more at how stuff works dot 516 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: com or miss a history dot com. For more on 517 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, is that how stuff 518 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. M