Late 17th century earthquakes on the North-African coast

Abstract

The recent seismological literature recorded three strong earthquakes in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia between 1656 and 1694 AD. The historical evidence for these derives from European sources only (gazettes, journalistic pamphlets, missionary literature). Considering the kind of sources involved, their likely biases and the geographical distances that divided their places of production from the places that they spoke about, it is possible that some of these accounts could be less than reliable, and therefore have little use as materials from which to assess earthquake parameters. To answer these doubts, we have retrieved, cross-checked and critically analysed the original historical sources quoted in previous compilations and studies.