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vital industry

  • 1 vital industry

    vital industry ECON lebenswichtige Industrie f

    Englisch-Deutsch Fachwörterbuch der Wirtschaft > vital industry

  • 2 vital industry

    [com] ključna industrija

    English-Croatian dictionary > vital industry

  • 3 vital

    adjective
    1) (essential to life) lebenswichtig
    2) (essential) unbedingt notwendig; (crucial) entscheidend, ausschlaggebend [Frage, Entschluss] (to für)

    it is of vital importance or vital that you... — es ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, dass Sie...

    3) (full of life) lebendig, kraftvoll [Stil]; vital [Person]
    * * *
    1) (essential; of the greatest importance: Speed is vital to the success of our plan; It is vital that we arrive at the hospital soon.) (lebens)wichtig
    2) (lively and energetic: a vital person/personality.) lebendig
    •
    - academic.ru/80508/vitality">vitality
    * * *
    vi·tal
    [ˈvaɪtəl, AM -t̬əl]
    1. (essential) essenziell, unerlässlich; (more dramatic) lebenswichtig, lebensnotwendig
    to play a \vital part eine entscheidende Rolle spielen
    to be of \vital importance von entscheidender Bedeutung [o von größter Wichtigkeit] sein
    ▪ to be \vital to sth für etw akk lebenswichtig [o unerlässlich] sein
    ▪ it is \vital to do sth es ist äußerst wichtig, etw zu tun
    ▪ it is \vital that... es ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, dass...
    2. ( approv form: energetic) person vital, lebendig
    * * *
    ['vaɪtl]
    1. adj
    1) (= of life) vital, Lebens-; (= necessary for life) lebenswichtig
    2) (= essential) unerlässlich

    is it vital for you to go?, is it vital that you go? —

    it's vital that this is finished by Tuesday — das muss bis Dienstag unbedingt fertig sein

    3) (= critical) argument, issue entscheidend; error schwerwiegend, schwer wiegend

    at the vital moment — im kritischen or entscheidenden Moment

    4) (= lively) person vital; artistic style lebendig
    2. n

    the vitals — die lebenswichtigen Organe; ( hum

    * * *
    vital [ˈvaıtl]
    A adj (adv vitally)
    1. Lebens…:
    vital energy ( oder power) Lebenskraft f;
    vital index (Statistik) Vitalitätsindex m (Verhältnis zwischen Geburts- und Sterbeziffern);
    vital records standesamtliche oder bevölkerungsstatistische Unterlagen;
    vital spark Lebensfunke m;
    a) Bevölkerungsstatistik f,
    b) umg hum Maße pl (einer Frau);
    Bureau of Vital Statistics US Personenstandsregister n; → node 2
    2. lebenswichtig (to für):
    vital industry (interests, organ, etc);
    vital parts → B 1;
    vital necessity Lebensnotwendigkeit f
    3. wesentlich, grundlegend
    4. (hoch)wichtig, entscheidend ( beide:
    to für):
    vital problem Kernproblem n;
    vital question Lebensfrage f;
    of vital importance von entscheidender Bedeutung
    5. fig lebendig (Stil etc)
    6. vital, kraftvoll, lebensprühend (Persönlichkeit etc)
    7. lebensgefährlich, tödlich (Wunde etc)
    B spl vitals
    1. MED edle Teile:
    a) lebenswichtige Organe pl
    b) Genitalien pl
    2. fig (das) Wesentliche, wichtige Bestandteile pl
    * * *
    adjective
    1) (essential to life) lebenswichtig
    2) (essential) unbedingt notwendig; (crucial) entscheidend, ausschlaggebend [Frage, Entschluss] (to für)

    it is of vital importance or vital that you... — es ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, dass Sie...

    3) (full of life) lebendig, kraftvoll [Stil]; vital [Person]
    * * *
    adj.
    entscheidend adj.
    grundlegend adj.
    wesentlich adj. n.
    wesentlich adj.

    English-german dictionary > vital

  • 4 vital

    1 ( essential) [asset, document, expenditure, information, research, industry, supplies] essentiel/-ielle, primordial ; [role, issue, need, interest] fondamental, primordial ; [match, point, support, factor] décisif/-ive ; [service, help] indispensable ; [treatment, importance] vital ; it is vital that, it is of vital importance that il est indispensable or vital que (+ subj) ; vital to sb/sth indispensable à qn/qch ; it is vital to do il est indispensable de faire ; of vital importance d'une importance capitale ; to play a vital role ou part jouer un rôle capital ;
    2 ( essential to life) [organ, force] vital ;
    3 ( lively) [person] plein de vie or de vitalité ; [culture, music] vivant.

    Big English-French dictionary > vital

  • 5 industry

    n

    to relocate one's industries — переносить свои предприятия в другое место

    to restore industry — возрождать / восстанавливать промышленность

    to sell off an industry — продавать частным владельцам / денационализировать отрасль промышленности

    - aerospace industry
    - agricultural industry
    - aircraft industry
    - allied industries
    - ancillary industries
    - armaments industry
    - arms industry
    - atomic industry
    - auto industry
    - automobile industry
    - auxiliary industry
    - baby industries
    - basic industries
    - building industry
    - capital goods industries
    - capital-intensive industry
    - chemical industry
    - cinematographic industry
    - construction industry
    - consumer goods industry
    - cottage industry
    - craft industry
    - defense industries
    - defense-related industries
    - development of national industry
    - diversified industry
    - domestic industry
    - efficient industry
    - electric-power industry
    - electronics industry
    - electrotechnical industry
    - energy industry
    - engineering industry
    - entertainment industry
    - export industries
    - export-promoting industries
    - extractive industry
    - fabricating industry
    - farming industry
    - ferrous metal industry
    - film industry
    - food industry
    - food-processing industry
    - forest industry
    - fuel and power industries
    - fuel industry
    - heavy industry
    - high tech industry
    - highly developed industries
    - home industry
    - import-substituting industries
    - import-substitution industries
    - industries with non-stop production
    - infant industry
    - instruction industry
    - instrument-making industry
    - iron and steel industry
    - key industry
    - labor-consuming industries
    - labor-intensive industries
    - large-scale industry
    - leisure-time industries
    - light industry
    - local industry
    - machine-building industry
    - machine-tool industry
    - manufacturing industry
    - maritime industry
    - metal-working industry
    - mining industry
    - monopolistic industry
    - monopolized industry
    - motor-car industry
    - national industry
    - nationalized industry
    - nuclear industry
    - nuclear-power industry
    - oil industry
    - oil-extracting industry
    - petrochemical industry
    - petroleum industry
    - power industry
    - primary industry
    - printing industry
    - priority industries
    - processing industries
    - public industries
    - publicly-owned industries
    - radio engineering industry
    - regional industry
    - rural industry
    - science-consuming industry
    - science-intensive industry
    - secondary industry
    - service industries
    - service-producing industries
    - shipbuilding industry
    - small-scale industries
    - state industry
    - state-controlled industry
    - state-owned industry
    - steel industry
    - sunrise industry
    - sunset industry
    - technically advanced industry
    - technology industry
    - technology-intensive industry
    - tourist industry
    - trade industry
    - traditional industries
    - travel industry
    - uneconomic industries
    - up-to-date industry
    - user industries
    - vital industries
    - war industry
    - weapon industry

    Politics english-russian dictionary > industry

  • 6 automation technologies

    1. технологии для автоматизации

     

    технологии для автоматизации
    -
    [Интент]

    Параллельные тексты EN-RU

    Automation technologies: a strong focal point for our R&D

    Технологии для автоматизации - одна из главных тем наших научно исследовательских разработок

    Automation is an area of ABB’s business with an extremely high level of technological innovation.

    Автоматика относится к одной из областей деятельности компании АББ, для которой характерен исключительно высокий уровень технических инноваций.

    In fact, it may be seen as a showcase for exhibiting the frontiers of development in several of today’s emerging technologies, like short-range wireless communication and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

    В определенном смысле ее можно уподобить витрине, в которой выставлены передовые разработки из области только еще зарождающихся технологий, примерами которых являются ближняя беспроводная связь и микроэлектромеханические системы (micro electromechanical systems MEMS).

