bbc bbc history world Portugal, a country with a rich history of seafaring and discovery, looks out from the Iberian peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean. When it handed over its last overseas territory, Macau, to Chinese administration in 1999, it brought to an end a long and sometimes turbulent era as a colonial power. The roots of that era stretch back to the 15th century when Portuguese explorers such as Vasco da Gama put to sea in search of a passage to India. By the 16th century these sailors had helped build a huge empire embracing Brazil as well as swathes of Africa and Asia. There are still some 200 million Portuguese speakers around the world today. Portugal’s history has had a lasting impact on the culture of the country with Moorish and Oriental influences in architecture and the arts. Traditional folk dance and music, particularly the melancholy fado, remain vibrant. For almost half of the 20th century Portugal was a dictatorship in which for decades Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was the key figure. The dictatorship’s stubborn refusal to relinquish its grip on the former colonies as demands for independence gained momentum there resulted in expensive wars in Africa. This period was brought to an end in 1974 in a bloodless coup, picturesquely known as the Revolution of the Carnations, which ushered in a new democracy. By the end of 1975 all of Portugal’s former colonies in Africa were independent of Lisbon. Anibal Cavaco Silva won the January 2006 presidential poll, becoming the first centre-right president since the coup of 1974. He defeated two Socialist candidates to win a first round election victory. The president’s role is mainly ceremonial, but incumbents can appoint prime ministers, dissolve parliament and call elections. Jose Socrates, whose governing Socialist Party came to power in 2005, led his party to another election victory in September 2009.The party, however, lost its overall majority. Final results from the general election gave the Socialists 36% the vote, seven points ahead of the centre-right Social Democrats. Following talks with other political parties, Mr Socrates decided in October to form a minority government and to negotiate support for changes in legislation on a case-by-case basis. Ruling in a minority is likely to present a tough challenge, as Portugal needs to swiftly address problems such as rising debt and unemployment, a growing budget deficit and a widening wealth gap with its European partners. In the 2005 elections, the Socialists gained their first absolute majority in parliament since democracy returned to Portugal in 1974. On taking office then, Mr Socrates – who had led the Socialists since 2004 – said his priority would be to revive the economy and stem rising unemployment. His first government sharply cut spending, by reducing pensions, raising the retirement age and withdrawing civil service benefits in an attempt to reduce one of Europe’s biggest budget deficits. The reforms – which some said were destroying social rights – prompted repeated protests mostly among public sector workers. Despite the tough economic medicine administered by Mr Socrates during his first term in office, Portugal is still Western Europe’s poorest country. Even more pain looked likely after the financial crisis of 2008/9, as Portugal’s budget deficit reached 8.3% – well over the 3% allowed under euro membership rules. In March 2010, Mr Socrates’s government introduced a package of spending cuts and tax increases on the rich in an attempt to rein in the deficit. Portugal’s commercial TV stations command a lion’s share of the viewing audience, and provide tough competition for the cash-strapped public broadcaster. Public TV services are operated by RTP, which enjoyed a monopoly on the airwaves until the launch of commercial channel SIC in 1992. Multichannel TV – via cable, satellite and recently-introduced digital terrestrial – reaches more than two million homes. Cable is the dominant platform. Public radio networks are operated by RDP. The Roman Catholic Church owns the widely-listened-to Radio Renascenca. There are some 300 local and regional commercial radio stations. Portugal is a small country about the same size as Scotland. It has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and a land frontier with Spain. In addition, two attractive groups of Atlantic islands are integral parts of Portugal. The Azores, discovered and settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century, consist of a group of nine main islands situated about 1,300 km/800 mi west of Portugal. The land area is rather less than that of the state of Rhode Island. All the islands are hilly or mountainous, with peaks rising to between 600-2,300 m/2,000-7,500 ft. The Azores have a very mild climate throughout the year with no great extremes of temperature. Summer days are warm but never really hot, and in winter cold weather with frost and snow is unknown at sea level. Winter weather can be stormy and changeable when deep Atlantic depressions track across or near the islands. Summer is generally a more settled season but occasional storms and wet weather can occur. Sunshine amounts are only moderate for the latitude and range from an average of three to four hours a day in winter to seven to eight in summer. Rainfall is well distributed around the year but is heavier and more frequent in winter. The table for Angra do Heroismo is representative of conditions at or near sea level in the Azores. The Madeira group of islands, occupied and settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century, consists of the two inhabited islands and several small uninhabited islands. The total land area is small: 790 sq km/305 sq mi. The main island of Madeira is volcanic and mountainous, with its highest peaks rising to over 1,800 m/6,000 ft. Its mild winters and generally warm, sunny summers have made it a popular holiday resort. The islands are situated about 725 km/450 mi west of the coast of Morocco. The climate of Madeira is similar to that found around the Mediterranean or in coastal California, but the ocean waters moderate the temperature so that the island never suffers extremes of heat or cold. The winter months are quite wet, particularly at higher levels, and stormy and cloudy conditions may last for a few days at a time. There are also spells of fine, settled weather in winter, with mild to cool temperatures. There is little cloudy weather from May until September but occasional light rain may fall and fog can occur. In general the island has a sunny climate with an average of five to six hours sunshine a day in winter and as much as seven to eight in summer. Days can be cloudy and cool as late as April at sea level and for much longer in the mountains. The table for Funchal is representative of conditions at sea level on Madeira. Together with Ireland, mainland Portugal occupies the most westerly position in Europe and its weather and climate are much influenced by the Atlantic. Its southerly latitude gives it a Mediterranean type of climate, similar to that of the state of California, but one where the summer heat is tempered by the Atlantic influence. On the coast the winters are particularly mild. The north and the central interior of Portugal include mountains and plateaux rising in places over 1,800 m/6,000 ft; here the summers are much cooler and winters may be quite cold (see the table for Braganca, situated at medium height in the extreme north). Winter is the wet season everywhere in Portugal, but autumn rain can sometimes be heavy in the north as the fine weather of summer breaks. The length and severity of the summer drought increases from north to south. This can be seen by comparing the monthly rainfall and number of wet days at Porto, Lisbon, and Faro in the climatic tables. Summer sunshine and temperature and winter mildness also increase southwards. The south-facing coast of the Algarve region is the sunniest, driest, and warmest part of the country, but the summer heat rarely reaches the unpleasant levels sometimes found in southeastern Spain. Another favourable aspect of this region for tourists is the higher sea temperatures as compared with those on the west-facing coasts farther north, where seas are most likely to be rough. Snow is very rare at sea level in Portugal, but it becomes more frequent inland and on the higher areas of the north. Winter rainfall is rather heavy north of Lisbon and the weather in the far north is often wet and stormy. Most parts of Portugal are sunny. Daily hours of sunshine average from four to five in winter and ten to eleven in summer in the north. These figures rise to six in winter and twelve in summer in the far south. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian peninsula. The region is visited by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, settled by Celts, incorporated in the Roman empire (as Lusitania in 138 BC), settled again by Visigoths and conquered by Muslims. During the centuries of the Reconquest, the region has the status of a county. The count of Portugal, owing allegiance to the king of Leon, is on the Atlantic front in the unending struggle against the Muslims. His Christian duty and his own interests coincide in an urge to extend his frontier southwards. A victory over the Muslims at Ourique in 1139 is traditionally taken as the occasion when Portugal is transformed from a county into a kingdom. In the story the exultant soldiers proclaim their count, Afonso Henriques, as king. He begins calling himself Afonso I of Portugal. Reality is less abrupt than in the story, but the transformation does occur during the reign of Afonso Henriques. By 1143 his independence is accepted by his cousin and feudal overlord, the king of Leon. In 1179 the new kingdom is formally acknowledged by the pope. The city of Coimbra, used as their capital by Afonso I and his immediate successors, has been securely in Christian hands since 1064. But an even more significant recovery is made during Afonso’s own reign. In 1147 he is poised to attack Lisbon on the great inlet of the river Tagus. For this assault he requires naval strength. He finds it in an unexpected quarter. The pope has been preaching a new crusade to the Holy Land, and a fleet bearing English warriors – together with some from Flanders – sets sail from northern Europe in the late spring of 1147. In June bad weather forces them to shelter in Portugal. It is immediately pointed out to them that they need not travel all the way to the Holy Land to kill Muslims. They can do so more easily here, and win land for themselves too. The crusaders and their ships are diverted into besieging Lisbon. After four months of fierce hostilities, the Muslims in the city surrender on a promise that their lives are safe. The crusaders, as often elsewhere when a city of infidels falls to them, break their word and indulge in a general massacre. Some of the crusaders continue on eastwards, but the majority settle in this new extension of the Portuguese kingdom. An English priest, Gilbert of Hastings, becomes bishop of the recovered see of Lisbon. These events of 1147 are the first of many links between England and Portugal. The reconquest of Portugal, down to the southern coast of the Iberian peninsula, is completed in 1249 with the capture of Faro. In 1256 the capital of the kingdom is transferred from Coimbra to Lisbon. Two centuries later Lisbon’s superb natural harbour is the launching point for Europe’s new era of maritime exploration. By then the throne belongs to a new dynasty, the house of Avis. The seizing of the throne by John I lies at the start of two centuries of outstanding Portuguese achievement. He is brought to power on the crest of a wave of national sentiment, resisting domination by neighbouring Castile. John is an illegitimate son of the previous king, Ferdinand, who dies in 1383. Ferdinand’s daughter, Beatriz, is married to the king of Castile – so it is expected that the two crowns will now be merged. Instead John mounts a revolution which brings two years of humiliation for the Castilians. Lisbon withstands a five-month siege from their forces in 1384. The climax of the campaign is a Portuguese victory in 1385. The great Dominican abbey known variously as Batalha (‘battle’) or Santa Maria da Vitoria (‘St Mary of Victory’) is the triumphal celebration of the battle of 1385, fought nearby at Aljubarrota, which secures the kingdom of Portugal for John I. The victory hastens the end of the war against his Castilian rival, four months after John has himself been acclaimed king by the Cortes in Coimbra. As a child of seven, John was appointed master of the Order of St Benedict of Avis, a Portuguese order of knights founded in the 12th century in the spirit of crusade against the Muslims. From this appointment the new dynasty is known as the House of Avis. The founder’s chapel at Batalha contains the tomb of John I himself, together with those of his wife Philippa of Lancaster and of his son Prince Henry the Navigator. An English wife and a son with an interest in navigation – the two themes are central to the era now beginning in Portugal. A link between England and Portugal goes back to the recapture of Lisbon in 1147, but it becomes particularly strong in the late 14th century – largely through the activities of John of Gaunt. Gaunt’s involvement stems from his second marriage, in 1371, to the heiress of the king of Castile. Her father has been murdered two years previously by a bastard half-brother who has usurped his throne. Gaunt, with a chance to win Castile for himself, begins to play a role in Iberian politics. His opposition to the present regime in Castile makes him a natural ally of the king of Portugal. Chances of success are much improved by the Portuguese victory over Castile at Aljubarrota in 1385. The following year the new Portuguese king, John I, proposes an alliance with England. It is formalized in May 1386 as the Treaty of Windsor. Binding in its terms, and never revoked, this treaty is the reason why Portugal is often described as England’s oldest ally. Two months later John of Gaunt arrives in Portugal to attempt a joint Anglo-Portuguese campaign against Castile. In the event it leads to nothing except a marriage. In 1387 the Portuguese king marries Gaunt’s daughter, Philippa of Lancaster. She is said to have introduced English customs and styles to the Portuguese court – including even architectural elements in the abbey of Batalha where she lies beside her husband. Any such influence may derive from English masons, possibly brought over for the project on which work begins in about 1388. The architect of the abbey, Afonso Domingues, is Portuguese. Europe’s exploration of the world begins in the 15th century, pioneered by Portugal. The Portuguese sailors are under the control of Henry, one of the sons of John I. Although no seaman himself, his energy and vision earns him the name by which history knows him – Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1415 the Portuguese sail a fleet of some 200 ships from Lisbon to attack the Muslims on the African coast. They successfully take the strategic promontory of Ceuta, on the southern side of the Straits of Gibraltar. The 21-year-old Henry is one of the first to fight his way into the city. He is subsequently given responsibility for the Portuguese garrison there. The capture of Ceuta seems to be the event which fires Henry’s enthusiasm for exploration round Africa’s coasts. Later in his life he builds himself a villa at Sagres, in the extreme southwest of Portugal, where he establishes a laboratory of seafaring. He gathers there a team of skilled navigators, geographers and mapmakers. His ships sail from the Portuguese harbour of Lagos, a few miles to the east. The main purpose of Prince Henry’s efforts will be expeditions pressing ever further south round Africa. But his attention is first drawn to island groups in the Atlantic – Madeira and the Azores. Madeira features on an Italian portolan chart of 1351 but an accidental sighting by a Portuguese navigator, blown off course in 1418, is regarded at the time as a discovery. Returning in 1420, the navigator (Joao Goncalves Zarco) finds the island uninhabited and lush. Prince Henry immediately despatches colonists both for Madeira and its smaller companion, Porto Santo. The forests are slashed and burned. Rich land is brought into cultivation, mainly for sugar cane and vineyards. The productivity of the islands soon comes to depend on another aspect of Portugal’s new seafaring activities – the African slave trade, which results from Prince Henry’s later expeditions. A group of islands much further into the ocean is sighted by a Portuguese ship in 1427. Prince Henry sends settlers to the Azores from 1432. The practical use of these islands is not yet obvious. But with the European discovery of America in 1492, and of the sea route round Africa to India in 1498, the Azores become an invaluable landfall almost in the middle of the north Atlantic. They are particularly well placed, in later centuries, for ships on the long curving ocean route between Europe and the Cape of Good Hope. As yet these future advantages are unknown to Henry the Navigator, whose ambitions now centre on Africa. Many and varied motives lie behind Prince Henry’s African expeditions. In part they are pure voyages of discovery, driven by a longing to know what new places, people, animals or plants may lie beyond the next forbidding headland. Partly they are a straightforward quest for Africa’s gold. Then there is the hope of colonizing new lands for Portugal. There is the desire to spread Christianity and frustrate Islam. There is even the fanciful dream of coming across a fabulous Christian ruler, Prester John. But the overriding purpose is to discover a sea route round Africa to the east, with its rich promise of trade in valuable spices. Ocean-going ships are improving at this period (the era of the caravel), but the sheer difficulty faced by the sailors is well suggested by the long struggle to get round Cape Bojador – a promontory only about 150 miles south of the Canaries. Prince Henry sends out fourteen expeditions to attempt this feat before at last one is successful, in 1434. In the 1440s progress is quicker. Caravels sail round Cape Verde in 1444 and Cape Roxo in 1446, bringing them to the northern part of what is later Portuguese Guinea. By the time of Prince Henry’s death, in 1460, navigators have explored as far south as Sierra Leone. They have also discovered the uninhabited Cape Verde islands. Portuguese settlers move into the Cape Verde islands in about 1460. In 1466 they are given an economic advantage which guarantees their prosperity. They are granted a monopoly of a new slave trade. On the coast of Guinea the Portuguese are now setting up trading stations to buy captive Negroes. Some of these slaves are used to work the settlers’ estates in the Cape Verde islands. Others are sent north for sale in Madeira, or in Portugal and Spain – where Seville now becomes an important market. Negroes have been imported by this sea route into Europe since at least 1444, when one of Henry the Navigator’s expeditions returns with slaves exchanged for Moorish prisoners. The two most significant Portuguese voyages of exploration take place a generation after the death of Henry the Navigator. In the first, in 1487-8, Bartolomeu Dias proves that there is a sea route round the southern tip of Africa. In the second, ten years later, Vasco da Gama demonstrates that this route leads to India. Dias is already a veteran navigator along the coast of northwest Africa when he sets off from Lisbon, in August 1487, with two caravels and a storeship. Two or three months later he passes Cape Cross – reached in the previous year by Diogo Cam, and as yet the furthest point south of any Portuguese expedition. Dias abandons his depleted store ship somewhere south of Cape Cross. At Angra Pequena he pauses to erect a stone pillar, declaring that the king of Portugal is the overlord of this region. These pillars, and this claim, have by now become the standard practice of the Portuguese expeditions whenever new territory is reached. Diogo Cam, the immediate predecessor of Dias, has erected four – at the mouth of the Congo, at Cape Santa Maria, at Cape Negro and Cape Cross. From Angra Pequena the two caravels of Dias sail due south. They see no land for thirteen days. Dias turns northeast. He makes landfall at Mossel Bay in February 1488. The