Portugal , officially the
Portuguese Republic ( ), 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.
Gallaeci, Lusitanians,
Celtici, Cynetes,
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and many
Germanic tribes such as the Suevi, the Buri
and the Visigoths, all left their
influence on what is today Portuguese territory. The
territory 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.
After the
fall of the Roman empire and occupation
by different Germanic tribes, in the early 8th century the Muslim Moors conquered the
Christian Germanic kingdoms, occupying
most of the Iberian
Peninsula.
Later, during the Christian
Reconquista (Reconquering), the
County of Portugal was settled, as part
of the
Kingdom of Galicia.
Portugal emerged during the 12th century from this brief earldom
and would establish almost its entire modern-day borders in
1249.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, with a
global empire that included possessions in
Africa,
Asia, and
South America, Portugal was one of the
world's major economic, political and military powers. It was then
united with Spain during a period called the
Iberian Union; however, in 1640 it went on to
re-establish total sovereignty and 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 potential 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 republic was
established that was then followed by a dictatorship.
With the
Portuguese Colonial War and
the Carnation Revolution
coup d'état in 1974, the ruling
dictatorship was deposed in Lisbon 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.
History
The early
history of Portugal, whose name
derives from the Roman name Portus Cale,
is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. 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. In
868, during the
Reconquista (by which Christians reconquered the
Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish domination), 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 Portugal was transformed from a county
(County of Portugal as a fief of
the Kingdom of
León) into an independent
kingdom: the Kingdom of
Portugal.
On 24 June 1128, the
Battle of
São Mamede occurred near
Guimarães. At the Battle of São Mamede,
Afonso Henriques, Count of
Portugal, defeated his mother,
Countess Teresa, and her lover,
Fernão Peres de Trava, in
battle — 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. 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.
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. 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 it may
also have been Portuguese sailors that were the first Europeans to
discover Australia and even New Zealand.
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; 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, 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.
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. 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.
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. During this phase, Portuguese colonialism focused on
expanding its outposts in Africa into nation-sized territories to
compete with other European powers there.
Portuguese
territories eventually included the modern nations of Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and
Mozambique.
In 1910,
a revolution
deposed the Portuguese monarchy and its last King,
Manuel II, but chaos continued 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.
In
December 1961, 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 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).
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 shortly after. These events prompted
a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African
territories (mostly from Portuguese Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million destitute Portuguese
refugees — the retornados.
Portugal's last overseas territory, Macau, was not
handed over to the People's Republic of China until 1999, under the 1987 joint declaration that
set the terms for Macau's handover from Portugal to the P.
R. of China.
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.
From the
1940s to the 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, OECD and EFTA. In 1986,
Portugal joined the
European Union
(then the
European Economic
Community). In 1999, Portugal was one of the founding countries
of the
euro and the
Eurozone.
It is also a co-founder of the Community of Portuguese Language
Countries (CPLP), established in 1996 and headquartered in
Lisbon.
Government and politics
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 thirteen-member
constitutional court
oversees the constitutionality of the laws.
Executive branch
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.
Legislative branch
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.
Foreign relations and armed forces
A member state of the
United
Nationssince 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 Unionin 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.
Military
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% of GDP.
Since the early 2000s,
compulsory military serviceis 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 Warand 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.
Law and criminal justice
The
Portuguese legal
systemis 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 territoriesand
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.
Geography and climate
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
Algarveand the
Alentejo, features mostly rolling plains and a
climate somewhat warmer and drier than in the north. The
Algarve, separated from the
Alentejoby 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 .
Mainland
Portugal's highest point is Serra da Estrela, with the summit being above sea
level.
Portugal has a
Mediterranean
climate,
Csain the south and
Csbin the north,
according to the
Köppen climate
classification. Portugal is one of the warmest European
countries: the annual average temperature in
mainland Portugalvaries from in the
mountainous interior north to over 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 . Here in the summer
temperatures may be over as it is documented in a climatology study
done recently, for example in the Arqueology Park in Côa, Douro
valley.
The record high of was recorded in Riodades,
São João
da Pesqueira.The annual average rainfall varies from a
bit more than in the mountains in
the
northto less than in southern parts of
Alentejo. The country has around 2500–3200 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 , 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 in the mountains in the north to less
than in Massueime region, near Côa on the Douro river . In the Pico
mountain, in Azores, is the rainiest spot of Portugal, reaching
over 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 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 .The sea surface mean temperatures in these
archipelagos vary from - in winter to - in the summer, occasionally
reaching .
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 Zoneof the
European Unionand the 11th largest in
the world.
Fauna and Flora
Conservation areas of Portugalinclude 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-Gerêsto the
Parque Natural da Serra da
Estrelato the
Paul de
Arzila.Climate and geographical diversity shaped the Portuguese
Flora.As far as
Portuguese forestsare
concerned, because of economic reasons the pine tree (especially
the
Pinus pinasterand
Pinus pineaspecies), 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.
fauna is diverse and includes the
fox,
badger,
Iberian lynx,
Iberian Wolf,
wild
goat(
Capra pyrenaica),
wild cat (
Felis
silvestris),
hare,
weasel,
polecat,
chameleon,
mongoose,
civet, brown bear (spotted near Rio Minho, close to Peneda-Gerês)
and many others.
