Prehistory The region has been inhabited by humans since approximately 400,000 years ago. Later
Neanderthals roamed the northern Iberian peninsula, and a
hominin tooth has been found at the Nova da Columbeira Cave in
Estremadura. arrived in what is now Portugal around 35,000 years ago and subsequently spread rapidly, with the onset of the
Neolithic dating to approximately 5400 BC. In southern Portugal,
Iron Age inscribed
stele have been found, representing the earliest known evidence of writing on the Iberian Peninsula. Pre-Celtic tribes inhabited Portugal. The
Lusitanians occupied central, inland regions.
Celts mainly inhabited the north and centre of Portugal, leaving lasting traces in the language and culture.
Antiquity and early Middle Ages , built in the 1st century|alt=Ruins of the Roman Temple of Évora with tall Corinthian columns standing on a raised platform made of rocks in a sunlit town square, set against a bright blue sky, with a medieval tower and white buildings in the background. Romans first
invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 218BC. The Carthaginians, Rome's opponent in the
Punic Wars, were expelled from the peninsula in 206BC after the
Battle of Ilipa. Within 200 years, almost the entire Iberian Peninsula had been annexed to the
Roman Republic, facing
resistance from local tribes, notably the Lusitanians led by
Viriathus. In 409, with the decline of the
Roman Empire, the
Iberian Peninsula was invaded by
Germanic tribes. Western Iberia was initially integrated into the
Suebian Kingdom, with its capital at
Braga. The
Visigoths eventually defeated the
Suebi and ruled the entire peninsula until the early 8th century. In 711, the Iberian Peninsula was
invaded from the south by the
Umayyad Caliphate who expanded rapidly in the peninsula and most of it became part of
al-Andalus in 726. The land that is now Portugal was part of the Umayyad Caliphate until the caliphate's collapse in 750. That year the western part of the caliphate gained its independence under
Abd al-Rahman I, with the establishment of the
Emirate of Córdoba, which lasted until 1031, with its dissolution into 23
small kingdoms. Most of present-day Portugal fell into the hands of the
Taifa of Badajoz, and in 1022 the
Taifa of Seville. Those petty kingdoms were conquered by the
Almoravids in 1086, then by the
Almohads in 1147. Invasions from the north also occurred in this period, with
Vikings raiding the coast, including Lisbon, between the 9th and 11th centuries. The Viking raids resulted in the establishment of small
Norse settlements on the coastline between
Douro and
Minho.
Reconquista |alt=Low-angle view of a bronze equestrian statue of Vímara Peres holding a tall spear and banner, silhouetted against a wide blue sky with wispy clouds, standing on a stone pedestal above a distant cityscape. The was a series of military campaigns by northern Iberian Christian polities against Muslim-ruled
al-Andalus. It begun in 718 with the
Battle of Covadonga which led to the establishment of the
Kingdom of Asturias following the defeat of the Umayyad forces by Visigothic nobleman,
Pelagius. In 868,
Porto was conquered from the Moors by
Vímara Peres, a knight and nobleman, on the orders of King
Alfonso III of Asturias, with Peres becoming the first Count of Portugal. Finding many towns in the region deserted, Peres decided to rebuild and repopulate them. With the forced abdication of Alfonso III in 910, the Kingdom of Asturias split into three separate kingdoms, which were reunited in 924 under the crown of
León. Afonso's campaigns were successful, and in 1139, he was victorious in the
Battle of Ourique, and took the title of
King of Portugal. In 1143, Afonso was recognised as Afonso I, king of Portugal, by King
Alfonso VII of León, and in 1179 by
Pope Alexander III, with the
papal bull . Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military
monastic orders, continued pushing south until the
capture of Algarve in 1249. With minor readjustments, Portugal's borders have largely remained the same since the signing of the
Treaty of Alcanizes in 1297, making it one of the oldest established international borders in Europe. In 1348-49 Portugal, as with the rest of Europe, was devastated by the
Black Death. In 1373, Portugal, during the reign of
King Ferdinand I, in the midst of the
Fernandine Wars, made an
alliance with England, which would be later strengthened by the signing of the
Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest standing alliance in the world.
Age of Discovery In 1383,
John I of Castile and
Beatrice of Portugal, the only surviving legitimate child of
Ferdinand I of Portugal, claimed the throne of Portugal.
John of Aviz led a revolt against them and defeated the Castilians in the
Battle of Aljubarrota, with the
House of Aviz becoming the ruling house that led Portugal into the limelight of European politics and culture. Portugal acquired its first colonies by
conquering Ceuta in 1415. Portugal spearheaded the
European exploration of the world under the sponsorship of
Prince Henry the Navigator, and made several seminal advancements in
nautical science. Throughout the 15th century,
Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts
for commodities that ranged from
gold to
slaves. The
Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, divided the newly located lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a line west of
Cape Verde. In 1500,
Gaspar Corte-Real sighted
Greenland, chartered by
João Fernandes Lavrador two years prior. That same year,
Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. The Portuguese explored the
Indian Ocean, established trade routes in most of southern Asia, and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions
to China and
Japan. Portuguese sailors set out to reach eastern Asia, landing in
Taiwan, Japan,
Timor,
Flores, and the
Moluccas. The
Treaty of Zaragoza, signed in 1529, divided the Pacific Ocean between Spain and Portugal.
