I | INTRODUCTION |
Portugal, nation in southwestern Europe, occupying the
western portion of the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal lies south and west of Spain,
with which it shares the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal’s long coastline faces the
Atlantic Ocean. Portuguese territory also includes two autonomous archipelagos,
the Azores (Açores) and the Madeira Islands, both located in the
Atlantic. Lisbon (Portuguese Lisboa) is Portugal’s capital and largest
city.
Roughly rectangular in shape, Portugal covers
an area approximately as large as the state of Maine. To the north, the mainland
is mountainous and lush, with plenty of rain and cool weather. The area is noted
for its vineyards, especially the valley of the Douro River, which produces
grapes for port, Portugal’s most famous wine. The central and southern parts of
Portugal are warmer and drier, but they support many forms of agriculture,
including vineyards, wheat fields, and groves of cork oaks and olives. To the
far south is the Algarve, a region famous for its hot summers and miles of sunny
beaches.
Portugal became part of the Roman Empire in
the 2nd century bc. The name
Portugal is derived from Portus Cale, a former Roman settlement at the
mouth of the Douro River. After the collapse of Roman rule in the 5th century
ad, Portugal was colonized by
Germanic peoples, who came overland from Europe. Portugal was then conquered by
Muslims from North Africa, before coming under the control of Spanish kings.
Portugal became an independent kingdom in the 12th century.
In the 15th century Portugal emerged as the
foremost center of maritime exploration in Europe. Over the next century,
Portuguese sailors explored the world and dominated the sea trade. These sailors
helped Portugal build the first great European overseas empire, with colonies in
Africa, Asia, and South America. Today, Portuguese is one of the world’s most
widely spoken languages, a legacy of Portugal’s once-vast empire. By the late
16th century, however, Portugal’s power and resources were exhausted, and most
of the country’s Asian colonies were lost. Portugal kept its largest colony,
Brazil, until the 19th century and its huge African empire until the late 20th
century. Despite its extensive possessions, Portugal remained one of Europe’s
least developed nations.
Monarchs governed Portugal until 1910, when
the first Portuguese republic was proclaimed. A period of great instability
followed. In 1926 a coup d’état installed a dictatorship that ruled Portugal for
nearly five decades. A series of costly colonial wars in Africa beginning in the
1960s drained Portuguese resources and weakened the national economy. Partly as
a result of the dictatorship’s stubborn prosecution of the wars, a revolution
occurred in Portugal in 1974, and a military junta came to power. The following
year Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. A new
constitution in 1976 established a democratic system of government. Since that
time, Portugal has forged new ties to Europe and worked to modernize its
economy. Portugal joined the European Community (EC, a forerunner of the
European Union) in 1986, and in 1999 adopted the euro, the EU’s common
currency. Macao, the last remnant of Portugal’s colonial empire in Asia, was
returned to China in 1999.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
The total area of Portugal, including the
Azores (2,247 sq km/868 sq mi) and the Madeira Islands (794 sq km/307 sq mi), is
92,345 sq km (35,655 sq mi).
Portugal covers about one-sixth of the
Iberian Peninsula. Although small in size, Portugal is geographically diverse.
Portugal’s eastern interior encompasses the westernmost slope of the Meseta
Central, a high, mountainous plateau that covers most of Spain. To the north the
land is rugged and hilly. Peaks rising to more than 1,200 m (4,000 ft) above sea
level extend from the edge of the Meseta Central across the northern interior.
To the west and south the mountains descend to a large coastal plain. This plain
is intensively cultivated and increasingly urbanized. Portugal’s two largest
cities, Lisbon and Porto (Oporto), are located here.
In the central interior region are the lofty
ridges that form the country’s backbone. Portugal’s highest mountain, Malhão de
Estrela, is found here. The peak, a part of Portugal’s highest mountain range,
the Serra da Estrela, has an elevation of 1,991 m (6,532 ft) above sea level.
The ridges of central Portugal descend in a southwesterly direction to the hills
near Sintra, which drop to the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Roca, near Lisbon. South
of the Tajo (Tejo) are gently rolling lowlands that extend to the plains of
Portugal’s Baixo Alentejo region. The Serra de Monchique, a range of hills
stretching to the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Saint Vincent, separate these plains
from the southernmost region of Algarve.
Many of Portugal’s major rivers originate in
the highlands of the Meseta Central. The Tajo, with Lisbon at its mouth, is the
longest river, followed by the Douro (Duero), with Porto at its mouth. The Miño
(Minho) flows south from the mountains of Spain’s Galicia region and forms part
of Portugal’s northern border. These rivers all cut narrow gorges through the
mountains and widen as they empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The Guadiana, which
originates in central Spain, flows south and forms part of Portugal’s
southeastern frontier with Spain. In 2002 Portugal closed the gates of the newly
completed Alqueva dam on the Guadiana in the southern region of Alentejo; once
filled, the reservoir behind the dam will create the largest artificial lake in
western Europe. The Mondego, which flows through the west central city of
Coimbra, is the longest river whose source is in Portugal.
The broad estuaries formed by rivers flowing
to the west indent the coastline of Portugal, as do a series of saltwater
lagoons. However, much of Portugal’s coastline, which extends about 800 km
(about 500 mi), is straight and sandy. Good natural harbors are found at Aveiro,
Porto de Leixões, Lisbon, Porto, and Setúbal. Sines is an important deep-water
port used for petroleum and natural gas imports.
A | Climate |
Portugal has a maritime temperate climate
that varies according to elevation and proximity to the ocean. The heaviest
precipitation occurs in northern Portugal. The northern coast receives about 152
cm (about 60 in) of rain annually. Rainfall increases with altitude, and the
western slopes of the northern mountains receive about 2,300 mm (about 90 in)
annually—the heaviest rainfall in western Europe. Precipitation decreases toward
the south, and in the extreme south, in Algarve, rainfall averages only about 38
cm (about 15 in) a year.
In southern Portugal summers are long and
hot and winters are moderate. In the northwest summers are shorter and wetter,
while winter temperatures are generally mild and moderated by maritime
influences. In the northeast summers can be scorching and winters are typically
long, cold, and snowy. The mean annual temperature north of the Douro River is
about 10°C (about 50°F); between the Tajo and Douro, about 16°C (about 60°F);
and in the valley of the Guadiana, about 18°C (about 65°F).
B | Natural Resources |
Portugal is rich in mineral resources, a
variety of which are extracted, processed, and exported. Much of this mineral
wealth was not commercially exploited until after World War II (1939-1945).
Among the most important mineral resources are copper, gold, iron ore, kaolin,
marble, halite (rock salt), tin, uranium, and wolframite, which is a source of
tungsten. Portugal also has abundant waterpower in its rivers and dammed lakes
(called barragems), which the nation is continuing to develop. However,
Portugal lacks significant fossil fuel resources and is heavily dependent on
imports to meet its energy needs.
Forests cover 41 percent of Portugal’s land
area, and many areas, especially in the mountains, are well suited to forestry.
However, Portugal is not well endowed with agricultural resources. Portuguese
soils tend to be sandy and acidic and are generally volcanic in origin. An
exception is the loamy and fertile alluvial soil of the lower Tajo valley.
C | Plants and Animals |
The plants and animals of Portugal are
virtually identical to those of Spain. The most abundant trees are the pine,
beech, cork oak, evergreen oak, eucalyptus, and olive. The vegetation patterns
in Portugal reflect the climate. In northern Portugal are forests of beech and
pine. In the vast undulating lowlands of south central Portugal, large tracts of
cork oak and olive can be found. Farther south, especially toward the coastline,
vegetation becomes sparser, and there are wide expanses of grassland. The trees
give way to a Mediterranean-type shrub land called maquis, composed largely of
scattered shrubs and evergreen brush.
Wild animals include the wolf, lynx,
wildcat, fox, wild boar, wild goat, deer, and hare. In the south the genet and
the European chameleon, typical of northern Africa, are also present. Portugal
occupies an important bird migration route, and many species of birds can be
found at various times of the year, including the cormorant, egret, black-winged
stilt, greater flamingo, stork, European bee-eater, and griffon vulture. More
than 200 kinds of fish, notably small fish such as pilchards (sardines) and
anchovies, and tuna, abound off Portugal’s coasts.
III | PEOPLE AND SOCIETY |
The Portuguese people reflect the influence
of diverse ethnic groups. Since prehistoric times the Iberian Peninsula has been
settled by many peoples, including Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Carthaginians,
Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, and later, Muslim Arabs and Berbers. Centuries of
assimilation, however, have imbued the Portuguese people with a remarkable
degree of homogeneity. In recent decades, immigrants from Africa, Brazil, and
Asia have given Portugal a more multicultural character.
A | Population |
The population of Portugal, including the
Azores and Madeira Islands, is 10,676,910 (2008 estimate). The overall
population density is 116 persons per sq km (301 per sq mi).
