Is Lisbon the capital of Portugal?
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.
Culture of Portugal
The Portuguese participate in many cultural activities, indulging their appreciation of art, music, drama, and dance. Portugal has a rich traditional folklore ("Ranchos Folclóricos"), with great regional variety. Many cities and towns have a museum and a collection of ancient monuments and buildings. Many towns have at least a cinema, some venues to listen to music and locations to see arts and crafts. In the larger cities visits to the theatre, concerts or galleries of modern exhibitions are popular, and Portugal can boast not only international-scale venues in Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Guimarães and Coimbra but also many acclaimed artists from various disciplines. The importance of the arts is illustrated by the fact that on the death of Amália Rodrigues, the "Queen of Fado" (fado is Portugal's national music) in October 1999, three days of national mourning was declared. In 1998, José Saramago, one of Portugal's well-known writers, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Lisbon (1994), Porto (2001) and Guimarães (2012) were all designated European Capitals of Culture, contributing to a current renaissance in artistic creation, and in 2004 Portugal hosted the European football finals in specially constructed stadiums.
Flag of Lisbon
The flag of Lisbon is a gyronny of four parts of black and four of white with the coat of arms in the center. For civil use there is a version without the coat of arms. The gyronny pattern indicates city status.
Tourism in Lisbon
Lisbon's Opera House, the "Teatro Nacional de São Carlos", hosts a relatively active cultural agenda, mainly in autumn and winter. Other important theatres and musical houses are the "Centro Cultural de Belém", the "Teatro Nacional D. Maria II", the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the "Teatro Camões".There are a number of tourist attractions outside of the city proper but within the Lisbon metropolitan area. Examples include Estoril, the beach resorts of Cascais, and the old city and castle of Sintra.
Hotel Heritage
Heritage Lisbon Hotels are a small hotel chain which goal is the recovery and adaptation of ancient houses or historical buildings to hotels, located in Lisbon; Portugal’s capital city.
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.
Tourism in Portugal
Tourism in Portugal serves millions of international and domestic tourists. Tourists visit to see cities, historic landmarks, enjoy beaches, or religious sites. In 2017, Portugal had 23 million visitors. The most popular destinations were Lisbon, Porto, Fatima, the Portuguese Riviera and the Algarve. The most popular with internationals were Lisbon, the Algarve and Northern Portugal. National tourists prefer Northern Portugal, followed by Central Portugal and the Algarve.
Portuguese Empire
In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal, and Dom João, Prince Regent in place of his mother, Dona Maria I, ordered the transfer of the royal court to Brazil. In 1815 Brazil was elevated to the status of Kingdom, the Portuguese state officially becoming the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves ("Reino Unido de Portugal, Brasil e Algarves"), and the capital was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, the only instance of a European country being ruled from one of its colonies. There was also the election of Brazilian representatives to the Cortes Constitucionais Portuguesas (Portuguese Constitutional Courts), the Parliament that assembled in Lisbon in the wake of the Liberal Revolution of 1820.
Lisbon
Lisbon is part of the Union of Luso-Afro-Americo-Asiatic Capital Cities from 28 June 1985, establishing brotherly relations with the following cities:
Lisbon has additional cooperation agreements with the following cities:
The History of the Siege of Lisbon
Another major theme is Saramago's appreciation of the Reconquista, a central element in the history of Portugal as well as Spain, of which the conquest or re-conquest of Lisbon by Christians and its transformation into the capital of Portugal is a key event.
Lisbon
With its central location, Lisbon became the capital city of the new Portuguese territory in 1255.
The first Portuguese university was founded in Lisbon in 1290 by King Denis I; for many years the "Studium Generale" ("General Study") was transferred intermittently to Coimbra, where it was installed permanently in the 16th century as the University of Coimbra.
Setúbal
The city of Setúbal is located on the northern bank of the Sado River estuary, approximately south of Portugal's capital, Lisbon. It is also the seat of the Setúbal District.
Lisbon Book Fair
The Lisbon Book Fair is one of the oldest cultural festivals held in the capital of Portugal. It was inaugurated in the 1930s, and its traditional location is the Eduardo VII Park (Parque Eduardo VII), the largest park of Lisbon, which is located in the vicinity of the monumental Praça Marques de Pombal.
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Portugal had its origins in the reprivatisation of Portuguese bus and coach operation, which had been nationalised after the 1974 Revolution. In 1990, the nationalised Rodoviária Nacional was split into ten components. In the capital, Lisbon, Rodoviária de Lisboa was the chief operator outside the city itself, where Carris provided city bus and tram services. The name of Rodoviária de Lisboa survived as part of the Barraqueiro bus company, but another part, serving the area to the west of Lisbon, became Stagecoach Portugal in 1995. A further portion still operates as Vimeca – Viação Mecânica de Carnaxide. In June 2001 Stagecoach announced the sale of their Portuguese operations to ScottURB for £14 million.
