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Portugal moved from authoritarian rule to parliamentary democracy following the 1974 military coup against dictator Marcello Caetano, himself a continuation of the long-running dictatorship of Antonio Salazar. After a period of instability and communist agitation, Portugal ratified a new Constitution in 1976. Subsequent revisions of the Constitution...
Portugal's membership in the European Union (EU) contributed to stable economic growth, largely through increased trade and an inflow of EU funds for infrastructure improvements. Until recently, average annual growth rates consistently exceeded those of the EU average. Due to slow economic growth, Portugal has lost ground relative to the rest of the...
Portuguese Culture Luis Vaz de Camoes (1524-80) is the most famous poet to have written in Portuguese and is a Portuguese national hero. His best-known work, The Lusiads, is an epic poem in 10 cantos about Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India in 1497-98. The Portuguese concept of saudade-nostalgia mixed with a melancholy acceptance of fate-finds...
Portugal is one of the oldest states in Europe. It traces its modern history to A.D. 1140 when, following a 9-year rebellion against the King of Leon-Castile, Afonso Henriques, the Count of Portugal, became the country's first king, Afonso I. Afonso and his successors expanded their territory southward, capturing Lisbon from the Moors in 1147. The approximate...
Cities:Capital - Lisbon (pop. 1.9 million). Other major city - Oporto (1.7 million). Terrain:Mountainous in the north; rolling plains central south. Climate:Maritime temperate. Location: Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain Map references: Europe Area: total area: 92,080 sq km land area: 91,640 sq km comparative area:...
Portugal's earliest recorded inhabitants-members of an Ibero-Celtic tribe known to Imperial Rome as the Lusitani and first mentioned in the second century B.C.-have mixed with Germanic, Celtic, Roman, Arabic, and African peoples to form today's relatively homogeneous Portuguese population. Portuguese citizens of black African descent, who emigrated...
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