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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
whose mainland is located on the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
s of the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
and
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
. It features the westernmost point in
continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
, and its Iberian portion is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, the sole country to have a land border with Portugal. Its two archipelagos form two
autonomous regions An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy— ...
with their own
regional governments In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and ...
.
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
is the
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and largest city by population. Portugal is the oldest continuously existing
nation state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe, its territory having been continuously settled, invaded and fought over since
prehistoric times Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
. It was inhabited by
pre-Celtic The pre-Celtic period in the prehistory of Central Europe and Western Europe occurred before the expansion of the Celts or their culture in Iron Age Europe and Anatolia (9th to 6th centuries BC), but after the emergence of the Proto-Celtic languag ...
and
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
peoples who had contact with
Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
ns and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
traders, it was ruled by the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, followed by the invasions of the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
and
Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, in turn followed by the
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
who eventually were expelled. Portugal as a county was established during the early Christian ''
Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
''. Founded in 868, the
County of Portugal The County of Portugal ( pt, Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale; in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Braga and Porto, today corresp ...
gained prominence after the
Battle of São Mamede The Battle of São Mamede ( pt, Batalha de São Mamede, ) took place on 24 June 1128 near Guimarães and is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the battle that ensured Portugal's Independence. Portugues ...
(1128). The
Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...
was later proclaimed following the
Battle of Ourique The Battle of Ourique ( ar, معركة أوريكه) was a battle that took place on 25 July 1139, in which the forces of Portuguese count Afonso Henriques (of the House of Burgundy) defeated those led by the Almoravid governor of Córdoba, Muha ...
(1139), and independence from León was recognized by the
Treaty of Zamora The Treaty of Zamora (5 October 1143) recognized Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León. Based on the terms of the accord, King Alfonso VII of León recognized the Kingdom of Portugal in the presence of his cousin King Afonso I of Po ...
(1143). In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global maritime and commercial empire, becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. During this period, today referred to as the
Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
, Portuguese explorers pioneered maritime exploration with the discovery of what would become
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(1500). During this time Portugal monopolized the spice trade, divided the world into hemispheres of dominion with Castile, and the empire expanded with military campaigns in
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. By the early 19th century however, events such as the
1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
, the country's occupation during the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, and the resulting
independence of Brazil The Independence of Brazil comprised a series of political and military events that led to the independence of the Kingdom of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves as the Brazilian Empire. Most of the events occurre ...
in 1822 led to a marked decay of Portugal's prior opulence. This was followed by the
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
between
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
constitutionalists and conservative absolutists over royal succession, which lasted from 1828 to 1834. The 1910 revolution deposed Portugal's centuries-old monarchy, and established the democratic but unstable
Portuguese First Republic The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...
, later being superseded by the '' Estado Novo'' (New State) authoritarian regime.
Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
was restored after the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
(1974), ending the
Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories. The handover of Macau to China (1999) marked the end of one of the longest-lived colonial empires in history. Portugal has left a profound cultural, architectural and linguistic influence across the globe, with a legacy of around 250 million Portuguese speakers around the world. It is a
developed country A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...
with an advanced economy which holds the 14th largest gold reserve at its
national central bank The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is an institution that comprises the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 27 member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU). Its objec ...
, the 8th largest proven reserves of
lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
, with the weight of exports representing 49% of its GDP in 2022 and high living standards. Additionally, it ranks highly in peacefulness,
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
, press freedom,
stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics *Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Linear stability ** Lyapunov stability ** Orbital stability ** Structural sta ...
,
social progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...
,
prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notion ...
and English proficiency. A member of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the
Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...
and the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
(CoE), Portugal was also one of the founding members of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, the
eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...
, the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
, and the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
.


Etymology

The word ''Portugal'' derives from the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
-
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
place name
Portus Cale Portus Cale ( Latinised version for "Port of Cale", original Celtic name ''Callaici'', ''Cale'') was an ancient town and port in present-day northern Portugal, in the area of today's Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. The name of the town eventually inf ...
; a city where present-day
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and
Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population of ...
(New village in Gaia) now stand, at the mouth of the
River Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...
in the north of what is now Portugal. The name of the city is from the Latin word for
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
or harbour, , but the second element of ''Portus Cale'' is less clear. The mainstream explanation for the name is that it is an
ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
derived from the Castro people, also known as the Callaeci, Gallaeci or Gallaecia, who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. The names ''Cale'' and ''Callaici'' are the origin of today's ''
Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...
'' and '' Galicia''. Another theory proposes that ''Cale'' or ''Calle'' is a derivation of the Celtic word for 'port', like the
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
or
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
. These explanations, would require the pre-Roman language of the area to have been a branch of Q-Celtic, which is not generally accepted because the region's pre-Roman language was Gallaecian Celtic, usually considered P-Celtic. However, scholars like Jean Markale and Tranoy propose that the Celtic branches all share the same origin, and placenames such as Cale, Gal, Gaia,
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
, Galatia, Galicia,
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
, Gael,
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, Cornwall,
Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
and others all stem from one linguistic root. Another theory has it that Cala was the name of a Celtic goddess (drawing a comparison with the
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
'' Cailleach'', a supernatural hag). Some French scholars believe the name may have come from , the port of the Gauls or Celts. Around 200 BC, the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
took the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
from the Carthaginians during the
Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. In the process they conquered Cale, renaming it ('Port of Cale') and incorporating it in the province of Gaellicia with its capital in
Bracara Augusta Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
(modern day
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
, Portugal). During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, the region around Portus Cale became known by the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
and
Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
as ''Portucale''. The name ''Portucale'' evolved into ''Portugale'' during the 7th and 8th centuries, and by the 9th century, that term was used extensively to refer to the region between the rivers
Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
and Minho. By the 11th and 12th centuries, ''Portugale'', ''Portugallia'', ''Portvgallo'' or ''Portvgalliae'' was already referred to as ''Portugal''. The 14th-century
Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from t ...
name for the country, , which added an intrusive /n/ sound through the process of
excrescence Excrescence may refer to: * Excrescence (phonology) In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable ('' prothesis'') or in the ending syllable ('' paragoge'') or in- ...
, spread to
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
."Portugal, n. and adj." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2020, www.oed.com/view/Entry/148257. Accessed 30 July 2020. Middle English variant spellings included , , and . The spelling is found in Chaucer's Epilogue to
the Nun's Priest's Tale "The Nun's Priest's Tale" (Middle English: ''The Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cok and Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote'') is one of '' The Canterbury Tales'' by the Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Composed in the 1390s, it is a beast fabl ...
. These variants survive in the '' Torrent of Portyngale'', a Middle English romance composed around 1400, and "
Old Robin of Portingale Old Robin of Portingale is a Child balladFrancis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads ...
", an English Child ballad. and variants were also used in Scots and survive in the Cornish name for the country, '' Portyngal''.


History


Prehistory

The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
located in south-western Europe.
The name of Portugal The history of Portugal can be traced from circa 400,000 years ago, when the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis. The Roman invasion in the 3rd century BC lasted several centuries, and developed the Roman provinc ...
derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name
Portus Cale Portus Cale ( Latinised version for "Port of Cale", original Celtic name ''Callaici'', ''Cale'') was an ancient town and port in present-day northern Portugal, in the area of today's Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. The name of the town eventually inf ...
. The region was
settled A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...
by Pre-
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the
Gallaeci The Gallaeci (also Callaeci or Callaici; grc, Καλλαϊκοί) were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited Gallaecia, the north-western corner of Iberia, a region roughly corresponding to what is now the Norte Region in northern Portugal, an ...
,
Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roma ...
,
Celtici ] The Celtici (in Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish, and Galician languages, ) were a Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian peninsula, inhabiting three definite areas: in what today are the regions of Alentejo and the Algarve i ...
and
Cynetes The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Rea ...
(also known as
Conii The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Rea ...
), visited by
Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...
-
Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
s, was incorporated in the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
dominions as
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
and part of
Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal, Asturias and León (province), Leon and the lat ...
, after 45 BC until 298 AD. The region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by
Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
s and then by ''
Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'', who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula.David Birmingham (2003), p. 11 These were subsistence societies and although they did not establish prosperous settlements, they did form organized societies. Neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. It is believed by some scholars that early in the first millennium BC, several waves of
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
invaded Portugal from Central Europe and inter-married with the local populations, forming different tribes. Another theory suggests that Celts inhabited western Iberia / Portugal well before any large Celtic migrations from
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
. In addition, a number of linguists expert in ancient Celtic have presented compelling evidence that the
Tartessian language The Tartessian language is the extinct Paleo-Hispanic language of inscriptions in the Southwestern script found in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), and the southwest of Spa ...
, once spoken in parts of SW Spain and SW Portugal, is at least proto-Celtic in structure. Modern archaeology and research shows a Portuguese root to the
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
in Portugal and elsewhere. During that period and until the Roman invasions, the Castro culture (a variation of the
Urnfield culture The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...
also known as ''Urnenfelderkultur'') was prolific in Portugal and modern Galicia. This culture, together with the surviving elements of the Atlantic megalithic culture and the contributions that come from the more Western Mediterranean cultures, ended up in what has been called the Cultura Castreja or
Castro Culture Castro culture ( gl, cultura castrexa, pt, cultura castreja, ast, cultura castriega, es, cultura castreña, meaning "culture of the hillforts") is the archaeological term for the material culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Pen ...
. This designation refers to the characteristic Celtic populations called 'dùn', 'dùin' or 'don' in
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
and that the Romans called castrae in their chronicles. Based on the Roman chronicles about the Callaeci peoples, along with the
Lebor Gabála Érenn ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' (literally "The Book of the Taking of Ireland"), known in English as ''The Book of Invasions'', is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish fro ...
narrations and the interpretation of the abundant archaeological remains throughout the northern half of Portugal and Galicia, it is possible to infer that there was a matriarchal society, with a military and religious aristocracy probably of the feudal type. The figures of maximum authority were the chieftain (chefe tribal), of military type and with authority in his Castro or clan, and the druid, mainly referring to medical and religious functions that could be common to several castros. The Celtic cosmogony remained homogeneous due to the ability of the
druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
to meet in councils with the druids of other areas, which ensured the transmission of knowledge and the most significant events. The first documentary references to Castro society are provided by chroniclers of Roman military campaigns such as
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
,
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
and
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
among others, about the social organization, and describing the inhabitants of these territories, the Gallaeci of Northern Portugal as: "A group of barbarians who spend the day fighting and the night eating, drinking and dancing under the moon." There were other similar tribes, and chief among them were the
Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roma ...
; the core area of these people lay in inland central Portugal, while numerous other related tribes existed such as the Celtici of Alentejo, and the Cynetes or Conii of the Algarve. Among the tribes or sub-divisions were the
Bracari The Bracari or Callaeci Bracari were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the northwest of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, between the rivers Tâmega and Cávado. After the conquest of the region beginning in 136BC, the Ro ...
, Coelerni, Equaesi, Grovii, Interamici, Leuni, Luanqui, Limici, Narbasi, Nemetati, Paesuri, Quaquerni, Seurbi, Tamagani, Tapoli, Turduli, Turduli Veteres, Turdulorum Oppida, Turodi, and Zoelae. A few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements (such as Tavira Municipality, Tavira) were also founded in the Algarve region by
Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...
Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
.


Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia

Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC. The Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies. During the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula was annexed to the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
. The Roman conquest of what is now part of Portugal took almost two hundred years and took many lives of young soldiers and the lives of those who were sentenced to a certain death in the slave mines when not sold as slaves to other parts of the empire. It suffered a severe setback in 155 BC, when a Lusitanian War, rebellion began in the north. The
Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roma ...
and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus, wrested control of all of western Iberia. Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail – the Lusitanians kept conquering territory. The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed Viriathus's allies to kill him. In 139 BC, Viriathus was assassinated and Tautalus became leader of the Lusitanians. Rome installed a colonial regime. The complete Romanization of Lusitania only took place in the Visigothic era. In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as
Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal, Asturias and León (province), Leon and the lat ...
, with capital in Bracara Augusta, today's
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
. There are still many ruins of castros (hill forts) throughout modern Portugal and remains of the Castro culture. Some urban remains are quite large, like Conímbriga and Miróbriga, Mirobriga. The former, beyond being one of the largest Roman Empire, Roman settlements in Portugal, is also classified as a Monuments of Portugal, National Monument. Conímbriga lies from Coimbra, which in turn was the ancient ''Aeminium''. The site also has a museum that displays objects found by archaeologists during their excavations. Several works of engineering, such as baths, temples, bridges, roads, circuses, theatres and laymen's homes are preserved throughout the country. Coins, some coined in Lusitanian land, as well as numerous pieces of ceramics, were also found. Contemporary historians include Paulus Orosius (c. 375–418) and Hydatius (c. 400–469), bishop of Aquae Flaviae, who reported on the final years of the Roman rule and arrival of the Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes.


Germanic kingdoms: Suebi and Visigoths

In the early 5th century, Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes, namely the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
and the Vandals (Silingi and Hasdingi) together with their allies, the Sarmatians and Alans invaded the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
where they would form their kingdom. The Kingdom of the Suebi was the Germanic post-Roman kingdom, established in the former Roman provinces of
Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal, Asturias and León (province), Leon and the lat ...
-
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
. 5th-century vestiges of Alans, Alan settlements were found in Alenquer Municipality, Portugal, Alenquer (from old Germanic ''Alan kerk'', ''temple of the Alans''), Coimbra and Lisbon. About 410 and during the 6th century it became a formally declared Kingdom of the Suebi, where king Hermeric made a peace treaty with the Gallaecians before passing his domains to Rechila, his son. In 448 Rechila died, leaving the state in expansion to Rechiar. After the defeat against the Visigoths, the Suebian kingdom was divided, with Frantan and Aguiulfo ruling simultaneously. Both reigned from 456 to 457, the year in which Maldras (457–459) reunified the kingdom. He was assassinated after a failed Roman-Visigothic conspiracy. Although the conspiracy did not achieve its true purposes, the Suebian Kingdom was again divided between two kings: Frumar (Frumario 459–463) and Remismund (Remismundo, son of Maldras) (459–469) who would re-reunify his father's kingdom in 463. He would be forced to adopt Arianism in 465 due to the Visigoth influence. By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom had been installed in Iberia, it was based in Toledo, Spain, Toledo and advancing westwards. They became a threat to the Suebian rule. After the death of Remismund in 469 a dark period set in, where virtually all written texts and accounts disappear. This period lasted until 550. The only thing known about this period is that Theodemund (Teodemundo) most probably ruled the Suebians. The dark period ended with the reign of Karriarico (550–559) who reinstalled Catholic Church, Catholic Christianity in 550. He was succeeded by Theodemir (Suebian king), Theodemar (559–570) during whose reign the 1st Council of Braga (561) was held. The councils represented an advance in the organization of the territory (paroeciam suevorum (Suebian parish) and the Christianization of the pagan population (''De correctione rusticorum'') under the auspices of Saint Martin of Braga (São Martinho de Braga). After the death of Teodomiro, Miro (Suebian king), Miro (570–583) was his successor. During his reign, the 2nd Council of Braga (572) was held. The Visigothic civil war began in 577. Miro intervened. Later in 583 he also organized an unsuccessful expedition to reconquer Seville. During the return from this failed operation Miro died. In the Suebian Kingdom many internal struggles continued to take place. Eborico (Eurico, 583–584) was dethroned by Andeca (Audeca 584–585), who failed to prevent the Visigothic invasion led by Leovigildo. The Visigothic invasion, completed in 585, turned the once rich and fertile kingdom of the Suebi into the sixth province of the Gothic kingdom. Leovigild was crowned King of Gallaecia, Hispania and Gallia Narbonensis. For the next 300 years and by the year 700, the entire Iberian Peninsula was ruled by the
Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
. Under the Visigoths, Gallaecia was a well-defined space governed by a doge of its own. Doges at this time were related to the monarchy and acted as princes in all matters. Both 'governors' Wamba (king), Wamba and Wittiza (Vitiza) acted as doge (they would later become kings in Toledo). These two became known as the 'vitizians', who headquartered in the northwest and called on the Arab invaders from the South to be their allies in the struggle for power in 711. King Roderic (Rodrigo) was killed while opposing this invasion, thus becoming the last Visigothic king of Iberia. From the various Germanic groups who settled in western Iberia, the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
left the strongest lasting cultural legacy in what is today Portugal, Galicia and western fringes of Asturias. According to Dan Stanislawski, the Portuguese way of living in regions North of the Tagus is mostly inherited from the Suebi, in which small farms prevail, distinct from the large properties of Southern Portugal. Bracara Augusta, the modern city of
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
and former capital of
Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal, Asturias and León (province), Leon and the lat ...
, became the capital of the Suebi. Apart from cultural and some linguistic traces, the Suebians left the highest Germanic genetic contribution of the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal and Galicia. Paulus Orosius, Orosius, at that time resident in Hispania, shows a rather pacific initial settlement, the newcomers working their lands or serving as bodyguards of the locals. Another Germanic group that accompanied the Suebi and settled in Gallaecia were the Buri (Germanic tribe), Buri. They settled in the region between the rivers ''Cávado River, Cávado'' and ''Homem'', in the area known as Terras de Bouro (Lands of the Buri).


