Place:Portugal

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NamePortugal
Alt namesLusitaniasource: Canby, Historic Places (1984) II, 752 ff.; Times Atlas of World History (1993) p 353
Portuguese Republicsource: Wikipedia
Republic of Portugalsource: Cambridge World Gazetteer (1990) p 518-519
Republica Portuguesasource: Cambridge World Gazetteer (1990) p 518-519
República Portuguesasource: Britannica Book of the Year (1992) p 683; Britannica Book of the Year (1993) p 695
República Portuguesasource: Wikipedia
TypeCountry
Coordinates39.5°N 8°W
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, and its Iberian portion is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain, the sole country to have a land border with Portugal. Its two archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. Lisbon is the capital and largest city.

Portugal is the oldest continuously existing nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe, its territory having been continuously settled, invaded and fought over since prehistoric times. It was inhabited by pre-Celtic and Celtic peoples who had contact with Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Ancient Greek traders, it was ruled by the Romans, followed by the invasions of the Suebi and Visigothic Germanic peoples, in turn followed by the Moors who eventually were expelled. Portugal as a country was established during the early Christian Reconquista. Founded in 868, the County of Portugal gained prominence after the Battle of São Mamede (1128). The Kingdom of Portugal was later proclaimed following the Battle of Ourique (1139), and independence from León was recognized by the Treaty of Zamora (1143).

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global maritime and commercial empire, becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. During this period, today referred to as the Age of Discovery, Portuguese explorers pioneered maritime exploration with the discovery of what would become Brazil (1500). During this time Portugal monopolized the spice trade, divided the world into hemispheres of dominion with Castile, and the empire expanded with military campaigns in Asia. By the 18th century however, events such as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the country's occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence of Brazil (1822), led to a marked decay on Portugal's prior opulence. This was followed by the civil war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists over royal succession which lasted from 1828 to 1834.

The 1910 revolution deposed Portugal's many centuries' old monarchy, and the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, later being superseded by the Estado Novo authoritarian regime. Democracy was restored after the Carnation Revolution (1974), ending the Portuguese Colonial War. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories. The handover of Macau to China (1999) marked the end of what can be considered one of the longest-lived colonial empires in history.

Portugal has left a profound cultural, architectural and linguistic influence across the globe, with a legacy of around 250 million Portuguese speakers around the world. It is a developed country with an advanced economy and high living standards. Additionally, it ranks highly in peacefulness, democracy, press freedom, stability, social progress, prosperity and English proficiency. A member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Schengen Area and the Council of Europe (CoE), Portugal was also one of the founding members of NATO, the eurozone, the OECD, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.

Contents

How places in Portugal are organized

All places in Portugal

Further information on historical place organization in Portugal

Madeira and the Açores

The place names used for Madeira and the Açores are more or less as they exist today, but without the former administrative disticts of Funchal, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroismo and Horta as they resulted in a redundant hierarchy and confused the locations of many places. Records dating back as far as 1511 seem to be in general agreement.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Portugal. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.