An <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East_earthquakes_of_1759" id="mweg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Near East earthquakes of 1759">earthquake</a> hits the Mediterranean destroying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beirut" id="mwew" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Beirut">Beirut</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus" id="mwfA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Damascus">Damascus</a> and killing 30,000–40,000.