Portal:Portugal

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Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, overlooking the Tagus river
Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, overlooking the Tagus river

Flag of Portugal
Location of Portugal in Europe

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, its mainland west and south border with the North Atlantic Ocean and in the north and east, the Portugal-Spain border constitutes the longest uninterrupted border-line in the European Union. Its archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. On the mainland, Alentejo region occupies the biggest area but is one of the least densely populated regions of Europe. Lisbon is the capital and largest city by population, being also the main spot for tourists alongside Porto and Algarve.

One of the oldest countries in Europe, its territory has been continuously settled and fought over since prehistoric times. The territory was inhabited by the Celtic and Iberian peoples, such as the Lusitanians, the Gallaecians, the Celtici, Turduli, and the Conii. These peoples had some commercial and cultural contact with Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Carthaginians. It was later ruled by the Romans, followed by the invasions of Germanic peoples together with the Alans, and later the Moors, who were eventually expelled during the Reconquista. First founded as a county within the Kingdom of León in 868, Portugal formally became an independent kingdom with the Treaty of Zamora in 1143.

During the 15th and 16th centuries Portugal led the Age of Discovery and established one of the longest-lived maritime and commercial empires, becoming one of the main economic and political powers of the time. By the early 19th century, events such as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the country's occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the resulting independence of Brazil in 1822 led to a marked decay of Portugal's prior opulence. This was followed by the civil war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists over royal succession from 1828 to 1834. The 1910 revolution deposed Portugal's monarchy, and established the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic, later superseded by the authoritarian regimes of Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship) and Estado Novo (New State). Democracy was restored after the Carnation Revolution (1974), ending the Portuguese Colonial War and eventually losing its remaining colonial possessions. (Full article...)

A view of the yellowish landscape of the Serra Amarela (Yellow Range)

The Peneda-Gerês National Park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpaɾkɨ nɐsjuˈnal pɨˈneðɐ ʒɨˈɾeʃ]), also known simply as Gerês, is a national park located in northern Portugal. Created in May 1971, it is the oldest protected area and the only national park in Portugal. It covers an area of 695.9 km2 (268.7 sq mi), occupying the Districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga, and Vila Real and bordering the Spanish Baixa Limia – Serra do Xurés natural park to the north, with which forms the UNESCO biosphere reserve of Gerês-Xurés.

Peneda-Gerês was given its name by its two main granite massifs, the Serra da Peneda and the Serra do Gerês which, with the Serra Amarela and the Serra do Soajo, constitute the park's highest peaks. On the other hand, the precipitous valleys, crossed by high flowing streams, host lush temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of oak and pine, being one of the last strongholds of the typical Atlantic European flora of Portugal, contrasting with an evolving Mediterranean biome. The park is also home to around 220 vertebrate species, some only native to the Iberian Peninsula including the threatened Pyrenean desman, Iberian frog, or gold-striped salamander. (Full article...)

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Field Marshal Beresford disarming a Polish lancer at Albuera, by Thomas Sutherland

The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.

From October 1810, Marshal Masséna's French Army of Portugal had been tied down in an increasingly hopeless stand-off against Wellington's Allied forces, safely entrenched in and behind the Lines of Torres Vedras. Acting on Napoleon's orders, in early 1811 Marshal Soult led a French expedition from Andalusia into Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from the Lines and ease Masséna's plight. Napoleon's information was outdated and Soult's intervention came too late; starving and understrength, Masséna's army was already withdrawing to Spain. Soult was able to capture the strategically important fortress at Badajoz on the border between Spain and Portugal from the Spanish, but was forced to return to Andalusia following Marshal Victor's defeat in March at the Battle of Barrosa. However, Soult left Badajoz strongly garrisoned. In April, following news of Masséna's complete withdrawal from Portugal, Wellington sent a powerful Anglo-Portuguese corps commanded by General Sir William Beresford to retake the border town. The Allies drove most of the French from the surrounding area and began the siege of Badajoz. (Full article...)

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"There are several kinds of states: socialist states, corporative states, and the state we've arrived at!"

Há diversas modalidades de Estado: os estados socialistas, os estados corporativos e o estado a que isto chegou!

Salgueiro Maia to his troops on the evening of 24 to 25 April 1974

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The 1961 and 1962 European Cup trophies on display at Museu Cosme Damião

Sport Lisboa e Benfica is a Portuguese professional football club based in Lisbon whose involvement in European competition dates back to the 1950s. As champions of Portugal, Benfica were supposed to participate in the inaugural edition of the European Cup in 1955, but they were not invited by the organizers. Two years later, Benfica made their European debut against Sevilla in the European Cup, on 19 September 1957.

Benfica won their first European title in 1961, defeating Barcelona to win the European Cup, and successfully retained the title in the following year after defeating Real Madrid. After that, they appeared in five more finals (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988 and 1990) but did not reconquer the title. Benfica has also reached three UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals (1983, 2013 and 2014). (Full article...)

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Portrait painted c. 1435
John I (Portuguese: João [ʒuˈɐ̃w̃]; 11 April 1357 – 14 August 1433), also called John of Aviz, was King of Portugal from 1385 until his death in 1433. He is recognized chiefly for his role in Portugal's victory in a succession war with Castile, preserving his country's independence and establishing the Aviz (or Joanine) dynasty on the Portuguese throne. His long reign of 48 years, the most extensive of all Portuguese monarchs, saw the beginning of Portugal's overseas expansion. John's well-remembered reign in his country earned him the epithet of Fond Memory (de Boa Memória); he was also referred to as "the Good" (o Bom), sometimes "the Great" (o Grande), and more rarely, especially in Spain, as "the Bastard" (Bastardo). (Full article...)

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Window of the Convent of the Order of Christ, in Tomar, a Templar stronghold built by Dom Gualdim Pais, provincial Master of the Order of the Temple in 1160.

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