Mount Tarawera

Historical eventJune 101886

Mount Tarawera

Mount Tarawera, a volcano in New Zealand's North Island, erupted (depicted), killing around 120 people and creating the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley.

Everything on June 10Original source
Photo: Thomas Berwing · CC BY-SA 4.0

In context

When
Thursday, June 10 1886140 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
19th century · 1880s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

Russia, Greece and some other countries used the Julian calendar into the early 20th century, so local records may show a date up to 13 days earlier.

At a glance

Dates: From 1886.

What happened

Mount Tarawera is a volcano on the North Island of New Zealand within the older but volcanically productive Ōkataina Caldera. Located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua, it consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissured down the middle by an explosive basaltic eruption in 1886. While the 1886 eruption was basaltic, study has shown there was only a small basalt component to the previous recent rhyolitic predominant eruptions. This eruption was one of New Zealand's largest historical eruptions,

June 10 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1886Mount Tarawera
  2. 1999Kosovo War
  3. 2001Pope John Paul II
  4. 2002Kevin Warwick
  5. 2003Spirit (rover)
  6. 2008Sudan Airways Flight 109
  7. 2008War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  8. 2009United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  9. 2018Opportunity (rover)
  10. 20242024 Chikangawa Dornier 228 crash
  11. 20252025 Graz school shooting

Also in 1886

  • June 26Henri MoissanFrench chemist Henri Moissan successfully isolated elemental fluorine (pictured in liquid state), for which he later won the Nobel Prize…
  • May 4Labour movementDuring a labor rally in Chicago, a bomb explosion and gunfire led to the deaths of eight police officers and four members of the public.
  • September 4United States ArmyAfter more than 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache sur…
  • June 2Wedding of Grover Cleveland and Frances FolsomThe wedding of Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom (wedding depicted) took place in the White House, in the only time that a U.S. preside…
  • December 11Association footballThe London-based football club Arsenal, then known as Dial Square, played their first match on the Isle of Dogs.
  • February 23Charles Martin HallAmerican inventor Charles Martin Hall discovered an inexpensive method of producing aluminium.
  • August 311886 Charleston earthquakeThe 7.0 Mw Charleston earthquake struck southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 60 people a…
  • October 28New York HarborIn New York Harbor, U.S. president Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty (pictured), a gift from France commemorating the Decl…

Everything we record for 1886 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Mount Tarawera”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/mount-tarawera-1886-june-10, accessed October 29, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Mount Tarawera happen?

June 10 1886 — 140 years ago, on a Thursday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

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