Overview
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located in Southwestern Europe. It comprises mainland Portugal on the southwestern portion of the Iberian Peninsula, along with the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. The country is bordered by Spain to the north and east.
With a population of over 11.4 million, Portugal has Lisbon as its capital and largest city. The country's internal waters and territorial sea account for two-fifths of its territory, and its exclusive economic zone ranks among Europe's largest. Portugal's terrain features a diverse range of landscapes and regional climates.
Government and Administration
Portugal is a semi-presidential constitutional unitary republic and multi-party representative democracy. The country has four separate sovereignty bodies: the president, government, parliament, and judiciary. Its national legislature is a unicameral body known as the Assembly of the Republic. While divided into two autonomous regions and seven regions on the mainland, Portugal remains highly centralised.
Economy and Culture
As a developed country, Portugal has an advanced economy that primarily relies on services, industry, and tourism. The country has developed a distinctive culture shaped by various civilisations that have inhabited its territory. Portuguese is the world's fifth-most spoken native language, with more than 250 million native speakers globally.
Portugal maintains a stable foreign policy shaped by its colonial and diplomatic history and location. The country is a member of multiple international organisations and forums.
Etymology
The word Portugal derives from the Latin term "Portus Cale," meaning "port of Cale." This is the origin of Porto, while Cale was a town on the Douro river. The etymology of Cale itself lacks scholarly consensus but may derive from the Celtic Gallaeci peoples, who occupied the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Around 136 BC, the Romans conquered Cale from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War and renamed it Portus Cale. During the Middle Ages, the region became known as Portucale by the Visigoths and Parochiale by the Suebi. The name evolved into Portugale, and by the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugal referred to the region between the Douro and Minho rivers.
Prehistory
The region has been inhabited by humans since approximately 400,000 years ago. Neanderthals roamed the southwestern Iberian peninsula until 37,000 years ago, with a Neanderthal tooth discovered at the Nova da Columbeira Cave in Estremadura. Homo sapiens sapiens arrived in what is now Portugal around 35,000 years ago and spread rapidly throughout the region.
The Neolithic period began in the area between 5500 BC and 5300 BC. In southern Portugal, Iron Age inscribed stele have been found, representing early evidence of writing on the Iberian Peninsula. Pre-Celtic tribes inhabited Portugal, with the Lusitanians occupying central, inland regions, while Celts inhabited most of the remaining mainland territory, leaving lasting traces in Portuguese language and culture.
Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
The Mediterranean coast was well known to the Carthaginians from at least the 6th or 5th century BC, who likely exercised considerable political and economic influence there through their relations with Phoenician-Punic settlements. Following Carthage's defeat by Rome in the First Punic War, the Carthaginians sought new western territories, culminating in the Barcid conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 237 BC.
The Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC and expelled the Carthaginians after the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC. Within 200 years, mainland Portugal and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula were annexed by Rome, despite resistance from local tribes such as the Lusitanians.
In 409, as the Western Roman Empire declined, Germanic tribes invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Western Iberia was integrated into the Suebian Kingdom, with its capital in or near Braga. The Visigoths later defeated the Suebi and ruled the peninsula until the early 8th century.
In 711, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded from the south by the Umayyad Caliphate. By 716, most of the peninsula had become part of al-Andalus. The Umayyads ruled until the caliphate fragmented into small states and was abolished in 1031, with most of central and southern Portugal falling under the Taifa of Badajoz. These territories were subsequently conquered by the Almoravids, followed by the Almohads. During this period, Viking raids were recorded from 844 into the 11th century.
Reconquista and Independence
The Reconquista was a series of military and cultural campaigns by northern Iberian Christian polities against Muslim-ruled al-Andalus. In 868, the region between the Minho and Douro rivers was secured from the Moors and established as the County of Portugal under Vímara Peres. This first county lasted until it was abolished following the Battle of Pedroso in 1071. In 1096, Alfonso VI of León refounded the county and granted it to Henry of Burgundy, who married Alfonso's illegitimate daughter, Teresa of León.
Following Count Henry's death in 1112, his widow Teresa served as regent for their son Afonso Henriques. In 1128, local nobility sided with Afonso Henriques and defeated Teresa and her supporters at the Battle of São Mamede. The following year, Afonso claimed sole authority over the county. According to legend, he won the Battle of Ourique and assumed the title of King in 1139. Afonso's claim was recognised by Alfonso VII of León at the Conference of Zamora in 1143 and by Pope Alexander III in 1179 through the papal bull Manifestis Probatum.
With support from north-European crusaders and Christian military orders, Afonso Henriques and his successors pushed south until capturing Algarve, which was recognised as Portuguese territory in 1267. Portugal's borders have remained largely unchanged since the signing of the Treaty of Alcañices in 1297. Between the 14th and early 15th century, Portugal experienced multiple outbreaks of plague, civil wars, invasions, famines, and natural disasters that caused population decline and labour shortages. In 1386, King John I cemented Portugal's alliance with England through the Treaty of Windsor, establishing the world's oldest standing alliance.
Age of Discovery
The unpopularity of regent Leonor Teles triggered a political crisis in 1383. In 1385, John of Aviz was elected king and defeated the Castilians at the Battle of Aljubarrota, consolidating the House of Aviz's rule. This dynasty created conditions for Portugal's maritime expansion, elevating the country in European politics and culture.
Portugal acquired its first colonies by conquering Ceuta in 1415 and was among the first countries to begin the Age of Discovery. By the mid-16th century, Portugal controlled a network of possessions stretching from Lisbon to Japan and Timor through Brazil. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese explorers sailed the African coast, establishing trading posts for commodities such as gold and slaves, explored the Indian Ocean and eastern Asia, and established trade routes across most of the known world.