history+of+portugal

(1604-1656)

   The duke of Braganza who headed the revolution of 1640 to restore Portugal's independence from Spain. He became King João IV, the first of the Braganza dynasty to rule. Under the so-called "Babylonian Captivity," Portugal was ruled by the Phil-lipine dynasty of Spain during 1580-1640. The rebellion of Catalonia against Spain in mid-1640 and restiveness in Portugal provided the occasion for the small country to organize a revolution and overthrow Spanish rule. João, duke of Braganza, was an heir of the Aviz dynasty and Portugal's most formidable noble and largest landowner. His power base was in the Alentejo province, his palace at Vila Viçosa. The revolution of the First of December 1640, a day that remains a national holiday in Portugal, was successful. Portugal recovered its independence, and João was proclaimed João IV of Portugal.

   With slim national resources to repel reassertions of Spanish control, King João IV built an effective administration and fought a series of wars with Spain. He was aided in the effort by Portugal's oldest ally, England, and was able to repel subsequent Spanish invasions. An important Anglo-Portuguese treaty that renewed the alliance was signed in 1654, but the king died only two years later and did not live to see the signing of the decisive 1668 Luso-Spanish treaty that formally ended Spain's efforts to take back Portugal. In Portuguese history, João retains the title of "The Restorer," and is a central figure in the Restoration era.

(4 August 1578)

   Known to history also as "The Battle of the Three Kings," this event helped weaken Portugal, deprive the country of a non-Castilian legitimate male heir, and led to her loss of independence. The site of the battle, known in Arabic as Alcazar-el-Kebr, is southwest of Arzila, Morocco, some 32 kilometers (20 miles) from Tangier. It was here that the Portuguese armed forces under the command of the foolhardy young king, 24-year-old Sebastião I of Aviz, were defeated and dispersed by Muslim forces under the Sharif of Morocco. More than 8,000 Portuguese died, including the king, whose body was apparently buried in Alcácer. About 15,000 of the Portuguese and their allied forces became prisoners in Morocco and few managed to escape to Portuguese forts on the coast. As a result of the disappearance of Sebastião and the defeat of an important part of the country's defense forces, Portugal was more vulnerable to Spanish power than since the late 14th century. In Morocco and in Portugal, rumors grew into legends concerning the fate of the young king. The cult and mythology of Sebastianism arose out of the initial uncertainty concerning the monarch's fate and the tragic decline and defeat of Portugal. "Sebas-tianism" featured myths that the king had survived and would return on a foggy morning to Portugal to drive out the Spanish invaders and restore Portugal to its former greatness. A vast literature in poetry, stories, novels, songs, and folklore grew around the sentiment of "Se-bastianism." Beginning in the late 16th century in Portugal, persons posing as the returned Sebastian, there to save Portugal, began to appear.

    See also Sebastianism; Sebastião I.

   The ill-fated Alvor Agreement was signed in Alvor, Algarve province, in January 1975. The purpose of the agreement was to facilitate the peaceful, lawful decolonization of Portugal's former colony of Angola. The conference that worked out and signed this instrument was hosted by Portugal's provisional government, and backed by the Armed Forces Movement, which had overthrown the dictatorship on 25 April 1974, and which had called for rapid decolonization of Portugal's African colonies after a truce in the colonial war. Decolonization negotiations proceeded fairly smoothly in the other African territories, but in Angola, rather than one African nationalist movement or party, three were struggling for power. They were the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto; the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by Agostinho Neto, who had trained as a physician in Portugal; and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi. By the Alvor Agreement, which was signed by four parties — Portugal, FNLA, MPLA, and UNITA—the decolonization process would be realized in several stages, ending in November 1975, following free elections with the three nationalist parties participating, Portugal overseeing the elections, and the new army of Angola comprised of elements of the three African parties' armies, which had fought Portuguese forces off and on since 1961. Portugal's government in Lisbon and its government and forces in Angola attempted, but failed, to put the Alvor Agreement into full effect. A civil war broke out in the spring of 1975 in Angola among the three nationalist forces, eventually with the FNLA and UNITA entering an alliance against the MPLA. No all-Angola army was ever constituted, and a power struggle among the three armed movements ensued. The MPLA won control of the Luanda region. As the Portuguese forces and commissioner withdrew, Portugal did not hand over power to any one group. On 11 November 1975, with the Alvor Agreement a dead letter and no elections having been organized, the MPLA declared the independence of Angola and the civil war continued. Angola's independent beginnings were unique in African history: the colonial power suddenly withdrew without handing over power officially to a nationalist party, but "to the people of Angola," and Angola was born as a free state embroiled in a bloody civil war that lasted until 2002.

   Portuguese cinema had its debut in June 1896 at the Royal Coliseum, Lisbon, only six months after the pioneering French cinema-makers, the brothers Lumiere, introduced the earliest motion pictures to Paris audiences. Cinema pioneers in Portugal included photographer Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga and an early enthusiast, Aurelio da Paz dos Reis. The first movie theater opened in Lisbon in 1904, and most popular were early silent shorts, including documentaries and scenes of King Carlos I swimming at Cascais beach. Beginning with the Invicta Film company in 1912 and its efforts to produce films, Portuguese cinema-makers sought technical assistance in Paris. In 1918, French film technicians from Pathé Studios of Paris came to Portugal to produce cinema. The Portuguese writer of children's books, Virginia de Castro e Almeida, hired French film and legal personnel in the 1920s under the banner of "Fortuna Film" and produced several silent films based on her compositions.

