The Krakatoa Volcanic Eruption of 1883 - The Loudest Sound Ever Heard?

Ok, so none of us alive witnessed this event, but if you have any experiences of volcanic eruptions, or if you live in or near the Sunda Strait, please say hi, and tell us all about it!

I live in west java... my grandma is 80 years old, my grandma told their parent and the villagers have hearing problem from that explotion...

Krakatoa is believed to be the source of a population explosion of saguaro cacti in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. Inordinate numbers of seedlings and baby saguaros survived the mild summer that followed the eruption, and many of them are still thriving today. We believe several saguaros on our property are Krakatoa babies, and they are STUNNING.

I remember my Grandmother telling me of the orange tinted sunrises and sunsets she witnessed as a little girl and her Father telling her it was due to the dust from Krakatoa. This was on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia in the early 1900’s.

i know you probably wouldn't read this but, there was a myth by our ancestor, it says that thousands of years ago java and sumatra island were connected.. and there happened a volcano eruption that separates the two.. and that volcano was krakatau. also back then our ancestor says that krakatau used to be a giant mountain, but the explosion was so big and devastating, that it actually destroys itself and its surroundings. (this was one of the story my grandma used to tell me before i go to sleep, and my grandma also hear this story from her grandma, and my grandma's grandma would also hear this story from her grandma and so on...)

Living in Indonesia is like standing on the edge of a steep cliff and deeply enjoying the beauty of nature, if you are not careful and alert

I lived in Bandung,West Java, 1977-1979 and my house was on the slopes of Tangkuban Prahu, a volcano which was semi-active or semi-dormant depending on your point of view. Some nights you would have to keep all your windows closed because of the fumes.On the other hand you could go to the hot springs at Ciater and have a free "spa" treatment.

I've traveled to Java and honestly I had no idea there were so many ACTIVE volcanoes along that ridge. We flew over some and I could see them smoking. Great video!

.. i climbed Anak Krakatoa a year before the eruption - it was spewing ash & growing like 1 metre a year.. the view from the peak was breathtaking... i remember the slope was made of ash only & my feet sinks every step i take - feels like walking on moon.

Us : We have created the greatest explosion of all time (NUKE) Nature : Pffff, small firecrackers

This explosion had given us so many marks, and it's poetically documented in so much like literature such a "Syair Lampung Karam" or "Poem of Drowned Lampung", and a Batavian (Betawi) folksong named "Kramat Karem". Also, it's indeed recorded in a Chinaman's diary of Batavia by Tio Tek Hong.

I just spent a week at Lake Toba - fantastic history. Volcanoes create life while taking life. Ultimately, while their immense power is to be feared and respected, they also have created and continue to create the planet we know today. They ARE life.

This is a lot more balanced than a lot of YouTube presentations on this subject. In other words thanks leaving out all the gloom and doom predictions 👍🏻

There was a TV show a long time ago (which is where I'm from) called The Time Tunnel. Their first episode was about Krakatoa. I was around ten, and I'd never heard of Krakatoa before. It's amazing that the eruption obliterated the island. I remember first seeing a news story about this volcano being back. At that time it was just a peak sticking up out of the water with smoke coming out of it. I was astonished when in 2018 it erupted and there was an island attached to that peak! Great video!

Beautiful video with clear comparisons. I have read several novels about Krakatoa, one about a ship caught in the tsunami. A friend was staying in Olongapo during the eruption of Mt Pinatubo. The description and the prevailing conditions were astonishing. I did visit the area not long afterwards. There was an entire town buried with just the tip of the church steeple poking up from the ground.

⚡"Krak-a-toa" is the phonetic enunciation of the sound of a volcano going off. I just realized that. Great video. Great topic.

Loudest sound ever recorded. The loudest ever heard by humans was probably Toba or Tambora and it was nice to see you mention them.

Hi I went to Anak Krakatoa with my girl friend in October 2015 and camped on the island with the help of our Indonesian crew The volcano was rumbling all night and we hiked to the top ridge which was taking a chance with our lives at that point - quite amazing feeling to have done this and have the photos to remember by. The power of the earth and the beauty of nature fuses there. it was like being in a National geographic movie!!

I live in Lampung, the very south province of Sumatra, and I actually had only 3-5 encounter with Krakatoa events, its about her earthquakes and ashes some years ago, I still remember to live in tents outside for a week and wear a mask for months But earthquakes are such a regular occurences here, usually (and thankfully) only mild ones so not a big deal

I remember doing a project in my community college geography class and getting so invested into the research. Prior, I had always learned of Krakatau being the loudest sound ever recorded but didn't know much else about. Doing research for my project was so exciting. Learning how it affected the island and even how many artists took inspiration from the sunsets that it caused. Such an interesting piece of history!