Enlightenment · East Asia · Disaster

1737

Kamchatka Earthquake and Tsunami

October 11, 1737

A massive earthquake off the Kamchatka Peninsula generated tsunamis that swept across the northern Pacific, destroying Cossack settlements on the coast and reaching the Kuril Islands. Russia's newly mapped eastern frontier had revealed a landscape of volcanic fury. The quake was among the largest ever recorded in the Pacific Ring of Fire.