Porto or Oporto is a city in northern Portugal, with a 2005 estimated population of 238,465 in the 15 parishes of Porto municipality, 1.6 million in the 14 Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto municipalities, which is an administrative and political entity, and 2.99 million people in the broader agglomeration of Northern Littoral Urban-Metropolitan Region (includes cities ranging from Braga to Oliveira de Azeméis).
Due to its economic output and market size, Greater Porto area is one of the major financial and economic centers of the northwestern quarter of the Iberian Peninsula. Porto's municipality is the core of a large northern Atlantic conurbation, and Porto district is one of the most industrialized districts of Portugal.
One of Portugal's most internationally famous products, Port wine, was named after the city because it was originally shipped from the area[4] or, more precisely, from Vila Nova de Gaia, a city just across the river which belongs to the same conurbation. The country was also named after the Latin name of this city, Portus Cale (English: Port of Gaia).
Porto is the cultural and administrative center of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto (Área Metropolitana do Grande Porto) metropolitan area, and Greater Porto NUTS III subregion capital (1,300,000 inhabitants), in Norte region. Porto is well known for its enterprising spirit, characteristic culture, people, and local cuisine. The city proper is sometimes referred to as Capital do Norte, or Capital of the North. In fact the city is today the capital of Norte, a NUTS II region which covers entire northern Portugal.
Ribeira, the historic Centre of Porto, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1996).
Source: 
|