Portugal is an important stopover place for
migratory birds, in places such as Saint Vicent Cape or Monchique mountain, where thousands of birds that fly from
Europe to Africa in the
Autumn or on the opposite direction can be seen in the
Spring.They congregate there because the Iberian
Peninsula is the closest place in Europe to
Africa.Portugal has around 600 bird species and almost every
year there are new records. The islands have some species of
American, European, and African origin, while the mainland shares
European and African bird species.
Portugal has over 100 freshwater fish species and vary from the
giant European catfish (Tejo International Natural Park) to some
small and endemic species that live only in small and located lakes
(West Zone, for example). Some of these rare and specific species
are highly endangered because of habitat loss, pollution and
drought.
Marine fishspecies number are on
the thousands mark and include the
sardine(
Sardina pilchardus),
tunaand
Atlantic
mackerel. The marine bioluminescence is very well-represented
(in different colors spectra and forms), with interesting phenomena
like the glowing plankton, that is possible to observe in some
beaches. In Portugal it is also possible to observe the upwelling
phenomena, especially on the west coast, which makes the sea
extremely rich in nutrients and biodiversity. Portuguese marine
waters are one of the richest in biodiversity in the world.
There are many endemic species of Insect fauna, that are only found
in some places in Portugal, others are more widespread like the
stag beetle(Lucanus cervus) and the
cicada.
Macaronesian islands (Azores and Madeira) have many
endemic species (like birds, reptiles, bats, insects, snails and
slugs) that developed differently from other places in the world
because of their isolated locations and so very unique species have
evolved there.Only in Madeira island is possible to observe
more than 250 species of land
gastropods.
Laurissilva is a unique type of subtropical rainforest in
Europe and in the world.It is found in Madeira and The
Azores and also on the Canary islands, Spain.
Administrative divisions
Portugal has an administrative structure of 308
municipalities(Portuguese
singular/plural:
concelho/concelhos), which are subdivided
into more than 4,000
parishes(
freguesia/freguesias).
Municipalities are grouped for administrative purposes into
superior units. For continental Portugal the municipalities are
gathered in 18 Districts, while the Islands have a Regional
Government directly above them.
Thus, the largest unit of classification is
the one established since 1976 into either mainland Portugal (Portugal
Continental) or the autonomous regions of
Portugal (Azores and Madeira).
The 18
districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro, Beja,
Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda,
Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal,
Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Viseu - each district takes the name of the
district capital.
The
European Union's system of
Nomenclature of
Territorial Units for Statisticsis also used.
According to this
system, Portugal is divided into 7 regions (Açores, Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Lisboa, Madeira, and
Norte), which are
subdivided into 30 subregions.
Demographics
Population
Population in Portugal, in thousands
(1961-2003)
population of Portugal has been relatively homogeneous for most of
its history. A single religion (
Catholicism) and a single language have
contributed to this ethnic and national unity, namely after the
expulsion of the
Moors,
Moriscosand
Sephardi
Jews.
Portugal
was one of the last western European nations to give up its
colonies and overseas territories (among them Angola and Mozambique in 1975), turning over the administration of
Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999.Its
colonial historyhas long since been a
cornerstone of its national identity, as has its geographic
position at the southwestern corner of Europe looking out to the
Atlantic ocean.
Native
Portuguese are an Iberian ethnic group and their ancestry is very similar to
other western and southern European peoples, particularly from
Spain, with whom it shares ancestry and has cultural
proximity.It is largely consistent with the geographic
position of the western part of the Iberian peninsula, located on
the extreme southwest of continental Europe. There are clear
connections with
Mediterranean
peopleas well as with those of
Atlanticand
Western Europe. The most important demic
influence in modern Portuguese seems to be the oldest one —
current interpretation of
Y-chromosomeand
mtDNAdata
suggests that modern-day Portuguese traces largely a significant
amount of their origin to the
paleolithicpeoples which began arriving to the
European continent around 45,000 years ago. All subsequent
migrations did leave an impact, not only genetical, but also
cultural, but the main populational source of the Portuguese is
still paleolithic.
The
Instituto
Nacional de Estatística(INE, Portugal's official bureau of
statistics), estimated that, according to the 2001 census, the
population was 10,355,824 of which 52% was female, 48% was male. By
2007, Portugal had 10,617,575 inhabitants of whom about 332,137
were legal
immigrants.
Portugal,
long a country of emigration (the vast majority of Brazilians have some Portuguese
ancestry), has now become a country of net immigration, and not
just from the last Indian (Portuguese until 1961), African (Portuguese
until 1975), and Far East
Asian (Portuguese until 1999) overseas
territories.Since the 1990s, along with a boom in
construction, several new waves of
Ukrainian,
Brazilian,
people from the former
Portuguese colonies in Africaand other Africans have settled in
the country. Those communities currently make up the largest groups
of immigrants in Portugal.
Romanians, Moldovans and Chinese also have
chosen Portugal as destination.A number of EU citizens mostly from the United
Kingdom, but also from Nordic
countries, are permanent residents of the country, with the British
community being mostly composed of retired pensioners and choosing
to live in the Algarve and Madeira.Portugal's
Gypsypopulation, estimated at about 40,000, offers
another element of ethnic diversity. Most gypsies live apart, and
primarily in the south. They can often be found at rural markets
selling clothing and handicrafts.
are seven Greater Metropolitan Areas (
GAMs):
Algarve,
Aveiro,
Coimbra,
Lisbon,
Minho,
Portoand
Viseu.
Source of the city populations: INE census,
2001.
* - The Autonomous Region of Madeira is not a Metropolitan Area.
