Capital Disasters and Suspended Moves: Mexico (1629) and Lima (1746)

Abstract

Mexico and Lima, the two largest and most important capital cities of the Spanish viceroyalties, share some significant similarities: one of them is their exposure to serious natural disasters at certain times in their history, so dramatic that made its inhabitants consider the possibility of moving the established cities to safer territories. For Mexico City, the critical event was the terrible flood of 1629; for Lima, the devastating earthquake of 1746. This article analyzes the post-disaster management comparing both cases, where changes were never carried out.