Portugal
Portugal is a democratic republic located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south, with several island territories in the Atlantic, including the Azores, Madeira, and Savage. Portugal also claims Olivença or Olivenza, currently under Spanish administration, as part of its national territory.
A citizen of Portugal is usually identified in English by the noun and adjective Portuguese, but can also be referred to as Luso or Lusitano (English "Lusitanian").1
Portugal's name is derived from the name of a settlement in the estuary of the Douro River, named Cale. Some historians believe that the name Cale is derived from the Greek word for beautiful, Kalles, because of the beauty of the Douro valley where ancient Greeks are thought to have settled. Other historians claim that the name is Phoenician in origin, coming from Phoenicia's colonies along the Portuguese coast in the pre-Roman period.
The Roman Empire conquered the whole territory of modern Portugal and Cale grew into a successful Roman port, and thus became known in Latin as Portus Cale (English: Port of Cale). During the Middle ages, it became known has Portucale. Portucale evolved into Portugale during the 7th and 8th centuries and by the 9th century was extensively used in the region between the Douro and Minho rivers.
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| National motto: None | ||||
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| Official language | Portuguese3 | |||
| Capital | Lisbon | |||
| President | Jorge Sampaio | |||
| Prime Minister | Pedro Santana Lopes | |||
| Area - Total - % water | World ranking: 109th 92,391 km² 0.5 % | |||
| Population - Total (2001) - Density | World ranking: 79th 10,356,117 112/km² | |||
| Independence
| From Kingdom of Leon
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| Currency | Euro (€) (1) | |||
| Time zone | WET (2) (UTC; UTC+1 in summer) | |||
| National anthem | A Portuguesa | |||
| Internet TLD | .PT | |||
| Calling Code | 351 | |||
| (1) Prior to 1999: Portuguese escudo | ||||
| (2) Azores: UTC-1; UTC in summer | ||||
History
Main article: History of Portugal
Before the creation of the Portuguese state, Portugal was ruled by the Phoenicians (from 1104 BC), Carthaginians (from 258 BC), Lusitanians (native insurrection from 194 BC), Romans (from 218 BC), Suevi (from 409), Visigoths (from 416), Arabs (from 711), and Asturians and Leonese (from 739).
Early Lusitania
Portugal has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years. Early ancient Greek explorers named the region Ophiussa (Greek for Land of Serpents) because the native worshiped the serpents. In the early first millennium BC, several waves of Celts invaded Portugal from Central Europe and inter-married with local peoples, the Iberians, forming the Celt-Iberians. Two of the new tribes formed by the inter-marrying were the Lusitanians, who lived between the Douro and Tagus rivers, and the Calaicians who, lived north of the Douro river with several other tribes. A Phoenician colony was established in southern Portugal, the Conii. The Celtics, a later wave of Celts, settled in Alentejo. In 238 BC, The Carthaginians occupied the Iberian coasts.
Lusitania Romana
In 219 BC, the first Roman troops invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Within 200 years, almost the entire Peninsula was dominated and Romanised. The Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their colonies.
In Portuguese territory, the conquest started from the south, where the Romans found friendly natives, the Conii. Within several decades, the Romans had conquered the entire territory. But in 194 BC a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus, successfully wrested control of all entire Portugal from the Romans. Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail — the Lusitanians gained more and more territory. The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed an ambassador sent by Viriathus, convincing him to kill his own leader. Viriathus was assassinated, and the resistance was soon over.
Rome installed a colonial regime. During this period, Lusitania grew in prosperity and many Portuguese cities and towns were founded. In 27 BC, Lusitania gained status of Roman Province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Galecia, with capital in Bracara Augusta (today's Braga).
Invasions and the Reconquista
In the 5th century, Germanic tribes, known as Barbarians, invaded the peninsula. One of these, the Suevi, stopped fighting and founded a kingdom whose domains were, approximately, coincident with today's Portugal. They fixed their capital in Bracara Augusta. Later, the Visigoths conquered this kingdom, unifying the Peninsula.
An Islamic invasion took place in 711, destroying the Visigoth Kingdom. Many of the ousted nobles took refuge in the unconquered north Asturian highlands. From there they aimed to reconquer their lands from the Moors. They were eventually successful.
After the Moors were, for the most part, driven out of power, most of the Iberian peninsula was briefly united under Christian rule. However, it quickly split apart after the death of Ferdinand the Great of Leon and Castile, whose domains were divided by his children.
