The capital and largest city of Portugal, in the western part of the country on the Tagus River estuary. An ancient Iberian settlement, it was held by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, taken by the Romans in 205 BC, and conquered by the Moors c. AD 714. Reconquered by the Portuguese in 1147, it flourished in the 1500s during the heyday of colonial expansion in Africa and India. The city was devastated by a major earthquake in 1755.