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The history of Portugal can be traced from circa 400,000 years ago, when the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis. The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, which lasted almost two centuries, led to the establishment of the provinces of Lusitania in the south and Gallaecia in the north of what is now Portugal.
Portugal, country lying along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Once continental Europe’s greatest power, Portugal shares commonalities—geographic and cultural—with the countries of both northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
It’s history is the combination of the story of Iberian tribes, Celtic peoples, the Roman Empire, Germanic kingdoms, Muslim invasions and the consequent Christian Reconquista, and finally, of the Exploration of the World. To know the history of Portugal is to know the mentality and mindset of the Portuguese.
Portugal - Age of Discovery, Reconquista, Iberian Peninsula: The earliest human remains found in Portugal are Neanderthal-type bones from Furninhas. A distinct culture first emerged in the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) middens of the lower Tagus valley, dated about 5500 bce.
Portugal has had a profound cultural, architectural, and linguistic influence, with a legacy of around 300 million Portuguese speakers around the world. Today, it is a developed country with an advanced economy relying chiefly upon services, industry, and tourism.
Portugal’s history can be divided into several main periods: Ancient Roots (Stone Age to Roman Era), Medieval Beginnings (Suevi, Visigoths, and Moors), The Birth of a Nation (Formation of Portugal), The Age of Discoveries (15th and 16th Centuries), Union with Spain (1580-1640), The Braganza Dynasty (17th and 18th Centuries), The Age of ...
During the Age of Exploration, Portugal explored the North Atlantic islands, the coast of West Africa, the east and west coasts of southern Africa, the west coast of India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the southern coast of China.
From the late Middle Ages, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal ascended to the status of a world power during Europe's "Age of Discovery" as it built up a vast empire.
Portugal is a republic with a unicameral legislature; the head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. In the 1st millennium bce , Celtic peoples settled the Iberian Peninsula.
The country of Portugal emerged in the tenth century during the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula: first as a region under the control of the Counts of Portugal and then, in the mid-twelfth century, as a kingdom under King Afonso I.