Portugal Took Control Over Modern Day Portugal From Spain Again

2007 Schools Wikipedia Choice. Related subjects: Countries; European Countries

República Portuguesa
Portuguese Republic


Flag	Coat of arms

Motto: none

Anthem: A Portuguesa

Location of Portugal

Capital
(and largest city) Lisbon
38°46′N 9°11′W

Official languages Portuguese¹

Government Parliamentary democracy

- President Aníbal Cavaco Silva

- Prime Government minister José Sócrates

Formation 868

- Independence June 24, 1128

- Kingdom July 25, 1139

- Recognized October five, 1143

Accession to Eu January i, 1986

Area

- Full 92,391 km² ( 110th)
35,672 sq mi

- Water (%) 0.v

Population

- July 2006 guess 10,605,870 ( 75th)

- 2001 census ten,148,259

- Density 114/km² ( 87th)
295/sq mi

GDP ( PPP) 2005 gauge

- Total $203.4 billion ( 41st)

- Per capita $xix,335 ( 37th)

HDI (2004) 0.904 (high) ( 28th)

Currency Euro ( €)ⁱⁱ ( EUR)

Fourth dimension zone WET^three ( UTC)

- Summer ( DST) WEST ( UTC+ane)

Internet TLD .pt⁴

Calling code +351

¹ Mirandese and Portuguese Sign Linguistic communication are officially recognized and protected.

² Prior to 1999: Portuguese escudo.
^three Azores: UTC-ane; UTC in summer.
^iv The .eu domain is also used, every bit it is shared with other Eu fellow member states.

Coordinates: 38°42′Northward 9°11′W Portugal, officially the Portuguese Commonwealth (Portuguese: República Portuguesa; pron. IPA [ʁɛ'publikɐ puɾtu'gezɐ]), located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, is the westernmost country of mainland Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southward. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.

The territory which forms the modernistic Portuguese Democracy has witnessed a constant flow of civilizations during the past iii,100 years, since the earlier pre-Roman inhabitants, to the Roman, Germanic, and Moorish peoples who fabricated an banner on the country'southward civilisation, history, language, and ethnic limerick. During the 15th and 16th centuries, with its vast transcontinental empire, Portugal was ane of the world's major economic, political, and cultural powers. It is a member of the European union since 1986, and a founding fellow member of Eurozone and NATO.

History

Starting time portuguese flag.

Portugal came into being as an independent nation on June 24, 1128, when Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother in battle, Countess Teresa, and her lover, Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself equally sole leader. Afonso Henriques proclaimed himself rex of Portugal on July 25, 1139, afterwards the Battle of Ourique and was recognized equally such in 1143 by Alfonso VII, king of León and Castile, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander Three.

Afonso and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors, equally the size of Portugal covered well-nigh one-half of its present area. In 1249, this Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve on the southern coast.

In 1373, Portugal made an alliance with England, which is the longest-standing alliance in the world. In the following decades, Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and undertook the Age of Discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of Male monarch João I, became the chief sponsor and patron of this endeavor.

In 1383, the male monarch 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 Crunch. A faction of niggling 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 all the same a symbol of glory and the struggle for independence from neighboring Kingdom of spain.

In 1415, the Portuguese empire arose when a armada conquered Ceuta, a prosperous Islamic merchandise centre in Due 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 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 economical prosperity to Portugal and its then population of one million residents.

In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa, in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca in what is at present Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Lisbon

The

Castle of Guimarães, known as the "Cradle of Portugal".

Portugal'due south independence was interrupted betwixt 1580 and 1640. Because the heirless King Sebastian died in battle in Morocco, Philip II of Spain claimed his throne and then became Philip I of Portugal. Although Portugal did non lose its formal independence, it was governed by the aforementioned monarch who governed Kingdom of spain, briefly forming a union of kingdoms; in 1640, John Four spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. This was the beginning of the long-lived dynasty of Braganza. Past this time, nevertheless, the Portuguese empire was already under assail from other countries, specifically United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland and the Netherlands. Portugal began a slow just inexorable pass up until the 20th century. This refuse was hastened by the independence in 1822 of the country's largest colonial possession, Brazil. This contributed to a catamenia of political chaos and ceremonious state of war.

In 1910, a revolution deposed the Portuguese monarchy, but chaos continued and considerable economic problems were aggravated past a disastrous armed services intervention in the Commencement World War, which led to a military insurrection d'état in 1926. This in turn led to the institution of a right-wing dictatorship by António de Oliveira Salazar. In the early on 1960s, independence movements in the colonies of Angola, Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea resulted in the Portuguese Colonial War. In 1974, a bloodless left-fly military coup led the way for a modern democracy. Portugal joined the European Marriage in 1986, and ever since Portugal has engaged in a procedure of convergence with its Eu counterparts.