Religion
Church and state were formally
separated during the Portuguese First Republic (1910–26), a separation reiterated in the Portuguese Constitution of
1976.Portugal is a
secular
state. Other than the Constitution, the two most important
documents relating to
religious
freedomare the 2001 Religious Freedom Act and the 1940
Concordata (as amended in 1971) between Portugal and the
Holy See.
Portuguese society is
Roman Catholic.
84.5% of the population are Roman Catholic and 2.2% being other
Christian faiths.
Many Portuguese holidays, festivals and traditions have a
Christianorigin or connotation. Although
relations between the Portuguese state and the
Roman Catholic Churchwere generally
amiable and stable since the earliest years of the Portuguese
nation, their relative power fluctuated. In the
13th and 14th centuries, the
church enjoyed both riches and power stemming from its role in the
reconquestand its close identification
with early Portuguese nationalism and the foundation of the
Portuguese educational system, including the
first university. The growth of the
Portuguese overseas empiremade its
missionariesimportant agents of
colonizationwith important roles of
evangelizationand
teachingin all inhabited continents.
The country has small
Protestant,
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints(Mormon),
Muslim,
Hindu,
Sikh,
Christian Orthodox,
Baha'i,
Buddhistand
Jewishcommunities.
Languages
Portugueseis the official
language of Portugal.
Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is
now Galicia
and Northern
Portugal, from the Galician-Portuguese language.It
is derived from the
Latinspoken by
the
romanizedPre-Roman peoples of
the Iberian Peninsulaaround 2000 years ago. In the 15th and
16th centuries, it spread worldwide as Portugal established a
colonial and commercial empire (1415–1999).
As a result, nowadays
the Portuguese language is also official and spoken in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape
Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, and East
Timor.These countries, plus Macau Special
Administrative Region (People's Republic of China), make up the
Lusosphere, term derived from the ancient
Roman province of Lusitania, which currently matches the
Portuguese territory south of the Douro
river.Mirandeseis also
recognized as a co-official regional language in some
municipalities of northeastern Portugal. It retains fewer than
5,000 speakers in Portugal (a number that can be up to 12,000 if
counting second language speakers).
Economy
Portugal's
economic
developmentmodel has been changing from one based on
public consumptionand
public investmentto one focused on
exports,
private
investment, and development of the
high-techsector. Business services have overtaken
more traditional industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear,
cork (of which Portugal is the world's leading producer), wood
products and beverages.
The country changed its political regime in 1974 because of the
Carnation Revolution,
culminating with the end of one of its most notable
periods of economic growth,
which had started in the 1960s.
Portugal has a strong tradition in the
fisheriessector and is one of the countries with
the highest fish consumption per capita.
Travel and tourism will continue to be extremely important for
Portugal, with visitor numbers forecast to increase significantly
over the next five years.
However, there is increasing competition
from Eastern European destinations
such as Croatia who offer similar attractions to Portugal, and are
often cheaper.Portugal must keep its focus on its niche
attractions such as health, nature and rural tourism to stay ahead
of its competitors.
Alverca, Covilhã, Évora, and Ponte de Sor are the main centres of the Portuguese aerospace industry.
The
insurancesector has performed well,
partly reflecting a rapid deepening of the market in Portugal.
While sensitive to various types of market and underwriting
risks, both the life and non-life sectors,
overall, are estimated to be able to withstand a number of severe
shocks, even though the impact on individual insurers varies
widely.
The Global Competitiveness Report for 2005, published by the
World Economic Forum, placed
Portugal's
competitivenessin the
22nd position, but the 2008-2009 edition placed Portugal in the
43rd position out of 134 countries and territories.
Research about
quality of life by the Economist Intelligence Unit's
quality of life survey placed Portugal as the country with the
19th-best quality of life in the world for the year 2005, ahead of
other economically and technologically advanced countries like
France, Germany, the United Kingdom and South
Korea, but 9 places behind its only neighbour, Spain.This
is despite the fact that Portugal remains the country with the
lowest per capita GDP in
Western
Europe.
The poor performance of the Portuguese economy was explored in
April 2007 by
The Economistwhich
described Portugal as "a new
sick man
of Europe". From 2002 to 2007, the unemployment rate increased
by 65% (270,500 unemployed citizens in 2002, 448,600 unemployed
citizens in 2007).
Corruption has become an issue of major political and economic
significance for the country. Some cases are well known and were
widely reported in the
media, such as the
affairs in several municipalities involving local town hall
officials and businesspersons, as well as a number of politicians
with wider responsibilities and power.
Energy
In 2006 the world's largest
solar
powerplant began operating in the nation's sunny south while
the world's first commercial
wave
powerfarm opened in October 2006 in the
Norte region. As of 2006, 66% of electricity
production was from coal and fuel power plants. A total of 29% was
produced by
hydroelectricsand 6% by
wind energy. In 2008, up to 43% of the
electricity consumed in the country had been produced through the
renewable energies, even though the hydroelectric production had
decreased because of the dryness that affected the country.
Labour
Officially, in 2008 the unemployment decreased to 7.3% in the
second quarter of 2008. In 2008, about 8% of the
people with a degree were unemployed,
and a much larger proportion were
underemployed. Nearly 60,000 people with an
academic degree are unemployed in Portugal. According to
Eurostat, Portugal was the 9th poorest country of
the 27 member states of the European Union by
purchasing power, for the period 2005-2007.
The last European survey of workers, published in 2007 and which
formed the basis of this 2009 research study showed that Portugal
is the 5th European country with lower quality of work.
