Sacavém (European Portuguese: [sɐkɐˈvɐ̃j]; Arabic: شقبان, romanized: Shaqbān) is a city and former civil parish in the municipality of Loures, Lisbon District, Portugal.

Due to its strategic location, at the intersection of several roads from the north and east connecting to Lisbon, Sacavém was an important settlement during periods of Portuguese History, with some evidence extending back to pre-history.

[2] The oldest-known references date back to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic: three polished stone axes were discovered from the Bronze Age, and in the mid-1980s, excavations in the historical centre of the city revealed a cave with similar artifacts from this period.

By the first century, Sacavém was already crossed by two major Roman roads that connected the region with the interior of the Iberian Peninsula: Remnants of these two Roman viæ still exist under the modern roads Rua do António Ricardo Rodrigues and Rua do José Luís de Morais (the town's two main streets during the Middle Ages, which connected the upper and lower districts of Sacavém).

[5] After 711, the Moors occupied the Iberian peninsula; Lisbon (Arabic: al-Ušbuna) is taken in 716 by Berbers under the command of Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa (who received the governorship of Al-Andalus, in the name of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus), who also captured the region of Sacavém.

In Sacavém the community that circled the Church of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres maintained their faith and culture (under the bishop of Lisbon), something that was possible due to the religious tolerance of the invaders to the Ahl al-Kitāb (or People of the Book).

It is likely that the medieval tower in Sacavém de Cima, in the Largo do Terreirinho, fronting the Chapel of Senhora da Saúde (in the historic centre of the settlement) originated during this Muslim period, when the local Christians were required to pay jizya.

In 1093, in a trade for aid against the Almoravids (from the Maghreb), the emir of Badajoz ceded to the imperator totius Hispaniæ Alfonso VI of León and Castile the castles of al-Ušbuna and aš-Šantaryin (Santarém), along with the territory of Sacavém.

The tradition (fixed probably in the 16th century) says that the Moorish people had gathered around 5,000 men from all Estremadura (Alenquer, Óbidos, Tomar, Torres Novas and Torres Vedras) to fight against only 1,500 Christians, but the latter defeated the Muslims in a large blood bath, with this wondrous victory personally attributed to the intervention of the Holy Virgin, which brought many Christians speaking strange languages (this is, the crusades that took Lisbon that same year).

Taking advantage of its proximity to the River Tagus and opportunities presented by the opening of a railway line to the north of Lisbon, Sacavém became an important area for Portugal's industrial development from the middle of the 19th century.

Giovanni Manio lost control of his Blériot monoplane at 450 feet during a display flight, being thrown from the cockpit and fatally striking his propeller before he hit the ground.

[7] Sacavém is located in the eastern part of Loures municipality, bordering the parishes of Unhos (northwest), Camarate (west), Prior Velho (southwest), Portela (south) as well as Moscavide (southeast).

The latter area replaced the old and much degraded Quinta do Mocho zone, which was the centre an African emigrant community, from the former Portuguese colonies, that returned to Portugal after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, and whom lived in poor conditions, over the past three decades.