Iberian Union and Restoration , in Lisbon A
succession crisis followed the deaths of
King Sebastian and his grand-uncle
King Henry, both of whom lacked direct male heirs.
Philip II of Spain claimed the throne on the grounds that his mother,
Isabella of Portugal, was a Portuguese princess, and in 1580 he was crowned king of Portugal, forming a
personal union of the two kingdoms, depriving Portugal of an independent foreign policy and leading to its involvement in the
Eighty Years' War. The
Dutch-Portuguese War resulted in the loss of Portugal's Indian Ocean trade monopoly between 1595 and 1663. On 15 December 1640,
John, Duke of Braganza, was proclaimed king following an uprising spearheaded by
disgruntled nobles on , ending 60 years of the Iberian Union under the
House of Habsburg, and beginning the rule of the
House of Braganza. Following its defeat in the
Portuguese Restoration War, Spain
recognised Afonso VI as king of Portugal. The reign of
John V was marked by an influx of gold into the royal treasury, supplied largely by the
royal fifth and a
gold rush that was one of the largest movements of people from Europe to an American colony. Lisbon was struck by a major
earthquake on 1 November 1755. Following the earthquake,
King Joseph I gave his prime minister
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, overarching powers, with Pombai becoming an
enlightened despot.
Constitutional monarchy approved the first constitution of Portugal.|alt= A large historical painting shows a crowded parliamentary chamber in the middle of a heated debate during the Constituent Cortes of 1820. Dozens of formally dressed men gesture, argue, and rise from their seats beneath towering crystal chandeliers and a richly decorated ceiling, while officials sit at a central desk below a grand canopy and throne. In 1807, Portugal refused
Napoleon's demand to join the
Continental System of embargo against the United Kingdom;
an invasion led by French
General Junot followed, and Lisbon was captured in 1807. During the
Napoleonic invasions, the
Portuguese royal family transferred the court to
Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, making it the capital between 1808 and 1821. British intervention in the
Peninsular War helped support Portuguese independence, and all French troops were expelled by 1812. In 1820, a
constitutionalist insurrection began in
Porto, which forced
King John VI and his court to return to mainland Portugal in 1821. The death of John in 1826 led to a succession crisis. His eldest son,
Pedro I of Brazil, briefly succeeded as
Pedro IV of Portugal, but neither the Portuguese nor the Brazilians wanted a reunified monarchy. Consequently, Pedro abdicated the Portuguese crown in favour of his 7-year-old daughter,
Maria da Glória. Dissatisfaction at Pedro's constitutional reforms led the
"absolutist" faction of landowners and the church to proclaim his brother
Miguel king in February 1828. This led to the
Liberal Wars, in which Pedro forced Miguel to abdicate in favour of Maria and to go into exile in 1834. Under the constitutional monarchy, the country faced economic crises, political instability, and several coups d'état. At the same time it expanded its colonies in Africa, but this culminated in the
1890 British Ultimatum, which thwarted Portugal's imperialist ambitions and represented a devastating blow to the monarchy.
First Republic and proclaiming the republic on
5 October 1910, at
Lisbon City Hall|alt=Black-and-white photograph of José Relvas proclaiming the Republic together with several formally dressed men leaning over the balcony railing of Lisbon City Hall and looking down onto a square surrounded with buildings. In 1908,
King Carlos I and his son and heir,
Luís Filipe, Prince Royal,
were assassinated by
republican sympathizers. In 1910, the monarchy was
replaced with a republic. During
World War I, Portugal
fought for the Allies; however, the war hurt its weak economy. Political instability and economic weaknesses created chaos and unrest during the
First Republic. These conditions led to its
overthrow in 1926 and the establishment of the , which
evolved into the right-wing dictatorship of the , under
António de Oliveira Salazar, in 1933. Portugal
remained neutral in
World War II. New economic development projects and relocation of mainland citizens into the overseas provinces in Africa were initiated. However,
indigenous peoples already
second-class citizens, were sidelined by those development projects, which led to the emergence of independence movements, in the 1960s, culminating in 1961 in the
Portuguese Colonial War, which lasted until
1974.
Return to democracy , in 1975|alt=Black-and-white nighttime photograph of several armoured military vehicles lined up in Rossio Square, with soldiers standing beside them near the Column of Pedro IV and bright neon signs glowing in the background. On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution overthrew the beginning the
transition to democracy, and the beginning of the dissolution of its colonial empire
until 1999. The
2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis led to an international bailout and intense
austerity policies, resulting in lasting social impacts. == Geography ==