Science and technology
Scientific and technological
researchactivities in Portugal are mainly conducted
within a network of
R&Dunits belonging
to
public
universitiesand state-managed autonomous research institutions
like the
INETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e
Inovaçãoand the
INRB - Instituto
Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos. The funding and management of
this research system is mainly conducted under the authority of the
Ministry of
Science, Technology and Higher Education(MCTES) itself and the
MCTES's
Fundação
para a Ciência e Tecnologia(FCT). The largest R&D units of
the public universities by volume of research grants and
peer-reviewed publications, include
biosciencesresearch institutions like the
Instituto de Medicina
Molecular, the
Centre for Neuroscience
and Cell Biology, the
IPATIMUP, and the
Instituto de
Biologia Molecular e Celular. Among the private universities,
notable research centers include the
Facial Emotion Expression Lab.
Internationally notable state-supported research centres in other
fields include the
International
Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, a joint research effort of
both Portugal and Spain. Among the largest non-state-run research
institutions in Portugal are the
Instituto Gulbenkian de
Ciênciaand the
Champalimaud
Foundationwhich yearly awards one of the highest monetary
prizes of any science prize in the world. A number of both national
and multinational high-tech and industrial companies, are also
responsible for research and development projects. One of the
oldest learned societies of Portugal is the
Sciences Academy of Lisbon.
Portugal made agreements with several European scientific
organizations aiming at full membership.
These include the
European
Space Agency (ESA), the European
Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), ITER, and the
European
Southern Observatory (ESO).Portugal has entered into
cooperation agreements with MIT and other North American
institutionsin order to further develop and increase the
effectiveness of Portuguese higher education and research.
Portugal
has the largest aquarium in Europe, the
Lisbon
Oceanarium, and have several other notable organizations
focused on science-related exhibits and divulgation, like the state
agency Ciência Viva, a programme of the Portuguese
Ministry of Science and Technology to the promotion of a scientific
and technological culture among the Portuguese population, the
Science
Museum of the University of Coimbra, the National Museum of
Natural History at the University of Lisbon, and the Visionarium.
With the emergence and growth of several
science parksthroughout the world which helped
create many thousands of scientific, technological and
knowledge-based businesses, Portugal started to develop several
science parks across the country.
These include the Taguspark (in Oeiras), the Coimbra
iParque (in Coimbra), the Madeira
Tecnopolo (in Funchal), Sines Tecnopolo (in Sines), Tecmaia
(in Maia) and Parkurbis (in Covilhã).Companies locate in the
Portuguese science parks to take advantage of a variety of services
ranging from financial and legal advice through to marketing and
technological support.
Education
educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age
6), basic education (9 years, in three stages, compulsory),
secondary education(3 years,
till the 12th grade), and
higher
education(
universityand
polytechnic).Total adult literacy
rate is 95%. Portuguese primary school enrollments are close to
100%. About 20% of college-age students attend one of the country's
higher education institutions (compared with 50% in the United
States). In addition to being a key destination for
international students, Portugal is
also among the top places of origin for international students. All
higher education students, both domestic and international, totaled
380,937 in 2005.
Portuguese universities have existed since 1290.
The oldest Portuguese university was first
established in Lisbon before
moving to Coimbra.The largest
university in Portugal is the
University of Porto. Universities are
usually organized into
faculties. Institutes and schools are
also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of
Portuguese higher
education institutions, and are always used in the
polytechnical system. The
Bologna
processhas been adopted since 2006 by Portuguese universities
and polytechnical institutes. Higher education in state-run
educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis, a
system of
numerus claususis
enforced through a national database on student admissions.
Healthcare
According to the latest
Human
Development Report, the average
Life
Expectancyin 2007 was 78.6 years.
The Portuguese health system is characterized by three coexisting
systems: the National Health Service(NHS), special social health
insurance schemes for certain professions (health subsystems) and
voluntaryprivate health insurance. The NHS provides universal
coverage. In addition, about 25% of the populationis covered by the
health subsystems, 10% by private insurance schemes and another 7%
by mutual funds.The Ministry of Health is responsible for
developing health policy as well as managing the NHS.Five regional
health administrations are in charge of implementing the national
health policy objectives,developing guidelines and protocols and
supervising health care delivery. Decentralization efforts
haveaimed at shifting financial and management responsibility to
the regional level. In practice, however, theautonomy of regional
health administrations over budget setting and spending has been
limited to primarycare.
The NHS is predominantly funded through general taxation. Employer
(including the state) and employeecontributions represent the main
funding sources of the health subsystems. In addition, direct
paymentsby the patient and voluntary health insurance premiums
account for a large proportion of funding.
Similar to the other Eur-A countries, most Portuguese die from
noncommunicable diseases.
Mortalityfrom
cardiovascular
diseases(CVD) is higher than in the
Eurozone, but its two main components,
ischaemicheart disease and cerebrovascular disease, display inverse
trends compared with the Eur-A, with
cerebrovascular diseasebeing the
single biggest killer in Portugal (17%).Portuguese people die 12%
less often from cancer than in the Eur-A, but mortality is not
declining asrapidly as in the Eur-A. Cancer is more frequent among
children as well as among women younger than44 years. Although lung
cancer(slowly increasing among women) and
breast cancer (decreasing rapidly)are scarcer, cancer of the cervix
and the prostate are more frequent.Portugal has the highest
mortality rate for diabetes in the Eur-A, with a sharp increase
since the late1980s.
