Citizendia

This 1755 copper engraving shows the ruins of Lisbon in flames and a tsunami overwhelming the ships in the harbor.
This 1755 copper engraving shows the ruins of Lisbon in flames and a tsunami overwhelming the ships in the harbor. Lisbon (Lisboa liʒˈboɐ is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on November 1, 1755 at around 9:40 in the morning. Lisbon (Lisboa liʒˈboɐ is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1755 ( MDCCLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or [1] The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and fire, which caused near-total destruction of Lisbon, Portugal and adjoining areas. A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent. A geologist is a contributor to the Science of Geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth and planets of the solar system The Richter magnitude scale, or more correctly local magnitude M L scale assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth 's surface that is directly above the Hypocenter or focus the point where an Earthquake The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Cape St Vincent (Cabo de São Vicente 'kabu dɨ sɐ̃ũ vi'sẽtɨ next to the Sagres Point, on the so-called Costa Vicentina (Vincentine Coast is Estimates place the death toll between 60,000 to 100,000 people, making it one of the most destructive earthquakes in history.

The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country's eighteenth-century colonial ambitions. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The Portuguese Empire was the earliest and longest lived of the modern European colonial empires spanning almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta The event was widely discussed and dwelt upon by European Enlightenment philosophers, and inspired major developments in theodicy and in the philosophy of the sublime. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Theodicy (θiːˈɒdɪsi (adjectival form theodicean) is a specific branch of Theology and Philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of In Aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublimis ( up from under the lintel high lofty elevated exalted is the quality of greatness or vast As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it led to the birth of modern seismology. Seismology (from Greek grc σεισμός seismos, "earthquake" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Earthquakes

Contents

The earthquake

The ruins of the Carmo Convent, which was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake.
The ruins of the Carmo Convent, which was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake. This article is about ruins in Architecture; for other meanings see Ruins (disambiguation. The Carmo Convent ( Convento da Ordem do Carmo) is a monument located in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal.

Lisbon had been shaken by several important earthquakes before November 1755: eight in the 14th century, five in the 16th century (including the 1531 earthquake that destroyed 1,500 houses, and the 1597 earthquake when three streets vanished), and three in the 17th century. During the 18th century, two earthquakes were reported in 1724 and 1750. In 1755, the earthquake struck on the morning of 1 November, the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". For the British girl group see All Saints (band. All Saints' Day (also called All Hallows or Hallowmas) often Contemporary reports state that the earthquake lasted between three-and-a-half and six minutes, causing gigantic fissures five-metres (15 ft) wide to appear in the city centre. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International Survivors rushed to the open space of the docks for safety and watched as the water receded, revealing a sea floor littered by lost cargo and old shipwrecks. Approximately forty minutes after the earthquake, an enormous tsunami engulfed the harbour and downtown, rushing up the Tagus river. A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when The Tagus ( Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo, pron. It was followed by two more waves. In the areas unaffected by the tsunami, fire quickly broke out, and flames raged for five days.

Lisbon was not the only Portuguese city affected by the catastrophe. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout the south of the country, in particular the Algarve, destruction was rampant. The Algarve ( pron aɫ'gaɾv(ɨ is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal. A tsunami dismantled some coastal fortresses in the Algarve and, in the lower levels, razed several houses. A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged, except Faro, which was protected by the sandy banks of Ria Formosa. Faro (ˈfaɾu is a city and municipality in southern Portugal. The Ria Formosa lagoon located in Algarve, in southern Portugal, is a system of barrier islands that communicates with the sea through 6 inlets In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. Lagos ( pron 'laguʃ literally "Lakes" is a city and a municipality at the mouth of the river Bensafrim in the southern region of Algarve The town of Vila Real de Santo António was destroyed by the tsunami. Vila Real de Santo António ( pron 'vilɐ ʁi'aɫ dɨ 'sɐ̃tu ɐ̃'tɔnju often pronounced as ʁi'aɫ dɨ sɐ̃tɐ̃'tɔnju}} is a city civil parish and municipality Other towns of different Portuguese regions, like Peniche, Cascais, and even Covilhã which is located near the Serra da Estrela mountain range in central inland Portugal, were affected. Peniche ( pron pɨ'niʃ(ɨ is a seaside municipality and a city in Portugal, with approximately 28164 inhabitants in the municipality and about 15600 in the city Cascais ( pron kɐʃ'kajʃ is a coastal town 30 kilometres west of Lisbon, with about 35000 residents in the town Covilhã ( pron kuvi'ʎɐ̃ is a city and a municipality in Centro region, Portugal. Serra da Estrela (English Mountain Range of the Star) is the highest Mountain range in Portugal and includes Mainland Portugal 's highest The shock waves of the earthquake were felt throughout Europe as far as Finland and North Africa. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Tsunamis as tall as 20 metres (66 ft) swept the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and Barbados across the Atlantic. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Martinique is an Island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, having a land area of 1128 km² Barbados ( Portuguese word for bearded-ones, bɑrˈbeɪdoʊz -dɒs situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent Island nation A three-metre (ten-foot) tsunami hit the southern English coast. A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, was also hit, resulting in the partial destruction of the "Spanish Arch". Galway (Gaillimh is the only city in the province of Connacht in Ireland. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world The Spanish Arch ( Irish: An Póirse Spáinneach) is a set of arches built in 1584 as an extension of the City walls of Galway