Portugal gained its first independence (as Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal) in 1065 under the rule of Garcia. Because Garcia was a tyrant and the others wanted the lands of their brothers, Portuguese and Galician nobles rebelled and the country rejoined Leon and Castile.
Affirmation of Portugal
At the end of the 11th century, a knight from Burgundy named Henry became count of Portugal. Henry was a strong supporter of independence. Under his leadership, the County of Portucale and the County of Coimbra merged. Henry declared independence 2 for Portugal while a civil war raged between Leon and Castile.
Henry died without reaching his aims. His son, Afonso Henriques, took control of the county. The city of Braga, the unofficial Catholic centre of the Iberian peninsula, faced new competition from other regions. The lords of the cities of Coimbra and Porto (then Portucale) with the Braga's clergy demanded the independence of the renewed county.
Portugal traces its national origin to 24 June 1128 with the Battle of São Mamede. Afonso proclaimed himself first as Prince of Portugal and in 1139 as the first King of Portugal. By 1143, with the assistance of a representant of the Holy See at the conference of Zamora, Portugal was formally recognized as independent 2, with the prince recognized as Dux Portucalensis. In 1179, Afonso I was declared, by the pope, as King. After the Battle of São Mamede, the first capital of Portugal was Guimarães, from which the first King ruled. Later, when Portugal was already officially independent, he ruled from Coimbra. From 1249 to 1250, the Algarve was finally reconquered by Portugal from the Moors. In 1255, the capital shifted to Lisbon. Rio de Janeiro (a city in Brazil), was the Portuguese capital between 1808 and 1821. When Brazil declared its independence from Portugal, Lisbon regained it's status as the capital of Portugal.
Portugal has always been turned towards the sea; its land-based treaties are notably stable. The border with Spain has remained almost unchanged since the 13th century. A 1373 treaty of alliance between England and Portugal has never been broken to this day. Since early times, fishing and overseas commerce have been the main economic activities. Henry the Navigator's interest in exploration together with some technological developments in navigation made Portugal's expansion possible and led to great advances in geographic knowledge.
Discoveries Odyssey
During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal eclipsed most other nations in terms of economic, political, and cultural influence and it had an extensive empire throughout the world.
July 25 1415, marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire, when the Portuguese Armada along with King John I and his sons Prince Duarte (future king), Prince Pedro, Prince Henry the Navigator and Prince Afonso, also with the mythical Portuguese hero Nuno Alvares Pereira departed to Ceuta in North Africa, a rich trade Islamic centre. On August 21, the city was conquered by Portugal, and the long-lived Portuguese Empire was founded. Further steps were taken which expanded the Empire even more.
In 1418 two of the captains of Prince Henry the Navigator, João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, were driven by a storm to an island which they called Porto Santo, or Holy Port, in gratitude for their rescue from the shipwreck. In 1419, João Gonçalves Zarco disembarked on Madeira Island. Between 1427 and 1431 most of the Azorean islands were discovered.
In 1434, Gil Eanes turned the Cape Bojador South of Morocco. The trip marked the beginning of the Portuguese exploration of Africa. Before the turn, very little information was known in Europe about what lay around the cape. At the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th, those who tried to venture there became lost, which gave birth to legends of sea monsters. Some setbacks occurred: in 1436 the Canaries were recognized as Castilian by the Pope, earlier they were recognized as Portuguese. Also, in 1438 in a military expedition to Tanger, the Portuguese were defeated.
However, the Portuguese did not give up their exploratory efforts. In 1448, on a small island known as Arguim off the coast of Mauritania an important castle was built, working as a feitoria (a tradepost) for commerce with inland Africa, some years before the first African gold was brought to Portugal, circumeventing the Arabic caravans that crossed the Sahara. Some time later, the caravels explored the Gulf of Guinea which lead to the discovery of several uninhabited islands: Cape Verde, Fernão Poo, São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobón. Finally, in 1471, the Portuguese captured Tangier, after years of trying. Eleven years later, the fortress of São Jorge da Mina in the Gulf was built. In 1483, Diogo Cão reached the Congo River.
A remarkable achievement was the turning of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew Diaz (Bartolomeu Dias) in 1487 and the richness of India was now nearby, hence the name of the cape. Portugal, three years earlier, did not accept Christopher Columbus' idea of reaching India from the west, because it was seen as unreasonable. In 1489, the King of Bemobi gave his realms to the Portuguese King and became Christian. Between 1491 and 1494, Pêro de Barcelos and João Fernandes Lavrador explored North America. At the same time, Pêro da Covilhã reached Ethiopia. Vasco da Gama sailed for India, and arrived at Calecut on May 20 1498, returning in glory to Portugal the next year. The Monastery of Jerónimos was built, and dedicated to the discovery of the route to India. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral sighted the Brazilian coast; ten years later, Afonso de Alburquerque conquered Goa, in India.
