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The Earthquake That Brought an Empire to Its Knees

In the 18th century, the Portuguese empire was enjoying the wealth of its second Golden Age. Mother Nature, however, had other plans.
12.27.15
It was a calamity of Biblical proportions, akin to Sodom and Gomorrah or Egypt in Exodus.
In 1755, Lisbon, the capital of the extensive Portuguese empire and the third-busiest port in the world, was in the midst of its second golden age. The seemingly endless supply of gold from Brazil had catapulted the tiny nation back into the high echelons it had occupied two centuries before with its colonies in Africa and Asia.
On All Saints Day of that year, all of this came to a calamitous halt when an earthquake, a tsunami, and a fire destroyed Lisbon and relegated the Portuguese empire, more often than not, to the status of a mere footnote in history.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/27/the-earthquake-that-brought-an-empire-to-its-knees.html