Lisbon (Ar. al-Ushbūna; Port. Lisboa), today the capital city of Portugal, situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Tagus River, was in the earliest Islamic period part of the province of Beja, but later was part of a separate province with Santarem and Sintra. During the Muslim period the Jewish communities of Portugal (Roman Lusitania) were small, sparse, and not well documented. Jews settled first in the neighboring city of Santarem, 65 kilometers (40 miles) to the northeast up the Tagus from Lisbon, and their quarter was in the heart of the city. In Lis…