    Mechatronics – the synthesis of mechanics and electronics – is another very exciting and rapidly developing area, and the foundation on which ABB has built its highly successful, fast-growing robotics business.

    Еще одной исключительно интересной быстро развивающейся областью и в то же время фундаментом, на котором АББ в последнее время строит свой исключительно успешный и быстро расширяющийся бизнес в области робототехники, является мехатроника - синтез механики с электроникой.

    Robotic precision has now reached the levels we have come to expect of the watch-making industry, while robots’ mechanical capabilities continue to improve significantly.

    Точность работы робототехнических устройств достигла сегодня уровней, которые мы привыкли ожидать только на предприятиях часовой промышленности. Большими темпами продолжают расти и механические возможности роботов.

    Behind the scenes, highly sophisticated electronics and software control every move these robots make.

    А за кулисами всеми перемещениями робота управляют сложные электронные устройства и компьютерные программы.

    Throughout industry today we see a major shift of ‘intelligence’ to lower levels in the automation system hierarchy, leading to a demand for more communication within the system.

    Во всех отраслях промышленности сегодня наблюдается интенсивный перенос "интеллекта" на нижние уровни иерархии автоматизированных систем, что требует дальнейшего развития внутрисистемных средств обмена.

    ‘Smart’ transmitters, with powerful microprocessors, memory chips and special software, carry out vital operations close to the processes they are monitoring.

    "Интеллектуальные" датчики, снабженные высокопроизводительными микропроцессорами, мощными чипами памяти и специальным программно-математическим обеспечением, выполняют особо ответственные операции в непосредственной близости от контролируемых процессов.

    And they capture and store data crucial for remote diagnostics and maintenance.

    Они же обеспечивают возможность измерения и регистрации информации, крайне необходимой для дистанционной диагностики и дистанционного обслуживания техники.

    The communication highway linking such systems is provided by fieldbuses.

    В качестве коммуникационных магистралей, связывающих такого рода системы, служат промышленные шины fieldbus.

    In an ideal world there would be no more than a few, preferably just one, fieldbus standard.

    В идеале на промышленные шины должно было бы существовать небольшое количество, а лучше всего вообще только один стандарт.

    However, there are still too many of them, so ABB has developed ‘fieldbus plugs’ that, with the help of translation, enable devices to communicate across different standards.

    К сожалению, на деле количество их типов продолжает оставаться слишком разнообразным. Ввиду этой особенности рынка промышленных шин компанией АББ разработаны "штепсельные разъемы", которые с помощью средств преобразования обеспечивают общение различных устройств вопреки границам, возникшим из-за различий в стандартах.

    This makes life easier as well as less costly for our customers. Every automation system is dependent on an electrical network for distributing – and interrupting, when necessary – the power needed to carry out its various functions.

    Это, безусловно, не только облегчает, но и удешевляет жизнь нашим заказчикам. Ни одна система автоматики не может работать без сети, обеспечивающей подачу, а при необходимости и отключение напряжения, необходимого для выполнения автоматикой своих задач.

    Here, too, we see a clear trend toward more intelligence and communication, for example in traditional electromechanical devices such as contactors and switches.

    И здесь наблюдаются отчетливо выраженные тенденции к повышению уровня интеллектуальности и расширению возможностей связи, например, в таких традиционных электромеханических устройствах, как контакторы и выключатели.

    We are pleased to see that our R&D efforts in these areas over the past few years are bearing fruit.

    Мы с удовлетворением отмечаем, что научно-исследовательские разработки, выполненные нами за последние годы в названных областях, начинают приносить свои плоды.

    Recently, we have seen a strong increase in the use of wireless technology in industry.

    В последнее время на промышленных предприятиях наблюдается резкое расширение применения техники беспроводной связи.

    This is a key R&D area at ABB, and several prototype applications have already been developed.

    В компании АББ эта область также относится к числу одной из ключевых тем научно-исследовательских разработок, результатом которых стало создание ряда опытных образцов изделий практического направления.

    At the international Bluetooth Conference in Amsterdam in June 2002, we presented a truly ‘wire-less’ proximity sensor – with even a wireless power supply.

    На международной конференции по системам Bluetooth, состоявшейся в Амстердаме в июне 2002 г., наши специалисты выступили с докладом о поистине "беспроводном" датчике ближней локации, снабженном опять-таки "беспроводным" источником питания.

    This was its second major showing after the launch at the Hanover Fair.

    На столь крупном мероприятии это устройство демонстрировалось во второй раз после своего первого показа на Ганноверской торгово-промышленной ярмарке.

    Advances in microelectronic device technology are also having a profound impact on the power electronics systems around which modern drive systems are built.

    Достижения в области микроэлектроники оказывают также глубокое влияние на системы силовой электроники, лежащие в основе современных приводных устройств.

    The ABB drive family ACS 800 is visible proof of this.

    Наглядным тому доказательством может служить линейка блоков регулирования частоты вращения электродвигателей ACS-800, производство которой начато компанией АББ.

    Combining advanced trench gate IGBT technology with efficient cooling and innovative design, this drive – for motors rated from 1.1 to 500 kW – has a footprint for some power ranges which is six times smaller than competing systems.

    Предназначены они для двигателей мощностью от 1,1 до 500 кВт. В блоках применена новейшая разновидность приборов - биполярные транзисторы с изолированным желобковым затвором (trench gate IGBT) в сочетании с новыми конструктивными решениями, благодаря чему в отдельных диапазонах мощностей габариты блоков удалось снизить по сравнению с конкурирующими изделиями в шесть раз.

    To get the maximum benefit out of this innovative drive solution we have also developed a new permanent magnet motor.

    Стремясь с максимальной пользой использовать новые блоки регулирования, мы параллельно с ними разработали новый двигатель с постоянными магнитами.

    It uses neodymium iron boron, a magnetic material which is more powerful at room temperature than any other known today.

    В нем применен новый магнитный материал на основе неодима, железа и бора, характеристики которого при комнатной температуре на сегодняшний день не имеют себе равных.

    The combination of new drive and new motor reduces losses by as much as 30%, lowering energy costs and improving sustainability – both urgently necessary – at the same time.

    Совместное использование нового блока регулирования частоты вращения с новым двигателем снижает потери мощности до 30 %, что позволяет решить сразу две исключительно актуальные задачи:
    сократить затраты на электроэнергию и повысить уровень безотказности.

    These innovations are utilized most fully, and yield the maximum benefit, when integrated by means of our Industrial IT architecture.

    Потенциал перечисленных выше новых разработок используется в наиболее полной степени, а сами они приносят максимальную выгоду, если их интеграция осуществлена на основе нашей архитектуры IndustrialIT.

    Industrial IT is a unique platform for exploiting the full potential of information technology in industrial applications.

    IndustrialIT представляет собой уникальную платформу, позволяющую в максимальной степени использовать возможности информационных технологий применительно к задачам промышленности.

    Consequently, our new products and technologies are Industrial IT Enabled, meaning that they can be integrated in the Industrial IT architecture in a ‘plug and produce’ manner.

    Именно поэтому все наши новые изделия и технологии выпускаются в варианте, совместимом с архитектурой IndustrialIT, что означает их способность к интеграции с этой архитектурой по принципу "подключи и производи".

    We are excited to present in this issue of ABB Review some of our R&D work and a selection of achievements in such a vital area of our business as Automation.

    Мы рады представить в настоящем номере "АББ ревю" некоторые из наших научно-исследовательских разработок и достижений в такой жизненно важной для нашего бизнеса области, как автоматика.

    R&D investment in our corporate technology programs is the foundation on which our product and system innovation is built.

    Вклад наших разработок в общекорпоративные технологические программы группы АББ служит основой для реализации новых технических решений в создаваемых нами устройствах и системах.