   In the 1930s, Portuguese cinema underwent an important advance with the work of Portuguese director-producers, including Antônio

   Lopes Ribeiro, Manoel de Oliveira, Leitao de Barros, and Artur Duarte. They were strongly influenced by contemporary French, German, and Russian cinema, and they recruited their cinema actors from the Portuguese Theater, especially from the popular Theater of Review ( teatro de revista) of Lisbon. They included comedy radio and review stars such as Vasco Santana, Antônio Silva, Maria Matos, and Ribeirinho. As the Estado Novo regime appreciated the important potential role of film as a mode of propaganda, greater government controls and regulation followed. The first Portuguese sound film, A Severa (1928), based on a Julio Dantas book, was directed by Leitão de Barros.

   The next period of Portuguese cinema, the 1930s, 1940s, and much of the 1950s, has been labeled, Comédia a portuguesa, or Portuguese Comedy, as it was dominated by comedic actors from Lisbon's Theatre of Review and by such classic comedies as 1933's A Cancáo de Lisboa and similar genre such as O Pai Tirano, O Pátio das Cantigas, and A Costa do Castelo. The Portuguese film industry was extremely small and financially constrained and, until after 1970, only several films were made each year. A new era followed, the so-called "New Cinema," or Novo Cinema (ca. 1963-74), when the dictatorship collapsed. Directors of this era, influenced by France's New Wave cinema movement, were led by Fernando Lopes, Paulo Rocha, and others.

   After the 1974-75 Revolution, filmmakers, encouraged by new political and social freedoms, explored new themes: realism, legend, politics, and ethnography and, in the 1980s, other themes, including docufiction. Even after political liberty arrived, leaders of the cinema industry confronted familiar challenges of filmmakers everywhere: finding funds for production and audiences to purchase tickets. As the new Portugal gained more prosperity, garnered more capital, and took advantage of membership in the burgeoning European Union, Portuguese cinema benefited. Some American producers, directors, and actors, such as John Malkovich, grew enamored of residence and work in Portugal. Malkovich starred in Manoel de Oliveira's film, O Convento (The Convent), shot in Portugal, and this film gained international acclaim, if not universal critical approval. While most films viewed in the country continued to be foreign imports, especially from France, the United States, and Great Britain, recent domestic film production is larger than ever before in Portugal's cinema history: in 2005, 13 Portuguese feature films were released. One of them was coproduced with Spain, Midsummer Dream, an animated feature. That year's most acclaimed film was O Crime de Padre Amaro, based on the Eça de Queirós' novel, a film that earned a record box office return. In 2006, some 22 feature films were released. With more films made in Portugal than ever before, Portugal's cinema had entered a new era.

    See also Literature.

   Equestrianism or Equitation has an ancient tradition in Portugal. Although today this sport of horseback riding, which is related to the art and science of horse breeding, is a peaceful activity, for centuries Portugal's use of the horse in cavalry was closely associated with war. Beginning in the 18th century, the activity became connected to bull- fighting. In war, the Portuguese used horse cavalry longer than most other European nations. While most armies gave up the horse for mechanized cavalry or tanks after World War I, Portugal was reluctant to change this tradition. Oddly, Portugal used a specialized form of cavalry in combat as late as 1969-1971, in Angola, a colony of Portugal until 1975. Portugal's army in Angola, engaged in a war with Angolan nationalist forces, employed the so-called "Dragoons," a specialized cavalry in rural areas, until 1971, a case perhaps of the last use of cavalry in modern warfare.

   Soccer, or futebol, is Portugal's favorite mass sport today, but equestrianism retains a special place in sports as a now democratized, if somewhat elite, sport for both Portuguese and visiting foreign riders. As of 1900, equestrianism was still the sport of royalty and aristocracy, but in the 21st century persons from all classes and groups enjoy it. The sport now features the unique Lusitano breed of horse, which evolved from earlier breeds of Iberian ponies and horses. Touring equestrianism recently has become an activity of niche tourism, and it is complemented by international competitive riding. Following the early 20th century, when the Olympics were revived, Portuguese competitors have excelled not only in sailing, field hockey on roller-skates, rowing, and marksmanship, but also in equestrianism. Notable Portuguese riders were medal winners in summer Olympics such as those of 1948 and 1988. This sport is engaged in primarily if not exclusively in regions with a history of horse breeding, riding, and cattle herding, in Ribatejo and Alentejo provinces, and has featured career military participants.

   Portuguese equestrianism, including the use of horses in bull-fighting, hunting, and other forms of sport, as well as in horse cavalry in war, was long associated with the lifestyles of royalty and the nobility. The use of traditional, Baroque riding gear and garb in competitive riding, instruction, and bull-fighting reflects such a tradition. Riders in bull-fighting or in exhibitions wear 18th-century male costumes that include a tricornered hat, long frock coats, breeches, stockings, and buckled shoes. The Ribatejo "cowboy" or riding herder wears the regional costume of a green and red cap, red tunic, white breeches and stockings, Portuguese bridles, and chaps sometimes made of olive leaves.