Portugal is a rapidly urbanizing country,
although more than one-third of the population is still rural—a large percentage
compared to other countries in western Europe. In 2005 some 56 percent of
Portugal’s population lived in urban areas. The population is densest along the
northern and central coastal areas and in the far south.
Portugal has a long history of emigration.
By the early 20th century, Portuguese emigrants went mainly to the Americas,
especially to Brazil, in search of better lives. During the 1960s, many
Portuguese migrated to nearby industrialized European countries in search of
work. Others emigrated to avoid conscription by the Portuguese military to fight
against independence movements in Portugal’s African colonies. From 1960 to 1972
Portugal’s population fell by 3 percent. Later in the 1970s emigration declined
sharply after the African colonies won their independence. Hundreds of thousands
of emigrants returned to the Portuguese mainland, along with many thousands of
African and mixed-race immigrants. Today, for the first time in decades,
Portugal has more immigrants than emigrants. Most immigrants are from Portugal’s
former colonies, including Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau, in
addition to a growing population of retirees from the United Kingdom.
B | Principal Cities |
Lisbon (population, 2003 estimate,
1,962,000), the capital and largest city, is the leading administrative and
services center of Portugal. It is also the nation’s principal port, a
crossroads of road and rail routes, an international air hub, and home to many
industries. The city’s rich architecture, numerous museums, and famously
pleasant weather attract visitors from around the world.
Other important cities include Porto
(263,131), the second largest city, a seaport and industrial center; Coimbra
(148,474), an educational and administrative center; Setúbal (113,937), a
seaport and industrial center; Funchal (103,962), the capital of the Madeira
Islands; and Faro (58,051), in the Algarve resort area.
C | Religion |
Portugal is a Roman Catholic country by
history and tradition. Today, about 91 percent of the population is Catholic.
The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, however, and the Catholic
Church receives no direct financial support from the state. Church attendance
has declined in recent decades, especially in urban areas and in the south, but
Catholicism remains central to Portuguese life, especially in rural interior
areas. Portugal has many local saints who are celebrated in popular festivals,
and annual pilgrimages are well attended. The village of Fátima, where the
Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared to three children in 1917, remains a
popular pilgrimage site, attracting both Portuguese and large numbers of
Spaniards.
About 1 percent of the Portuguese
population is Protestant. There are also small numbers of Jews (see
Judaism) and Muslims (see Islam) in Portugal. Jewish and Muslim
populations have remained small since the late 15th century, when the
Inquisition in Portugal forced them to convert or leave the country.
D | Language |
The official language of the country is
Portuguese. In recent years English has replaced French as the most common
second language taught in Portuguese schools.
A Romance language, Portuguese is derived
from Latin, as is Spanish, which it resembles in the written form. Portuguese
contains Arabic and Germanic words as well as some words from the languages of
Asian groups with whom Portuguese explorers and traders came into contact.
Today, Portuguese is spoken by about 200 million people worldwide, making it one
of the world’s most widely spoken languages.
E | Education |
Elementary education is free and
compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. Secondary education is voluntary for
students who have reached the age of 15, and it lasts for three years. Students
may pursue two types of secondary education: general or vocational. Courses of
study are developed by the ministry of education.
Portugal’s system of higher education
includes universities, which offer undergraduate and graduate degrees, and
regional polytechnic schools, which offer degrees in technical subjects,
management, education, and fine arts. The oldest universities in Portugal are
the University of Coimbra, now in Coimbra, and the University of Lisbon, in
Lisbon; both were founded in the 13th century in Lisbon. Other large
universities include the University of Porto and the Technical University of
Lisbon.
Since the mid-1980s Portugal has made
significant strides in reducing adult illiteracy, which remains high compared to
most European countries. This has been accomplished mainly through government
programs for adult education and through the expansion of school facilities.
Today, 94.1 percent of the Portuguese population aged 15 or older is defined as
literate.
F | Social Structure |
Portugal retained a traditional
hierarchical social structure well into modern times. For much of the 20th
century, Portuguese society was dominated by a small, wealthy upper class.
Wealth and power, based mainly on land ownership, was largely inherited; social
mobility was limited. A large lower class was composed mainly of peasants and
manual laborers. For the lower class, work began at an early age, and little
time was given to education. Portugal’s middle class, made up of merchants,
bureaucrats, and artisans, remained small and politically weak. The Roman
Catholic Church retained its influential status, especially in rural areas,
where priests held important roles in education, government administration, and
social life.
During Portugal’s 1974 revolution, the
old social order was overthrown, and many of the social elite fled the country.
Political parties emerged that promised reforms, and by the late 1970s a number
of important changes had occurred. Many workers joined labor unions, land
reforms divided extensive holdings in the countryside, and a variety of
industries were nationalized. At the same time, thousands of immigrants from
Portugal’s former colonies increased the country’s cultural and ethnic
diversity.
Changes in Portugal’s social structure in
the 1980s were driven by continued economic growth and by Portugal’s acceptance
into the European Community (EC), a forerunner of the European Union (EU).
Portugal’s growing economic and cultural links with Europe and the world
encouraged greater social mobility and rising expectations among the lower
classes. By the mid-1990s, a significantly larger, more prosperous middle class
had emerged. Accompanying this growth were improvements in health, education,
and welfare, and an expansion in civil liberties. Together, these factors have
increased opportunities for many Portuguese.
G | Way of Life |
Portugal’s way of life is rapidly
changing. The growth of industry and the expansion of the service sector have
led many Portuguese to move from rural areas to cities in search of employment,
especially in Lisbon and Porto. However, many Portuguese continue to live in
small towns and villages where traditional fishing and farming methods are still
practiced. In rural areas daily life centers on the home and family, and
multiple generations of a family often share the same dwelling.
The influence of Roman Catholicism
remains strong in Portugal. Religious festivals and processions are among the
main diversions for rural communities, along with regional fairs and local
feasts. Romarias (pilgrimages to local shrines) are a regular feature of
weekend recreation, and they often include an atmosphere of celebration.
The most important meals in Portugal are
lunch and dinner, which traditionally feature a variety of dishes consumed in a
leisurely manner. Meals frequently include fish, poultry, pork, or beef, in
addition to hearty portions of rice and potatoes. Meat is often served with
piri-piri, a hot chili sauce. An especially popular dish is
bacalhau, a form of dried, salted codfish. Charcoal-grilled sardines
(sardinhas assados) and chicken (frango assado) are also popular,
as are many kinds of sausage. Olive oil and vinegar are used in many dishes, and
wine commonly accompanies meals.
The most popular spectator sport in
Portugal is soccer (futebol). Portugal shares with Spain a fondness for
bullfighting, a sport that is especially popular in the Ribatejo region, where
bulls are raised. In Portugal, the bull is not killed in front of spectators, as
it is in Spain, but subdued by a group of men on foot and led from the ring.
Other popular sports include basketball, handball, and roller hockey. Portugal’s
long coastline and sandy beaches attract many beachgoers.
IV | CULTURE |
Portuguese culture is closely related to
Spanish culture, with which it shares many historical influences. These include
the eras of Roman, Visigoth, and Islamic rule, evident in Portugal’s distinctive
architectural and archaeological legacy. A golden age of literary and artistic
expression occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries, inspired by the maritime
exploits of Portuguese explorers.
A | Literature |
Portugal has a long literary tradition,
especially in lyrical poetry, which dates from the 12th century. Perhaps
Portugal’s greatest poet was the adventurer Luís de Camões, best known for his
epic The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas, 1572), a poem written in
celebration of the Portuguese spirit. An important poet of the early 20th
century was Fernando Pessoa, who created three distinct poetic voices, each
different from his own. Lyrical poetry remains an important literary style in
Portugal.
In the 20th century, the long dictatorship
of António de Oliveira Salazar suppressed creativity and freedom of expression.
The revolution in 1974 ended censorship, leading to a new outpouring of literary
expression, much of it containing political themes. Two Portuguese novelists who
received widespread literary acclaim in the post-Salazar period were José
Saramago and António Lobo Antunes. In 1998 Saramago received the Nobel Prize in
literature, becoming the first Portuguese writer to win the honor.
For a more detailed discussion of the
literature of Portugal, see Portuguese Literature.
B | Architecture |
Architectural ruins in Portugal, among
other relics, date from prehistoric times. Stone megaliths and burial chambers
called dolmens, built during the Stone Age between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago,
have been found across Portugal. The most impressive is the Anta Grande do
Zambujeiro (Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro), near the southern city of Évora, the
largest dolmen in Europe.
Many of Portugal’s most important
architectural monuments—including roads and bridges, and towns with aqueducts,
villas, and temples—were constructed during the period of Roman rule (2nd
century bc to 5th century ad) (see Roman Empire). The
Temple of Diana in Évora, with its elaborately carved Corinthian columns, is one
of the best-preserved Roman temples in the Iberian Peninsula. Other well-known
Roman ruins include the town of Conimbriga, near Coimbra, and the bridge of
Chaves in Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in the northeast. Subsequent occupation by
the Visigoths in the 5th century and by the Muslims in the 8th century can be
seen in the styles of many of Portugal’s buildings and churches, especially in
the Algarve region.