Portugal’s
infant mortality
ratehas dropped sharply since the 1980s, when 24 of 1000
newborns died inthe first year of life. It is now around 3 deaths
per a 1000 newborns. This improvement was mainly due to thedecrease
in neonatal mortality, from 15.5 to 3.4 per 1000 live births.
People are usually well informed about their health status, the
positive and negative effects of theirbehaviour on their health and
their use of health care services. Yet their perceptions of their
health candiffer from what administrative and examination-based
data show about levels of illness withinpopulations. Thus, survey
results based on self-reporting at the household level complement
other data onhealth status and the use of services.Only one third
of adults rated their health as good or very good in Portugal
(Kasmel et al., 2004). This isthe lowest of the Eur-A countries
reporting and reflects the relatively adverse situation of the
country interms of mortality and selected morbidity.
Transport
Transportation was seen as a priority in the early 1970s because of
the
fast growing
economy, and again in the 1990s, after the 1974
Carnation Revolution, pushed by the
growing use of automobiles and
mass
consumption. The country has a network of roads, of which
almost are part of a 44
motorwayssystem.
Portugal was among the first countries in the world to have a
motorway, opened in 1944, linking Lisbon to the National Stadium,
the future highway Lisbon-Cascais (now A5). However, although they
were later built a few other sections in the 1960 and 1970, only in
late 1980 started the construction of motorways in a large scale.
Founded in 1972,
Brisais the largest
highway management concessionaire.
With 89,015 km², Continental Portugal has 3
international airports located near Lisbon, Porto and
Faro.The national railway
system service is provided by
Comboios de Portugal.
The major seaports
are located in Leixões, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, Lisbon, Setúbal, Sines and
Faro.
The two largest metropolitan areas have subway systems:
Lisbon Metroand
Metro Sul do Tejoin
the
Lisbon Metropolitan
Areaand
Porto Metroin the
Porto Metropolitan Area, each with
more than of lines. In Portugal, Lisbon tram services have been
supplied by the
Companhia de Carris de Ferro de
Lisboa(
Carris), for over a century.
In
Porto a tram network, of which only a tourist line on the
shores of the Douro remain,
began construction in 12 September 1895, the first in the Iberian
Peninsula.All major cities and towns have their own
local urban transport network, as well as taxi services.
Rail transportof passengers and goods
is derived using the of railway lines currently in service, of
which are electrified and about allow train speeds greater than .
The railway network is managed by the
REFERwhile the transport of passengers and goods are
the responsibility of
Caminhos de Ferro
Portugueses(CP), both public companies. In 2006 the CP carried
133 million passengers and of goods.
Lisbon's geographical position makes it a stopover point for many
foreign airlines at airports all over the country.
The government
decided to build a new airport outside Lisbon, in Alcochete, to replace Lisbon's Portela airport.Currently, the most important airports are
in Lisbon, Faro, Porto, Funchal (Madeira), and Ponta Delgada (Azores).
Culture
Portugal has developed a specific culture while being influenced by
various civilizations that have crossed the Mediterranean and the
European continent, or were introduced when it played an active
role during the
Age of
Discovery.
Since the
1990s, Portugal has increased the number of public cultural
facilities, in addition to the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation established in 1956 in
Lisbon.These include the Belém
Cultural Center in Lisbon, Serralves Foundation and the Casa da Música, both in Porto, as well
as new public cultural facilities like municipal libraries and
concert halls which were built or renovated in many municipalities
across the country.
Architecture
Traditional architecture is distinctive and include the
Manueline, also known as Portuguese late Gothic, a
sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural
ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century,
incorporating maritime elements and representations of the
Portuguese Age of Discovery.
Modern Portugal has given the world renowned architects like
Eduardo Souto de Moura,
Álvaro Siza Vieiraand
Gonçalo Byrne. Internally,
Tomás Taveirais also
noteworthy.
Cinema
Portuguese cinemahas a long
tradition, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late
19th century. Portuguese film directors such as
Arthur Duarte,
António Lopes Ribeiro,
Manoel de Oliveira,
António-Pedro Vasconcelos,
João Botelhoand
Leonel Vieira, are among those that gained
notability. Noted Portuguese film actors include
Joaquim de Almeida,
Maria de Medeiros,
Diogo Infante,
Soraia
Chaves,
Vasco Santana,
Ribeirinho, and
António Silva, among many others.
Literature
Portuguese literature, one of
the earliest Western literatures, developed through text and song.
Until 1350, the
Portuguese-Galiciantroubadoursspread their literary influence to
most of the Iberian Peninsula.
Gil
Vicente(ca. 1465 - ca. 1536), was one of the founders of both
Portuguese and Spanish dramatic traditions.
Adventurer and poet
Luís de
Camões(ca. 1524–1580) wrote the epic poem
"Os
Lusíadas"(
The Lusiads), with
Virgil's
Aeneidas his
main influence. Modern Portuguese poetry is rooted in neoclassic
and contemporary styles, as exemplified by
Fernando Pessoa(1888–1935). Modern
Portuguese literature is represented by authors such as
Almeida Garrett,
Camilo Castelo Branco,
Eça de Queiroz,
Sophia de Mello Breyner
Andresenand
António Lobo
Antunes. Particularly popular and distinguished is
José Saramago, winner of the 1998
Nobel Prize for
literature.