Islamic period and the Reconquista

Today's continental Portugal, along with most of modern Spain, was part of al-Andalus between 726 and 1249, following the Umayyad Caliphate conquest of the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
. This rule lasted from some decades in the North to five centuries in the South. After defeating the
Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
in only a few months, the Umayyad Caliphate started expanding rapidly in the peninsula. Beginning in 726, the land that is now Portugal became part of the vast Umayyad Caliphate's empire of Damascus, which stretched from the Indus river in the Indian sub-continent up to the South of France, until its collapse in 750. That year the west of the empire gained its independence under Abd-ar-Rahman I with the establishment of the Emirate of Córdoba. After almost two centuries, the Emirate became the Caliphate of Córdoba in 929, until its dissolution a century later in 1031 into no less than 23 small kingdoms, called Taifa kingdoms. The governors of the taifas each proclaimed themselves Emir of their provinces and established diplomatic relations with the Christian kingdoms of the north. Most of present-day Portugal fell into the hands of the Taifa of Badajoz of the Aftasid Dynasty, and after a short spell of an ephemeral Taifa of Lisbon in 1022, fell under the dominion of the Taifa of Seville of the Abbadids poets. The Taifa period ended with the conquest of the Almoravids who came from Morocco in 1086 winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Sagrajas, followed a century later in 1147, after the second period of Taifa, by the Almohads, also from Marrakesh. Al-Andaluz was divided into different districts called ''Kura''. Gharb Al-Andalus at its largest consisted of ten kuras,A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire, Vol. 1: From Beginnings to 1807: Portugal (Volume 1) p. 55 each with a distinct capital and governor. The main cities of the period in Portugal were in the southern half of the country: Beja (Portugal), Beja, Silves Municipality, Portugal, Silves, Alcácer do Sal, Santarém, Portugal, Santarém and
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. The Muslim population of the region consisted mainly of native Iberian converts to Islam (the so-called ''Muwallad'' or ''Muladi'') and Arabs. The Arabs were principally noblemen from Syria and Oman; and though few in numbers, they constituted the elite of the population. The Berbers were originally from the Rif and Atlas mountains region of North Africa and were nomads.


County of Portugal

An Asturian Visigothic noble named Pelagius of Asturias in 718 was elected leader by many of the ousted Visigoth nobles. Pelagius called for the remnant of the Christian Visigothic armies to rebel against the Moors and regroup in the unconquered northern Asturian highlands, better known today as the Cantabrian Mountains, in what is today the small mountain region in north-western Spain, adjacent to the Bay of Biscay.H. V. Livermore, ''A New History of Portugal'' (Cambridge University Press: London, 1969) pp. 32–33. Pelagius' plan was to use the Cantabrian mountains as a place of refuge and protection from the invading Moors. He then aimed to regroup the Iberian Peninsula's Christian armies and use the Cantabrian mountains as a springboard from which to regain their lands. In the process, after defeating the Moors in the Battle of Covadonga in 722, Pelagius was proclaimed king, thus founding the Christian Kingdom of Asturias and starting the war of Christian reconquest known in Portuguese language, Portuguese as the ''Reconquista, Reconquista Cristã''. At the end of the 9th century, the region of Portugal, between the rivers Minho and Douro, was reconquered from the Moors by the nobleman and knight Vímara Peres on the orders of King Alfonso III of Asturias. Finding that the region had previously had two major cities –
Portus Cale Portus Cale ( Latinised version for "Port of Cale", original Celtic name ''Callaici'', ''Cale'') was an ancient town and port in present-day northern Portugal, in the area of today's Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. The name of the town eventually inf ...
in the coast and
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
in the interior, with many towns that were now deserted – he decided to repopulate and rebuild them with Portuguese and Galician refugees and other Christians. Apart from the Arabs from the South, the coastal regions in the North were also attacked by Normans, Norman and Viking raiders mainly from 844. The last great invasion, through the Minho (river), ended with the defeat of Olaf II Haraldsson in 1014 against the Galician nobility who also stopped further advances into the County of Portugal. Count Vímara Peres organized the region he had reconquered, and elevated it to the status of County, naming it the
County of Portugal The County of Portugal ( pt, Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale; in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Braga and Porto, today corresp ...
after the region's major port city – ''Portus Cale'' or modern
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
. One of the first cities Vimara Peres founded at this time is Vimaranes, known today as Guimarães – the "birthplace of the Portuguese nation" or the "cradle city" (Cidade Berço in Portuguese). After annexing the County of Portugal into one of the several counties that made up the Kingdom of Asturias, King Alfonso III of Asturias knighted Vímara Peres, in 868, as the First Count of Portus Cale (Portugal). The region became known as ''Portucale'', ''Portugale'', and simultaneously ''Portugália'' – the
County of Portugal The County of Portugal ( pt, Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale; in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Braga and Porto, today corresp ...
. Later the Kingdom of Asturias was divided into a number of Christian Kingdoms in Northern Iberia due to dynastic divisions of inheritance among the king's offspring. With the forced abdication of Alfonso III of Asturias, Alfonso III "the Great" of Asturias by his sons in 910, the Kingdom of Asturias split into three separate kingdoms. The three kingdoms were eventually reunited in 924 under the crown of León. In 1093, Alfonso VI of León bestowed the county to Henry, Count of Portugal, Henry of Burgundy and married him to his illegitimate daughter, Teresa of León, Countess of Portugal, Teresa of León, for his role in reconquering the land from Moors. Henry based his newly formed county in Bracara Augusta (modern
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
), capital city of the ancient Roman province, and also previous capital of several kingdoms over the first millennia.


Independence and Afonsine era

On 24 June 1128, the
Battle of São Mamede The Battle of São Mamede ( pt, Batalha de São Mamede, ) took place on 24 June 1128 near Guimarães and is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the battle that ensured Portugal's Independence. Portugues ...
occurred near Guimarães. Afonso I of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother Teresa, Countess of Portugal, Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself as sole leader. Afonso then turned his arms against the Moors in the south. Afonso's campaigns were successful and, on 25 July 1139, he obtained an overwhelming victory in the
Battle of Ourique The Battle of Ourique ( ar, معركة أوريكه) was a battle that took place on 25 July 1139, in which the forces of Portuguese count Afonso Henriques (of the House of Burgundy) defeated those led by the Almoravid governor of Córdoba, Muha ...
, and straight after was unanimously proclaimed King of Portugal by his soldiers. This is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal, as a fief of the Kingdom of León, was transformed into the independent
Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...
. Afonso then established the first of the Portuguese Cortes at Lamego, where he was crowned by the Archbishop of Braga, though the validity of the Cortes of Lamego has been disputed and called a myth created during the Portuguese Restoration War. Afonso was recognized in 1143 by King Alfonso VII of León, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. During the
Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
period, Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from Moors, Moorish domination. Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military Christian monasticism, monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors. At this time, Portugal covered about half of its present area. In 1249, the Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve and complete expulsion of the last Moorish settlements on the southern coast, giving Portugal its present-day borders, with minor exceptions. In one of these situations of conflict with the kingdom of Castile, Dinis I of Portugal signed with the king Fernando IV of Castile (who was represented, when a minor, by his mother the queen Maria de Molina) the Treaty of Alcañices (1297), which stipulated that Portugal abolished agreed treaties against the kingdom of Castile for supporting the infant Juan de Castilla. This treaty established among other things the border demarcation between the kingdom of Portugal and the kingdom of Leon, where the disputed town of Olivenza was included. The reigns of Denis I of Portugal, Dinis I (Denis I), Afonso IV of Portugal, Afonso IV (Alphons IV), and Peter I of Portugal, Pedro I (Peter I) for the most part saw peace with the Christian kingdoms of Iberia. In 1348 and 1349 Portugal, like the rest of Europe, was devastated by the Black Death. In 1373, Portugal made an Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, alliance with England, which is one of the oldest standing alliances in the world. Over time, this went far beyond geo-political and military cooperation (protecting both nations' interests in Africa, the Americas and Asia against French, Spanish and Dutch rivals) and maintained strong trade and cultural ties between the two old European allies. In the Oporto region, in particular, there is visible English influence to this day.


Joanine era and Age of Discoveries

In 1383, John I of Castile, husband of Beatrice of Portugal and son-in-law of Ferdinand I of Portugal, claimed the throne of Portugal. A faction of petty noblemen and commoners, led by John I of Portugal, John of Aviz (later King John I of Portugal) and commanded by General Nuno Álvares Pereira defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota. With this battle, the House of Aviz became the ruling house of Portugal. The new ruling dynasty would proceed to push Portugal to the limelight of European politics and culture, creating and sponsoring works of literature, like the ''Crónicas d'el Rei D. João I'' by Fernão Lopes, the first riding and hunting manual ''Bem cavalgar, Livro da ensinança de bem cavalgar toda sela'' and ''Leal Conselheiro, O Leal Conselheiro'' both by Edward, King of Portugal, King Edward of Portugal and the Portuguese translations of Cicero, Cicero's ''De Officiis, De Oficiis'' and Seneca the Younger, Seneca's ''De Beneficiis'' by the well traveled Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Prince Peter of Coimbra, as well as his magnum opus ''Tratado da Vertuosa Benfeytoria''. In an effort of solidification and centralization of royal power the monarchs of this dynasty also ordered the compilation, organization and publication of the first three compilations of laws in Portugal: the ''Ordenações d'el Rei D. Duarte'', which was never enforced; the ''Ordenações Afonsinas,'' whose application and enforcement was not uniform across the realm; and the Manueline Ordinances, ''Ordenações Manuelinas'', which took advantage of the printing press to reach every corner of the kingdom. The Avis Dynasty also sponsored works of architecture like the ''Mosteiro da Batalha'' (literally, the Batalha Monastery, Monastery of the Battle) and led to the creation of the Manueline, manueline style of architecture in the 16th century. Portugal also spearheaded European exploration of the world and the
Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King John I of Portugal, became the main sponsor and patron of this endeavour. During this period, Portugal explored the Atlantic Ocean, discovering the Atlantic archipelagos the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
,
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
, and Portuguese Cape Verde, Cape Verde; explored the African coast; colonized selected areas of Africa; discovered an eastern Portuguese India Armadas, route to India via the Cape of Good Hope; Colonial Brazil#Discovery and early exploitation, discovered Brazil, explored the Indian Ocean, established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia; and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Jorge Álvares, China and Nanban trade, Japan. In 1415, Portugal acquired the first of its overseas colonies by conquering Ceuta, the first prosperous Islamic trade centre in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries in the Atlantic:
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
and the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, which led to the first colonialism, colonization movements. In 1422, by decree of King John I, Portugal officially abandoned the previous dating system, the Era of Caesar (Iberian Peninsula), Era of Caesar, and adopted the ''Anno Domini'' system, therefore becoming the last catholic realm to do so. Throughout the 15th century, European exploration of Africa#Portuguese, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for Economic history of Portugal#Expansion of the Portuguese empire (15th and 16th centuries), several common types of tradable commodities at the time, ranging from gold to slavery, slaves, as they looked for a route to India and its spices, which were coveted in Europe. The Treaty of Tordesillas, intended to resolve the dispute that had been created following the return of Christopher Columbus, was made by Pope Alexander VI, the mediator between Portugal and Spain. It was signed on 7 June 1494, and divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the two countries along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). In 1498, Vasco da Gama accomplished what Christopher Columbus, Columbus set out to do and became the first European to reach India by sea, bringing Economic history of Portugal, economic prosperity to Portugal and its population of 1.7 million residents, and helping to start the Portuguese Renaissance. In 1500, the Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real reached what is now Canada and founded the town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, Newfoundland and Labrador, long before the French and English in the 17th century, and being just one of many Portuguese colonization of the Americas, Portuguese colonizations of the Americas. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa in India, Muscat, Oman, Muscat and Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca, now a States of Malaysia, state in Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia by sailing eastward from Europe, landing in such places as Taiwan, Japan, the island of Timor, and in the Moluccas. Although for a long period it was believed the Dutch people, Dutch were the first Europeans to arrive in Australia, there is also some evidence that the Theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia, Portuguese may have discovered Australia in 1521. From 1519 to 1522, Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães) organized a Spanish expedition to the East Indies which resulted in the first circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan never made it back to Europe as he was killed by natives in the Philippines in 1521. The Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529 between Portugal and Spain, specified the anti-meridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. All these factors made Portugal one of the world's major economic, military, and political powers from the 15th century until the late 16th century.