   Although their prestigious classical riding academy remains less well known than the famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Portugal has preserved the ancient tradition of a classical riding school in its Royal School of Portuguese Equestrian Arts, at Queluz, not far from the National Palace of Queluz, a miniature Portuguese Versailles, with a hall of mirrors, tiled garden, and canal. One of the great riding masters and trainers was the late Nuno Oliveira (1925-89), whose work generated a worldwide network of students and followers and who published classic riding manuals. Oliveira's widely admired method of instruction was to bring about a perfect harmony of action between horse and rider, an inspiration to new generations of riders.

    See also Queluz, National Palace of.

   Atlantic archipelago of nine islands: Terceira, São Miguel, Santa Maria, Corvo, Graciosa, São Jorge, Faial, Pico, and Flores. This autonomous region of Portugal is 9,365 square kilometers (5,821 square miles) in area. First settled in the 1420s by Portuguese and Flemish colonists, the economy of the archipelago passed through various phases. The Azores' main crops in four phases were, in the 15th and 16th centuries, wheat and sugar; in the 17th century, woods; in the 18th and 19th centuries, oranges; and in the 20th century, cattle, dairy products, tobacco, and pineapples.

   Their location some 1,448 kilometers (900 miles) west of Portugal and over 1,769 kilometers (1,100 miles) from the eastern coast of the United States, and on major sea and trade routes, influenced the islands' development. Major themes of their history are isolation, North American influence, neglect by Portugal, and emigration to North America. As of the 19th century, large numbers of Azoreans immigrated to the United States. By the last quarter of the 20th century, statistics suggested, more people of Azorean descent lived in North America than inhabited the still sparely settled islands. Since World War I, when the U.S. Navy maintained a base at Ponta Delgada, São Miguel island, the Azores' society and economy have been influenced by foreign military base activity. In World War II (1943), British forces used an air base (Lajes) on Terceira island, under an agreement with Portugal, and thereafter the United States made a similar arrangement at Santa Maria. From 1951 on, the U.S. administered an air base at Lajes, Terceira, under North Atlantic Treaty Organization auspices. With that, American assistance and military base funds have played an important role in the archipelago's still largely unindustrialized economy.

   Since the 1960s, several Azorean independence movements have emerged, as well as other groups that advocate that the islands become part of the United States. Such movements have been encouraged by the islands' isolation, a troubled economy, and the fact that Portugal has never made developing the islands a major priority. After the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, the democratic Portugal organized new efforts to assist the Azores and, in the 1976 Constitution, the Azores were declared an autonomous region of Portugal with greater rights of self-government and management. In the 1990s, emigration from the Azores to both the United States and Canada continued, although not at the pace of earlier periods. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of overseas Portuguese from the Azores Islands resided in the eastern United States, California, and Canada.

(1531-1595)

   Briefly, the 18th king of Portugal and a frustrated, exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne. Antonio, known to history as the Prior of Crato, was for part of the summer of 1580 the king of Portugal, before the Castilian forces of King Phillip II defeated Antonio's weak forces and impelled him into exile. The illegitimate son of the infante, Luís, second son of King Manuel I of Portugal and a woman commoner who may have been a New Christian, Antonio's legitimacy as a royal heir was always in doubt. After his father's death in 1555, Antônio abandoned his religious vocation and pursued the life of administrator, warrior, and anti-Muslim crusader in Morocco. Joining two Portuguese expeditions to Morocco (1574 and 1578), Antônio became a prisoner of war after the disastrous battle of Alcácer- Quivir (1578).

   Freed by payment of a ransom, Antônio returned to Portugal to pursue his claim to the throne, following both the death of King Sebastian and that of Cardinal Henrique. Although Antônio was acclaimed king of Portugal in the cities of Santarém, Lisbon, and Coimbra, and ruled a portion of Portugal in summer 1580, his followers were defeated by Phillip II's army in the battle of Alcântara, 25 August 1580. Hidden by his followers for months, Antônio escaped to exile first in England and then in France. An expedition led by England's Francis Drake in 1589, with the mission to drive out the Spaniards and to restore the Prior of Crato to Portugal's throne, failed. Once more, Antônio fled to exile in France, where he died in Paris in 1595.

   The history of Portuguese dance includes traditional, regional folk dances, modern dance, and ballet. Portuguese folk dances have historic origins in the country's varied regions and are based on traditions associated with the historic provinces. At least by the 18th century, these folk dances, performed in traditional garb, were popular and became differentiated by region. In the south of the country, there were colorful, passionate lively dances by rural folk in the Algarve, the corridinho; and in the Ribatejo, the fandango, the dance most celebrated and known outside Portugal. In northern Portugal, even more folk dances were developed and preserved in each historic province. In Trás-os-Montes, there were the chulas and dancas do pauliteros, in which dancers used sticks and stick play. Each region had its own special folk dances and costumes, with typical jewelry on display, and with some dances reflecting regional courting and matrimonial traditions. Perhaps richest of all the provinces as the home of folk dance has been the Minho province in the northwest, with dances such as the viras, gotas, malháo, perim, and tirana. For the most part, folk dances in Portugal are slower than those in neighboring Spain.

   Various factors have favored the preservation of some of these dances including local, regional, and national dance organizations that, for recreation, continue this activity in Portugal, as well as abroad in resident Portuguese communities in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. As a part of entertainment for visitors and tourists alike, performances of folk dances with colorful costumes and lively movements have continued to interest onlookers from abroad. Such performances, usually accompanied by singing traditional folk songs, can occur in a variety of settings including restaurants, fado houses, and arenas. Such dances, too, are performed in traditional, commemorative parades on the Tenth of June from Lisbon and Oporto to Newark, New Jersey, Toronto, and France.

