Lisbon in the Time of Magalhães

At his time, Lisbon was the queen of the seas and the mother of the Portuguese maritime expansion, so it had an enormous role in history. 

Lisbon has an important location facing the Tagus River. This location ensured a strategic position through the connection to the Atlantic Ocean thus allowing the establishment of important economic, political, military and religious relations with all continents.  

This illumination, made between 1530 and 1534 by António de Holanda for the so-called "Genealogy of the kings of Portugal", which can be found in the British Library in London, shows this reality. In the background, you can also see the towns of Cascais and Sintra.   

Lisbon in the sixteenth century was a centre of the world because anyone wanting to go from Europe to Brazil on the one hand or to China and the Moluccas on the other, passing through many parts of Africa and Asia, could only do so from the Portuguese capital. 

Lisbon in Magalhães' time had close to 60,000 people. 

The most detailed 16th century view we have of Lisbon between Terreiro do Paço and the Santa Apolónia area, is found in an anonymous drawing dated between 1550 and 1570.  

This drawing, made in 1575 by Simão de Miranda, shows a view of Lisbon, with an accurate portrait of the city taken from the river, in front of the Paço da Ribeira. It can be found in the Archivo di Stato in Turin.  

This work portrays the landing in Lisbon of Veríssimo, Júlia and Máxima, the Holy Martyrs, with the Casa da Índia and the Paço da Ribeira as a background.

This street was built in the reign of D. Dinis, measured about 286 meters long by about 8.8 meters wide at his widest part, and it was here that the trade of products from all parts of the world was centered.  

In Lisbon, the busiest areas were, besides Terreiro do Paço, now Praça do Comércio, the rich Rua Nova dos Mercadores and the King’s Fountain. 

The oldest known isolated representation of the Jerónimos Monastery is found in this painting signed by Filipe Lobo and dated 1657, which is at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. 

The Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém, whose construction began in 1502 and is known as the Jerónimos Monastery, is a splendid work in the so-called Manueline style.  

The Tower of Belém is a magnificent and original construction that D. Manuel had built on the banks of the Tagus between 1514 and 1520, under the direction of Francisco de Arruda.  

This is one of the best representations of the great Portuguese ships from the time of Magalhães, in which he sailed to all the Orient at the service of the Portuguese Crown.  

It was from Lisbon that it was possible to begin to have the vision of the Earth that we have today.