Iberian Union, Restoration and early Brigantine era

Portugal voluntarily entered a dynastic union between 1580 and 1640. This occurred because the last two kings of the House of Aviz – King Sebastian of Portugal, Sebastian, who died in the battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, and his great-uncle and successor, King-Cardinal (Catholic Church), Cardinal Henry I of Portugal, Henry of Portugal – both died without heirs, resulting in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580. Subsequently, Philip II of Spain claimed the throne and was accepted as Philip I of Portugal. Portugal did not lose its formal independence, briefly forming a Iberian Union, union of kingdoms. At this time Spain was a geographic region, geographic territory. The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of an independent foreign policy and led to its involvement in the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands. War led to a deterioration of the relations with Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, Portugal's oldest ally, England, and the loss of Ormus, Hormuz, a strategic trading post located between Iran and Oman. From 1595 to 1663 the Dutch-Portuguese War primarily involved the Dutch companies invading many Portuguese colonies and commercial interests in Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East, resulting in the loss of the Portuguese Indian sea trade monopoly. In 1640, John IV of Portugal spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The Portuguese Restoration War ended the sixty-year period of the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the House of Braganza, which reigned in Portugal until 1910. King John IV's eldest son came to reign as Afonso VI of Portugal, Afonso VI, however his physical and mental disabilities left him overpowered by Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor. In a palace coup organized by the King's wife, Maria Francisca of Savoy, and his brother, Peter II of Portugal, Pedro, Duke of Beja, King Afonso VI was declared mentally incompetent and exiled first to the Azores and then to the Sintra National Palace, Royal Palace of Sintra, outside Lisbon. After Afonso's death, Pedro came to the throne as King Pedro II. Pedro's reign saw the consolidation of national independence, imperial expansion, and investment in domestic production. Pedro II's son, John V of Portugal, John V, saw a reign characterized by the influx of gold into the coffers of the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal fifth (a tax on precious metals) that was received from the Portuguese empire, Portuguese colonies of State of Brazil, Brazil and State of Maranhão (colonial), Maranhão. Disregarding traditional Portuguese institutions of governance, John V acted as an absolute monarch, nearly depleting the country's tax revenues on ambitious architectural works, most notably Mafra National Palace, Mafra Palace, and on commissions and additions for his sizeable art and literary collections. Owing to his craving for international diplomatic recognition, John also spent large sums on the embassies he sent to the courts of Europe, the most famous being those he sent to Paris in 1715 and Rome in 1716. Official estimates – and most estimates made so far – place the number of Portuguese migrants to Colonial Brazil during the gold rush of the 18th century at 600,000. This represented one of the largest movements of European populations to their colonies in the Americas during colonial times.


Pombaline era and Enlightenment

In 1738, ''fidalgo'' Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (later ennobled as the 1st Marquis of Pombal (title), Marquis of Pombal) began a diplomatic career as the Portuguese Ambassador in London and later in Vienna. The Queen consort of Portugal, Maria Anna of Austria, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, was fond of Carvalho e Melo; and after his first wife died, she arranged the widowed Carvalho e Melo's second marriage to the daughter of the Austrian field marshal Leopold Josef, Count von Daun. King John V of Portugal, John V, however, was not pleased and recalled Carvalho e Melo to Portugal in 1749. John V died the following year and his son, Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph I, was crowned. In contrast to his father, Joseph I was fond of Carvalho e Melo, and with the Queen Mother's approval, he appointed Carvalho e Melo as political minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs. As the King's confidence in Carvalho e Melo increased, the King entrusted him with more control of the state. By 1755, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo was made Prime Minister. Impressed by British economic success that he had witnessed from his time as an Ambassador, he successfully implemented similar Economic system, economic policies in Portugal. He Slavery in Portugal#Banning, abolished slavery in mainland Portugal and in the Portuguese colonies in India, reorganized the army and the navy, restructured the University of Coimbra, and ended legal discrimination against different Christianity, Christian sects in Portugal by abolishing the distinction between Old Christian, Old and New Christians. Carvalho e Melo's greatest reforms were economic and financial, with the creation of several companies and guilds to regulate every commercial activity. He created one of the first appellation, appellation systems in the world by demarcating the region for production of port wine, Port to ensure the wine's quality; and this was the first attempt to control wine quality and production in Europe. He ruled with a strong hand by imposing strict law upon all classes of Portuguese society from the high nobility to the poorest working class, along with a widespread review of the country's tax system. These reforms gained him enemies in the upper classes, especially among the high nobility, who despised him as a social upstart. Disaster fell upon Portugal in the morning of 1 November 1755, when
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
was struck by 1755 Lisbon earthquake, a violent earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 8.5–9. The city was razed to the ground by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and ensuing fires. Carvalho e Melo survived by a stroke of luck and then immediately embarked on rebuilding the city, with his famous quote: "What now? We bury the dead and take care of the living." Despite the calamity and huge death toll, Lisbon suffered no epidemics and within less than one year was already being rebuilt. The new city centre of Lisbon was designed to resist subsequent earthquakes. Architectural models were built for tests, and the effects of an earthquake were simulated by having troops march around the models. The buildings and large squares of the Lisbon Baixa, Pombaline Downtown still remain as one of Lisbon's tourist attractions. Carvalho e Melo also made an important contribution to the study of seismology by designing a detailed inquiry on the effects of the earthquake, the Parochial Memories of 1758, that was sent to every parish in the country; this wealth of information allows modern scientists to reconstruct the event with some degree of scientific precision while also giving current historians an immense amount of Demography, demographic, Topography, topographic and Prosopography, prosopographic information on the rest of the kingdom as well as information on its urban and rural areas. Following the earthquake, Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph I gave his Prime Minister even more power, and Carvalho de Melo became a powerful, Enlightened absolutism, progressive dictator. As his power grew, his enemies increased in number, and bitter disputes with the upper nobility became frequent. In 1758 Joseph I was wounded in an attempted assassination. The Marquis of Távora, Távora family and the Dukes of Aveiro, Duke of Aveiro were implicated and Távora affair, summarily executed after a quick trial. The following year, the Society of Jesus, Jesuits were Suppression of the Society of Jesus, suppressed and expelled from the country and their assets confiscated by the crown. Carvalho e Melo spared none involved, even women and children (notably, eight-year-old Leonor de Almeida Portugal, Marquise of Alorna, Leonor de Almeida Portugal, imprisoned in a convent for nineteen years). This was the final stroke that crushed all opposition by publicly demonstrating even the aristocracy was powerless before the King's loyal minister. Joseph I ennobled Carvalho e Melo as Count of Oeiras, Portugal, Oeiras in 1759. In 1762, Spanish–Portuguese War, 1761–1763, Spain invaded Portuguese territory as part of the Seven Years' War, but by 1763 the ''status quo'' between Spain and Portugal before the war had been restored. Following the Távora affair, the new Count of Oeiras knew no opposition. Further titled "Marquês de Pombal" in 1770, he effectively ruled Portugal until Joseph I's death in 1777. The new ruler, Queen Maria I of Portugal, disliked the Marquês de Pombal because of the power he amassed, and never forgave him for the ruthlessness with which he dispatched the Távora family, and upon her accession to the throne, she withdrew all his political offices. The Marquês de Pombal was banished to his estate at Pombal, Portugal, Pombal, where he died in 1782. However, historians also argue that Pombal's "enlightenment," while far-reaching, was primarily a mechanism for enhancing autocracy at the expense of individual liberty and especially an apparatus for crushing opposition, suppressing criticism, and furthering colonial economic exploitation as well as intensifying book censorship and consolidating personal control and profit.


Napoleonic era

With the invasions by Napoleon, Portugal began a slow but inexorable decline that lasted until the 20th century. This decline was hastened by the independence of Brazil, the country's largest colonial possession. In the autumn of 1807, Napoleon moved French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. From 1807 to 1811, British-Portuguese forces successfully fought against the French invasion of Portugal in the Peninsular War, during which the royal family and the Portuguese nobility, including Maria I, relocated to the Colonial Brazil, Portuguese territory of Brazil, at that time a colony of the Portuguese Empire, in South America. This episode is known as the Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil. In 1807, as Napoleon's army closed in on Lisbon, João VI of Portugal, the prince regent, transferred his court to Brazil and established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire. In 1815, Brazil was declared a Kingdom and the Kingdom of Portugal was united with it, forming a pluricontinental state, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. As a result of the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, Economic history of Brazil#The economy at independence, 1822, economical, military, History of education in Brazil, educational, and Brazilian science and technology#History, scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Portuguese and their allied British troops fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 the situation in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI would have been able to return safely to Lisbon. However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which started in
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821. Thus he returned to Portugal but left his son Pedro I of Brazil, Pedro in charge of Brazil. When the Portuguese Government attempted the following year to return the Kingdom of Brazil to subordinate status, his son Pedro, with the overwhelming support of the Brazilian elites, declared War of Independence of Brazil, Brazil's independence from Portugal. Cisplatina (today's sovereign state of Uruguay), in the south, was one of the last additions to the territory of Brazil under Portuguese rule. Brazilian independence was recognized in 1825, whereby Emperor Pedro I granted to his father the titular honour of ''Emperor of Brazil''. John VI's death in 1826 caused serious questions in his succession. Though Pedro was his heir, and reigned briefly as Pedro IV, his status as a Brazilian monarch was seen as an impediment to holding the Portuguese throne by both nations. Pedro abdicated in favour of his daughter, Maria II of Portugal, Maria II (Mary II). However, Pedro's brother, Miguel I of Portugal, Infante Miguel, claimed the throne in protest. After a proposal for Miguel and Maria to marry failed, Miguel seized power as King Miguel I, in 1828. In order to defend his daughter's rights to the throne, Pedro launched the Portuguese Civil War, Liberal Wars to reinstall his daughter and establish a constitutional monarchy in Portugal. The war ended in 1834, with Miguel's defeat, the promulgation of a constitution, and the reinstatement of Queen Maria II.


Constitutional monarchy

Queen Maria II (Mary II) and King Ferdinand II of Portugal, Ferdinand II's son, King Pedro V (Peter V) modernized the country during his short reign (1853–1861). Under his reign, roads, telegraphs, and railways were constructed and improvements in public health advanced. His popularity increased when, during the cholera outbreak of 1853–1856, he visited hospitals handing out gifts and comforting the sick. Pedro's reign was short, as he died of cholera in 1861, after a series of deaths in the royal family, including his two brothers Infante Fernando of Portugal, Infante Fernando and Infante João, Duke of Beja, and his wife, Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Pedro not having children, his brother, Luís I of Portugal (Louis I) ascended the throne and continued his modernization. At the height of European colonialism in the 19th century, Portugal had already lost its territory in South America and all but a few bases in Asia. Luanda, Benguela, Bissau, Maputo, Lourenço Marques, Porto Amboim and the Island of Mozambique were among the oldest Portuguese-founded port cities in its African territories. During this phase, Portuguese colonialism focused on expanding its outposts in Africa into nation-sized territories to compete with other European powers there. With the Berlin Conference (1884), Conference of Berlin of 1884, Portuguese territories in Africa had their borders formally established on request of Portugal in order to protect the centuries-long Portuguese interests in the continent from rivalries enticed by the Scramble for Africa. Portuguese towns and cities in Africa like Nova Lisboa, Lubango, Sá da Bandeira, Kuito, Silva Porto, Malanje, Tete, Vila Junqueiro, Vila Pery and Vila Cabral were founded or redeveloped inland during this period and beyond. New coastal towns like Beira, Mozambique, Beira, Namibe, Moçâmedes, Lobito, João Belo, Nacala and Porto Amélia were also founded. Even before the turn of the 20th century, railway tracks as the Benguela railway in Angola, and the Beira railway in Mozambique, started to be built to link coastal areas and selected inland regions. Other episodes during this period of the Portuguese presence in Africa include the 1890 British Ultimatum. This forced the Portuguese military to retreat from the land between the Portuguese colonies of Portuguese Mozambique, Mozambique and Portuguese Angola, Angola (most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia), which had been claimed by Portugal and included in its "Pink Map", which clashed with British aspirations to create a Cape to Cairo Railway. The Portuguese territories in Africa were Portuguese Cape Verde, Cape Verde, Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Guinea, Angola (Portugal), Angola, and Mozambique (Portugal), Mozambique. The tiny fortress of São João Baptista de Ajudá on the coast of Dahomey, was also under Portuguese rule. In addition, Portugal still ruled the Asian territories of Portuguese India, Portuguese Timor and Portuguese Macau. On 1 February 1908, King Dom Carlos I of Portugal and his heir apparent and his eldest son, Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, Prince Royal Dom Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, Lisbon Regicide, were assassinated in Lisbon in the Terreiro do Paço by two Portuguese republican activist revolutionaries, Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buíça. Under his rule, Portugal had been declared bankrupt twice – first on 14 June 1892, and then again on 10 May 1902 – causing social turmoil, economic disturbances, angry protests, revolts and criticism of the monarchy. His second and youngest son, Manuel II of Portugal, became the new king, but was eventually overthrown by the 5 October 1910 revolution, 5 October 1910 Portuguese republican revolution, which abolished the monarchy and installed a republican government in Portugal, causing him and his royal family to flee into exile in London, England.


First Republic and Estado Novo

The new republic had many problems. Portugal had 45 different governments in just 15 years. During World War I, World War 1 (1914–1918), Portugal helped the Allies of World War I, Allies fight the Central Powers, however the war hurt its weak economy. Political instability and economic weaknesses were fertile ground for chaos and unrest during the First Portuguese Republic. These conditions would lead to the failed Monarchy of the North, 28 May 1926 coup d'état, and the creation of the National Dictatorship (''Ditadura Nacional''). This in turn led to the establishment of the right-wing dictatorship of the Estado Novo under António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933. Portugal remained neutral in World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
,
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Gradually, new economic development projects and relocation of mainland Portuguese citizens into the overseas provinces in Africa were initiated, with Portuguese Angola, Angola and Portuguese Mozambique, Mozambique, as the largest and richest overseas territories, being the main targets of those initiatives. These actions were used to affirm Portugal's status as a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental nation and not as a colonial empire. After India attained independence in 1947, pro-Indian residents of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with the support of the Indian government and the help of pro-independence organizations, separated the territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portuguese rule in 1954.P S Lele, Dadra and Nagar Haveli: past and present, Published by Usha P. Lele, 1987, In 1961, Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá's annexation by the Republic of Dahomey was the start of a process that led to the final dissolution of the centuries-old Portuguese Empire. According to the census of 1921 São João Baptista de Ajudá had five inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey Government, it had only two inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty. Another forcible retreat from overseas territories occurred in December 1961 when Portugal refused to relinquish the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu in India. As a result, the Portuguese army and navy were involved in armed conflict in its colony of Portuguese India against the Indian Armed Forces. The Annexation of Goa, operations resulted in the defeat and surrender of the limited Portuguese defensive garrison, which was forced to surrender to a much larger military force. The outcome was the loss of the remaining Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese regime refused to recognize Indian sovereignty over the annexed territories, which continued to be represented in Portugal's National Assembly until the military coup of 1974. Also in the early 1960s, independence movements in the Portuguese overseas provinces of Portuguese Angola, Angola, Portuguese Mozambique, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, Guinea in Africa, resulted in the
Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
(1961–1974). The war lasted 13 years, mobilized around 1,4 million men for military and/or civilian support service, and led to big casualties from military to civilians, plus evacuations of thousands from war zones. Throughout the colonial war period Portugal had to deal with increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions imposed by most of the international community. However, the authoritarian and conservative Estado Novo regime, first installed and governed by António de Oliveira Salazar and from 1968 onwards led by Marcelo Caetano, tried to preserve a vast centuries-long intercontinental empire with a total area of .