A distinctively Portuguese style of
architecture evolved in the late 15th century, during the reign of King Manuel,
who sponsored many artists. The highly decorative Manueline style emerged during
Portugal’s age of maritime greatness and discovery. Cathedrals and churches were
decorated with towering spires, columns resembling twisted ropes, and flamboyant
carvings of anchors, coral, waves, and other seafaring themes. This style is
exemplified by the ornate Monastery of Jeronimos in Lisbon and by the Monastery
of Santa Maria da Vitória in Batalha.
C | Visual Arts |
Sculpture has found rich expression in
Portugal over the centuries. From the 12th to the 14th century, sculptors carved
ornate limestone tombs, including notable monuments such as the tombs of the
kings at Alcobaça. Following the extraordinarily inventive Manueline period,
during the Renaissance and baroque periods, sculptors in Portugal did their
finest work for the church, producing finely carved reliefs, altarpieces, and
pulpits.
Painting in Portugal dates from
prehistoric times. Some of southwestern Europe’s finest Paleolithic cave
paintings can be seen at Escoural. The foremost painter of Portugal’s golden age
was Nuño Gonçalves, whose powerful realism was widely influential. In the 20th
century Portuguese-born abstract painter Maria Elena Vieira da Silva achieved
international renown.
D | Music |
Musical expression is an important part
of Portuguese culture. Especially influential is the country’s rich heritage of
folk music, the origins of which can be traced to medieval troubadours.
Portuguese folk music ranges from lively songs and dances to sad laments. Today,
the distinctive musical art form of fado remains popular, especially in
urban areas. Fado, a Portuguese word that means “fate,” embodies the
quintessential expression of saudade, a melancholy mood of longing or
loss. Fado is typically sung by a performer called a fadista who is
accompanied by two guitars. There are two main styles of fado, one associated
with Lisbon and the other with Coimbra. Fado, especially as it is performed in
Lisbon, has been compared to the blues in North America, with its traditional
emphasis on life’s daily struggles.
E | Libraries and Museums |
Lisbon has a number of important
libraries, including the Library of the Academy of Sciences, the Ajuda Library,
the National Library, and the Military Historical Archives. The National
Archives of Torre do Tombo, also in Lisbon, is noteworthy for its collection of
historical documents dating from the 9th century. The provincial libraries in
Porto, Évora, Braga, and Mafra contain many rare old books and large manuscript
collections. Various specialized libraries are attached to the
universities.
Museums of archaeology, art, and
ethnography are found in the principal cities and towns of each district. The
art museum in Coimbra is famous for its collection of 16th-century sculpture;
the museum in Évora is known for Roman sculpture and 16th-century paintings. The
National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon, houses decorative art and paintings
from the 12th to the 19th century. Also in Lisbon are the Chiado Museum
(formerly the National Museum of Contemporary Art); the National Museum of
Natural History; the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, with a collection of fine art
dating from 2800 bc to the 20th
century; the Ethnographical Museum; and the Archaeological Museum. Other
cultural sites in the capital include the Belém Cultural Center, which houses
the Design Museum, and the Lisbon Oceanarium, Europe’s largest aquarium.
V | ECONOMY |
A | Overview |
While the Portuguese economy has undergone
remarkable changes since the 1970s, Portugal remains among the least developed
nations in western Europe. Two events in the late 20th century profoundly
affected Portugal’s economic development—the 1974 revolution and Portugal’s
entry into the European Community (EC), a predecessor of the European Union
(EU), in 1986.
Prior to the revolution, industrial,
agricultural, and financial resources remained concentrated among a few wealthy
families. Portuguese industry and agriculture were inefficient and
labor-intensive, and the nation’s financial investments were directed mainly
toward the profitable African colonies. The revolutionary government first
undercut the old elite’s economic power by granting independence to the African
colonies. It also expropriated landed estates in central and southern Portugal
and established communal farms. Banks and insurance companies, followed by most
of the country’s heavy and medium-sized industries were nationalized, with the
exception of foreign-owned enterprises. Most of the new state-owned firms,
however, proved highly inefficient and contributed to large deficits and growing
public debt. By the early 1980s many Portuguese favored the privatization of
state-owned enterprises, a reduction in communal agriculture, and Portugal’s
rapid entry into the EC.
Portugal joined the EC in 1986 and,
following a transition period lasting until 1992, adopted the organization’s key
policies. These included dropping protectionist tariffs and eliminating all
barriers to the movement of goods and capital between Portugal and other member
states. The EC also required Portugal to phase out subsidies to public
enterprises and to adopt agricultural reforms. Membership in the EC, which
formally became the EU in 1993, reshaped Portugal’s economy. Portugal revised
its tax structure, expanded its social welfare system, and privatized many
nationalized industries. In addition, as a prerequisite to adopting the EU’s
single currency, the euro, Portugal was required to reduce its annual
budget deficits and to adopt other economic reforms. Portugal’s economy
benefited from increased trade ties to Europe and from EU financial aid aimed at
improving the country’s infrastructure, including recent EU grants funding a
significant portion of the costs of the massive Alqueva dam project on the
Guadiana River.
Portugal has made great strides in raising
its living standards since the mid-1980s, and the country’s per capita income is
gradually approaching that of its EU partners. However, Portugal still faces
many challenges. A sustained period of economic expansion in the late 1990s
slowed toward the end of the decade. By 2004, following a period of recession
and rising unemployment, Portugal’s economic growth fell well below the European
average. Portugal’s economic development has also been highly uneven.
Manufacturing and services, along with much of the country’s population, are
concentrated in coastal areas in the west and south. The northern and eastern
interior regions continue to experience economic stagnation and decline, as well
as population losses due to steady out-migration. Portugal’s gross domestic
product (GDP) in 2006 was $195 billion.
B | Economic Sectors |
B1 | Agriculture |
Agriculture, including forestry and
fishing, engages 13 percent of the working population and accounts for 3 percent
of GDP. Farms range in size from tiny holdings in northern Portugal to huge
estates in the south, where wheat is the main crop. Tomatoes, corn, sugar beets,
oats, barley, rice, and potatoes are grown in irrigated areas. Groves of olive,
orange, apple, and pear trees are widely cultivated. Many varieties of grapes,
used mainly for wine, thrive in Portugal’s soils. The most important exported
wines are port, produced in the region around Porto, from which the wine got its
name, and Madeira, from the Madeira Islands. Sheep, goats, hogs, fowl, and
cattle, including a special breed of black bulls for bullfighting, are
raised.
B2 | Forestry and Fishing |
About 40 percent of Portugal is wooded,
and the country’s forests provide timber (see Forestry), chestnuts, and
more than half the world’s raw cork (made from the bark of the cork oak). Pine
forests yield resin and turpentine. The timber harvest in 2006 amounted to 10.8
million cu m (382 million cu ft), making Portugal one of western Europe’s
leading producers of pulp and paper products.
Commercial fishing is in decline but
remains important to the Portuguese economy. Pilchards (sardines), caught along
the coast, are the leading catch, followed by mackerel, Atlantic redfish,
octopus, cod, and halibut. Aquaculture is of growing importance in Portugal.
Lisbon, Setúbal, Matosinhos, and Portimao are the main fishing ports and
fish-processing centers.
B3 | Mining |
Portugal has commercially important
deposits of tin and copper and one of the world’s major reserves of wolframite,
from which tungsten is derived. Mineral production in Portugal in 2004 included
96,000 metric tons of copper and 500 metric tons of tin. Also extracted were
smaller quantities of kaolin, silver, uranium, and zinc.
B4 | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing is of major importance to
the economy of Portugal, employing (with construction and mining) 32 percent of
the labor force and contributing 25 percent to GDP. Manufactures include
processed food and beverages; textiles, clothing, and footwear; machinery and
automobiles; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; lumber, cork, and glass; refined
petroleum; building materials; and electronic goods. Shipbuilding, once a major
economic activity in Portugal, is in decline, but ship repair remains an
important source of employment in some coastal areas. Products of cottage
industries, such as linen and lace, pottery, and colorful ceramic tiles, called
azulejos, are world famous.
B5 | Construction |
Much of Portugal’s recent economic
growth has centered on the construction industry. Especially noteworthy are
major public works projects, including the 1998 World’s Fair site in Lisbon; the
Vasco da Gama Bridge over the Tajo; the Alqueva Dam on the Guadiana, one of the
biggest dams in the Iberian Peninsula; and the construction of new housing
complexes and transportation infrastructure.
B6 | Currency and Foreign Trade |
The monetary unit of Portugal is the
single currency of the European Union (EU), the euro. Portugal’s former national
currency, the escudo, ceased to be legal tender in 2002.