Estimated epicentre of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
Estimated epicentre of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth 's surface that is directly above the Hypocenter or focus the point where an Earthquake

Of Lisbon's population of 275,000, as many as 90,000 were killed. Another 10,000 lost their lives in Morocco. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Eighty-five percent of Lisbon's buildings were destroyed, including famous palaces and libraries, as well as most examples of Portugal's distinctive 16th-century Manueline architecture. The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic is the sumptuous composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century Several buildings that had suffered little earthquake damage were destroyed by the subsequent fire. The new Opera House, opened just six months before (named the Phoenix Opera), burned to the ground. The Royal Ribeira Palace, which stood just beside the Tagus river in the modern square of Terreiro do Paço, was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami. The Ribeira Palace ( Portuguese: Paço(s da Ribeira) was Lisbon 's royal palace for over 200 years until it was destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake The Tagus ( Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo, pron. The Praça do Comércio ( pron. 'pɾasɐ du ku'mɛɾsiu Commerce Square) is located in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Inside, the 70,000-volume royal library as well as hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens, and Correggio, were lost. Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c 1485 &ndash August 27 1576 better known as Titian, was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian The royal archives disappeared together with detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators. Dom Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira ('vaʃku dɐ 'gɐmɐ ( Sines or Vidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, ca The earthquake also damaged major churches in Lisbon, namely the Lisbon Cathedral, the Basilicas of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, São Vicente de Fora, and the Misericordia Church. Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa or Sé de Lisboa is the Cathedral of Lisbon and the oldest church in the city The Latin word basilica (derived from Greek, Basiliké Stoà, Royal Stoa) was originally used to describe a Roman The Church or Monastery of São Vicente de Fora; meaning "Monastery of St The Igreja of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha ( pron. i'greʒɐ dɨ 'nɔsɐ sɨ'ɲoɾɐ dɐ kõsei'sɐ̃ũ 'vɛʎɐ Old Church of Our Lady of the Conception The Royal Hospital of All Saints (the largest public hospital at the time) in the Rossio square was consumed by fire and hundreds of patients burned to death. The Hospital Real de Todos os Santos ( All Saints Royal Hospital) was a major Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. The Rossio is the popular name of the Pedro IV Square ( Portuguese: Praça de D The tomb of national hero Nuno Álvares Pereira was also lost. Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O Carm ( pron 'nunu 'aɫvɐɾɨʃ pɨ'ɾɐjɾɐ ( July 24 Visitors to Lisbon may still walk the ruins of the Carmo Convent, which were preserved to remind Lisboners of the destruction. The Carmo Convent ( Convento da Ordem do Carmo) is a monument located in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal.

Relief and reconstruction efforts

The Ruins of Lisbon. Survivors lived in tents on the outskirts of the city after the earthquake, as shown in this fanciful 1755 German engraving.
The Ruins of Lisbon. The Pombaline style was a Portuguese architectural style of the 18th century named after Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Marquês de Pombal who was instrumental Survivors lived in tents on the outskirts of the city after the earthquake, as shown in this fanciful 1755 German engraving.
Detail from above: Executions in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake. At least 34 looters were hanged in the chaotic aftermath of the disaster. As a warning against looting, King Joseph I of Portugal ordered gallows to be constructed in several parts of the city.
Detail from above: Executions in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake. At least 34 looters were hanged in the chaotic aftermath of the disaster. As a warning against looting, King Joseph I of Portugal ordered gallows to be constructed in several parts of the city. Ancestors Marriages and descendants Joseph married Marianne Victoria of Borbón, daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese of A gallows is a frame typically wooden used for execution by Hanging.