   In modern dance activities, Portugal has made a diversified contribution, and in recent decades ballet has received intense attention and commitment as a performing art. An outstanding example has been the professional company and its performances of the notable Ballet Gulbenkian, established and financed by the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. Founded in 1964, Ballet Gulbenkian became an outstanding ballet company, featuring both Portuguese and international ballet dancers and directors. For decades, Ballet Gulbenkian made a distinguished contribution to the performing arts in Portugal. In 2005, unexpectedly and controversially, by fiat of the Foundation's administration, the Ballet Gulbenkian was closed down. The extinction of this ballet company provoked strong national and international protest among fans of ballet, and amounting as it did to a crisis in one division of the performing arts in a country that had expected unstinting financial support from the Foundation established from the financial legacy of notable collector, philanthropist, and financier Calouste Gulben- kian, a resident of Portugal from 1942 to 1955.

    See also Music.

(England before 1707)

   Next to Spain, the country with which Portugal has had the closest diplomatic, political, and economic relations into contemporary times and during much of its history as a nation. Today, the two countries retain the formal bonds of the world's oldest diplomatic alliance. Whatever the diplomatic ups and downs of the alliance, Britain and Portugal increasingly linked their economies, starting with the Methuen Treaty ( 1703) in the early 18th century. "English woolens for Portuguese wines" was the essence of this trade arrangement, but many other products were traded between these two peoples with quite different religious and cultural features. Among economic links, now traditional, are those in banking and finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and trade.

   Portugal joined Britain in several international economic organizations well before Portugal entered the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the European Union (EU), in 1986, among these the European Free Trade Association (in 1959), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Tourism, too, has long been a key connection. Ever since the 1700s, privileged tourists have enjoyed the sun and citrus fruits of Portugal and Madeira for their health. Another significant link is that Britons comprise one of the largest foreign communities in Portugal. Tourism and foreign communities have increased considerably since the early 1960s, when cheap airfares began. Among EU members, Britain remains one of Portugal's largest foreign investors.

    See also Anglo-Portuguese Alliance; Buçaco, Battle of; Catherine of Braganza; Methuen Treaty; Port Wine; Windsor, Treaties of.

(1469-1521)

   King Manuel I, named "The Fortunate" in Portuguese tradition, ruled from 1495 to 1521, the zenith of Portugal's world power and imperial strength. Manuel was the 14th king of Portugal and the ninth son of Infante Dom Fernando and Dona Brites, as well as the adopted son of King João II (r. 1481-95). Manuel ascended the throne when the royal heir, Dom Afonso, the victim of a riding accident, suddenly died. Manuel's three marriages provide a map of the royal and international history of the era. His first marriage (1497) was to the widow of Dom Afonso, son of King João II, late heir to the throne. The second (1500) was to the Infanta Dona Maria of Castile, and the third marriage (1518) was to Dona Leonor, sister of King Carlos V (Hapsburg emperor and king of Spain).

   Manuel's reign featured several important developments in government, such as the centralization of state power and royal absolutism; overseas expansion, namely the decision in 1495 to continue on from Africa to Asia and the building of an Asian maritime trade empire; and innovation and creativity in culture, with the emergence of the Manueline architectural style and the writings of Gil Vicente and others. There was also an impact on population and demography with the expulsion or forcible conversion of the Jews. In 1496, King Manuel I approved a decree that forced all Jews who would not become baptized as Christians to leave the country within 10 months. The Jews had been expelled from Spain in 1492. The economic impact on Portugal in coming decades or even centuries is debatable, but it is clear that a significant number of Jews converted and remained in Portugal, becoming part of the Portuguese establishment.

   King Manuel's decision in 1495, backed by a royal council and by the Cortes called that year, to continue the quest for Asia by means of seeking an all-water route from Portugal around Africa to India was momentous. Sponsorship of Vasco da Gama's first great voyage (1497-99) to India was the beginning of an era of unprecedented imperial wealth, power, and excitement. It became the official goal to create a maritime monopoly of the Asian spice trade and keep it in Portugal's hands. When Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage from Lisbon to India was dispatched in 1500, its route was deliberately planned to swing southwest into the Atlantic, thus sighting "The Land of the Holy Cross," or Brazil, which soon became a Portuguese colony. Under King Manuel, the foundations were laid for Portugal's Brazilian and Asian empire, from Calicut to the Moluccas. Described by France's King Francis I as the "Grocer King," with his command of the mighty spice trade, King Manuel approved of a fitting monument to the new empire: the building of the magnificent Jerónimos Monastery where, after his death in 1521, both Manuel and Vasco da Gama were laid to rest.

    See also New Christians.

(1802-1866)

   The third son of King João VI and of Dona Carlota Joaquina, Miguel was barely five years of age when he went to Brazil with the fleeing royal family. In 1821, with his mother and father, he returned to Portugal. Whatever the explanation for his actions, Miguel always took Carlota Joaquina's part in the subsequent political struggles and soon became the supreme hope of the reactionary, clerical, absolutist party against the constitutionalists and opposed any compromise with liberal constitutionalism or its adherents. He became not only the symbol but the essence of a kind of reactionary messianism in Portugal during more than two decades, as his personal fortunes of power and privilege rose and fell. With his personality imbued with traits of wildness, adventurism, and violence, Miguel enjoyed a life largely consumed in horseback riding, love affairs, and bull- fighting.

