Portugal History

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Portugal ruled a wealthy empire that stretched from America to Asia, and was one of the most powerful nations in the world. While the country’s international prestige diminished with the Spanish invasion in 1580, the Portuguese people’s pride did not, and they regained independence in 1640. Today national pride is as strong as ever: one need look no further than the emotional fanfare surrounding the 2008 European Football Championship and the 2006 World Cup semifinals for evidence. Modern Portugal, a country with a stable democracy, a growing economy, and a vibrant culture, has proven the strength of its national character.

Early History (8000 Bc-Ad 469). Settlement of Portugal began around 8000 BC when neolithic tribes arrived from Andalucía. The traditions of these hunters and fishermen evolved into the Megalithic culture that emerged in 2000 BC and left its mark in the necropolises scattered across the Beira Alta. During the first millennium BC, several tribes began to enter the Iberian Peninsula, including the Celts, who settled in northern Portugal and Galicia in the 9th century BC, and the Phoenicians, who founded fishing villages in the Algarve. The Greeks and Carthaginians soon followed in 600 BC, settling the southern and western coasts. The Romans gained control of Portugal in 140 BC and integrated the region into the Iberian province of Lusitania, which included the whole of Portugal and parts of western Spain. Six centuries of Roman rule ensued.

Gimme Moors (469-1139). Rome’s decline in the AD 3rd and 4th centuries had a heavy impact on the Iberian Peninsula. In the wake of diminished Roman power, the Visigoths, a wandering Germanic tribe, crossed the Pyrenees in 469 and dominated the peninsula for the next two centuries. In 711, Muslims (also known as Moors ) invaded Iberia, toppling the Visigoth monarchy and establishing a foothold along the southern coast, which they called the al - Gharb (Algarve). Their 400-year rule left a legacy of agricultural advances, architectural landmarks, and linguistic and cultural trends.

The Reconquista And The Birth Of Portugal (1139-1415). Though the Christian Reconquista officially began in 718, it didn’t pick up steam until the 11th century, when Fernando I united Castilla and León, providing a strong base from which to reclaim territory for the Christians. At the same time, Portugal was fighting for its own sovereignty. The groundwork for this sovereignty was laid in the Battle of São Mamede in 1128, when Dom Afonso Henriques (Afonso I) declared independence from Castilla and León. The following year, after the victory over the Muslims in Ourique, Afonso named himself the first king of Portugal. Dom Afonso Henriques’ legacy, the boundary between Spain and Portugal, is the oldest established border in Europe.

With the help of Christian military groups like the Knights Templar, the new monarchy battled Muslim forces, capturing Lisboa in 1147. By 1249, the forces of the Reconquista under Afonso III had defeated the last remnants of Muslim power with campaigns in the Alentejo and the Algarve. The Christian kings, led by Dinis I (1279-1325), promoted the Portuguese language above Spanish, and, with the Treaty of Alcañices (1297), settled border disputes with neighboring Castilla, asserting Portugal’s identity as the first unified and independent nation in Europe.

João I (1385-1433), the first king of the House of Aviz, ushered in a period of unity and prosperity. Dom João increased the power of the crown, establishing a strong base for future Portuguese expansion and economic success. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance, secured with the Treaty of Windsor (1386) and João’s marriage to Phillipa of Lancaster, influenced Portugal’s foreign policy well into the 19th century.

Portugal Sails The Ocean Blue (1415-1580). The 15th century was one of the greatest eras of imperial expansion in Portuguese history. Under the leadership of João’s son, Prince Henry the Navigator, Portugal became a world leader in exploration and trade. Portuguese adventurers captured the Moroccan city of Ceuta in 1415, discovered Madeira (and scurvy) in 1419, happened upon the uninhabited Açores in 1427, and began to exploit the African coast for riches. Lagos became Europe’s first slave market in 1441. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias opened the route to the East and paved the way for Portuguese entry into the spice trade when he rounded Africa’s Cape of Storms, later renamed the Cape of Good Hope.

The Portuguese monarchs may have rejected Christopher Columbus, but they funded many other momentous voyages. In 1497, they supported Vasco da Gama, who led the first European naval expedition to India. Successive expeditions put numerous East African and Indian colonies under Portuguese control. (The colonies were less than thrilled about this, as revolts would often prove.) Three years after da Gama’s voyage, Pedro Álvares Cabral claimed Brazil for Portugal, establishing a far-flung empire. Portugal’s international power peaked during the reign of Dom Manuel I the Fortunate (1495-1521). Under Manuel, known as “the King of Gold,” Portugal controlled vast tracts of land and the riches these lands contained. One of the greatest feats of Portuguese navigation occurred at the end of Manuel’s rule, when Fernão de Magalhães, known as Magellan, completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1521.

