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Lisbon

municipality and capital city of Portugal

52 dated entries naming Lisbon, drawn from 50 separate years between 469 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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5th century

  • 469Roman lord Lusidius surrenders Lisbon to the Suevi.source

8th century

  • 798King Alfonso II of Asturias campaigns against the Arab Muslims in Al-Andalus. With Frankish military support, he raids into Andalusia and sacks Lisbon (modern Portugal).source

11th century

  • 1095The Second County of Portugal is established by Count Henry of Burgundy. The Almoravids start pushing back the forces of King Alfonso VI ("the Brave") to the positions they occupied a decade earlier. This offensive begins with the re-conquest of Lisbon, which had been given away to Castile in 1091.source

12th century

  • 1108Spring – King Sigurd I sails from England, on the Norwegian Crusade to Palestine. He repels a Muslim fleet near the Tagus River, then attacks Sintra, Lisbon and Alcácer do Sal, and finally defeats a second Muslim fleet further south.source
  • 1147July 1–October 25 – Siege of Lisbon: King Afonso I of Portugal conquers Lisbon from the Taifa of Badajoz after a four-month siege, with support of English, Flemish and German Crusaders. The garrison surrenders on the guarantee that their lives will be spared. The Crusaders break the terms and take part in a bloody massacre. Afonso rules from his capital at Coimbra, takes Sintra and Santarém, and sacks Palmela.source
  • 1148February 1 – A small Crusader fleet of Genoese and English ships sets sail from Lisbon for the Holy Land. The Anglo-Flemish Crusader fleet takes Oran.source
  • 1175Under the admirals of the clan Banu Mardanish, an Almohad fleet suffers a large defeat at the hand of the Portuguese, as they are trying to re-conquer Lisbon.source
  • 1179September 17 – A large offensive, by the Almohad army led by Yusuf I in southern Portugal, aims at the reconquest of the Alentejo. Further north, an Almohad fleet sails to attack Lisbon, but is repelled by the Portuguese, near the Cape Espichel. The Portuguese fleet later manages to enter in the harbour of Ceuta, and destroy a number of Muslim ships. It is the beginning of a four-year naval conflict between the Almohads and Portuguese.source
  • 1184Summer – Almohad forces reconquer the Alentejo (except for Évora), and besiege Lisbon on land and blockade the port with their navy. A Portuguese soldier manages to swim to the largest ship of the fleet and to sink it. This ship was so tall, it would have allowed the Muslims easily to reach the walls of the city. The next day, the Almohads have to retreat, taking with them a number of civilian captives.source

13th century

  • 1255King Afonso III of Portugal ("the Boulonnais") moves his residence and royal court from Lisbon to Coimbra, which becomes the capital of Portugal.source
  • 1282June 26 – King Denis of Portugal ("the Poet King") marries the 11-year-old Elizabeth of Aragon, daughter of Peter III, in Trancoso. Elizabeth receives the towns of Óbidos, Abrantes and Porto de Mós as part of her dowry. Denis, known for his poetry, writes several poems and books, with topics of administration and hunting. During his reign, Lisbon becomes one of Europe's centers of art and culture.source
  • 1290March 1 – The University of Coimbra is founded in Lisbon by Denis I ("the Poet King"). He decrees that Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, replacing classical Latin in that capacity.source

14th century

  • 1373A city wall is built around Lisbon, Portugal to resist invasion by Castile.source
  • 1373March 7 – Second Ferdinand War: The Battle of Lisbon is fought off the coast of the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal. The attack by the Crown of Castile, by 12 galleys led by Ambrosio Boccanegra, disperses the 21 ships of the defending Portuguese navysource
  • 1383September 12 – Shortly before his death, King Fernando I of Portugal creates the kingdom's first police force, the Quadrilheiros, initially consisting of 20 of the strongest men in Lisbon, and gives them the authority to arrest criminals. The concept of a city police force is expanded to other communities and becomes the basis for the Polícia de Segurança Pública.source
  • 1384July 19 – Portugal's Navy, with 34 ships, breaks the Castilian blockade of bhe besieged city of Lisbon, defeating a force of 53 Castilian ships in the Battle of Tejo.source
  • 1389Carmo Convent is built in Lisbon, Portugal.source

15th century

  • 1447May 6 – In a royal wedding at Lisbon, King Afonso V of Portugal is married to his first cousin, Princess Isabel of Coimbra, when both of them are 15 years old. Isabel is the daughter of Afonso's uncle, Dom Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, who continues to serve as the regent for King Afonso.source
  • 1455June 25 – Prince João, the new son of King Afonso V of Portugal, is approved as the heir to the throne by the representatives of the three estates of the realm (nobility, clergy and bourgeoisie) in the Portuguese Cortes at Lisbon.source
  • 1493March 4 – Christopher Columbus anchors in Lisbon and completes his February 15 letter on the first voyage, conveying the news of his discoveries.source
  • 1497July 8 – Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.source
  • 1499September 18 – Vasco da Gama arrives at Lisbon, returning from India, and is received by King Manuel of Portugal.source

