Lisbon dates back to pre-Roman times - legend has it that Ulysses founded the city, although it was more probably the Phoenicians. Its early years were a constant battleground, with Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians in turn overthrown. In 205 BC the Romans began their two-century reign in Lisbon, and it became the most important city in the western Iberian region, renamed Felicitas Julia by man of the moment, Julius Caesar. In 714, the Moors arrived to peninsula and resisted against Christian attacks for 400 years. When the Christians finally recaptured the city, it took one more century to repel all the Moors from the peninsula.

In 1255 Lisbon replaced Coimbra as Portugal's capital and developed rapidly on the back of booming maritime and inland trade. The 15th century brought the Portugal's golden era of sea exploration. Prince Henrique (Henry the Navigator) decided to sap Islam's economic power by finding a way around it by sea. He put to work the best sailors, map makers, ship builders and astronomers he could find. In 1434 one of his ships sailed beyond the much-feared Cape Bojador on the West African coast, breaking a maritime superstition that this was the end of the world. The Prince was rewarded with gold and slaves from West Africa. In 1497 came Vasco da Gama's famous discovery of the sea route to India. The wealth from these expeditions transformed Lisbon into the opulent seat of a vast empire

The cost of expeditions, maintaining overseas empires and attempting to Christianise Morocco brought Portugal to its knees. In 1580, in a bitter blow to national pride, Felipe II of Spain claimed the throne and it took 60 years for fed-up nationalists to overthrow their traditional rival and return Portugal to its people. By the late 17th century the tide had well and truly turned and the discovery of gold in Brazil saw Lisbon enjoy another period of profligate expenditure.

On 1 November 1755 Lisbon was destroyed by another earthquake, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which killed 90,000 and destroyed eighty-five percent of the city.After the 1755 earthquake, the city was rebuilt largely according to the plans of the Marquês de Pombal; hence the designation of the lower town as Baixa Pombalina.

After Napoleon's four-year occupation of Lisbon from 1807, the city, like the rest of the country, fell into political chaos and military insurrection for over a century. In the early 20th century, a 16-year period brought 45 changes in government. Yet another coup in 1926 brought António de Oliveira Salazar onto the scene. Quickly rising from finance minister to prime minister, he ruled Portugal for 36 years, heading an authoritarian regime that lasted until 1976. During his rule, political parties and strikes were banned. Censorship, propaganda and brute force, exemplified by a feared secret police force, kept the country in order.

Revolution in 1974, in response to the continued unpopular military suppression of Portuguese colonies, brought a a slow road to democracy. More political turbulence gradually changed to stability and ultimately membership of the European Union in 1986. With the support of the EU, and its much-needed injection of funds, Lisbon (and Portugal) finally began to shake off its depressed Salazar-era looks and lifestyle.