Lisbon (population, 1997 estimate, 563,210), the capital and largest city, is a leading seaport of Portugal. Lisbon was the site of the 1998 World’s Fair. Other important cities include Porto, the second largest city and seaport; Coimbra, an industrial center; and Faro, in the Algarve resort area.

western Iberia has been occupied for a long time, relatively few human remains of the Paleolithic Period have been found. Neolithic and Bronze Age discoveries are more common, among them many dolmens. Some of the earliest permanent settlements were the northern castros, hill villages first built by Neolithic farmers who began clearing the forests. Incoming peoples—Phoenicians, Greeks, and Celts—intermingled with the settled inhabitants, and Celticized natives occupied the fortified castros. For 200 years these were centres of resistance to the Roman legions. Subsequently the Romans, Suebi, Visigoths, Moors, and Jews exerted influence on the territory. Portugal's situation at the western extremity of Europe made it a gathering place for invaders by land, and its long coastline invited settlement by seafarers.