

History of Portugal in 7 Minutes

Portugal is an exciting and vibrant country, And this small western European nation definitely had a storied past.

People have inhabited this area since the 6th century BC, and maybe even more All the history that has taken place between then and now packs quite a punch, so lets Take a closer look, Obviously like everywhere else in Europe.

It seems the Romans occupied the area first, but sometime after their demise in the 5th century, the Moors invaded.

Moors or Moorish were medieval muslims from the Morocco area of North Africa.They came galavanting in in the year 711 and took the whole Iberian peninsula, and then some.Pockets of Christians in the north remained and pushed back here and there over the next few hundred years. The leader of one such pocket pushed a little harder than most and got the Moors back south and east and claimed himself the first King of Portugal.

t. The same time. The Spanish to the east were also pushing south and eastwest disputes with them started to pop up Subsequent Afonsos followed and kept the march south going south and in 1249, Afonso III captured Faro. Today’S capital city of the Algarve.They still had the problem, though, of keeping Spains noses out of their new borders.

Portugal made friends with England and Spain backed outThe. New allies signed the Treaty of Windsor, which is still in effect today and utilized. As recently as the Second World War, The Portuguese were now free to explore the waters and explore they did Setting up colonies of trade all over the world. The discovery of Brazil in 1500 would prove to be most vital.With trading: ports in India, China, South America and Africa.

Portugal was an imposing Empire.However things hit the fan in 1578, when King Sebastian was killed in battle without an heir to his throne. The great empire was all of a sudden in crisis and Spain’s King, Philip II, claimed the throne referencing some obscure family lineage.There was some opposition to this. So an impatient Philip took advantage in Portugals time of weakness and invaded in 1580.

Now there were some good and bad things about this, merger.Bad being that they now shared enemies, including England.And, that the Dutch sniffed weakness and started to seize more and more of Brazil.But. Good being that with Spains help, they managed to defeat the Dutch and also life wasnt.

So bad under the first two Spanish Kings, Portugal was still under their own law government currency and still retained some status. When Philip IV came along. However, things got a bit nasty. He figured he’d, make Portugal a province of Spain and removed Portuguese nobles from positions of power. In a twist of fate, Spain was pretty much broke by this time from the Thirty Years War and sensing good timing, the nobleman nominated John, the Duke of Braganza, to lead the resistance which came to be known as the Portuguese Restoration War.

The House Braganza still lay claim to the throne today, even though the monarch has been abolished for some time now, And because Spain helped them retain Brazil. Portugal was able to draw upon its wealth to help fund the war, which would last 28 years In 1668. Spain. Officially recognized Portugal as independent20 years later, gold is discovered in Brazil. And boom Portugal is rich beyond belief And good thing too.

As on the morning of November 1st 1755, a devastating earthquake struck. The quake, the tsunamis and the fires that resulted pretty much annihilated the country and everything in it, the castles, the treasures, the art, in addition to the heavy loss of life, The king at the time, was Joseph. I, and he had appointed this guy. Well call him Sebastian or better yet by his title, Marquis of Pombal.

Is was his swift reaction, his economic reform policies and financial restructuring that allowed Portugal to rebuild quickly.

is strong leadership ensured the country would not fall into ruin and hardship and statues and other tributes to him are everywhere. His cost control measures were not favoured by the upper crust, nor was he a very nice guy.

Otherwise, so he was exiled The years after the rebuild period also saw an invasion by Napoleon. He actually took Lisbon for a couple of years, but Portugal called on their English buddies for help. Brazil’S independence, followed in 1822, Some political jostling and rumblings in the African colonies bring about Britains Ultimatum, demanding the retreat of Portuguese troops from the area known as the Pink Map, so that Britain could connect Cairo to Cape Town by railthe fallout and the protests from this Political’Stiff arm’ basically collapsed the Portuguese monarchy, This brings us to WWI, in which Portugal sides, with the allies.

Post war, turmoil and unrest, lead to a coup in May of 1926, which gave power to the military and eventually saw the rise of Antonio Salazar, and he took Portugal into a tough period of dictatorship. Oppression and media censorship.He also led the country through the second world war in which Portugal was technically neutral, but did supply troops under the British flagbut also conducted trade with both sides In the late 1960s, Salazar was forced to retire due to a bathtub brain hemorrhage and Turned the reins over to a slightly less radical successor.In 1974. The peaceful Carnation Revolution removed the radicals from power without a single gunshot.

This opened the door to bigger and better things, but it was really January 1st 1986, when Portugal joined the Economic Community now known as the EU that things really started to turn. Around.Funds were made available to build roads, schools, medical facilities and allowed for foreign investment.This is what really led to the Portugal we are able to visit and enjoy today.So there.

You have a brief history of Portugal!

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