Oporto (Port. O porto, 'the port'), the second city of Portugal, stands on the steep, rocky, right bank of the Douro, high above its waters, which reach the sea 3 miles to the west. 'The houses, as they rise confusedly from the river's edge, some painted in strong reds, blues, or greens, some left whitewashed, and the majority retaining the granite gray of the stone they are built with, make up a very strange and beautiful panorama, ringed as the city is by the encircling pine-covered mountains' (Oswald Crawfurd); and many of these houses stand embowered in the greenery of gardens. One of the crags overlooking the river is crowned with a Crystal Palace (1865), surrounded by gardens. Many of the former monasteries are still standing, though put to other uses: one is a citadel, another the exchange, with splendid marquetry of wood in floor and walls, a third barracks, and so on. There are seven principal churches, including the cathedral (built by Henry the Navigator), the old Gothic church of Cedofeita (originally founded in 559), and the Church dos Clerigos, with a tower 213 feet high. The English factory (1785), the bishop's palace, and the hospital of St Antony are the most noticeable amongst the secular buildings. Oporto possesses a polytechnic academy, with observatory, scientific collections, &c., a medical school, a fine art academy, a commercial museum, an industrial institution, a library (1796) of 200,000 vols. and 9400 MSS., and two picture-galleries. On the south side of the river, immediately opposite Oporto, and connected with it by a lofty bridge, is the suburb of Villa Nova de Gaia, with a pop. of 9126, and extensive winecellars. The railway to Lisbon (209 miles) crosses the river a little higher up, on one of the finest (steel) arch bridges built; the arch spans a horizontal distance of 549 feet, and its centre is 203 feet above the river. Pop. (1878) 105,838; (1890) 139,856, who are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of cloth and silks, hats, porcelain, ribbons, tobacco, soap, and candles, in metal-casting, tanning, brewing, distilling, cork-cutting, sugar-refining, and brick-making, and in commerce and shipping. Oporto is the principal place of export for Port Wine (q.v., and also PORTUGAL). The remaining exports of moment are cattle, oranges and other fruits, cork, copper, onions, meat, hides, and wool, the total value of all exports reaching on an average £3,550,000. The imports, consisting chiefly of corn and flour, cod-fish, metals, machinery, textiles, rice, raw sugar, hides, coal, and timber, amount to £1,800,000 annually.
Originally the Portus Cale of the Romans (whence Portugal), this city was the stronghold of the Christians in the north-west of the Iberian peninsula against the attacks of the Moors, and more than once changed hands between the 8th and the 12th centuries. The people are noted for their sturdy patriotism and liberal sentiments; in 1808 they were especially hostile to the French; they stoutly opposed the usurper Miguel (1828), who in revenge executed great numbers of its people, but without breaking their spirit, for they supported Pedro of Brazil, and withstood the besieging troops of Miguel thirteen months (1832-33). It was the scene of frequent republican riots in the 19th century. See O. Crawfurd in New Review (1889).