    Examples abound in the areas of control engineering, MEMS, wireless communication, materials – and, last but not least, software technologies. Enjoy reading about them.
    [ABB Review]

    Это подтверждается многочисленными примерами из области техники управления, микроэлектромеханических систем, ближней радиосвязи, материаловедения и не в последнюю очередь программотехники. Хотелось бы пожелать читателю получить удовольствие от чтения этих материалов.
    [Перевод Интент]

    Тематики

    EN

    Англо-русский словарь нормативно-технической терминологии > automation technologies

  • 7 Key

    I 1. [kiː]
    1) (locking device) chiave f.

    a set o bunch of keys un mazzo di chiavi; under lock and key — sotto chiave

    2) (winding device) chiavetta f. ( for di)
    3) tecn. chiavetta f., bietta f.
    4) (on computer, piano, phone) tasto m.; (on oboe, flute) chiave f.
    5) fig. (vital clue) chiave f.
    6) (explanatory list) legenda f.; (for code) chiave f.
    7) (answers) soluzione f. (anche scol.)
    8) mus. tono m., tonalità f.

    in a major, minor key — in (una tonalità) maggiore, minore

    9) geogr. banco m. di sabbia, isolotto m.
    2.
    modificatore [figure, role, point, problem] chiave; [industry, document] fondamentale
    II [kiː]
    1) (type) immettere, digitare [ data]
    2) (adapt) adattare, adeguare [ speech]
    •
    * * *
    [ki:] 1. noun
    1) (an instrument or tool by which something (eg a lock or a nut) is turned: Have you the key for this door?) chiave
    2) (in musical instruments, one of the small parts pressed to sound the notes: piano keys.) tasto
    3) (in a typewriter, calculator etc, one of the parts which one presses to cause a letter etc to be printed, displayed etc.) tasto
    4) (the scale in which a piece of music is set: What key are you singing in?; the key of F.) tono
    5) (something that explains a mystery or gives an answer to a mystery, a code etc: the key to the whole problem.) chiave
    6) (in a map etc, a table explaining the symbols etc used in it.) legenda
    2. adjective
    (most important: key industries; He is a key man in the firm.) chiave
    - keyhole
    - keyhole surgery
    - keynote
    - keyed up
    * * *
    (Surnames) Key /ki:/
    * * *
    I 1. [kiː]
    1) (locking device) chiave f.

    a set o bunch of keys un mazzo di chiavi; under lock and key — sotto chiave

    2) (winding device) chiavetta f. ( for di)
    3) tecn. chiavetta f., bietta f.
    4) (on computer, piano, phone) tasto m.; (on oboe, flute) chiave f.
    5) fig. (vital clue) chiave f.
    6) (explanatory list) legenda f.; (for code) chiave f.
    7) (answers) soluzione f. (anche scol.)
    8) mus. tono m., tonalità f.

    in a major, minor key — in (una tonalità) maggiore, minore

    9) geogr. banco m. di sabbia, isolotto m.
    2.
    modificatore [figure, role, point, problem] chiave; [industry, document] fondamentale
    II [kiː]
    1) (type) immettere, digitare [ data]
    2) (adapt) adattare, adeguare [ speech]
    •

    English-Italian dictionary > Key

  • 8 Tennant, Charles

    [br]
    b. 3 May 1768 Ochiltree, Ayrshire, Scotland
    d. 1 October 1838 Glasgow, Scotland
    [br]
    Scottish inventor of bleaching powder.
    [br]
    After education at the local school, Tennant went to Kilbachan to learn the manufacture of silk. He then went on to Wellmeadow, where he acquired a knowledge of the old bleaching process, which enabled him to establish his own bleachfield at Darnly. The process consisted of boiling the fabric in weak alkali and then laying it flat on the ground to expose it to sun and air for several months. This process, expensive in time and space, would have formed an intolerable bottleneck in the rapidly expanding textile industry, but a new method was on the way. The French chemist Berthollet demonstrated in 1786 the use of chlorine as a bleaching agent and James Watt learned of this while on a visit to Paris. On his return to Glasgow, Watt passed details of the new process on to Tennant, who set about devising his own version of it. First he obtained a bleaching liquor by passing chlorine through a stirred mixture of lime and water. He was granted a patent for this process in 1798, but it was promptly infringed by bleachers in Lancashire. Tennant's efforts to enforce the patent were unsuccessful as it was alleged that others had employed a similar process some years previously. Nevertheless, the Lancashire bleachers had the good grace to present Tennant with a service of plate in recognition of the benefits he had brought to the industry.
    In 1799 Tennant improved on his process by substituting dry slaked lime for the liquid, to form bleaching powder. This was patented the same year and proved to be a vital element in the advance of the textile industry. The following year, Tennant established his chemical plant at St Roll ox, outside Glasgow, to manufacture bleaching powder and alkali substances. The plant prospered and became for a time the largest chemical works in Europe.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    L.F.Haber, 1958, The Chemical Industry During the Nineteenth Century, London: Oxford University Press.
    F.S.Taylor, 1957, A History of Industrial Chemistry, London: Heinemann.
    Walker, 1862, Memoirs of Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in 1807– 1808, London, p. 186.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Tennant, Charles

  • 9 key

    1. noun
    1) (lit. or fig.) Schlüssel, der

    the key to the mystery — des Rätsels Lösung

    2) (set of answers) [Lösungs]schlüssel, der; (to map etc.) Zeichenerklärung, die; (to cipher) Schlüssel, der
    3) (on piano, typewriter, etc.) Taste, die; (on wind instrument) Klappe, die
    4) (Mus.) Tonart, die

    sing/play in/off key — richtig/falsch singen/spielen

    2. attributive adjective
    entscheidend; Schlüssel[frage, -position, -rolle, -figur, -industrie]
    3. transitive verb
    (Computing) eintasten
    Phrasal Verbs:
    - academic.ru/88514/key_in">key in
    * * *
    [ki:] 1. noun
    1) (an instrument or tool by which something (eg a lock or a nut) is turned: Have you the key for this door?) der Schlüssel
    2) (in musical instruments, one of the small parts pressed to sound the notes: piano keys.) die Taste
    3) (in a typewriter, calculator etc, one of the parts which one presses to cause a letter etc to be printed, displayed etc.) die Taste
    4) (the scale in which a piece of music is set: What key are you singing in?; the key of F.) die Tonart
    5) (something that explains a mystery or gives an answer to a mystery, a code etc: the key to the whole problem.) der Schlüssel
    6) (in a map etc, a table explaining the symbols etc used in it.) die Zeichenerklärung
    2. adjective
    (most important: key industries; He is a key man in the firm.) maßgebend
    - keyboard
    - keyhole
    - keyhole surgery
    - keynote
    - keyed up
    * * *
    key1
    [ki:]
    n [Korallen]riff nt, Korallenbank f
    the Florida \keys die Florida Keys
    key2
    [ki:]
    I. n
    1. (for a lock) Schlüssel m
    2. (button) of a computer, piano Taste f; of a flute Klappe f
    to hit [or strike] [or press] a \key eine Taste drücken
    3. COMPUT (code) Kennzahl f, Passwort nt SCHWEIZ, ÖSTERR
    4. no pl (essential point) Schlüssel m fig
    the \key to confidence is liking yourself um Selbstvertrauen haben zu können, muss man sich akk selbst mögen
    the \key to a mystery der Schlüssel zu einem Geheimnis
    5. (to symbols) Zeichenschlüssel m, Zeichenerklärung f, Legende f; (for solutions) Lösungsschlüssel m
    6. MUS Tonart f
    change of \key Tonartwechsel m
    in the \key of C major in C-Dur
    to sing in/off \key richtig/falsch singen
    II. n modifier (factor, industry, role) Schlüssel-; COMM Schwerpunkt-
    \key contribution/ingredient Hauptbeitrag m/-zutat f
    \key currency Leitwährung f
    \key decision wesentliche Entscheidung
    \key point springender Punkt
    \key witness Hauptzeuge, -zeugin m, f, Kronzeuge, -zeugin m, f
    III. adj (of crucial importance)
    \key to the success of sth wesentlich [o ausschlaggebend] für den Erfolg von etw dat
    IV. vt
    1. (type)
    ▪ to \key sth etw eingeben [o eintasten]
    to \key data into a computer Daten in einen Computer eingeben
    2. (aimed at)
    ▪ to \key sth to sb/sth etw auf jdn/etw abstimmen
    ▪ to \key sth vehicle etw mit dem Schlüssel zerkratzen
    * * *
    [kiː]
    1. n
    2) (fig: solution) Schlüssel m

    the key to the mystery — der Schlüssel zum Geheimnis, des Rätsels Lösung

    this was the key to the murderer's identity — das gab Aufschluss darüber or das gab den Hinweis, wer der Mörder war