Bring On The Bragança (1580-1801). Competition from other commercial powers with alternative routes to the east eventually took its toll, and the House of Aviz lost its predominance in 1580. After a succession crisis, the Habsburg King of Spain, Felipe II, claimed the Portuguese throne, and the Iberian Peninsula was briefly ruled by one monarch. Over the course of the next 60 years, the Habsburgs dragged Portugal into several ill-fated wars, including the Spanish Armada’s crushing loss to England in 1588. After initial good relations, King Felipe began to neglect his smaller domain, and Portugal quickly lost much of its once-vast empire. In 1640, however, the House of Bragança engineered a nationalist rebellion against the unfortunate monarch. After a brief struggle, the House of Bragança assumed control, asserting Portuguese independence from Spain. To secure sovereignty, the Bragança dynasty went to great lengths to reestablish ties with England. In 1661, Portugal ceded Bombay to England, and the marriage of Catherine of Bragança to England’s Charles II cemented the Portuguese-British alliance. Nearly half a century later, João V (1706-1750) restored a measure of prosperity for Portugal, if not Brazil, using newly mined gold and diamonds from the colony to finance massive building projects in the mother country, including the construction of extravagant palaces. The bulk of the architecture did not survive the momentous earthquake of 1755, which struck during Mass, devastating Lisboa and southern Portugal, not to mention rattling the clergy and intellectuals of Europe. Fires, started by the overturned votive candles in churches, raged throughout the city, ultimately killing over 60,000 people. Dictatorial minister Marquês de Pombal was able to rebuild Lisboa, repairing widespread damage and reshaping the royal government while he was at it.

Back And Forth (1807-1910). Napoleon took control of France in 1801 and set his sights on the rest of Europe. When he reached Portugal six years later, his army encountered little resistance. The Portuguese royal family opted for flight over fight and escaped to Brazil. Dom João VI returned to Lisboa in 1821, only to face an extremely unstable political climate. Amidst turmoil within the royal family, João’s son Pedro declared Brazil’s independence, becoming the country’s first ruler. The Constitution of 1822, drawn up in Portugal during the royal family’s absence, severely limited the power of the monarchy. After 1826, the War of the Two Brothers (1828-1834) between constitutionalists (supporting Pedro, the new king of Brazil) and monarchists (supporting Miguel, Pedro’s younger brother) divided the country over the question of the Portuguese throne. Six gory years later, Pedro’s daughter María II (1834-1853) ascended the throne at the tender age of 15. The next 75 years were marked by continued tension between liberals and monarchists.

Super Salazar (1910-1970). Portugal spent the early years of the 20th century trying to recover from the political discord of the 19th century. On October 5, 1910, the king, 20-year-old Dom Manuel II, fled to England in search of amnesty; the military officers and middle classes that overthrew him soon set up the First Republic. Their aim of a stable, bourgeois democracy was soon derailed by tensions with the Church, and the republic gained worldwide disapproval for its expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious orders. Additionally, conflict between the government and labor movements undermined domestic stability. Portugal’s decision to enter World War I on the side of the Allies proved economically fatal and internally divisive, despite the eventual victory. The weak republic teetered and eventually fell in a 1926 military coup. General António Carmona took over as leader of the provisional military government and, in the face of financial crisis, appointed António de Oliveira Salazar, a prominent economics professor, as minister of finance. In 1932, Salazar became prime minister, but soon devolved into a dictator. His Estado Novo (New State) granted suffrage to women, but was otherwise rigidly traditionalist and authoritarian. During this period, society was frozen around the ideal of “God, Fatherland, and Family,” only opening to the outside world and economic growth near the regime’s end. A terrifying secret police, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE) crushed all opposition to Salazar’s rule, and rebellions in the African colonies were quelled in bloody battles.

You Say You Want A Revolution (1974-2000). The slightly more liberal prime minister Marcelo Caetano continued the unpopular African wars after Salazar’s death in 1970. In just a few years, international disapproval of Portuguese imperialism and the army’s dissatisfaction with colonial entanglements led General António de Spinola to call for decolonization. On April 25, 1974, a left-wing military coalition calling itself the Armed Forces Movement overthrew Caetano in a quick coup. This Carnation Revolution sent citizens dancing into the streets, and put a “Rua 25 de Abril” in nearly every town in Portugal. The Marxist-dominated armed forces granted civil and political liberties and withdrew claims on the country’s African colonies by 1975, resulting in the immigration of over 500,000 refugees.

The socialist government nationalized several industries and seized large estates in the face of substantial opposition, but would soon back off from outright Marxism. The country’s first elections, in 1976, put the charismatic socialist prime minister Mario Soares into power. When a severe economic crisis hit, Soares instituted “100 measures in 100 days” to shock Portugal into shape. In 1986, Portugal was admitted into the European Community, bringing it into the European fold. Despite losing the premiership to the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the previous year, Soares then became the nation’s first civilian president in 60 years. Soares was eventually replaced by the Socialist former mayor of Lisboa, Jorge Sampaio, in 1996.