Carnation Revolution and European integration

The Portuguese government and army resisted the decolonization of its overseas territories until April 1974, when a left-wing military coup in Lisbon, known as the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
, led the way for the independence of the overseas territories in Africa and Asia, as well as for the restoration of democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (''Processo Revolucionário Em Curso''). This period was characterized by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces. By the summer of 1975, the tension between these was so high, that the country was on the verge of civil war. The forces connected to the extreme left-wing launched a further ''coup d'état'' on 25 November but the Group of Nine, a moderate military faction, immediately initiated a counter-coup. The main episode of this confrontation was the successful assault on the barracks of the left-wing dominated 2nd Lancers Regiment (Portugal), Military Police Regiment by the moderate forces of the Commando Regiment, resulting in three soldiers killed in action. The Group of Nine emerged victorious, thus preventing the establishment of a communist state in Portugal and ending the period of political instability in the country. The retreat from the overseas territories and the acceptance of its independence terms by Portuguese head representatives for overseas negotiations, which would create independent states in 1975, prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola, Angola and Overseas Province of Mozambique, Mozambique). Over one million White African#Portuguese in Africa, Portuguese refugees fled the former Portuguese provinces as white settlers were usually not considered part of the new identities of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia. Mário Soares and António de Almeida Santos were charged with organizing the independence of Portugal's overseas territories. By 1975, all the Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held 1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election, its first democratic elections in 50 years. Portugal continued to be governed by a Junta de Salvação Nacional until the 1976 Portuguese legislative election, Portuguese legislative election of 1976. It was won by the Socialist Party (Portugal), Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) and Mário Soares, its leader, became Prime Minister of the 1st Constitutional Government on 23 July. Mário Soares would be Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1985. In this capacity Soares tried to resume the economic growth and development record that had been achieved before the Carnation Revolution, during the last decade of the previous regime. He initiated the process of accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) by starting accession negotiations as early as 1977. After the transition to democracy, Portugal bounced between socialism and adherence to the neoliberal model. Land reform and nationalizations were enforced; the Portuguese Constitution (approved in 1976) was rewritten in order to accommodate socialist and communist principles. Until the constitutional revisions of 1982 and 1989, the constitution was a document with numerous references to socialism, the rights of workers, and the desirability of a socialist economy. Portugal's economic situation after the revolution obliged the government to pursue International Monetary Fund (IMF)-monitored stabilization programmes in 1977–78 and 1983–85. In 1986, Portugal, along with Spain, joined the European Economic Community (EEC) that later became the European Union (EU). In the following years Portugal's economy progressed considerably as a result of EEC/EU structural and cohesion funds and Portuguese companies' easier access to foreign markets. Portugal's last overseas and Asian colonial territory, Macau, was peacefully handed over to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) on 20 December 1999, under the 1987 joint declaration that set the terms for Macau's handover from Portugal to the PRC. In 2002, the independence of East Timor (Asia) was formally recognized by Portugal, after an incomplete decolonization process that was started in 1975 because of the Carnation Revolution, but interrupted by an Indonesian armed invasion and Indonesian occupation of East Timor, occupation. On 26 March 1995, Portugal started to implement
Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...
rules, eliminating border controls with other Schengen members while simultaneously strengthening border controls with non-member states. In 1996 the country was a co-founder of the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
(CPLP) headquartered in Lisbon. In 1996, Jorge Sampaio became president. He won 2001 Portuguese presidential election, re-election in January 2001. Expo '98 took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and the
eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...
. On 5 July 2004, José Manuel Barroso, then Prime Minister of Portugal, was nominated President of the European Commission, the most powerful office in the European Union. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, after it had been signed by the European Union member states on 13 December 2007 in the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon, enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and improving the coherence of its action. Ireland was the only EU state to hold a democratic referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. It was initially rejected by voters in 2008. Economic disruption and an unsustainable growth in government debt during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 led the country to negotiate in 2011 with the IMF and the European Union, through the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a loan to help the country stabilize its finances.


Geography

The territory of Portugal includes an area on the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
(referred to as ''the continent'' by most Portuguese) and two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean: the archipelagos of
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
and the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. It lies between latitudes 30th parallel north, 30° and 42nd parallel north, 42° N, and longitudes 32nd meridian west, 32° and 6th meridian west, 6° W. Continental Portugal, Mainland Portugal is split by its main river, the Tagus, that flows from Spain and disgorges in the Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve, Tagus Estuary, in Lisbon, before escaping into the Atlantic. The northern landscape is mountainous towards the interior with several plateaus indented by river valleys, whereas the south, including the Algarve and the Alentejo regions, is characterized by rolling plains. Portugal's highest peak is the similarly named Mount Pico on the island of Pico Island, Pico in the Azores. This ancient volcano, with a height of is an iconic symbol of the Azores, while the Serra da Estrela on the mainland (the summit being above sea level) is an important seasonal attraction for skiers and winter sports enthusiasts. The archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores are scattered within the Atlantic Ocean: the Azores straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on a tectonic triple junction, and Madeira along a range formed by plate tectonics, in-plate hotspot (geology), hotspot geology. Geologically, these islands were formed by volcanic and seismic events. The last terrestrial volcanic eruption occurred in 1957–58 (Capelinhos) and minor earthquakes occur sporadically, usually of low intensity. Exclusive economic zone of Portugal, Portugal's exclusive economic zone, a sea zone over which the Portuguese have special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has . This is the 3rd largest exclusive economic zone of the European Union and the 20th largest in the world.


Climate

Portugal is mainly characterized by a Mediterranean climate (''Csa'' in the South, central interior, and the
Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
river valley; ''Csb'' in the North, Central west and Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, Vicentine Coast), Oceanic climate, temperate maritime climate (Cfb) in the mainland north-western highlands and mountains, and in some high altitude zones of the Azorean islands; a semi-arid climate in certain parts of the Beja District far south (''BSk'') and in Porto Santo Island (BSh), a BWh, warm desert climate (BWh) in the Savage Islands, Selvagens Islands and a humid subtropical climate in the western
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
(Cfa), according to the Köppen climate classification, Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification. It is one of the warmest countries in Europe: the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from in the mountainous interior north to in the south and on the Guadiana river basin. There are however, variations from the highlands to the lowlands: Spanish biologist Salvador Rivas Martinez presents several different bioclimatic zones for Portugal. The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo region by mountains reaching up to in Fóia (mountain), Alto da Fóia, has a climate similar to that of the southern coastal areas of Spain or Southwest Australia. Annual average rainfall in the mainland varies from just over on the Peneda-Gerês National Park to less than in southern parts of Alentejo. Mount Pico is recognized as receiving the largest annual rainfall (over per year) in Portugal, according to ''Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera''. In some areas, such as the Guadiana basin, annual diurnal average temperatures can be as high as , and summer's highest temperatures are routinely over . The record high of was recorded in Amareleja, although this might not be the hottest spot in summer, according to satellite readings. Snowfalls occur regularly in the winter in the interior North and Centre of the country in districts such as Guarda District, Guarda, Bragança District, Bragança, Viseu District, Viseu and Vila Real District, Vila Real, particularly on the mountains. In winter, temperatures may drop below , particularly in Serra da Estrela, Serra do Gerês, Serra do Marão and Montesinho Natural Park, Serra de Montesinho. In these places snow can fall any time from October to May. In the South of the country snowfalls are rare but still occur in the highest elevations. While the official absolute minimum by Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, IPMA is in Penhas da Saúde and Miranda do Douro, lower temperatures have been recorded, such as by Bragança, Portugal, Bragança Polytechnic Institute in the outskirts of the city in 1983, and below in Serra da Estrela. Continental Portugal receives around 2,300 to 3,200 hours of sunshine a year, an average of 4–6 hours in winter and 10–12 hours in the summer, with higher values in the south-east, south-west and the Algarve coast and lower in the north-west. Insolation values are lower in the archipelagos, with around 1,600 hours in the humid Flores Island (Azores), Flores Island and around 2,300 hours in the island of Madeira and Porto Santo. Insolation in the Selvagens is thought to be higher due to weaker orographic lift and their relative proximity to the Sahara Desert. Portugal's central west and southwest coasts have an extreme ocean seasonal lag, sea temperatures are warmer in October than in July and are their coldest in March. The average sea surface temperature on the west coast of mainland Portugal varies from in January−March to in August−October while on the south coast it ranges from in January−March and rises in the summer to about , occasionally reaching . In the Azores, around in February−April to in July−September, and in Madeira, around in February−April to in August−October. Both the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira have a subtropical climate, although variations between islands exist, making weather predictions very difficult (owing to rough topography). The Madeira and Azorean archipelagos have a narrower temperature range, with annual average temperatures exceeding in some parts of the coast (according to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute). Some islands in Azores do have drier months in the summer. Consequently, the islands of the Azores have been identified as having a Mediterranean climate (both ''Csa'' and ''Csb'' types), while some islands (such as Flores Island (Azores), Flores or Corvo Island, Corvo) are classified as Humid subtropical (''Cfa''), transitioning into an Oceanic climate (''Cfb'') at higher altitudes, according to Köppen-Geiger classification. Porto Santo Island in Madeira has a warm semi-arid climate (''BSh''). The Savage Islands, which are part of the regional territory of Madeira and a nature reserve are unique in being classified as a desert climate (''BWh'') with an annual average rainfall of approximately . The sea surface temperature in these islands varies from in winter to in the summer occasionally reaching .


Biodiversity

Portugal is located on the Mediterranean Basin, the third most diverse hotspot of flora in the world. Due to its geographical and climatic context - between the Atlantic and Mediterranean - Portugal has a high level of biodiversity on land and at sea. It is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Azores temperate mixed forests, Cantabrian mixed forests, Madeira evergreen forests, Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests, Northwest Iberian montane forests, and Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests. Over 22% of its land area is included in the Natura 2000 network, including 62 special conservation areas and 88 types of protected landscape natural habitats. Eucalyptus (non-native, commercial plantations), cork oak and maritime pine together make up 71% of the total forested area of continental Portugal, followed by the Quercus rotundifolia, holm oak, the stone pine, the other oak trees (''Q. robur'', ''Quercus faginea, Q. faginea'' and ''Quercus pyrenaica, Q. pyrenaica'') and the sweet chestnut, respectively. In Madeira, laurisilva (recognized as a World Heritage Site) dominates the landscape, especially on the northern slope. The predominant species in this forest include ''Laurus novocanariensis'', ''Apollonias barbujana'', ''Ocotea foetens'' and ''Persea indica''. Before human occupation the Azores were also rich in dense laurisilva forests, today these native forests are undermined by the introduced ''Pittosporum undulatum'' and ''Cryptomeria japonica''. There have been several projects aimed to recover the Laurisilva present in the Azores. Remnants of these laurisilva forests are also present in continental Portugal with its few living testimonies ''Laurus nobilis'', ''Prunus lusitanica'', ''Arbutus unedo'', ''Myrica faya'' and ''Rhododendron ponticum''. These geographical and climatic conditions facilitate the introduction of exotic species that later turn to be invasive and destructive to the native habitats. Around 20% of the total number of extant species in continental Portugal are Introduced species, exotic. In Madeira, around 36% and in the Azores, around 70% species are exotic. Due to this, Portugal was placed 168th globally out of 172 countries on the Forest Landscape Integrity Index in 2019. Portugal is the second country in Europe with the highest number of threatened animal and plant species (488 as of 2020). Portugal as a whole is an important stopover for migratory bird species: the southern marshes of the eastern Algarve (Ria Formosa, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António Marsh Natural Reserve, Castro Marim) and the Lisbon Region (Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve, Tagus Estuary, Sado Estuary Natural Reserve, Sado Estuary) hosting various aquatic bird species, the Bonelli's eagle and Egyptian vulture on the northern valleys of the Douro International Natural Park, Douro International, the black stork and griffon vulture on the Tagus International Natural Park, Tagus International, the seabird sanctuaries of the Savage Islands and Berlengas and the highlands of Madeira Island, Madeira and São Miguel Island, São Miguel all represent the great diversity of wild avian species (around 450 in continental Portugal), not only migratory but also endemic (e.g. trocaz pigeon, Azores bullfinch) or exotic (crested myna, pin-tailed whydah). The large mammalian species of Portugal (the European fallow deer, fallow deer, red deer, roe deer, Iberian ibex, wild boar, red fox, Iberian wolf and Iberian lynx) were once widespread throughout the country, but intense hunting, habitat degradation and growing pressure from agriculture and livestock reduced population numbers on a large scale in the 19th and early 20th century, others, such as the Portuguese ibex were even led to extinction. Today, these animals are re-expanding their native range. Smaller mammals include the red squirrel, European badger, Eurasian otter, Egyptian mongoose, Granada hare, European rabbit, common genet, European wildcat, among others. Due to their isolated location, the volcanic islands of the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
,
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
and Salvages, part of Macaronesia, have many endemic species that have evolved independently from their European, African and occasionally American relatives. The Portuguese west coast is part of the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems of the ocean. This seasonal upwelling system typically seen during the summer months brings cooler, nutrient rich water up to the sea surface promoting phytoplankton growth, zooplankton development and the subsequent rich diversity in pelagic fish and other marine invertebrates. This, adding to its large Exclusive economic zone of Portugal, EEZ makes Portugal one of the largest per capita fish-consumers in the world. Sardines (''Sardina pilchardus'') and horse mackerel (''Trachurus trachurus'') are collected in the thousands every year. while blue whiting, monkfish, Atlantic cod, cephalopods, Skate (fish), skates or any other form of seafood are Artisanal fishing, traditionally fished in the local coastal villages. This upwelling also allows Portugal to have kelp forests which are otherwise very uncommon or non-existent on the Mediterranean. 73% of the freshwater fish occurring in the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
are endemic, the largest out of any region in Europe. Many of these endemic species are concentrated in bodies of water of the central western region (Achondrostoma occidentale, one exclusively endemic), these and other bodies of water throughout the Peninsula are mostly temporary and prone to drought every year, placing most of these species under Threatened status. Around 24 to 28 species of cetacean roam through the Azores, making it one of four places in the world where most species of this infraorder occur. Starting in the mid-19th century and ceasing in 1984, whaling (especially of sperm whale) heavily exploited this diversity. Beginning in the early 90s, whale watching quickly grew to popularity and is now one of the main economic activities in the Portuguese archipelago. Some Protected areas of Portugal, protected areas in Portugal other than the ones previously mentioned include: the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park, Serras de Aire e Candeeiros with its limestone formations, paleontological history and great diversity in bats and orchids, the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park with its well preserved, wild coastline. the Montesinho Natural Park which hosts some of the only populations of Iberian wolf and recent sightings of Iberian brown bear, which had been considered extinct in the country; among other species.


Government and politics

Portugal has been a Semi-presidential system, semi-presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic since the ratification of the Portuguese Constitution of 1976, Constitution of 1976, with
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, the nation's largest city, as its capital. The Constitution grants the division or separation of powers among four bodies referred as "organs of Sovereignty": the President of Portugal, President of the Republic, the Government of Portugal, Government, the Portuguese parliament, Assembly of the Republic and the Judiciary of Portugal, Courts. The President, who is elected to a five-year term, has an executive role: the current President is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The Assembly of the Republic is a single chamber parliament composed of a maximum of 230 deputies elected for a four-year term. The Government is headed by the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, Prime Minister (currently António Costa) and includes Ministers and Secretaries of State. The Courts are organized into several levels, among the judicial, administrative and fiscal branches. The Portuguese Supreme Court, Supreme Courts are institutions of last resort/appeal. A thirteen-member Portuguese Constitutional Court, Constitutional Court oversees the constitutionality of the laws. Portugal operates a multi-party system of competitive legislatures/local administrative governments at the national, regional and local levels. The Assembly of the Republic, Regional Assemblies and local municipalities and parishes, are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party (Portugal), Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party, in addition to the Unitary Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party and Ecologist Party "The Greens"), the Left Bloc (Portugal), Left Bloc and the Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party, which garner between 5 and 15% of the vote regularly.


