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in: Cities, Europe, Lisbon District, Portugal

Lisbon

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Lisbon (Portuguese: Lisboa) is the capital and the largest city of Portugal with a population of 730,629 within its administrative limits on a land area of 32.7 square miles (84.7 km2). The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of nearly 3.6 million on an area of 370 square miles (958.3 km2), making it the 11th most populous urban area in the European Economic Community. Nearly 3.8 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (which represents approximately 27% of the population of the country). Lisbon is the westernmost large city located in Europe, as well as its westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. It lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus.

Lisbon is recognized as a global city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education and tourism. It is one of the major economic centers on the continent, with a growing financial sector and the second largest container port on Europe's Atlantic coast. Lisbon Portela Airport serves over 16 million passengers annually (2013); the motorway network and the high-speed rail system of Alfa Pendular link the main cities of Portugal. The city is the seventh-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region is the wealthiest NUTS II region in Portugal, GDP PPP per capita is 26,100 euros (4.7% higher than the average EEC's GDP PPP per capita). It is the tenth richest metropolitan area by GDP on the continent amounting to 110 billion euros and thus €39,375 per capita, 40% higher than the average EEC's GDP per capita. The city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area and it is the 9th city in the world in terms of quantity of international conferences. It is also the political center of the country, as seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. The seat of the district of Lisbon and the center of the NUTS II Lisbon region.

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, and the oldest city in Western Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London, Paris and Rome by hundreds of years. Julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia, adding to the name Olissipo. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, it was captured by the Moors in the 8th century. In 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural center of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbon's status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially – by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal.

Lisbon hosts two agencies of the European Economic Community: the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). Called the "Capital of the Lusophone world", the Community of Portuguese Language Countries has its headquarters in the city, in the Palace of the Counts of Penafiel.

Lisbon has two sites listed by as a World Heritage Site: Belém Tower and Jerónimos Monastery. Furthermore, in 1994, Lisbon was the European Capital of Culture and in 1998 organized the Expo '98 (1998 Lisbon World Exposition).

Lisbon enjoys a Mediterranean climate. Among all the metropolises in Europe, it has the warmest winters, with average temperatures 15 °C (59 °F) during the day and 8 °C (46 °F) at night from December to February. The typical summer season lasts about six months, from May to October, although also in November, March and April temperatures sometimes reach around 25 °C (77.0 °F).

Geography[]

Lisbon is located at 38°42′49.75″N 9°8′21.79″W, situated at the mouth of the Tagus River and is the westernmost capital of a mainland European country.

The westernmost part of Lisbon is occupied by the Parque Florestal de Monsanto (English: Monsanto Forest Park), a 4 square mile (10.36 km2) urban park, one of the largest in Europe, and occupying ten percent of the municipality.

The city occupies an area of 39 square miles (101.01 km2), and its city boundaries, unlike those of most major cities, coincide with those of the municipality. The rest of the urbanized area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, known generically as Greater Lisbon (Portuguese: Grande Lisboa), is actually several administratively defined cities and municipalities, such as Amadora, Queluz, Agualva-Cacém, Odivelas, Loures, Sacavém, Almada, Barreiro, Seixal and Oeiras

Climate[]

Lisbon has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with mild winters and hot summers. The average annual temperature is 21.5 °C (70.7 °F) during the day and 13.5 °C (56.3 °F) at night. Average annual temperature of the sea is 17.5 °C (63.5 °F).

In the coldest month – January – the high temperature during the day typically ranges from 11-18 °C (52-64 °F), the low temperature at night ranges from 3-13 °C (37-55 °F) and the average sea temperature is 15 °C (59 °F). In the warmest month – August – the high temperature during the day typically ranges from 26-33 °C (79-91 °F), the low temperature at night ranges from 17-21 °C (63-70 °F) and the average sea temperature is 20 °C (68 °F).

Generally, a summer season lasts about 6 months, from May to October. Three months – March, April and November – are transitional, often the temperature exceeds 20 °C (68 °F), with an average temperature in these three months of 18.9 °C (66 °F) during the day and 12.0 °C (53.6 °F) at night. December, January and February are the coldest months, with an average temperature of 15.5 °C (59.9 °F) during the day and 8.9 °C (48.0 °F) at night.

Among metropolises in Europe (along with Valencia), Lisbon has the warmest winters, and the mildest night time temperatures, from an average of 8.3 °C (46.9 °F) in the coldest month, and 18.6 °C (65.5 °F) in the warmest month.

Rain occurs mainly in winter, the summers being generally dry. Sunshine hours are about 2,800 per year, from an average of 4.6 hours of sunshine duration at day in December to an average of 11.4 hours of sunshine duration at day in July.

Twin cities[]

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