   After the independence of Brazil (1822), Miguel became the principal candidate for power of the Traditionalist Party, which was determined to restore absolutist royal power, destroy the constitution, and rule without limitation. Miguel was involved in many political conspiracies and armed movements, beginning in 1822 and including the coups known to history as the "Vila Francada" (1823) and the "Abrilada" (1824), which were directed against his father King João VI, in order to restore absolutist royal power. These coup conspiracies failed due to foreign intervention, and the king ordered Miguel dismissed from his posts and sent into exile. He remained in exile for four years. The death of King João VI in 1826 presented new opportunities in the absolutist party, however, and the dashing Dom Miguel remained their great hope for power.

   His older brother King Pedro IV, then emperor of Brazil, inherited the throne and wrote his own constitution, the Charter of 1826, which was to become the law of the land in Portugal. However, his daughter Maria, only seven, was too young to rule, so Pedro, who abdicated, put together an unusual deal. Until Maria reached her majority age, a regency headed by Princess Isabel Maria would rule Portugal. Dom Miguel would return from his Austrian exile and, when Maria reached her majority, Maria would marry her uncle Miguel and they would reign under the 1826 Charter. Miguel returned to Portugal in 1828, but immediately broke the bargain. He proclaimed himself an absolutist King, acclaimed by the usual (and last) Cortes of 1828; dispensed with Pedro's Charter; and ruled as an absolutist. Pedro's response was to abdicate the emperorship of Brazil, return to Portugal, defeat Miguel, and place his young daughter on the throne. In the civil war called the War of the Brothers (1831-34), after a seesaw campaign on land and at sea, Miguel's forces were defeated and he went into exile, never to return to Portugal.

(1554-1578)

   The king of Portugal whose disappearance and death in battle in Morocco in 1578 led to a succession crisis and to Spain's annexation of Portugal in 1580. He is the person after whom the cult and mythology of Sebastianism is named. Sebastião succeeded to the throne of Portugal at the tender age of three, upon the death of his father King João III in 1557. With his great-uncle Cardinal Henrique, he was the only other surviving legitimate male member of the Aviz dynasty. The Spanish menace loomed on Portugal's eastern horizons, as Phillip II of Spain gathered more reasons to make good his own strong claims to the Portuguese throne. A headstrong youth, Sebastião dreamed of glory in battle against the Muslims and was certainly influenced by the example of the feats of Phillip II's half-brother Don Juan of Austria and the naval victory against the Turks at Lepanto in 1571.

   Sebastião's great project was a victory in Africa, and he ordered a major effort to raise a fleet and army to attack Morocco. His forces landed at Tangier and Arzila and marched to meet the Muslim armies. In early August 1578, at the battle of Alcácer- Quivir, Portugal's army was destroyed by Muslim forces, and the king himself was lost. Although he was undoubtedly killed, his body was never found. The result of this foolhardy enterprise changed the course of Portugal's history and gave rise to the cult and myth that Sebastião survived and would return one foggy morning to make Portugal great once again.

(1509)

   One of the more decisive battles in world maritime history, it ended for 100 years real threats to Portugal's command of the Indian Ocean and helped establish naval hegemony in the Indian Ocean. Portugal's first viceroy in Portuguese India, Francisco de Almeida, sailed his fleet into Diu harbor and engaged an Egyptian and Gujerati fleet. On 2 February 1509, Almeida's fleet and soldiers destroyed the Muslim fleet. After the battle, the Muslim powers were unable to challenge Portugal's maritime strength for a considerable period. Not long afterward, Portugal added Diu to its port conquests, and that enclave in India remained a possession of Portugal until the invasion of Nehru's Indian army in December 1961.

(1455-1495)

   Known in Portuguese history as "The Perfect Prince," he ruled Portugal from 1481 to 1495. The son of King Afonso V and Dona Isabel, his life and reign reflected Portugal's ongoing struggle with Castile, a suppression of Portugal's more powerful nobility in order to reassert royal authority, and a continuation of Portugal's search for an all-water route to India around the coast of Africa. During his reign, two further exploratory steps were taken in this overseas strategy: the key voyages of Diogo Cão (as far south as the coast of Angola) and of Bartolomeu Dias, who rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean in 1488. As part of Portugal's quest to find and help "Prester John," supposedly a Christian king in Africa or Asia, King João also encouraged the departure in the late 1480s of Afonso de Paiva and Pero de Covilhã, at least one of whom reached Ethiopia, on an expedition overland in Africa.

   Presently an independent African state and formerly Portugal's main colonial territory in East Africa. After Angola, Portugal's largest colony in Africa, with some 784,090 kilometers (297,000 square miles) of territory. Lisbon controlled sections of what is now Mozambique from the early 16th century to 1975. In its long history as a Portuguese colony and outpost, Mozambique was influenced by its geography and its position in the Portuguese empire. Mozambique's location adjacent to industrializing South Africa was an important factor in its economic life. The colony's location on the sea route to Portugal's empire in India, mainly Goa, and its administrative subordination to Portuguese India during the centuries were also important historical factors.

   Until the 20th century, except for sections of the disease-ridden Zambezi valley, what little Portuguese colonization there was remained coastal. After 1910, Portuguese colonization in the interior burgeoned and plantations of sugar, cotton, and other crops were developed. As in Angola and other African colonies of Portugal, long after slavery was abolished in the 19th century, forced labor of Africans continued into the 1960s in Mozambique. In 1964, a colonial war in Mozambique began, a conflict between Portuguese armed forces and nationalist forces of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO). This conflict ceased following the Revolution of 25 April 1974 in Portugal. Mozambique obtained its independence in July 1975.