    3) (= answers) Lösungen pl, Schlüssel m; (SCH) Schlüssel m, Lehrerheft nt; (MATH ETC) Lösungsheft nt; (for maps etc) Zeichenerklärung f
    4) (of piano, typewriter COMPUT) Taste f
    5) (MUS) Tonart f

    change of key — Tonartwechsel m, Modulation

    in the key of C — in C-Dur/c-Moll

    6) (BUILD) Untergrund m
    2. adj attr
    (= vital) Schlüssel-, wichtigste(r, s); witness wichtigste(r, s)

    key factor — Schlüsselfaktor m (in sth bei etw)

    3. vt
    1) speech etc (to or for one's audience) (auf jdn) abstimmen or zuschneiden (to, for auf +acc), anpassen (
    to, for +dat)
    2) (COMPUT) (= input) text, data eingeben; (= hit) character, F7 etc drücken
    4. vi (COMPUT)
    Text/Daten eingeben
    * * *
    key1 [kiː]
    A s
    1. Schlüssel m:
    turn the key absperren, abschließen;
    power of the keys KATH Schlüsselgewalt f
    2. fig (to) Schlüssel m (zu):
    a) Erklärung f (für)
    b) Lösung f (gen):
    the weather holds the key to our success unser Erfolg hängt vom Wetter ab
    3. fig (to) Schlüssel m (zu):
    a) Lösungsbuch n (für, zu)
    b) Zeichenerklärung f (für, zu)
    c) Code m (für, zu)
    4. BOT, ZOOL (Klassifikations)Tabelle f
    5. Kennwort n, -ziffer f, Chiffre f (in Inseraten etc)
    6. TECH
    a) Keil m, Splint m, Bolzen m, Passfeder f
    b) Schraubenschlüssel m
    c) Taste f (der Schreibmaschine etc)
    7. ELEK
    a) Taste f, Druckknopf m
    b) Taster m, Tastkontakt m, -schalter m
    8. Telegrafie: Taster m, Geber m
    9. TYPO Setz-, Schließkeil m
    10. Tischlerei: Dübel m, Band n
    11. ARCH Schlussstein m
    12. MUS
    a) Taste f (bei Tasteninstrumenten):
    black ( upper, auch chromatic) key schwarze (Ober)Taste
    b) Klappe f (bei Blasinstrumenten):
    closed (open) key Klappe zum Öffnen (Schließen)
    13. MUS Tonart f:
    key of C (major) C-Dur;
    sing off ( oder out of) key falsch singen;
    be in (out of) key with fig
    a) (nicht) in Einklang stehen oder (nicht) übereinstimmen mit,
    b) (nicht) passen zu
    15. fig Ton m:
    (all) in the same key eintönig, monoton;
    a) laut,
    b) MAL, FOTO in hellen Tönen (gehalten);
    a) leise,
    b) MAL, FOTO in matten Tönen (gehalten),
    c) wenig spannend oder abwechslungsreich
    16. the Keys PARL die Mitglieder des House of Keys
    B v/t
    1. key in ( oder on) TECH ver-, festkeilen
    2. TYPO füttern, unterlegen
    3. key in COMPUT Daten eintippen, -tasten
    4. MUS stimmen
    5. key (up) to, key in with fig abstimmen auf (akk), anpassen (dat) oder an (akk):
    key sb up for jemanden einstimmen auf (akk)
    6. key up jemanden in nervöse Spannung versetzen:
    keyed up nervös, aufgeregt ( about wegen)
    7. key up fig steigern, erhöhen
    8. ein Inserat etc mit einem Kennwort versehen, chiffrieren
    C adj fig Schlüssel…:
    key industry (position, role, etc);
    there is one key difference es gibt einen entscheidenden Unterschied;
    key official Beamte(r) m oder Beamtin f in einer Schlüsselstellung;
    key player SPORT Leistungsträger(in);
    key witness JUR Hauptzeuge m, -zeugin f
    key2 [kiː; keı] → cay
    key3 [kiː] s US sl Kilo n (Drogen, besonders Haschisch):
    * * *
    1. noun
    1) (lit. or fig.) Schlüssel, der
    2) (set of answers) [Lösungs]schlüssel, der; (to map etc.) Zeichenerklärung, die; (to cipher) Schlüssel, der
    3) (on piano, typewriter, etc.) Taste, die; (on wind instrument) Klappe, die
    4) (Mus.) Tonart, die

    sing/play in/off key — richtig/falsch singen/spielen

    2. attributive adjective
    entscheidend; Schlüssel[frage, -position, -rolle, -figur, -industrie]
    3. transitive verb
    (Computing) eintasten
    Phrasal Verbs:
    * * *
    (music) n.
    Tonart -en (Musik) f. n.
    Passfeder f.
    Schlüssel m.
    Taste -n f. v.
    eingeben v.

