Porto or Oporto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpoɾtu] (audio speaker iconlisten)) is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula’s major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropolitan area, with an estimated population of just 231,962 people in a municipality with only 41.42 km2.[1][9] Porto’s metropolitan area has around 1.7 million people (2021)[1] in an area of 2,395 km2 (925 sq mi),[10] making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal.[11][12][13] It is recognized as a global city with a Gamma + rating from the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.[14]
Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as “Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar”. The historic area is also a National Monument of Portugal.[15] The western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale,[16] has been referred to as the origin of the name Portugal, based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. In Portuguese, the name of the city includes a definite article: o Porto (“the port” or “the harbor”), which is where its English name “Oporto” comes from.[17]
Port wine, one of Portugal’s most famous exports, is named after Porto, since the metropolitan area, and in particular the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the packaging, transport, and export of fortified wine.[18] In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency.[19] Porto is on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago.
A tram (streetcar) network, of which only three lines remain one of them being a tourist line on the shores of the Douro, saw its construction begin on 12 September 1895, therefore being the first in the Iberian Peninsula. The lines in operation all use vintage tramcars, so the service has become a heritage tramway. STCP also operates these routes as well as a tram museum. The first line of the area’s modern-tram, or light rail system, named Metro do Porto, opened for revenue service in January 2003[67] (after a brief period of free, introductory service in December 2002).
The city’s former stock exchange (Bolsa do Porto) was transformed into the largest derivatives exchange of Portugal, and merged with Lisbon Stock Exchange to create the Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto, which eventually merged with Euronext, together with Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris stock and futures exchanges. The building formerly hosting the stock exchange is currently one of the city’s touristic attractions, with the Salão Árabe (Arab Room in English) being its major highlight. The Banco Português de Fomento (BPF), a Portuguese state-owned development bank established in 2020, is headquartered in Porto.
Porto hosts a popular Portuguese newspaper, Jornal de Notícias. The building where its offices are located (which has the same name as the newspaper) was up to recently[when?] one of the tallest in the city (it has been superseded by a number of modern buildings which have been built since the 1990s).[citation needed]
The economic relations between the city of Porto and the Upper Douro River have been documented since the Middle Ages. However, they were greatly deepened in the modern ages.[citation needed] Indeed, sumach, dry fruits and nuts and the Douro olive oils sustained prosperous exchanges between the region and Porto. From the riverside quays at the river mouth, these products were exported to other markets of the Old and New World. However, the greatest lever to interregional trade relations resulted from the commercial dynamics of the Port wine (Vinho do Porto) agro-industry.[citation needed] It decidedly bolstered the complementary relationship between the large coastal urban centre, endowed with open doors to the sea, and a region with significant agricultural potential, especially in terms of the production of extremely high quality fortified wines, known by the world-famous label Port. The development of Porto was also closely connected with the left margin of River Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia, where is located the amphitheatre-shaped slope with the Port wine cellars.
South side of Douro, Vila Nova de Gaia
The city is very much the gateway to Portugal’s northern region as well as the northern and western areas of Spain. Within a two-hour drive of Porto’s airport there are four Unesco World Heritage sites and popular Spanish tourist hotspots such as Santiago de Compostela. In a study concerning competitiveness of the 18 Portuguese district capitals, Porto was the worst-ranked.
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