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Lisbon is located on the northern bank of the Tagus River, just before it flows into the Atlantic. Here the estuary narrows and a deep natural port is formed, which was most probably the central reason for the city’s establishment and its continuing importance. It is situated roughly one-third of the length of Portugal north from Portugal’s Atlantic Ocean border in the south.
The city is built on 7 hills, and is so hilly that some elevators and funiculars have been built specifically for vertical travel.
An important defining geological characteristic of Lisbon remains its location in relation to tectonic activity. The seismic activity derives from the relative movement of the Eurasian and the African tectonic plates: the African plate pushing north west against southern Iberia. The whole south west of Iberia is affected by this activity, but the boundary between these plates is not well defined and the epicentre of Lisbon’s great earthquake remains elusive.
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