    English-german dictionary > key

  • 10 Historical Portugal

       Before Romans described western Iberia or Hispania as "Lusitania," ancient Iberians inhabited the land. Phoenician and Greek trading settlements grew up in the Tagus estuary area and nearby coasts. Beginning around 202 BCE, Romans invaded what is today southern Portugal. With Rome's defeat of Carthage, Romans proceeded to conquer and rule the western region north of the Tagus, which they named Roman "Lusitania." In the fourth century CE, as Rome's rule weakened, the area experienced yet another invasion—Germanic tribes, principally the Suevi, who eventually were Christianized. During the sixth century CE, the Suevi kingdom was superseded by yet another Germanic tribe—the Christian Visigoths.
       A major turning point in Portugal's history came in 711, as Muslim armies from North Africa, consisting of both Arab and Berber elements, invaded the Iberian Peninsula from across the Straits of Gibraltar. They entered what is now Portugal in 714, and proceeded to conquer most of the country except for the far north. For the next half a millennium, Islam and Muslim presence in Portugal left a significant mark upon the politics, government, language, and culture of the country.
       Islam, Reconquest, and Portugal Created, 714-1140
       The long frontier struggle between Muslim invaders and Christian communities in the north of the Iberian peninsula was called the Reconquista (Reconquest). It was during this struggle that the first dynasty of Portuguese kings (Burgundian) emerged and the independent monarchy of Portugal was established. Christian forces moved south from what is now the extreme north of Portugal and gradually defeated Muslim forces, besieging and capturing towns under Muslim sway. In the ninth century, as Christian forces slowly made their way southward, Christian elements were dominant only in the area between Minho province and the Douro River; this region became known as "territorium Portu-calense."
       In the 11th century, the advance of the Reconquest quickened as local Christian armies were reinforced by crusading knights from what is now France and England. Christian forces took Montemor (1034), at the Mondego River; Lamego (1058); Viseu (1058); and Coimbra (1064). In 1095, the king of Castile and Léon granted the country of "Portu-cale," what became northern Portugal, to a Burgundian count who had emigrated from France. This was the foundation of Portugal. In 1139, a descendant of this count, Afonso Henriques, proclaimed himself "King of Portugal." He was Portugal's first monarch, the "Founder," and the first of the Burgundian dynasty, which ruled until 1385.
       The emergence of Portugal in the 12th century as a separate monarchy in Iberia occurred before the Christian Reconquest of the peninsula. In the 1140s, the pope in Rome recognized Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal. In 1147, after a long, bloody siege, Muslim-occupied Lisbon fell to Afonso Henriques's army. Lisbon was the greatest prize of the 500-year war. Assisting this effort were English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land; the first bishop of Lisbon was an Englishman. When the Portuguese captured Faro and Silves in the Algarve province in 1248-50, the Reconquest of the extreme western portion of the Iberian peninsula was complete—significantly, more than two centuries before the Spanish crown completed the Reconquest of the eastern portion by capturing Granada in 1492.
       Consolidation and Independence of Burgundian Portugal, 1140-1385
       Two main themes of Portugal's early existence as a monarchy are the consolidation of control over the realm and the defeat of a Castil-ian threat from the east to its independence. At the end of this period came the birth of a new royal dynasty (Aviz), which prepared to carry the Christian Reconquest beyond continental Portugal across the straits of Gibraltar to North Africa. There was a variety of motives behind these developments. Portugal's independent existence was imperiled by threats from neighboring Iberian kingdoms to the north and east. Politics were dominated not only by efforts against the Muslims in
       Portugal (until 1250) and in nearby southern Spain (until 1492), but also by internecine warfare among the kingdoms of Castile, Léon, Aragon, and Portugal. A final comeback of Muslim forces was defeated at the battle of Salado (1340) by allied Castilian and Portuguese forces. In the emerging Kingdom of Portugal, the monarch gradually gained power over and neutralized the nobility and the Church.
       The historic and commonplace Portuguese saying "From Spain, neither a good wind nor a good marriage" was literally played out in diplomacy and war in the late 14th-century struggles for mastery in the peninsula. Larger, more populous Castile was pitted against smaller Portugal. Castile's Juan I intended to force a union between Castile and Portugal during this era of confusion and conflict. In late 1383, Portugal's King Fernando, the last king of the Burgundian dynasty, suddenly died prematurely at age 38, and the Master of Aviz, Portugal's most powerful nobleman, took up the cause of independence and resistance against Castile's invasion. The Master of Aviz, who became King João I of Portugal, was able to obtain foreign assistance. With the aid of English archers, Joao's armies defeated the Castilians in the crucial battle of Aljubarrota, on 14 August 1385, a victory that assured the independence of the Portuguese monarchy from its Castilian nemesis for several centuries.
       Aviz Dynasty and Portugal's First Overseas Empire, 1385-1580
       The results of the victory at Aljubarrota, much celebrated in Portugal's art and monuments, and the rise of the Aviz dynasty also helped to establish a new merchant class in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal's second city. This group supported King João I's program of carrying the Reconquest to North Africa, since it was interested in expanding Portugal's foreign commerce and tapping into Muslim trade routes and resources in Africa. With the Reconquest against the Muslims completed in Portugal and the threat from Castile thwarted for the moment, the Aviz dynasty launched an era of overseas conquest, exploration, and trade. These efforts dominated Portugal's 15th and 16th centuries.
       The overseas empire and age of Discoveries began with Portugal's bold conquest in 1415 of the Moroccan city of Ceuta. One royal member of the 1415 expedition was young, 21-year-old Prince Henry, later known in history as "Prince Henry the Navigator." His part in the capture of Ceuta won Henry his knighthood and began Portugal's "Marvelous Century," during which the small kingdom was counted as a European and world power of consequence. Henry was the son of King João I and his English queen, Philippa of Lancaster, but he did not inherit the throne. Instead, he spent most of his life and his fortune, and that of the wealthy military Order of Christ, on various imperial ventures and on voyages of exploration down the African coast and into the Atlantic. While mythology has surrounded Henry's controversial role in the Discoveries, and this role has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he played a vital part in the initiation of Portugal's first overseas empire and in encouraging exploration. He was naturally curious, had a sense of mission for Portugal, and was a strong leader. He also had wealth to expend; at least a third of the African voyages of the time were under his sponsorship. If Prince Henry himself knew little science, significant scientific advances in navigation were made in his day.
       What were Portugal's motives for this new imperial effort? The well-worn historical cliche of "God, Glory, and Gold" can only partly explain the motivation of a small kingdom with few natural resources and barely 1 million people, which was greatly outnumbered by the other powers it confronted. Among Portuguese objectives were the desire to exploit known North African trade routes and resources (gold, wheat, leather, weaponry, and other goods that were scarce in Iberia); the need to outflank the Muslim world in the Mediterranean by sailing around Africa, attacking Muslims en route; and the wish to ally with Christian kingdoms beyond Africa. This enterprise also involved a strategy of breaking the Venetian spice monopoly by trading directly with the East by means of discovering and exploiting a sea route around Africa to Asia. Besides the commercial motives, Portugal nurtured a strong crusading sense of Christian mission, and various classes in the kingdom saw an opportunity for fame and gain.
       By the time of Prince Henry's death in 1460, Portugal had gained control of the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeiras, begun to colonize the Cape Verde Islands, failed to conquer the Canary Islands from Castile, captured various cities on Morocco's coast, and explored as far as Senegal, West Africa, down the African coast. By 1488, Bar-tolomeu Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and thereby discovered the way to the Indian Ocean.
       Portugal's largely coastal African empire and later its fragile Asian empire brought unexpected wealth but were purchased at a high price. Costs included wars of conquest and defense against rival powers, manning the far-flung navel and trade fleets and scattered castle-fortresses, and staffing its small but fierce armies, all of which entailed a loss of skills and population to maintain a scattered empire. Always short of capital, the monarchy became indebted to bankers. There were many defeats beginning in the 16th century at the hands of the larger imperial European monarchies (Spain, France, England, and Holland) and many attacks on Portugal and its strung-out empire. Typically, there was also the conflict that arose when a tenuously held world empire that rarely if ever paid its way demanded finance and manpower Portugal itself lacked.
       The first 80 years of the glorious imperial era, the golden age of Portugal's imperial power and world influence, was an African phase. During 1415-88, Portuguese navigators and explorers in small ships, some of them caravelas (caravels), explored the treacherous, disease-ridden coasts of Africa from Morocco to South Africa beyond the Cape of Good Hope. By the 1470s, the Portuguese had reached the Gulf of Guinea and, in the early 1480s, what is now Angola. Bartolomeu Dias's extraordinary voyage of 1487-88 to South Africa's coast and the edge of the Indian Ocean convinced Portugal that the best route to Asia's spices and Christians lay south, around the tip of southern Africa. Between 1488 and 1495, there was a hiatus caused in part by domestic conflict in Portugal, discussion of resources available for further conquests beyond Africa in Asia, and serious questions as to Portugal's capacity to reach beyond Africa. In 1495, King Manuel and his council decided to strike for Asia, whatever the consequences. In 1497-99, Vasco da Gama, under royal orders, made the epic two-year voyage that discovered the sea route to western India (Asia), outflanked Islam and Venice, and began Portugal's Asian empire. Within 50 years, Portugal had discovered and begun the exploitation of its largest colony, Brazil, and set up forts and trading posts from the Middle East (Aden and Ormuz), India (Calicut, Goa, etc.), Malacca, and Indonesia to Macau in China.
