A legend attributes the foundation of the city to none less than Odysseus (called Ulyses by the Romans). The pure truth was that Phoenicians founded Alis Ubbo in 1200 BC as a trade settlement. Under the Romans who were there from 205 BC to 407 AD, the port was called Ollisippo, the Felicitas Julia and lastly was the capital of the Roman province Lusitania.
Then came the Alanes, the Visigoths and finally the Moors, who held ‘Lischbuna’ in possession for 400 years, until the Portuguese king Alphonse I conquered it in the 12th c. After the Reconquista of Portugal, Lixboa, later known as Lisboa, became in 1260 the Royal Residence.
At the time of the great sea voyages and world discoveries Lisbon was one of the most important and wealthiest ports of the world. The earthquake of 1755 with its tidal wave and subsequent fires destroyed over half of the buildings and killed more than a quarter of the inhabitants. From then until the beginning of the 19th c., the city was reconstructed under the Marquis of Pombal.
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