The Lisbon earthquake
A city is destroyed on All Saints' Day, and European philosophy has to respond.
- When
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
On 1 November 1755 an earthquake estimated near magnitude 8.5, followed by a tsunami and six days of fire, destroys Lisbon and kills perhaps 30,000 to 50,000 people. It strikes on a major religious holiday with churches full. Voltaire uses it against optimistic theodicy in Candide; Rousseau replies that the deaths owed something to building six-storey houses. The Marquis of Pombal's survey of the damage is an early exercise in seismology.