Presidency of the Republic

The Head of State of Portugal is the President of Portugal, President of the Republic, elected to a five-year term by direct, universal suffrage. Presidential powers include the appointment of the Prime Minister and the other members of the Government (where the President takes into account the results of legislative elections); dismissing the Prime Minister; dissolving the Assembly of the Republic (to call early elections); vetoing legislation (which may be overridden by the Assembly); and declaring a state of war or siege. The President has also supervisory and reserve powers and is the ''ex officio'' Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The President is advised on issues of importance by the Portuguese Council of State, Council of State, which is composed of six senior civilian officers, any former Presidents elected under the 1976 Constitution, five members chosen by the Assembly, and five selected by the president.


Government

The Government is headed by the presidentially appointed Prime Minister of Portugal, Prime Minister, also including one or more Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Secretaries of State and Under-Secretaries of State. The Government is both the organ of sovereignty that conducts the general politics of the country and the superior body of the public administration. It has essentially Executive powers, but has also limited legislative powers. The Government can legislate about its own organization, about areas covered by legislative authorizations conceded by the Assembly of the Republic and about the specific regulation of generalist laws issued by the Assembly. The Council of Ministers (Portugal), Council of Ministers – under the presidency of the Prime Minister (or the President of Portugal at the latter's request) and the Ministers (may also include one or more Deputy Prime Ministers) – acts as the Cabinet (government), cabinet. Each government is required to define the broad outline of its policies in a programme, and present it to the Assembly for a mandatory period of debate. The failure of the Assembly to reject the government programme by an absolute majority of deputies confirms the cabinet in office.


Parliament

The Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon, is the national parliament of Portugal. It is the main legislative body, although the Government also has limited legislative powers. The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral body composed of up to 230 deputies. Elected by universal suffrage according to a system of Closed list, closed party-list proportional representation, deputies serve four-year terms of office, unless the President dissolves the Assembly and calls for new elections. Currently the Government (Socialist Party (Portugal), PS) has an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The Social Democratic Party (Portugal), PSD is the main opposition party, alongside Chega (political party), Chega, Liberal Initiative (Portugal), Liberal Initiative, Left Bloc (Portugal), BE, Portuguese Communist Party, PCP, People–Animals–Nature, PAN and LIVRE, Livre.


Foreign relations

A member state of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
since 1955, Portugal is also a founding member of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(1949),
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
(1961) and European Free Trade Association, EFTA (1960); it left the last in 1986 to join the European Economic Community, which became the European Union in 1993. In 1996, Portugal co-founded the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
(CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese language, Portuguese is an official language. The global headquarters of the CPLP is in Penafiel Palace, in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. António Guterres, who has served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, assumed the post of United Nations Secretary-General, UN Secretary-General on 1 January 2017; making him the first Secretary-General from Western Europe since Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972–1981), the first former head of government to become Secretary-General and the first Secretary-General born after the establishment of the United Nations on 26 June 1945. In addition, Portugal was a full member of the Latin Union (1983) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (1949). It has a friendship alliance and multiple citizenship, dual citizenship treaty with its former colony, Brazil. Portugal and the United Kingdom share the world's oldest active military accord through their Anglo-Portuguese Alliance (Treaty of Windsor (1386), Treaty of Windsor), which was signed in 1373. There are two international territorial disputes, both with Spain: * Olivenza. Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivenza was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz (1801), Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it back in 1815 under the Congress of Vienna, Treaty of Vienna. However, since the 19th century, it has been continuously ruled by Spain which considers the territory theirs not only ''de facto'' but also ''de jure''. * The Ilhas Selvagens (Savage Islands). The archipelago is under Portuguese domination but is geographically closer to the Canary Islands (165 km) than to
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
(280 km). Found in 1364 by Italian navigators, the islands belonged to private owners until 1971, when the Portuguese government bought them and established a natural reserve area covering the whole archipelago. The islands have been claimed by Spain since 1911 and the dispute has caused some periods of political tension between the two countries. The main problem is not so much their intrinsic value but the fact that they expand the Exclusive Economic Zone of Portugal considerably to the south.


Military

The armed forces have three branches: Portuguese Navy, Navy, Portuguese Army, Army and Portuguese Air Force, Air Force. They serve primarily as a self-defence force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and provide humanitarian assistance and security at home and abroad. , the three branches numbered 39,200 active personnel including 7,500 women. List of countries by military expenditures, Portuguese military expenditure in 2009 was 5 billion US$, representing 2.1 per cent of GDP. Military conscription was abolished in 2004. The minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 18 years. The Army (21,000 personnel) comprises three brigades and other small units. An Portuguese Intervention Brigade, infantry brigade (mainly equipped with Pandur II Armoured personnel carrier, APC), a Portuguese Mechanized Brigade, mechanized brigade (mainly equipped with Leopard 2, Leopard 2 A6 tanks and M113 APC) and a Portuguese Rapid Reaction Brigade, Rapid Reaction Brigade (consisting of Paratroopers' Regiment, paratroopers, Portuguese Army Commandos, commandos and rangers). The Navy (10,700 personnel, of which 1,580 are Portuguese Marines, marines), the world's oldest surviving naval force, has five frigates, seven corvettes, two submarines, and 28 patrol and auxiliary vessels. The Air Force (7,500 personnel) has the Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon as the main combat aircraft. In addition to the three branches of the armed forces, there is the National Republican Guard (Portugal), National Republican Guard, a security force subject to military law and organization (gendarmerie) comprising 25,000 personnel. This force is under the authority of both the Defence and the Interior Ministry. It has provided detachments for participation in international operations in Iraq and East Timor. The United States maintains a military presence with 770 troops in the Lajes Air Base at Terceira Island, in the Azores. The Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon (JFC Lisbon) – one of the three main subdivisions of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
's Allied Command Operations – it is based in Oeiras Municipality, Portugal, Oeiras, near Lisbon. In the 20th century, Portugal engaged in two major conflicts: Portugal in the Great War, World War I and the
Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
(1961–1974). After the end of the Portuguese Empire in 1975, the Portuguese Armed Forces have participated in peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq (Nasiriyah), Lebanon, Mali and Central African Republic. Portugal also conducted several independent unilateral military operations abroad, as were the cases of the interventions of the Portuguese Armed Forces in Angola in 1992 and in Guinea-Bissau in 1998 with the main objectives of protecting and withdrawing of Portuguese and foreign citizens threatened by local civil conflicts.


Law

The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system, also called the continental family legal system. The main laws include the Constitution (1976, as amended), the Portuguese Civil Code (1966, as amended) and the Penal Code of Portugal (1982, as amended). Other relevant laws are the ''Commercial Code'' (1888, as amended) and the ''Civil Procedure Code'' (1961, as amended). The supreme national courts are the Supreme Court of Justice (Portugal), Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court of Portugal, Constitutional Court. The Public Prosecution Service (Portugal), Public Ministry, headed by the Attorney General of the Republic, constitutes the independent body of public prosecutors. Portuguese laws were applied in the former Portuguese colonies, colonies and territories and continue to be major influences for those countries. Portugal was the first country in the world to abolish life imprisonment (in 1884) and was one of the first countries to Capital punishment in Portugal, abolish the death penalty. Maximum prison sentences are limited to 25 years. Portugal is also known for having decriminalized the usage of all common drugs in 2001, the first country in the world to do so. Portugal decriminalized possession of effectively all drugs that are still illegal in other developed nations including cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and LSD. While possession is legal, trafficking and possession of more than "10 days worth of personal use" are still punishable by jail time and fines. People caught with small amounts of any drug are given the choice to go to a rehab facility, and may refuse treatment without consequences. Despite criticism from other European nations, who stated Portugal's drug consumption would tremendously increase, overall drug use has declined along with the number of HIV infection cases, which had dropped 50 percent by 2009. Drug use among 16- to 18-year-olds also declined, however the use of marijuana rose only slightly among that age group. LGBT rights in Portugal, LGBTI rights have increased substantially in the past years. On 27 August 2003, Portugal added the anti-discrimination employment law on the basis of sexual orientation. At 24 July 2004, sexual orientation was added to the Constitution as part of the protected from discrimination characteristics. On 31 May 2010, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe and the eighth country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage in Portugal, same-sex marriage at the national level. The law came into force on 5 June 2010. LGBT adoption, Same-sex adoption has been allowed since 1 March 2016 as is female same-sex couple access to medically assisted reproduction since 13 May 2016. This bill was adopted by the Parliament and signed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. As of January 2017 the New ''Law of Gender Identity'', simplified the legal process of gender and name change for transgender people, making it easier for minors to change their sex marker in legal documents. At August 2018, the right to gender identity and gender expression self-determination became protected, intersex minors became protected by law from unnecessary Intersex medical interventions, medical procedures "until the minor gender identity manifests" and the right of protection from discrimination on the basis of Sex characteristics (legal term), sex characteristics also became protected by the same law.


Law enforcement

Portugal's main police organizations are the ''Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR'' (National Republican Guard (Portugal), National Republican Guard), a gendarmerie; the ''Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP'' (Public Security Police), a civilian police force who work in urban areas; and the ''Polícia Judiciária – PJ'' (Judicial Police), a highly specialized criminal investigation police that is overseen by the Public Ministry.


Correctional services

Portugal has 49 correctional facilities in total run by the Ministry of Justice. They include seventeen central prisons, four special prisons, twenty-seven regional prisons, and one 'Cadeia de Apoio' (Support Detention Centre). , their current prison population is about 11,234 inmates, which comes to about 0.11% of their entire population. Their incarceration rate has been on the rise since 2010, with a 15% increase over the past eight years.


Administrative divisions

Administratively, Portugal is divided into 308 municipalities of Portugal, municipalities ( pt, municípios or concelhos), which after a reform in 2013 Portuguese local election, 2013 are subdivided into 3,092 civil parishes ( pt, freguesia). Operationally, the municipality and civil parish, along with the national government, are the only legally local administrative units identified by the government of Portugal (for example, cities, towns or villages have no standing in law, although may be used as catchment for the defining services). For statistical purposes the Portuguese government also identifies Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), inter-municipal communities and informally, the district system, used until European integration (and being phased-out by the national government). Continental Portugal is agglomerated into 18 districts, while the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are governed as autonomous area, autonomous regions; the largest units, established since 1976, are either mainland Portugal ( pt, Portugal Continental) and the autonomous regions of Portugal (
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
and
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
). The 18 districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro District, Aveiro, Beja District, Beja, Braga District, Braga, Bragança District, Bragança, Castelo Branco District, Castelo Branco, Coimbra District, Coimbra, Évora District, Évora, Faro District, Faro, Guarda District, Guarda, Leiria District, Leiria, Lisbon District, Lisbon, Portalegre District, Portalegre, Porto District, Porto, Santarém District, Santarém, Setúbal District, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo District, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real District, Vila Real and Viseu District, Viseu – each district takes the name of the district capital. Within the European Union NUTS system, Portugal is divided into seven regions: the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Portugal, Centro, Lisboa Region, Lisboa,
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
and Norte, Portugal, Norte, and with the exception of the Azores and Madeira, NUTS areas are subdivided into 28 subregions.


Government finance

The Portuguese government is heavily indebted, and received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and the International Monetary Fund in May 2011. The ratio of Portugal's debt to its overall economy, was 107 per cent when it received the bailout. As part of the deal, the country agreed to cut its budget deficit from 9.8 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 5.9 per cent in 2011, 4.5 per cent in 2012 and 3 per cent in 2013. After the bailout was announced, the Portuguese government headed by Pedro Passos Coelho managed to implement measures with the intention of improving the state's financial situation, including tax hikes, a freeze of civil service-related lower-wages and cuts of higher-wages by 14.3%, on top of the government's spending cuts. The Portuguese government also agreed to eliminate its golden share in Portugal Telecom which gave it veto power over vital decisions. In 2012, all public servants had already seen an average wage cut of 20% relative to their 2010 baseline, with cuts reaching 25% for those earning more than 1,500 euro per month. The IMF, the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB) said in September 2012 that Portugal's debt would peak at 124 per cent of gross domestic product in 2014. The IMF previously said in July 2012 that Portugal's debt would peak at about 118.5 per cent of GDP in 2013. In September 2013, the Portuguese Government reviewed again the public debt of Portugal for 2013 to 127.8 per cent, after a peak of 130.9 per cent in that month. A report released in January 2011 by the Diário de Notícias and published in Portugal by Gradiva, had demonstrated that in the period between the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
in 1974 and 2010, the democratic Government of Portugal, Portuguese Republic governments encouraged over-expenditure and investment bubbles through unclear Public–private partnerships and funding of numerous ineffective and unnecessary external consultancy and advisory of committees and firms. This allowed considerable slippage (finance), slippage in state-managed public works and inflated top management and head officer bonuses and wages. Persistent and lasting recruitment policies boosted the number of redundant public servants. Risky credit (finance), credit, public debt creation, and European structural and cohesion funds were mismanaged across almost four decades. Two Portuguese banks, Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) and Banco Privado Português (BPP), had been accumulating losses for years due to bad investments, embezzlement and accounting fraud. The case of BPN was particularly serious because of its size, market share, and the political implications – Portugal's then President, Cavaco Silva and some of his political allies, maintained personal and business relationships with the bank and its CEO, who was eventually charged and arrested for fraud and other crimes. On grounds of avoiding a potentially serious financial crisis in the Portuguese economy, the Portuguese government decided to give them a bailout, eventually at a future loss to taxpayers and to the Portuguese people in general.


