Read complete books and articles on: Portuguese History

Portugal - pôrˈchəgəl, officially Portuguese Republic, republic (1995 est. pop. 10,562,000), 35,553 sq mi (92,082 sq km), SW Europe, on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula and including the Madeira Islands and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal is bordered by Spain on the east and north and by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and south. The capital and by

Land and People

The country is crossed by rivers rising in Spain and flowing to the Atlantic; among them are the Douro, the Tagus, the Sado, and the Guadiana. The river valleys support agriculture, and vineyards are maintained in the Douro and Tagus valleys. On the lower hillslopes there are olive groves; grains are grown and livestock are raised on the flatter uplands as well as on the plains near the coast.

There are great variations in terrain and climate among the historic provinces. Trás-os-Montes in the extreme northeast has a rigorous mountain climate, as have parts of Entre-Minho-e-Douro (officially Douro). Beira has the highest mountains of the country, the scenic Serra de Estrela, dotted with resorts. Estremadura, in W Portugal, has broad, alluvial plains, rising to cool and rocky uplands; along the Atlantic coast is a celebrated resort region, reaching to the town of Estoril, near Lisbon. Most of Alentejo has a Mediterranean climate; although much of its soil is poor, together with Estremadura it is the granary of Portugal. The southernmost of the old provinces, Algarve, resembles the northern shores of Africa; mountains curve across the north of the province down to Cape St. Vincent, the southwestern tip of Europe; citrus and almond groves and off-season vegetables thrive in the mild climate.

In addition to the capital, other notable cities are Oporto, Coimbra, Setúbal, Braga, Évora, and Faro. The republic, including the island groups, is divided into 18 administrative districts, although the names of the six historic provinces are still used. Under a 1987 agreement, Portugal's last overseas territory, Macao, reverted to Chinese sovereignty at the end of 1999. The majority of the Portuguese people are Roman Catholic. Portugal has several universities, including ones at Coimbra, Oporto, and Lisbon.

Economy

Portuguese agricultural techniques are less mechanized than those of most of W Europe, and less than 10% of the gross national product can be attributed to agricultural production. Wheat, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, grapes, sugar beets, and olives are the main crops; sheep, cattle, and goats are raised. The country's fishing fleets bring in vital cargoes of sardines and tuna; fishing ports extend all the way from Cape St. Vincent in the south to the mouth of the Minho River on the N Spanish border.

In addition to light industries such as food processing and textile, chemical, and paper and pulp manufacturing, Portugal has a limited variety of heavy industries. Low-grade coal, copper pyrites, iron ore, tungsten, and other minerals are mined. Most of the mines are in the northern mountains and in Beira. Portugal's forests provide a major portion of the world's supply of cork.

The country has enjoyed considerable economic progress since it became a member of the European Community (now the European Union) in 1986. Machinery and motor vehicles, textile fibers, petroleum, and cereals are major imports, and cotton textiles and wine as well as cork, other wood products, and fruit are major exports. European Union countries are the main trading partners.

Government

Portugal is governed under the constitution of 1976, which established a parliamentary republic. The constitution was amended in 1982, 1989, 1992, and 1997. The president, who is the chief of state, is elected by universal suffrage to a five-year term. Appointed by the president and supported by a majority of the assembly of the republic, the premier functions as the head of government, presiding over the council of ministers (the cabinet). In addition, a council of state acts as a consultative body to the president and consists of representatives from the political parties, a military defense board, and a constitutional tribunal. The government's legislative body consists of the 230-seat assembly of the republic, whose members are elected to four-year terms under a system of proportional representation.

History

Early History

There is little direct filiation between the Portuguese of today and the early tribes who inhabited this region, although the Portuguese long considered themselves descendants of the Lusitanians, a Celtic people who came to the area after 1,000 b.c. The Lusitanians had their stronghold in the Serra da Estrela. Under Viriatus (2d cent. b.c.) and under Sertorius (1st cent. b.c.), they stoutly resisted the Romans (see Lusitania). Other tribes, such as the Conii in Algarve, submitted more readily. Julius Caesar and Augustus completed the Roman conquest of the area, and the province of Lusitania thrived. Roman ways were adopted, and it is from Latin that the Portuguese language is derived.

At the beginning of the 5th cent. a.d., the whole Iberian Peninsula was overrun by Germanic invaders; the Visigoths eventually established their rule, but in the north the Suevi established a kingdom that endured until late in the 6th cent., when they were absorbed by the Visigoths. Present-day Algarve was part of the Byzantine Empire during the 6th and 7th cent. In 711 the Visigoths were defeated by the Moors, who conquered the whole peninsula except for Asturias and the Basque country. Muslim culture and science had a great impact, especially in the south. Religious toleration was practiced, but a large minority converted to Islam.

