On a holy morning in 1755, with churches packed full of worshippers, the earth split open beneath Lisbon, the sea drained away, and a city-crushing tsunami and firestorm followed. It was an apocalyptic reset that reshaped human history.
This episode recounts the triple catastrophe of earthquake, tsunami, and fire, then explores what came next: a ruthless rebuilding effort, the birth of earthquake engineering, and a philosophical earthquake that shattered Enlightenment optimism and pushed humanity toward science over pure theology.
The geology of the offshore fault and why the sea pulled back before the tsunami struck
Energy so vast that waves reached Cornwall, Ireland, North Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil
The Marquis of Pombal's brutal pragmatism: burying the dead at sea and hanging looters
Pombaline architecture and the flexible wooden cage tested by marching soldiers
How the disaster fueled Voltaire's Candide and pushed Kant toward early seismology
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