History of Lisbon
Signs of a recovering economy emerged slowly under the Portuguese economic renewal policy. The city grew gradually to 250,000 inhabitants who settled in all geographical directions, occupying the new neighbourhoods of Estrella and Rato, while its new industrial centre concentrated around the recent water supply brought by the aqueduct to the water tower of Alcântara. Many factories arose in the area, including the royal ceramic factory and the silk factory of Amoreiras, where mulberry trees were grown to provide leaves to feed the larvae of the silkworms used by the local silk factories. The Prime Minister tried continually to stimulate the rise of middle class, which he saw as essential to the country's development and progress. The first cafes owned by Italians were founded in the city around this time: some survive today such as "Martinho da Arcada" (1782) in the Palace Square and the "Nicola" in Rossio Square, whose Liberal owner, among others, illuminated the façade after each Progressive political victory. The richest burghers acquired the habit of holding social soirées, with the unprecedented participation of women, while among the conservative nobility women held their traditional place and did not participate. In this manner a self-conscious bourgeois middle class rose again from the people of Lisbon, composed of both New Christians and Old Christians; these were the source of the national Liberal and Republican political movements, their presence manifested by the publication of several new newspapers in the capital.
Lisbon, New York
By some accounts, the town is named after Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. However, the 1810 US Census for the town shows the town's name as Lisburn, which is a city located in Northern Ireland adjacent to the capital of Belfast. Belfast was the birthplace of Alexander Macomb, the prosperous New York City merchant of Loyalist sympathies. Earlier in 1791, he purchased much of Northern New York along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, which the state had released for public sale after cession of the land by the Iroquois. With partners, Macomb sold the land for development.
Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves
The Museum-Residence Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves () is a residence converted to museum theatre, located in the civil parish of Avenidas Novas, in the municipality and Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
Lisboa VR
In early 2009, the region was renamed from Estremadura to Lisboa to avoid confusion with the Spanish wine region Extremadura and to capitalize on the internationally well-known name of the country's capital.
Huambo
In 1928 Huambo was renamed Nova Lisboa (New Lisbon, after Lisbon the capital of Portugal), indicating that the colonial administration intended making of it at some point the capital of the colony.
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.
Lisbon
The Lisbon region is the wealthiest region in Portugal and it is well above the European Union's GDP per capita average – it produces 45% of the Portuguese GDP. Lisbon's economy is based primarily on the tertiary sector. Most of the headquarters of multinationals operating in Portugal are concentrated in the Grande Lisboa Subregion, specially in the Oeiras municipality. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area is heavily industrialized, especially the south bank of the Tagus river (Rio Tejo).
Algés (Oeiras)
Algés () is a former civil parish in the municipality of Oeiras, in Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Algés, Linda-a-Velha e Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo. The population in 2011 was 22,273, in an area of 1.98 km². The parish is located near the Tagus river, between the town of Oeiras and the capital city of Lisbon. It is also a part of the Greater Lisbon Area. It is mostly a residential suburb.
Emperor
When Napoleon I ordered the invasion of Portugal in 1807 because it refused to join the Continental System, the Portuguese Braganzas moved their capital to Rio de Janeiro to avoid the fate of the Spanish Bourbons (Napoleon I arrested them and made his brother Joseph king). When the French general Jean-Andoche Junot arrived in Lisbon, the Portuguese fleet had already left with all the local elite.
Lisbon
The Lisbon Metropolitan Area incorporates two NUTS III (European statistical subdivisions): "Grande Lisboa" (Greater Lisbon), along the northern bank of the Tagus River, and "Península de Setúbal" (Setúbal Peninsula), along the southern bank. These two subdivisions make for the "Região de Lisboa" (Lisbon Region). The population density of the city itself is .
Rhodesian mission in Lisbon
The Rhodesian mission in Lisbon (), the capital of Portugal, operated from September 1965 to May 1975. It was a diplomatic mission representing Rhodesia (or Southern Rhodesia), initially as a self-governing colony of Britain and, after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in November 1965, as an unrecognised state.
Rhodesia informed Britain of its intent to open a Lisbon mission headed by an accredited representative, independent from the Britain Embassy in the city, in June 1965. Whitehall refused to endorse the idea but Rhodesia continued nonetheless, and later that month appointed Harry Reedman to head the mission. The British government attempted unsuccessfully to block this unilateral act—Rhodesia's first—for some months afterwards.
Grande Lisboa
Grande Lisboa (Greater Lisbon in English) is a former Portuguese NUTS III subregion integrated in the Lisboa Region. It was abolished at the January 2015 NUTS 3 revision. It is part of the historical Estremadura Province. It includes the capital and prime city of Portugal, Lisbon ("Lisboa" in Portuguese). It is the main economical subregion of the country. It covers 1,376 km² and it is the most populous and most densely populated Portuguese subregion (2,821,619 inhabitants and 2,043 inhabitants/km²).
Patriarchate of Lisbon
Lisbon, being one of the oldest cities in Iberia, has had a rich ecclesiastical history, in which the ordinaries of Lisbon have held different titles, partially depending on the country/city's rulers and their political/colonial power.After the Muslim invasion of Lisbon in 716, the see was vacant. The diocese was revitalized with the Siege of Lisbon in 1147, when the city was once again in Christian hands.
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; , ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, the former Classical University of Lisbon (1911–2013) and the Technical University of Lisbon (1930–2013). The history of a university in Lisbon dates back to the 13th century.
