Lagos is a city in the District of Faro, in Portugal. According to tradition, the city was founded about 2,000 years before the Birth of Christ, having been under rule by the Carthaginians, Romans and Muslims. After the Christian reconquest, it played a leading role in the Portuguese Discoveries, becoming the main city in the Algarve, a position it lost to Faro after the devastating earthquake of 1755. Recovery was hampered by the French invasions and the Portuguese Civil War, only regaining some importance in the mid-19th century, with the development of industries, mainly canning. After World War II, a phase of replacement of industrial activities by tourism is witnessed, whose economic importance marks the transition to the Third Millennium.

Prehistory and early colonization

The human presence in the territory that would later become Portugal began in the Lower Paleolithic, as can be proven by the remains of a pre-Acheulean lithic industry. During the Stone Age there was already a rudimentary fishing activity on the Lagos coast, using hooks made from deer antlers, which were found by archaeologist Estácio da Veiga in caves. It is estimated that at that time there were a large number of deer in the region, as more tools made from the antlers have been found, and which were used for harvesting and sowing wheat, barley, vegetables, etc... Until the Roman conquest, boats made of leather were used for fishing, as hides for waterproofing, and with masts made of thin wood, so that they were easy to bend and thus not damaged by the wind. The products of the Lagos fishery, especially tuna and sardines, which were exported salted, became very famous during the ancient civilizations, and were part of the trade between Turdetania and North Africa. The historian Faria e Castro reported that in his time there were still traces of the great fisheries that took place in antiquity, especially of tuna, which was transported in brine to Carthage, where it was highly appreciated. To confirm this theory, Faria e Castro cited several ancient authors, such as Athenaeus, Pliny and Strabo, who claimed that tuna fishing was already quite old on the coast of Lusitania. The historian also mentioned that the transport of salted fish even reached Greece, during the time of Hippocrates. One of the known habits of sailors was to sacrifice a tuna to the god Neptune, when the fishing was very abundant.

During the period before the Christian era, the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited mainly by the Iberian people, and invaded by the Celts in the 4th century BC, who eventually merged into the Celtiberians.«Portugal». Dicionário Enciclopédico Koogan Larousse Seleções 5.ª ed. Lisboa: Selecções do Reader's Digest, S. A. 1981. p. 1497-1498. According to tradition, in about 1899 BC, a settlement called Lacobriga was founded in the area where present-day Lagos is located, although the location of this urban nucleus has not been completely determined, with Fonte Coberta, Serro da Amendoeira, Paúl, Figueira da Misericórdia, and Monte Molião having been put forward as hypotheses, the latter being considered the most probable site. The formation of the city is linked to a legend in which a grandson of Tubal, called Brigo, the fourth king of Hispania, built several fortified cities along his territory, which were named Brigos after their founder. This legend was also related in a manuscript called "Fundação de Lagos" (Foundation of Lagos), which was part of the library of the Senhora da Glória Convent, and which stated that Brigo, in the year of the creation of the world 1839, the flood of 2145 and 2161 BC, had founded a settlement in the place later known as Paúl da Abedoeira, which was named Lacobriga, combining both the nature of the area and the name of its founder. Father João Baptista Carvalho estimated that the city of Lacobriga had been created in 1006 BC, based on the work "Euchiridion de los Tiempos", while the "Encyclopedia Portuguesa Illustrada – Diccionario Universal" mentioned that according to Father Cardoso Rodrigues, Mendes da Silva and other authors, the city had been built by Brigo in 1899 BC. The "Diccionario Corographico" de Francisco Cardoso de Azevedo informed that according to some sources, the city had been created in 1897 BC by Brigo, while others pointed to the Carthaginians as founders. The historian Florião do Campo, on the other hand, stated that the city had been founded by the Lakons. The term Brigo was explained by the journal "Archeologo Portuguez" as having a Celtic origin, meaning fortress. The works "Corographia do Algarve" and "História do Regimento de Infantaria n.º 15" put forward Paul's site as the probable location of the ancient city, a theory corroborated by the archaeologist Estácio da Veiga, who identified that site as the Lacobriga described by Pomponius Mela. In fact, several vestiges of Roman occupation were found at Paul's site. According to the "Archivo Historico de Portugal", Lacobriga was located about 1,500 m away from the center of the current city of Lagos, while other authors thought it would have been located on Monte Molião, a hill about 1,200 m from the center, which was excavated by Estácio da Veiga, where prehistoric remains were found, such as crockery and animal bones, and Roman ones, such as a cemetery, crockery and other objects, and several structures, including a cistern about 4 m deep. The site of Lacobriga was also found at the Paul's site.