Government and Politics

Associates of the Republic

Portugal is a democratic democracy ruled by the constitution of 1976 with Lisbon, the nation's largest city, every bit its capital.

The four master governing components are the president of the democracy, the assembly of the republic, the government, and the courts. The constitution grants the complete separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The president, who is elected to a five-year term, has a supervising, nonexecutive role. The Assembly of the Commonwealth is a unicameral parliament equanimous of 230 deputies elected for iv-year terms.

The government is headed past the prime number minister, who chooses a Quango of Ministers, made up of ministers and their assistants, the secretaries of land. The national and regional governments are dominated past two political parties, the Socialist Political party and the Social Autonomous Party.

The courts are organized into categories, including judicial, administrative, and fiscal. The supreme courts are the courts of terminal appeal. A 9-member ramble court oversees the constitutionality of legislation.

Foreign Relations and War machine

Portugal has been a member of NATO since 1949, the European Marriage since 1986, and the Customs of Portuguese Language Countries since 1996. Information technology has a friendship brotherhood and dual citizenship treaty with Brazil. It has good relations with the United states of america, the United kingdom, and Mainland china (due to Macau), besides every bit the other Eu countries. Portugal has centuries-old diplomatic ties with Kingdom of morocco.

The only international dispute concerns the municipality of Olivenza, which Espana received in 1801 under the Treaty of Badajoz and has since administered. Portugal claimed it in 1815 nether the Treaty of Vienna. Nevertheless, diplomatic relations between the two countries are cordial.

The war machine have 3 branches: Regular army, Navy, and Air Force. In the 20th century, Portugal engaged in two major military machine interventions: the Offset Great War and the Colonial War (1961-1974). Portugal has participated in peacekeeping missions in Democratic republic of timor-leste, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon. The draft was abolished in 2003.

Administrative Divisions

Map of

Mainland Portugal and the two

autonomous regions of Portugal.

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 authoritative purposes into superior units, the most significant being the nomenclature since 1976 into either mainland Portugal (Portugal Continental) or the autonomous regions of Portugal ( Azores and Madeira).

Geography and Climate

Continental Portugal is separate by its chief river, the Tagus (Tejo). The northern landscape is mountainous in interior areas, with plateaus indented by river valleys, which allow agricultural development. The south, between the Tejo and the Algarve (the Alentejo), features mostly rolling plains and a climate somewhat warmer and drier than in the cooler and rainier north. The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo past mountains, enjoys a Mediterranean climate like Kingdom of morocco or southern Spain.

Snow is usual in the northern half of the nation, effectually the forty N parallel. Information technology is a rare effect in the south, simply it does happen.

The islands of the Azores and Madeira are located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Some islands have had volcanic activity as recently as 1957. Portugal's highest point is Mount Pico on Pico Isle, Information technology is an aboriginal volcano measuring 2,351 m (i.e., 7,713 ft.).

The climate tin can be classified as Mediterranean in the south and Oceanic in the n. I of the warmest European countries, yearly temperature averages in mainland Portugal are 13°C (55°F) in the north and 18°C (64°F) in the south. The Madeira and Azores archipelagos have a narrower temperature range. Jump and summer are sunny, whereas autumn and winter are rainy and windy.

Economy

Mod Parque das Nações, where

Expo'98 took place.

Portugal joined the European Spousal relationship in 1986 and started a process of modernization within the framework of a stable surroundings. It has achieved a salubrious level of growth. Successive governments have implemented reforms and privatized many country-controlled firms and liberalized fundamental areas of the economic system. Portugal was one of the founding countries of the euro in 1999.

Major industries include oil refineries, automotive, cement production, pulp and newspaper manufacture, fabric, footwear, furniture, and cork (the globe'south leading producer). Agriculture no longer represents the majority of the economy, simply Portuguese wines, namely port wine (from Porto )and Madeira wine, are exported worldwide. Tourism is likewise important, especially in the Algarve and Madeira Islands.

Free energy, Transportation and Communications

Airbus A330-200 from national airline

TAP Portugal.

In June 2006, U.S. energy companies GE Free energy, PowerLight Corp. and Portuguese renewable energy company Catavento began building the globe's largest solar power establish in southeast Portugal.

The world's offset commercial moving ridge farm opened in October 2006 in northern Portugal.

Equally of 2006, 55% of electricity production was from coal and fuel ability plants. The other 40% was produced by hydroelectrics and five% by air current energy. The government is channeling $three.8 billion into developing renewable energy sources over the next five years.

Transportation was seen every bit a priority in the 1990s, pushed by the growing use of automobiles and industrialization. The land has a 68,732 km (i.eastward., 42,708 mi.) network of roads, of which two,000 km (i.e., one,240 mi.) are part of 44 motorways.