       By the 1550s, parts of its largely coastal, maritime trading post empire from Morocco to the Moluccas were under siege from various hostile forces, including Muslims, Christians, and Hindi. Although Moroccan forces expelled the Portuguese from the major coastal cities by 1550, the rival European monarchies of Castile (Spain), England, France, and later Holland began to seize portions of her undermanned, outgunned maritime empire.
       In 1580, Phillip II of Spain, whose mother was a Portuguese princess and who had a strong claim to the Portuguese throne, invaded Portugal, claimed the throne, and assumed control over the realm and, by extension, its African, Asian, and American empires. Phillip II filled the power vacuum that appeared in Portugal following the loss of most of Portugal's army and its young, headstrong King Sebastião in a disastrous war in Morocco. Sebastiao's death in battle (1578) and the lack of a natural heir to succeed him, as well as the weak leadership of the cardinal who briefly assumed control in Lisbon, led to a crisis that Spain's strong monarch exploited. As a result, Portugal lost its independence to Spain for a period of 60 years.
       Portugal under Spanish Rule, 1580-1640
       Despite the disastrous nature of Portugal's experience under Spanish rule, "The Babylonian Captivity" gave birth to modern Portuguese nationalism, its second overseas empire, and its modern alliance system with England. Although Spain allowed Portugal's weakened empire some autonomy, Spanish rule in Portugal became increasingly burdensome and unacceptable. Spain's ambitious imperial efforts in Europe and overseas had an impact on the Portuguese as Spain made greater and greater demands on its smaller neighbor for manpower and money. Portugal's culture underwent a controversial Castilianization, while its empire became hostage to Spain's fortunes. New rival powers England, France, and Holland attacked and took parts of Spain's empire and at the same time attacked Portugal's empire, as well as the mother country.
       Portugal's empire bore the consequences of being attacked by Spain's bitter enemies in what was a form of world war. Portuguese losses were heavy. By 1640, Portugal had lost most of its Moroccan cities as well as Ceylon, the Moluccas, and sections of India. With this, Portugal's Asian empire was gravely weakened. Only Goa, Damão, Diu, Bombay, Timor, and Macau remained and, in Brazil, Dutch forces occupied the northeast.
       On 1 December 1640, long commemorated as a national holiday, Portuguese rebels led by the duke of Braganza overthrew Spanish domination and took advantage of Spanish weakness following a more serious rebellion in Catalonia. Portugal regained independence from Spain, but at a price: dependence on foreign assistance to maintain its independence in the form of the renewal of the alliance with England.
       Restoration and Second Empire, 1640-1822
       Foreign affairs and empire dominated the restoration era and aftermath, and Portugal again briefly enjoyed greater European power and prestige. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was renewed and strengthened in treaties of 1642, 1654, and 1661, and Portugal's independence from Spain was underwritten by English pledges and armed assistance. In a Luso-Spanish treaty of 1668, Spain recognized Portugal's independence. Portugal's alliance with England was a marriage of convenience and necessity between two monarchies with important religious, cultural, and social differences. In return for legal, diplomatic, and trade privileges, as well as the use during war and peace of Portugal's great Lisbon harbor and colonial ports for England's navy, England pledged to protect Portugal and its scattered empire from any attack. The previously cited 17th-century alliance treaties were renewed later in the Treaty of Windsor, signed in London in 1899. On at least 10 different occasions after 1640, and during the next two centuries, England was central in helping prevent or repel foreign invasions of its ally, Portugal.
       Portugal's second empire (1640-1822) was largely Brazil-oriented. Portuguese colonization, exploitation of wealth, and emigration focused on Portuguese America, and imperial revenues came chiefly from Brazil. Between 1670 and 1740, Portugal's royalty and nobility grew wealthier on funds derived from Brazilian gold, diamonds, sugar, tobacco, and other crops, an enterprise supported by the Atlantic slave trade and the supply of African slave labor from West Africa and Angola. Visitors today can see where much of that wealth was invested: Portugal's rich legacy of monumental architecture. Meanwhile, the African slave trade took a toll in Angola and West Africa.
       In continental Portugal, absolutist monarchy dominated politics and government, and there was a struggle for position and power between the monarchy and other institutions, such as the Church and nobility. King José I's chief minister, usually known in history as the marquis of Pombal (ruled 1750-77), sharply suppressed the nobility and the
       Church (including the Inquisition, now a weak institution) and expelled the Jesuits. Pombal also made an effort to reduce economic dependence on England, Portugal's oldest ally. But his successes did not last much beyond his disputed time in office.
       Beginning in the late 18th century, the European-wide impact of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon placed Portugal in a vulnerable position. With the monarchy ineffectively led by an insane queen (Maria I) and her indecisive regent son (João VI), Portugal again became the focus of foreign ambition and aggression. With England unable to provide decisive assistance in time, France—with Spain's consent—invaded Portugal in 1807. As Napoleon's army under General Junot entered Lisbon meeting no resistance, Portugal's royal family fled on a British fleet to Brazil, where it remained in exile until 1821. In the meantime, Portugal's overseas empire was again under threat. There was a power vacuum as the monarch was absent, foreign armies were present, and new political notions of liberalism and constitutional monarchy were exciting various groups of citizens.
       Again England came to the rescue, this time in the form of the armies of the duke of Wellington. Three successive French invasions of Portugal were defeated and expelled, and Wellington succeeded in carrying the war against Napoleon across the Portuguese frontier into Spain. The presence of the English army, the new French-born liberal ideas, and the political vacuum combined to create revolutionary conditions. The French invasions and the peninsular wars, where Portuguese armed forces played a key role, marked the beginning of a new era in politics.
       Liberalism and Constitutional Monarchy, 1822-1910
       During 1807-22, foreign invasions, war, and civil strife over conflicting political ideas gravely damaged Portugal's commerce, economy, and novice industry. The next terrible blow was the loss of Brazil in 1822, the jewel in the imperial crown. Portugal's very independence seemed to be at risk. In vain, Portugal sought to resist Brazilian independence by force, but in 1825 it formally acknowledged Brazilian independence by treaty.
       Portugal's slow recovery from the destructive French invasions and the "war of independence" was complicated by civil strife over the form of constitutional monarchy that best suited Portugal. After struggles over these issues between 1820 and 1834, Portugal settled somewhat uncertainly into a moderate constitutional monarchy whose constitution (Charter of 1826) lent it strong political powers to exert a moderating influence between the executive and legislative branches of the government. It also featured a new upper middle class based on land ownership and commerce; a Catholic Church that, although still important, lived with reduced privileges and property; a largely African (third) empire to which Lisbon and Oporto devoted increasing spiritual and material resources, starting with the liberal imperial plans of 1836 and 1851, and continuing with the work of institutions like the Lisbon Society of Geography (established 1875); and a mass of rural peasants whose bonds to the land weakened after 1850 and who began to immigrate in increasing numbers to Brazil and North America.
       Chronic military intervention in national politics began in 19th-century Portugal. Such intervention, usually commencing with coups or pronunciamentos (military revolts), was a shortcut to the spoils of political office and could reflect popular discontent as well as the power of personalities. An early example of this was the 1817 golpe (coup) attempt of General Gomes Freire against British military rule in Portugal before the return of King João VI from Brazil. Except for a more stable period from 1851 to 1880, military intervention in politics, or the threat thereof, became a feature of the constitutional monarchy's political life, and it continued into the First Republic and the subsequent Estado Novo.
       Beginning with the Regeneration period (1851-80), Portugal experienced greater political stability and economic progress. Military intervention in politics virtually ceased; industrialization and construction of railroads, roads, and bridges proceeded; two political parties (Regenerators and Historicals) worked out a system of rotation in power; and leading intellectuals sparked a cultural revival in several fields. In 19th-century literature, there was a new golden age led by such figures as Alexandre Herculano (historian), Eça de Queirós (novelist), Almeida Garrett (playwright and essayist), Antero de Quental (poet), and Joaquim Oliveira Martins (historian and social scientist). In its third overseas empire, Portugal attempted to replace the slave trade and slavery with legitimate economic activities; to reform the administration; and to expand Portuguese holdings beyond coastal footholds deep into the African hinterlands in West, West Central, and East Africa. After 1841, to some extent, and especially after 1870, colonial affairs, combined with intense nationalism, pressures for economic profit in Africa, sentiment for national revival, and the drift of European affairs would make or break Lisbon governments.
       Beginning with the political crisis that arose out of the "English Ultimatum" affair of January 1890, the monarchy became discredtted and identified with the poorly functioning government, political parties splintered, and republicanism found more supporters. Portugal participated in the "Scramble for Africa," expanding its African holdings, but failed to annex territory connecting Angola and Mozambique. A growing foreign debt and state bankruptcy as of the early 1890s damaged the constitutional monarchy's reputation, despite the efforts of King Carlos in diplomacy, the renewal of the alliance in the Windsor Treaty of 1899, and the successful if bloody colonial wars in the empire (1880-97). Republicanism proclaimed that Portugal's weak economy and poor society were due to two historic institutions: the monarchy and the Catholic Church. A republic, its stalwarts claimed, would bring greater individual liberty; efficient, if more decentralized government; and a stronger colonial program while stripping the Church of its role in both society and education.
