Lisbon District
Lisbon District (, ) is a district located in the South Central Portugal, the district capital is the city of Lisbon, also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the current Setúbal District.
History of Lisbon
Portugal was brought low during the final years of the reign of Philip III, as the Spanish officials often flagrantly violated the conditions granted by Philip I, which were the original contract and unalterable constitution of Portugal while it was subject to the monarchs of Castile. Lisbon, the once great cosmopolitan city, was reduced to the rank of a provincial city with no influence among the higher Spanish nobility who governed from Madrid, their conservative and fundamentalist Catholic capital. Lisbon lost much of its population and its importance to the world economy as its mercantile activity shrank. With economic decline, unemployment and crime increased greatly, adding to the misery of the common people. The Spanish authorities were obliged to introduce a kind of auxiliary police force, the "Quadrilheiros", whose members patrolled the streets to control street crime, fights, sorcery and gaming.