Gastronomy
Portuguese cuisine is diverse. The Portuguese consume a lot of dry
cod(
bacalhauin
Portuguese), for which there are hundreds of
recipes. There are more than enough
bacalhaudishes for each day of the
year. Two other popular fish recipes are grilled
sardinesand
caldeirada, a
potato-based
stewthat can
be made from several types of different, scrambled fish or meats or
even vegetables. Typical Portuguese meat recipes, that may be made
out of
beef,
pork,
lamb, or
chicken,
include
cozido à
portuguesa, ,
feijoada,
frango de churrasco, leitão (
piglet) and
carne de porco à
alentejana.Typical
fast fooddishes
include the
francesinhafrom Porto, and
bifanas(grilled pork) or
prego(grilled beef)
sandwicheswhich are well known around the
country. The Portuguese art of
pastryhas its
origins in
Middle-AgesCatholic
monasteries widely spread across the country. These monasteries,
using very few ingredients (mostly almonds, flour, eggs and some
liquor), managed to create a spectacular wide range of different
pastries, of which
pastéis de
Belém(or
pastéis de nata) originally from Lisbon, and
ovos-molesfrom Aveiro are good examples.
Portuguese cuisine is very diverse, with different regions having
their own traditional dishes. The Portuguese have a cult for good
food and throughout the country there are myriad good restaurants
and small typical
tascas.
Portuguese wines have deserved international recognition since the
times of the Roman Empire, which associated Portugal with their god
Bacchus. Today the country is known by wine
lovers and its wines have won several international prizes.
Some of
the best Portuguese wines are: Vinho
Verde, Vinho Alvarinho, Vinho do
Douro, Vinho do
Alentejo, Vinho do Dão,
Vinho da Bairrada and the sweet:
Port Wine, Madeira
Wine and the Moscatel from Setúbal and Favaios.Port Wine is well known around the world and
the most widely known wine type in the world.
The Douro wine
region is the oldest in the world.
Music
Portuguese musicencompasses a wide
variety of genres. The most renowned is
fado, a
melancholy urban music, usually associated with the
Portuguese guitarand
saudade, or
longing.
Coimbra fado, a unique type of
fado, is also noteworthy. Internationally notable performers
include
Amália Rodrigues,
Carlos Paredes,
José Afonso,
Mariza,
Carlos do Carmo,
António Chainho,
Mísia, and
Madredeus.
One of
the most notable Portuguese musical groups outside the country, and
specially in Germany, is the goth-metal band Moonspell.In addition to fado and folk, the
Portuguese listen to pop and other types of modern music,
particularly from North America and
the United
Kingdom, as well as a wide range of Portuguese and
Brazilian artists and bands.Bands with international
recognition include
Blasted
Mechanismand
The Gift, both of
which were nominated for an
MTV
Europe Music Award.
Portugal has several summer music festivals,
such as Festival Sudoeste
in Zambujeira
do Mar, Festival de Paredes de
Coura in Paredes de Coura, Festival
Vilar de Mouros near Caminha, and Optimus
Alive!, Rock in Rio
Lisboa and Super Bock
Super Rock in Greater
Lisbon.Out of the summer season, Portugal has a large
number of festivals, designed more to an urban audience, like
Flowfest or Hip Hop Porto. Furthermore, one of the largest
international
Goa trancefestivals takes
place in central Portugal every two years, and the student
festivals of
Queima das
Fitasare major events in a number of cities across
Portugal.
In 2005, Portugal held the MTV Europe Music Awards, in Pavilhão
Atlântico, Lisbon.
Fandangois one of the most popular regional dances.
In the Classical music domain, Portugal is represented by names as
the pianist
Maria João Pires,
and in the past by the great cellist
Guilhermina Suggia. Notable composers
include
Carlos Seixas,
João Domingos Bomtempo,
João de Sousa Carvalho,
Luís de Freitas Brancoand his
student
Joly Braga Santos,
Fernando Lopes-Graça,
Emmanuel Nunesand
Sérgio Azevedo.
Painting
It has also a rich history as far as painting is concerned. The
first well-known painters date back to the XV century – like
Nuno Gonçalves- were part of the
Gothic painting period.
José Malhoa,
known for his work
Fado, and
Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro(who
painted the portraits of
Teófilo
Bragaand
Antero de Quental)
were both references in naturalist painting.
The 20th century saw the arrival of
Modernism, and along with it came the most
prominent Portuguese painters:
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, who was
heavily influenced by French painters, particularly by the
Delaunays. Among his best known works is
Canção Popular a Russa e o Fígaro. Another great modernist
painter/writer was
Almada
Negreiros, friend to the poet
Fernando Pessoa, who painted his (Pessoa’s)
portrait. He was deeply influenced by both
Cubistand
Futuristtrends. Prominent international
figures in visual arts nowadays include painters
Vieira da Silva,
Júlio Pomar, and
Paula Rego.
Sport
Football is the most popular and
played sport. There are several football competitions ranging from
local amateur to world-class professional level. The legendary
Eusébiois still a major symbol of
Portuguese footballhistory.
FIFA World Player of the
Yearwinners
Luís Figoand
Cristiano Ronaldo, are among the numerous
examples of other world-class football (soccer) players born in
Portugal and noted worldwide. Portuguese football managers are also
noteworthy, with
José Mourinhoand
Manuel Joséamong the most
renowned.
