When the Earth shook...

In 1750, King D. José, son of D. João V, nominated the Marquês de Pombal as Prime Minister. It would be this man that would leave his imprint on the second half of the Portuguese 18th Century, not only through having reinforced the power of the monarchy, which historians have called «Enlightened Despotism», but also, and chiefly, through his actions after the violent earthquake and the ravaging seaquake which in 1755 destroyed the city of Lisbon.
 
The disaster was terrible and the number of deaths rose to 90 thousand, around a third of the population of Lisbon. More than 85 per cent of the buildings of the city were destroyed, including famous palaces, libraries, convents, churches and hospitals. A number of buildings which had suffered minor damage from the earthquake were destroyed in the fire which followed the earthquake. The recently constructed Opera House, opened only six months previously, burned in a few hours. The Royal Palace, which was situated on the bank of the Tagus, on the site of the present day Terreiro do Paço, disappeared forever thanks to the aftershocks and 20 metre waves thrown out by the river Tagus. Inside, a library of 70 thousand volumes and hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens and Correggio, amongst many other precious items, were lost in the ruins, along with the sumptuous Royal Archive, containing unique documents concerning Oceanic exploration.

In a flash of lucidity, the Marquês de Pombal ordered the city to be rebuilt, following a strict urban plan, an example of which being the present day Baixa, downtown, part of Lisbon, and endowing the new buildings with anti-seismic structures.

An ambitious programme of reforms was carried out at the national level, which led to an increase in production relative to foreign competition, the development of colonial trade and incentives for expansion in manufacturing. The company for the Agriculture and Vineyard of the Alto Douro was established under the scope of this policy, to which the Minister gave tax exemptions for exports and commerce with the colonies, and in this way established the first demarcated wine growing area in the world.

At the same time, the Marquês established fiscal stimuli to set up small manufacturing units aimed at the national Portuguese market, of which the colonies also formed a part. This protectionist policy also covered measures which favoured the importation of primary materials and which considered imported products to be similar to those of Portuguese manufacture. As a result, within the country hundreds of small manufacturing units producing a wide range of goods were set up. He also set up the Royal Bank and established a new structure for administering and collecting taxes.

The reformist activities of Pombal also included actions within the scope of politics and the State, and he worked tirelessly to strengthen the absolutism of the King and in fighting those sectors and institutions which could have weakened him. He reduced the power of the Church, and made the Inquisition answerable to the State and in 1759 expelled the Jesuits from the metropolis and the colonies and confiscated their goods.

Iberian Union

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