History
 D. Afonso Henriques, Portugal's first king |
The history of the Portuguese State starts with D. Afonso Henriques, Count of Portucale, being made King of Portugal in 1143. This political rupture with the Kingdom of Leon is a result of an alliance entered into by the noblemen south of the Minho river, and with the support of some religious and military orders (such as the Order of St. John, the future Order of Malta). Its great centres are Braga (the oldest capital of the post-Roman kingdoms and a city that disputed the title of prime Iberian Christian city with Santiago de Compostela), Porto and Coimbra.
The first choices laid before the new kingdom are whether to expand to the North (towards Galizia, with which it shares a common culture, language and religion), or to the South (with which it also shares a common culture but which at the time was dominated by the Muslims). The strength of Leon dictated a move to the South, with the first King conquering nearly the whole of the Alentejo. The expansion towards the South, with its progress and setbacks, and its alliances and wars with the Muslim States of the Alentejo and Algarve, will continue to be a constant reality until the middle of the 13th Century. The current borders of continental Portugal date to this time, and are the oldest in Europe. The conflicts with Leon (thus hindering the attempts of expansion towards the East) and with Castile (once this kingdom absorbed that of Leon) had continued, leaving the three (and later two) states to interfere continually in each other’s politics. At the same time alliances (through royal marriages) are created with the other peninsular states (except for Leon) and with the countries of Northern Europe. The power of the monarchy is further strengthened through its alliance with the burghers of the various councils, thus preventing the feudalisation of the country. The king starts to govern through the “Cortes” (assemblies), in which are represented the Three Estates (the clergy, the nobility and the people). The conquest of territories in the South is undertaken by means of the integration of the Muslim and Jewish populations (and of the Christians who had been under Muslim dominion). At the same time, Portugal starts to develop economically, establishing commercial relations with Northern Europe and the Maghreb (through the exportation of Mediterranean and maritime products). The 14th Century is the period of Portugal’s Golden Age. Its language becomes distinct from Galician-Portuguese and its court acquires an intellectual capacity of European dimensions, while a university is founded, this being one of the first in Europe. Portugal continues to intervene politically and militarily in issues concerning the Peninsula, supporting wars with its Castilian neighbour, but on occasion also fighting at its side against a common religious enemy (the Caliphate of Córdova and, later, the Kingdom of Granada). The country’s maritime vocation, which had already a long tradition before the founding of the State, is established at this time with the first voyages to the Canaries, in what is a period of strong commercial rivalry between Lisbon and Seville. The story of Inês de Castro, which was sung all over Europe during the following century, took place in the middle of the 14th century. Towards the end of the century, Portugal was hit by a social crisis that was affecting all of Europe. This was further acerbated by an internal political crisis linked to affairs in Castile and in which Portugal intervened strongly, as Castile had itself done vis-à-vis Portuguese affairs in the past. The crisis ended with the victory of a new king, the reinforcement of the powers of the councils and the alliance between Portugal and England (Europe’s oldest stable alliance), through which the two countries strengthened their commercial ties and provided mutual military support (the English by sending companies of archers and the Portuguese by sending ships). In the 15th Century, with the crisis resolved and the country stabilised, Portugal launches itself on expansion towards the South and the West across the ocean. The Madeira archipelago is officially discovered, and later so are the Azores, a third of the way between Europe and the (future) America. This period also sees the conquest of cities in Morocco. Throughout the century maritime expansion continues and gains increasing economic, political, intellectual and spiritual importance. The regular voyages to the edge of the African continent lead to the discovery of a new world for Europe, hitherto only known through the memories of the Romans (a thousand years before) and through contact with the peoples of North Africa. Portugal establishes commercial agreements and political relations with the states which govern these new lands, whilst keeping more sporadic contact with other states. Portuguese navigators explore the Atlantic and Indian coasts of Africa systematically. Before the end of the century, they will already have reached the destination they most desired – India. At the same time, they launch bold but well planned expeditions to explore the North and South Atlantic, probably discovering parts of North and South America in the process. Thanks to Portugal’s actions, new fields of knowledge are opened up for Europeans. In the beginning of the 16th Century, Portugal dominates the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and has also reached the North Pacific. Portugal’s fleets lay down the law in the Indian Ocean, after first disputing and subsequently gaining primacy over the Turkish fleets. Lisbon thus becomes the world’s largest commercial market, and Portugal’s way of life becomes based, for the first time, on global commerce. Despite its naval power, Portugal does not have enough strength to even think of venturing in the domain of North America and thus limits its expansion to Brazil (which was known since the previous century, but only discovered officially in 1500) so as to protect its routes to the Indies. Portuguese scientific knowledge has a strong influence on the European continent and it is through the Portuguese that Europeans get to know about Ethiopia, India, Indochina, China, Tibet, the islands of the future Indonesia and Japan. Two facts mark the start of the decline of this empire, which was largely founded on technological dominance in navigation and naval war (but which will nevertheless last from 1415 to 1975): the importation of the Inquisition and a dynastic crisis which takes place after a military defeat in North Africa, where it tried to carve out a kingdom to compensate for Spain’s growing power. Portugal’s new head of state is now Philip II of Spain and Portugal, and this is a period which sees the country involved, together with England and the Netherlands, in what