Lisbon

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History

During the Neolithic period, the region was inhabited by Pre-Celtic tribes, who built religious and funerary monuments, megaliths, dolmens and menhirs, which still survive in areas on the periphery of Lisbon. The Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population, thus giving rise to Celtic-speaking local tribes such as the Cempsi or Sefes. Although the first fortifications on Lisbon's Castelo hill are known to be no older than the 2nd century BC, recent archaeological finds have shown that Iron Age people occupied the site from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. This indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects. Archaeological excavations made near the Castle of São Jorge (Castelo de São Jorge) and Lisbon Cathedral indicate there may have been a Phoenician presence at this location since 1000 BC, now the centre of the present city, on the southern slope of the Castle hill. The sheltered harbour in the Tagus River estuary was an ideal spot for an Iberian settlement and would have provided a secure harbour for unloading and provisioning trading ships. The Tagus settlement was an important centre of commercial trade with the inland tribes, providing an outlet for the valuable metals, salt and salted-fish they collected, and for the sale of the Lusitanian horses renowned in antiquity. Following the defeat of Hannibal in 202 BC during the Punic wars, the Romans determined to deprive Carthage of its most valuable possession: Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). The defeat of Carthaginian forces by Scipio Africanus in Eastern Hispania allowed the pacification of the west, led by Consul Decimus Junius Brutus…

Geography

Lisbon is located at , situated at the mouth of the Tagus River and is the westernmost capital of a mainland European country. The river delta is inverted. The westernmost part of Lisbon is occupied by the Monsanto Forest Park, a urban park, one of the largest in Europe, which takes up 10% of the municipality. The city occupies an area of , and its city boundaries, unlike those of most major cities, coincide with those of the municipality. The rest of the urbanised area of the Lisbon urban area, known generically as Greater Lisbon () includes several administratively defined cities and municipalities, in the north bank of the Tagus River. The larger Lisbon metropolitan area includes the Setúbal Peninsula to the south. Lisbon has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), characterised by mild, rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers. The average annual temperature is , with average daily highs of and lows of . In the coldest month, January, daytime highs typically range from , while nighttime lows range from , with an average sea temperature of . In the warmest month, August, daytime highs typically range from , nighttime lows range from , and the average sea temperature is about . and the Atlantic Ocean. The highest temperature ever recorded in Lisbon was on 4 August 2018, while the lowest temperature ever recorded was in February 1956; although other locations in its metropolitan area have recorded lower temperatures, not being as affected by the urban heat island effect of the city centre, with Sintra and Setúbal having reached and respectively, both experiencing about 13 days of frost per year on average. Lisbon receives about of precipitation annually, with the majority falling during the autumn and winter months. November and December are the wettest…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  39,100
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  37,933
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  34,181
• Spotless Starling

  Sturnus unicolor Temminck, 1820 · Aves
  28,449
• Black Redstart

  Phoenicurus ochruros (S.G.Gmelin, 1774) · Aves
  23,970
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  23,191
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  19,953
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  19,690