„Jahr ohne Sommer“ – Die Klimaanomalie von 1816 und ihre Folgen für Rheinhessen

The Tambora eruption on the Indonesian island Sumbawa in 1815 was the strongest volcanic event during the last 10,000 years. Due to the reactions of dust and sulphur in the atmosphere, the summer of 1816 in central Europe was extremely cold and rainy causing severe effects on the agrarian societies. The article exposes the aftermath of the “year without summer” in the province of Rheinhessen in the Grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt according to the model of interaction of climate and society by Robert W. Kates. It scrutinizes the impact of this climatic extreme on regionally differing harvests, and the reactions of agricultural producers, rural and urban consumers, authorities, and the general public. The article demonstrates that a region like Rheinhessen which was normally characterized by relatively dry and warm climate could even benefit from crop failure elsewhere. Due to its adaptive agricultural structure which had been modernized during the era of French occupation the province of Rheinhessen was able to support both, local population and consumers abroad. Even though craftsmen, day labourers, traders, and paupers were heavily burdend with high food prices, the year without summer regionally caused no detectable demographic effects.