In 2003 Portuguese imports totaled $47.1
billion and exports $31.8 billion. Principal imports include fossil fuels,
machinery and transportation equipment, chemicals, and food and livestock.
Principal exports include machinery, automobiles, clothing and footwear, textile
yarns and fabrics, and wood, cork, and paper products. Leading purchasers of
exports are Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, and the
Netherlands. Chief sources for imports are Spain, Germany, France, Italy, the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Foreign exchange receipts from
tourism, amounting to $8.3 billion in 2006, help compensate for the generally
large trade deficit.
B7 | Services and Tourism |
Services employed 55 percent of the
Portuguese labor force and produced 72 percent of Portugal’s GDP. The most
important services include retailing, telecommunications, financial services,
and tourism. Portugal’s rich cultural heritage and hospitable climate draw
millions of visitors annually. The majority of Portugal’s tourists come from
Spain, with most of the remaining visitors arriving from the United Kingdom,
Germany, and France. The main tourist destinations include the southern region
of Algarve, Lisbon, and the Madeira Islands.
C | Infrastructure |
C1 | Energy |
Portugal is heavily dependent on
external energy resources, particularly petroleum and natural gas imports.
Portugal imports most of its fossil fuels from Spain and northern Africa.
Portugal produced 44.3 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003. Some 35 percent of Portugal’s electricity
was generated by hydroelectric facilities (see Waterpower); most of the
rest came from thermal plants fueled by imported fossil fuels. In 2004 Portugal
opened a hydroelectric plant at the giant Alqueva dam project on the powerful
Guadiana River in southern Portugal, the first project of its kind in the
underdeveloped Alentejo region.
C2 | Transportation |
An inadequate transportation network long
hindered Portugal’s internal economic development. In recent years, aided by EU
development funds, Portugal has invested heavily in its rail and road networks.
Today, Portugal has 78,470 km (48,759 mi) of roads as well as 429 passenger cars
for every 1,000 inhabitants. The railroad system, which is partly electrified,
has a total length of 2,839 km (1,764 mi). Most of the tracks are wide gauge to
accommodate shipments from Spain.
The merchant marine comprises 347
vessels. Major seaports include Lisbon, Porto de Leixões, Setúbal, and Sines on
the mainland; Horta on the Azores; and Funchal in the Madeira Islands.
Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP, or Air Portugal), the national airline,
provides domestic and international service. A number of foreign airlines also
have scheduled stops at international airports in Lisbon and Porto. Faro
international airport accommodates scheduled and chartered flights.
C3 | Communications |
The public television broadcaster RDP,
which held a monopoly over the television airwaves until 1992, operates two
public television channels. The state-owned RDP operates three national public
radio channels. Today, however, commercial television and radio broadcasters
attract far larger audiences than their public counterparts. Radio Ranascenca is
a popular radio network operated by the Roman Catholic Church. Important daily
newspapers include Diario de Noticias, Correio da Manha,
Publico, and Jornal de Noticias.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
A | Overview |
The military coup d’état of April 1974
ended a long era of dictatorship in Portugal. After the coup, a series of
interim military governments controlled Portugal, and much of the economy was
nationalized. A new political era dawned with the drafting of Portugal’s current
constitution, issued in 1976 and amended in 1982 to complete the transition to a
full civilian government. The preamble of the constitution initially called for
the creation of a “classless society” based on public ownership of land, natural
resources, and the principal means of production; this socialist language was
struck in 1989. The constitution was revised in 1992 to accommodate the Treaty
on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), and again in 1997 to permit national
referenda to be held.
Portugal is a republic with a president
and a unicameral (single-chamber) legislature. The constitution
guarantees all citizens a variety of basic rights, including freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and the right to strike. Censorship
and capital punishment are prohibited. Portuguese citizens aged 18 or older have
the right to vote.
B | Executive |
Executive power in Portugal is shared by a
president and prime minister. The president of Portugal is popularly elected to
a five-year term as head of state. A president may serve a maximum of two
consecutive terms in office. The president appoints and dismisses the prime
minister and can veto legislation passed by the legislature. The president sets
election dates, directs foreign policy, and serves as commander in chief of the
armed forces.
The person who is appointed prime
minister is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the
parliament. The prime minister leads the government, which is composed of a
cabinet of about 15 ministers. The prime minister and cabinet formulate
government policy, draw up the budget, and supervise public administration. The
prime minister and cabinet are responsible to the parliament for the content of
public policy.
C | Legislature |
Legislative power is vested in a
unicameral (single-chamber) parliament, the 230-member Assembly of the Republic.
Members of the assembly, called deputies, are directly elected under a system of
proportional representation and serve four-year terms. The assembly makes the
laws and approves the budget. The assembly can override a presidential veto by a
two-thirds vote.
D | Judiciary |
The judicial system in Portugal is headed
by the Supreme Court, the highest court of appeals in the land. The Supreme
Court is composed of a president and 29 judges who are appointed for life. Below
the Supreme Court are four regional courts of appeal, as well as many local and
district courts.
E | Local Government |
For administrative purposes Portugal is
divided into 18 districts (distritos) and two autonomous regions—the
Azores and the Madeira Islands. The 18 districts are Aveiro, Beja, Braga,
Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto,
Portalegre, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Viseu. Each
district is administered by a centrally appointed governor. The districts are
divided into 305 municipal councils (concelhos), each with a popularly
elected assembly. The municipal councils are subdivided into more than 4,000
parishes (freguesias).
Under the constitution, the Azores and
the Madeira Islands are autonomous regions of Portugal. Each region has its own
government with an elected legislative assembly. The assemblies have the right
to regulate a wide range of local affairs, levy taxes, and administer local
institutions.
F | Political Parties |
The leading political parties in Portugal
are the centrist Social Democratic Party (PSD, or Partido Social
Democrata); the center-left Socialist Party (PS, or Partido
Socialista); the center-right Popular Party (PP, or Partido Popular),
formerly the Social Democratic Center Party; and the leftist Unitary Democratic
Coalition (CDU, or Coligação Democrática Unitária). The CDU coalition
includes the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP, or Partido Comunista
Português) and the Green Party (PEV, or Partido Ecologista Os
Verdes), an environmentalist group.
G | Defense |
Portugal, a member of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), has well-equipped and well-trained armed forces.
Military service is compulsory for male citizens for a period of 4 to 18 months.
In 2004 the armed forces numbered 44,900 people; in addition to people serving
in central staff posts there were 26,700 in the army, 10,950 in the navy, and
7,250 in the air force. Portugal spends approximately 2.1 percent of its GDP on
military expenditures.
H | International Organizations |
In addition to NATO, Portugal is a member
of the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the Western European Union
(WEU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Council of Europe.
In 1996 Portugal and six of its former
colonies—Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and
Príncipe—formed the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (known by its
Portuguese acronym, CPLP) in Lisbon. The CPLP seeks to preserve the Portuguese
language and culture, coordinate diplomatic efforts, and improve cooperation
among its members.
VII | HISTORY |
Portugal developed as a separate state in
the 12th century. Until that time, the history of Portugal is inseparable from
that of the Iberian Peninsula. Present-day Portugal became a part of the Roman
province of Lusitania in the 2nd century bc. The prefix Luso is still used
to mean Portuguese and derives its name from the Lusitani, a fierce tribe of the
western Iberian Peninsula that resisted Roman rule. The chieftain Viriatus,
leader of the Lusitani, is one of the country’s earliest national heroes.
Christianity was established in the peninsula by the middle of the 4th century
ad. Roman occupation ended in the
5th century with the invasions of Germanic tribes. One of these tribes, the
Visigoths (see Goths), came to dominate the peninsula for more than 200
years.
A | Muslim Domination and the Christian Reconquest |
In 711 Muslims invaded the Iberian
Peninsula from Africa and deposed the Visigothic monarchy. Several small
Christian kingdoms in the north of the peninsula, however, resisted Muslim
expansion. In 997 the territory between the Douro and Miño rivers (now northern
Portugal) was captured from the Muslims by Bermudo II, king of León. By 1064 the
Christian struggle to reclaim lands from the Muslims, known as the Christian
reconquest, was completed as far south as present-day Coimbra under Ferdinand I,
king of Castile and León. The reconquered districts were then organized into a
feudal county, composed of fiefs loyal to Spanish kings.
In 1093 Alfonso I, the Christian king of
Castile (who also ruled León as Alfonso VI), called on the assistance of a
French nobleman, Henry of Burgundy, to help defeat a siege of Muslims at Toledo
in what is now central Spain. In gratitude Alfonso named Henry count of Portugal
and awarded Henry land on the Atlantic seaboard between the Douro and Miño
rivers. This land, named Portus Cale (later called Portucale) after a former
Roman settlement on the Douro, became the basis of modern Portugal.
