Portugal

Portugal became a kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143. It has had links with England since the 1100s by a treaty. The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century. Fishing and trading with other countries were important here.

Portugal was important in world exploration for two reasons. Firstly, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal was very interested in exploration. Secondly, inventions in navigation led to a greater knowledge of geography.

This exploration of the world began the Portuguese Empire. The country was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries. It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century. However, it lost a lot of money soon after this. Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake devastated the capital and weakened the aristocracy. The country was occupied during the Peninsular War during the early 1800s. It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.

In 1910, the Kingdom of Portugal ended and the nation became a republic. Eight years after Portugal's involvement in World War I, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese First Republic in the 28 May coup d'etat. This began a time of rule by authoritarian governments called Ditadura Nacional that later became known as Estado Novo. During World War II Portugal remained neutral but friendly to Britain and Spain.

In 1974, a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the Carnation Revolution took place that overthrew the military dictatorship and ended the Portuguese Colonial War. Political prisoners and opponents of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar were freed. The coup was an important part of Portugal's transition to democracy and changed the way the country was run.

In 1975, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to become independent: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe.

East Timor in Asia declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975, and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later. Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China.

Portugal joined the European Union in 1986. The main language of Portugal is Portuguese.

Some famous Portuguese people are D. Afonso Henriques, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Luis de Camoes, Fernando Pessoa, Amalia Rodrigues, Alvaro Siza Vieira, and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

Luis de Camoes wrote the national poem of Portugal. It is called Os Lusiadas and was written in 1572.^[11]