coastline here runs east and west. Dias, whose crew are becoming restless, continues to the east. At Cape Padrone, where he sets up a second pillar, his officers insist that they have achieved enough. They should set sail for Portugal. He persuades them to continue a little further until the northeast trend of the coastline becomes unmistakable. This seems indeed to be the case by the time they have reached the Great Fish river. The two ships turn home. On the way back Dias erects a third stone pillar at the Cape of Good Hope – a magnificent acquisition for the king of Portugal, previously missed because of the long seaward loop on the journey out. Dias and his ships reach Lisbon in December 1488. They have been away for sixteen months. They have sailed round more than 1200 miles of previously undiscovered coastline. They have not reached India, but their rounding of the Cape is considered proof that this longer journey is possible. When the next major attempt is planned, Dias is put in charge of building the two main caravels. But the command of the expedition is given to a younger man, Vasco da Gama. The ships leave Lisbon in 1497. Dias is allowed to accompany them, but only as far as the Cape Verde Islands – a mere hop for a navigator of his distinction.Portugal is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. The land within the borders of today’s Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times. In 29 B.C. the territory occupied by peoples like the Gallaeci and Lusitanians was integrated in the Roman Empire as the province of Lusitania and Roman settlers strongly influenced Portuguese culture, particularly the Portuguese language, mostly derived from Latin (DMOZ). In the 5th century, after the fall of the Roman empire, it was occupied by different Germanic peoples such as the Suevi and the Visigoths. In the early 8th century the Muslim Moors conquered those Christian kingdoms, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. During the Christian Reconquista (Reconquering), the County of Portugal was settled, as part of the Kingdom of Galicia. With the establishment of the Kingdom recognized in 1143 and the stabilization of its borders by 1249, Portugal claims to be the oldest European nation-state In the 15th and 16th centuries, as the result of maritime exploration, Portugal established a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia and South America, becoming one of the world’s major economic, political and military powers. In 1580 it was united with Spain by a period called the Iberian Union; however, in 1640 it went on to re-establish full independence during the Portuguese Restoration War that resulted in the establishment of a new dynasty and a return to the previous separation between the two crowns and empires. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Spanish and French invasions, which preceded the loss of its largest territorial possession abroad, Brazil, resulted in both the disruption of political stability and economic growth as well as the reduction of Portugal’s international status as a global power during the 19th century. After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910, a democratic but unstable republic was established that was then replaced by the “Estado Novo” dictatorship. After the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the democracy was restored and the country handed over its last overseas provinces (most prominently Angola and Mozambique in Africa); the last overseas territory, Macau, was handed over to China in 1999. Portugal is a developed country and it has the world’s 19th-highest quality-of-life, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. It is the 14th-most peaceful and the 13th-most globalized country in the world. It is a member of the European Union (joined the then EEC in 1986, leaving the EFTA where it was a founding member in 1960) and the United Nations; as well as a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union’s Eurozone, and also a Schengen state. The Roman Temple of Diana, Évora. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The name of Portugal derives from the Roman name Portus Cale. The region was settled by Pre-Celts and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes, visited by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, incorporated in the Roman Republic dominions as Lusitania after 45 BC until 298, settled again by Suevi, Buri, and Visigoths, and conquered by Moors. Other minor influences include some 5th century vestiges of Alan settlement, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra and even Lisbon The Castle of Guimarães, Guimarães – the city is known as the cradle of Portugal. During the Reconquista period, Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish domination. In 868, the First County of Portugal was formed. A victory over the Muslims at Battle of Ourique in 1139 is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal as a fief of the Kingdom of León was transformed into an the independent Kingdom of Portugal. On 24 June 1128, the Battle of São Mamede occurred near Guimarães. Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself as sole leader. Afonso Henriques officially declared Portugal’s independence when he proclaimed himself king of Portugal on 25 July 1139, after the Battle of Ourique. He was recognized as such in 1143 by Alfonso VII, king of León and Castile, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors, as the size of Portugal covered about half of its present area. In 1249, this Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve on the southern coast, giving Portugal its present-day borders, with minor exceptions. Progress of the Christian Reconquista. In 1348 and 1349, like the rest of Europe, Portugal was devastated by the Black Death. In 1373, Portugal made an alliance with England, which is the longest-standing alliance in the world. In 1383, the king of Castile, husband of the daughter of the Portuguese king who had died without a male heir, claimed his throne. An ensuing popular revolt led to the 1383-1385 Crisis. A faction of petty noblemen and commoners, led by John of Aviz (later John I), seconded by General Nuno Álvares Pereira defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota. This celebrated battle is still a symbol of glory and the struggle for independence from neighbouring Spain. Main article: History of Portugal (1415–1542) Portuguese explorations: arrival places and dates; main Portuguese trade routes in the Indian Ocean (blue); territories of the Portuguese empire under King John III rule (1521–1557) (green). In the following decades, Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and undertook the Age of Discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King João I, became the main sponsor and patron of this endeavor. In 1415, Portugal conquered the first of its overseas colonies by conquering Ceuta, a prosperous Islamic trade center in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries in the Atlantic: Madeira and the Azores, which led to the first colonization movements. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for several common types of tradable commodities at the time, ranging from gold to 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 signed on 7 June 1494, and divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). In 1498, Vasco da Gama finally reached India and brought economic prosperity to Portugal and its population of 1.5 million residents then. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral, en route to India, discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa, in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca, now a state in Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. The Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia by sailing eastward from Europe landing in such places like Taiwan, Japan, the island of Timor, and may have been the first Europeans to discover Australia and even New Zealand. the Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529 between Portugal and Spain, specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas.  Portugal’s independence was interrupted between 1580 and 1640. Because the heirless King Sebastian died in the battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, Philip II of Spain claimed his throne and so became Philip I of Portugal. Although Portugal did not lose its formal independence, it was governed by the same monarch who governed Spain, briefly forming a union of kingdoms, as a personal union. An anachronistic map of the Portuguese Empire (1415–1999). Red – actual possessions; Olive trading posts; Blue – main sea explorations, routes and areas of influence. The disputed Portuguese discovery of Australia is not shown. The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and led to the involvement in the Eighty Years War being fought in Europe at the time between Spain and The Netherlands. War led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal’s oldest ally, England, and the loss of Hormuz. 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 spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and Spain on the aftermath of the 1640 revolt, ended the sixty-year period of the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the House of Braganza, which was to reign in Portugal until 1910. On 1 November 1755, Lisbon, the largest city and capital of the Portuguese Empire, was strongly shaken by an earthquake which killed thousands and destroyed a large portion of the city.