Growth of the State

It was during the long period of the Christian reconquest that the Portuguese nation was created. The kings of Asturias drove the Moors out of Galicia in the 8th cent. Ferdinand I of Castile entered Beira and took the fortress of Viseu and the city of Coimbra in 1064. Alfonso VI of Castile obtained French aid in his wars against the Moors. Henry of Burgundy married an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VI and became (1095?) count of Coimbra and later count of Portucalense. Henry's son Alfonso Henriques, wrested power (1128) from his mother and maintained the independence of his lands. After a victory over the Moors in 1139, he began to style himself Alfonso I, king of Portugal. Spain recognized Portugal's independence in 1143 and the Pope did so in 1179. Alfonso's long reign (1128–85) was an important factor in Portugal's attainment of independence.

Alfonso's successors were faced with the tasks of recapturing Alentejo and Algarve from the Moors and of rebuilding the areas devastated by the long wars. There was conflict with other Portuguese claimants and between the kings and powerful nobles, and there was continual strife between the crown and the church over land and power. Until the late 13th cent. the church was victorious, winning inviolability for ecclesiastic law as well as exemption from general taxation. Sancho I (1185–1211) captured the Moorish capital of Silves but could not hold it. Alfonso II (1211–23) summoned the first Cortes (council to advise the king). After Sancho II (1223–48) was deposed, Alfonso III (1248–79) took (1249) Algarve and thus consolidated Portugal. In Alfonso's reign the towns gained representation in the Cortes.

Years of Glory

The reconquest and resettlement aided local liberties, since forais (charters) guaranteeing municipal rights were granted in order to encourage settlement. As former serfs became settlers, serfdom declined (13th cent.), but in practice many servile obligations remained. Alfonso's son Diniz (1279–1325) attempted to improve land conditions. He also established a brilliant court and founded the university that became the Univ. of Coimbra. The reign of his son, Alfonso IV, is remembered chiefly because of the tragic romance of Inés de Castro, the mistress of Alfonso's son, Peter (later Peter I; 1357–67); to avenge her fate, Peter, on his succession, had two of her murderers executed. Ferdinand I (1367–83) indulged in long Castilian wars. Ferdinand's heiress was married to a Castilian prince, John I of Castile; after the death of Ferdinand, John claimed the throne.

The Portuguese, largely due to the efforts of Nun'Álvares Pereira, defeated the Castilians in the battle of Aljubarrota (1385) and established John I, a bastard son of Peter, as king. At this time began the long alliance of Portugal with England. John founded the Aviz dynasty and his reign (1385–1433) commenced the most glorious period of Portuguese history. Portugal entered an era of colonial and maritime expansion. The war against the Moors was extended to Africa, and Ceuta was taken. Under the aegis of Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese ships sailed out along the coast of Africa. The Madeira Islands and the Azores were colonized. Duarte (1433–38) failed to take Tangier, but his son Alfonso V (1438–81) succeeded (1471) in doing so.

Alfonso's attempt to gain the Castilian throne ended in defeat. Under his son John II (1481–95) voyages of exploration were resumed. Bartholomew Diaz rounded (1488) the Cape of Good Hope. By the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world between them. During the glittering reign of Manuel I (1495–1521), Vasco da Gama sailed (1497–98) to India, Pedro Alvarez Cabral claimed (1500) Brazil, and Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa (1510), Melaka (1511), and Hormoz (1515). The Portuguese Empire extended across the world, to Asia, Africa, and America. In 1497, as a precondition to his marriage with Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter, Manuel ordered the Jewish population to convert to Christianity or leave the country. Manuel's reign and that of

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: Portuguese History

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The History of Portugal » Read Now
by James M. Anderson. 222 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This informative, concise, and engagingly written work provides the most up-to-date history of Portugal, current through 1999, and gives a full picture of the political, social, cultural, and economic influences that shaped the history of Portugal. Covering the period from Portugal's early...
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This informative, concise, and engagingly written work provides the most up-to-date history of Portugal, current through 1999, and gives a full picture of the political, social, cultural, and economic influences that shaped the history of Portugal. Covering the period from Portugal's early conception as a nation through its long history, with emphasis on the dramatic period of the last several decades, this volume culminates with the demise of the Salazar dictatorship and the independence of its colonies. Complete with a timeline for easy reference to events, brief biographies of important people, lists of monarchs and heads of state, and a bibliographic essay, it is the ideal companion for the student or interested reader.
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2.

