About Portugal Country

Portugal is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. The land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times. Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici, Cynetes, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and many Germanic tribes such as the Suevi, the Buri and the Visigoths, all left its influence on what is today Portuguese territory. In the early 8th century, the Moors conquered the Christian Germanic kingdoms, eventually occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. Later, in the early 1100s, during the Christian Reconquista, Portugal appeared as a kingdom independent of its neighbour, the Kingdom of León and Galicia. In 1249, Portugal would establish almost its entire modern-day borders.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, with a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia, and South America, Portugal was one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. It was then united with Spain during a period called the Iberian Union; however, it went onto re-establish total sovereignty and independence during the Portuguese Restoration War that resulted in the establishment of a new dynasty and a return to the previous separation between the two crowns and empires.

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, French and Spanish invasions, and the loss of its largest territorial possession abroad, Brazil, resulted in both the disruption of political stability and potential economic growth as well as the reduction of Portugal's international status as a global power during the 19th century. After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910, a republic was established that was then followed by a dictatorship. With the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution coup d'état in 1974, the ruling dictatorship was deposed in Lisbon and the country handed over its last overseas provinces in Africa; the last overseas territory, Macau, was handed over to China in 1999.

Portugal is a developed country, and has a very high Human Development Index. It is the 14th most peaceful and the 13th most globalized country in the world, and has the world's 19th highest quality of life. It is a member of the European Union (joined the then EEC in 1986, leaving the EFTA where it was a founding member in 1960) and the United Nations; as well as a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union's Eurozone, and also a Schengen state.

Source : Wikipedia