It is the only volcano on Europe's mainland to have erupted in the last hundred years. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. More than 1,000 people are thought to have died in the eruption, though the exact toll is unknown. The eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), erupting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6 ×10 5 cubic metres (7.8 ×10 5 cu yd) per second. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae, and several other settlements. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera, resulting from the collapse of an earlier, much higher structure. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Mount Vesuvius ( / v ɪ ˈ s uː v i ə s/ viss- OO-vee-əs Italian: Vesuvio Neapolitan: 'O Vesuvio, also 'A muntagna or 'A montagna Latin: Vesuvius, also Vesevius, Vesvius or Vesbius ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore.
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