The
Portuguese national
teams, have titles in the
FIFA World Youth
Championshipand in the
UEFAyouth
championships. The main national team -
Selecção Nacional-
finished second in
Euro 2004(held in
Portugal), reached the third place in the
1966 FIFA World Cup, and reached the
fourth place in the
2006 FIFA World
Cup, their best results in major competitions to date.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica,
Futebol Clube do Porto, and
Sporting Clube de Portugalare the
largest
sports clubsby popularity and
in terms of trophies won, often known as "
os três grandes"
(
"the big three"). They have 12
titles won in the European
UEFAclub
competitions, were present in many finals and have been regular
contenders in the last stages almost every season. Other than
football, many Portuguese sports clubs, including the "big three",
compete in several other sports events with a varying level of
success and popularity, these may include
basketball,
futsal,
handball, and
volleyball.
Portugal has a successful
rink
hockeyteam, with 15
world titlesand 20
European titles, making it
the country with the most wins in both competitions. The most
successful Portuguese rink hockey clubs in the history of European
championships are
Futebol Clube
do Porto,
Sport Lisboa e
Benficaand
Óquei de
Barcelos.The
national rugby union
teammade a dramatic qualification into the
2007 Rugby World Cupand became the
first all amateur team to qualify for the World Cup since the dawn
of the professional era. The Portuguese
national rugby
sevens teamhas performed well, becoming one of the strongest
teams in Europe, and proved their status as European champions in
several occasions.
In
athletics, the
Portuguese have won a number of gold, silver and bronze medals in
the European, World and
Olympic
Gamescompetitions.
Cycling, with
Volta a Portugalbeing the most
important race, is also a popular sports event and include
professional cycling teams such as
Sport Lisboa e Benfica,
Boavista,
Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira, and
União Ciclista da Maia.
The country has also achieved notable performances in sports like
fencing,
judo,
kitesurf,
rowing,
sailing,
surfing,
shooting,
triathlonand
windsurf,
owning several European and world titles. The
paralympicathletes have also conquered many
medals in sports like
swimming,
bocciaand
wrestling.
In motor
sport, Portugal is internationally noted for the Rally of Portugal, and both the Estoril and Algarve Circuits.
Northern Portugal has its own original
martial art,
Jogo do
Pau, in which the fighters use staffs to confront one or
several opponents.
In equestrian sports, Portugal won the only Horseball-Pato World
Championship (in 2006), achieved the third position in First
Horseball World Cup (organized in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, in
2008), achieved several victories in the Working Equitation
European Cup.
See also
Notes
- Portal do Governo
- Appendix B - International Organizations and
Groups: developed countries (DCs), CIA — The World
Factbook — Appendix B, The World Factbook
- Milhazes, José. Os antepassados caucasianos dos portugueses -
Rádio e Televisão de
Portugal in Portuguese.
- Black Death, Great Moments in Science, ABC
Science
- The standard view of historians is that Cabral was blown off
course as he was navigating the currents of the South Atlantic,
sighted the coast of South America, thereby accidentally
discovering Brazil. For an account of an alternative view of the
discovery of Brazil, however, see Alternative
theory of the European discovery of Brazil
- Map proves Portuguese discovered Australia: new
book, in Reuters
(Wed Mar 21, 2007) - (see Theory of Portuguese
discovery of Australia)
- Macau Handover Ceremony - 1999, youtube.com
- Flight from Angola, The Economist (August 16,
1975).
- Dismantling the Portuguese Empire,
Time
Magazine (Monday, July 07, 1975).
- http://www.ipa.min-cultura.pt/pubs/R.../folder/01.pdf
- http://www.dandantheweatherman.com/wortrivaug.htm
- http://www.meteo.pt
- INE, Statistics Portugal
- Portugal - Emigration
- Portugal sees integration progress, BBC News, November
14, 2005
- Etnia cigana. A mais discriminada,
(Expresso-05.04.2008)
- Grande Enciclopédia Universal, p. 10543, "Portugal",
para. 4
- Investing in Portugal Report, Financial Times
- Fundação da SEDES - As primeiras motivações, "Nos anos
60 e até 1973 teve lugar, provavelmente, o mais rápido período de
crescimento económico da nossa História, traduzido na
industrialização, na expansão do turismo, no comércio com a EFTA,
no desenvolvimento dos sectores financeiros, investimento
estrangeiro e grandes projectos de infra-estruturas. Em
consequência, os indicadores de rendimentos e consumo acompanham
essa evolução, reforçados ainda pelas remessas de emigrantes.",
SEDES
- PESSOA, M.F.; MENDES, B.; OLIVEIRA, J.S. CULTURAS MARINHAS EM PORTUGAL, "O consumo médio
anual em produtos do mar pela população portuguesa, estima-se em
cerca de 58,5 kg/ por habitante sendo, por isso, o maior consumidor
em produtos marinhos da Europa e um dos quatro países a nível
mundial com uma dieta à base de produtos do mar."
- [1], Euromonitor International
- Covilhã: Aleia vai montar avião até agora vendido
em kit e jactos portugueses em 2011, 14th April 2008
- Évora aprova isenções fiscais aos projectos da
Embraer, Diário Digital (22nd August 2008)
- Portugal: Financial System Stability Assessment, including
Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on the following
topics: Banking Supervision, Securities Regulation, and Insurance
Regulation, IMF, (October 2006)
- http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf
- Portugueses perderam poder de compra entre 2005 e
2007 e estão na cauda da Zona Euro, Público (December 11, 2008)
- "A new sick man of Europe", The Economist, 2007-04-14.