Economy

Portugal is a developed country, developed and a high income countries, high-income country, with a GDP per capita of 74% of the EU27 average in 2021 (a decrease from 76% in 2012) and a List of countries by Human Development Index, HDI of 0.866 (the 38th highest) in 2021. By the end of 2021, Portugal's GDP (PPP) was $36,381 per capita, according to OECD's report. The national currency of Portugal is the euro (€), which replaced the Portuguese Escudo in 2002, and the country was one of the original member states of the
eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...
. Portugal's central bank is the ''Banco de Portugal'', an integral part of the European System of Central Banks. Most industries, businesses and financial institutions are concentrated in the Lisbon metropolitan area, Lisbon and Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto, Porto metropolitan areas – the Setúbal District, Setúbal, Aveiro District, Aveiro, Braga District, Braga, Coimbra District, Coimbra, Leiria District, Leiria and Faro District, Faro districts are the biggest economic centres outside these two main areas. According to World Travel Awards, Portugal was Europe's Leading Golf Destination in 2012 and 2013. Since the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
of 1974, which culminated in the end of one of Portugal's most notable Economic history of Portugal, phases of economic expansion (that started in the 1960s), a significant change has occurred in the nation's annual economic growth. After the turmoil of the 1974 revolution and the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, PREC period, Portugal tried to adapt to a changing Globalization, modern global economy, a process that continues in 2013. Since the 1990s, Portugal's consumption (economics), public consumption-based economic development model has been slowly changing to a system that is focused on exports, private investment (macroeconomics), investment and the development of the high-tech sector. Consequently, business services have overtaken more traditional industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear and cork (material), cork (Portugal is the world's leading cork producer), wood products and beverages. In the second decade of the 21st century, the Portuguese economy suffered its most severe recession since the 1970s, resulting in the country having to be bailed out by the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The bailout, agreed to in 2011, required Portugal and the IMF, Portugal to enter into a range of austerity measures in exchange for funding support of €78,000,000,000. In May 2014, the country exited the bailout but reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining its reformist momentum. At the time of exiting the bailout, the economy had contracted by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2014; however, unemployment, while still high, had fallen to 15.3%. The average salary in Portugal is €1,039 per month, excluding self-employed individuals and the minimum wage, which is regulated by law, is €705 per month (paid 14 times per annum) as of 2022. The Global Competitiveness Report for 2019, published by the World Economic Forum, placed Portugal on the 34th position on the economic index. The Economist Intelligence Unit's quality of life index placed Portugal as the country with the 19th-best quality of life in the world for 2005, ahead of other economically and technologically advanced countries like France, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea, but nine places behind its sole neighbour, Spain. This is despite the fact that Portugal remains as one of the countries with the lowest per capita GDP in Western Europe. Major Government-owned corporation, state-owned companies include: Águas de Portugal (water), Caixa Geral de Depósitos (banking), Comboios de Portugal (railways), Companhia das Lezírias (agriculture) and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, RTP (media). Some former state-owned entities are managed by state-run holding company Parpública, which is a shareholder of several public and private companies. Among former state-owned companies recently privatized are: CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A., CTT (postal service) and ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, ANA (airports). Companies listed on Euronext Lisbon stock exchange like Energias de Portugal, EDP, Galp Energia, Galp, Jerónimo Martins, Mota-Engil, Novabase, Semapa, Portucel Soporcel, Portugal Telecom and Sonae, are amongst the largest corporations of Portugal by number of employees, net income or international market share. The Euronext Lisbon is the major stock exchange of Portugal and is part of the NYSE Euronext, the first global stock exchange. The PSI-20 is Portugal's most selective and widely known stock index. The International Monetary Fund issued an update report on the economy of Portugal in late-June 2017 with a strong near-term outlook and an increase in investments and exports over previous years. Because of a surplus in 2016, the country was no longer bound by the Excessive Deficit Procedure which had been implemented during an earlier financial crisis. The banking system was more stable, although there were still non-performing loans and corporate debt. The IMF recommended working on solving these problems for Portugal to be able to attract more private investment. "Sustained strong growth, together with continued public debt reduction, would reduce vulnerabilities arising from high indebtedness, particularly when monetary accommodation is reduced." The
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
economic reports since 2018 show recovery, albeit slow; and Portugal's growth prospects continue positive for 2020.


Primary sector

Agriculture in Portugal is based on small to medium-sized family-owned dispersed units. However, the sector also includes larger scale intensive farming export-oriented agrobusinesses backed by companies (like Grupo RAR's Vitacress, Sovena, Lactogal, Vale da Rosa, Companhia das Lezírias and Valouro). The country produces a wide variety of crops and livestock products, including: tomatoes, citrus, green vegetables, rice, wheat, barley, maize, olives, oilseeds, Nut (fruit), nuts, Cherry, cherries, bilberry, table grapes, edible mushrooms, dairy products, poultry and beef. According to FAO, Portugal is the top producer of Cork (material), cork and carob in the world, accounting to about 50% and 30% of world production, respectively. It is also the third largest exporter of chestnuts and the third largest European producer of Pulp (paper), pulp. Portugal is among the top ten largest olive oil producers in the world and is the fourth largest exporter. The country is also one of the world's largest exporters of wine, being reputed for its fine wines. Forestry has also played an important economic role among the rural communities and industry (namely paper industry that includes Portucel Soporcel Group, engineered wood that includes Sonae Indústria, and furniture that includes several manufacturing plants in and around Paços de Ferreira, the core of Portugal's major industrial operations of IKEA). In 2001, the gross agricultural product accounted for 4% of the national GDP. Traditionally a sea power, Portugal has had a strong tradition in Fishing in Portugal, the Portuguese fishing sector and is one of the countries with the highest fish consumption per capita. The main landing sites in Portugal (including Azores and Madeira), according to total landings in weight by year, are the harbours of Matosinhos, Peniche, Portugal, Peniche, Olhão, Sesimbra, Figueira da Foz, Sines, Portugal, Sines, Portimão and
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
. Portuguese-processed fish products are exported through several companies, under a number of different brands and registered trademarks, such as Conservas Ramirez, Ramirez, the world's oldest active canned fish producer. Portugal is a significant European minerals producer and is ranked among Europe's leading copper producers. The nation is also a notable producer of tin, tungsten and uranium. However, the country lacks the potential to conduct hydrocarbon exploration and aluminium, a limitation that has hindered the development of Portugal's Mining in Portugal, mining and metallurgy sectors. Although the country has vast iron and coal reserves – mainly in the north – after the 1974 revolution and the consequent economic globalization, low competitiveness forced a decrease in the extraction activity for these minerals. The Panasqueira and Neves-Corvo mines are among the most recognized Portuguese mines that are still in operation. Portugal is rich in its
lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
subsoil, which is especially concentrated in the districts of Guarda District, Guarda, Viseu, Vila Real and Viana do Castelo, while most of the country's lithium comes from the Gonçalo aplite-pegmatite field. The largest
lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
mine in Europe is operated by Grupo Mota, Felmica, in the Guarda region, which is estimated to have reserves for 30 years of production. It has five more deposits in its possession. Savannah Resources in May 2018 announced a 52% increase in the estimated lithium resources at the Mina do Barroso Lithium Project in northern Portugal, saying the country could become the first European supplier of spodumene, a lithium-bearing mineral. The company said the estimated mineral resources at the mine now stood at 14 million tonnes. Lithium prices have risen in expectation of growing demand for the mineral, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles and for storing electricity from the power grid. Europe consumes more than 20 per cent of the global supply of battery-grade lithium but currently has to import all its supplies of the mineral. W Resources stated in 2018 that it had started a new drilling campaign at its São Martinho gold project in Portugal. The so-called reverse circulation drilling programme included 15 holes with around of total drilling. The objective is to extend resources by integrating the data from 2016 drilling results with the expansion expected with the ongoing campaign.


Secondary sector

Industry is diversified, ranging from Automotive industry, automotive (Volkswagen Autoeuropa and Peugeot Citroën) and bicycles, aerospace industry, aerospace (Embraer and OGMA), electronics industry, electronics and textile industry, textiles, to food industry, food, chemical industry, chemicals, cement and wood pulp. Volkswagen Group's AutoEuropa motor vehicle assembly plant in Palmela is among the largest foreign direct investment projects in Portugal. Modern non-traditional technology-based industries, such as aerospace, biotechnology and information technology, have been developed in several locations across the country. Alverca, Évora and Ponte de Sor are the main centres of the Portuguese aerospace industry, which is led by Brazil-based company Embraer and the Portuguese company OGMA. Following the turn of the 21st century, many major biotechnology and information technology industries have been founded, and are concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon metropolitan area, Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto,
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
, Coimbra and Aveiro, Portugal, Aveiro.


Tertiary sector

The banking and insurance sectors performed well until the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and this partly reflected a rapid deepening of the market in Portugal. While sensitive to various types of market and underwriting risks, it has been estimated that overall both the life and non-life sectors will be able to withstand a number of severe shocks, even though the impact on individual insurers varies widely. Travel and Tourism in Portugal, tourism continue to be extremely important for Portugal. It has been necessary for the country to focus upon its niche attractions, such as health, nature and rural tourism, to stay ahead of its competitors. Portugal is among the top 20 most-visited countries in the world, receiving an average of 20,000,000 foreign tourists each year. In 2014, Portugal was elected ''The Best European Country'' by USA Today. In 2017, Portugal was elected both ''Europe's Leading Destination'' and in 2018 and 2019, ''World's Leading Destination'' Tourist hotspots in Portugal are:
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Cascais, Fátima, Portugal, Fatima, Algarve,
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
,
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and Coimbra. Lisbon attracts the sixteenth-most tourists among European cities (with seven million tourists occupying the city's hotels in 2006). Notable luxury destinations include the Portuguese Riviera and the Comporta, Comporta Coast. Also, between 5–6 million religious pilgrims visit Fátima, Portugal, Fatima each year, where apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children allegedly took place in 1917. The Sanctuary of Fátima, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the largest Roman Catholic shrines in the world. The Portuguese government continues to promote and develop new tourist destinations, such as the Douro, Douro Valley, the island of Porto Santo Island, Porto Santo, and Alentejo. The legend of the Rooster of Barcelos tells the story of a dead rooster's miraculous intervention in proving the innocence of a man who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death. The story is associated with the 17th-century Calvary (sculpture), calvary that is part of the collection of the Archaeological Museum located in Paço dos Condes, a gothic-style palace in Barcelos, Portugal, Barcelos, a city in northwest Portugal. The Rooster of Barcelos is bought by thousands of tourists as a national souvenir. On 30 November 2016, the United Nations added the Portuguese tradition of making black pottery to the UNESCO Heritage Protection List. On 7 December 2017, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
added the ''Bonecos de Estremoz'' – ''Toys of Estremoz'' tradition as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind.


Quaternary sector

Scientific and technological research activities in Portugal are mainly conducted within a network of R&D units belonging to list of universities in Portugal, public universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions like the Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, INETI – Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação and the Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos, INRB – Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos. The funding and management of this research system is mainly conducted under the authority of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES) and the MCTES's Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). The largest R&D units of the public universities by volume of research grants and peer-reviewed publications, include biosciences research institutions like the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, the IPATIMUP, the Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular and the Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute. Among the largest non-state-run research institutions in Portugal are the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Champalimaud Foundation, a neuroscience and oncology research centre which awards every year one of the highest monetary prizes of any science prize in the world. A number of both national and multinational high-tech and industrial companies, are also responsible for research and development projects. One of the oldest learned societies of Portugal is the Sciences Academy of Lisbon, founded in 1779. Iberian peninsula, Iberian bilateral state-supported research efforts include the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Ibercivis distributed computing platform, which are joint research programmes of both Portugal and Spain. Portugal is a member of several pan-European scientific organizations. These include the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), ITER, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Portugal has the largest aquarium in Europe, the Lisbon Oceanarium, and the Portuguese have several other notable organizations focused on science-related exhibits and divulgation, like the state agency ''Ciência Viva'', a programme of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology to the promotion of a scientific and technological culture among the Portuguese population, the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, the List of natural history museums#Portugal, National Museum of Natural History at the University of Lisbon, and the Visionarium (Portugal), Visionarium. With the emergence and growth of several science parks throughout the world that helped create many thousands of scientific, technological and knowledge-based businesses, Portugal started to develop several science parks across the country. These include the Taguspark (in Oeiras Municipality, Portugal, Oeiras), the Coimbra iParque (in Coimbra), the biocant (in Cantanhede Municipality, Cantanhede), the Madeira Tecnopolo (in Funchal), Sines Tecnopolo (in Sines, Portugal, Sines), Tecmaia (in Maia Municipality, Maia) and Parkurbis (in Covilhã). Companies locate in the Portuguese science parks to take advantage of a variety of services ranging from financial and legal advice through to marketing and technological support. Egas Moniz, a Portuguese physician who developed the cerebral angiography and leucotomy, received in 1949 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – he is the first Portuguese recipient of a Nobel Prize and the only in the sciences. The European Innovation Scoreboard 2011, placed Portugal-based innovation in the 15th position, with an impressive increase in innovation expenditure and output. Portugal was ranked 31st in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 32nd in 2019.


Transport

By the early-1970s, Portugal's Economic history of Portugal, fast economic growth with increasing mass consumption, consumption and purchase of new automobiles set the priority for improvements in transportation. Again in the 1990s, after joining the European Economic Community, the country built many new motorways. Today, the country has a road network, of which almost are part of system of 44 motorways. Opened in 1944, the first motorway (which linked Lisbon to the National Stadium) was an innovative project that made Portugal one of the first countries in the world to establish a motorway (this roadway eventually became the Lisbon-Cascais highway, or A5). Although a few other tracts were created (around 1960 and 1970), it was only after the beginning of the 1980s that large-scale motorway construction was implemented. In 1972, BRISA Auto-estradas de Portugal S.A., Brisa, the highway concessionaire, was founded to handle the management of many of the region's motorways. On many highways, a toll needs to be paid (see Via Verde). Vasco da Gama bridge is the longest bridge in the European Union, EU (the second longest in Europe) at 12.345 km. Continental Portugal's territory is serviced by four international airports located near the principal cities of
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
,
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
, Faro, Portugal, Faro and Beja (Portugal), Beja. Lisbon's geographical position makes it a stopover for many foreign airlines at several airports within the country. The primary flag-carrier is TAP Air Portugal, although many other domestic airlines provide services within and without the country. The government decided to build a new airport outside Lisbon, in Alcochete, to replace Lisbon Portela Airport, though this plan has been suspended due to austerity measures. Currently, the most important airports are in Portela Airport, Lisbon, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, Porto, Faro Airport, Faro, Madeira Airport, Funchal (Madeira), and João Paulo II Airport, Ponta Delgada (Azores), managed by the national airport authority group ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. One other important airport is the Aeroporto Internacional das Lajes on the island of Terceira in the Azores. This airport serves as one of two international airports serving countries outside the European Union for all nine islands of the Azores. It also serves as a military air base for the United States Air Force. The base remains in use to the present day. A national railway system that extends throughout the country and into Spain, is supported and administered by Comboios de Portugal (CP). Rail transport of passengers and goods is derived using the of railway lines currently in service, of which are electrified and about allow train speeds greater than . The railway network is managed by Infraestruturas de Portugal while the transport of passengers and goods are the responsibility of CP, both public companies. In 2006, the CP carried 133,000,000 passengers and of goods. The major seaports are located in Sines, Portugal, Sines,
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Leixões, Setúbal, Aveiro, Portugal, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, and Faro, Portugal, Faro. The two largest metropolitan areas have subway systems: Lisbon Metro and ''Metro Sul do Tejo'' in the Lisbon metropolitan area and Porto Metro in the Porto Metropolitan Area, each with more than of lines. In Portugal, Trams in Lisbon, Lisbon tram services have been supplied by the ''Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa'' (Carris), for over a century. In
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
, Trams in Porto, a tram network, of which only a tourist line on the shores of the
Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
remains, began construction on 12 September 1895 (a first for the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
). All major cities and towns have their own local urban transport network, as well as taxi services.