The two million Portuguese people ruled a vast empire with hundreds of millions of inhabitants stretching from Brazil, Africa, to Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, from Goa to Malacca and, from 1514, the Portuguese had reached China and Japan.
In 1578, a very young king Sebastian died in battle without an heir (the body was not found), leading to a dynastic crisis. The Cardinal Henry became ruler, but died two years after. Portugal was worried about the maintenance of its independence and sought help to find a new king. Because Philip II of Spain was the son of a Portuguese princess, Spain invaded Portugal and the Spanish ruler became Philip I of Portugal in 1580; the Spanish and Portuguese Empires were under a single rule. Some men claimed to be King Sebastian in 1584, 1585, 1595 and 1598. A myth that the young king will return to Portugal on a foggy day has prevailed until modern times, and most people even at the end of the 19th century believed in it.
Decline of the Empire
Portugal gradually saw its richness decreasing. Even if Portugal was officially an autonomous state with Spain, the country was a puppet and Portuguese colonies started to be attacked by Spain's opponents. Still, life was calm and serene with the first two Spanish kings; they maintained Portugal status, gave excellent positions to Portuguese nobles in the Spanish courts and Portugal maintained an independent law, currency and government. There was, even, the idea to shift the Spanish capital to Lisbon. The third, Philip III tried to make Portugal a Spanish province, and Portuguese nobles lost power. Because of this, in December 1 1640, a native king, John IV, was acclaimed, and a Restoration war against Spain was made. Ceuta governors didn't accept the new king and maintained their allegiance to Spain. The Dutch started to attack all the Portuguese Empire; Portugal regained some, but much was lost especially in Asia. Other new empires had emerged and also assaulted it.
The population massively immigrated to Brazil. In 1709, King John V prohibited emigration, since Portugal had lost a very sizable amount of population. Brazil was elevated to vice-kingdom and Amerindians gained total freedom. Lisbon was destroyed in 1755 earthquake. From 1801, the country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, and lost Olivença (part of the national territory) to Spain (ally of France). Shortly after, the Kingdom of Brazil proclaimed its independence in 1822.
The First and Second Republics
A 1910 revolution deposed the Portuguese monarchy starting a period of chaotic republicanism (First Republic); in 1926 a nationalist military coup d'etat began a period of more than five decades of repressive government (Second Republic) headed by António de Oliveira Salazar, but more stable financially and economically. In the 1960s, Portuguese India is annexed by India, what Portugal classified as invasion and demanded the return of it in the United Nations but without effort. Salazarist Portugal did not wanted to lose its colonial empire so, between 1961 and 1974, Portugal suffered from a colonial war in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, in order to stop the independentist movements. Despite the death of Salazar in 1970, and Marcelo Caetano's marcelist spring the war was one of the factors that originated the 1974 Revolution.
The Third Republic
In 1974, an effectively bloodless left-wing military coup (the Carnation Revolution) installed a government that instituted broad democratic reforms. The following year Portugal granted independence to its Overseas Provinces (Port. Províncias Ultramarinas) in Africa (Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe) and lost its province of East Timor in Asia to an Indonesian invasion. Portugal itself entered the European Union in 1986, whilst another Asian dependency, Macau, reverted to Chinese sovereignty in December 1999.
Portugal made international pressure to grant East Timor's independence from Indonesia (Portugal cut diplomatic relations with this country and prohibited the import of Indonesian products) and applied that East Timor was still a Portuguese dependency, recognized by the United Nations. Indonesia and other countries pressed Portugal to recognize Indonesian rule over East Timor, but Portugal objected. After a referendum in 1999, East Timor voted for independence and became, officially, independent in 2002, Portugal recognized its independence and reactivated relations with Indonesia. This recognition officially ended the Portuguese rule in other areas of the world.
With the independence of former [colonies in 1976, the Portuguese Empire has its end. But the return of Portuguese from the former colonies had made a significant increment of the population and economy, the country's road to rebirth was made.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Portugal
In the years following the 1974 coup Portugal has progressively done away with undemocratic institutions and established itself as a constitutional democracy. The four main organs of Portuguese politics are the presidency, the prime minister and Council of Ministers (the cabinet), the Assembly of the Republic (the parliament), and the Judicial 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. The Council of State, a presidential advisory body, is composed of six senior civilian officers, any former presidents elected since 1976, five members chosen by the Assembly, and five selected by the president.
