El terremoto de Lima en 1746: la utilización interesada de un desastre natural

Abstract

The object of this paper is not to make a detailed list of the events which took place during the earthquake that destroyed Lima in 1746. Its main intention is to ana1yze how the richest and most powerful sectors of the Limean society confronted that great catastrophe, and more concretely, how some of them took advantage of it for their own benefit. The reconstruction of the city and the destruction of the buildings which acted as guaranties for mortgages or loans would give rise to a huge number of conflicts, which let us to study the relationships among the privileged groups in the capital of Peru.