All Saints Day Nov.1st 1755 Lisbon is on the Tagus river which is surrounded by 7 hills. From 1260 it was the Capitol of Portugal and Henry the Navigator sent Vasco de Gama out from here. King JoaoV fancied himself as Le Roi Soleil. Britain controlled much of the re-export business. With this numerous trade clerks and accountants had to be imported as the level of education was so low in Portugal. Buildings adorned with uzulejo tiles. Portugal was a landscape of piety and devotion with lots of churches convents, religious societies, it was an entrenched theocracy the church dominating education . It still had the Inquisition which was started in 1536, Palacio do Estaus was its headquarters. Casa India was the seat of Lisbons trade and there was a thriving merchant class. Soa Vincente de Fora was build to commemorate the defeat of the Moors.
Three shocks of earthquake followed by fires, when people escaped to the Tagus river then 3 tsunamis struck so both sea and land were cursed. The fires burned bodies so stopped a plague outbreak
King Jose 1 and Queen Maria Ana Victoria and 4 daughters were in Belem and moved to tents in the garden. The salvation of the Royal family would keep Portugal independent and uphold authority. Carvalho Marquis de Pombal survived and said "Bury the Dead and feed the living" he was given the authority to run the country. He had had 2 advantages marriages, and graduated from University of Coimbra. Had been a diplomat in London and met with the large Portuguese Jewish exile community. Had read Colbert , Hobbes and Locke.
He didn't want the capital moved he needed the king to stay in Lisbon. Lisbon was the third busiest port in Europe after Amsterdam and London. Trade was with Europe Africa Americas and Asia.. King George II of Britain got the treasury to allocate 100 000pounds and food was sent mostly from Ireland..
Netherland was not charitable the Calvinist clergy said the earthquake was against Papist idols. Never had a natural disaster brought the outpouring of aid, neither the great fire of London 1666 or the Netherlands flood of 1565.
10% of Lisbon's 250 000 population was lost and the worst hit were those attending mass. Only the snuffing out of Pompeii could compare to the destruction here. Hundred of paintings of Titian, Correggio and Rubens were lost and the most important libraries burned. The state mint survived and needed with the gold and silver to pay for imports. The fleet had survived outside the harbour and would be needed against the Barbary pirates. The Aquaduct das Aguas Livras of 1748functioned bringing water to the city.
Historically Portugal was made up of Lusitanian tribes. Jews had suffered under the Visigoth rule. With the Muslim invasion as long as local paid their taxes to the Califate religion was no issue. Greek classics destroyed in Christian book burning were now rediscovered in Arabic. Later the harsh Almoravid dynasty caused an anti Muslim backlash. 1147 Anglo Norman Flemish and German Crusaders drove out the Muslims for Lisbon and many locals prudently converted back to Christianity. Muslims moved to Andalusia, Algarve or to North Africa. Alfama area was an exclusive Moorish neighbourhood.
Slave labour was used in colonies by many Europeans but only Portugal allowed slaves to enter and Christian children were freed making Portugal a mestizo society indifferent to race.
Emigration from Portugal to the colonies drained Portugal then 1569 the Black Death. The forced conversion and banishment of Jews. Lisbon had boasted several Hebrew printing presses. Jews were pivotal in Portuguese society the most dynamic and well educated. 1492 100 000 Jews were given asylum in Portugal in exchange for a hefty poll tax. Dutch traders were assisted by Jewish capital started to dominate global trade.
Heresy was stricken from English statue in 1677. In Portugal education was in the Jesuit hands and most kings had been educated by them. 1851 Portugal was under Spain so suddenly England, France and Holland were here new enemies.
1640 Catalans rebelled against Felipe. While Spain was bogged down under Joao IV "the Restorer" Portugal took independence. Joaos daughter married Charles II of England bringing an Anglo Portuguese treaty. The gold from Portugal allowed the King to rule without calling a Cortes.
Only the patrician class got an education from the church. Education used exclusively Latin. The church, Crown and nobles preferred the population to remain ignorant. Portugal was a supplier of raw materials but it was the Dutch who set up sugar refineries or Jews who cut diamonds elsewhere.
We have the writing of Rousseau and Voltaire who wrote "Candide",just before this period.
Many churches in Europe and Portuguese Jews in Hamburg prayed for Lisbon. If this was the work of God it discouraged people from taking care of themselves.
The Jesuit leader Malgrida wrote "The True Cause of the Earthquake" and was forbidden to preach on the subject. Protestant countries including Wesley felt that God had released his vengeance on Popish idolatry. The chief Inquisitor and all the building and equipment of the inquisition had been destroyed. The best skilled people were Portuguese from abroad including diplomats and international merchants as well as "New Christians" but the Jesuits kept these enlightened out of the universities.
The birth of seismology started from this earthquake and the Reverend John Michell of Cambridge. Rumours of the cause of the great Fire in London of 1666 in the Charles II had taken a Catholic wife.
1756 Pombal Survey documenting what people saw during the earthquake a first document on Seismology. The English writer Henry Fielding (Tom Jones) document what he witnessed as he was living there.
Manual da Maia was 78 and was chief military engineer and he was in charge of rebuilding and he appointed young architects and imposed a military regimental discipline. Unless a determined effort was made in Lisbon merchant would move elsewhere. The Baixa was razed and a new city centre emerged. Church property was respected. Property owners were paid out but the cohesive plan went ahead. Buildings were build on with deep foundations and triangular beams in the walls against earthquakes.
Christopher Wren never managed to bring a brilliant urban scheme after the great fire because of property rights. But Filipo Juvarra expanded Turin in the 18C. Baron Hauseman in Paris and Ildefonso Cerda in Barcelona took inspiration from the dos Santos style in Lisbon.
A plot against the king implicated the Marques to Tavora and Carvalho used this as an excuse to take full control.
Ignacio had forbidden the Jesuits to accumulate wealth but they had become a landed class, and a year after the attempt on the king Jesuits were rounded up and sent to the Papal states. Father Gabriel Malagrida their leader was kept in a dudgeon. Books of science philosophy and history started coming off the royal printing press. In 1766 a big celebration was held for the inauguration of the Baixa restoration and a statue of the King was unveiled on the kings 61st birthday. A year later the king died.
. Carvalho other reforms was that he abolished slavery, unified the tax code, reformed the military and regulated trade.
After Carvalho's 27 year rule the king died and his oldest daughter Maria became Portugal's first female sovereign and dismissed him. She embarked on a reactionary agenda. Later when Napoleon took over Portugal in 1807 the royal family fled to Brazil where they stayed till 1821. Then Brazil declared independence in1822 and Portugal reverted to a stagnant smoldering civil war. Without its colonies Portugal would be a third rate power.
Carvalho's name was posthumously restored in 1833.
2005 on Nov 1st which was 250 years after the earthquake an international seismology conference took place in Lisbon the birthplace of this discipline.
American Revolution 1765 to 1783
French Revolution 1789
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