The government is headed by the 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.
The Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República) 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.
The national Supreme Court is the court of last appeal. Military, administrative, and fiscal courts are designated as separate court categories. A nine-member Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of legislation.
Districts and regions
Main article: Political divisions of Portugal
Mainland Portugal is currently divided into 18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito): Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon (Port. Lisboa), Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu.
Beyond these there are two autonomous regions (regiões autónomas): the Azores (Açores) and Madeira. Each district and region is further subdivided into the Municipalities of Portugal.
Note: Portuguese Districts are slated to be abolished and replaced by new Metropolitan Areas and Urban Communities.
Geography
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Main article: Geography of Portugal
Continental Portugal is split in two by its main river, the Tagus (Tejo). To the north the landscape is mountainous in the interior areas with plateaus, cutted by for breakings lines that allow the development of relevant agricultural areas, though Portugal's highest point is Mount Pico in the Azores at 2,351 m. The south down to the Algarve features mostly rolling plains and the climate here is somewhat warmer and drier than the cooler and rainier north. Other major rivers include the Douro, the Minho and the Guadiana, similar to the Tagus in that all originate in Spain. Another important river originate in Serra da Estrela (the highest mountains in continental Portugal - 1,991 m), the Mondego. The islands of the Azores and Madeira islands are vulcanic in origin, and in the Azores, a vulcano is still active.
In mainland Portugal, the avarage temperatures are 13ºC in the North and 18ºC in the South. Madeira and Azores due to its location in the Atlantic are rainy, wet and the amplitude of temperature are shortened. In Madeira Island, there is a regional weather outlook, due to the montains that divide the island: the north is more rainy and mild. The South is less rainy and the temperature rises.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Portugal
Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Union in 1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatised many state-controlled firms and liberalised key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. Today, Portugal is a developed nation. It qualified for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating its new currency, the euro, on January 1, 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies.
Economic growth has been above the EU average for much of the past decade, but GDP per capita stands at just 75% of that of the leading EU economies. Although the country still has 9% (2001) of the population illiterate, mostly elderly, Portugal is in need to advance structural reforms needed to boost country's economic competitiveness. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Portugal
Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically, ethnically and religiously. The country is characterized by city, town or village cultural differentiation and there's, virtually, no regional affection, unlike other European countries. Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only the villages of Miranda de Douro's Leonese dialect recognised as a locally co-official language as Mirandese, Asturian in Spain is another Leonese dialect but not officially recognized by Spain. Minorities, such as those of African immigrants from the former colonies, number circa 100,000, excluding those that acquired Portuguese nationality. Most immigrants are from Cape Verde, Brazil, Angola and Ukraine; today there is almost 1 immigrant per 10 Portuguese citizens. Since the decolonization period, Portugal almost only received immigrants from the former African colonies (not considering Portuguese Africans) or from Europe (United Kingdom, Germany and France - mainly due to climate, culture or easy living). Today is chosen by many Eastern European citizens (mainly Ukrainians and Russians) and Brazilians in search for a better life. Portugal was a country of emigrancy, now it is an obvious example of inmigrancy. A majority of the Portuguese population is part of the Roman Catholic Church. In early 2004, Portugal had 10,475 million inhabitants.
International disputes
By the Vienna Treaty of 1815, Spain agreed to return Olivença (in Spanish, Olivenza) to Portugal, but this hasn't been done yet. Olivenza is administrated by Spain since 1801, Portugal has periodically reasserted claims that the handover be made. Portugal has discussed Olivença's problem in the Portuguese parliament in June 25th, 2004.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Portugal - List of Portuguese people - Sebastianism
Literature
Portugal is sometimes known as "a country of poets". In fact, Portuguese poetry has a bigger influence in the country's literature than prose. In the dawn of nationality, poetry in Portuguese-Galician was widely popular in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. There are excellent works, in lyrical as in epic poetry. Without a doubt, the most worldwide known Portuguese poets are Luís de Camões and Fernando Pessoa, but we should also state the modern Portuguese poetry (since the 19th century) has its roots in a handful of relevant poets, from neo-classicism to these days.
Prose developed later than verse and first appeared in the 14th century in the shape of short chronicles, lives of saints, and genealogical treatises. The line of the chroniclers which is one of the boasts of Portuguese literature began with Fernão Lopes. Gil Vicente and Priest António Vieira are some pre-modern Portuguese writers. But, it is the modern Portuguese literature that is more internationally known, especially the works of Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano, Eça de Queirós, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Lobo Antunes and the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature, José Saramago.
