1645 or 1628 BC Aegean Sea, Island of Thera

79 AD August 24th. Italy, Volcano Vesuvius, destroyed cities if Pompeii and Herculaneum, est. 2,000 people died

Pompeii today

130/150 AD New Zealand: volcano Taupo, estimated to have ejected 33 billions tons of pumice and flattened a 6,200 square-mile area.

150 AD New Zealand’s North Island, Taupo volcano

260 AD El Salvador, Mt. Ilopango; apparently destroying the early Maya civilization

1631 Dec. 16th. Italy, Mt. Vesuvius; 4,000 people died

1669 March 25th. Sicily, Catania, Mt. Etna; 20,000 people died

1683 Jan. 11th. Sicily, Catania, Mt. Etna; 60,000 people died (accompanied by earthquakes)

1773 August 11th. -12th. Java, Mt. Papandayan; 3,000 people died

1782 Japan, Mt. Unzen (cause tidal wave), 15,000 people died

1783 June - 1784 Feb. Iceland, Laki fissure on Mt. Skaptar; poisonous gases kills crops and livestock, and thick haze interrupts fishing on oceans; 9,800 people died

1815 April 5-10th. Indonesia, Island of Sumbawa, Volcano Tambora; 162,000 people died, 10,000 people immediately, another 80,000 die of famine and disease locally; had a mayor effect on world climate the following year

1822 October 8 & 12th. Java, Galunggung, in the first eruption on April 4th. the long-inactive volcano sent streams of boiling mud pouring into the villages around it. On April 12th. the volcano literally blew its top. More than 100 villages were destroyed, 4,000 people died

1883 August 27th. Krakatoa, generated Tsunamis 120 feet high on Java and Sumatra, killing about 40,000 people

1902 May 7th. West Indies, St. Vincent, La Soufriere, 2,000 people died

1902 May 8th. West Indies, Island of Martinique, Mount Pelee erupted, destroying the city of St. Pierre, 30,000 people died

1906 April 18th. Italy, Mt. Vesuvius; 150 people died

dense populated Naples with volcano Vesuvius in 1938

1911 January 30th. Philippines, Taal volcano (60 kilometers south of Manila): explosive eruption killed 1,300 lives; ash and mud were spread over an 2,000 square kilometers wide area.

1912 June 6th. Alaska, Mt. Katmai, largest eruption in North American history, no one died

1914 January 3rd. Japan, Mount Sakurajima erupted, 35 people died

1919 May Indonesia, Mount Kelud Volcano located on a small island between Java and Sumatra, more than 5,000 people died

1951 January 15th. Papua-New Guinea, Mount Lamington, 6,000 foot volcano, thought to be extinct but on January 15th. it began rumbling and ejecting smoke and five days later a huge glowing cloud of steam and dust exploded out of the volcano 5,000 people died

1956 March 30th. USSR, Siberia, Peninsula Kamchatka, Mount Bezymianny, thought to be extinct, but began showing signs of life in the fall of 1955. The following explosion was one of the most powerful of historical times

1963 Bali, Agung volcano

1968 July 29th. Costa Rica, Strato volcano: first recorded eruption ever, claimed 80 lives and destroyed 12 square kilometers of land

1973 January 23rd. Iceland, Heimaey Island, Helgafell volcano,

1980 May 18th. USA, Washington, Mt. St. Helen; 61 people died

1985 November. City of Armero, Columbia, Nevado del Ruic volcano erupts, 22,000 people died

1991 April. Italy, Zafferana lava streams of volcano etna are threatning the 7000 inhabitant - city of zafferana, dams of concrete and bomb - explosions didn´t stop or change the lava streams. The flow ended 4 months later without damage to the city.

1991 June 9th-22nd. Philippines, Luzon, Mt. Pinatubo; 754 people died, the resulting stratospheric cloud contained tremendous amounts of sulfur dioxide

1997 Sept. Montserrat Island

crater of volcano Vesuvius in 1999, ready to go