Tourism in Lisbon
Bairro Alto is an area of central Lisbon that functions as a residential, shopping and entertainment district; it is the centre of the Portuguese capital's nightlife, attracting hipster youth and members of various music subcultures. Lisbon's Punk, Gay, Metal, Goth, Hip Hop and Reggae scenes all find a home in the "Bairro" with its many clubs and bars that cater to them. The crowds in the Bairro Alto are a multicultural mix of people representing a broad cross-section of modern Portuguese society, many of them being entertainment seekers and devotees of various music genres outside the mainstream, yet Fado, Portugal's national music, still survives in the midst of the new nightlife.
Lisbon Cathedral
The Lisbon Cathedral ( or '; "Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major"), often called simply the Sé, is a Roman Catholic church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon. Since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles. It has been classified as a National Monument since 1910.
Lisbon Airport
In January 2019, Portugal's government unveiled a 1.1-billion-euro ($1.26 billion) plan to expand Lisbon's current airport and build a second one. National airports operator ANA is footing the bill to adapt a military airfield in Montijo, by road from Lisbon. It aims to handle around 50 million passengers a year from 2022. The airports company will also pay for the expansion of the Humberto Delgado Airport in the capital. With around 29 million passengers a year, it is at full capacity.
Treaty of Lisbon
At the meeting of the European Council in October 2007, Portugal insisted that the Treaty (then called the 'Reform Treaty') be signed in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. This request was granted, and the Treaty was thus to be called the Treaty of Lisbon, in line with the tradition of European Union treaties. The Portuguese presidency was appointed to the job of organising the programme for a signing ceremony.
History of Lisbon
Despite the preparations for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition, Lisbon was the stage of an unusual movement: as the crossroads of the circulation of refugees from World War II, Lisbon was an important meeting place for spies from both sides, given the neutral character of the country. "In 1940 Lisbon, happiness was staged so that God could believe it still existed," wrote the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. During World War II, Saint-Exupery escaped from France to Portugal and ended up in Lisbon, waiting for a visa to go to America. He was not the only one; the Portuguese capital became a symbol of hope for many refugees. Even Ilsa and Rick, the star-crossed lovers in the film Casablanca, sought a ticket to that "great embarkation point." Thousands had flooded the city, trying to obtain the documents necessary to escape to the United States or Palestine. On June 26 the main HIAS-HICEM (Jewish relief organization) European Office was authorised by the Portuguese Government to be transferred from Paris to Lisbon.
In 1956, the Portuguese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr Pedro Theotonio Pereira, and Bernard Morgan, a retired solicitor from London, organised the first Tall Ships' Race a race of 20 of the world's remaining large sailing ships. The race was from Torquay, Devon, to Lisbon, and was meant to be a last farewell to the era of the great sailing ships. Public interest was so intense, however, that race organisers founded the Sail Training International Association to direct the planning of future events. Since then Tall Ships' Races have occurred annually in various parts of the world, with millions of spectators.
Alcochete
On January 10, 2008, Portuguese prime minister José Sócrates announced that Alcochete had been selected as the site of the new airport serving Lisbon, Portugal's capital. The existing Portela Airport, which is located within the city of Lisbon itself, has become too small to handle demand. This preliminary decision will be finalised after public consultation. The location of Alcochete as the construction site of the future Lisbon Airport was confirmed by the Portuguese Government on May 8, 2008.
History of Portugal
The Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal, was finally conquered from the Moors in 1249, and in 1255 the capital shifted to Lisbon. Neighboring Spain would not complete its "Reconquista" until 1492, almost 250 years later.
Lisbon Cathedral
Lisbon has been the seat of a bishopric since the 4th century (see Patriarch of Lisbon). After the period of Visigothic domination the city was conquered by the Moors and stayed under Arab control from the 8th to the 12th century, although Christians were allowed to live in Lisbon and its surroundings. In the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the Second Crusade (see Siege of Lisbon). An English crusader named Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and a new cathedral was built on the site of the main mosque of Lisbon.
This first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal. In the end of the 13th century King Dinis of Portugal built a Gothic cloister, and his successor Afonso IV of Portugal had the main chapel converted into a royal pantheon in Gothic style for him and his family. In 1498, Queen Eleanor of Viseu founded the "" ("Brotherhood of Invocation to Our Lady of Mercy of Lisbon ") in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. This brotherhood evolved into the "Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa", a Catholic charitable institution that later spread to other cities and had a very important role in Portugal and its colonies.
Earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which destroyed the Gothic main chapel along with the royal pantheon. The cloisters and many chapels were also ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was partially rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation.
In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Arab and mediaeval periods. Excavations started in Cathedral Cloister in 1990. They have revealed a Roman road with shops on either site. A part of a Roman kitchen and a "cloaca" (sewage system). and traces of later Visigoth buildings. A very visible part of a Moorish building with red walls related to the former mosque that once stood on this site was also excavated.
Lisbon
Lisbon has the largest and most developed mass media sector of Portugal, and is home to several related companies ranging from leading television networks and radio stations to major newspapers.
Tourism in Lisbon
Tourism in Lisbon is popular. The city of Lisbon and the Lisbon metropolitan area attracts a significant number of tourists each year, drawn to its historical and cultural offerings.
