1755 Lisbon earthquake
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 totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Seismologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude of at least 8.4 on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent and about southwest of Lisbon. Chronologically it was the third known large scale earthquake to hit the city (there had been one in 1321 and another in 1531). Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone at between 30,000 and 50,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.