Sundaland is a land surrounded by mountains that contain fire, smoke and ash. Some of these mountains are known to lie asleep for many ages before cracking and exploding, spreading destruction far and wide.
But the fire destroys the old and provides nourishment for the new. So it is that the foothills and plains nearby have dark and fertile earth.
Many people have settled in those lands where plants grow quickly with bountiful fruit.
And many have perished when the fire comes to start the cycle anew.
- An Account of Sundaland by Alom Takal
Volcanoes have loomed large in the history of humanity. Famous examples include: Thera on Santorini, Pompeii: Eruption of Vesuvius and in Indonesia one of the most powerful in recorded history: Mount Tambora.
The aftermath of a volcano outburst often results in very fertile soil due to a combination of the minerals in the volcanic ash and stone spread across the area, and burnt organic matter. Of course this means these areas are very attractive for human settlements.
The people that live in these areas may develop a non-scientific understanding about the relationship between the volcano and the fertile soil nearby, and their culture and religion may be influenced by this understanding. They may frame volcanoes as one of the many manifestations of an often indifferent universe in which the gods and nature can alternately provide and take away.
Can the gods or nature be appeased in any way?
Or is the cycle of creation and destruction inevitable?
List of volcanoes in Indonesia
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