Energy

Portugal has considerable resources of wind and river power, the two most cost-effective renewable energy sources. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been a trend towards the development of a renewable resource industry and reduction of both consumption and use of fossil fuels. In 2006, the world's largest solar energy, solar power plant at that date, the Moura Photovoltaic Power Station, began operating near Moura, Portugal, Moura, in the south, while the world's first commercial wave power farm, the Aguçadoura Wave Farm, opened in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte region (2008). By the end of 2006, 66% of the country's electrical production was from coal and fuel power plants, while 29% were derived from hydroelectric dams, and 6% by wind energy. In 2008, renewable energy resources were producing 43% of the nation's consumption of electricity, even as hydroelectric production decreased with severe droughts. As of June 2010, electricity exports had outnumbered imports. In the period between January and May 2010, 70% of the national production of energy came from renewable sources. Portugal's national energy transmission company, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), uses sophisticated modelling to predict weather, especially wind patterns, and computer programs to calculate energy from the various renewable-energy plants. Before the solar/wind revolution, Portugal had generated electricity from hydropower plants on its rivers for decades. New programmes combine wind and water: wind-driven turbines pump water uphill at night, the most blustery period; then the water flows downhill by day, generating electricity, when consumer demand is highest. Portugal's distribution system is also now a two-way street. Instead of just delivering electricity, it draws electricity from even the smallest generators, like rooftop solar panels. The government aggressively encouraged such contributions by setting a premium price for those who buy rooftop-generated solar electricity.


Demographics

The Statistics Portugal ( pt, INE – Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Portugal), Instituto Nacional de Estatística) estimates that, according to the 2021 census, the population was 10,343,066 (of which 52.4% was female and 47.6% was male). The median life expectancy in 2022 was 82.47 years. This population has been relatively homogeneous for most of its history: a single religion (Roman Catholicism) and a single language have contributed to this ethnic and national unity. The most important demographic influence in the modern Portuguese seems to be the oldest one; current interpretation of Y-chromosome and mtDNA data suggests that the Portuguese have their origin in Paleolithic peoples that began arriving to the European continent around 45,000 years ago. All subsequent migrations did leave an impact, genetically and culturally, but the main population source of the Portuguese is still Paleolithic. Genetic studies show Portuguese populations not to be significantly different from other European populations. Portuguese people have a preponderancy of genetics (Iron Age Period) which belong to R1b haplogroup family along with Brittonic languages, Brythonic, Alpine states, Alpine and Goidelic languages, Goidelic genetical markers. Also expectable but not so common are South European (Sardinian, Italian and Balkans), broadly North-western (West Germanic) and to a lesser extent British/Irish (Brythonic/Gaelic) and French (Alpine). With a low confidence range there are Scandinavian and East European genetical markers. Other sources would point out a small presence of Berbers, Berber and Jewish that would be also part of a low confidence region. Native Portuguese are an Iberian Peninsula, Iberian ethnic group and they form 95% of the whole population, whose ancestry is very similar to Spaniards and have strong ties with fellow Atlantic Europe, Atlantic Arc countries like Ireland, British Isles, France and Belgium due to maritime trade dated as far back as the Bronze Age. These maritime contacts and the prevalence of R1b haplogroup as the main genetical marker of these countries suggest a common ancestry and cultural proximity. Other maritime contacts with the Mediterranean especially with Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans and Moors added some phenotypes in southern Portugal and particularly southern Spain (the Tartessos culture), making Portugal and north-western Spain a bridge between north-western Europe and the Mediterranean but maintaining the Atlantic character. Despite good economic development in the past three decades, the Portuguese have been the shortest in Europe since 1890. This emerging height gap took place in the 1840s and has increased since. One of the driving factors was the modest real wage development, given the late industrialization and economic growth in Portugal compared to the European core. Another determinant was the delayed human capital formation. The total fertility rate (TFR) was estimated at 1.52 children born/woman, one of the lowest in the world, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 5.02 children born per woman in 1911. In 2016, 52.8% of births were to unmarried women. Like most Western countries, Portugal has to deal with low fertility levels: the country has experienced a sub-replacement fertility rate since the 1980s. Portugal subsequently has the 17th oldest population in the world, with the average age of 43.7 years. The structure of Portuguese society is characterized by a significant inequality which in 2016 placed the country in the lowest seventh of the Social Justice Index for the European Union. In 2018, Portugal's parliament approved a budget plan for 2019 that includes tax breaks for returning emigrants in a bid to lure back those who left during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The expansionary 2019 budget, backed by a left-wing majority in parliament, also aims to boost the purchasing power of households while cutting the already low deficit even further. Circular migration, Returning emigrants will be allowed to declare only half their taxable income for five years if they return, provided they have lived abroad for at least three years. The "Return Programme" is to run for two years. Around 500,000 residents left Portugal between 2010 and 2015 after the Great Recession. Although some 350,000 have since returned, this scheme aims to encourage more to return – a similar scheme exists in Ireland. Portugal has approved a credit line for Portuguese emigrants aiming to invest in the country on their return. Furthermore, emigrants returning in 2019 and 2020 will see their taxes halved as part of the stimulus to bring native Portuguese back and revitalize the population and promote continued economic growth – as Portugal struggles with a low birth rate and an ageing population. According to projections by the national statistics office, Portugal's population will fall to 7.7 million by 2080 from 10.3 million now and the population will continue to age.


Urbanization

Since the 2013 local government reform, there are Metropolitan areas of Portugal, two metropolitan areas: Lisbon metropolitan area, Lisbon and Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto, Porto.Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), Several metropolitan areas were created under this law (Greater Metropolitan Area of the Algarve, Algarve, Greater Metropolitan Area of Aveiro, Aveiro, Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra, Coimbra, Greater Metropolitan Area of Minho, Minho and Greater Metropolitan Area of Viseu, Viseu), but a law passed in 2008 abolished these, converting them into Intermunicipal communities of Portugal, intermunicipal communities, whose territories are (roughly) based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS III statistical regions.


Immigration

In 2007, Portugal had 10,617,575 inhabitants, of whom about 332,137 were legal Immigration to Portugal, immigrants. In 2015, Portugal had 10,341,330 inhabitants, of whom about 383,759 were legal migrants, making up 3.7% of the population. In 2017, Portugal had 416,682 legal residents of foreign origin, of which 203,753 identified as male, and 212,929 as female. As of 2020, 32,147 residents of foreign origin acquired Portuguese nationality, of which 17,021 were female and 15,126 were male. Portugal's Portuguese Empire, colonial history has long since been a cornerstone of its national identity, as has its geographic position at the south-western corner of Europe, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the last western colonial European powers to give up its overseas territories (among them Portuguese West Africa, Angola and Portuguese East Africa, Mozambique in 1975), turning over the administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China at the end of 1999. Consequently, it has both influenced and been influenced by cultures from former colonies or dependencies, resulting in immigration from these former territories for both economic and personal reasons. Portugal, long a country of emigration (the vast majority of Portuguese Brazilian, Brazilians have Portuguese ancestry),Portugal – Emigration
Eric Solsten, ed. Portugal: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1993.
has now become a country of net immigration, and not just from the last Portuguese India, Indian (Portuguese until 1961), Portuguese-speaking African countries, African (Portuguese until 1975), and Macau, Far East Asian (Portuguese until 1999) overseas territories. An estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the country's African possessions gained independence in 1975. Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction, several new waves of Ukrainians, Ukrainian, Brazilians, Brazilian, Portuguese-speaking African countries, Lusophone Africans and other African diaspora, Africans have settled in the country. Romanian people, Romanians, Moldovans, Kosovo Albanians, Russian people, Russians and Chinese people, Chinese have also migrated to the country. Portugal's Romani people, Romani population is estimated to be at about 40,000. Numbers of Venezuelan people, Venezuelan, Pakistani people, Pakistani and Indian people, Indian migrants are also significant. It is estimated that over 30,000 seasonal, often illegal immigrants work in agriculture, mainly in the south where they are often exploited by organized seasonal workers' networks. The workers sometimes get paid less than half the minimum pay established by law. These migrants, who often arrive without due documentation or work contracts, make up over 90% of agricultural workers in the south of Portugal. Most are Indo-Asians, from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand. In the interior of the Alentejo there are many African workers. Significant numbers also come from Eastern Europe, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania and Brazil. In addition, a number of EU citizens, mostly from the United Kingdom or other northern European countries, have become permanent residents in the country (with the British community being mostly composed of retired pensioners who live in the Algarve and Madeira).


Religion

According to the 2021 Census, 80.2% of the Portuguese population was Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Christian. The country has small Protestant, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Latter-day Saint, Islam in Portugal, Muslim, Hinduism in Portugal, Hindu, Sikh, Eastern Orthodox Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baháʼí Faith, Baháʼí, Buddhism, Buddhist, Judaism, Jewish and Spiritism, Spiritist communities. Influences from African Traditional Religion and Chinese Traditional Religion are also felt among many people, particularly in fields related with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional African Herbal Medicine. Some 14.1% of the population declared themselves to be non-religious. Many Portuguese holidays, festivals and traditions have a Christian origin or connotation. Although relations between the Portuguese state and the Roman Catholic Church were generally amiable and stable since the earliest years of the Portuguese nation, their relative power fluctuated. In the History of Portugal (1279-1415), 13th and 14th centuries, the church enjoyed power and close identification with early Portuguese nationalism and the foundation of the Portuguese educational system, including its University of Coimbra, first university. The growth of the Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas empire made its Mission (Christian), missionaries important agents of colonization, with important roles in the Teaching, education and evangelization of people from all the inhabited continents. The growth of Liberal Revolution of 1820, liberal and nascent Republicanism, republican movements during the eras leading to the formation of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–26) changed the role and importance of organized religion. Portugal is a secular state: Separation of church and state, church and state were formally separated during the First Portuguese Republic, and this was reiterated in the 1976 Portuguese Constitution. Other than the Constitution, the two most important documents relating to religious freedom in Portugal are the 1940 Concordata (later amended in 1971) between Portugal and the Holy See and the 2001 Religious Freedom Act.


Languages

Portuguese is the official language of Portugal. It is a Romance language that is derived from Galician-Portuguese, which was spoken in what is now Galicia and Northern Portugal. There are still strong similarities between the Galicians, Galician and Portuguese people, Portuguese cultures. Galicia is a consultative observer of the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
. The Portuguese language is derived from the Latin language, Latin spoken by the Romanization (cultural), romanized pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago – particularly the
Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
,
Conii The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Rea ...
,
Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roma ...
and Turduli. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the language spread worldwide as Portugal established a colonial and commercial empire between 1415 and 1999. Portuguese is spoken as a native language in five different continents, with Brazil accounting for the largest number of native Portuguese speakers of any country. In 2013 the Portuguese language is the official language spoken in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, and East Timor. These countries, plus Macau Special Administrative Region (People's Republic of China) where Portuguese is co-official with Cantonese, make up the Lusosphere, a term derived from the ancient Roman province of "
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
", which currently matches the Portuguese territory south of the
Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...
river. Mirandese language, Mirandese is also recognized as a co-official regional language in some municipalities of North-Eastern Portugal. It is part of the Astur-Leonese group of languages. An estimate of between 6,000 and 7,000 Mirandese speakers has been documented for Portugal. Furthermore, a particular dialect known as Barranquenho, spoken in Barrancos, is also officially recognized and protected in Portugal since 2021. Minderico language, Minderico, a sociolect of the Portuguese language, is spoken by around 500 people in the town of Minde, Portugal, Minde. According to the EF English Proficiency Index, International English Proficiency Index, Portugal has a high proficiency level in English, higher than those of other Romance-speaking European countries like Spain, Italy or France.


Education

The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age six), basic education (nine years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary education (three years, compulsory since 2010), and higher education (subdivided in university and polytechnic (Portugal), polytechnic education). Universities are usually organized into faculty (division), faculties. Institutes and schools are also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of list of colleges and universities in Portugal, Portuguese higher education institutions. The total adult literacy rate is 99.4 per cent. Portuguese primary school enrolments are 100 per cent. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, Portugal scored around the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
average in reading, mathematics and science. In reading and mathematics, mean performance in 2018 was close to the level observed in 2009 to 2015; in science, mean performance in 2018 was below that of 2015, and returned close to the level observed in 2009 and 2012. About 46,9% of college-age citizens (20 years old) attend one of Portugal's higher education institutions (compared with 50% in the United States and 35% in the OECD countries). In addition to being a destination for international students, Portugal is also among the top places of origin for international students. All higher education students, both domestic and international, totalled 380,937 in 2005. Portuguese universities have existed since 1290. The University of Coimbra, oldest Portuguese university was first established in Lisbon before moving to Coimbra. Historically, within the scope of the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese founded the oldest engineering school of the Americas (the ''Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho'' of Rio de Janeiro) in 1792, as well as the oldest medical college in Asia (the ''Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa, Escola Médico-Cirúrgica'' of Goa) in 1842. Presently, the largest university in Portugal is the University of Lisbon. The Bologna process has been adopted by Portuguese universities and poly-technical institutes in 2006. Higher education in state-run educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis, a system of ''numerus clausus'' is enforced through a national database on student admissions. However, every higher education institution offers also a number of additional vacant places through other extraordinary admission processes for sportsmen, mature applicants (over 23 years old), international students, foreign students from the Lusosphere, degree owners from other institutions, students from other institutions (Transfer admissions in the United States, academic transfer), former students (readmission), and course change, which are subject to specific standards and regulations set by each institution or course department. Most student costs are supported with public money. However, with the increasing tuition fees a student has to pay to attend a Portuguese state-run higher education institution and the attraction of new types of students (many as international students and part-time students or in evening classes) like employees, businessmen, parents, pensioners and foreigners (most prominently from Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking country), many departments make a substantial profit from every additional student enrolled in courses, with benefits for the college or university's gross tuition revenue and without loss of educational quality (teacher per student, computer per student, classroom size per student, etc.). Portugal has entered into Higher education in Portugal#International partnership agreements, cooperation agreements with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other US institutions to further develop and increase the effectiveness of Portuguese higher education and research.


Health

According to the Human Development Report, the average life expectancy in Portugal had reached 82 years in 2017; in 2020 it was estimated at 82.11 years. As projected by the United Nations, the life expectancy of the Portuguese population will be over 90 years when we reach 2100. The trajectory of the Portuguese life expectancy is visualized with historical data from 1950 and future projections up to 2100, as can be seen in the graph on the left. Portugal ranks 12th in the best public health systems in the world, ahead of other countries like the United Kingdom, Germany or Sweden. The Portuguese health system is characterized by three coexisting systems: the National Health Service (''Serviço Nacional de Saúde'', SNS), special social health insurance schemes for certain professions (health subsystems) and voluntary private health insurance. The SNS provides universal coverage. In addition, about 25% of the population is covered by the health subsystems, 10% by private insurance schemes and another 7% by mutual funds. The Ministry of Health is responsible for developing health policy as well as managing the SNS. Five regional health administrations are in charge of implementing the national health policy objectives, developing guidelines and protocols and supervising health care delivery. Decentralization efforts have aimed at shifting financial and management responsibility to the regional level. In practice, however, the autonomy of regional health administrations over budget setting and spending has been limited to primary care. The SNS is predominantly funded through general taxation. Employer (including the state) and employee contributions represent the main funding sources of the health subsystems. In addition, direct payments by the patient and voluntary health insurance premiums account for a large proportion of funding. Similar to the other Eur-A countries, most Portuguese die from noncommunicable diseases. Mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is higher than in the
eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...
, but its two main components, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, display inverse trends compared with the Eur-A, with cerebrovascular disease being the single biggest killer in Portugal (17%). Portuguese people die 12% less often from cancer than in the Eur-A, but mortality is not declining as rapidly as in the Eur-A. Cancer is more frequent among children as well as among women younger than 44 years. Although lung cancer (slowly increasing among women) and breast cancer (decreasing rapidly) are scarcer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer are more frequent. Portugal has the highest mortality rate for diabetes in the Eur-A, with a sharp increase since the 1980s. Portugal's infant mortality rate is around 2 deaths per 1000 newborns, with 2.4 deaths per 1000 live births. People are usually well informed about their health status, the positive and negative effects of their behaviour on their health, and their use of health care services. Yet their perceptions of their health, can differ from what administrative and examination-based data show about levels of illness within populations. Thus, survey results based on self-reporting at household level, complement other data on health status and the use of services. Only one third of adults rated their health as good or very good in Portugal (Kasmel et al., 2004). This is the lowest of the Eur-A countries reporting and reflects the relatively adverse situation of the country in terms of mortality and selected morbidity. Hospital de Santa Maria is the largest university hospital in Portugal.


