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The history of Portugal

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European nation goes back to the Middle Ages, when the Portucalense county became autonomous of the kingdom of León. However, the history of human presence in the territory corresponding to Portugal began much earlier. Prehistory records the earliest hominids about 500 thousand years ago. The territory was visited by several people: Phoenicians who founded trading posts, later replaced by Carthaginians. Celtic peoples settled and mingled with the natives. In the 3rd century BC it was inhabited by several peoples, when the Roman invasion of the Iberian peninsula occurred. Romanization has left lasting marks on language, law and religion. With the decline of the Roman Empire, it was occupied by Germanic peoples and later by Muslims (Moors and some Arabs), while the Christians gathered to the north, in Asturias.
In 1139, during the Christian reconquest, the Kingdom of Portugal was founded from the Portucalense county, born between the Minho and Douro rivers. The stabilization of its borders in 1297 made Portugal the European country with the oldest borders. As a pioneer of maritime exploration in the Age of Discovery, the Kingdom of Portugal expanded its territories between the 15th and 16th centuries, establishing the first global empire in history, with possessions in Africa, South America, Asia and Oceania. In 1580 a crisis of succession resulted in the Iberian Union with Spain. With no autonomy to defend its overseas possessions against the Dutch offensive, the kingdom lost much of its wealth and status. In 1640 independence was restored under the new Bragança dynasty. The earthquake of 1755 in Lisbon, the Spanish and French invasions, resulted in political and economic instability. In 1820 a revolt did approve the first Portuguese constitution, initiating the constitutional monarchy that faced the loss of the largest colony, Brazil. At the end of the century, the loss of status of Portugal in the so-called Africa divide.
A revolution in 1910 deposed the monarchy, but the first Portuguese republic failed to solve the problems of a country immersed in social conflict, corruption and clashes with the Church. A coup d'état in 1926 gave way to a dictatorship. From 1961 this waged a colonial war that lasted until 1974, when a military revolt overthrew the government. The following year, Portugal declared the independence of all its possessions in Africa. After a troubled revolutionary period, he entered the path of pluralist democracy. The constitution of 1976 defines Portugal as a semi-presidentialist republic. From 1986 on, it strengthened the modernization and insertion in the European area by joining the European Economic Community

17/01/20-17/02/20