History of Lisbon
In 711, Islamic Moors, who were mostly Berbers and Arabs from the Maghreb, invaded the Christian Iberian Peninsula, conquering Lisbon in 714. What is now Portugal first became part of the Emirate of Córdoba and then of its successor state, the Caliphate of Córdoba. Despite attempts to seize it by the Normans in 844 and by Alfonso VI in 1093, Lisbon remained a Muslim possession. In 1147, after a four-month siege, Christian crusaders under the command of Afonso I captured the city and Christian rule returned. In 1256, Afonso III moved his capital from Coimbra to Lisbon, taking advantage of the city’s excellent port and its strategic central position.
Portugal
The 18 districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu – each district takes the name of the district capital.
Lisbon
There are four commuter train lines departing from Lisbon: the Cascais, Sintra and Azambuja lines (operated by CP – Comboios de Portugal), as well as a fourth line to Setúbal (operated by Fertagus) crossing the Tagus river, over the 25 de Abril Bridge. The major railway stations are Santa Apolónia, Rossio, Gare do Oriente, Entrecampos, and Cais do Sodré.
Lisbon
Lisbon is part of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities from 12 October 1982 establishing brotherly relations with the following cities:
History of Porto
Porto is the second largest city in Portugal behind the capital, Lisbon.
History of Lisbon
The Carnation revolution of 1974, effectively a bloodless left-wing military coup, installed the Third Republic, and broad democratic reforms were implemented in the country's government. With Portugal's admission to the European Union in 1986, plans to rehouse the huge population living in deprived areas of the city emerged. There are now fewer slums in the capital and its environs, although there are serious problems in those that remain. But even these, such as Mouraria, have seen changes. In 1988, a fire near the historical centre of Chiado greatly disrupted normal life in the area for about 10 years. Another boost to Lisbon's international standing was Expo 98 which opened up a new space in the capital, the "Parque das Nações" (Park of Nations).
Continental Portugal
Continental Portugal () or mainland Portugal are terms used for the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe; having approximately 95% of the total population and 96.6% of the country's land. Mainland Portugal is therefore commonly called by residents of the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira " – the continent" in all respects including minor elements of combined governance from Lisbon, the country's capital. Before 1975, when the Portuguese territory also stretched to several now-independent states in Africa, the designation "metropolis" () was also used.
Portugal
Portugal has been a semi-presidential representative democratic republic since the ratification of the Constitution of 1976, with Lisbon, the nation's largest city, as its capital. The Constitution grants the division or separation of powers among four bodies referred as "organs of Sovereignty": the President of the Republic, the Government, the Assembly of the Republic and the Courts.
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.
Lisbon
Lisbon has been the site for many international events and programmes. In 1994, Lisbon was the European Capital of Culture. On 3 November 2005, Lisbon hosted the MTV European Music Awards. On 7 July 2007, Lisbon held the ceremony of the "New 7 Wonders Of The World" election, in the Luz Stadium, with live transmission for millions of people all over the world. Every two years, Lisbon hosts the Rock in Rio Lisboa Music Festival, one of the largest in the world.
Lisbon hosted the "NATO summit" (19–20 November 2010), a summit meeting that is regarded as a periodic opportunity for Heads of State and Heads of Government of NATO member states to evaluate and provide strategic direction for Alliance activities. The city hosts the Web Summit and is the head office for the Group of Seven Plus (G7+). In 2018 it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as well as the Michelin Gala.
Transport in Portugal
Lisbon's geographical position makes it a stopover point for many foreign airlines at airports all over the country. The government decided to build a new airport outside Lisbon, in Montijo, to replace Lisbon Portela Airport. Currently, the most important airports are in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal (Madeira) and Ponta Delgada (Azores). The national airline is TAP Air Portugal.
Lisbon
Lisbon is recognised as an alpha-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education and tourism. Lisbon is the only Portuguese city besides Porto to be recognised as a global city. It is one of the major economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector and one of the largest container ports on Europe's Atlantic coast. Additionally, Humberto Delgado Airport served 26.7 million passengers in 2017, being the busiest airport in Portugal, the 3rd busiest in the Iberian Peninsula and the 20th busiest in Europe, and the motorway network and the high-speed rail system of Alfa Pendular links the main cities of Portugal (such as Braga, Porto and Coimbra) to Lisbon. The city is the 9th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Rome, Istanbul, Barcelona, Milan, Venice, Madrid, Florence and Athens, with 3,320,300 tourists in 2017. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any other region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita. The city occupies the 40th place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinational corporations in Portugal are located in the Lisbon area. It is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State.
Local government
Currently, mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts (in Portuguese, "distritos"). Each district takes the name of their respective capital city. Insular Portugal, comprising the two Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, is organized as two autonomous regions (in Portuguese, "regiões autónomas").
Hinduism in Portugal
Hindus in Portugal are, according to the Indian Embassy in Lisbon, mainly Gujaratis (Gujarati is taught at the Hindu Community Cultural Centre, in Lisbon), Punjabis and Goans. The majority of the Hindus live in the capital city, Lisbon, but it is also possible to find some Hindu-Gujarati families living in Oporto.
History of Portugal
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was the Portuguese capital between 1808 and 1821. In 1820, constitutionalist insurrections took place at Oporto (24 August) and Lisbon (15 September). Lisbon regained its status as the capital of Portugal when Brazil declared its independence from Portugal in 1822.
