History State of Portugal

Portuguese Republic is a country in southwestern Europe. The country is bordered by Spain to the north and east. In the west bordering the Atlantic Ocean. In ancient times inhabited the territory of present-day Portugal and Celtic tribes luzytańskie. In the third century BC, was conquered by the Carthaginians. After the fall of Carthage to Rome arrived in the Iberian Peninsula.

In the fourth-fifth century, Portugal was one of the first countries in the Southern European countries adopting the faith weakness chrześcijańską.Wykorzystując Visigoths, in 711 the Berbers and Arabs crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered the Iberian peninsula.

Country Portugal

A few years after the invasion of the Arab rulers have been conquered State Asturias began Reconquista - or recovery of lost territory. At the end of the eleventh century, the king of Castile and Leon Alfonso VI conquered the lands south of the Duero. Formed in this way, a new kingdom with its capital in Portugal, Porto and gave it to his son-Prince burgundzkiemu, Henry.

In 1147, his son Alphonse, in 1139 the king of Portugal, Lisbon earned in the year 1158-1166 to join Alantejo. Enlargement process and the final establishment of the boundaries was completed in the reign of Alfonso III, who in 1249 was ₩ the Algarve.

Since that time, Portugal was the first country in the world has been clearly marked out and over the centuries unchanged boundaries.

Location Portugal plays an important role in the country's history. This has helped in the discovery of the participation of outstanding sailors geograficznych.Począwszy fifteenth century Portuguese under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator (1395-1460) began to reach the west coast of Africa, India, Indonesia and China (Vasco da Gama, Bartolomeo Diaz, Ferdinand Magellan ). Across the Atlantic Ocean and reached South America. In 1500 Pedro Alvarez Cabral in taking Brazil. Portugaldan became the inventor and occupiers, and the world trade center.

The first half of the nineteenth century brought the defeat of Portugal itself. First there was the invasion of Napoleon's army three times (1807-1811). In 1822, the largest independent colony - Brazil. In the years 1830-1846 the country was swept by civil war.

As a result of this disaster in the twentieth century, Portugal entered as one of the most backward countries in Europe. From 1926 to 1974, subject to the dictatorship. In April 1974 in a military coup overthrew a dictatorship and launch a pro-European policy of Portugal.

In the years 1974-1975 Portugal recognized the independence of the African colonies. In 1984 he became a member of the EEC, in 1992, ratified the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, he was a member of the European Union.