Lisbon
Lisbon (; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 505,526 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km. Its urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 2.8 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union. About 3 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (which represents approximately 27% of the country's population). It is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus. The westernmost areas of its metro area form the westernmost point of Continental Europe, which is known as Cabo da Roca, located in the Sintra Mountains.
History of Lisbon
The city has also hosted meetings of the Ibero-American Summit as well as of the Portuguese-speaking African countries, or PALOP, ("Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa").
The real impetus to Lisbon's modernization came when Portugal joined the European Union (EU). The city received significant funds for land redevelopment and urban renewal, and was chosen the European Capital of Culture in 1994. The Lisbon Strategy was an agreement between the EU nations based on measures to improve the European economy, signed in the city in March 2000. Sessions of the European Council were held in Lisbon in which the ministerial meetings and the agreements to be worked out between members of the European Community, known as the Bologna Process, were approved, having been first proposed in the Italian city.