INTRODUCTION

A nation of explorers that has absorbed habits and traditions from such early civilizations and from the regions that it discovered throughout the world during the Portuguese empire.

From the Neolithic era to the Roman Empire

During the Neolithic the region was inhabited by the same peoples that lived in other regions of Atlantic Europe, the Iberians. They built religious monuments called megaliths. Dolmens and Menhirs still found in the countryside around the city. The Celts invaded after first millennium BC and they intermarried with the Iberians, giving birth to the Celtic-speaking local tribes such as the Conii and Cempsi.

Archeological findings prove that a Phoenician trading post existed in the place as far back as 1200 B.C., now occupied by the centre of the city. The magnificent natural harbour provided by the estuary of the river Tagus made it the ideal spot for a settlement to provide foodstuffs to the Phoenician ships travelling to the tin islands (modern Isles of Scilly) and Cornwall. The new city was named Alis Ubbo or "safe harbour" in Phoenician. Tthe Phoenicians also probably took advantage of the situation of the new colony at the mouth of Iberia's largest river to trade with the inland tribes for valuable metals. Other important local products were salt, salted fish and the then widely famous Lusitanian horses. Recently, Phoenician remains from the eighth century B.C. were found beneath the Middle Age Sé de Lisboa, the main Cathedral of the modern city.

According to an Ancient Greek myth, the hero Ulysses founded the city after he left Troy and departed to the Atlantic to escape the Greek coalition. However the foundation of the city by the Phoenicians predates any Greek presence in the area.

The Greeks knew it as Olissipo, a name they thought was derived from Ulysses, which, over time, became known as Olissipona.

Romans and Moors

During the Punic wars, after the defeat of Hannibal (whose troops included members of the Conii) the Romans decided to deprive Carthage in its most valuable possession, Hispania (which comprised of today's Spain and Portugal). After the defeat of the Carthaginians by Scipio Africanus in Eastern Hispania, the pacification of the West was led by Consul Decimus Junius Brutus. He obtained the alliance of Olissipo which sent men to fight alonside the Legions against the Celtic tribes of the Northwest. In return, Olissipo was integrated into the Empire under the name of Felicitas Julia, a Municipium Cives Romanorum, granting self-rule over a territory of 50 kilometres (30 miles), exempted from taxes and its citizens given the privileges of Roman citizenship. It was integrated in the newly created province of Lusitania, whose capital was Emerita Augusta. The attacks by the Lusitanians during the frequent rebellions over the next couple of centuries weakened the city and a wall was built.

The Romans built a great Theatre in the time of Augustus; the Cassian Baths underneath the current Rua da Prata; Temples to Jupiter, Diana, Cybele, Tethys and Idae Phrygiae (an uncommon cult from Asia Minor), and temples to the Emperor; a large necropolis under Figueira Plaza; a large Forum and other buildings such as insulae (multi-storied apartment buildings) existed in the area between the modern Castle Hill and Downtown. Many of these ruins were first unearthed during the middle Eighteenth century, when the recent discovery of Pompeii made Roman Archeology fashionable among Europe's upper classes.

Economically Olissipo was known for its garum, a sort of fish sauce, highly prized by the elites of the Empire, and exported in Amphorae to Rome and other cities. Wine, salt and its famous Lusitania horses were also exported. The city came to be very prosperous through suppression of piracy and technological advances, which allowed a boom in the trade with the newly Roman Provinces of Britannia (particularly Cornwall) and the Rhine; and the introduction of higher civilization to the tribes living by the river Tagus in the interior of Hispania. The city was ruled by an oligarchical council dominated by two families, the Julii and the Cassiae. Petitions are recorded addressed to the Governor of the province in Emerita and to the Empreror Tiberius, such as one requesting help in dealing with "sea monsters" alegedly responsible for shipwrecks. Roman Lisbon's most famous son was Sertorius which early in the history of the Roman Period led a large rebellion against the Dictator Sulla. Among the majority of Latin-speaking peoples lived a surprisingly large minority of Greek traders and slaves. The city was connected by a broad road to Western Hispania's two other large cities, Bracara Augusta (in the province of Tarraconensis, today's Portuguese Braga); and Emerita Augusta, the capital of Lusitania, today Merida in Spain.

The city was part of Roman Lusitania taken by Moors under the Arabs in the Eighth Century (approximately 711), and reconquered in 1147 by Dom Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal, with the help of crusaders of the Second Crusade. Lisbon has been the capital of Portugal since 1255.

Fall of the Moors to the Portuguese Empire

Lisbon reached its peak of prosperity during the period of the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century. On 26 January 1531 the city was hit by an earthquake which killed thousands.

The XVI century marks the golden age for Lisbon. The city became the European hub of commerce with the Far East, while gold from Brazil flooded in.

The 1755 earthquake

On 1 November 1755 Lisbon was destroyed by another earthquake, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which killed between 60,000 and 90,000 people and destroyed eighty-five percent of the city.

The effect was such that it rippled to other European nations. Voltaire wrote a long poem, "Poême sur le désastre de Lisbonne", shortly afterwards, and mentioned the earthquake in his 1759 novel Candide (indeed, many argue that this critique of optimism was inspired by that earthquake). Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. also mentions it in his 1857 poem, The Deacon's Masterpiece, or The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay.

After the 1755 earthquake, the city was rebuilt largely according to the plans of the Marquês de Pombal; hence the designation of the lower town as Baixa Pombalina. Instead of rebuilding the medieval town, Marques de Pombal decided to demolish the remains of the earthquake and rebuild the downtown of the city in accordance with modern urban rules, a historically controversial decision.

After Napoléon

Lisbon was the centre of a republican coup in 1910 and the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, which overthrew Antonio Salazar's successor Marcelo Caetano, the last prime-minister of the Portuguese Corporative Regime: the Estado Novo.

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