World mobile phone usage

The two principal metropolitan areas have subway systems: Lisbon Metro and Porto Metro, each with more 35 km (22 mi) of lines. Construction of a high-speed TGV line connecting Porto with Lisbon and Lisbon with Madrid will begin in 2008; it will replace the Pendolinos. A new Lisbon airdrome will be congenital at the aforementioned time in Ota.

Portugal has one of the highest mobile telephone penetration rates in the world. Equally of October 2006, 36.eight% of households had loftier-speed Internet services and 78% of companies had Cyberspace access. Nearly Portuguese watch television through cable (June 2004: 73.6% of households).

The well-nigh important airports are in Lisbon, Faro ( Algarve), Oporto, Funchal ( Madeira), and Ponta Delgada ( Azores).

Demographics

The country is adequately homogeneous linguistically and religiously. Native Portuguese are ethnically a combination of pre-Roman Iberians and Celtics with some Roman and Germanic influences, among other minor contributions.

In the 2001 census, the population was ten,356,117, of which 51.7% was female person. By the end of 2003, legal immigrants represented iv.2% of the population, and the largest communities were from Ukraine, Brazil, Republic of cape verde, and Republic of angola, with other immigrants from parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe. The great majority of Portuguese are Roman Catholic. The biggest metropolitan areas are Lisbon, Oporto, Braga, Coimbra, and Aveiro.

Portugal, long a country of emigration, has now become a land of internet clearing, and not simply from the former Indian and African colonies. Today, many Eastern Europeans (especially Ukrainians, Moldavians, Romanians and Russians), also as Brazilians, are making Portugal their dwelling. There is a rapidly growing community of Chinese and a notable number of Macanese, who are descendants of Chinese and Portuguese settlers, with some Malays and Indians.

Teaching

The tower of the famous

University of Coimbra

The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age half dozen), basic instruction (9 years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary instruction (3 years), and higher education (university and polytechnic).

Portuguese universities take existed since 1290 and were first established in Lisbon before moving to Coimbra. Universities are usually organized into faculties. Institutes and schools are also common designations, specially in politechnical institutions. The Bologna process is expected to exist adopted earlier 2011.

Law

The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system, as well called the continental family legal organisation. Until the finish of the 19th century, French police force was the main influence. Since then the major influence has been German law. The master laws include the Constitution (1976, as amended), the Civil Code (1966, every bit amended) and the Penal Code (1982, as amended). Other relevant laws are the Commercial Code (1888, equally amended) and the Civil Procedure Code (1961, as amended). Portuguese law applied in the onetime colonies and territories and continues to be the major influence for those countries.

Religion

12th century Cathedral of Lisbon

Portuguese guild is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Approximately 97% of the population consider themselves Roman Cosmic , the highest percentage in Western Europe, only just well-nigh one-third attend mass and take the sacraments regularly. Yet a larger number wish to exist baptized, married in the church, and receive last rites.

The exercise of religion shows striking regional differences. Even in the 1990s, 60% to 70% of the population in the north regularly attended religious services, compared with 10% to 15% in the historically anti-clerical due south. In the greater Lisbon area, almost 30% were regular churchgoers.

Civilization

Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon.

Portugal has developed a specific culture while being influenced by diverse civilizations that have crossed the Mediterranean or were introduced during the Age of Discovery.

Portuguese literature, one of the primeval Western literatures, developed through text and song. Until 1350, the Portuguese-Galician troubadours spread their literary influence to almost 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 The Lusiads, with Vergil's Aeneid as his primary influence. Modernistic Portuguese poetry is rooted in neoclassic and contemporary styles, equally exemplified past Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Modern literature is internationally known through the works of Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco, Eça de Queirós, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Lobo Antunes, and 1998 Nobel Prize winner, José Saramago, and others.

Portuguese music encompasses a wide variety of genres. The about renowned is fado, a melancholy urban music, usually associated with the Portuguese guitar and saudade, or longing. Coimbra fado a unique blazon of fado is also noteworthy. Internationally notable performers include Amália Rodrigues, Carlos Paredes, Mariza, Mísia, and Madredeus. One of the most notable Portuguese musical groups outside the land, and specially in Germany, is the goth-metal band Moonspell. In add-on to fado and folk, Portuguese mind to popular and other modern music. Bands who have international recognition include Blasted Mechanism and The Souvenir, who were both nominated for an MTV Music Honor. Portugal has several music festivals: Zambujeira do Mar, Paredes de Coura, Rock in Rio Lisboa, and SuperBock SuperRock, among others.

Traditional architecture is distinctive. Modernistic Portugal has given the earth renowned architects Eduardo Souto de Moura and Álvaro Siza Vieira. Prominent international figures in visual arts include painters Vieira da Silva and Paula Rego.

Since the 1990s, Portugal has increased the number of public cultural facitilies, in addition to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation established in 1956. These include the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Serralves Foundation and the Casa da Música, both in Oporto.

