OPORTO (0 PORTO, 'the Port'), a city and sea-port of Portugal, locally situated in the province of Entre Douro e 3linho, but politically included in the province of Beira as the capital of the minor province of Porto. The city is built on the north bank of the Douro, about 2 miles from the mouth of the river, in 41° 9' N. hit., 8° 37' W. long., 175 miles N. by E. from the city of Lisbon. The population, in cluding the suburbs, is about 80,000.
The city extends about a mile along the bank of the river, and covers tho acclivities and partly the summits of the rising ground which flanks the river on the north. Viewed from the south, the city presents a very striking and beautiful appearance. The houses, being all white-washed, giro it an air of extreme cleanliness, but many of the streets, especially those on the ascent of the hill, are barrow, crooked, and dirty. Oporto is however, on the whole, the cleanest city in Portugal. It contains many broad straight streets, with a number of new and handsome houses, with gardens adjoining them filled with vines, orange-trees, and flowering shrubs. The steep declivity of the hill on which the greater part of the town is built makes it difficult to ride on horseback or in carriages, though this inconvenience has been somewhat remedied by recent improvements. On the east side of the thin houses are built against eo steep a part of the hill-side, that they can ouly be approached by steps cut out of the rock.
The river affords a tolerably secure harbour, without any artificial aid except an elevated and walled quay, to which the ships' cables may be fastened during the floods, which often come down with such force, that, without this support, the vessels would inevitably be carried out into the sea. The mouth of the Douro is obstructed by a bar of shifting sand, which renders) its entrance difficult. This obstacle once surmounted, the river is well adapted to the purposes of trade, being sufficiently deep in front of the town. Vessels of from 200 to 300 tons can pass over the bar, but only when the tide is nearly fulL Vessels drawing above 16 feet water can scarcely ever cuter the river. The quay extends the whole length of the town.
Oporto is defended by a cordon of detached batteries which extend round the city and suburb. There are some remains of old walls round the ancient part of the city, but they are of no value for purposes of defence.
Oporto has four suburbs, besides the town of Villa Nova do Port; on the south bank of the river. It has 11 public squares called Campos, or Fracas, of which the most spacious are those of As Ortas, San Roque, and Vitoria; 14 hospitals, or charitable asylums ; and about 80 churches, besides a large cathedral built by Henry of Bemuse!), Snit count of Portugal, in 1105. It had 17 monasteries, some of which were destroyed during the siege in the civil war of 1832, and the rest have been converted to secular uses. It is the sce of a bishop, who resides chiefly at Messanfrio, but who has a fine modern built palace within the city. A theatre, in the highest part of the
town, built by an Italian architect, is much admired. The English factory is a large and handsome building, with a library, reading-room, and ball-room. The city contains also a new exchange, a mint, and barracks. There is an Italian opera-house, and the performances two considered little inferior to those of Lisbon. There are numerous public fountains, and a handsome new suspension bridge crosses the river.
The town of Villa Nova do Porto is somewhat to the east of the city, on the south bank of the river. It is chiefly inhabited by coopers and other people employed by the merchants of Oporto ; and between that town and the suburb of Oaya, on a small plain along the bank of the river, are the immense vaults where the wines are kept.
The principal trade of Oporto consists in wine, chiefly red, which is i made in the province of Tras es and in some districts of Entre Douro e Minho. It is exported in large quantities to various parts of Europe and America, but the greatest consumption is by the inhabitants of Great Britain, where it is known as Port Wine. Oporto exported in 1850 to all parte37,487 pipes of wine, which was a decrease of 4101 pipes on the exportation of 1840. The customs duties for the year ending June 1849 amounted to 1,891,347 dollars. There are other articles of export, such as oil, sumach, linen, lemons, and oranges. The imports are woollen, cotton, iron, and hardware manufactures, mainly from England; salt-fish, hemp, and flax ; wheat and rice from the United States. There are some manufactures of hats, silks, linen stuffs, and pottery, besides ropewalks and dockyards.
Oporto was occasionally the residence of the ancient kings of Por tugal, until Alfonso I., assisted by a fleet of English crusaders under the command of William Longsword, wrested Lisbon from the hands of the Almoravides in October, 1147. During the middle ages Oporto was famous for the strength of its fortifications. The walls were high &NI strong, and flanked by towers, but the city has now extended much beyond them. It was taken by the French in 1808, and retaken by the Anglo-Portuguese In 1800. It became afterwards, in 1831-33, the scene of a fierce contest for the throne of Portugal between Don Pedro, the ex-emperor of Brazil, and his brother, Don Miguel, who had usurped the crown from his niece, Dona Maria. During the siege, which lasted upwards of one year, the town of Oporto was partly destroyed by the artillery of the assailants; and several wealthy mer cantile houses were entirely ruined by the complete stoppage of trade, and the wanton destruction of property by the troops of the usurper, who on their retreat from before the lines of Oporto blew up with gunpowder several wine-cellars belonging to the merchants of the city.
(Milian; Diccionario de Espana y Portugal; La Clkle, Histoire Gaerale de Portugal, vol. ii.; Link, Travels.)