The Structure of Portuguese Society: The Failure of Fascism » Read Now
by Diamantino P. Machado. 218 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This macrohistorical study sheds light on the "Portuguese paradox": why a country with a vast and wealthy colonial empire became the poorest and most backward of Western European nations. Employing a class conflict perspective, Machado examines Portugal's Estado Novo and the eventual collapse of the...
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This macrohistorical study sheds light on the "Portuguese paradox": why a country with a vast and wealthy colonial empire became the poorest and most backward of Western European nations. Employing a class conflict perspective, Machado examines Portugal's Estado Novo and the eventual collapse of the reactionary coalition. He analyzes the important role of the state in Portugal's political economy between 1926 and 1974, offering new insights about the Estado Novo, Salazar, the military, and bureaucratic-authoritarian states.
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3.

The Portuguese Economy since 1974 » Read Now
by David Corkill. 178 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...4.7 Sectors of Portuguese Industry under Threat Post-1992...Department of English and History at Manchester Polytechnic...Wiarda 1987 argues that Portuguese corporatism was...
4.

Portugal: From Monarchy to Pluralist Democracy » Read Now
by Walter C. Opello Jr. 182 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...his Decadas , a history of the Portuguese in Goa. Fernao Lopes...His best work was a history of the Catalan uprising...1640 that allowed the Portuguese to regain their...
5.

Portugal since the Revolution: Economic and Political Perspectives » Read Now
by Jorge Braga de Macedo, Simon C. Serfaty. 218 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...because of the long history of the Empire and of...boundaries in Europe, the Portuguese have had a high sense...1% . In short, the Portuguese do not look to any...
6.

The Portuguese Revolution and the Armed Forces Movement » Read Now
by Rona M. Fields. 300 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...examination of the history of Portugal and of Portuguese behavior in Africa...outside the context of Portuguese history, nor an improbability...Samuels, eds., Portuguese...
7.

Political Parties and Democracy in Portugal: Organizations, Elections, and Public Opinion » Read Now
by Thomas Bruneau. 145 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
8.

Who Governs Southern Europe? Regime Change and Ministerial Recruitment, 1850-2000 ("Portuguese Ministers, 1851-1999: Social Background and Paths to Power" begins on p. 5) » Read Now
by Pedro Tavares de Almeida, Nancy Bermeo, Antonio Costa Pinto. 242 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

"In modern politics, Cabinet ministers are major actors in the arena of power as they occupy a strategic locus of command from which vital, authoritative decisions flow continuously. Who are these uppermost policy makers? What are their background characte"
9.

Spain and Portugal Today » Read Now
by William D. Griffin, Julia L. Ortiz-Griffin. 242 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Julia L. Ortiz-Griffin teaches Spanish language and literature in the City University of New York.
10.

Christopher Columbus and the Portuguese, 1476-1498 » Read Now
by Rebecca Catz. 138 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Although much has been written about Columbus's life in Italy and Spain, little has been written about his formative years in Portugal. This work is the first book-length analysis of Columbus's stay in Portugal and Madeira from 1476 to 1485 and his later experiences in the Portuguese islands of the...
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Although much has been written about Columbus's life in Italy and Spain, little has been written about his formative years in Portugal. This work is the first book-length analysis of Columbus's stay in Portugal and Madeira from 1476 to 1485 and his later experiences in the Portuguese islands of the Azores and the Madeiras. The work stresses the influence the Portuguese had in educating Columbus about the sea, and it depicts his famous voyage to the New World as a logical sequence of the pioneering voyages of the Portuguese in the North Atlantic and along the West Coast of Africa. The work attempts to sort legend from fact and debunks the many myths about Columbus's stays on the island of Madeira.
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11.

The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536-1765 » Read Now
by H. P. Salomon, Antonio Jose Saraiva, I. S. D. Sassoon. 404 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