   / Partido Comunista Portugues

(PCP)

   The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has evolved from its early anarcho-syndicalist roots at its formation in 1921. This evolution included the undisciplined years of the 1920s, during which bolshevization began and continued into the 1930s, then through the years of clandestine existence during the Estado Novo, the Stalinization of the 1940s, the "anarcho-liberal shift" of the 1950s, the emergence of Maoist and Trotskyist splinter groups of the 1960s, to legalization after the Revolution of 25 April 1974 as the strongest and oldest political party in Portugal. Documents from the Russian archives have shown that the PCP's history is not a purely "domestic" one. While the PCP was born on its own without Soviet assistance, once it joined the Communist International (CI), it lost a significant amount of autonomy as CI officials increasingly meddled in PCP internal politics by dictating policy, manipulating leadership elections, and often financing party activities.

   Early Portuguese communism was a mix of communist ideological strands accustomed to a spirited internal debate, a lively external debate with its rivals, and a loose organizational structure. The PCP, during its early years, was weak in grassroots membership and was basically a party of "notables." It was predominantly a male organization, with minuscule female participation. It was also primarily an urban party concentrated in Lisbon. The PCP membership declined from 3,000 in 1923 to only 40 in 1928.

   In 1929, the party was reorganized so that it could survive clandestinely. As its activity progressed in the 1930s, a long period of instability dominated its leadership organs as a result of repression, imprisonments, and disorganization. The CI continued to intervene in party affairs through the 1930s, until the PCP was expelled from the CI in 1938-39, apparently because of its conduct during police arrests.

   The years of 1939-41 were difficult ones for the party, not only because of increased domestic repression but also because of internal party splits provoked by the Nazi-Soviet pact and other foreign actions. From 1940 to 1941, two Communist parties struggled to attract the support of the CI and accused each other of "revisionism." The CI was disbanded in 1943, and the PCP was not accepted back into the international communist family until its recognition by the Cominform in 1947.

   The reorganization of 1940-41 finally put the PCP under the firm control of orthodox communists who viewed socialism from a Soviet perspective. Although Soviet support was denied the newly reorganized party at first, the new leaders continued its Stalinization. The enforcement of "democratic centralism" and insistence upon the "dictatorship of the proletariat" became entrenched. The 1940s brought increased growth, as the party reached its membership apex of the clandestine era with 1,200 members in 1943, approximately 4,800 in 1946, and 7,000 in 1947.

   The party fell on hard times in the 1950s. It developed a bad case of paranoia, which led to a witch hunt for infiltrators, informers, and spies in all ranks of the party. The lower membership figures who followed the united antifascist period were reduced further through expulsions of the "traitors." By 1951, the party had been reduced to only 1,000 members. It became a closed, sectarian, suspicious, and paranoiac organization, with diminished strength in almost every region, except in the Alentejo, where the party, through propaganda and ideology more than organizational strength, was able to mobilize strikes of landless peasants in the early 1950s.

   On 3 January 1960, Álvaro Cunhal and nine other political prisoners made a spectacular escape from the Peniche prison and fled the country. Soon after this escape, Cunhal was elected secretary-general and, with other top leaders, directed the PCP from exile. Trotskyite and Maoist fractions emerged within the party in the 1960s, strengthened by the ideological developments in the international communist movement, such as in China and Cuba. The PCP would not tolerate dissent or leftism and began purging the extreme left fractions.

   The PCP intensified its control of the labor movement after the more liberal syndical election regulations under Prime Minister Mar- cello Caetano allowed communists to run for leadership positions in the corporative unions. By 1973, there was general unrest in the labor movement due to deteriorating economic conditions brought on by the colonial wars, as well as by world economic pressures including the Arab oil boycott.

   After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, the PCP enjoyed a unique position: it was the only party to have survived the Estado Novo. It emerged from clandestinity as the best organized political party in Portugal with a leadership hardened by years in jail. Since then, despite the party's stubborn orthodoxy, it has consistently played an important role as a moderating force. As even the Socialist Party (PS) was swept up by the neoliberal tidal wave, albeit a more compassionate variant, increasingly the PCP has played a crucial role in ensuring that interests and perspectives of the traditional Left are aired.

   One of the most consistent planks of the PCP electoral platform has been opposition to every stage of European integration. The party has regularly resisted Portuguese membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) and, following membership beginning in 1986, the party has regularly resisted further integration through the European Union (EU). A major argument has been that EU membership would not resolve Portugal's chronic economic problems but would only increase its dependence on the world. Ever since, the PCP has argued that its opposition to membership was correct and that further involvement with the EU would only result in further economic dependence and a consequent loss of Portuguese national sovereignty. Further, the party maintained that as Portugal's ties with the EU increased, the vulnerable agrarian sector in Portugal would risk further losses.

   Changes in PCP leadership may or may not alter the party's electoral position and role in the political system. As younger generations forget the uniqueness of the party's resistance to the Estado Novo, public images of PCP leadership will change. As the image of Álvaro Cunhal and other historical communist leaders slowly recedes, and the stature of Carlos Carvalhas (general secretary since 1992) and other moderate leaders is enhanced, the party's survival and legitimacy have strengthened. On 6 March 2001, the PCP celebrated its 80th anniversary.

