PORTUGAL

officially Portuguese Republic, Portuguese Portugal, or Repblica Portuguesa country lying along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Administratively, the Atlantic islands of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. Iberian Portugal is bordered on the east and the north by Spain and on the west and the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Lisbon. Area 35,672 square miles (92,389 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 9,823,000. officially Portuguese Republic, Portuguese Portugal, or Repblica Portuguesa, country lying along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is bordered on the east and north by Spain and on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. Occupying about 16 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal has a total area of 35,672 square miles (92,389 square km). Despite its small size, the country displays a great diversity of geographic features; the land rises to 6,532 feet (1,991 metres) at its highest point in the Serra da Estrela (Estrela Mountains). To the west and southwest lie the Atlantic islands of the Azores and Madeira, which are part of metropolitan Portugal. The country once had vast overseas possessions, but the last of these, Macau, was returned to China in 1999. As a member of the European Community (EC) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Portugal plays a greater role in both European and world affairs than its size would suggest. Nonetheless, it is one of the poorest countries in western Europe. Additional reading General works Marion Kaplan, The Portuguese: The Land and Its People (1991), is a popular general work with illuminating glimpses of Portugal's long history. Sarah Bradford, Portugal (1973); and John Eppstein, Portugal: The Country and Its People (1967), provide dated but still good surveys. Walter C. Opello, Jr., Portugal: From Monarchy to Pluralist Democracy (1991), is a comprehensive overview of the Portuguese state from its founding through its democratic consolidation. Eugene K. Keefe et al., Portugal, a Country Study (1976, reissued 1985), contains chapters on the country's history, society, government and politics, economy, and national security. Geography Overviews of the country's features are presented in J.M. Houston, The Western Mediterranean World (1964); Clifford Embleton (ed.), Geomorphology of Europe (1984); Aristides De Amorim Giro, Geografia de Portugal, 3rd ed. augmented (1960), a handbook; J. Vil Valent, La Pninsule ibrique (1968); Orlando Ribeiro, Introdues geogrficas histria de Portugal (1977), Geografia e civilisao (between 1978 and 1981), Portugal, o Mediterrneo e o Atlntico, 4th ed., rev. and enlarged (1986), a synthesizing treatment emphasizing the originality of mainland Portugal, and A formao de Portugal (1987), dealing with the development of the cultural landscape of Portugal, including a summary of the physical landscape; and Orlando Ribeiro, Hermann Lautensach, and Suzanne Daveau, Geografia de Portugal, 4 vol. (1987-91). See also Dan Stanislawski, The Individuality of Portugal: A Study in Historical-Political Geography (1959, reissued 1969). Essays on the land use of Santa Maria and Faial in the Azores and of eastern Madeira are found in Four Island Studies (1968). Pictorial representations include Aristides De Amorim Giro, Atlas de Portugal, 2nd ed. (1958); and Victoria Zalacain et al., Atlas de Espaa y Portugal (1982). Jos Cutileiro, A Portuguese Rural Society (1971), covers all aspects of village society.Rodney J. Morrison, Portugal: Revolutionary Change in an Open Economy (1981), assesses the impact of the April 25, 1974, revolution on the economy. Eric N. Baklanoff, The Economic Transformation of Spain and Portugal (1978), compares Spain's and Portugal's economic growth in response to the economic policies of Franco and Salazar. Jorge Braga De Macedo and Simon Serfaty (eds.), Portugal Since the Revolution: Economic and Political Perspectives (1981), analyzes the political economy of the postrevolutionary period.Thomas C. Bruneau, Politics and Nationhood: Post-Revolutionary Portugal (1984), is the best treatment of the politics of the revolutionary period. Douglas Porch, The Portuguese Armed Forces and the Revolution (1977), is an excellent discussion of the role of the armed forces in the revolution of 1974. Tom Gallagher, Portugal: A Twentieth-Century Interpretation (1983); and Howard J. Wiarda, Corporatism and Development: The Portuguese Experience (1977), analyze Salazar's dictatorship. The contemporary governmental system and political dynamics are covered in Thomas C. Bruneau and Alex Macleod, Politics in Contemporary Portugal: Parties and the Consolidation of Democracy (1986). Lawrence S. Graham and Harry M. Makler (eds.), Contemporary Portugal: The Revolution and Its Antecedents (1979), provides chapters on the prerevolutionary corporatist system. Kenneth Maxwell (ed.), Portugal in the 1980's: Dilemmas of Democratic Consolidation (1986), covers shifting international involvements, economy, society, and state through the 1980s. Catherine Delano Smith Walter C. Opello, Jr. History Standard general histories are Damio Peres (ed.), Histria de Portugal, 8 vol. (1928-37); H.V. Livermore, A New History of Portugal, 2nd ed. (1976); and A.H. De Oliveira Marques, History of Portugal, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1976). Ancient history is covered by H.V. Livermore, The Origins of Spain and Portugal (1971). A.H. De Oliveira Marques, Daily Life in Portugal in the Late