The Lima–Callao earthquake
A tsunami wiped out Peru's main port
On 28 October 1746 an earthquake of estimated magnitude 8.6–8.8 destroyed much of Lima, capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Soon afterwards a tsunami struck the port of Callao: of its roughly 5,000 inhabitants, by various accounts only about 200 survived. Lima was rebuilt with lower houses and lighter upper storeys, and the disaster ranks among the most severe in South American history.
Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1755 Lisbon earthquake — 9 years later
- 1756–1763 Seven Years' War — 10 years later
- c. 1760 Start of the Industrial Revolution — 14 years later
- 1769 Watt's steam engine — 23 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1721 Proclamation of the Russian Empire — 25 years earlier
- 1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — 16 years later
- 1764 Founding of the Hermitage — 18 years later
- c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — 22 years later
Middle East
- 1722 Fall of Isfahan — 24 years earlier
- 1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — 1 year later
Asia
- 1755–1758 The Dzungar genocide — 9 years later
- 1757 Battle of Plassey — 11 years later
- 1761 Third Battle of Panipat — 15 years later
Oceania
- 1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — 22 years later
Alive at the time
- Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 61)
- Voltaire (aged 52)
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 40)
- Mikhail Lomonosov (aged 35)
- James Cook (aged 18)
- Catherine the Great (aged 17)
- George Washington (aged 14)
- Tokugawa Yoshimune (aged 62)
- Nader Shah (aged 58)
- Carl Linnaeus (aged 39)