Portugal

  

Kingdom of Portugal Reino de Portugal (pt)
Flag National arms
Anthem: Hymno Patriótico Royal anthem: Hino da Carta
Map of Portugal
Capital and largest city	Lisbon
Official languages	Portuguese
Recognised regional languages	Cantonese
Ethnic groups (2021)	94.6% Portuguese 5.4% Others
Religion	Avignon Catholic Church (official)
Demonym(s)	Portuguese
Government	Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	John VII (I)
• Prime Minister	Sandro de Sá (CDP)
Legislature	National Assembly
• Upper house	House of Peers
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Established
• Battle of Ourique	Jul 25, 1139
• Restoration of Independence	December 1, 1640
• 1910 Revolution	October 5, 1910
• Winter Restoration	February 17, 1919
Area
• Total	133,486.3 km2 (51,539.3 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 estimate	13,873,115
• 2017 census	13,573,115
GDP (PPP)	2017 estimate
• Total	$460.6 Billion
• Per capita	$37,000
GDP (nominal)	2017 estimate
• Total	$360.45 Billion
• Per capita	$26,700
Gini (2014)	0.321 low
HDI (2017)	0.870 very high
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+5
ISO 3166 code	PRT
Internet TLD	.prt

Portugal, officially the Kingdom of Portugal, is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in Soutwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state in Europe, being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and east and north to Spain. Portugal has overseas territories such as the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores, the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, and the port of Macau in East Asia. The official language of the country is Portuguese with Cantonese being a regionally recognized language.

Portugal is one of the oldest states in Europe and is the oldest state on the Iberian Peninsula having been invaded, contested and fought over various times throughout prehistoric and pre-modern times. Originally inhabited by the pre-Celtic and Celtic peoples, the region was later visited by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Ancient Greeks and ruled by the Romans before the invasions by the Subei and Gothic Germanic peoples. After being conquered by the Muslims, the region was known as Al-Andalus of which modern day Portugal was a part of prior to its reconquest in Reconquista. Founded in 868, the future nation was founded as the County of Portugal which became prominent after the Battle of São Mamede (1128) with the kingdom being proclaimed and would gain independence after the Battle of Ourique (1139) from León and was recognized by the Treaty of Zamora (1143).

During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal would establish the first global maritime and commercial empire and became one of the world's leading economic, military, and political powers. During this period, now called the Age of Discovery, Portuguese explorers would pioneer maritime exploration with the discovery of what would become Brazil (1500). During this time, Portugal monopolized the spice trade, divided the world into hemispheres of influence of dominian with Castile, and and expanded its colonial empire overseas into Asia. Portugal would hold significant influence, however events such as the 1755 Lisbon arthquake, the occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and Brazilian independence in 1822 caused its power to wane significantly.

In 1910, a revolution saw the dissolution of the monarchy and the establishment of the Portuguese Republic. The Portuguese Republic was marked by political instability, and in 1919 it was overthrown by conservative and royalist elements in the north, who re-established the kingdom as an absolute monarchy that lasted until 1976. Portugal participated in Great War I on the side of the Entente Impériale and the Colonial Wars of the 1960s, fighting in the latter to maintain its colonial possessions. In 1976, the absolute monarchy was reformed into a constitutional one, albeit one with privlages to the monarchy.

Portugal has left a profound cultural, architectural and linguistic influence across the globe, with a legacy of around 250 million Portuguese speakers around the world. It is a developed country with an advanced economy and high living standards. Portugal is a founding member of the League of Nations and the European Community and is a member-state of the Northern Treaty Organization.

Etymology

The word Portugal derives from the Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale; a city where present-day Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (New village in Gaia) now stand, at the mouth of the River Douro in the north of what is now Portugal. The name of the city is from the Latin word for port or harbour, portus, but the second element of Portus Cale is less clear. The mainstream explanation for the name is that it is an ethnonym derived from the Castro people, also known as the Callaeci, Gallaeci or Gallaecia, who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. The names Cale and Callaici are the origin of today's Gaia and Galicia.

Another theory proposes that Cale or Calle is a derivation of the Celtic word for 'port', like the Irish caladh or Scottish Gaelic cala. These explanations, would require the pre-Roman language of the area to have been a branch of Q-Celtic, which is not generally accepted because the region's pre-Roman language was Gallaecian Celtic, usually considered P-Celtic. However, scholars like Jean Markale and Tranoy propose that the Celtic branches all share the same origin, and placenames such as Cale, Gal, Gaia, Calais, Galatia, Galicia, Gaelic, Gael, Gaul, Wales, Cornwall, Wallonia and others all stem from one linguistic root.

Another theory has it that Cala was the name of a Celtic goddess (drawing a comparison with the Gaelic Cailleach, a supernatural hag). Some French scholars believe the name may have come from Portus Gallus, the port of the Gauls or Celts.

Around 200 BC, the Romans took the Iberian Peninsula from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War. In the process they conquered Cale, renaming it Portus Cale ('Port of Cale') and incorporating it in the province of Gaellicia with its capital in Bracara Augusta (modern day Braga, Portugal). During the Middle Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Suebi and Visigoths as Portucale. The name Portucale evolved into Portugale during the 7th and 8th centuries, and by the 9th century, that term was used extensively to refer to the region between the rivers Douro and Minho. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugale, Portugallia, Portvgallo or Portvgalliae was already referred to as Portugal.

The 14th-century Middle French name for the country, Portingal, which added an intrusive /n/ sound through the process of excrescence, spread to Middle English. Middle English variant spellings included Portingall, Portingale, Portyngale and Portingaill. The spelling Portyngale is found in Chaucer's Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale. These variants survive in the Torrent of Portyngale, a Middle English romance composed around 1400, and "Old Robin of Portingale", an English Child ballad. Portingal and variants were also used in Scots and survive in the Cornish name for the country, Portyngal.

History

Main article: History of Portugal

Republicanism and restoration

Main articles: October Revolution (Portugal) and Winter Restoration

See also: Republicanism in Portugal

Government and politics

The Kingdom of Portugal is a unitary semi-constitutional monarchy and and parliamentary democracy. The head of state is the monarch, who despite being a largely ceremonial figure has retained a number of executive privileges protected by the Portugese constitution. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is elected by the National Assembly following general elections.

Monarchy

Main article: Monarchy of Portugal

Parliament

Main article: National Assembly of Portugal

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Portugal

Military

Main article: Portugese Armed Forces