On the death of Alfonso in 1109, Count
Henry, and later his widow, Teresa, refused to continue feudal allegiance to
Castile and León. Henry invaded the Spanish kingdom and began a series of
peninsular wars, but with little success. In 1128 Henry’s son, Afonso Henriques,
rebelled against Teresa and defeated her in battle. Afonso Henriques declared
Portugal independent from Castile and León in 1139 and proclaimed himself Afonso
I, the first king of Portugal. Eight years later Afonso, assisted by Christian
Crusaders bound for the Holy Land, seized Lisbon from the Muslims (see
Crusades). In 1179 Afonso obtained papal recognition of the title of king,
placing the Portuguese kingdom under the protection of the Holy See. Afonso, as
founder of the Portuguese monarchy, remains a Portuguese national hero.
B | Kingdom of Portugal |
Afonso I, aided by military religious
orders—crusading organizations of knights sworn to fight the Muslims—extended
the border of the new kingdom as far south as the Tajo. These orders, including
the Knights Templar and the orders of Calatrava and of Avis, were granted large
feudal estates for assisting the monarchy during the reconquest. Afonso’s son,
Sancho I, who reigned from 1185 to 1211, encouraged Christians to settle in
conquered areas by establishing self-governing municipalities there. The
Cistercians, a Roman Catholic monastic order, occupied the largely deserted
lands along the southern frontier and promoted efficient farming practices.
Muslim influence remained, however, in implements, textiles, architecture, and
some local customs, and many Arabic words entered the Portuguese language.
In the late 12th century the Almohads, an
Islamic dynasty from North Africa, temporarily halted the Christians’ southward
movement. However, the Almohads suffered a crushing defeat in 1212 at the hands
of Christian forces in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, and the Christian
reconquest continued. King Afonso III, who reigned from 1248 to 1279, completed
the expulsion of the Muslims from the southernmost region of Algarve.
B1 | National Consolidation |
A period of national consolidation
followed, during which Afonso III moved the capital of Portugal from Coimbra to
Lisbon. Formerly a provincial outpost, Lisbon began its transformation into the
political and economic center of the new nation. Afonso began the practice of
governing with the aid of a cortes (a representative assembly), which
included members of the nobility, clergy, and citizenry, and he asserted the
power of the monarchy to regulate property owned by the Catholic Church. His son
Diniz extended the kingdom’s power by nationalizing the wealthy military
religious orders and seizing their assets. In 1290 Diniz founded what later
became the University of Coimbra, Portugal’s first university, and Portuguese
replaced Latin for official use. Diniz encouraged agriculture and founded the
Portuguese navy, planting the royal pine forest at Leiria to promote
shipbuilding. Portugal’s land borders were formalized in the 1297 Treaty of
Alcanices with Castile, and they have remained largely intact up to the present
day.
Diniz’s successor, Afonso IV, joined
with Alfonso XI of Castile to defeat the last major Muslim invasion in 1340, at
the Battle of the Salado River. In this period the royal houses of Castile and
Portugal frequently intermarried, repeatedly raising the possibility that one of
the kingdoms might be absorbed by the other. Internally, Portugal endured great
hardship in the mid-14th century. A series of devastating earthquakes struck
Lisbon, and the Black Death, an outbreak of bubonic plague, ravaged the
Portuguese population in 1347 and 1348. Much of the country’s farmland lay
fallow, and many people starved. Ferdinand I, who inherited the throne in 1367,
took measures to encourage food production, including the promulgation of a
decree that required landowners to cultivate unused lands and those without
occupations to work in the fields. He also promoted maritime trade and the
construction of larger ships.
The death of Ferdinand I in 1383, the
last legitimate descendant of Henry of Burgundy, precipitated a civil war in
Portugal. Ferdinand’s Castilian widow, Leonor Teles, assumed the regency.
However, many Portuguese opposed the move, fearing Leonor would claim the crown
for Castile and León. Her main rival was Ferdinand’s illegitimate half brother,
John I, who was backed by Lisbon’s wealthy merchants. Leonor, supported by most
of the landed nobility, called on the king of Castile and León for help. John
raised an army and successfully defended the kingdom against attack. In 1385
John defeated Castile and León decisively in the Battle of Aljubarrota and
secured the Portuguese throne. The battle was won with the assistance of English
archers and helped establish the independence of Portugal. In 1386 England and
Portugal allied themselves permanently by the Treaty of Windsor, initiating a
friendship pact that would last for centuries.
B2 | The Reign of John I |
The reign of John I, the first king of
the Burgundian line known as the house of Avis, was one of the most notable in
Portuguese history. John distrusted the old landed nobility, which had opposed
his regency, and he seized many properties and titles for distribution to his
urban supporters. In doing so John promoted the growth of a new noble class
based on service to the Portuguese crown. John’s administrative reforms,
including the creation of a class of skilled bureaucrats, enhanced the reach of
royal power and further weakened the old aristocracy.
John’s reign is best known for the
work done under the direction of his son Henry the Navigator, prince of
Portugal, in exploring the African coast for an eastward route to the Indies.
Henry was patron and director of a school of navigation at Sagres, where
maritime expeditions were scientifically planned. John’s reign initiated a
century of exploration during which Portugal emerged as the greatest colonial
power in the world.
C | The Age of Expansion |
A desire for conquest and trade,
especially the lucrative trade in Asian spices, was a key motivation behind
Portugal’s early maritime expansion. Portugal, with its navy, advanced nautical
knowledge, and advantageous location on the far southwestern edge of Europe,
sought a sea route to Asia to circumvent the Muslim-dominated overland routes
long used to bring spices and other fine goods to the Mediterranean. Tied to
these expansionist aims were the aspirations of Portuguese kings to spread
Christianity and extend the crusade against Muslims.
In 1415 a Portuguese military expedition
captured the wealthy Muslim city of Ceuta in North Africa, a western depot for
the spice trade. Within ten years Portugal began colonizing the islands of
Madeira, and in 1427 Portuguese navigators discovered the Azores archipelago.
The Madeiras and the Azores rapidly became important centers of sugar
production, and the capture of Ceuta gave Portugal a foothold in North Africa,
stimulating further exploration of the African coast. Using the caravel, a new
type of light sailing vessel specially adapted for Atlantic voyages, Portuguese
mariners sailed as far south as the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa in 1444,
and by 1460 they had reached Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, John I’s successors, King
Duarte and Afonso V, sent further expeditions to Morocco, capturing the cities
of Tangier and Arzila (Asilah) in 1471.
C1 | John II |
King John II (reigned 1481-1495), a son
of Afonso V, was one of Portugal’s ablest rulers. At home he attacked the
prerogatives of the landed nobility and he imposed a new oath by which nobles
swore homage to the crown. John’s defense of royal power firmly established the
supremacy of the monarchy over the nobility. John’s foreign policy was based on
expansion and trade, and under his direction the crown intensified its search
for a sea route to Asia. In 1482 John founded a Portuguese stronghold at Elmina
(in present-day Ghana) and established relations with the kingdom of the Kongo
(in present-day Angola). Five years later John sponsored an expedition commanded
by navigator Bartolomeu Dias to explore the coast of western Africa. In 1488
Dias became the first European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope at the
southern tip of Africa, demonstrating that Asia could be reached by sea.
In 1492 Italian Spanish navigator
Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and claimed the new lands for Castile.
John II disputed this claim, and by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 Spain and
Portugal reached agreement on the division of the undiscovered world. The
agreement gave Portugal all undiscovered lands east of a line 370 leagues west
of the Cape Verde Islands. This included much of Brazil, probably still unknown
to Europeans, but excluded the Canary Islands, which were already controlled by
Spain. See Demarcation, Line of.
C2 | Manuel I and the Peak of Portuguese Power |
Portuguese power reached its height
under King Manuel I (reigned 1495-1521), and Portugal entered its golden age of
exploration and culture. Manuel sponsored the daring voyage of Vasco da Gama,
who from 1497 to 1499 led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope and
pioneered a sea route to India. Manuel then commissioned a series of trading
expeditions to secure Portugal’s commercial dominance in Asia. Portugal soon
consolidated its control over the trade in spices and other luxuries. In a few
short years Portugal created the first great European overseas empire. The
Portuguese monarchy became the wealthiest in Europe, with Lisbon serving as the
empire’s commercial capital.
In 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral, leading
a trading expedition to India, sailed farther westward than previous Portuguese
navigators and sighted the coast of Brazil, which he claimed for Portugal.
Portuguese fleets soon reached Madagascar and established posts in East Africa.
In 1509 Portuguese naval vessels succeeded in destroying a large Muslim fleet in
the Indian Ocean, opening the way for Portugal’s further expansion eastward. In
1510 the Portuguese occupied Goa, on the southwestern coast of India. Using Goa
as a base, Portuguese navigator and statesman Afonso de Albuquerque extended
Portugal’s trading empire east to Malacca (now Melaka) on the Malay Peninsula in
1511 and to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands (in present-day Indonesia), from 1512
to 1514. In 1515 Albuquerque claimed for Portugal the island of Hormuz, which
controlled trade in the Persian Gulf. His successors reached Japan in 1542 and
founded a colony in China at Macao in 1557.
