The first recorded volcano was in 475 B.C. at Mount Etna in Sicily. Since then it has erupted more than 250 times. In 1979 a new crater opened up without warning and erupted.
The famous volcano Mount Vesuvius in Italy is an extinct volcano. It erupted on August 24, 79 A.D. and 2,000 people died when they were buried under ash and mud. There was no liquid lava, only volcanic ash and volcanic bombs. Vesuvius has been dormant since 1944 and volcanologists think it might become active again.
In 1902 Mount Pelee on an island of Martinique erupted without disaster. It was an old volcano with a crater filed with the water.
In the middle of a Mexican cornfield the volcano Paricutin started to form out of nowhere. It erupted until 1852 and has been dormant since then.
In May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens on the coast of the State of Washington erupted for the first time in 120 years. The eruption was as strong as 30,000 atomic bombs. When the volcano exploded, a huge area was ripped out from its sides and left a very big crater. The eruption lasted 9 hours. Volcanologists were able to predict this eruption, so most people left their homes. Sixty people were killed.
Mount Fuji is the highest and most sacred mountain in Japan. It is seen in many Japanese paintings and is a popular image of Japan around the world. It is a dormant volcano. It last erupted in 1707.
The largest volcano in the world is in Mauna Loa in Hawaii. It is 30,000 feet from the ocean floor and 60 miles wide at its base. It has erupted 40 times in the last 150 years.
The tallest volcanoes are in Chile, South America. Stromboli in Italy, Yasur in the Pacific Ocean, and Erta'Ale in Africa are volcanoes that are always erupting. Furnace Peak in the Indian Ocean is the volcano that has erupted the most times in the 20th century. It has erupted 80 times since 1900.
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