•Date: Saturday, November 1, 1755

•Time: 09:40 a.m.

•Magnitude: 7.7-9.0 on the moment magnitude scale

•Epicentre: Located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 km southwest of Cape St. Vincent.

•Type: Historical earthquake

• Casualties: The earthquake resulted in an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 deaths in Lisbon alone, with additional casualties in Morocco.

• Destruction: The earthquake caused widespread destruction, demolishing large public buildings and approximately 12,000 dwellings. The city of Lisbon was almost completely destroyed.

• Tsunami: Approximately 40 minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami engulfed the harbor and downtown area, rushing up the Tagus River. The tsunami was followed by two more waves.

• Fire: Candles knocked over by the earthquake started fires that developed into a firestorm, burning for hours and asphyxiating people up to 30 meters from the blaze.

Other causes:

1. Tectonic Plate Movements: It occurred due to the convergence of the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate along the Azores-Gibraltar Transform Fault.

2. Subduction Zone: The area is near a subduction zone where one tectonic plate moves under another, causing significant stress and potential for seismic activity.

3. Accumulated Stress: Over time, stress accumulated along the fault lines due to the slow movement of tectonic plates.

• Immanuel Kant

  Kant published three texts in 1756 on the earthquake, and formulated a theory that earthquakes were caused by shifts in caverns filled with hot gases.

• Philosophy

  The earthquake's consequences shook the foundational certainty of René Descartes' philosophy, and made the metaphor of "grounding" for philosophical arguments less certain.