1147    After a siege of 4 months crusader knights led by Afonso Henriques, reconquered Lisbon.

1147    The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a four-month siege.

1493    Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.

1499    Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.

1500    The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

1502    Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.

1531    Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake--thousands die.

1541    Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

1588    The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).

1588    The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.

1709    Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the King of Portugal in Lisbon

1755    Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty thousand and ninety thousand people.

1820    Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal.

1908    King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.

1919    A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

1919    The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1921    Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.

2001    Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.