What is the name of the largest earthquake ever recorded?

The Great Chilean earthquake was the largest earthquake ever recorded by modern instruments. It struck southern Chile on May 22, 1960, and is also widely called the 1960 Valdivia earthquake.

The event reached a moment magnitude of about 9.5, releasing enormous energy along a rupture zone hundreds of miles long on the boundary where the Nazca Plate dives beneath the South American Plate. The shaking caused catastrophic damage in Chile and generated a Pacific-wide tsunami.

Tsunami waves crossed the ocean and affected Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, and other coastal areas. The earthquake is often confused with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake or the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake because those disasters caused immense loss of life, but neither was as large by recorded magnitude. “Largest” here means greatest measured earthquake magnitude, not necessarily the deadliest or most destructive.