The royal family escaped unharmed from the catastrophe; King Joseph I of Portugal and the court had left the city, after attending mass at sunrise, fulfilling the wish of one of the king's daughters to spend the holiday away from Lisbon. Ancestors Marriages and descendants Joseph married Marianne Victoria of Borbón, daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese of After the catastrophe, Joseph I developed a fear of living within walls, and the court was accommodated in a huge complex of tents and pavilions in the hills of Ajuda, then on the outskirts of Lisbon. The king's claustrophobia never waned, and it was only after Joseph's death that his daughter Maria I of Portugal began building the royal Ajuda Palace, which still stands on the site of the old tented camp. Claustrophobia (from Greek κλειστο closed is the fear of enclosed spaces Maria I ( December 17, 1734 – March 20, 1816) was Queen of Portugal and the Algarves from 1777 until her death The Ajuda National Palace ( Palácio Nacional da Ajuda) is a neoclassical monument in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. Like the king, the prime minister Sebastião de Melo (the Marquis of Pombal) survived the earthquake. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Count of Oeiras 1st Marquis of Pombal (in Portuguese, Marquês de Pombal, pron When asked what was to be done, Pombal reportedly replied "Bury the dead and feed the living,"[2] and set upon organizing relief and rehabilitation efforts. Firefighters were sent to extinguish the raging flames, and teams of workers and ordinary citizens were ordered to remove the thousands of corpses before disease could spread. Contrary to custom and against the wishes of the Church, many corpses were loaded onto barges and buried at sea beyond the mouth of the Tagus. BARGE, the Big August RecGambling Excursion is a yearly convention held in Las Vegas during the first weekend of August Burial at sea describes the procedure of disposing of human remains in the ocean normally from a ship or boat To prevent disorder in the ruined city, the Portuguese Army was deployed and gallows were constructed at high points around the city to deter looters; at least 34 people were publicly executed. The Portuguese Army (Exército Português is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which in cooperation with other branches of the Portuguese military is charged with A gallows is a frame typically wooden used for execution by Hanging. The Army prevented many able-bodied citizens from fleeing, pressing them into relief and reconstruction work.

The king and the prime minister immediately launched efforts to rebuild the city, hiring architects, engineers and organizing labor. In less than a year, the city was cleared of debris. Keen to have a new and perfectly ordained city, the king commissioned the construction of big squares, rectilinear, large avenues and widened streets — the new mottos of Lisbon. When the Marquis of Pombal was asked about the need for such wide streets, he is said to have replied: "one day they will be small. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Count of Oeiras 1st Marquis of Pombal (in Portuguese, Marquês de Pombal, pron "

The Pombaline buildings are among the first seismically-protected constructions in the world. The Pombaline style was a Portuguese architectural style of the 18th century named after Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Marquês de Pombal who was instrumental Seismology (from Greek grc σεισμός seismos, "earthquake" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Earthquakes Small wooden models were built for testing, and earthquakes were simulated by marching troops around them. Lisbon's "new" downtown, known today as the Pombaline Downtown (Baixa Pombalina), is one of the city's famed attractions. The Pombaline Lower Town ( Portuguese: Baixa Pombalina, pron. Sections of other Portuguese cities, like the Vila Real de Santo António in Algarve, were also rebuilt along Pombaline principles. Vila Real de Santo António ( pron 'vilɐ ʁi'aɫ dɨ 'sɐ̃tu ɐ̃'tɔnju often pronounced as ʁi'aɫ dɨ sɐ̃tɐ̃'tɔnju}} is a city civil parish and municipality The Algarve ( pron aɫ'gaɾv(ɨ is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal.

Effect on society and philosophy

Voltaire.
Voltaire. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French

The earthquake had wide-ranging effects on the lives of the populace and intelligentsia. The earthquake had struck on an important Catholic holiday and had destroyed almost every important church in the city, causing anxiety and confusion amongst the citizens of a staunch and devout Catholic city and country, which had been a major patron of the Church. Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". Theologians and philosophers would focus and speculate on the religious cause and message, seeing the earthquake as a manifestation of the anger of God.

The earthquake and its fallout strongly influenced the intelligentsia of the European Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century The noted writer-philosopher Voltaire used the earthquake in Candide and in his Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne ("Poem on the Lisbon disaster"). François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French --> Candide ou l'Optimisme (1759 is a French Satire by the Enlightenment Philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which The Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne ( Poem on the Lisbon Disaster) was a Poem in French composed by Voltaire, regarding the 1755 Lisbon Voltaire's Candide attacks the notion that all is for the best in this, "the best of all possible worlds", a world closely supervised by a benevolent deity. Optimism The phrase " the best of all possible worlds " (le meilleur des mondes possibles was coined by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz The Lisbon disaster provided a salutary counterexample. As Theodor Adorno wrote, "[t]he earthquake of Lisbon sufficed to cure Voltaire of the theodicy of Leibniz" (Negative Dialectics 361). Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist Theodicy (θiːˈɒdɪsi (adjectival form theodicean) is a specific branch of Theology and Philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of In the later twentieth century, following Adorno, the 1755 earthquake has sometimes been compared to the Holocaust as a catastrophe that transformed European culture and philosophy. Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also influenced by the devastation following the earthquake, whose severity he believed was due to too many people living within the close quarters of the city. Rousseau used the earthquake as an argument against cities as part of his desire for a more naturalistic way of life.