History of Lisbon
Ancient authors refer to popular legends that the city of Lisbon was founded by the mythical hero Odysseus on his journey home from Troy. The "Estrímnios" (in Portuguese) are given by some historians as the first known native people of Portugal. Called "Oestrimni" (Latin for "people of the far west") by the Romans, they extended their territory from present-day Galicia to the Algarve during the Late Bronze Age (1100–700 B.C.). These indigenous communities engaged in maritime and overland commerce, their fortified settlements dominating trade on the larger rivers and coastal estuaries of central southern Portugal.
Lisbon Strategy
It was adopted for a ten-year period in 2000 in Lisbon, Portugal by the European Council. It broadly aimed to "make Europe, by 2010, the most competitive and the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world".
Bragança, Portugal
Of the 18 Portuguese historical district capitals, Bragança is the farthest from Lisbon, the national capital.
Higher education in Portugal
Portugal has two main systems of higher education:The state-run universities ("Universidades") are governed by a Rector, and are groupings of faculties, and university institutes, departments or schools. They have been created mostly in the most populated and industrialized areas near the coast (although strategically balanced with three establishments opened after 1970 in the northern, central and southern interior regions), being established in the main cities. Two of these universities are located in the Azores and Madeira Islands, and the remaining eleven in Continental Portugal. Three of them are located in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal (four considering also the Lisbon University Institute ISCTE, a large public university institute). Public universities have full autonomy in the creation and delivery of degree programmes, which are to be registered at DGES - "Direcção-Geral do Ensino Superior" (State Agency for Higher Education). Universities are regulated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and are represented as a whole by the "CRUP - Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas".
Lisbon
The country's chief seaport, featuring one of the largest and most sophisticated regional markets on the Iberian Peninsula, Lisbon and its heavily populated surroundings are also developing as an important financial centre and a dynamic technological hub. Automobile manufacturers have erected factories in the suburbs, for example, AutoEuropa.
History of Lisbon
The war fought in 1383-1385 was at bottom a war between the conservative land-owning medieval aristocracy (very similar to and allied with their Galician and Castilian counterparts) centred in the former County of Portugal in Minho (except the bourgeois city of Porto, a Lisbon ally, among a few other cities and personages of the north), and the rich merchants of the pluralistic society of Lisbon. The nobles had reclaimed the country from the Muslims and founded the northern counties—as their alliance with the Castilian nobility was reestablished, the increasing dominance of Lisbon threatened their supremacy. For the merchants of Lisbon, a commercial city, the feudal practices and land wars of the Castilians were a threat to their business interests. It was the bourgeoisie who, with their English connections and substantial capital, would win the struggle. The Master of Avis was acclaimed King John I of Portugal, his forces having survived the Siege of Lisbon in 1384 and won the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385 against the forces of Castile and the northern Portuguese nobles, under the leadership of his constable Nuno Álvares Pereira/ The new Portuguese aristocracy rose from the merchant class of Lisbon, and it is only from this date that the centre of power in north Portugal actually moved to Lisbon, it becoming a sort of city-state, whose interests almost entirely determined the course of the country's independence.
25 de Abril Bridge
The 25 de Abril Bridge "(Ponte 25 de Abril", 25th of April Bridge, ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus river. It was inaugurated on August 6, 1966, and a train platform was added in 1999. It is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US, because they are both suspension bridges of similar color. It was built by the American Bridge Company which constructed the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, but not the Golden Gate. With a total length of , it is the 32nd largest suspension bridge in the world. The upper deck carries six car lanes, while the lower deck carries a double track railway electrified at 25 kV AC. Until 1974, the bridge was named "Salazar Bridge". The name "25 de Abril" commemorates the Carnation Revolution.
National redoubt
Since the early 19th century to the World War II, Lisbon was considered the national redoubt of Portugal. Besides being the capital, the largest city and the major port of the country, Lisbon was considered the last defensible redoubt in case of an invasion of Portugal by a major power. During this period, successive systems of defense were implemented.
Lisbon, Iowa
Lisbon was laid out in 1851. It was named after Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
History of Portugal
Portugal traces its national origin to 24 June 1128, the date of the Battle of São Mamede. Afonso proclaimed himself "Prince of Portugal" after this battle and in 1139, he assumed the title "King of Portugal". In 1143, the Kingdom of León recognised him as King of Portugal by the Treaty of Zamora. In 1179, the papal bull Manifestis Probatum of Pope Alexander III officially recognised Afonso I as king. After the Battle of São Mamede, the first capital of Portugal was Guimarães, from which the first king ruled. Later, when Portugal was already officially independent, he ruled from Coimbra.
History of Lisbon
In the early 5th century the Vandals took Olissipo, followed by the Alans. In 419 Olissipo was plundered and burnt by the Visigothic king Walia, who founded the Visigothic kingdom in Spain. Remismund conquered Lisbon in 468 with the help of a Hispano-Roman called Lusídio, and finally in 469 it was integrated into the Suevi kingdom whose capital city was Braga. After the invasion, the Visigoths set up their court in Toledo and following several wars during the 6th century, conquered the Suevi, thus unifying the Iberian Peninsula, including the city they called Ulixbona. During this tumultuous time, Lisbon lost its political links with Constantinople, but not its commercial connections. Merchant Greeks, Syrians, Jews, and others from the East formed communities that exchanged local products with the Byzantine Empire, Asia and India.