       As the monarchy lost support and republicans became more aggressive, violence increased in politics. King Carlos I and his heir Luís were murdered in Lisbon by anarchist-republicans on 1 February 1908. Following a military and civil insurrection and fighting between monarchist and republican forces, on 5 October 1910, King Manuel II fled Portugal and a republic was proclaimed.
       First Parliamentary Republic, 1910-26
       Portugal's first attempt at republican government was the most unstable, turbulent parliamentary republic in the history of 20th-century Western Europe. During a little under 16 years of the republic, there were 45 governments, a number of legislatures that did not complete normal terms, military coups, and only one president who completed his four-year term in office. Portuguese society was poorly prepared for this political experiment. Among the deadly legacies of the monarchy were a huge public debt; a largely rural, apolitical, and illiterate peasant population; conflict over the causes of the country's misfortunes; and lack of experience with a pluralist, democratic system.
       The republic had some talented leadership but lacked popular, institutional, and economic support. The 1911 republican constitution established only a limited democracy, as only a small portion of the adult male citizenry was eligible to vote. In a country where the majority was Catholic, the republic passed harshly anticlerical laws, and its institutions and supporters persecuted both the Church and its adherents. During its brief disjointed life, the First Republic drafted important reform plans in economic, social, and educational affairs; actively promoted development in the empire; and pursued a liberal, generous foreign policy. Following British requests for Portugal's assistance in World War I, Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in March 1916 and sent armies to Flanders and Portuguese Africa. Portugal's intervention in that conflict, however, was too costly in many respects, and the ultimate failure of the republic in part may be ascribed to Portugal's World War I activities.
       Unfortunately for the republic, its time coincided with new threats to Portugal's African possessions: World War I, social and political demands from various classes that could not be reconciled, excessive military intervention in politics, and, in particular, the worst economic and financial crisis Portugal had experienced since the 16th and 17th centuries. After the original Portuguese Republican Party (PRP, also known as the "Democrats") splintered into three warring groups in 1912, no true multiparty system emerged. The Democrats, except for only one or two elections, held an iron monopoly of electoral power, and political corruption became a major issue. As extreme right-wing dictatorships elsewhere in Europe began to take power in Italy (1922), neighboring Spain (1923), and Greece (1925), what scant popular support remained for the republic collapsed. Backed by a right-wing coalition of landowners from Alentejo, clergy, Coimbra University faculty and students, Catholic organizations, and big business, career military officers led by General Gomes da Costa executed a coup on 28 May 1926, turned out the last republican government, and established a military government.
       The Estado Novo (New State), 1926-74
       During the military phase (1926-32) of the Estado Novo, professional military officers, largely from the army, governed and administered Portugal and held key cabinet posts, but soon discovered that the military possessed no magic formula that could readily solve the problems inherited from the First Republic. Especially during the years 1926-31, the military dictatorship, even with its political repression of republican activities and institutions (military censorship of the press, political police action, and closure of the republic's rowdy parliament), was characterized by similar weaknesses: personalism and factionalism; military coups and political instability, including civil strife and loss of life; state debt and bankruptcy; and a weak economy. "Barracks parliamentarism" was not an acceptable alternative even to the "Nightmare Republic."
       Led by General Óscar Carmona, who had replaced and sent into exile General Gomes da Costa, the military dictatorship turned to a civilian expert in finance and economics to break the budget impasse and bring coherence to the disorganized system. Appointed minister of finance on 27 April 1928, the Coimbra University Law School professor of economics Antônio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) first reformed finance, helped balance the budget, and then turned to other concerns as he garnered extraordinary governing powers. In 1930, he was appointed interim head of another key ministry (Colonies) and within a few years had become, in effect, a civilian dictator who, with the military hierarchy's support, provided the government with coherence, a program, and a set of policies.
       For nearly 40 years after he was appointed the first civilian prime minister in 1932, Salazar's personality dominated the government. Unlike extreme right-wing dictators elsewhere in Europe, Salazar was directly appointed by the army but was never endorsed by a popular political party, street militia, or voter base. The scholarly, reclusive former Coimbra University professor built up what became known after 1932 as the Estado Novo ("New State"), which at the time of its overthrow by another military coup in 1974, was the longest surviving authoritarian regime in Western Europe. The system of Salazar and the largely academic and technocratic ruling group he gathered in his cabinets was based on the central bureaucracy of the state, which was supported by the president of the republic—always a senior career military officer, General Óscar Carmona (1928-51), General Craveiro Lopes (1951-58), and Admiral Américo Tómaz (1958-74)—and the complicity of various institutions. These included a rubber-stamp legislature called the National Assembly (1935-74) and a political police known under various names: PVDE (1932-45), PIDE (1945-69),
       and DGS (1969-74). Other defenders of the Estado Novo security were paramilitary organizations such as the National Republican Guard (GNR); the Portuguese Legion (PL); and the Portuguese Youth [Movement]. In addition to censorship of the media, theater, and books, there was political repression and a deliberate policy of depoliticization. All political parties except for the approved movement of regime loyalists, the União Nacional or (National Union), were banned.
       The most vigorous and more popular period of the New State was 1932-44, when the basic structures were established. Never monolithic or entirely the work of one person (Salazar), the New State was constructed with the assistance of several dozen top associates who were mainly academics from law schools, some technocrats with specialized skills, and a handful of trusted career military officers. The 1933 Constitution declared Portugal to be a "unitary, corporative Republic," and pressures to restore the monarchy were resisted. Although some of the regime's followers were fascists and pseudofascists, many more were conservative Catholics, integralists, nationalists, and monarchists of different varieties, and even some reactionary republicans. If the New State was authoritarian, it was not totalitarian and, unlike fascism in Benito Mussolini's Italy or Adolf Hitler's Germany, it usually employed the minimum of violence necessary to defeat what remained a largely fractious, incoherent opposition.
       With the tumultuous Second Republic and the subsequent civil war in nearby Spain, the regime felt threatened and reinforced its defenses. During what Salazar rightly perceived as a time of foreign policy crisis for Portugal (1936-45), he assumed control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, he pursued four basic foreign policy objectives: supporting the Nationalist rebels of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and concluding defense treaties with a triumphant Franco; ensuring that General Franco in an exhausted Spain did not enter World War II on the Axis side; maintaining Portuguese neutrality in World War II with a post-1942 tilt toward the Allies, including granting Britain and the United States use of bases in the Azores Islands; and preserving and protecting Portugal's Atlantic Islands and its extensive, if poor, overseas empire in Africa and Asia.
       During the middle years of the New State (1944-58), many key Salazar associates in government either died or resigned, and there was greater social unrest in the form of unprecedented strikes and clandestine Communist activities, intensified opposition, and new threatening international pressures on Portugal's overseas empire. During the earlier phase of the Cold War (1947-60), Portugal became a steadfast, if weak, member of the US-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and, in 1955, with American support, Portugal joined the United Nations (UN). Colonial affairs remained a central concern of the regime. As of 1939, Portugal was the third largest colonial power in the world and possessed territories in tropical Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe Islands) and the remnants of its 16th-century empire in Asia (Goa, Damão, Diu, East Timor, and Macau). Beginning in the early 1950s, following the independence of India in 1947, Portugal resisted Indian pressures to decolonize Portuguese India and used police forces to discourage internal opposition in its Asian and African colonies.
       The later years of the New State (1958-68) witnessed the aging of the increasingly isolated but feared Salazar and new threats both at home and overseas. Although the regime easily overcame the brief oppositionist threat from rival presidential candidate General Humberto Delgado in the spring of 1958, new developments in the African and Asian empires imperiled the authoritarian system. In February 1961, oppositionists hijacked the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria and, in following weeks, African insurgents in northern Angola, although they failed to expel the Portuguese, gained worldwide media attention, discredited the New State, and began the 13-year colonial war. After thwarting a dissident military coup against his continued leadership, Salazar and his ruling group mobilized military repression in Angola and attempted to develop the African colonies at a faster pace in order to ensure Portuguese control. Meanwhile, the other European colonial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, and Spain) rapidly granted political independence to their African territories.