    See also Left Bloc.

   Government-sponsored inns similar to Spain's paradores. In 1942, Portugal initiated a system of state-run inns, pousadas, housed in restored, historic castles, convents, manor houses, palaces, and monasteries. By 2008, this system included more than forty pousadas or inns in every region of the country and in the Azores Islands. Recently, the government-owned system came under the management of Pestana Hotels, a private group. Such tourist habitations with reasonable nightly rates have been in high demand and feature antique, period furnishings and restaurants with Portuguese cuisine. Most are located in or near towns or cities with other historic places and sites. A source of information for travelers is the official website, at www.pousadas.pt.

    Name of Town in Portugal Name of Pousada

   Agueda Santo Antonio

   Alcácer Do Sal Dom Afonso II

   Alijo Baráo de Forrester

   Almeida Senhoras Das Neves

   Alvito Castelo De Alvito

   Amares Sta. Maria Do Bouro

   Arraiolos N. Sra. Da Assuncao

   Batalha Mestre De Domingues

   Beja São Francisco

   Bragança São Bartolomeu

   Caramulo São Jerónimo

   Condeixa-a-Nova Santa Cristina

   Crato Flor Da Rosa Elvas Santa Luzia Estremoz Rainha Santa Isabel Évora Loios

   Geres/Canicada São Bento Guimarães N. Sa. Da Oliveira Guimarães Santa Marinha Marao São Goncalo Manteigas São Lourenco Marvao Santa Maria Miranda Do Douro Santa Catarina Monsanto Monsanto Murtosa/Aveiro Ria Obidos Castelo Palmela Palmela

   Povoa Das Quartas Santa Barbara Queluz/Lisboa Dona Maria I Sagres Infante

   Sta. Clara-A-Velha Santa Clara

   Santiago Do Cacem Quinta Da Ortiga

   Santiago Do Cacem São Tiago

   S. Pedro/Castelo De Bode São Pedro

   São Bras De Alportel São Bras

   Serpa São Gens

   Setubal São Filipe

   Sousel São Miguel

   Torrao Vale Do Gaio

   Valenca Do Minho São Teotónio

   Viana Do Castelo Monte Santa Luzia

   V. Nova De Cerveira Dom Dinis

   Vila Vicosa Dom João IV

    Azores Islands

   Angra do Heroísmo (Terceira Island) Forte S. Sebastião Horta (Faial Island) Forte S. Cruz

    Presepio

   The history of displaying nativity scenes, portraying the birth of Christ in a manger, goes back in Catholic tradition at least to Christmas 1223, when Saint Francis of Assisi arranged a nativity scene with live figures in a town in Italy, but scholars confirm that this Christmas tradition in the arts is much older than the 13th century. Figurines depicting the Holy Family in nativity scenes were made of various materials, including wood, precious metals, and ceramics. In Portugal, an artistic tradition of making and displaying presepios in or near churches, chapels, and cathedrals reached its zenith in the arts in the 18th century during the long reign of King João V (1706-50). In the Baroque era, an artistic tradition that arrived somewhat late in Portugal, the most celebrated and talented of the nativity scene artists was the 18th-century Coimbra sculptor, Joaquim Machado de Castro (1751/2-1822), but there were other great artists in this field as well. The 18th century's most celebrated sculptor, Machado de Castro created the famous equestrian bronze statue of King José I, in Commerce Square, Lisbon. During the time of Machado de Castro's time, the ceramic nativity scene comprised of large figures and elaborate scenery became a cult, and many nativity scenes were made.

   Today, many of these historic artistic creations, with a strong basis in Christian tradition, can be viewed in various Portuguese museums, palaces, and churches. Some of the most famous larger nativity scenes, including those lovingly created by Machado de Castro of Coimbra, are found on display at Christmas and other times in the Estrela Basilica, the Palace of Necessidades, the Palace of Queluz, the Church of Madre de Deus, the Cathedral in Lisbon, and in other religious or museum buildings in Lisbon, Oporto, and other towns in Portugal. The ceramic nativity scene is not only sacred art but also evolved as folk and now tourist art, as Portuguese nativity scenes, with figures smaller than in the Baroque treasures on display of Machado de Castro, are for sale in a number of stores, as well as in some churches in Lisbon, Oporto, Estremoz, Évora, and other cities. The styles of the nativity scenes vary by region, by town, and by artist, and many include not only sacred figures of the story of the birth of Christ but also traditional, rural, folk figurines depicting Portuguese rural occupations from the 18th and 19th century, as well as figures from stories from the Bible. The ceramic materials of which these figures of varying sizes are made include variations of terracotta.

    See also Necessidades, Palace of and Queluz, National Palace of.

(1924-)

   Lawyer, staunch oppositionist to the Estado Novo, a founder of Portugal's Socialist Party (PS), key leader of post-1974 democratic Portugal, and twice-elected president of the republic (1986-91; 1991-96). Mário Soares was born on 7 December 1924, in Lisbon, the son of an educator and former cabinet officer of the ill-fated First Republic. An outstanding student, Soares received a degree in history and philosophy from the University of Lisbon (1951) and his law degree from the same institution (1957). A teacher and a lawyer, the young Soares soon became active in various organizations that opposed the Estado Novo, starting in his student days and continuing into his association with the PS. He worked with the organizations of several oppositionist candidates for the presidency of the republic in 1949 and 1958 and, as a lawyer, defended a number of political figures against government prosecution in court. Soares was the family attorney for the family of General Humberto Delgado, murdered on the Spanish frontier by the regime's political police in 1965. Soares was signatory and editor of the "Program for the Democratization of the Republic" in 1961, and, in 1968, he was deported by the regime to São Tomé, one of Portugal's African colonies.