Lisbon metropolitan area
As stated on the law 10/2003, of the 13 of May, the Grande Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (Lisbon Great Metropolitan Area) is a public collective person of associative nature, and of territorial scope that aims to reach common public interests of the municipalities that integrate it, that includes (18 City Halls) – Alcochete, Almada, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisboa, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Seixal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.
Pillory of Lisbon
The Pillory of Lisbon () is a pillory situated in the municipal square of the Portuguese capital (in the civil parish of Santa Maria Maior in the municipality of Lisbon), classified as a "National Monument" ("Monumento Nacional").
Portugal
In 1807, as Napoleon's army closed in on Lisbon, the João VI of Portugal, the Prince Regent, transferred his court to Brazil and established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire. In 1815, Brazil was declared a Kingdom and the Kingdom of Portugal was united with it, forming a pluricontinental State, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
As a result of the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, economical, military, educational, and scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Portuguese and their allied British troops fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 the situation in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI would have been able to return safely to Lisbon. However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which started in Porto, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821.
A2 motorway (Portugal)
The A2 () is a major motorway (freeway) in Portugal. It connects 25 de Abril Bridge (Lisbon, the capital of Portugal), to Albufeira in the Algarve, the country's southern-most mainland province. The first section of the A2 was opened in 1966 and the last one was completed in 2002. It extends for fractionally more than 240 km (149 miles). The A2 is operated by Brisa - Auto-estradas de Portugal.
History of Lisbon
In the 1930s, Duarte Pacheco (1900 – 1943), first as Public Works minister and later as Mayor of Lisbon, was responsible for a redefinition of the city's urban area by an innovative concerted action of legislation, architecture and urbanisation. In 1933, Pacheco invited the French urban architect, Alfred Agache (1875 – 1959), to draw up an urbanization plan from Terreiro do Paço to Cascais. The 24 July 1933 issue of the newspaper, "Diário de Lisboa", announced: “We Will Modernise the Capital! The French architect Agache came to Lisbon to study the construction of a highway from Lisbon to Cascais". This was to be a panoramic coastal road designed to accentuate the Portuguese capital's spectacular location, emphasising its proximity to the sea and associated entertainment and touristic activities, as well as sunbathing areas and thermal spas of cosmopolitan character. Lisbon would be connected to "The Costa do Sol", a tourist resort with the Palace Hotel and the International Casino, where facilities for golf, horse-riding and horse racing, polo, auto racing, fencing, pigeon shooting and beach sports were available.
History of Lisbon
Socially, the upper classes of Lisbon were now a mix of conservative nobles who were forced to accept, albeit reluctantly, some liberal ideas, and the newly entitled bourgeois who held many conservative ideas. They were joined by the Brazilians, many of them formerly poor and uneducated immigrants who had immigrated to Brazil and grown rich, then returned to the city, eager to find acceptance in higher social circles. Lisbon was the industrial centre of the country, despite its industrialisation being minimal compared to that of England or Germany. The poorer strata of Lisbon society grew exponentially with the arrival of the first workers to man the new factories. They often lived in miserable slums, amidst raging epidemics of cholera and other diseases, working all day just to have enough to eat.
Odysseus
Greek legend tells of Ulysses as the founder of Lisbon, Portugal, calling it "Ulisipo" or "Ulisseya", during his twenty-year errand on the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Olisipo was Lisbon's name in the Roman Empire. This folk etymology is recounted by Strabo based on Asclepiades of Myrleia's words, by Pomponius Mela, by Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd century AD), and will be resumed by Camões in his epic poem "Os Lusíadas" (first printed in 1572).
Ribeira Palace
After the Siege of Lisbon, in 1147, the monarchs of Portugal had used the Palace of Alcáçova, in the São Jorge Castle, as their residence while in Lisbon, which did not become Portugal's definite capital until 1225. Over the years, various Portuguese monarchs added to the Palace of Alcáçova, and by the time King Manuel I of Portugal succeeded the throne, the Palace of Alcáçova was a large, but cramped, complex, not fitting with the tastes of King Manuel I. With his lucrative profits from Portugal's monopoly on the spice trade, King Manuel I set off on a building spree, renovating the Lisbon landscape, and starting with the construction of a new royal palace.
Coat of arms of Lisbon
The Coat of arms of Lisbon is composed of a golden shield with a black silver lined sail ship on a sea of seven wavy stripes green and silver. At both ends of the ship, two ravens, each pointing to the center of the shield. A golden mural crown of five towers (indicating capital and city status respectively) surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Tower and Sword and by a white scroll with the motto ""MUI NOBRE E SEMPRE LEAL CIDADE DE LISBOA"" (most noble and always loyal city of Lisbon) in black.
