beautiful, red-roofed lisbon may be one of westerneurope's oldest cities, first settled around 1200 bc as a phoenician trading post. its subsequent history parallels that of many other iberian cities: roman occupation, followed by barbarian invasions, integration into the visigothic kingdom of toledo (which controlled the entire iberian peninsula), and conquest by the moors. the city was captured in 1147 by alfonso i of portugal during the reconquista, and soon became the kingdom's capital city.the only european capital situated on the atlantic, lisbon became an important center of trade during the middle ages, and the homeport for explorers like vasco da gama and pedro cabral. as the portuguese empire expanded, lisbon became even richer, with wealth pouring in from possessions in africa, india and brazil. by the mid 18th-century, lisbon was one of the largest cities in western europe.then came the devastating all saints day earthquake of 1755. estimated to have measured 8.7 on the richter scale, the quake was felt as far away as finland, and was followed by a giant tsunami. what wasn?t destroyed by collapse and flooding fell victim to fire, which consumed what was left. by the end of the event, an estimated 40,000-50,000 people were dead in the areas hardest hit by the quake and tsunami (portugal, spain and morocco), and 85% of lisbon was in ruins.
