Viseu is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunipical community, with 267,633 inhabitants. Settled during the period of the early Iberian Castro culture, the territory of Viseu was populated by a series of cultures including the Romans, Suebs, Visigoths and Moors. During the Roman occupation of Iberia, Viriathus, the rebel leader of the Lusitanians, is assumed to have lived for a time in the vicinity. During the Middle Ages, the city often served as a seat for Visigothic nobles, and is considered one of the probable birthplaces of Afonso Henriques, first King of Portugal.

The Central Region or Central Portugal is one of the statistical regions of Portugal. The cities with major administrative status inside this region are Coimbra, Aveiro, Viseu, Caldas da Rainha, Leiria, Castelo Branco, Torres Vedras, Tomar, and Guarda. It is one of the seven Regions of Portugal. It is also one of the regions of Europe, as given by the European Union for statistical and geographical purposes. Its area totals 28,462 km2 (10,989 sq mi). As of 2011, its population totalled 2,327,026 inhabitants, with a population density of 82 inhabitants per square kilometre.