Lisbon Earthquake 1755

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

It occurs to me that the Aceh earthquake and its consequences will
have a comparable impact to that of the "great Lisbon earthquake" of
1755 in influencing the European enlightenment and the push for
bourgeois democracy.

http://nisee.berkeley.edu/lisbon/
> > Although not the strongest or most deadly earthquake in human
> > history, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake's impact, not only on Portugal
> > but on all of Europe, was profound and lasting. Depictions of the
> > earthquake in art and literature can be found in several European
> > countries, and these were produced and reproduced for centuries
> > following the event, which came to be known as "The Great Lisbon
> > Earthquake." <<

Other good discussion. Then this conclusion >
> > The extensive number of renderings of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
> > found throughout Europe demonstrate the traumatic effect the
> > disaster had on the continent. Depictions of the Lisbon earthquake
> > were created, copied, and widely distributed and discussed
> > throughout all of southern, western and central Europe. Whether
> > created by the new desire to investigate, record, and understand the
> > earthquake in natural rather than strictly metaphysical terms, or
> > created by the more sensational desire to report on human calamity,
> > these depictions indicate that the Lisbon earthquake of 1755
> > represents a watershed event in European history. <<

The earthquake appears to have been probably of the order of Richter 9
and to have been associated with widespread tsunami's.

Voltaire refers to it in his widely-read Candide.

The civil society that will be united by this latest earthquake
however is global and not merely European, and that has something to
do with the development of the means of production.

Chris Burford