Ancient geographers referred to the existence of two cities named Lacobriga, with Antoninus describing an even greater number. The hypothesis that ancient Lacobriga was the city of Lagoa has been put forward, but it is unlikely, since this location is far from both the ocean and Cape St. Vincent, while ancient Lacobriga was described as being maritime, and near Cape Sacrum. Another hypothesis is that ancient Lacobriga was located in Alvor, named Portus Hannibalis during the Roman period. This theory was supported by the geographer Niderndorff, who stated that Lacobriga had previously been named Portus Hannibalis.

Contact with the Phoenicians and Carthaginian Domain

According to several historians quoted by João Paulo Rocha in 1910, the first Phoenicians arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 935 BC, to search for gold and silver, having returned a few years later with a larger fleet, which reached as far as Cape St. Vincent In the city of Lagos several Phoenician remains have been found, such as ceramics found in Barroca Street, dating from the 8th to the 7th century BC, However, the contacts with the native peoples were not always friendly, leading to clashes with the Phoenicians, which is why they would have asked their Carthaginian allies for help. These arrived in the Peninsula around 600 BC, where they settled. Another civilization that also had contact with the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula was the Greek, who established commercial colonies at various points along the coast of the peninsula. According to the opinion of Pliny the Elder and other historians of antiquity, the contacts with these three civilizations and later with the Celts were very beneficial for the Turdetans, among whom were the Lacobrigans, who reached a point of superior development in cultural and production terms in relation to the other Lusitanian peoples. Indeed, the progression of agricultural techniques allowed for the export in large quantities of wheat, wine, wax and olive oil, while a developed fishing industry and the existence of salt pans made it possible to export fish. In addition, they also produced wax dishes, and wove cloths with geometric designs, with which they made clothing known as sentulatas.

According to the historian Strabo, the city was conquered by the Carthaginians, led by Hamilcar Barca. According to legend, when it was conquered it had the horses' troughs, the jugs and the jars for wine and water made entirely of silver, which showed the wealth of the city, despite having suffered from several conquest attempts by different peoples. Ancient chroniclers assumed that the city was ruined during Carthaginian rule, and that it was almost completely destroyed in an earthquake and consequent tsunami in the 4th century BC. The city was rebuilt on a new site by Captain Bodo, who had been sent from Carthage to succeed Hanno. Various dates have been advanced for the founding of the new city, such as 250 or 300 BC, Pomponius Mela and Laimundo de Ortega both proposed 400 BC. However, the ancient city on Monte Molião continued to be inhabited. The city experienced a period of great prosperity during Carthaginian rule, due to the great fishing and agricultural production, coral catching, and the large bay that was much sought after by ships as it was sheltered from the prevailing north and northeast winds, and Bodo also established an important fair, which brought a large number of outsiders to the city.

Roman Domain

Due to the Carthaginians' attempts to dominate the peninsula, the Celtiberian inhabitants called in support from the Romans. A series of conflicts between the Carthaginians and the Romans began, known as the Punic Wars, which also reached the peninsula. In 206 BC, the city of Gades (Cadiz) surrendered to Rome, thus ending the Second Punic War in the Iberian Peninsula, and Carthage's domination of the peninsula. However, after Carthage's surrender, the Roman civilization began a series of military campaigns to dominate the whole peninsula, which took about two hundred years. In 155 BC, the Lusitanian War began, which opposed the military power of Rome to the Lusitanian tribes. Resistance to the Roman armies was initially led by Viriathus, between 147 and 139. After Viriathus' death, most of Lusitania was conquered by the commander Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, including the city of Lacobriga. Viriathus was succeeded as head of the Lusitanian resistance by Quintus Sertorius, against Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, from 80. In 76, Lacobriga was besieged by the Romans, commanded by the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus, who hoped the city would surrender due to lack of water, since in its perimeter there was only one well. Sertorius reportedly gathered an army of two thousand horsemen from Lusitania and Africa, who broke the siege and distributed the water they brought to the besieged. According to historian Silva Lopes, who quotes Father Salgado and documents from the city council, Consul Metellus was embarrassed by the ease with which Sertorius' forces won the battle, so he withdrew to the Andalusian area. At that time, the city of Lacobriga was part of the territory controlled by Sertorius, and remained an important trading port. In 72, Sertorius was assassinated, although the conquest of the entire Iberian Peninsula did not end until 44.

Roman rule deeply marked the future Portuguese territory, and the city of Lacobriga was no exception, having established itself, during that time, as an important industrial pole, as can be proven by the presence, in 25 de Abril and Silva Lopes Streets, of vestiges of a complex that included salting plants, which were in use between the 2nd and 6th Centuries, and the dump of a Roman ceramics factory. The city had some influence in the region, and its administrative power may have encompassed the Roman settlement in the Abicada area of the Alvor River. Several traces of Roman civilization have been found around the city of Lagos, including silver coins and other metallic objects, and traces of buildings around the present city, especially in the area of Monte Molião. Roman coins have also been found in the ruins after the 1755 earthquake. During the Roman period, the name of the city was changed from Lacobriga to Lacobrica.

Middle Age