Porto: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Porto puts the 'Portu' in 'Portugal'. In Roman times, a Lusitanian settlement on the Douro's south bank was mirrored by another on the other side. These subsequently merged to become the capital of the county of Portucale, which was inherited by the British-born Henri of Burgundy in 1095. And it was from here that Henri's son and Portuguese hero Afonso Henriques launched the Reconquista, ultimately winning Portugal its status as an independent kingdom.

Porto leapt up the status ranks with the building of a cathedral in 1111 and in 1387 Dom João I married Philippa of Lancaster here: their most famous son, Henry the Navigator, was subsequently born in the city. While Henry's explorers groped around Africa for a sea route to India, British traders found a firm foothold in Porto with their trade in port wine.

Over the following centuries Porto acquired a reputation for rebelliousness. And don't think that the ladieswere excluded from this: in 1628 a mob of maddened women attacked the minister responsible for a tax on linen. In 1757 a 'tipplers' riot' against the Marquês de Pombal's regulation of the port-wine trade was savagely put down.

Modern History

During the 18th and 19th centuries Porto developed as an industrial centre while its appetite for radical politics continued. In 1808 Porto citizens arrested the French governor and set up their own junta. The French army, which quickly took the city back, was finally given the boot by the British under the future Duke of Wellington, but Porto rebels soon turned against British control, demanded a new liberal constitution and, in 1822, got one.

Porto stood by its principles and Miguel's constitutionalist brother Pedro when the absolutist Miguel I usurped the throne in 1828. Miguel's forces laid siege to the city in 1832 after Pedro arrived from Brazil, but the liberal cause won through in the following year when Miguel's fleet was captured off Cabo São Vicente.

Demonstrations continued to erupt in Porto in support of liberals throughout the 19th century. Portugal's first republican deputy was elected from Porto in 1878.

Recent History

In 1996, Porto's 1,000-year-old urban landscape on the hillsides overlooking the Douro was added to Unesco's World Heritage List.

The city's nomination as European City of Culture 2001 recognised its ever-growing appetite for the finer things in life. This in turn fuelled several hugely ambitious projects, from world-class concert halls to a metro system, and the city now hosts some of the best art galleries in the country.

However, the biggest boost to Porto's self-confidence came courtesy of its biggest obsession - soccer. The inhabitants could hardly believe it when 2004 saw their heroic FC Porto beat off the continent's big-spenders to bring home the European Champion's League title. And within weeks they were thrust into the international spotlight as a host city for the European Football Championships (Euro2004).

While, economically, the city may be paying the price for its high ambitions, its profile has rarely been higher.

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