[11] In 1762 Spain invaded Portuguese territory as part of the Seven Years’ War, however by 1763 the status-quo between Spain and Portugal of before the war had been restored. During the 18th century approximately 400,000 left for Brazil. In the autumn of 1807, Napoleon moved French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. From 1807 to 1811, British-Portuguese forces would successfully fight against the French invasion of Portugal. Brazil just before independence in 1822 – Cisplatina was one of the last additions to the territory of Brazil under Portuguese rule.Portugal began a slow but inexorable decline until the 20th century. This decline was hastened by the independence in 1822 of the country’s largest colonial possession, Brazil. In 1807, as Napoleon Bonaparte’s army closed in on Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon, the Prince Regent João VI of Portugal shipped himself off to the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Once there, João VI established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire which was then rebranded in 1815 as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Due to the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, economical, military, educational, and scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Portuguese and their allied British troops used car prices fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 things in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI could safely return to Lisbon. However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which Car Share started in Porto, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821. Thus he returned to Portugal but left his son Pedro in charge of Brazil. When the king attempted the following year to return the Kingdom of Brazil to subordinate status as a principality, his son Pedro, with the overwhelming support of the Brazilian elites, declared 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. The Pink Map – Portugal’s unsuccessful claim of sovereignty over the land between its territories of Angola and Mozambique in the second half of the 19th century. 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, 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 Conference of Berlin of 1884, Portuguese Africa territories 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 Africa’s cities and towns like Nova Lisboa, Sá da Bandeira, 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, Moçâmedes, Lobito, João Belo, Nacala and Porto Amélia, were also founded. Even before the turn of the century, railway tracks as the Benguela railway in Angola, and the Beira railway in Mozambique, started to be Kent Wedding Photographer built to link coastal areas and selected inland regions. Other episodes of this period of Portuguese presence in Africa, include the 1890 British Ultimatum that forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces in the land between the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola (most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia) which had been claimed by Portugal and included in its “Pink Map”, which had clashed with British aspirations to create a Cape to prostate treatment Cairo Railway. The Portuguese territories in Africa were Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique. The tiny fortress of São João Baptista de auto glass mn Ajudá on the coast of Dahomey, was also under Diamond Engagement Rings Portuguese rule. In addition, the country still ruled the Asian territories of Portuguese India, Portuguese Timor and Macau. In 1910, a revolution deposed the Houston Personal Injury Lawyer Portuguese monarchy and its last King, Manuel II, but chaos continued during the Portuguese First Republic and considerable economic problems were aggravated by the logo polo shirts military intervention in World War I, which led to a military coup d’état in 1926. This in turn led to the establishment of the right-wing dictatorship of the Estado Novo Hair Transplant under António de Oliveira Salazar. Portugal was one of only five European countries to remain neutral in World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, OECD and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In 1961, São João Baptista de Ajudá’s annexation by 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 5 inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey Government, it had only 2 inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty. Another forcible retreat from overseas territories occurred in December 1961 when the Portuguese army and navy were involved in armed conflict in its colony of Portuguese India against an Indian invasion. The operations resulted in the defeat of the isolated and relatively small Portuguese defensive garrison which was forced to surrender. The outcome was the loss of the Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent. Also in the early 1960s, independence movements in the Portuguese overseas provinces of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea in Africa, resulted in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). 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. In April 1974 a bloodless left-wing military coup in Lisbon, known as the Carnation Revolution, led the way for a modern democracy as well as the independence of the last colonies in Africa, after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, or On-Going Revolutionary Process), characterized by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces. Some factions, including Álvaro Cunhal’s Partido Comunista Português (PCP), unsuccessfully tried to turn the country into a totalitarian communist state. The retreat from the overseas territories and the acceptance of its independence terms by Portuguese head representatives for overseas negotiations, which would create newly-independent communist states in 1975 (most notably the People’s Republic of Angola and the People’s Republic of Mozambique), prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal’s African territories (mostly from Portuguese Angola and Mozambique). Over a million destitute Portuguese refugees fled the former Portuguese colonies. Mário Soares and António de Almeida Santos were charged with organising the independence of Portugal’s overseas territories. By 1975, all the Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held its first democratic elections in 50 years. However, the country continued to be governed by a military-civilian provisional administration until the Portuguese legislative election of 1976. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed by the European Union member states on 13 December 2007 in the Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon. Portugal’s last overseas territory, Macau, was not handed over to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) until 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. On 26 March 1995, Portugal started to implement Schengen Area 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 (CPLP) headquartered in Lisbon. The 1998 World Exposition took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and the Eurozone. On 5 July 2004, José Manuel Durão 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 had been signed by the best acne treatment 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. The São Bento Palace, house of the Assembly of the Republic, Lisbon. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, current President of Portugal.Portugal is a democratic republic ruled by the Constitution of 1976 with Lisbon, the nation’s largest city, as its capital. The four main governing components are the President of the Republic, the Parliament, known as Assembly of the Republic, the Government, headed by a Prime Minister, and the courts. The constitution grants the division or separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Portugal like most New Orleans Saints Merchandise European countries has no state religion, making it a secular state. The president, who is elected to a five-year term, has a supervising non-executive role. The current President is Aníbal Cavaco Silva. The Parliament is a chamber composed of 230 deputies elected in four-year terms. The government is headed by the prime minister (currently José Sócrates) who chooses the Council of Ministers, comprising all the ministers and state secretaries. The national and regional governments (those of Azores and Madeira autonomous regions), and the Portuguese parliament, are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Minority parties Unitarian Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party plus Ecologist Party “The Greens”), Bloco de Esquerda (The Left Bloc) and CDS-PP (Popular Party) are also represented in the parliament and local governments. The courts are organized in several categories comprising the judicial, administrative, and fiscal branches. The supreme courts are courts of last appeal. A 13-member constitutional court oversees the constitutionality of the laws. José Sócrates, current Prime Minister of Portugal. The President, elected to a 5-year term by direct, universal suffrage, is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Presidential powers include appointing the prime minister and Council of Ministers, in which the president must be guided by the assembly election results; dismissing the prime minister; dissolving the assembly to call early elections; vetoing legislation, which may be overridden by the assembly; and declaring a state of war or green marketing siege. The Council of State, a presidential advisory body, 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. The government is headed by the presidentially appointed prime minister, who names the Council of Ministers. A new government is required to define the broad outline of its policy in a program and present it to the assembly for a mandatory period of debate. Failure of the assembly to reject the program by a majority of deputies confirms the government in office. The four main organs of the national government are the presidency, the prime minister and Council of Ministers (the government), the Assembly of the Republic (the parliament), and the judiciary. The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral body composed of up to 230 deputies. Elected by universal suffrage according to a system of proportional representation, deputies serve terms of office of 4 years, unless the president dissolves the assembly and calls for new elections. Location of the disputed territory of Olivença. Location of the Savage Islands, the southernmost region of Portugal. A member state of the United Nations since 1955, Portugal is also a founding member of NATO (1949), OECD (1961) and EFTA (1960); it left the latter in 1986 to join the European Economic Community, that would become the European Union in 1993. In 1996 it co-founded the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which seeks to foster closer economic and cultural ties between the world’s Lusophone nations. In addition, Portugal is a full member of the Latin Union (1983) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (1949). It has a friendship alliance and dual citizenship treaty with its former colony, Brazil. Portugal and England (subsequently, the UK) share the world’s oldest active military accord through their Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, which was signed in 1373. The only international disputes concerns the municipality of Tax Attorney pointing Olivença. Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivença was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it reverse phone lookup back in 1815 under the Treaty of Vienna. There are also some controversies over the Savage Islands. 1881 – The Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry stated during the meeting Internet Income that “…it is not clear if the sovereignty of the island belongs to Spain or Portugal”. 1911 – In September the Portuguese government received an official communication from the Spanish government in which it was stated that Spain would build a lighthouse in the islands and had decided to include them in the Canary archipelago. Portuguese administration protested and it was agreed not to take any actions that might endanger a friendly solution to the dispute. The Permanent Commission of International Maritime Law gave sovereignty of the Savage Islands to Portugal on February 15, 1938. Nevertheless, bilateral diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries are cordial, as well as within the European Union. A Portuguese Air Force F-16 The armed forces have three branches: Army, Navy, and Air Force. The military of Portugal serves primarily as a self-defense force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and providing humanitarian assistance and security at home and abroad. As of 2002, the total armed forces of Portugal numbered 43,600 active personnel including 2,875 women. Reservists numbered 210,930 for all services. The army had 25,400 personnel with equipment including 187 main battle tanks (Wikimedia). The navy of 10,800, including 1,580 marines, had two submarines, six frigates, and 28 patrol and coastal combatants. The air force of 7,400 was equipped with 50 combat aircraft. Paramilitary police and republican guards, the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), number 40,900. GNR is a police force under the authority of the military, its soldiers are subject to military law and organization (Visit). 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 USA Air Force Base at Terceira Island, in the Azores. Portugal participates in peacekeeping operations in several regions. Defense spending in 1999–00 was $1.3 billion, representing 2.2 percent of GDP. Since the early 2000s compulsory military service is no longer practiced. The changes also turned the forces’ focus towards professional military engagements. The age for voluntary recruitment is set at 18. In the 20th century, Portugal engaged in two major military interventions: the First Great War and the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). Portugal has participated in peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Nasiriyah) and Lebanon. The Portuguese Military’s Rapid Reaction Brigade, a combined force of the nation’s elite Paratroopers, Special Operations Troops Centre and Commandos, is a special elite fighting force. The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system, also called the continental family seo company legal system. Until the end of the 19th century, French law was the main influence. Since then the major influence has been German law. The main laws include the Constitution (1976, as amended), the Civil Code (1966, as amended) and the Penal Code (1982, as amended). Other relevant laws are the Commercial Code (1888, as amended) and the Civil Procedure Code (1961, as amended). Portuguese law applied in the former colonies and territories and continues to be the major influence for those countries. Portugal’s main police organizations are the Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR (National Republican Guard), a gendarmerie; the USPS change of address Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP (Public Security Police), a civilian police force who work in urban areas; and the Polícia Judiciária – PJ Business Intelligence Software (Judicial Police), a highly specialized criminal investigation police which is overseen by the Public Ministry. Portugal was one of the first countries in baby gift baskets the world to abolish the death penalty. Maximum jail sentences are limited to 25 years. Portugal has arguably the most liberal laws concerning possession of illicit drugs in the Western world. In 2001 Portugal decriminalized possession of effectively all bedroom furniture drugs that are still illegal in other developed nations including, but not limited to, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and LSD. While possession is legal, trafficking and possession of table tennis more than “10 days worth of personal use” are still punishable by jail time and fines. Since decriminalization was implemented, Portugal has seen rapid improvement in the CD replication number of deaths from drug overdoses as well as a decline in new HIV infections. On 31 May 2010, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe and the eighth country in Portable Staging the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage on the national level. The law came into force on 5 June 2010. Lagoa das Sete Cidades, located in São Miguel Island, is the nature sounds largest freshwater lake in the Azores. Cork oak on wheat field, a typical image of the Alentejo region. Praia da Marinha, a typical image of the Algarve coast. The highest point in mainland Portugal is in the Serra da Estrela mountain range. Mount Pico, in the island of Pico, Azores, is Portugal’s highest point The typical landscape of the Douro Valley. Cape Roca, Europe’s most western continental point. Mainland Portugal is split by its main river, the Tagus. The northern landscape is mountainous in the interior with plateaus indented by river valleys, whereas the south, that includes the loans bad credit Algarve and the Alentejo, features mostly rolling plains and a climate somewhat warmer and drier than in the north. The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo by pyxism mountains, has a climate much like the southern coastal areas of Spain. Portugal’s highest point is Mount Pico on Pico Island in the Azores. This is an ancient volcano measuring 2,350 m (7,710 ft). Mainland Portugal’s highest point is Serra da Estrela, with the summit being 1,993 m (6,539 ft) above sea level. Portugal chanel handbags has a Mediterranean climate, Csa in the south and Csb in the north, according to the Köppen climate classification. Portugal is one of the warmest European countries: the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from 13 °C (55.4 °F) in the mountainous interior north to over 18 °C (64.4 °F) in the south and on the Guadiana basin. In some areas, as in the Tejo and Douro basins, annual average temperatures can be as high as 20 °C (68 °F). Here in the summer temperatures may be over 50 °C (122 °F) as it is documented in a climatology study done recently, for example in the Arqueology Park in Côa, Douro valley.[17] In high mountains, such as Gerês, a maritime temperate climate predominates (Cfb, according to Koppen-Geiger). The record high of 47.4 °C (117.3 °F) was recorded in Amareleja. The country has around 2500 to 3200 hours of sunshine a year, an average of 4–6 h in winter and 10–12 h in the summer, with higher values in the southeast and lower in the northwest. The Madeira and Azores archipelagos have a narrower DJ Controller temperature range with annual average temperatures exceeding 20 °C (68 °F), according to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute, in the south coast of Madeira Island. The annual average rainfall in the mainland varies from a bit more than 3,000 mm (118.1 in) in the mountains in the north to less than 300 mm (11.8 in) DJ Equipment in Massueime region, near Côa on the Douro river. In the Pico mountain, in Azores, is the rainiest spot of Portugal, reaching over 6,250 mm (246.1 in) per year, according to IM (Portuguese Meteorological Institute). The islands of the Azores are located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge whilst the Madeira islands were corporate entertainment formed by the activity of an in-plate hotspot, much like the Hawaiian Islands. Some islands have had volcanic activity as recently as 1957. Both the Azores and the 18th birthday ideas Madeira Islands have a subtropical climate, but there are differences between the islands, mainly because of differences in temperature and rainfall. Some outdoor table tennis table islands in Azores do have dry months in the summer therefore a Mediterranean climate according to Koppen-Geiger (both Csa and Csb types) Maritime Temperate (Cfb) in some islands (Flores) and Groom Speeches Humid subtropical (Cfa) in the others (Corvo), according to Koppen-Geiger where are no dry months in the summer. The Savage Islands, that belong to best acne treatment the Madeira archipelago, have a Desertic climate (BWh) with an annual average rainfall of just around 150 mm (5.9 in). The sea surface mean temperatures in these archipelagos vary from 16 °C (60.8 °F)-18 °C (64.4 °F) in winter to 23 °C (73.4 °F)-24 °C (75.2 °F) in the summer, occasionally reaching 26 °C (78.8 °F). In South Azores, there´s an oceanic area, inside Portuguese maritime territory which has the unique tropical climate (As type according to Koppen-Geiger)known in Europe, because of Gulf Stream influence on this area. Sea temperatures here are over 20 °C (68 °F) even on the peak of the winter (Source AEMET). Portugal’s Exclusive Economic Zone, a seazone over which the Portuguese have special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has 1,727,408 km². This is the press release distribution 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the European Union and the 11th largest in the world. This article needs additional citations for verification Montesinho Natural Park, in northeastern Portugal. Conservation areas of Portugal include one national park (Parque Nacional), 12 natural parks (Parque Natural), 9 natural reserves fish oil (Reserva Natural), 5 natural monuments (Monumento Natural), and 7 protected landscapes (Paisagem Protegida), ranging from the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês to the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela to the Paul de Arzila. Climate and geographical diversity shaped the Portuguese Flora. As far as Portuguese forests are concerned, because of sell my car economic reasons the pine tree (especially the Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea species), the chestnut tree (Castanea sativa), the cork oak (Quercus suber), the holm oak (Quercus ilex), the Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea), and the eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) tourbillon watches are very widespread. Portugal is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Group Halloween Costumes Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. The land within the borders of today’s Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times. In cash advance 29 B.C. the territory occupied by peoples like the Gallaeci and Lusitanians was integrated in the Roman Empire as the province of Lusitania and Roman settlers strongly influenced Portuguese culture, particularly the how to get your ex boyfriend back Portuguese language, mostly derived from Latin. In the 5th century, after the fall of the Roman empire, it was occupied by different Germanic peoples such as the Suevi and the Visigoths. In the early 8th century the Muslim Moors conquered those Christian kingdoms, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. During the Christian Reconquista (Reconquering), the County of Portugal was settled, as part of the Kingdom of Galicia. With the establishment of the Kingdom recognized in 1143 and the stabilization of its borders by 1249, Portugal claims to be the oldest European nation-state In the 15th and 16th centuries, as the result of maritime exploration, Portugal established a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia and South America, becoming one of the world’s major economic, political and military powers. In 1580 it was united with Spain by a period called the Iberian Union; however, in 1640 it went on to re-establish full independence during the Portuguese Restoration War that resulted in the establishment of a new dynasty and a return to the previous separation between the two crowns and empires. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Spanish and French invasions, which preceded the loss of its largest territorial possession abroad, Brazil, resulted in both the disruption of political stability and economic growth as well as the reduction of Portugal’s international status as a global power during the 19th century. After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910, a democratic but unstable republic was established that was then replaced by the “Estado Novo” dictatorship. After the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the democracy was restored and the country handed over its last overseas provinces (most prominently Angola and Mozambique in Africa); the last overseas territory, Macau, was handed over to China in 1999. Portugal is a developed country and it healthy living has the world’s 19th-highest quality-of-life, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. It is the 14th-most peaceful and the 13th-most globalized country in the world. It is a member of the European Union (joined the then EEC in 1986, leaving the EFTA where it was a founding member in 1960) and the United Nations; as well as a founding member of the free stuff Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union’s Eurozone, and also a Schengen state. The Roman Temple of Diana, Évora. The early history of Portugal is shared with the good health rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The name of Portugal derives from the Roman name Portus Cale. The region was settled by Pre-Celts and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, wrinkle cream Celtici and Cynetes, visited by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, incorporated in the Roman Republic dominions as Lusitania after 45 BC until 298, settled again by wholesale silver jewellery Suevi, Buri, and Visigoths, and conquered by Moors. Other minor influences include some 5th century vestiges of Alan settlement, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra free iphone and even Lisbon The Castle of Guimarães, Guimarães – the city is known as the cradle of Portugal. During the Reconquista period, Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish domination. In 868, the First County of Portugal was formed. A victory over the Muslims at Battle of Ourique in 1139 is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal as a fief of the Kingdom of León wealthy affiliate testimonial was transformed into an the independent Kingdom of Portugal. On 24 June 1128, the Battle of São Mamede occurred near Guimarães. Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself as sole leader. Afonso Henriques officially declared Portugal’s independence when he proclaimed himself king of Portugal on 25 July 1139, after the Battle of Ourique. He was recognized cars forum as such in 1143 by Alfonso VII, king of León and Castile, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors, as the size of Portugal covered about Group Halloween Costumes half of its present area. In 1249, this Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve on the southern coast, giving Portugal its present-day borders, with minor exceptions. Progress of the Christian Reconquista. In 1348 and 1349, like the rest of Europe, Portugal was devastated by the Black Death. In 1373, Portugal made an alliance with England, which is the longest-standing alliance in the world. In 1383, the king of Castile, husband of the daughter of the Portuguese king who had died without a male heir, claimed his throne. An ensuing popular revolt led to the 1383-1385 Crisis. A faction of petty noblemen and commoners, led by John of Aviz (later John I), seconded by General Nuno Álvares Pereira defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota. This celebrated battle is still a symbol of glory and the struggle for independence from neighbouring Spain. Main article: History of Portugal (1415–1542) Portuguese explorations: arrival places and dates; main Portuguese trade routes in the Indian Ocean (blue); territories of the Portuguese empire under King John III rule (1521–1557) (green). In the following decades, Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and undertook the Age of Discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King João I, became the main sponsor and diy repair patron of this endeavor. In 1415, Portugal conquered the first of its overseas colonies by conquering Ceuta, a prosperous Islamic trade center in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries solar power systems in the Atlantic: Madeira and the Azores, which led to the first colonization movements. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for several common types of video interviewing tradable commodities at the time, ranging from gold to 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 signed on 7 June 1494, and Starcraft 2 guide divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). In 1498, Vasco da Gama finally reached India and brought economic prosperity to Portugal and its population of 1.5 million residents then. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral, en route to India, discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa, in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca, now a state in Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. The Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia by sailing eastward from Europe landing in such places like Taiwan, Japan, the island of Timor, and may have been the first Europeans to discover Australia and even New Zealand. the Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529 between Portugal and Spain, specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas.  Portugal’s independence was interrupted between 1580 and 1640. Because the heirless King Sebastian died in the battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, Philip II of Spain claimed his throne and so became Philip I of Portugal. Although Portugal did not lose its formal independence, it was governed by the same monarch who governed Spain, briefly forming a union of kingdoms, as a personal union. An anachronistic map of the Portuguese Empire (1415–1999). Red – actual possessions; Olive trading posts; Blue – main sea explorations, routes and areas of influence. The disputed Portuguese discovery of Australia is not shown. The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and led to the involvement in the Eighty Years War being fought in Europe at the time between Spain and The Netherlands. War led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal’s oldest ally, England, and the loss of Hormuz. 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 spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and tinnitus treatment Spain on the aftermath of the 1640 revolt, ended the sixty-year period of the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the House of Braganza, which was to reign in Portugal until 1910. On 1 November 1755, Lisbon, the largest city and capital of the Portuguese Empire, was strongly shaken by an earthquake which killed thousands and destroyed a large portion of the city.[11] In 1762 Spain invaded Portuguese territory as part of the Seven Years’ War, however by 1763 the status-quo between Spain and Portugal of before the war had been restored. During the 18th century approximately 400,000 left for Brazil. In the autumn of 1807, Napoleon moved French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. From 1807 to 1811, British-Portuguese forces would successfully fight against the French invasion of Portugal. Brazil just before independence in 1822 – Cisplatina was one of the last additions to the territory of Brazil under Portuguese rule.Portugal began a slow but inexorable decline until the 20th century. This decline was hastened by the independence in 1822 of the country’s largest colonial possession, Brazil. In 1807, as Napoleon Bonaparte’s army closed in on Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon, the Prince Regent João VI of Portugal shipped himself off to the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Once there, João VI established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire which was then rebranded in 1815 as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Due to the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, economical, military, educational, and scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Portuguese and their allied British troops fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 things in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI could safely return to Lisbon. However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which started in Porto, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821. Thus he returned to Portugal but left his son Pedro in charge of Brazil. When the king attempted the following year to return the Kingdom of Brazil to subordinate status as a principality, his son Pedro, with the overwhelming support of the Brazilian elites, declared 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 fat burning furnace review Portuguese rule. The Pink Map – Portugal’s unsuccessful claim of sovereignty over the land between its territories of Angola and Mozambique in the second half of the 19th century. 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, 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 Conference of Berlin of 1884, Portuguese Africa territories 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 Africa’s cities and towns like Nova Lisboa, Sá da Bandeira, 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, Moçâmedes, Lobito, João Belo, Nacala and Porto Amélia, were also founded. Even before the turn of the 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 of this period of Portuguese presence in Africa, include the 1890 British Ultimatum that forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces in the land between the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola (most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia) which had been claimed by Portugal and included in its “Pink Map”, which had clashed with British aspirations to create a Cape to Cairo Railway. The Portuguese territories in Africa were Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique. The tiny fortress of São João Baptista de Ajudá on the coast of Dahomey, was also under Portuguese rule. In addition, the country still ruled the Asian territories of Portuguese India, Portuguese Timor and Macau. In 1910, a revolution deposed the Portuguese monarchy and its last King, Manuel II, but chaos continued during the Portuguese First Republic and considerable economic problems were aggravated by the military intervention in World War I, which led to a military coup d’état in 1926. This in turn led to the establishment of the right-wing dictatorship of the Estado Novo under António de Oliveira Salazar. Portugal was one of only five European countries to remain neutral in World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, OECD and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In 1961, São João Baptista de Ajudá’s annexation by 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 5 inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey Government, it had only 2 inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty. Another forcible retreat from overseas territories occurred in December 1961 when the Portuguese army and navy were involved in armed conflict in its colony of Portuguese India against an Indian invasion. The operations resulted in the defeat of the isolated and relatively small Portuguese defensive garrison which was forced to surrender. The outcome was the loss of the Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent. Also in the early 1960s, independence movements in the Portuguese overseas provinces of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea in Africa, resulted in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). 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. In April 1974 a bloodless left-wing military coup in Lisbon, known as the Carnation Revolution, led the way for a modern democracy as well as the independence of the last colonies in Africa, after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, or On-Going Revolutionary Process), characterized by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces. Some factions, including Álvaro Cunhal’s Partido Comunista Português (PCP), unsuccessfully tried to turn the country into a totalitarian communist state. The retreat from the overseas territories and the acceptance of its independence terms by Portuguese head representatives for overseas negotiations, which would create newly-independent communist states in 1975 (most notably the People’s Republic of Angola and the People’s Republic of Mozambique), prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal’s African territories (mostly from Portuguese Angola and Mozambique). Over a million destitute Portuguese refugees fled the former Portuguese colonies. Mário Soares and António de Almeida Santos were charged with organising the independence of Portugal’s overseas territories. By 1975, all the Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held its first democratic elections in 50 years. However, the country continued to be governed by a military-civilian provisional administration until the Portuguese legislative election of 1976. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed by the European Union member states on 13 December 2007 in the Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon. Portugal’s last overseas territory, Macau, was not handed over to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) until 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. On 26 March 1995, Portugal started to implement Schengen Area 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 (CPLP) headquartered in Lisbon. The 1998 World Exposition took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and the Eurozone. On 5 July 2004, José Manuel Durão 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 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. The São Bento Palace, house of the Assembly of the Republic, Lisbon. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, current President of Portugal.Portugal is a democratic republic ruled by the Constitution of 1976 with Lisbon, the nation’s largest city, as its capital. The four main governing components are the President of the Republic, the Parliament, known as Assembly of the Republic, the Government, headed by a Prime Minister, and the courts. The constitution grants the division or separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Portugal like most European countries has no state religion, making it a secular state. The president, who is elected to a five-year term, has a supervising non-executive role. The current President is Aníbal Cavaco Silva. The Parliament is a chamber composed of 230 deputies elected in four-year terms. The government is headed by the prime minister (currently José Sócrates) who chooses the Council of Ministers, comprising all the ministers and state secretaries. The national and regional governments (those of Azores and Madeira autonomous regions), and the Portuguese parliament, are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Minority parties Unitarian Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party plus Ecologist Party “The Greens”), Bloco de Esquerda (The Left Bloc) and CDS-PP (Popular Party) are also represented in the parliament and local governments. The courts are organized in several categories comprising the judicial, administrative, and fiscal branches. The supreme courts are courts of last appeal. A 13-member constitutional court oversees the constitutionality of the laws. José Sócrates, current Prime Minister of Portugal. The President, elected to a 5-year term by direct, universal suffrage, is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Presidential powers include appointing the prime minister and Council of Ministers, in which the president must be guided by the assembly election results; dismissing the prime minister; dissolving the assembly to call early elections; vetoing legislation, which may be overridden by the assembly; and declaring a state of war or siege. The Council of State, a presidential advisory body, 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. The government is headed by the presidentially appointed prime minister, who names the Council of Ministers. A new government is required to define the broad outline of its policy in a program and present it to the assembly for a mandatory period of debate. Failure of the assembly to reject the program by a majority of deputies confirms the government in office. The four main organs of the national government are the presidency, the prime minister and Council of Ministers (the government), the Assembly of the Republic (the parliament), and the judiciary. The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral body composed of up to 230 deputies. Elected by universal suffrage according to a system of proportional representation, deputies serve terms of office of 4 years, unless the president dissolves the assembly and calls for new elections. Location of the disputed territory of Olivença. Location of the Savage Islands, the southernmost region of Portugal. A member state of the United Nations since 1955, Portugal is also a founding member of NATO (1949), OECD (1961) and EFTA (1960); it left the latter in 1986 to join the European Economic Community, that would become the European Union in 1993. In 1996 it co-founded the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which seeks to foster closer economic and cultural ties between the world’s Lusophone nations. In addition, Portugal is a full member of the Latin Union (1983) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (1949). It has a friendship alliance and dual citizenship treaty with its former colony, Brazil. Portugal and England (subsequently, the UK) share the world’s oldest active military accord through their Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, which was signed in 1373. The only international disputes concerns the municipality of Olivença. Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivença was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it back in 1815 under the Treaty of Vienna. There are also some controversies over the Savage Islands. 1881 – The Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry stated during the meeting that “…it is not clear if the sovereignty of the island belongs to Spain or Portugal”. 1911 – In September the Portuguese government received an official communication from the Spanish government in which it was stated that Spain would build a lighthouse in the islands and had decided to include them in the Canary archipelago. Portuguese administration protested and it was agreed not to take any actions that might endanger a friendly solution to the dispute. The Permanent Commission of International Maritime Law gave sovereignty of the Savage Islands to Portugal on February 15, 1938. Nevertheless, bilateral diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries are cordial, as well as within the European Union. A Portuguese Air Force F-16 The armed forces have three branches: Army, Navy, and Air Force. The military of Portugal serves primarily as a self-defense force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and providing humanitarian assistance and security at home and abroad. As of 2002, the total armed forces of Portugal numbered 43,600 active personnel including 2,875 women. Reservists numbered 210,930 for all services. The army had 25,400 personnel with equipment including 187 main battle tanks. The navy of 10,800, including 1,580 marines, had two submarines, six frigates, and 28 patrol and coastal combatants. The air force of 7,400 was equipped with 50 combat aircraft. Paramilitary police and republican guards, the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), number 40,900. GNR is a police force under the authority of the military, its soldiers are subject to military law and organization. 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 USA Air Force Base at Terceira Island, in the Azores. Portugal participates in peacekeeping operations in several regions. Defense spending in 1999–00 was $1.3 billion, representing 2.2 percent of GDP. Since the early 2000s compulsory military service is no longer practiced. The changes also turned the forces’ focus towards professional military engagements. The age for voluntary recruitment is set at 18. In the 20th century, Portugal engaged in two major military interventions: the First Great War and the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). Portugal has participated in peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Nasiriyah) and Lebanon. The Portuguese Military’s Rapid Reaction Brigade, a combined force of the nation’s elite Paratroopers, Special Operations Troops Centre and Commandos, is a special elite fighting force. The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system, also called the continental family legal system. Until the end of the 19th century, French law was the main influence. Since then the major influence has been German law. The main laws include the Constitution (1976, as amended), the Civil Code (1966, as amended) and the Penal Code (1982, as amended). Other relevant laws are the Commercial Code (1888, as amended) and the Civil Procedure Code (1961, as amended). Portuguese law applied in the former colonies and territories and continues to be the major influence for those countries. Portugal’s main police organizations are the Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR (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 which is overseen by the Public Ministry. Portugal was one of the first countries in the world to abolish the death penalty. Maximum jail sentences are limited to 25 years. Portugal has arguably the most liberal laws concerning possession of illicit drugs in the Western world. In 2001 Portugal decriminalized possession of effectively all drugs that are still illegal in other developed nations including, but not limited to, marijuana, 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. Since decriminalization was implemented, Portugal has seen rapid improvement in the number of deaths from drug overdoses as well as a decline in new HIV infections. On 31 May 2010, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe and the eighth country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage on the national level. The law came into force on 5 June 2010. Lagoa das Sete Cidades, located in São Miguel Island, is the largest freshwater lake in the Azores. Cork oak on wheat field, a typical image of the Alentejo region. Praia da Marinha, a typical image of the Algarve coast. The highest point in mainland Portugal is in the Serra da Estrela mountain range. Mount Pico, in the island of Pico, Azores, is Portugal’s highest point The typical landscape of the Douro Valley. Cape Roca, Europe’s most western continental point. Mainland Portugal is split by its main river, the Tagus. The northern landscape is mountainous in the interior with plateaus indented by river valleys, whereas the south, that includes the Algarve and the Alentejo, features mostly rolling plains and a climate somewhat warmer and drier than in the north. The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo by mountains, has a climate much like the southern coastal areas of Spain. Portugal’s highest point is Mount Pico on Pico Island in the Azores. This is an ancient volcano measuring 2,350 m (7,710 ft). Mainland Portugal’s highest point is Serra da Estrela, with the summit being 1,993 m (6,539 ft) above sea level. Portugal has a Mediterranean climate, Csa in the south and Csb in the north, according to the Köppen climate classification. Portugal is one of the warmest European countries: the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from 13 °C (55.4 °F) in the mountainous interior north to over 18 °C (64.4 °F) in the south and on the Guadiana basin. In some areas, as in the Tejo and Douro basins, annual average temperatures can be as high as 20 °C (68 °F). Here in the summer temperatures may be over 50 °C (122 °F) as it is documented in a climatology study done recently, for example in the Arqueology Park in Côa, Douro valley.[17] In high mountains, such as Gerês, a maritime temperate climate predominates (Cfb, according to Koppen-Geiger). The record high of 47.4 °C (117.3 °F) was recorded in Amareleja.[18] The country has around 2500 to 3200 hours of sunshine a year, an average of 4–6 h in winter and 10–12 h in the summer, with higher values in the southeast and lower in the northwest. The Madeira and Azores archipelagos have a narrower temperature range with annual average temperatures exceeding 20 °C (68 °F), according to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute, in the south coast of Madeira Island. The annual average rainfall in the mainland varies from a bit more than 3,000 mm (118.1 in) in the mountains in the north to less than 300 mm (11.8 in) in Massueime region, near Côa on the Douro river. In the Pico mountain, in Azores, is the rainiest spot of Portugal, reaching over 6,250 mm (246.1 in) per year, according to IM (Portuguese Meteorological Institute).[19] The islands of the Azores are located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge whilst the Madeira islands were formed by the activity of an in-plate hotspot, much like the Hawaiian Islands. Some islands have had volcanic activity as recently as 1957. Both the Azores and the Madeira Islands have a subtropical climate, but there are differences between the islands, mainly because of differences in temperature and rainfall. Some islands in Azores do have dry months in the summer therefore a Mediterranean climate according to Koppen-Geiger (both Csa and Csb types) Maritime Temperate (Cfb) in some islands (Flores) and Humid subtropical (Cfa) in the others (Corvo), according to Koppen-Geiger where are no dry months in the summer. The Savage Islands, that belong to the Madeira archipelago, have a Desertic climate (BWh) with an annual average rainfall of just around 150 mm (5.9 in). The sea surface mean temperatures in these archipelagos vary from 16 °C (60.8 °F)-18 °C (64.4 °F) in winter to 23 °C (73.4 °F)-24 °C (75.2 °F) in the summer, occasionally reaching 26 °C (78.8 °F). In South Azores, there´s an oceanic area, inside Portuguese maritime territory which has the unique tropical climate (As type according to Koppen-Geiger)known in Europe, because of Gulf Stream influence on this area. Sea temperatures here are over 20 °C (68 °F) even on the peak of the winter (Source AEMET). Portugal’s Exclusive Economic Zone, a seazone over which the Portuguese have special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has 1,727,408 km². This is the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the European Union and the 11th largest in the world. This article needs additional citations for verification Montesinho Natural Park, in northeastern Portugal. Conservation areas of Portugal include one national park (Parque Nacional), 12 natural parks (Parque Natural), 9 natural reserves (Reserva Natural), 5 natural monuments (Monumento Natural), and 7 protected landscapes (Paisagem Protegida), ranging from the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês to the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela to the Paul de Arzila. Climate and geographical diversity shaped the Portuguese Flora. As far as Portuguese forests are concerned, because of economic reasons the pine tree (especially the Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea species), the chestnut tree (Castanea sativa), the cork oak (Quercus suber), the holm oak (Quercus ilex), the Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea), and the eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) are very widespread (PT).