The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the policy of economic regulation of the Marquis de Pombal

Abstract

The article begins with a general picture of the economic consequences of the natural disaster that destroyed Lisbon in November of 1755, which serve as a point of departure for the study of the role played by the Marquis of Pombal — leading minister of King José I — in the process of reconstruction. The article argues that the substantial amount of material damage was an opportunity and a pretext to put forward a set of economic policies guided by the mercantilist doctrine that Pombal had learned while he served as ambassador in London in the early 1740’s. The public needs following the catastrophe urged for a strong determination and requested a political leadership that Pombal was able to demonstrate. The collection of decrees, edicts and orders that he produced in the days and weeks immediately after the earthquake, offer the main historical sources for the study of Pombal’s political intervention on different problems — social, economic, military, religious, judicial — that needed to be solved. The earthquake was therefore the momentum that made it possible for Pombal to emerge as the enlightened minister responsible for the conduction of public policies designed, not only to work out immediate problems, but also to foster long term development.