Immanuel Kant.
Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg

The concept of the sublime, though it existed before 1755, was developed in philosophy and elevated to greater importance by Immanuel Kant, in part as a result of his attempts to comprehend the enormity of the Lisbon quake and tsunami. In Aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublimis ( up from under the lintel high lofty elevated exalted is the quality of greatness or vast Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Kant published three separate texts on the Lisbon earthquake. The young Kant, fascinated with the earthquake, collected all the information available to him in news pamphlets, and used it to formulate a theory of the causes of earthquakes. Kant's theory, which involved the shifting of huge subterranean caverns filled with hot gases, was (though ultimately shown to be false) one of the first systematic modern attempts to explain earthquakes by positing natural, rather than supernatural, causes. According to Walter Benjamin, Kant's slim early book on the earthquake "probably represents the beginnings of scientific geography in Germany. Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( July 15, 1892 &ndash September 27, 1940) was a German - Jewish Marxist Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. And certainly the beginnings of seismology. "

Werner Hamacher has claimed that the earthquake's consequences extended into the vocabulary of philosophy, making the common metaphor of firm "grounding" for philosophers' arguments shaky and uncertain: "Under the impression exerted by the Lisbon earthquake, which touched the European mind in one [of] its more sensitive epochs, the metaphor of ground and tremor completely lost their apparent innocence; they were no longer merely figures of speech" (263). Werner Hamacher (born 1948 is a German literary critic and theorist influenced by Deconstruction. Hamacher claims that the foundational certainty of Descartes' philosophy began to shake following the Lisbon earthquake.

The earthquake had a major impact on Portuguese politics. The prime minister was the favorite of the king, but the aristocracy despised him as an upstart son of a country squire (although the Prime Minister Sebastião de Melo is known today as Marquis of Pombal, the title was only granted in 1770, fifteen years after the earthquake). Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Count of Oeiras 1st Marquis of Pombal (in Portuguese, Marquês de Pombal, pron The prime minister in turn disliked the old nobles, whom he considered corrupt and incapable of practical action. Before November 1, 1755 there was a constant struggle for power and royal favor, but the competent response of the Marquis of Pombal effectively severed the power of the old aristocratic factions. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1755 ( MDCCLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or However, silent opposition and resentment of King Joseph I began to rise, which would culminate with the attempted assassination of the king, and the subsequent elimination of the powerful Duke of Aveiro and the Távora family. The Dukes of Aveiro was an aristocratic Portuguese Title with the level of Royal Dukedom, close related to the The Távora affair was a political scandal of the 18th century Portuguese court

Development of seismology

The prime minister's response was not limited to the practicalities of reconstruction. He ordered a query sent to all parishes of the country regarding the earthquake and its effects. A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches Questions included:

The answers to these and other questions are still archived in the Torre do Tombo, the national historical archive. The Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo ( English: National Archive of the Tower of the Tombo is the Portuguese National archive established in 1378 Studying and cross-referencing the priests' accounts, modern scientists were able to reconstruct the event from a scientific perspective. Without the query designed by the Marquis of Pombal, this would have been impossible. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Count of Oeiras 1st Marquis of Pombal (in Portuguese, Marquês de Pombal, pron Because the marquis was the first to attempt an objective scientific description of the broad causes and consequences of an earthquake, he is regarded as a forerunner of modern seismological scientists.

The geological causes of this earthquake and the seismic activity in the region continue to be discussed and debated by contemporary scientists. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Between History and Periodicity: Printed and Hand-Written News in 18th-Century Portuga
  2. ^ Kendrick. The Pombaline style was a Portuguese architectural style of the 18th century named after Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo 1st Marquês de Pombal who was instrumental The following is a list of major Earthquakes. USGS list of significant earthquakes This is a list of significant earthquakes as listed by the Earthquake Baroque is a style of Baroque architecture found in places such at the Philippines and Guatemala, which suffered Earthquakes during The Lisbon Earthquake, 75.   Kendrick writes that the remark is apocryphal and is attributed to other sources in anti-Pombal literature.

References

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic