The huerfanito's legend. Historiographic criticism on what never happened in the earthquake of Pamplona, Nueva Granada, 1644.

Abstract

On January 16, 1644 there was an earthquake that severely damaged Pamplona, in New Granada, as well as numerous peoples of the region. About this fact, historiographic entanglements have been interwoven that led to the creation of a legend about an existing devotion, the Niño Huerfanito’s one in this city, as well as scientific data on the effects of the tremor that never occurred, like some damages in Mérida, in present territory of Venezuela. This paper aims to review such entanglements and develop a critical look on the process that built these mistakes and established a collective memory around non-existent events.