Portugal’s intellectual life
flourished during Manuel’s reign. The crown patronized architecture, evident in
the elaborate maritime and floral motifs of the Manueline style, and sent many
students to France and Italy. Gil Vicente, the founder of the Portuguese
theater, devised entertainment for the lavish court in Lisbon. In poetry
Francisco de Sá de Miranda, among others, introduced influential forms of
Italian verse. Many nobles became dependent on the crown. Portugal’s legal
system was made uniform, but the cortes, whose influence began to wane under
John I, was consulted less frequently.
As other Portuguese monarchs had done,
Manuel dreamed of uniting Portugal and Spain under his rule and he successively
married two daughters of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I. Under pressure
from his Spanish relations, he followed their example by expelling Jews and
Muslims who refused to convert to Christianity from Portuguese domains in 1497.
The expulsions proved costly for Portugal; they deprived the kingdom of many
skilled workers and much of its middle class.
C3 | Imperial Decline |
Under John III (reigned 1521-1557),
Manuel’s son, the resources of the state proved inadequate to meet Portugal’s
obligations. The French, and later the English, increasingly challenged
Portugal’s trading monopoly, and revenues declined as prices for Asian goods
fell in Europe. At the same time, the enormous costs of mounting expeditions and
manning a chain of posts and bases from Brazil to China burdened the Portuguese
crown with debts. Portugal’s extravagant court drained national resources, and
few funds were invested in internal development. John III encouraged the
colonization of Brazil, which rapidly became the center of a new trade in sugar.
However, the exuberant days of Portugal’s expansion and conquest were over.
John’s reign coincided with the
emergence of the Counter Reformation, the Roman Catholic response to the
Protestant Reformation in Europe. The Counter Reformation reached Portugal in
the first decades of the 16th century. In 1531 John III introduced the
Inquisition in Portugal—a key tool of the Counter Reformation to enforce
religious uniformity and root out heresy. The Jesuits, a religious order founded
to promote the cause and teachings of Catholicism, gained influence with the
crown and over education, and began missionary work in Portugal’s overseas
possessions.
By the time John III died in 1557,
Portugal was in decline as a political and commercial power. This trend
continued under Sebastian, John’s son, who in 1578 organized an army to fight
Muslims in Morocco. Sebastian and most of the Portuguese army perished at the
hands of the superior Muslim forces, leaving Portugal largely defenseless and
without an heir to the throne. The crown fell to Sebastian’s aged uncle, Henry.
At Henry’s death in 1580 the Avis dynasty came to an end.
D | The Habsburg and Braganza Dynasties |
D1 | Union with Spain |
When Henry died, seven pretenders laid
claim to the Portuguese crown. The most powerful was Philip II, Habsburg king of
Spain. Philip invaded Portugal, defeated rival forces, and in 1580 became Philip
I of Portugal. As king of Portugal, Philip vowed to preserve Portuguese national
institutions, including the military, cortes, coinage, and legal system.
However, the joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign
policy, and Spain’s enemies became Portugal’s. The Spanish war with the Dutch
and English led to the closing of the port of Lisbon to Portugal’s former
trading partners. The Dutch and other powers then attacked Portuguese
settlements in Brazil, Africa, and Asia. After 1600 Portuguese domination of
trade with South Asia was lost to the Dutch and the English.
Under Philip I, Portugal enjoyed
considerable autonomy, but his successors, Philip II (Philip III of Spain and
Naples) and Philip III (Philip IV of Spain, Naples, and Sicily), treated
Portugal as a Spanish province, provoking widespread discontent. After
unsuccessful revolts in 1634 and 1637, Portuguese conspirators with the support
of France won independence for their kingdom in 1640, ending the so-called Sixty
Years’ Captivity. John, duke of Braganza, grandson of a former pretender to the
throne, was elected John IV, first king of the house of Braganza. For the next
century John and his successors waged wars with a hostile Spain and tried to
salvage the Portuguese empire.
D2 | Restoration and Revival |
John expelled the Dutch from Brazil,
which they had occupied in 1630, and renewed Portugal’s traditional ties with
England. Portugal further solidified its alliance with the English in 1662, when
Catherine of Braganza, John’s daughter, married Charles II, king of England.
Charles supplied troops to strengthen the Portuguese frontier, and his diplomats
finally achieved Spanish recognition of Portugal’s independence in the 1668
Treaty of Lisbon.
Portugal recovered a measure of
prosperity in the late 17th and 18th centuries, after gold, and then diamonds,
were discovered in Brazil. From 1683 to 1750, during the reigns of Pedro II and
John V, Portugal developed close economic ties with England. By the Treaty of
Methuen of 1703, England agreed to favor Portuguese wines in trade in exchange
for Portugal’s preference for English woolens. In the early 18th century the
inflow of Brazilian treasure to Portugal financed a commercial and cultural
revival. Lisbon, which regained its importance as a trading center, expanded
rapidly and by the mid-18th century had a population of 190,000. John V
patronized the arts, established academies and libraries, and provided public
works; great emphasis was given to civil and religious architecture. However,
the Portuguese monarchy grew more despotic and the cortes fell into disuse. On
John’s death the crown passed to his son, Joseph Emanuel.
Joseph Emanuel (reigned 1750-1777) had
little inclination to rule, and he appointed as chief minister Sebastião José de
Carvalho e Mello, marquês de Pombal, considered one of the most influential
statesmen in modern Portuguese history. Although a ruthless dictator, he worked
to modernize many aspects of Portuguese life. Pombal attacked the power of the
privileged nobility and the church, and he expelled the Jesuits from Portugal
and its overseas possessions. Pombal seized the Jesuit schools and introduced
educational reforms, and he implemented protectionist policies to promote
Portuguese industries. In 1755, after a disastrous earthquake had destroyed most
of Lisbon, Pombal directed energetic measures to rebuild the city and the
nation’s economy. Pombal was dismissed, however, at the accession of Joseph
Emanuel’s daughter Maria I in 1777. Maria restored the power of the nobility and
the church and revoked Pombal’s industrial policies. However, her health
subsequently declined and power was transferred to the prince regent, later John
VI.
D3 | Napoleonic Wars |
In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars,
French forces of Napoleon I invaded and conquered Portugal. Four years earlier
France had renewed its conflict with Britain—the key ally in the coalition
opposing Napoleon’s wars of conquest. Napoleon had imposed a continental
blockade against British goods in an effort to bankrupt the country, and he
hoped to close Portuguese ports to British ships. Portugal, wishing to preserve
the Anglo-Portuguese alliance, proclaimed its neutrality in the struggle. In the
meantime, Napoleon conspired with Spain to attack and partition Portugal. As
French troops marched across Spain toward Portugal, the Portuguese royal family
withdrew to Brazil and made Rio de Janeiro the seat of the monarchy.
In 1808 the Peninsular War began, a
conflict that involved Britain, Portugal, and Spanish guerrillas against
Napoleonic France. A French army occupied Portugal but was defeated by British
forces under Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington. By the Convention of
Sintra (August 30, 1808), the French left the country, but they reinvaded a year
later. Wellington again checked the advance, and by 1811 Portugal was free of
French influence, but the fighting left Portugal devastated. The Portuguese
royal family chose to remain in Brazil, which in 1815 was made a separate
kingdom equal to Portugal. In 1816 John VI succeeded to the two thrones, ruling
Portugal from Brazil through a council of regency headed by British general
William Beresford, commander of the Portuguese army.
D4 | The Constitutional Monarchy |
The council of regency was opposed by a
liberal movement in Lisbon that sought Beresford’s removal and a more
representative government. In 1820 the Portuguese army backed a popular revolt
designed to bring about a constitutional government. John VI agreed to return to
Portugal as constitutional monarch and he left his elder son, Dom Pedro, to
govern Brazil. The Brazilians opposed John’s departure and proclaimed their
independence in 1822. Pedro was made constitutional emperor of Brazil and he
assumed the title of Pedro I. In one swift move Portugal lost its largest colony
and much of its income. In Portugal, meanwhile, an elected cortes in 1822
adopted the country’s first constitution, which asserted that sovereign power
resided in the people.
Supporters of absolute monarchy
fiercely opposed the new constitution. Pedro’s younger brother, Dom Miguel,
appealed to anticonstitutionalists to overthrow the regime. An insurrection led
by Miguel almost succeeded on April 30, 1824. John managed to remain in power,
however, and Miguel was exiled to Vienna.
