April 4, 1768 Eruption of Cotopaxi

Name: April 4, 1768 Eruption of Cotopaxi
Start: 1768-04-04
Location: Cotopaxi, Ecuador

April 4, 1768 · VEI 4 · Deaths: many

Cotopaxi in Ecuador erupted on April 4, 1768 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4.

Where it erupted

Cotopaxi, Ecuador, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: April 4, 1768
Volcano: Cotopaxi, stratovolcano
Country: Ecuador
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 4, large (eruption column 10 to 25 km)
Killed by: Mudflows and lahars
Location: 0.677° S, 78.436° W

The toll

Deaths: Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Lahars devasted the Los Chilos, Tumbaco and Cutuchi valleys. Latacunga was destroyed again.

Other significant eruptions of Cotopaxi

Every eruption in 1768 The 1700s Cotopaxi Earthquakes near Cotopaxi This day in weather history

Sources

Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 3927.