Pombal and the Rebuilding of Lisbon

In Portugal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, later the Marquis of Pombal, dominated government as chief minister to King José I from 1750 to 1777. After the earthquake of 1755, Pombal organized relief, ordered the burial of the dead and directed the rebuilding of Lisbon's lower town, the Baixa, on a rational grid with wide streets and standardized buildings. Engineers devised a wooden 'cage' frame to help buildings resist future quakes.

Pombal also pursued economic reforms, founding trading companies, promoting manufacturing and reforming the University of Coimbra in 1772 to teach modern science. He banned the transport of enslaved people into mainland Portugal in 1761, though slavery continued in the colonies, and in 1773 abolished the legal distinction between 'Old' and 'New' Christians of Jewish descent. Yet Pombal ruled harshly: he expelled the Jesuits in 1759 and crushed noble opponents after a 1758 attempt on the king's life, with severe punishments.

He was dismissed after José's death in 1777.