zon. Just as the settlers were making progress in their battle with the
mice, events happening on the other side of the world were about to
create problems throughout the entire northern hemisphere.

A major volcanic eruption took place on Mount Tambora on
Sumbawa Island in Indonesia on April 10, 1815. It was described as
the largest eruption in recorded history and the explosion was heard
on Sumatra Island, more than 2,000 kilometres away. It ejected an
ash cloud 45 miles high into the atmosphere from where it slowly
spread around the earth. Its effects were felt a year later in Europe
and North America. The unusual atmospheric conditions resulted
in major food shortages in the United States, Atlantic Canada and
Europe.

The spring of 1816 started out normally, but then it turned cold-
er, and it stayed that way for months. It was dubbed “The Year with
no Summer,’ and was also known by several other names including,
“The Poverty Year,’ and “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”

Crops that were planted in late May and early June were killed off
by frost. Nearly a foot of snow - 30 centimetres - fell in Quebec City
in early June. In July and August, ice was reported in lakes and rivers
as far south as Pennsylvania.

The result was regional malnutrition, starvation, and increased
mortality. Farmers south of New England managed to salvage their
crops, but prices soared out of the reach of many. Crops in Britain
and Ireland failed too, and there were food shortages throughout
many European cities. It was described as the worst famine of the
19th century. By fall, the outlook was grim. Harvests had either failed
completely, or were down sharply. The winter of 1816 had been cold.
The winter of 1817 was going to be cold and hungry.

“Precautions against scarcity cannot be too generally recom-
mended,’ a Nova Scotia newspaper warned. “Nothing which may
provide sustenance for man and beast ought to be neglected”

This was excellent advice as it turned out.

Island crops fared better than those in Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. And since PEI was a net exporter of food there was a
danger that farmers with surplus produce would ship it to the neigh-

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