   In 1969, following the brief liberalization under the new prime minister Marcello Caetano, Soares returned from exile in Africa and participated as a member of the opposition in general elections for the National Assembly. Although harassed by the PIDE, he was courageous in attacking the government and its colonial policies in Africa. After the rigged election results were known, and no oppositionist deputy won a seat despite the Caetano "opening," Soares left for exile in France. From 1969 to 1974, he resided in France, consulted with other political exiles, and taught at a university. In 1973, at a meeting in West Germany, Soares participated in the (re)founding of the (Portuguese) Socialist Party.

   The exciting, unexpected news of the Revolution of 25 April 1974 reached Soares in France, and soon he was aboard a train bound for Lisbon, where he was to play a major role in the difficult period of revolutionary politics (1974-75). During a most critical phase, the "hot summer" of 1975, when a civil war seemed in the offing, Soares's efforts to steer Portugal away from a communist dictatorship and sustained civil strife were courageous and effective. He found allies in the moderate military and large sectors of the population. After the abortive leftist coup of 25 November 1975, Soares played an equally vital role in assisting the stabilization of a pluralist democracy.

   Prime minister on several occasions during the era of postrevolu-tionary adjustment (1976-85), Soares continued his role as the respected leader of the PS. Following 11 hectic years of the Lusitanian political hurly-burly, Soares was eager for a change and some rest. Prepared to give up leadership of the factious PS and become a senior statesman in the new Portugal, Mário Soares ran for the presidency of the republic. After serving twice as elected president of the republic, he established the Mário Soares Foundation, Lisbon, and was elected to the European Parliament.

    See also Political parties.

(1450?-1510)

   One of the most notable conquistadores and empire builders of Portugal's early Asian empire and the first viceroy of Portuguese India. Having served the Catholic kings in the Granada campaigns, Almeida was also a skilled navigator-sailor. In 1505, King Manuel I dispatched Almeida to Portuguese India as the first viceroy, with a fleet of 21 ships and about 1,500 soldiers. A ferocious and cruel fighter, Almeida fought his way up the coast of East Africa and along the west coast of India. In early February 1509, Almeida's fleet annihilated a Muslim fleet in the harbor of Diu, ensuring Portugal's naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean for more than a century, one of the more decisive naval engagements in world maritime history. Having served as viceroy successfully during 1506-09 when replaced by Afonso de Albuquerque, under orders from King Manuel, Almeida obstinately refused to step down. Orders from Portugal arrived via a fleet in India in October 1509, and Almeida was forced to accept the fact of his dismissal. On his return to Portugal, when landing near the Cape of Good Hope, Almeida was killed in a skirmish with Africans.

    See also Diu, Battle of.

   Former Portuguese colony (ca. 1500-1822), once described on old maps as "Portuguese America." Until 1822, the colony of Brazil was Portugal's largest, richest, and most populous colonial territory, and it held the greatest number of overseas Portuguese. Indeed, until 1974, long after Brazil had ceased being a Portuguese colony, the largest number of overseas Portuguese continued to reside in Brazil.

   Discovered in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral, Brazil experienced significant coastal colonization by Portugal only after 1550. As Portugal's world power and colonial position in North Africa and Asia entered a decline, Brazil began to receive the lion's share of her imperial attention and soon dominated the empire. While Portuguese colonization and civilization had an essential impact on the complex making of Brazil, this fact must be put into perspective. In addition to other European (Italian, German, etc.) and Asian (Japanese) immigrants, two other civilizations or groups of civilizations helped to construct Brazil: the Amerindians who inhabited the land before 1500 and black Africans who were shipped to Brazil's coast as slaves during more than three centuries, mainly from west and central Africa. There is a long history of Portuguese military operations to defend Brazil against internal rebellions as well as other colonial intruders. The French, for example, attacked Brazil several times. But it was the Dutch who proved the greatest threat, when they held northeast Brazil from 1624 to 1654, until they were expelled by Portuguese and colonial forces.

   Until the 17th century, Portuguese colonization was largely coastal. By the 18th century, Portuguese groups began to penetrate deep into the hinterland, including an area rich in minerals, the Minas Gerais ("General Mines"). Lisbon extracted the greatest wealth from Brazil during the "golden age" of mining of gold and diamonds from 1670 to 1750. But hefty profits for the king also came from Brazilian sugar, tobacco, cotton, woods, and coffee. By the time of Brazil's independence, declared in 1822, Portuguese America had become far more powerful and rich than the mother country. Only a few years before the break, Brazil had been declared a kingdom, in theory on a par with Portugal. A major factor behind the Brazilian independence movement was the impact of the residence of the Portuguese royal family and court in Brazil from 1808 to 1821.

   What is the Portuguese legacy to Brazil after more than 300 years of colonization? Of the many facets that could be cited, perhaps three are worthy of mention here: the Portuguese language (Brazil is the only Latin American country that has Portuguese as the official language); Portuguese political and administrative customs; and a large community, mostly in coastal Brazil, of overseas Portuguese.

    See also Freyre, Gilberto; Luso-Tropicalism.