Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 548,703 as of 2022 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast, the others being on islands. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus. The western portion of its metro area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca.
Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the generation and propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or other planetary bodies. It also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, glacial, fluvial, oceanic microseism, atmospheric, and artificial processes such as explosions and human activities. A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of Earth motion as a function of time, created by a seismograph is called a seismogram. A seismologist is a scientist works in basic or applied seismology.
The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows 1,007 km (626 mi), generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon.
Dom Joseph I, known as the Reformer, was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. His government was controlled by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal.
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami, the earthquake almost completely destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Seismologists estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 or greater on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent, a cape in Algarve region, and about 290 km southwest of Lisbon.
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal and 1st Count of Oeiras, known as the Marquis of Pombal, was a Portuguese despotic statesman and diplomat who effectively ruled the Portuguese Empire from 1750 to 1777 as chief minister to King Joseph I. A strong promoter of the absolute power and influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, Pombal led Portugal's recovery from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and reformed the kingdom's administrative, economic, and ecclesiastical institutions. During his lengthy ministerial career, Pombal accumulated and exercised autocratic power. His cruel persecution of the Portuguese lower classes led him to be known as “Nero of Trafaria”, a village he ordered to be burned with all its inhabitants inside, after refusing to follow his orders.
Belém is a freguesia and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Belém is located in western Lisbon, to the west of Ajuda and Alcântara and directly east of Lisbon's border with Oeiras. Belém is famous as a museum district, as the home of many of the most notable monuments of Lisbon and Portugal alike, such as the Belém Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, and Belém Palace. The population in 2011 was 16,528.
Ribeira Palace was the main residence of the Kings of Portugal, in Lisbon, for around 250 years. Its construction was ordered by King Manuel I of Portugal when he found the Royal Alcáçova of São Jorge unsuitable. The palace complex underwent numerous reconstructions and reconfigurations from the original Manueline design, ending with its final Mannerist and Baroque form.
The Praça do Comércio is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m, that is, 30,600 m2.
Tsunamis affecting Britain and Ireland are extremely uncommon, and there have only been two confirmed cases in recorded history. Meteotsunamis are somewhat more common, especially on the southern coasts of England around the English and Bristol Channels.
The Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault (AGFZ), also called a fault zone and a fracture zone, is a major seismic zone in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and the Strait of Gibraltar. It is the product of the complex interaction between the African, Eurasian, and Iberian plates. The AGFZ produced these large-magnitude earthquakes and, consequently, a number of large tsunamis: 1755 Lisbon, 1761 Lisbon, 1816 North Atlantic, 1941 Gloria Fault earthquake, 1969 Horseshoe and 1975.
The 1755 Cape Ann earthquake took place off the coast of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay on November 18. At between 6.0 and 6.3 on the Richter scale, it remains the largest earthquake in the history of Massachusetts. No one was killed, but it damaged hundreds of buildings in Boston and was felt as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as South Carolina. Sailors on a ship more than 200 miles (320 km) offshore felt the quake, and mistook it at first for their ship running aground. Many residents of Boston and the surrounding areas attributed the quake to God, and it occasioned a brief increase in religious fervor in the city. Modern studies estimate that if a similar quake shook Boston today, it would result in as much as $5 billion in damage and hundreds of deaths. Some discussion has revolved around the idea that this may have been a remotely triggered event from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake or its aftershocks.
Events in the year 1531 in Portugal.
The Project for the Royal Palace in Campo de Ourique was an ambitious 18th century proposal for a monumental royal palace to be built in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood of Lisbon. Portuguese architect Dionizio de S. Dionizio planned the palace for King Joseph I of Portugal as part of the reconstruction efforts following the destruction of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.
The 1761 Lisbon earthquake and its subsequent tsunami occurred in the north Atlantic Ocean and south of the Iberian Peninsula. This violent shock which struck just after noon on 31 March 1761, was felt across many parts of Western Europe. Its direct effects were observed even far north in Scotland and Amsterdam, and to the south in the Canary Islands of Spain. The estimated surface-wave magnitude 8.5 event was the largest in the region, and the most significant earthquake in Europe since the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
The 1722 Algarve earthquake occurred on 27 December 1722. It was felt throughout the Portuguese region of Algarve and destroyed a large area in southern Portugal generating a local tsunami that flooded the shallow areas of Tavira. It is unclear whether its source was located onshore or offshore and, in any case, what was the tectonic source responsible for the event. Some scientific research work has concluded that the 27 December 1722 Algarve earthquake and tsunami was probably generated offshore, close to 37°01′N, 7°49′W. The 1722 earthquake was 33 years before the great earthquake of 1755 which remains a major event in Portuguese history, mainly due to its effects on Lisbon which was wiped out by structural collapse, fire and then the flooding from a tsunami that raced up the Tagus River. Most of the documentation of the 1722 Algarve seismic event was sent to Lisbon for archiving and became lost after the fire that followed the 1755 earthquake. But the few surviving written records of the 1722 earthquake describe a destructive series of events affecting several Algarvean localities with earth tremors so strong that they made the bells ring out in Tavira, Faro and Loulé. In Tavira a caravel moored on the river Gilão was left high and dry before the tsunami hit with the dumbfounded crew able to walk to shore. The magnitude is estimated to have been 7.8 on the Richter scale. The earthquake of 1722 was probably caused by a diapirism where dense rock from deeper levels under high pressure pierced shallower materials. As a result, buildings in Albufeira, Faro, Lagoa and Loulé were also severely damaged or, in some cases, destroyed. In the 2010s, studies of seismic risk estimated there would be around 12,000 deaths if an earthquake equal to that of 1722 occurred then during peak season, because population density was significantly higher in the coastal areas of Algarve in the early 21st century, when it had already become a popular international travel destination, than in the 18th century, and construction of high-rise buildings built without proper anti-seismic measures were pervasive in the decades preceding such studies.
The 1816 North Atlantic earthquake occurred on 2 February somewhere between the Azores Islands and Lisbon, Portugal. The estimated moment magnitude 8.3–8.9 earthquake had an epicenter offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, and was felt in Lisbon at 00:40 local time. Little is known about the quake, but it is believed to be one of the largest to have struck the Atlantic.
The 1909 Benavente earthquake occurred on April 23 at 17:39:36 local in the Santarém District of the Central Region, Portugal. The earthquake had an estimated moment magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum intensity assigned at X (Extreme) on the Mercalli scale. It nearly destroyed the town of Benavente, killing 60 and injuring 75 people as a result.