Religion and Popular festivities
Portuguese are in its majority Roman Catholics (circa 97%), but the constitution garantees freedom of choice. In Portugal, Fátima is a very important catholic center, dedicated to the Mother of Jesus, Mary (in Portuguese, Maria).
During the summer, in the month of June, festivities dedicated to three saints known as Santos Populares (Eng. Popular saints) take place in all over Portugal. Why the populace associated the saints to these pagan festivities is not known. But it is possibly related to Roman or local deities before Christianity has spread in the region. The three saints are Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. A common denominator in these festivities are the wine and água-pé (drink basically constituted by grape juice), traditional bread along with sardines, marriages, traditional street dances, fire, fireworks and joy.
Saint Anthony is celebrated in the night of 12 to 13th, especially in Lisbon (where that saint has born and lived most of his live), with Marchas Populares (sort of street carnival) and festivities. In the meantime, several marriages known as Casamentos de Santo António (En., Marriages of Saint Anthony) at the same time are made. But the most popular saint is Saint John, it is celebrated in many cities and towns troughout the country in the night of 23 to 24th, especially in Porto and Braga, where the sardines, Caldo Verde (traditional soup) and plastic hammers to hammer in other person's head for luck are indispensable. The final Saint is Saint Peter, celebrated in the night of 28 to 29th, especially in Póvoa de Varzim and Barcelos, festivities is similar to the others, but more dedicated to the sea and extensive use of fire (fogueiras). In Póvoa de Varzim, there is the Rusgas in the night, another sort of street carnival. Each festivity is a municipal holiday in the cities and towns where it occurs. Carnival is also celebrated widely celebrated in Portugal.
Gastronomy
Eating in Portugal, is one of the visitor's most remembered characteristics of the country. Each region of Portugal, has its traditional dishes, including various kinds of meat, cheap sea-food, diverse and fresh fish (including the 365 ways of making cod dishes, the national dish).
Portugal is the country for wine lovers, known since the Roman Empire; the Romans immediately associated Portugal with its God of Winery and Feast, Bacchus. Today, many famous Portuguese wines are known as some of the world's best: Vinho Verde, Vinho do Douro, Vinho do Alentejo, Vinho do Dão, and the sweet: Port Wine, Madeira wine and the Moscatels of Setúbal and Favaios.
Music
main article: Music of Portugal
Fado (destiny in Portuguese) is a form of melancholic music. The music is linked to the Portuguese word saudade (there is no translation into English; it's a word for the mix feeling of sadness, pain, miss and love) and other feelings, and its origins are probably with a mixture of African slave rhythms with traditional music of Portuguese sailors, it has also Arabic influence.
There are two varieties of Fado: Lisbon and Coimbra. The Lisbon style is the traditional (for the people), while the Coimbra's is the refined style (linked with universitary students); both are seen as ethnic music for sophisticated audience and as candidates for UNESCO World Heritage. The notable Amália Rodrigues introduced the most well-known variety of fado. After her disappearance, a new wave of performers added stylistic changes and brought more international popularity to the traditional Portuguese music. Mariza and Mísia, brought with them a new look to the traditional song, while Dulce Pontes mixed it with popular Portuguese music and Madredeus, made a complete revolution, with new instruments -- all that they kept from the original Fado is its looks and the concept of "saudade". The audience must allways keep silente until the song is completly over, because the music is transmiting pain or some feeling of the interpreter (the fadista), the fadista normally has his/her eyes closed, and singing has if he/she is crying. All varieties of Fado are sorrowful; some can be joyful songs.
Portuguese pop-rock has grown particularly after the 1974 revolution. The most notable bands and musicians are Xutos e Pontapés, GNR, Rui Veloso, Clã, Pedro Abrunhosa and Silence Four.
Other genres include a local version of hip hop, influenced by the American style by descendants of immigrants from former Portuguese colonies in Africa. Hip hop tuga (Portuguese hip hop) is very popular among the younger population in Portugal. Cool Hipnoise, Da Weasel and Mind da Gap are some of the most popular and are becoming internationally known.
Other musicians include the globally recognized pianist Maria João Pires and portuguese-guitarrist Carlos Paredes.
