1600 Huaynaputina Eruption

Huaynaputina, a volcano on a high plateau in southern Peru, erupted beginning 19 February 1600 and continuing into March, in the largest eruption ever witnessed in South America's recorded history. Rated 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, it killed an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people locally and buried surrounding areas under about 2 meters of volcanic rock. Sulfate aerosols from the eruption caused a volcanic winter that lowered Northern Hemisphere temperatures, bringing cold waves to Europe, Asia and the Americas, and has been linked by researchers to the onset of the Little Ice Age, the Russian famine of 1601 to 1603, and Russia's Time of Troubles.