Lisbon metropolitan area
The Lisbon metropolitan area, centered in the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, is the largest population concentration in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 2,821,876, of whom 547,733 (19.4%) live in the city of Lisbon. About 26.7% of the total population of Portugal lives in the Lisbon metropolitan area. The area of the Lisbon metropolitan area is 3,015.24 km, which is 3.3% of the total area of Portugal.
History of Lisbon
Meanwhile, to control access to the capital, Wellington's chief engineer, Richard Fletcher, built the defensive lines known as the Lines of Torres Vedras across the peninsula on which Lisbon sits, using Portuguese workmen. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Tagus on the other, the city was reachable only by a narrow stretch of land blocked by a range of hills stretching from Sintra to Torre Vedras, which since Roman times had marked the bounds of Lisbon's territory. Conceived by Fletcher and a Portuguese major, Neves Costa, the Lines proved impregnable to the French invasion force ("Armée de Portugal") commanded by Marshal André Masséna, who withdrew in defeat in March 1811, after which the British and some Portuguese troops under General Wellington left Portugal to launch another offensive against the French army in Spain. This offensive culminated with a victory at Vittoria, effectively ending French control of Spain. Napoleon was finally defeated 18 June 1815 at Waterloo by a coalition of Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia.