Portugal

Lore & Background

The western Iberian Peninsula has been inhabited since prehistory, with the earliest signs of settlement dating to between 5500 BC and 5300 BC. Muslims had occupied the Iberian Peninsula since 711. As a result of the Reconquista against them, Portugal was established as a county of the Kingdom of León in 868 and formally as a kingdom in 1179. During the Age of Discovery, the kingdom made several advancements in nautical science and maritime exploration to discover new territories and sea routes, which led to the establishment of the Portuguese Empire. The kingdom became a republic in 1910, before becoming a dictatorship in 1926, whose 1974 overthrow enabled democracy to be established in 1976.

In Their Own Story

The salt air clung to the cobblestones of Belém as the morning fog lifted off the Tagus River. An old fisherman mended his nets near the Torre de Belém, humming a fado melody that seemed to echo the whispers of caravels long departed. He looked out toward the horizon where the sun broke over the endless blue, remembering how his grandfather spoke of the days when this quiet shore was the center of the world, a place where maps were drawn and destinies were set sail into the unknown.

Reader's Guide

Portugal is a unitary republic and multi-party representative democracy with four separate sovereignty organs: president, government, parliament, and judiciary. It has a unicameral national legislature known as the Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República). Portugal is divided into seven mainland regions and two autonomous overseas regions, though it remains a highly centralised country. A developed country, Portugal has an advanced economy that chiefly relies upon services, industry, and tourism. Shaped by the various civilisations that have inhabited its territory, such as the Carthaginians and the Romans, Portugal developed a culture with a worldwide influence that allowed Portuguese to become the world's fifth-most spoken native language with more than 250 million native speakers. With a stable foreign policy shaped by its colonial and diplomatic history and location, Portugal is a member of multiple international organisations and forums.

Did You Know?

• The word Portugal derives from Latin Portus Cale, meaning 'port of Cale'.
• Portugal's exclusive economic zone is one of Europe's largest.
• Portuguese is the world's fifth-most spoken native language with more than 250 million native speakers.
• The Treaty of Windsor, signed in 1386, is the oldest standing alliance in the world.