Belém, Lisbon
The Jerónimos Monastery and the Tower of Belém, the great monuments of the Age of Discoveries. UNESCO listing (opens the UNESCO site) ↗︎
History
The story of Portugal
Portugal is one of the oldest nation states in Europe, with borders that have barely moved since the thirteenth century. The Romans called the land Lusitania and left a temple at Évora that still stands in the main square. From the eighth century the south was part of al-Andalus, and the Algarve takes its name from the Arabic al-Gharb, "the west".
In the fifteenth century Prince Henry the Navigator sent caravels down the African coast, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama reached India by sea. The riches of the spice trade paid for the Manueline style, the exuberant, rope-carved Gothic of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém. After the great earthquake of 1755, Lisbon's lower town was rebuilt on an elegant grid by the Marquis of Pombal, and that is the Baixa you walk today.
A short timeline
- Lusitania2nd century BC to 5th century AD
Roman roads, villas and the temple at Évora.
- Al-Andalus8th to 13th centuries
Moorish rule in the south; the Algarve was the last region taken by the Portuguese crown, in 1249.
- The kingdom12th century
Afonso Henriques becomes the first King of Portugal.
- The Age of Discoveries15th and 16th centuries
Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama and the sea route to India; the Manueline style is born.
- Earthquake and rebuilding1755
Lisbon is rebuilt by the Marquis of Pombal.
- Modern Portugal1910 to today
A republic from 1910, a democracy since 1974 and a member of the European Union since 1986.