was in effect the first world war, with military operations taking place in Oceania, the Indian Ocean, America and Europe. Portugal thus loses its domain over important ports and routes in what would later become Indonesia and its adjacent seas (some of these communities still demonstrate clear traces of the Portuguese presence). However, it manages to head off Dutch ambitions in Africa and South America. In 1640, Portugal regains its independence from the Spanish crown (in a revolt against what started off as being a dynastic union and ended up as a foreign occupation), maintaining a long military and diplomatic struggle to guarantee this status and to limit the losses to its empire. In the beginning of 18th Century, the maritime empire of the Indies starts to wither away as the Dutch and English enhance their presence, while resources are diverted towards the defence of the continent and the Atlantic. This leads to what is known as the “Atlantic cycle”, which sees policy centred on the expansion in South America and the creation of Brazil, as well as the commercial arrangements with the English, who are Portugal’s political allies in Europe but adversaries in the rest of the world. Despite everything, Portugal continues to be one of the top six European powers and one of the four most potent world powers. Although Portugal is no longer dominant in the intellectual, scientific and technological fields, it manages to remain at par with the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, its interventions in Europe are exclusively designed to ensure that Spain does not acquire enough power to revive its ambition to dominate Portugal. In contrast to what it had done before (in the Indies, where it had implemented a strategy of control of important commercial and military ports and of racial miscegenation), in Brazil, in part due to a scarcity of population, Portugal undertakes a policy of population emigration and systematic territorial occupation. At the same time, an effort is made towards generating economic development and to reform administrative structures. These encounter political resistance which will lead to the failure of these reforms in the last quarter of the century. Rather than develop home-grown knowledge, Portugal continues to import the best that Europe can offer. The efforts towards economic development are limited by the size of the country and the commercial agreements with England, where the Industrial Revolution is already in full swing. The French Revolution at the of the 18th Century leads to a new European war which will simultaneously hinder economic growth and provoke political reforms. Due to the Napoleonic Wars, for a few years Portugal is the only European state to have its head of state residing outside Europe. This will contribute decisively towards the independence of Brazil, which takes place in the first quarter of 19th Century. Having been one of the first states with an absolutist regime, Portugal will only move towards a constitutional system in the second quarter of the century. This delay, compounded by the destruction provoked by the Napoleonic Wars and the loss of Brazil, will lead to a long period of political instability politics and economic decline. Although possessing extensive territories in Africa, Portugal does not have the means available to populate them and to defend its presence militarily, in a context where the great powers (and Portugal is no longer one of them) have launched a policy of effective occupation of this continent. At the same time, with the exception of Brazil, Portugal’s vision is not of territorial occupation (although this will be imposed on it by circumstances in Africa), but rather focused on securing commercial outposts. In order to maintain the only thing which gives it world status, Portugal is forced to proceed with colonising the territories of Angola and Mozambique by means of military occupation. The dream of a new Brazil (this time in Africa and from coast the coast, linking Angola and Mozambique through territories which were regularly traversed but never occupied) is hindered by English imperial ambitions, leading to calls for a new change of political regime. Economic growth proceeds, but at a slow pace, with Portugal falling behind in relation to Europe, primarily due to the lack of reforms in knowledge-related fields. In the beginning of the 20th Century, Portugal changes political regimes and becomes a Republic. As a result of the financial crisis that swept Europe after World War I and political instability, the parliamentary regime (the First Republic) is brought down in 1926 and substituted by a military dictatorship. In 1933, this regime gives rise to the Estado Novo (or “the new state”), a dictatorship that governed Portugal up to 1974. In contrast to contemporary trends, Portugal looks to preserve its colonial inheritance, maintaining a long war on three fronts, which hindered the country’s economic, intellectual and scientific development. The end of the longest dictatorship in the history of Western Europe arrived on the 25th April, 1974, when the Armed Forces Movement restored the democratic system. One year later, a Constituent Assembly was elected with universal suffrage for the first time. This body drafted a constitution and, after another year, a parliament was elected and a constitutional government formed. After some years of political instability, this regime evolved in the beginning of the ‘80s to become the full democracy which the Portuguese enjoy today. With democracy came economic development, a cultural and scientific boom and rapid progress in new technological fields. With the end of the Imperial Cycle (following decolonisation in the mid ‘70s), Portugal joined the European Union. However, it maintained strong links with the other seven Portuguese-speaking countries (leading to the creation of a “Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries”), as well as communities of Portuguese and their descendants throughout the world. Currently Portugal consists of three territories: the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and of Madeira in the Atlantic, and the Continent, Europe’s Atlantic border. Nowadays, Portugal is a stable country, both socially and politically. It is economically prosperous, developed at a human level, and which is increasingly asserting itself on the basis of its capacity for dialogue and understanding of diversity, as well as for its culture and way of life - itself a result of centuries of living in close proximity with different peoples - taking as a starting point the moment when, as a result of its actions, the modern world was born. |
Prince Henry the Navigator
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Extract from the map Terra Brasilis (Miller Atlas, 1519) |
