Tourism, banking, insurance, and other
service industries are important to Lisbon’s
economy. The greater Lisbon area
is also a major manufacturing center.
The area’s traditional industries include
the making of soap and steel. Today
factories there also make such goods as
cement, electronics, cars, foods, and
paper products.
A people called the Phoenicians probably
founded Lisbon as a trading station
in about 1200 BC. The city was later
ruled by the Roman Empire and then
Germanic peoples.
Muslims from North Africa took control
of the area in the 700s. In 1147 the
Christian king of Portugal conquered
the city. Lisbon became the capital of
Portugal in 1256.
In the 1400s and 1500s Portugal’s
explorers and conquerors created a huge
overseas empire. Lisbon became the
trade center for the Portuguese empire.
Many of Lisbon’s residents became rich.
One of the greatest earthquakes ever
recorded struck Lisbon in 1755. It
caused a huge ocean wave, called a tsunami,
to wash ashore. Much of Lisbon
was destroyed.
Lisbon was rebuilt quickly. The city
grew larger in the 1800s and 1900s.
Lisbon hosted a large fair called the
World Exposition in 1998.
#More to explore
Portugal
Dom Pedro IV Square, also called Rossio
Square, is a center of activity in Lisbon, the
capital of Portugal.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Lisbon 159
Literature
Literature is writing that is usually considered
to be a work of art. It is different
than written works such as cookbooks,
travel guides, or how-to books. Those
are meant only to provide information.
In general, literature communicates
ideas of lasting interest, especially ideas
about what it means to be human. A
writer of literature takes special care in
choosing and arranging the words. Some
common types of literature include novels,
poetry, and dramas.
Forms of Literature
Literature can be broadly divided into
two categories—poetry and prose.
Poetry, or verse, is written in lines. These
lines are carefully arranged according to
patterns of sound, rhythm, and meaning.
A poem may or may not rhyme, or
use words with similar end sounds (such
as “snake” and “rake”).
Prose uses language much like everyday
speech. Novels, short stories, and most
modern dramas are prose.
There are two main types of prose: fiction
and nonfiction. Fiction, such as
novels or short stories, is mostly made
up. Nonfiction discusses facts or ideas
about real events and people. Histories,
speeches, letters, and reviews of art are
just a few examples of nonfiction. Modern
literature often focuses on fiction
and poetry. But many works of nonfiction
have also been considered great
works of literature.
Literature is also written for different
audiences. Some is written specifically
for children while other works are more
for adults.
How Literature Developed
The Oral Tradition
Thousands of years ago people used
writing mostly to keep records. They
expressed ideas about the world and
their history by telling stories aloud, not
writing them down. Literature that is
spoken out loud is called oral literature.
Each generation of people told their
stories to the next generation. In this
way the stories were passed along. People
usually told the stories in lines of poetry.
The patterns and rhymes of poems
made them easier to remember. Still,
people could change the stories over
time or forget them. Eventually people
Literature, both fiction and nonfiction,
has the power to take
readers to another place and
time.
160 Literature BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
began writing down the stories so they
could not be changed or lost.
Written Literature
Cultures all over the world have developed
rich written literatures. A short
history like this can point out only a few
examples.
Many ancient works of literature were
epics, or long poems about the adventures
of heroes. For example, the Epic of
Gilgamesh was written at least 3,500
years ago in a part of the Middle East
called Mesopotamia. Other early epics
include the Mahabharata from India
and the Iliad and the Odyssey from
ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks also
wrote many dramas and nonfiction.
In the Middle East and Asia storytellers
told the tales of the Arabian Nights, or
The Thousand and One Nights. These
tales were collected and written down in
the 800s or 900s.
In the 1000s a Japanese woman named
Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of
Genji. Many consider this story of a
Japanese prince to be the world’s oldest
novel.
One of the first works of English literature
was the epic Beowulf, about a hero
who kills a monster. It was probably
created in the 700s. The English poet
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury
Tales in the 1300s. This long poem tells
stories about a group of travelers. In the
1400s Sir Thomas Malory retold legends
of King Arthur in Le Morte Darthur
(The Death of Arthur). The English
writerWilliam Shakespeare wrote many
plays in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
A copy of Geoffrey Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales from the 1400s
includes an illustration of the
characters in the poem.
Two actors play out a scene in a
production of William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet
staged in London, England.