José Sócrates
José Sócrates, as Prime Minister of Portugal, presided over the rotative Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the period July–December 2007. In this post, Sócrates and his team focused on the EU-Brazil (1st EU-Brazil summit) and EU-African Union (2007 Africa-EU Summit) relations, as well as in the approval of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Portuguese Parliament voted to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon on 23 April 2008. After the Irish referendum on 12 June 2008, Prime Minister José Sócrates said he saw the Irish "No" to the treaty as a "personal defeat" after it was signed by EU leaders in the Portuguese capital. A second referendum was held in Ireland in 2009, and the outcome was the approval of the Treaty of Lisbon by all EU member states, including Ireland.
Lusitanian Basin
The Lusitanian Basin is located on both mainland and continental shelf of the west-central coast of Portugal. It covers a 20,000 km area and extends from south of Lisbon, the capitol of Portugal, to Porto. This north-south oriented Atlantic margin rift basin is approximately 130 km wide and 340 km long and belongs to a family of periatlantic basins such as the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. To the east of the Lusitanian Basin lies the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula and a marginal horst system lies to the west. The Alentejo and Algarve Basins connect to the southern end of the Lusitanian Basin. In the north, it is connected to both the Porto and Galicia Basins via a basement ridge.
Fertagus
Fertagus is a commuter rail operator connecting Lisbon, Portugal's capital, to suburbs on the Setúbal Peninsula, located to the south across the Tagus River. Fertagus crosses the river over the Ponte 25 de Abril.
Lisboa e Vale do Tejo
For the Regional Funds, management responsibilities under the policy of the European Union in Portugal, this regions it's the region of Lisbon that consists of Grande Lisboa and Península de Setúbal, for regional planning (Run, monitor and evaluate, at regional level, policies on environment, nature conservation, land management and city) the region is called Lisbon and the Tagus Valley (LVT), composed by 5 NUTSIII (Sub-regions: Greater Lisbon, Setúbal Peninsula, Middle Tagus, and Lezíria West Coast)." ()
Lisbon
Lisbon is located at , situated at the mouth of the Tagus River and is the westernmost capital of a mainland European country.
António Costa
António Costa resigned all government offices in May 2007 to become his party's candidate for the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal's capital city. He was elected as Lisbon's mayor on 15 July 2007 and reelected in 2009 and 2013, with a bigger majority each time. In April 2015 he resigned his duties as a mayor, while he was already the Secretary General of the Socialist Party and the party's candidate for Prime Minister, so that he could prepare his campaign for the October 2015 general elections.
University of Lisbon
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) 2017 the University of Lisbon is regarded as the largest university in Portugal and is ranked 401-500 (overall), while in the QS World University Rankings 2018 it is ranked 305 (overall).
Siege of Lisbon
After four months, the Moorish rulers agreed to surrender on 24 October, primarily because of hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of the crusaders set sail and continued to the Holy Land. Lisbon eventually became the capital city of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1255.
Lisboa Region
Lisboa Region (, ) is one of the seven NUTS II designated regions of Portugal, which includes two NUTS III subregions: Greater Lisbon and Peninsula of Setúbal. The region covers an area of 3001.95 km (the smallest region on mainland Portugal) and includes a population of 2,815,851 inhabitants according to the 2011 census (the second most populated region in Portugal after the Norte region), a density of 1039 inhabitants/km.
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 111,892, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal, and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal's main tourist attractions. It is also popular as a destination for New Year's Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings.
List of tallest buildings in Lisbon
Lisbon is the 11th most populous urban area in the European Union, with a population of 2.7 million. City and its metropolitan area has four skyscrapers above and total about 20 skyscrapers above . Nearly ten buildings were built in the last few years, after 2000. Most buildings are offices, the rest are hotels and residential buildings. Several high-rise buildings located in the Parque das Nações.
Algarve
Prior to the independence of Brazil, "United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves" (1815–1822) was an official designation for Portugal which also alluded to the Algarve. Portuguese monarchs continued to use this title until the proclamation of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910. Between 1595 and 1808, the Algarve was a semiautonomous area of Portugal with its own governor, as well as a separate taxation system.
In the 15th century, Prince Henry the Navigator based himself near Lagos and conducted various maritime expeditions which established the colonies that comprised the Portuguese Empire. Also from Lagos, Gil Eanes set sail in 1434 to become the first seafarer to round Cape Bojador in West Africa. The voyages of discovery brought Lagos fame and fortune. Trade flourished and Lagos became the capital of the historical province of Algarve in 1577 and remained so until the fabled 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The earthquake damaged many areas in the Algarve and an accompanying tsunami destroyed or damaged coastal fortresses, while coastal towns and villages were heavily damaged except Faro, which was protected by the sandy banks of Ria Formosa lagoon. In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. For many Portuguese coastal regions, including the Algarve, the destructive effects of the tsunami were more disastrous than those of the earthquake itself.
Península de Setúbal
The Península de Setúbal (English: "Setúbal Peninsula") is a former NUTS III subdivision of Portuguese region of Lisbon (NUTS II). It was abolished at the January 2015 NUTS 3 revision. Comprising several municipalities and urban centres, the subregion's capital is Setúbal, and includes several cities including Almada and Setúbal.
