MicroFactzzz#0080 · ☠️ Dark Facts
One earthquake changed how philosophers thought about God and suffering
The earthquake that destroyed Lisbon in 1755 triggered a tsunami and fires, along with a deep philosophical crisis in Europe.
On November 1, 1755, All Saints' Day, while most residents of Lisbon were in church, the city was struck by a massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami and widespread fires.
The combination of these three disasters killed tens of thousands of residents and destroyed most of what was then the capital of Portugal — one of colonial Europe's most important cities of the era.
The scale of the tragedy, which struck on a religious holiday of all days, shook European thinkers — Voltaire referenced it in "Candide," challenging the optimistic philosophy claiming we live in "the best of all possible worlds."
The significance: the disaster also contributed to the birth of modern seismology — Portuguese minister the Marquis of Pombal commissioned one of the first systematic surveys of an earthquake's effects across different regions of a country.
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