Cuisine

Pastéis de nata (cream custards)

Cuisine is peculiarly diverse. Recipes for rice, potato, breadstuff, meat, seafood, and fish dishes are staples. The Portuguese have a reputation for loving cod ( bacalhau in Portuguese), for which, it is said, there are 365 recipes (i.e, 1 for each mean solar day of the year): pastéis de bacalhau, bacalhau à Brás, and bacalhau à Gomes de Sá are some of the virtually popular ones. Other fish recipes are popular like grilled sardines and caldeirada. The fine art of pastry, having its origins in old and rich recipes, is pop. Desserts and cakes, such as Lisbon'south pastéis de nata (delicious with strong java), Aveiro's ovos-moles, and many others, are appreciated. Portugal has its own adaptation of fast food; one of the most popular is Porto's francesinha. Other recipes include the feijoada, made with pieces of meat, sausages, and beans served with white and dry rice, the cozido à portuguesa, made with various kinds of meat, rice, potatoes and other vegetables, all boiled, and the espetadas.

Wines have been exported since the time of the Romans, who associated Portugal with Bacchus, their god of wine and feasting. Today, the state is known past vino lovers, and its wines have won international prizes. Many famous Portuguese wines are known as some of the world'southward best: Vinho Verde, Vinho Alvarinho, Vinho do Douro, Vinho practise Alentejo, Vinho do Dão, Vinho da Bairrada and the sugariness: Port Vino, Madeira wine and the Moscatels of Setúbal and Favaios (Douro). Port wine is the most widely exported, followed by Vinho Verde, whose export is increasing speedily in response to growing international demand.

Sports and Games

Luís Figo as captain of

Portugal national football team.

Football is the most known, loved and proficient sport. Luís Figo was one of the world'south top players along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma, and Nuno Gomes, some of them new to the team, merely the legendary Eusébio is still a major symbol of Portuguese football. Figo retired from the National Team after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The Portuguese national team, Selecção Nacional, has won two FIFA World Youth Championships and several other UEFA youth championships. Afterwards a third identify in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, they finished in fourth identify at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In improver, they finished second in Euro 2004, their all-time event in this contest to engagement.

SL Benfica, Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto, are the master clubs, often known as "bone três grandes" ( "the big three"). Benfica has played in the UEFA Champions League last (then the UEFA Champions Loving cup) seven times and has two titles, FC Porto also has two titles in that competition and a UEFA Loving cup. Benfica is the nigh pop club in Portugal with more than 160000 affiliates and is recognised by the Guinness Earth Records as the order with more affiliates in the globe. Sporting Clube de Portugal has won a European Cup Winners' Cup.

Portugal has a successful rink hockey team, with 15 world titles and 20 european titles, making it the state with more wins in both competitions. The most of import Portuguese hockey clubs in the European championships are FC Porto, SL Benfica, and Óquei de Barcelos.

The national rugby union team have non however qualified for a Rugby World Loving cup, simply are very close to entering France 2007. The Portuguese national team of Rugby Sevens is also strong, becoming one of the strongest teams, proving their status equally European champions.

Francis Obikwelu once again won two European gold medals in the 100 m and the 200 m in 2006, having already received gold and silvery medals in 2004 and a silver in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Naide Gomes is a European elite athlete in pentathlon and long spring.

In the triathlon, Vanessa Fernandes, iii times European champion in elite sub-23, won the silver medal in the world championships and became the winner of 2006's World Cup by winning 12 consecutive Grand Prix (globe record tied).

Festivals and Holidays

Festivals play a major role during the summer. Most every city, town, and village has a festival, and they are especially popular in June, when events are defended to 3 saints known as the santos populares (popular saints: Saint Anthony, Saint John, and Saint Peter). Why the populace associated these Catholic saints with infidel festivities is non known, but information technology is peradventure related to Roman or local deities who existed before Christianity spread into the region. These festivities generally include vino and água-pé (a watered-down wine), traditional bread, grilled sardines or traditional meat-based dishes, pimba music, traditional street dances, fireworks, and religious processions.

Facts and figures

Official date format: YYYY/MM/DD (ex. 2006/09/08)
Common date format: DD/MM/YYYY (ex. 06/09/2006), dates are written out as DD de MM de YYYY (ex. 18 de Agosto de 2005)
Decimal separator is a comma: 123,45
Thousands are officially separated by a space — x 000 — although the point is notwithstanding used — x.000.
The currency is the euro, abbreviation €, divided into 100 cêntimos (main article: Linguistic issues apropos the euro#Portuguese).
The euro sign is commonly placed either before or after the corporeality, with the separator either a comma or a point: ten,95 € - € 10,95 - € 10.95 - 10.95 €
Postal lawmaking: 4+3 digits, separated past a hyphen (main article: Postal code#Portugal).