16th century

  • 1501July 21 – Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his surviving crew return to Lisbon at the end of a 15-month expedition to India, with only seven of their original fleet of 13 ships. The cargo from India, however, returns a profit to the Portuguese crown of nine times its investment.source
  • 1506Duarte Barbosa returns to Lisbon.source
  • 1515May 20 – "Ulysses", the first known rhinoceros in Europe, arrives at Lisbon in Portugal after being brought by ship from India.source
  • 1536June 26 – Spanish navigator Andrés de Urdaneta and a few companions arrive in Lisbon from the Maluku Islands, completing a westward circumnavigation which began with the Loaísa expedition of 1525.source
  • 1541April 7 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon, on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.source
  • 1557February 4 – Pope Paul IV creates the metropolitan archdiocese of Portuguese India (based in Goa) separating the Goan diocese from the ecclesiastical province of Lisbon.source
  • 1562March 24 – Portuguese Navy Captain Álvaro de Carvalho reaches Mazagan in Morocco with a relief force that includes 600 well-equipped troops. Another force of 1,565 volunteers arrives on March 26 from Lisbon.source
  • 1580July 24 – Portuguese succession crisis of 1580: António, Prior of Crato, a grandson of the late King Manuel by Manuel's second son, the Duke of Beja is proclaimed King of Portugal by his supporters in the city of Santarém, and popular acclamation follows in Lisbon and other locations. Portugal's parliament, the Cortes, refuses to acknowledge Antonio and he is defeated 32 days later at Alcântara.source

17th century

  • 1616The Ottoman Empire attempts landings at the shoreline between Cádiz and Lisbon.source
  • 1650March 10 – The Commonwealth of England's navy Robert Blake blockades a surviving English Royalist fleet commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the Tagus estuary at Lisbon. Rupert breaks out on October 12.source
  • 1668February 13 – In Lisbon, a peace treaty is established between Afonso VI of Portugal and Carlos II of Spain, by mediation of Charles II of England, in which the legitimacy of the Portuguese monarch is recognized. Portugal yields Ceuta to Spain.source

18th century

  • 1704March 23 – War of the Spanish Succession: The English Navy ships HMS Kent, HMS Bedford and HMS Antelope intercept two newly-built Spanish warships, Porta Coeli and Santa Teresa off of the coast of Cape Spartel, as the Spaniards attempt to sail into the Strait of Gibraltar. The two Spanish ships are captured after a seven-hour battle and taken toward Lisbon, but the Santa Teresa sinks along the way.source
  • 1704March 7 – War of the Spanish Succession: Prince Karl of Habsburg, brother of Joseph I, the Holy Roman Emperor and a pretender to the throne of Spain, arrives in Portugal on the English warship HMS Royal Katherine as part of George Rooke's English fleet sailing into Lisbon.source
  • 1707January 1 – John V is crowned King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.source
  • 1720The Academia Real da Historia is founded in Lisbon, Portugal.source
  • 1761March 31 – An 8.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, with effects felt as far north as Scotland, but few deaths are reported because of censorship by the Portuguese government.source
  • 1765In Lisbon, the auto-da-fé parade (often an excuse for violence against Jews or Christian 'heretics') is abolished.source

19th century

  • 1807November 29 – Portuguese Queen Maria I and the Court embark at Lisbon, bound for Brazil. Rio de Janeiro becomes the Portuguese capital.source
  • 1810August 27 – Peninsular War: Siege of Almeida: French forces under André Masséna capture the fortified city of Almeida before the advance toward Lisbon.source
  • 1820September 15 – Revolution breaks out in Lisbon against John VI of Portugal.source

20th century

  • 1908February 1 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.source
  • 1910October 5 – 5 October 1910 revolution: The First Portuguese Republic is proclaimed in Lisbon; King Manuel II of Portugal flees to England.source
  • 1911April 18 – , a 5,557-ton Portuguese passenger liner en route from Mozambique to Lisbon, strikes Bellows Rock just off Cape Point and sinks.source
  • 1919May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)source
  • 1927February 7 – An attempted military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, is successfully put down.source
  • 1966August 6 – The Salazar Bridge (later the 25 de Abril Bridge) opens in Lisbon, Portugal.source
  • 1967November 26 – Major floods hit Lisbon, Portugal, killing 462.source
  • 1980April 10 – In Lisbon, Portugal, the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain (closed since 1969) in 1985.source

21st century

  • 2018May 8–12 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is held in Lisbon, Portugal, and is won by Israeli entrant Netta Barzilai with the song "Toy".source
  • 2025September 3 – At least 16 people are killed and over 21 are injured after the Glória funicular derailment in the centre of Lisbon, Portugal.source

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