ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Sebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal

So, imagine you're playing with your toys and you accidentally knock them all down. Your mom or dad might get mad and yell at you. Well, a long time ago in Portugal, the country was in big trouble, like all the toys getting knocked down. But instead of your mom or dad yelling, someone named Sebastião de Melo, who was also known as the Marquis of Pombal, decided to step in and help fix things.

There was a big earthquake in Portugal in 1755 that caused a lot of damage and chaos. Sebastião de Melo was in charge of helping to rebuild the city of Lisbon after the earthquake. But he also did more than that. He was a really smart guy who wanted to make Portugal stronger and better.

So, he made a lot of changes to the way the country was run. One thing he did was to modernize agriculture by teaching farmers better ways to grow crops. He also changed the way the government worked, putting more power in the hands of the king and the people who worked for him. He also worked to improve education and healthcare in Portugal.

Some people didn't like the changes that Sebastião de Melo was making because they were used to things being done the old way. They even tried to kill him a few times! But he didn't give up and kept working to make Portugal better.

In the end, Sebastião de Melo's changes helped Portugal become a stronger and more powerful country. So, you could say he was like a superhero who saved the country in a time of need.