Praça do Império
The Praça do Império ("Emprie Square") is a city square and park situated adjacent to principal monuments and tourist attractions in the civil parish of Belém, municipality and Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
Lisbon
The city hosts three association football clubs in Portugal's highest league, the Primeira Liga. Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly known as just "Benfica", has won 36 league titles in addition to two European Cups. Lisbon's second-most successful club is Sporting Clube de Portugal (commonly known as "Sporting" and mistankenly referred to as "Sporting Lisbon" in the English-speaking world), winner of 18 league titles and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
A third club, C.F. Os Belenenses (commonly "Belenenses" or "Belenenses Lisbon"), based in the Belém quarter, has solely won one league title. Other major clubs in Lisbon include Atlético, Casa Pia, and Oriental.
Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base
Cabo Ruivo Seaplane Base () was an international airport for seaplanes located in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It takes its name from the Lisbon neighbourhood of Cabo Ruivo. The airport was, especially throughout the Second World War, a major gateway and escape route for intercontinental airtravel.
Portugal
In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Gallaecia, with capital in Bracara Augusta, today's Braga.
There are still many ruins of castros (hill forts) all over modern Portugal and remains of Castro culture.
Numerous Roman sites are scattered around present-day Portugal, some urban remains are quite large, like Conímbriga and Mirobriga. The former, beyond being one of the largest Roman settlements in Portugal, is also classified as a National Monument. Conímbriga lies from Coimbra which by its turn was the ancient "Aeminium"). The site also has a museum that displays objects found by archaeologists during their excavations.
Lisbon
Other sports, such as futsal, handball, basketball, roller hockey, volleyball and rugby union are also popular; the latter's national stadium is in Lisbon. There are many other sport facilities in Lisbon, ranging from athletics to sailing to golf to mountain-biking. Lisboa and Troia golf course are two of many stunning golf courses located in Lisbon. Every March the city hosts the Lisbon Half Marathon, while in September the Portugal Half Marathon.
Mira de Aire
Mira de Aire is located about an hour from Portugal's capital Lisbon.
Lisbon
The city refounded its university in 1911 after centuries of inactivity in Lisbon, incorporating reformed former colleges and other non-university higher education schools of the city (such as the "Escola Politécnica" – now "Faculdade de Ciências"). Today there are two public universities in the city (University of Lisbon and New University of Lisbon), a public university institute (ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute) and a polytechnic institute (IPL – Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa).
During World War II, Lisbon was one of the very few neutral, open European Atlantic ports, a major gateway for refugees to the U.S. and a haven for spies. More than 100,000 refugees were able to flee Nazi Germany via Lisbon.
Lisbon
Humberto Delgado Airport is located within the city limits. It is the headquarters and hub for TAP Portugal as well as a hub for Easyjet, Azores Airlines, Ryanair, EuroAtlantic Airways, White Airways, and Hi Fly. A second airport has been proposed, but the project has been put on hold because of the Portuguese and European economic crisis, and also because of the long discussion on whether a new airport is needed. However, the last proposal is military air base in Montijo that would be replaced by a civil airport. So, Lisbon would have two airports, the current airport in north and a new in the south of the city.
List of cities in Portugal
The most populous cities are: Lisbon (Lisboa), Oporto (Porto), Vila Nova de Gaia, Braga, Amadora, Queluz, Funchal, Coimbra, Setúbal, Agualva-Cacém, Almada, Rio Tinto, Aveiro, Viseu, Odivelas, Leiria, Guimarães, Barreiro, Évora, Faro, Portimão and Ponta Delgada.
List of Catholic dioceses in Portugal
There is also an Apostolic Nunciature to Portugal as papal diplomatic representation (embassy-level), in the national capital Lisbon.
Nani
Portugal
Estoril
The Estoril coast is relatively close to Lisbon, the Portuguese capital; it extends from Carcavelos, from the capital, and stretches as far as the beach of Guincho (sometimes referred colloquially as the "Costa de Estoril-Sintra" or "Costa de Lisboa"). Estoril includes several smaller boroughs and localities along the coastline, namely (from east to west): São Pedro do Estoril, São João do Estoril, Santo António do Estoril (or simply Estoril) and Monte Estoril, as well as other to the interior.
Lisbon
Lisbon has a long tradition in sports. It hosted several matches, including the final, of the UEFA Euro 2004 championship. The city also played host to the final of the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the European Fencing Championships in 1983 and 1992, as well as the 2003 World Men's Handball Championship, and the 2008 European Judo Championships. From 2006 to 2008, Lisbon was the starting point for the Dakar Rally. The city hosted the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final. In 2008 and 2016, the city hosted the European Triathlon Championships. Lisbon has a leg at the Volvo Ocean Race.
New University of Lisbon
NOVA University Lisbon ("Universidade Nova de Lisboa" - ) or just NOVA is a Portuguese university whose Rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the youngest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital city, earning its name as the "New" (NOVA) University Lisbon.
History of Portugal
At the end of the 11th century, the Burgundian knight Henry became count of Portugal and defended its independence by merging the County of Portugal and the County of Coimbra. Henry's son Afonso Henriques proclaimed himself "Prince of Portugal" on 24 June 1128 and King of Portugal in 1139. In 1179 a papal bull officially recognised Afonso I as king. The Algarve was conquered from the Moors in 1249, and in 1255 Lisbon became the capital. Portugal's land boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the 13th century. The Treaty of Windsor (1386) created an alliance between Portugal and England that remains in effect to this day.