Sports and Dances
European football is the most known, loved and practiced sport in Portugal. As of August 2004, the country is ranked 12th in 205 countries by FIFA. (Luís Figo is one of the world's top players, but the legendary Eusébio and Rui Costa, Cristiano Ronaldo are also noteworthy. At club level, SL Benfica and FC Porto are the main references.
However, soccer is not native to Portugal. The country has an ancient martial art known as "Jogo do Pau" (Eng., Stick Game), used for self-protection and for duels between young men in dispute for a young women. Having its origin in the middle ages, Jogo do Pau uses wooden sticks as a combat weapon. The modern variety uses smaller sticks of 0.60 to 0.80 m (2.0 to 2.6 foot).
As for dancing, Portugal has the traditional folklore (Ranchos Folclóricos), with many varieties from each region. Portugal with Angola has a shared rhythm known as "Kuduro" (popular in both countries), a sort of 'hard samba' with fast movements and extreme sensuality and strong African rhythm, performed mainly by Angolans or Angolan descents.
Holidays
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Ano Novo | |
| January 6 | Epiphany | Dia de Reis | (not a holiday) |
| - | Carnival | Carnaval | (District holiday), tuesday 40 days before Easter |
| - | Good Friday | Sexta-Feira Santa | Friday before Easter |
| - | Easter | Páscoa | Sunday, date varies |
| - | Easter Monday | Pascoela | (not a holiday), Monday after Easter |
| April 25 | Freedom Day | Dia da Liberdade | event of 1974 |
| May 1 | Labour Day | Dia do trabalhador | |
| June 10 | Portugal Day | Dia de Portugal | Camões death, event of 1580 |
| - | Ascension Day | Corpo de Deus | Thursday, 40 days after Easter |
| August 15 | Assumption | Assunção | |
| October 5 | Implantation of the Republic | Implantação da República | event of 1910 |
| November 1 | All Saints Day | Todos os santos | |
| December 1 | Restauration of Independence | Restauração da Independência | event of 1640 |
| December 8 | Imaculate Conception | Imaculada Conceição | Protecting Saint of Portugal |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | Natal |
note: each municipality has its own holiday which is religious (normally Saint Anthony Day - June 13, Saint John Day - June 24 or Saint Peter Day - June 29).
Miscellaneous topics
- Communications in Portugal
- Foreign relations of Portugal
- List of Portuguese birds
- List of Cities in Portugal
- List of Portuguese islands
- Military of Portugal
- Transportation in Portugal
- Reporters without borders world-wide press freedom index 2002: Rank 7 out of 139 countries (3 way tie)
Notes
- [1] The use of the words Lusitânia or Nação Lusa to mean Portugal and Lusitano to mean a Portuguese citizen is due to ancient tribes that lived in most of today’s territory of Portugal, whose land was conquered by the Romans, that by that created, in the area, the Roman Province of Lusitania.
- [2] The actual concept declaration of independence did not exist at the time. Nether the recognization, Portugal was recognized as a kingdom with its own king by Leon in 1143 and by the Pope in 1179. Such is compared to today's recognition of independence.
- [3] Portuguese is the official language of Portugal since 1296, replacing Classical Latin, official since independence. Portuguese does not descend from Classical Latin but rather from Vulgar Latin. In Portugal, the local Vulgar Latin was known as Vulgar Language before it was renamed Portuguese. Mirandese, a related Romance language, is officially recognized in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, spoken in the villages of the municipality.
Bibliography
- Loução, Paulo Alexandre: Portugal, Terra de Mistérios Ésquilo, 2000 (third edition; ISBN 9728605048).
- Muñoz, Mauricio Pasto: Viriato, A Luta pela Liberdade Ésquilo, 2003 (third edition; ISBN 9728605234).
- Neves, Pedro A. & Almeida, Valdemar C.: Ao Encontro da História 7 Porto Editora (ISBN 9720314079).
- Book Series: História de Portugal - Books I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX Quidnovi, 2004.
- Enclyclopedia: Grande Enciclopédia Universal Durclub, 2004.
External links
- Portal do Governo - Main governmental portal
- Presidência da República - Official presidential site
- Assembleia da República - Official parliamentary site
- Welcome to Portugal - All about Portugal
- Portugal inSite - Portugal's official travel and tourism website
- Contemporary Portuguese Political History Research Centre - History and politics
- IPPAR - Monuments of Portugal
- Euro 2004 - Official Euro2004 site
- PortugalTravelGuide - Tourism and holidays
- Portugalia - Photos from Portugal
- Folclore de Portugal - Portuguese folklore
- Portuguese Stick Combat - Martial Art
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