"The Marrano Factory argues that the Portuguese Inquisition's stated intention of extirpating heresies and purifying Portuguese Catholicism was a monumental hoax; the true purpose of the Holy Office was the fabrication rather than the destruction of "Judaizers." The caste or "race" of the New...
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"The Marrano Factory argues that the Portuguese Inquisition's stated intention of extirpating heresies and purifying Portuguese Catholicism was a monumental hoax; the true purpose of the Holy Office was the fabrication rather than the destruction of "Judaizers." The caste or "race" of the New Christians was in reality synonymous with the Portuguese mercantile middle class which conservative Portuguese society would not tolerate. Most or nearly all of the New Christian Inquisitorial victims (some 40,000 between 1540 and 1765) were unremarkable Catholics who often had minimal Jewish ancestry. The Portuguese Inquisitorial procedure was not designed to distinguish between guilt and innocence, but considered any defendant, once categorized a New Christian, a Judaizer.
First published in Portuguese in 1969, this is the only work by Antsnio Josi Saraiva available in English and the only single-volume history devoted primarily to the working of the Portuguese Inquisition, a most lucid and compact survey. It presents Saraiva's 1975 revised history and analysis of the Portuguese Inquisition; a 1971 interview with Professor Israel Salvator Rivah; Saraiva's dialogues and Rivah's reply of the same year; both scholars' letters to the "Diario de Lisboa. Footnotes and introductions have been expanded. A brief survey of the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa, India, as well as a list of Portuguese kings and Inquisitors-general and an up-to-date bibliography have been added.
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12.

Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War, 1961-1974 » Read Now
by John P. Cann. 219 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

The first comprehensive account in English of how the Portuguese Armed Forces prepared for and conducted a distant counterinsurgency campaign in its African possessions with very limited resources, choosing to stay and fight despite the small odds for success. The Portuguese military crafted its...
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The first comprehensive account in English of how the Portuguese Armed Forces prepared for and conducted a distant counterinsurgency campaign in its African possessions with very limited resources, choosing to stay and fight despite the small odds for success. The Portuguese military crafted its doctrine and implemented it to match the guerrilla strategy of protracted war, and in doing so, followed the lessons gleaned from the British and French experiences in small wars. The Portuguese approach to the conflict was distinct in that it sought to combine the two-pronged national strategy of containing the cost of the war and of spreading the burden to the colonies with the solution on the battlefield. It describes how Portugal defined and analyzed its insurgency problem in light of the available knowledge on counterinsurgency, how it developed its military policies and doctrines in this context, and how it applied them in the African colonial environment. The uniqueness of its approach is highlighted through a thematic military analysis of the Portuguese effort and a comparison with the experiences of other governments fighting similar contemporaneous wars.
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13.

The Press and the Rebirth of Iberian Democracy ("The Press in Spain and Portugal" begins on p. 31) » Read Now
by Kenneth Maxwell. 200 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
14.

Chapters of Brazil's Colonial History, 1500-1800 » Read Now
by Capistrano De Abreu, Arthur Brakel. 238 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

In all the history of Latin America, few historians have been so influential as the Brazilian scholar Joao Capistrano de Abreu. His own life reflected the changes that swept his country and his academy: the nineteenth century scion of a remote Brazilian province, he paid his way to the capital by...
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In all the history of Latin America, few historians have been so influential as the Brazilian scholar Joao Capistrano de Abreu. His own life reflected the changes that swept his country and his academy: the nineteenth century scion of a remote Brazilian province, he paid his way to the capital by selling a slave he had inherited; he went on to bring Brazilian history into the twentieth century, moving it from patriotic sentimentalism to rigorous, rational scholarship. Now, for the first time, his central work, a classic of historical literature, appears in a sharp, clear English translation. In Chapters in Brazil's Colonial History, Abreu created an integrated history of Brazil in a landmark work of scholarship that is also a literary masterpiece. Breaking with previous writers, who had taken a plodding governor after governor approach that rested upon administration and politics, Abreu offers a startlingly modern analysis of the past, based on the role of the economy, settlement, and the occupation of the interior. In these pages, he combines sharp portraits of dramatic events--close fought battles against Dutch occupation in the 1650s, Indian resistance to often brutal internal expansion--with insightful social history. A master of Brazil's ethnographic landscape, he provides detailed sketches of daily life for Brazilians of all stripes. Abreu first won acclaim for a linguistic study of a Brazilian Indian language; he brings that knowledge to play as he describes the interaction between colonial settlers, African slaves, and native inhabitants, as cultures mixed in the creation of the modern nation. He also stresses the role of the physical landscape and environment in ways that presaged contemporary developments in historical scholarship. And along the way, his distinctive voice provides the reader with rare pleasure. After quoting a vivid description of a typical seventeenth century atrocity, for example, he interrupts his narrative to ask, "Do horrors such as this make it worth thanking the bandeirantes for taming this land and making it part of Brazil?" This accomplished new translation of a Brazilian classic will be an integral volume in Oxford's new Library of Latin America. Never before available in English, this superb narrative opens Brazil's rich, fascinating past to the general reader, and offers scholars access to a great turning point in historical scholarship.
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