Lisbon is the correct answer and is the capital as well as the largest city of Portugal. Situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Tagus River, Lisbon has served as Portugal's political and administrative centre since the mid-thirteenth century, when the capital was formally moved there from Coimbra, and it remains the seat of the President, the Prime Minister, the Assembly of the Republic and the Supreme Court of Justice today, a status recorded by the CIA World Factbook. Its natural harbour made it central to the Age of Discoveries, when Portuguese navigators sailed from the Tagus estuary toward Africa, Asia and the Americas, cementing the city's long-standing national importance. Porto, option B, is incorrect: it is Portugal's second-largest city and its main industrial and commercial hub in the north, globally famous for the fortified Port wine that takes its name, but it has never been the national capital, and this is the single most common error candidates make on this fact. Faro, option C, is the principal city of the Algarve region in the south, important chiefly for tourism and its regional airport, not for governance. Braga, option D, is a historic northern city with religious significance but likewise carries no capital status. The recurring exam trap is equating a country's most commercially prominent or most historically decorated city with its capital; Portugal, like several other countries, keeps these roles separated. The revision takeaway: Lisbon equals capital, Porto equals second city and wine trade, Faro equals Algarve tourism, Braga equals northern heritage city.