When John died in 1826, the two crowns
of Portugal and Brazil passed to Pedro I, who succeeded to the Portuguese throne
as Pedro IV. Pedro then abdicated in favor of his seven-year-old daughter, Maria
II, called Maria da Gloria, on the condition that she marry his brother Miguel
and that Miguel accept a constitution prepared by Pedro in 1826. This document,
known as the Constitutional Charter, reasserted the limited sovereignty of the
monarchy. Miguel returned to Portugal from Vienna in 1828, only to bar Maria
from landing, repudiate the Constitutional Charter, and declare himself absolute
king. A period of acute civil strife followed, in which absolutists, who drew
strength from rural areas, fought an urban-based liberal movement. With the help
of Britain, France, and Spain, the absolutists were defeated. Maria was restored
to the throne in 1834 and the Constitutional Charter was reimposed.
Continued political conflict
characterized Maria II’s reign, despite the defeat of the absolutists. Liberals
were increasingly divided between radicals, who supported the 1822 constitution,
and moderates, who favored the Constitutional Charter, which reserved wider
powers to the crown and provided for an appointed rather than an elected upper
house. A series of government collapses and revolts triggered by power struggles
between these factions pushed Portugal to the brink of another civil war.
Political strife lessened under
Maria’s successors—Pedro V, who reigned from 1853 to 1861, and Louis, who
reigned from 1861 to 1889. During this time stable political parties developed.
The radicals were transformed into the Historicals, or Progressives, the main
opposition party, and the moderates became the Regenerators. A relatively stable
system of rotating governments evolved in which alternating factions regularly
exchanged power, a system called rotativismo. With political stability at
home, Portugal intensified its colonial activities in Africa, launching a series
of expeditions of the African interior. By the 1890s, however, the rotativismo
system began to disintegrate. A republican party demanding an end to the
monarchy was founded in 1878 and rapidly gained support during the reign of
Carlos I (1889-1908). Meanwhile, the two monarchist parties split and
deadlocked, with neither side able to gain a majority.
E | The First Republic |
In 1906, with the government paralyzed,
Carlos I gave dictatorial powers to prime minister João Franco. A supporter of
the monarchy, Franco initiated a bold program of economic and administrative
reforms. However, Franco’s dictatorship was widely condemned, and in 1908 Carlos
and his eldest son were assassinated in Lisbon by radical republicans. Carlos’s
younger son, Manuel, ascended the throne as Manuel II at the age of 18. In an
attempt to save the monarchy, Manuel held new elections for the cortes, but
bitter factionalism prevented the formation of a stable government. In October
1910 the army and navy backed a republican revolution that deposed Manuel and
established a provisional republican government. A liberal constitution was put
into effect in 1911 that abolished the monarchy, separated church from state,
and granted workers the right to strike. Manuel José de Arriaga was elected
first president of Portugal’s First Republic.
E1 | Political Instability |
The new republic failed to bring
stability, however. The republican party, which was initially unified, soon
splintered into radical and moderate factions. Portugal was shaken by political
chaos as rival factions bickered and changes of government rapidly succeeded one
another. Monarchist factions attempted several revolts to restore the monarchy.
The military, increasingly disenchanted with the republic, imposed several
periods of military rule.
Early in 1916 during World War I
(1914-1918), Portugal, honoring its alliance with Britain, seized German ships
in the harbor of Lisbon. Germany responded with a declaration of war on
Portugal. Thousands of Portuguese troops fought valiantly in France and in
Africa against German forces. On the domestic front, however, disorder and
political feuding intensified. In 1917 a military coup d’état brought to power
the authoritarian regime of Major Sidónio Pais, a German sympathizer. The regime
collapsed with Pais’s assassination the following year. Political turbulence
continued following the restoration of civilian rule, with constant strikes and
demonstrations, waves of violence, military insurrections, and changes of
government. In May 1926 a military revolt led by General Gomes da Costa entered
Lisbon, almost unopposed, and deposed the civilian government in a bloodless
coup. The First Republic had ended.
E2 | Military Dictatorship |
The military leadership had no clear
plan of reform, and after various changes, General António de Fragoso Carmona
was selected to head the new government. In 1928 Carmona was elected president
in an election in which he was the sole candidate. In the same year he appointed
António de Oliveira Salazar, a professor of economics at the University of
Coimbra, as minister of finance.
Salazar was given extraordinary powers
to put Portuguese finances on a sound basis, and he largely succeeded in this
task. His fiscal reforms produced a balanced budget, stabilized the currency,
and reduced the national debt, and new monies were put toward public works,
defense, and social services. Profoundly religious, Salazar restored much of the
power of the Catholic Church. In 1930 he founded the União Nacional
(National Union), a political organization that supported the authoritarian
government. In 1932 Salazar became prime minister and with other Coimbra
academics drafted the constitution of 1933, which established the authoritarian
Estado Novo (New State) regime.
F | The New State |
Under Salazar’s New State regime Portugal
and its overseas possessions became a unitary state with a planned economy. The
avowed purpose of the New State was to end political and social unrest and to
encourage national collaboration. In reality, the government was a repressive
dictatorship, and no opposition was countenanced. Political parties were
outlawed and replaced with the National Union. Thousands were arrested and
imprisoned at the hands of Salazar’s secret police and a network of
informers.
During the Spanish Civil War
(1936-1939), Salazar, along with the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany,
supported the forces of General Francisco Franco. In 1939 Portugal signed a
friendship and nonaggression pact with Spain, which had then come under Franco’s
control. In 1940 a protocol was added to the pact to ensure the neutrality of
both countries during World War II (1939-1945). Portugal subsequently engaged in
an uneasy balancing act, maintaining its neutrality while also supplying
tungsten to Germany, the keystone of the Axis powers coalition. In October 1943,
however, when the Axis powers were weakening, Portugal allowed the Allied powers
to base airplanes and ships in the Azores.
Portugal emerged from the war relatively
unscathed, and the wartime trade with Britain allowed Portugal to accumulate
large reserves of British currency. With this capital, Portugal began to
modernize its communications; expand its merchant marine; and develop
irrigation, hydroelectric power, and industry. Internationally, Portugal aligned
itself with the West, becoming a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in 1949. During the 1950s, Portugal developed close
relations with the United States and joined the European Free Trade Association
(EFTA). Shortly afterwards Portugal became a member of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), now the World Trade Organization (WTO); the
International Monetary Fund (IMF); and the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (World Bank).
Significant domestic opposition to the
dictatorship appeared in the 1958 presidential election, when Salazar permitted
opposition candidate Humberto Delgado to run. Delgado was defeated by the
government’s candidate, Admiral Américo Deus Tomás. However, Delgado gained
impressive support in the election and was subsequently exiled. Tomás was
reelected in 1965 and 1971.
F1 | Colonial Wars |
Beginning in the 1960s Portugal’s hold
on its overseas territories came under attack. In 1961 India seized Portuguese
Goa, Damān (formerly Damão), and Diu, the last remnants of Portuguese India. In
Africa, rebellion broke out in Angola in early 1961, in Portuguese Guinea (now
Guinea-Bissau) in late 1962, and in Mozambique in the fall of 1964. Portugal
mounted intensive military campaigns against each African rebellion. Heavy
fighting continued throughout the decade and into the 1970s. During these years
the United Nations (UN) condemned Portugal for waging brutal “colonial
wars.”
In the mid-1960s a number of foreign
loans helped to finance major irrigation and construction projects in Portugal,
and some economic growth was gradually realized. Despite these efforts, the
colonial wars placed a severe strain on the Portuguese economy and military
establishment and undermined Portugal’s standing in the international arena.
Discontent manifested itself in student demonstrations during this period, but
political opposition to the Salazar regime remained uncoordinated and weak.
F2 | The Dictatorship After Salazar |
In September 1968 Salazar was
incapacitated by a stroke and succeeded by longtime associate Marcello Caetano,
who was named prime minister. Caetano eased police repression and called for
limited reforms when he took office. However, he continued most of Salazar’s
repressive policies, including the colonial wars in Africa, which by the late
1960s were consuming about 40 percent of the national budget and stalling
domestic economic development. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese nationals
emigrated to avoid conscription by the military to fight in the colonial wars.
Student demonstrations continued, and dissenting voices in the army grew
louder.
G | Revolution |
On April 25, 1974, the Movimento das
Forças Armadas (MFA; Movement of the Armed Forces), a group of military
officers seeking to end the African wars, overthrew Caetano’s government in a
bloodless coup d’état known as the Revolution of the Carnations. A junta under
General António de Spínola was installed that promised democracy at home and
peace for the African territories. The new regime appealed for cease-fires in
Africa and restored many democratic liberties, including toleration of a wide
range of political parties. Socialists and communists came out of hiding.
Widespread upheavals took place as workers used their new civil liberties to
seek better wages and working conditions.
In May 1974 an interim government was
established with Spínola as president and members of the Socialist Party (PS)
and Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) in the cabinet. But real power remained
with the MFA, which was increasingly dominated by leftist officers allied with
the PCP and other Marxist-Leninist groups (see Communism). Spínola,
however, resisted MFA plans to quickly dismantle the empire and to institute
leftist reforms. In July the MFA forced Spínola to name Vasco Gonçalves, a
pro-communist, as prime minister, and in September Spínola was replaced by
General Francisco da Costa Gomes. Independence pacts were soon negotiated with
nationalists from the African territories. The whole African empire was freed by
the end of 1975. Portugal also withdrew from the Southeast Asian colony of
Portuguese Timor (now known as East Timor), which was forcibly annexed by
Indonesia in 1976. Hundreds of thousands of retornados (returning troops
and settlers) were subsequently either absorbed into Portuguese society or
allowed to emigrate again, mainly to Brazil.