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9009032
- Luis Miguel Mota, População desempregada aumentou 65% em cinco anos,
Destak.pt (6th June 2008)
- Eurojust chief embroiled in Portuguese corruption
scandal, euobserver.com (May 13, 2009)
- People & Power, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera (March 2008)
- Taxa de desemprego desce para 7,3 por cento no segundo
trimestre, Público (14th August 2008)
- Licenciados desempregados mais do que duplicaram
desde 2002, Diário Digital (19th February 2008)
- Portugal é um dos países com pior qualidade de
emprego, Destak.pt (May 28, 2009).
- Ciência Viva
- Tecparques - Associação Portuguesa de Parques de Ciência e
Tecnologia
- Madeira Tecnopolo
- Sines
Tecnopolo
- http://www.tecmaia.com.pt Tecmaia
- Parque de
Ciência e Tecnologia da Covilhã (Parkurbis)
- see
http://www.euro.who.int/document/chh/por_highlights.pdf
- ListAfterList.com
- Curious? Read
- Poesia e Prosa Medievais, p. 9, para. 4
References
- Ribeiro, Ângelo & Saraiva, José Hermano História de
Portugal I — A Formação do Território QuidNovi, 2004
(ISBN 989-554-106-6)
- Ribeiro, Ângelo & Saraiva, José Hermano História de
Portugal II — A Afirmação do País QuidNovi, 2004 (ISBN
989-554-107-4)
- de Macedo, Newton & Saraiva, José Hermano História de
Portugal III — A Epopeia dos Descobrimentos QuidNovi,
2004 (ISBN 989-554-108-2)
- de Macedo, Newton & Saraiva, José Hermano História de
Portugal IV — Glória e Declínio do Império QuidNovi, 2004
(ISBN 989-554-109-0)
- Ribeiro, Ângelo & Saraiva, José Hermano História de
Portugal V — A Restauração da Indepêndencia QuidNovi,
2004 (ISBN 989-554-110-4)
- Saraiva, José Hermano História de Portugal X — A
Terceira República QuidNovi, 2004 (ISBN 989-554-115-5)
- Loução, Paulo Alexandre: Portugal, Terra de Mistérios
Ésquilo, 2000 (third edition; ISBN 972-8605-04-8)
- Muñoz, Mauricio Pasto: Viriato, A Luta pela Liberdade
Ésquilo, 2003 (third edition; ISBN 972-8605-23-4)
- Grande Enciclopédia Universal Durclub, 2004
- Constituição da República Portuguesa, VI Revisão
Constitucional, 2004
- Programa do Movimento das Forças Armadas, 1974
[3747]
External links
- Government
- General information
- Travel
President |
Aníbal Cavaco
Silva |
PSD |
9 March 2006 |
|
Prime
Minister |
José Sócrates |
PS |
12 March 2005 |
|
|
Districts |
|
|
|
District |
Area |
Population |
|
|
District |
Area |
Population |
|
1 |
Lisbon |
2761 km² |
2.124.426 |
|
10 |
Guarda |
5518 km² |
173.831 |
|
2 |
Leiria |
3517 km² |
477.967 |
11 |
Coimbra |
3947 km² |
436.056 |
|
3 |
Santarém |
6747 km² |
445.599 |
12 |
Aveiro |
2808 km² |
752.867 |
|
4 |
Setúbal |
5064 km² |
815.858 |
13 |
Viseu |
5007 km² |
394.844 |
|
5 |
Beja |
10.225 km² |
154.325 |
14 |
Bragança |
6608 km² |
148.808 |
|
6 |
Faro |
4960 km² |
421.528 |
15 |
Vila Real |
4328 km² |
218.935 |
|
7 |
Évora |
7393 km² |
170.535 |
16 |
Porto |
2395 km² |
1.867.986 |
|
8 |
Portalegre |
6065 km² |
119.543 |
17 |
Braga |
2673 km² |
879.918 |
|
9 |
Castelo Branco |
6675 km² |
208.069 |
18 |
Viana do Castelo |
2255 km² |
252.011 |
|
|
Autonomous Regions |
|
|
Autonomous Region |
Area |
Population |
Demonym |
|
Azores |
2.333 km²
|
243.101
|
Azorean |
|
Madeira |
801 km²
|
244.098
|
Madeiran |
|
Rank |
City name |
Population |
Metropolitan area |
Population |
Subregion |
Population |
|
1 |
Lisbon |
564,657 |
G.M.A. of
Lisbon |
2,661,850 |
Grande
Lisboa |
2,003,580 |
|
2 |
Porto |
263,131 |
G.M.A. of
Porto |
1,679,854 |
Grande
Porto |
1,572,176 |
|
3 |
Vila Nova de
Gaia |
178,255 |
G.M.A. of Porto |
- |
Grande Porto |
- |
|
4 |
Amadora |
175,872 |
G.M.A. of Lisbon |
- |
Grande Lisboa |
- |
|
5 |
Braga |
109,460 |
G.M.A. of
Minho |
797,909 |
Cávado |
404,681 |
|
6 |
Almada |
101,500 |
G.M.A. of Lisbon |
- |
Península de Setúbal |
- |
|
7 |
Coimbra |
101,069 |
G.M.A. of
Coimbra |
435,900 |
Baixo
Mondego |
340,342 |
|
8 |
Funchal |
100,526 |
N/A* |
N/A* |
Madeira |
245,806 |
|
9 |
Setúbal |
89,303 |
G.M.A. of Lisbon |
- |
Península de Setúbal |
714,589 |
|
10 |
Agualva-Cacém |
81,845 |
G.M.A. of Lisbon |
- |
Grande Lisboa |
- |