Culture

Portugal has developed a specific culture while being influenced by various civilizations that have crossed the Mediterranean and the European continent, or were introduced when it played an active role during the Portugal in the Age of Discovery, Age of Discovery. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), Portugal modernized its public cultural facilities, in addition to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation established in 1956 in Lisbon. These include the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Serralves Foundation and the Casa da Música, both in
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
, as well as new public cultural facilities like municipal libraries and concert halls that were built or renovated in many municipalities across the country. Portugal is home to List of World Heritage Sites in Portugal, 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ranking it World Heritage Sites by country, 9th in Europe and 18th in the world.


Architecture

Traditional architecture is distinctive and include the Manueline, also known as Portuguese late Gothic architecture, Gothic a sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, followed by Pombaline style of the 18th century. A 20th-century interpretation of traditional architecture, Soft Portuguese style, appears extensively in major cities, especially Lisbon. Modern Portugal has given the world renowned architects like Eduardo Souto de Moura, Álvaro Siza Vieira (both Pritzker Prize winners) and Gonçalo Byrne. In Portugal Tomás Taveira is also noteworthy, particularly for stadium design.


Cinema

Cinema of Portugal, Portuguese cinema has a long tradition, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century. António Lopes Ribeiro, António Reis, Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro, José Fonseca e Costa, Edgar Pêra, António-Pedro Vasconcelos, Fernando Lopes (filmmaker), Fernando Lopes, João Botelho, João Mário Grilo and Leonel Vieira, are among those that gained notability. Noted Portuguese film actors include Joaquim de Almeida, Nuno Lopes, Daniela Ruah, Maria de Medeiros, Diogo Infante, Soraia Chaves, Ribeirinho, Lúcia Moniz, and Diogo Morgado.


Literature

Portuguese literature, one of the earliest Western literatures, developed through text as well as song. Until 1350, the Portuguese-Galician troubadours spread their literary influence to most of the Iberian Peninsula, like King Denis of Portugal, D. Dinis (1261-1325) who became famous for his poetry. Other kings would write and sponsor works of literature across Portuguese history, like Ferdinand I of Portugal, D. Fernando (1367-1383) who supported Pêro Menino in writing o ''Livro da Falcoaria''''.'' Another notable name in Portuguese literature is Gil Vicente (c. 1465–c. 1536), one of the founders of Portuguese dramatic traditions. Adventurer and poet Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580) wrote the epic poem ''Os Lusíadas'' (''The Lusiads''), with Virgil's ''Aeneid'' as his main influence. Modern Portuguese poetry is rooted in neoclassic and contemporary styles, as exemplified by Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, Bocage (1765–1805), Antero de Quental (1842–1891) and Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Modern Portuguese literature is represented by authors such as Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco, José Maria de Eça de Queirós, Eça de Queirós, Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Lobo Antunes, Miguel Torga and Agustina Bessa-Luís. Particularly popular and distinguished is José Saramago, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature.


Cuisine

Portuguese cuisine is very diverse. The Portuguese consume a lot of dry cod (''bacalhau'' in Portuguese), for which there are hundreds of Bacalhau#Bacalhau dishes, recipes. Two other popular fish recipes are grilled sardines and caldeirada, a tomato-based stew that can be made from several types of fish or molluscs with a mix of onion, garlic, bay leaf, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, parsley or coriander. Typical Portuguese meat recipes made out of beef, pork, chicken, goat, lamb, duck, include ''cozido à portuguesa'', ''feijoada'', ''frango de churrasco'', ''leitão'' (roast suckling pig), ''chanfana'' and ''carne de porco à alentejana''. A very popular northern dish is Dobrada (food), dobrada, a tripe with white beans and carrots stew, often served with steamed white rice. Peri-peri chicken is a spicy charcoal chicken dish served with fries or rice and vegetables, a favourite throughout Portugal, but most common in the Algarve region. Typical fast food dishes include the Francesinha (Frenchie) from Porto, "Tripas à moda do Porto" which is also a traditional dish from Porto, and ''bifanas'' (grilled pork) or ''prego'' (grilled beef) sandwiches, which are well known around the country. The Portuguese art of pastry has its origins in the many medieval Catholic monasteries spread widely across the country. These monasteries, using very few ingredients (mostly eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, flour, almonds and some liqueurs), managed to create a spectacular wide range of different pastries, of which pastéis de Belém (or ''pastéis de nata'') originally from Lisbon, and ''ovos moles'' from Aveiro are examples. Portuguese cuisine is very diverse, with different regions having their own traditional dishes. The Portuguese have a culture of good food, and throughout the country there are myriad good restaurants and typical small ''tasquinhas''. Portuguese wines have enjoyed international recognition since the times of the Romans, who associated Portugal with their god Dionysus, Bacchus. Today, the country is known by wine lovers and its wines have won several international prizes. Some of the best Portuguese wines are Vinho Verde, Vinho Alvarinho, Vinho do Douro, Vinho do Alentejo, Vinho do Dão, Vinho da Bairrada and the sweet Port Wine, Madeira Wine, and the Moscatel from Setúbal and Favaios. Port and Madeira are particularly appreciated in a wide range of places around the world.


Music

Music of Portugal, Portuguese music encompasses a wide variety of genres. The traditional one is the Portuguese folk music which has deep roots in local customs having as instruments bagpipes (''Gaita (bagpipe), gaita''), drums, flutes, tambourines, accordions and ukuleles (''cavaquinho''). Within Portuguese folk music is the renowned genre of Fado, a melancholic urban music originated in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
in the 19th century, probably inside bohemian environments, usually associated with the Portuguese guitar and ''saudade'', or longing. Coimbra fado, a unique type of "troubadour serenading" fado, is also noteworthy. Internationally notable performers include Amália Rodrigues, Carlos Paredes, José Afonso, Mariza, Carlos do Carmo, António Chainho, Mísia, Dulce Pontes and Madredeus. In the classical music domain, Portugal is represented by names as the pianists Artur Pizarro, Maria João Pires, Sequeira Costa, the violinists Carlos Damas, Gerardo Ribeiro and in the past by the great cellist Guilhermina Suggia. Notable composers include Marcos Portugal, José Vianna da Motta, Carlos Seixas, João Domingos Bomtempo, João de Sousa Carvalho, Luís de Freitas Branco and his student Joly Braga Santos, Fernando Lopes-Graça, Emmanuel Nunes and Sérgio Azevedo. Similarly, contemporary composers such as Nuno Malo and Miguel d'Oliveira have achieved some international success writing. In addition to Folk music, Folk, Fado and Classical music, other genres are present at Portugal like pop and other types of modern music, particularly from North America and the United Kingdom, as well as a wide range of Portuguese, Caribbean, Lusophone African and Brazilian artists and bands. Artists with international recognition include Dulce Pontes, Moonspell, Buraka Som Sistema, Blasted Mechanism, David Carreira and The Gift (band), The Gift, with the three latter being nominees for a MTV Europe Music Award. Portugal has several summer music festivals, such as ''Festival Sudoeste'' in Zambujeira do Mar, ''Festival de Paredes de Coura'' in Paredes de Coura, ''Festival Vilar de Mouros'' near Caminha, Boom Festival in Idanha-a-Nova Municipality, ''NOS Alive'', ''Sumol Summer Fest'' in Ericeira, ''Rock in Rio#Lisboa, Portugal, and Madrid, Spain, Rock in Rio Lisboa'' and ''Super Bock Super Rock'' in Greater Lisbon. Out of the summer season, Portugal has a large number of festivals, designed more to an urban audience, like Flowfest or Hip Hop Porto. Furthermore, one of the largest international Goa trance festivals takes place in central Portugal every two years, the Boom Festival, that is also the only festival in Portugal to win international awards: European Festival Award 2010 – Green'n'Clean Festival of the Year and the Greener Festival Award Outstanding 2008 and 2010. There is also the student festivals of ''Queima das Fitas'' are major events in a number of cities across Portugal. In 2005, Portugal held the MTV Europe Music Awards, in Pavilhão Atlântico,
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. Furthermore, Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv with the song "Amar pelos dois" presented by Salvador Sobral, and subsequently hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, 2018 contest at the Altice Arena in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
.


Visual arts

Portugal has a List of Portuguese artists, rich history in painting. The first well-known painters dating back to the 15th century – like Nuno Gonçalves and Grão Vasco, Vasco Fernandes – were part of the late Gothic painting period. During the Renaissance, Portuguese painting was highly influenced by Northern European painting. In the Baroque period Josefa de Óbidos and Vieira Lusitano were the most prolific painters. José Malhoa, known for his work ''Fado'', and Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (who painted the portraits of Teófilo Braga and Antero de Quental) were both references in Naturalist school of painting, naturalist painting. The 20th century saw the arrival of Modernism, and along with it came the most prominent Portuguese painters: Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, who was heavily influenced by French painters, particularly the Delaunays (Robert Delaunay, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Sonia). Among his best-known works is ''Canção Popular a Russa e o Fígaro''. Other great modernist painters/writers include Carlos Botelho and Almada Negreiros, friend to the poet Fernando Pessoa, who painted Pessoa's portrait. He was deeply influenced by both Cubist and Futurism (art), Futurist trends. Prominent international figures in visual arts nowadays include painters Vieira da Silva, Júlio Pomar, Helena Almeida, Joana Vasconcelos, Julião Sarmento and Paula Rego.


Sport

Association football, Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. There are several football competitions ranging from local amateur to world-class professional level. The legendary Eusébio is still a major symbol of Portuguese football history. FIFA World Player of the Year winners Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the FIFA Ballon d'Or, are two world-class Portuguese football players. Portuguese football managers are also noteworthy, with José Mourinho being among the most renowned. The Portugal national football team – ''Seleção Nacional'' – have won one UEFA European Championship title: the UEFA Euro 2016, with a 1–0 victory in the UEFA Euro 2016 Final, final over France national football team, France, the tournament hosts. In addition, Portugal finished first in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League with a 1–0 win over the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands in the 2019 UEFA Nations League Final, final (held in Portugal), second in the 2004 European Football Championship, Euro 2004 (also held in Portugal), third in the 1966 FIFA World Cup and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and fourth in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At youth level, Portugal have won two FIFA World Youth Championships (in 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1989 and 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1991) and several UEFA European Youth Championships. S.L. Benfica, Sporting CP and FC Porto are the largest sports clubs by popularity and by number of trophies won, often known as "''os três grandes''" (Big Three (Portugal), "the big three"). They have won eight titles in the European UEFA club competitions, were present in 21 finals and have been regular contenders in the last stages almost every season. Other than football, many Portuguese sports clubs, including the "big three", compete in several other sports events with a varying level of success and popularity, these may include roller hockey (quad), roller hockey, basketball, futsal, Team handball, handball, volleyball and Sport of athletics, athletics. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF)  – ''Federação Portuguesa de Futebol'' – annually hosts the Algarve Cup, a prestigious Women's association football, women's football tournament that has been celebrated in the Portuguese region of Algarve. The Portugal national rugby union team, Portuguese national rugby union team qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup and the Portugal national rugby sevens team, Portuguese national rugby sevens team has played in the World Rugby Sevens Series. In athletics (sport), athletics, the Portuguese have won a number of gold, silver and bronze medals in the European, World and Olympic Games competitions. Road bicycle racing, Road cycling, with Volta a Portugal being the most important race, is also a popular sports event and includes professional cycling teams such as Sporting CP, Boavista (cycling team), Boavista, Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira and União Ciclista da Maia. At international level, Portuguese cyclists have already achieved good results. Joaquim Agostinho finished on the podium in 1978 and 1979 Tour de France, and 1974 Vuelta a España. Rui Costa (cyclist), Rui Costa has won the UCI Road World Championships, world title in the men's road race. The country has also achieved notable performances in sports including fencing, judo, kitesurf, rowing (sport), rowing, sailing, surfing, shooting, taekwondo, triathlon and windsurfing, winning several European and world titles. Portugal's paralympic athletes have also won many medals in sports including swimming (sport), swimming, boccia, Sport of athletics, athletics, mixed martial arts and wrestling. In motorsport, Portugal is internationally noted for the Rally of Portugal, and the Estoril Circuit, Estoril and Algarve Circuits as well as the revived Porto Street Circuit which holds a stage of the WTCC every two years, as well as for a number of internationally noted pilots and racers such as Miguel Oliveira, Tiago Monteiro, António Félix da Costa, Filipe Albuquerque, Pedro Lamy, Armindo Araújo and others in a wide range of varied motorsports. In equestrian sports, Portugal won the only Horseball-Pato World Championship in 2006 achieved the third position in the First Horseball World Cup and has achieved several victories in the European Working Equitation Championship. In water sports, Portugal has three major sports: swimming (sport), swimming, water polo and surfing. Most recently, Portugal had success in canoeing with several world and European champions, such as olympic medalists. Annually, the country also hosts one of the stages of the World Surf League men's and women's ''Championship Tour'', the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal at the Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, Peniche. Northern Portugal has its own original martial art, ''Jogo do Pau'', in which the fighters use staffs to confront one or several opponents. Other popular sport-related recreational outdoor activities with thousands of enthusiasts nationwide include airsoft, fishing, golf, hiking, hunting and orienteering. Portugal is one of the world's best golf destinations. It has received several awards by the World Golf Awards. High-profile, successful competitive athleticism and sportsmanship in Portugal can be traced back to the time of Ancient Rome. Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104after 146 AD) was a noteworthy chariot racing, charioteer born in Lamego, Portugal, Lamego who became one of the most celebrated athletes in ancient history. He is often cited as the Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid athletes, highest-paid athlete of all time.


See also

* Index of Portugal-related articles * Outline of Portugal


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* *
National English language newspaper

National Wine Website

News about Portugal
from the Portuguese American Journal

at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
Portugal profile
from the BBC News
Portugal
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency. *
Portuguese Pamphlets Collection
From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
* ; Government
Official Parliament website

Official Portuguese Government website
;Trade
World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Portugal
; Travel
Official Portuguese Government Travel/media website

Official Travel and Tourism office website
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