In March 1975, after another rightist
effort to seize power, the MFA established a new supreme governing body, the
Revolutionary Council. Dominated by pro-communists and led by Gonçalves, it
nationalized most banks and many industries, expropriated and redistributed
large agricultural holdings, and made the communist-led trade union
confederation the sole representative of workers. The Revolutionary Council
scheduled elections in April 1975 for a constituent assembly, charged with the
task of writing a new constitution for Portugal. However, to participate, the
major parties had to agree to continued rule by the Revolutionary Council for at
least five years.
Elections to the constituent assembly
indicated waning support for the MFA, with the Socialist Party (PS) and their
allies capturing a large majority of votes; the Portuguese Communist Party
finished a distant third. Gonçalves was installed as prime minister and formed a
new government, but it proved unstable, and the Socialists soon resigned. Public
disaffection with the leftist dictatorship became widespread. After a campaign
of anticommunist demonstrations in the north, and growing pressure from the
military to resolve the crisis, Gonçalves was ousted. A new cabinet, led by
Socialist prime minister Vice Admiral José de Azevedo, was installed, reflecting
the outcome of the April election. The Azevedo government restored a degree of
stability and adopted a new investment policy to attract foreign investment.
Western credits, withheld while the pro-communist MFA faction held power, were
renewed. In November 1975 MFA moderates defeated a leftist coup attempt and then
expelled leftists from the Revolutionary Council. Soon after, the moderates
agreed to cede power to an elected government. The revolution was over.
H | Constitutional Government |
In April 1976 the constituent assembly
approved a new constitution for Portugal. The document committed future
governments to democratic principles and socialist policies, including the
creation of a “classless society.” The constitution also declared the earlier
nationalizations and land appropriations irreversible. In the parliamentary
elections in April 1976, the Socialist Party (PS) won a plurality of the vote,
and party leader Mário Soares became prime minister. The following June General
António Ramalho Eanes was elected president of Portugal.
Soares attempted to restore stability to
the economy, and in 1977 Portugal applied for membership in the European
Community (EC), a forerunner of the European Union (EU). Soares resigned in late
1977 after failing to win support for an austerity program. After the fall of
two successive interim governments, the conservative Democratic Alliance—a
coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Social Democratic Center
Party (CDS)—won a clear majority in parliamentary elections held in December
1979. The Democratic Alliance backed several important constitutional reforms,
including the abolition of the Revolutionary Council, which had retained veto
power over legislation and blocked moves toward liberalizing the economy. It
also developed plans to privatize certain state-owned industries.
Parliamentary elections in April 1983
brought PS leader Soares back to power as prime minister. Soares’s government,
with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), introduced an austerity
program and conducted negotiations leading toward Portugal’s eventual entry into
the EC. The government’s belt-tightening measures proved unpopular, however, and
the government collapsed in 1985 amid disagreements over labor and agricultural
reforms. Elections in October led to the formation of a minority government
under PSD leader Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Silva held the post for the next ten
years, leading the PSD to parliamentary victories in 1987 and 1991. Soares
returned as president following elections in 1986, and he won another term in
1991.
The PS and PSD both backed Portugal’s
membership in the EC, which it formally joined in 1986, and they cooperated to
remove the remaining revolutionary passages from the constitution in 1989.
Portugal’s entry in the EC spurred unprecedented economic growth, in part
because the EC (and later its successor, the European Union) began to funnel
large financial transfers to Portugal for economic modernization and
infrastructure development. Silva’s administration continued to privatize
industry, backed reforms in agriculture and education, and embraced high levels
of foreign investment.
Resistance to the PSD gradually
increased, however, despite the government’s promises of continued growth. An
economic downturn in the early 1990s further diminished confidence in the
government, amid a wave of strikes in support of higher wages, student
demonstrations protesting against higher tuition fees, and corruption
allegations. In the 1995 general election the PSD lost its majority to the PS,
and PS leader António Guterres became prime minister. In 1996 former prime
minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva ran for president on the PSD ticket and was soundly
defeated by PS candidate Jorge Sampaio. Guterres and the PS were returned to
power in the general election in 1999, and Sampaio won a second five-year term
as president in 2001.
I | Economic and Political Shifts |
Portugal’s preparations for adoption of
the euro, the single currency of the European Union (EU), strongly influenced
the nation’s economy after 1996. The government reduced interest rates, and
increasing investor confidence and strong consumer demand led to a pronounced
economic expansion. During the late 1990s, Portugal’s annual economic growth
consistently outpaced the European average, further narrowing the gap in
per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) between Portugal and its wealthier
western European neighbors. In 1999 Portugal was among the first group of EU
members to meet the economic criteria required for adoption of the euro. A
period of continuity in political leadership contributed to Portugal’s economic
success.
After 1999, however, Portugal’s economy
faltered. Portugal entered recession, and budget deficits and unemployment rose.
Unpopular cuts to some public services followed, further undermining support for
the government. Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader António Guterres resigned
the post of prime minister in December 2001 after the PSD won a sweeping victory
in local elections, and a new general election was scheduled in March 2002. The
PSD narrowly defeated the Socialist Party (PS) but failed to capture a majority.
The PSD entered a governing alliance with the conservative Popular Party (PP),
and PSD leader José Manuel Durão Barroso was named prime minister. Durão Barroso
campaigned on a pledge to reduce corporate taxes and lower public spending by
encouraging private investment in public services. Nevertheless, the economy
continued to weaken, and by 2004 Portugal’s economy was among the poorest
performing in Europe.
In June 2004 Durão Barroso resigned as
prime minister to become president of the European Commission—the highest
administrative body of the European Union (EU). Durão Barroso was succeeded as
prime minister by Pedro Santana Lopes, who was elected to lead the PSD following
Durão Barroso’s resignation. The former mayor of Lisbon, Santana Lopes was
formally sworn in as prime minister in July. Lopes’s government proved
ineffective from the start, marred by internal dissension and a series of gaffes
that undermined confidence in the leadership. In November—just four months into
Santana Lopes’s term—President Jorge Sampaio announced he would dissolve
parliament and call new elections in February 2005. The episode capped a period
of political instability that began with the economic downturn after 1999,
during which no prime minister managed to complete a full term in office.
The parliamentary elections in February
delivered a crushing defeat to the PSD, giving the PS an absolute majority in
parliament—something no party had achieved since 1991. The PS, led by José
Sócrates, a former environment minister, vowed to promote economic growth and to
reduce Portugal’s budget deficit by shedding public sector jobs through
attrition. On February 24, President Jorge Sampaio called on Sócrates, as the
nation’s next prime minister, to form a government.
J | Outlook |
Portugal’s successful transition to
democratic rule in the late 20th century greatly contributed to its success in
approaching the economic and social development of other EU members, after many
decades at the margins of Europe. An important indication of Portugal’s newfound
economic strength was its ability to meet the strict economic criteria required
to adopt the euro, the single currency of the European Union (EU), which
entered use for accounting and financial transfers in 1999. Many challenges
remain, however, as Portugal attempts to provide desired public services while
maintaining a robust economy. To this end, Portugal has worked to increase its
international competitiveness by modernizing industry and infrastructure and
improving its education system.
For many Portuguese, the 1998 World’s
Fair in Lisbon offered an important symbol of the nation’s domestic revival. The
fair attracted millions of visitors and helped reestablish Portugal as a leading
international tourist destination. Today, the site, rechristened as the Park of
Nations, is an important focal point for commercial, administrative, and
cultural activities in Lisbon.
In foreign affairs, Portugal has worked
to improve its relations with Spain. Portugal’s traditional fear that it would
be annexed and subordinated by its larger Iberian neighbor has given way to an
enhanced trading relationship; Spain now rivals Germany as one of Portugal’s
chief trading partners. Within the EU, Portugal has benefited from presenting a
pan-Iberian front with Spain, and EU development funds have been allocated to
help strengthen socioeconomic development in both countries.
Portugal has also sought to retain a
leadership role among its former colonies. Beginning in 1988, Portugal played a
significant part in the effort to restore peace to Angola and participated in
negotiations for peace in Mozambique. In April 1993 Portuguese and Indonesian
diplomats met with mediators in Rome, Italy, to begin discussions on the former
Portuguese colony of East Timor. Portugal supported East Timor’s right to
self-determination and, amidst great bloodshed, East Timor voted to become
independent of Indonesia in 1999. In the same year, Portugal transferred control
of Macao to China, ending more than 400 years of Portuguese rule of the
territory.
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