History of Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and has a long and rich history.

The city is situated at the mouth of the Tagus River, making it an important seaport.

Lisbon has been occupied by various peoples throughout its history, including the Romans, Visigoths, Moors, and Christians.

In the early 20th century, Portugal was in a period of political upheaval.

King Carlos and his heir, Luís Filipe, were assassinated in 1908, leading to the establishment of the Portuguese Republic.

In 1910, a coup d'état overthrew the constitutional monarchy and established the Portuguese Republic.

Lisbon has been the scene of many political upheavals throughout its history.

The city of Lisbon was founded in the mythical hero Odysseus' time.

The city was originally inhabited by the Neanderthals and then by an unknown people.

The first fortifications on Lisbon's Castelo hill are known to be no older than the 2nd century BC.

The city was later occupied by the Celtic Indo-European people.

The city was later occupied by the Phoenicians.

Archaeological excavations made near the Castle of São Jorge (Castelo de São Jorge) have revealed that the site was occupied by the indigenous people from the 8th to 6th centuries BC.

The city was later occupied by the Portuguese people.

The Phoenicians established a trading post at the site, supposedly called Alis Ubbo, meaning "Pleasant Haven" or "Safe Harbour" in the Phoenician language.

The indigenous settlement extended from the highest hill in the vicinity, where the Castle and Cathedral now stand, to the Tagus.

For centuries, the Phoenicians had cultivated relationships with the indigenous peoples on the Atlantic coast of Iberia.

From what was a simple outpost for trade with northern Europe, the Tagus settlement became an important centre of commercial trade where they exchanged their manufactured products for valuable metals, salted fish and salt with the inland tribes of the region accessible by the Tagus.

Although Phoenician remains from the 8th century BC have been found beneath the medieval Sé de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral), most modern historians believe that Lisbon was founded as an ancient indigenous settlement that maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians.

It is possible that the Phocaean Greeks at one time also had a trading station at the mouth of the Tagus, but were eventually driven out as the Phoenician colony of Carthage increasingly dominated maritime commerce in the western Mediterranean and expanded its naval power, with control of localised mercantile relations with Olissipo passing to that city.

A multitude of Lusitanian deities, including Aracus, Carneus, and Bandiarbariaicus, were worshiped at the city by the original inhabitants of the Turduli settlement.

The suffix "-ippo" (-ipo), present in "Olissipo" (the Roman name of Lisbon), is typical of Tartessian or Turdetani linguistic influence.

Lisbon's name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela, a native of Hispania.

It was referred to as "Olisippo" by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo (Ὀλισσιπών) and Olissipona (Ὀλισσιπόνα).

According to local legend, the location was named for the mythical Ulysses, who founded the settlement.

Later, the Greek name appeared in Vulgar Latin in the form Olissipona, mentioned in the Etymologies of Saint Isidore of Seville.

The name "Hispania" was given to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans.

The victory of Scipio at the Battle of Ilipa in Spain in 206 BC broke the Carthaginian hold in Iberia.

Following the defeat of the Carthaginians in eastern Hispania, the pacification of the West was led by Consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus.

Olissipo was integrated into the Roman Empire in 138 BC. when the Romans sought to conquer the Lusitanians and other peoples of the northwest Iberian Peninsula.

Among the majority of Latin speakers lived a large minority of Greek traders and slaves.

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 Lusidius, 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.

In 711, taking advantage of a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom, the Arabs, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, invaded the Iberian Peninsula with their Moorish troops. Ulixbona, like the rest of the western peninsula, was conquered by the troops of Abdelaziz ibn Musa, a son of Tariq, who took the city in 711.