Middle Ages (1971; originally published in Portuguese, 1964), examines medieval Portuguese society. Portugal's Marvelous Century (1415-1515) and the period of discoveries are chronicled in Lus De Albuquerque, Os descobrimentos Portugueses (1985); and Christopher Bell, Portugal and the Quest for the Indies (1974). Discussions of Portugal's extensive overseas empire in Africa, Asia, and the Americas are in C.R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 (1969, reprinted 1977); James Duffy, Portuguese Africa (1959, reissued 1968); Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580 (1977); Douglas L. Wheeler and Ren Plissier, Angola (1971); and Gervase Clarence-Smith (W.G. Clarence-Smith), The Third Portuguese Empire, 1825-1975: A Study in Economic Imperialism (1985). In the early modern era of Portugal's history, domestic and imperial affairs were closely intertwined; two outstanding works on this are Antnio Jos Saraiva, Inquisio e Cristos-novos, 5th ed. (1985); and Carl A. Hanson, Economy and Society in Baroque Portugal, 1668-1703 (1981). Also useful are L.M.E. Shaw, Trade, Inquisition, and the English Nation in Portugal, 1650-1690 (1989); H.E.S. Fisher, The Portugal Trade (1971), good on 18th-century Anglo-Portuguese trade; and A.D. Francis, The Methuens and Portugal, 1691-1708 (1966). A fine study on the timeless agricultural problem as well as other 19th-century questions is Albert Silbert, Le Portugal mditerranen la fin de l'Ancien Rgime, XVIIIe-dbut du XIXe sicle, 2nd ed., 3 vol. (1978). Outlines of 19th-century Portugal, domestic and imperial, are found in R.J. Hammond, Portugal and Africa, 1815-1910: A Study of Uneconomic Imperialism (1966). Political and military aspects of Portugal's turbulent First Republic are studied in Douglas L. Wheeler, Republican Portugal: A Political History, 1910-1926 (1978). The controversial history and ongoing debates about the Portuguese dictatorship and the New State (1926-74) are analyzed from various points of view in H. Martins, "Portugal," in S.J. Woolf (ed.), European Fascism (1968), pp. 302-336; A.E. Duarte Silva et al., Salazar e o Salazarismo (1989); Hugh Kay, Salazar and Modern Portugal (1970); D.L. Raby, Fascism and Resistance in Portugal (1988), covering the period 1941-74; Franco Nogueira, Histria de Portugal, 1933-1974 (1981), a supplement to the Peres work cited above; and Antonio De Figueiredo, Portugal: Fifty Years of Dictatorship (1975). Among the more useful analyses of Portugal's history since the 1974 military coup and revolution are R.A.H. Robinson, Contemporary Portugal (1979); and Lawrence S. Graham and Douglas L. Wheeler (eds.), In Search of Modern Portugal: The Revolution & Its Consequences (1983). Harold V. Livermore Douglas Lanphier Wheeler Cultural life Portuguese culture is based on a past that dates from prehistoric times into the eras of Roman and Moorish invasion. All have left their traces in a rich legacy of archaeological remains, including prehistoric cave paintings at Escoural, the Roman township of Conimbriga, the Temple of Diana in vora, and the typical Moorish architecture of such southern towns as Olho and Tavira. Throughout the centuries, Portugal's arts have been enriched by foreign influences, including Flemish, French, and Italian. The voyages of the Portuguese discoverers opened the country to Oriental influences, and the revelation of Brazil's wealth of gold and jewels fed the Baroque flame in decoration. Daily life In spite of certain affinities with the neighbouring Spaniards, the Portuguese have their own distinctive way of life. The geographic variety of the country has evoked different responses, but there is less regionalism than in Spain. Dancing and singing play a prominent part in the life of the people. Almost every village has its own terreiro, or dance floor of beaten earth. Each region has its own style of dances and songs; most traditional songs are of a slower rhythm than those in Spain. Small accordions are often used to accompany dances, and Portuguese guitars accompany the fado, a song form that epitomizes saudade, the yearning, romantic aspect of the Portuguese character. Some of the best examples of the regional dances are the vira, chula, corridinho, tirana, and fandango, many of which reflect the courting and matrimonial traditions of the area. Much has been done to preserve these and other folk expressions as tourist attractions. National dress is still seen in the northern Minho province at weddings and other festivals. Traditional garments such as the red and green stocking cap of the Alentejo cattleman still exist, and the samarra (a short jacket with a collar of fox fur) and cifes ("chaps") survive. In Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro shepherds wear straw cloaks. The wearing of black for protracted periods of mourning is common especially in the villages. The staple diet is one of fish, vegetables, and fruit. Although Portugal's waters abound with fresh fish, the dried, salted codfish known as bacalhau, now often imported, is considered the national dish. In many areas, meat is seldom eaten, although the Alentejo region is known for its pork and Trs-os-Montes for cured meats. Breads and sweets-the latter a legacy of Moorish occupation-take a variety of forms, with many regional specialties. Wine is the ubiquitous table beverage. Perhaps the most famous Portuguese export is the fortified red wine called port after the town of Porto, where it has been bottled for centuries; a similar wine is produced on and named after the island of Madeira.