       At the time of Salazar's removal from power in September 1968, following a stroke, Portugal's efforts to maintain control over its colonies appeared to be successful. President Americo Tomás appointed Dr. Marcello Caetano as Salazar's successor as prime minister. While maintaining the New State's basic structures, and continuing the regime's essential colonial policy, Caetano attempted wider reforms in colonial administration and some devolution of power from Lisbon, as well as more freedom of expression in Lisbon. Still, a great deal of the budget was devoted to supporting the wars against the insurgencies in Africa. Meanwhile in Asia, Portuguese India had fallen when the Indian army invaded in December 1961. The loss of Goa was a psychological blow to the leadership of the New State, and of the Asian empire only East Timor and Macau remained.
       The Caetano years (1968-74) were but a hiatus between the waning Salazar era and a new regime. There was greater political freedom and rapid economic growth (5-6 percent annually to late 1973), but Caetano's government was unable to reform the old system thoroughly and refused to consider new methods either at home or in the empire. In the end, regime change came from junior officers of the professional military who organized the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) against the Caetano government. It was this group of several hundred officers, mainly in the army and navy, which engineered a largely bloodless coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974. Their unexpected action brought down the 48-year-old New State and made possible the eventual establishment and consolidation of democratic governance in Portugal, as well as a reorientation of the country away from the Atlantic toward Europe.
       Revolution of Carnations, 1974-76
       Following successful military operations of the Armed Forces Movement against the Caetano government, Portugal experienced what became known as the "Revolution of Carnations." It so happened that during the rainy week of the military golpe, Lisbon flower shops were featuring carnations, and the revolutionaries and their supporters adopted the red carnation as the common symbol of the event, as well as of the new freedom from dictatorship. The MFA, whose leaders at first were mostly little-known majors and captains, proclaimed a three-fold program of change for the new Portugal: democracy; decolonization of the overseas empire, after ending the colonial wars; and developing a backward economy in the spirit of opportunity and equality. During the first 24 months after the coup, there was civil strife, some anarchy, and a power struggle. With the passing of the Estado Novo, public euphoria burst forth as the new provisional military government proclaimed the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and abolished censorship, the political police, the Portuguese Legion, Portuguese Youth, and other New State organizations, including the National Union. Scores of political parties were born and joined the senior political party, the Portuguese Community Party (PCP), and the Socialist Party (PS), founded shortly before the coup.
       Portugal's Revolution of Carnations went through several phases. There was an attempt to take control by radical leftists, including the PCP and its allies. This was thwarted by moderate officers in the army, as well as by the efforts of two political parties: the PS and the Social Democrats (PPD, later PSD). The first phase was from April to September 1974. Provisional president General Antonio Spínola, whose 1974 book Portugal and the Future had helped prepare public opinion for the coup, met irresistible leftist pressures. After Spinola's efforts to avoid rapid decolonization of the African empire failed, he resigned in September 1974. During the second phase, from September 1974 to March 1975, radical military officers gained control, but a coup attempt by General Spínola and his supporters in Lisbon in March 1975 failed and Spínola fled to Spain.
       In the third phase of the Revolution, March-November 1975, a strong leftist reaction followed. Farm workers occupied and "nationalized" 1.1 million hectares of farmland in the Alentejo province, and radical military officers in the provisional government ordered the nationalization of Portuguese banks (foreign banks were exempted), utilities, and major industries, or about 60 percent of the economic system. There were power struggles among various political parties — a total of 50 emerged—and in the streets there was civil strife among labor, military, and law enforcement groups. A constituent assembly, elected on 25 April 1975, in Portugal's first free elections since 1926, drafted a democratic constitution. The Council of the Revolution (CR), briefly a revolutionary military watchdog committee, was entrenched as part of the government under the constitution, until a later revision. During the chaotic year of 1975, about 30 persons were killed in political frays while unstable provisional governments came and went. On 25 November 1975, moderate military forces led by Colonel Ramalho Eanes, who later was twice elected president of the republic (1976 and 1981), defeated radical, leftist military groups' revolutionary conspiracies.
       In the meantime, Portugal's scattered overseas empire experienced a precipitous and unprepared decolonization. One by one, the former colonies were granted and accepted independence—Guinea-Bissau (September 1974), Cape Verde Islands (July 1975), and Mozambique (July 1975). Portugal offered to turn over Macau to the People's Republic of China, but the offer was refused then and later negotiations led to the establishment of a formal decolonization or hand-over date of 1999. But in two former colonies, the process of decolonization had tragic results.
       In Angola, decolonization negotiations were greatly complicated by the fact that there were three rival nationalist movements in a struggle for power. The January 1975 Alvor Agreement signed by Portugal and these three parties was not effectively implemented. A bloody civil war broke out in Angola in the spring of 1975 and, when Portuguese armed forces withdrew and declared that Angola was independent on 11 November 1975, the bloodshed only increased. Meanwhile, most of the white Portuguese settlers from Angola and Mozambique fled during the course of 1975. Together with African refugees, more than 600,000 of these retornados ("returned ones") went by ship and air to Portugal and thousands more to Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
       The second major decolonization disaster was in Portugal's colony of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago. Portugal's capacity to supervise and control a peaceful transition to independence in this isolated, neglected colony was limited by the strength of giant Indonesia, distance from Lisbon, and Portugal's revolutionary disorder and inability to defend Timor. In early December 1975, before Portugal granted formal independence and as one party, FRETILIN, unilaterally declared East Timor's independence, Indonesia's armed forces invaded, conquered, and annexed East Timor. Indonesian occupation encountered East Timorese resistance, and a heavy loss of life followed. The East Timor question remained a contentious international issue in the UN, as well as in Lisbon and Jakarta, for more than 20 years following Indonesia's invasion and annexation of the former colony of Portugal. Major changes occurred, beginning in 1998, after Indonesia underwent a political revolution and allowed a referendum in East Timor to decide that territory's political future in August 1999. Most East Timorese chose independence, but Indonesian forces resisted that verdict until
       UN intervention in September 1999. Following UN rule for several years, East Timor attained full independence on 20 May 2002.
       Consolidation of Democracy, 1976-2000
       After several free elections and record voter turnouts between 25 April 1975 and June 1976, civil war was averted and Portugal's second democratic republic began to stabilize. The MFA was dissolved, the military were returned to the barracks, and increasingly elected civilians took over the government of the country. The 1976 Constitution was revised several times beginning in 1982 and 1989, in order to reempha-size the principle of free enterprise in the economy while much of the large, nationalized sector was privatized. In June 1976, General Ram-alho Eanes was elected the first constitutional president of the republic (five-year term), and he appointed socialist leader Dr. Mário Soares as prime minister of the first constitutional government.
       From 1976 to 1985, Portugal's new system featured a weak economy and finances, labor unrest, and administrative and political instability. The difficult consolidation of democratic governance was eased in part by the strong currency and gold reserves inherited from the Estado Novo, but Lisbon seemed unable to cope with high unemployment, new debt, the complex impact of the refugees from Africa, world recession, and the agitation of political parties. Four major parties emerged from the maelstrom of 1974-75, except for the Communist Party, all newly founded. They were, from left to right, the Communists (PCP); the Socialists (PS), who managed to dominate governments and the legislature but not win a majority in the Assembly of the Republic; the Social Democrats (PSD); and the Christian Democrats (CDS). During this period, the annual growth rate was low (l-2 percent), and the nationalized sector of the economy stagnated.
       Enhanced economic growth, greater political stability, and more effective central government as of 1985, and especially 1987, were due to several developments. In 1977, Portugal applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU) since 1993. In January 1986, with Spain, Portugal was granted membership, and economic and financial progress in the intervening years has been significantly influenced by the comparatively large investment, loans, technology, advice, and other assistance from the EEC. Low unemployment, high annual growth rates (5 percent), and moderate inflation have also been induced by the new political and administrative stability in Lisbon. Led by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva, an economist who was trained abroad, the PSD's strong organization, management, and electoral support since 1985 have assisted in encouraging economic recovery and development. In 1985, the PSD turned the PS out of office and won the general election, although they did not have an absolute majority of assembly seats. In 1986, Mário Soares was elected president of the republic, the first civilian to hold that office since the First Republic. In the elections of 1987 and 1991, however, the PSD was returned to power with clear majorities of over 50 percent of the vote.
       Although the PSD received 50.4 percent of the vote in the 1991 parliamentary elections and held a 42-seat majority in the Assembly of the Republic, the party began to lose public support following media revelations regarding corruption and complaints about Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's perceived arrogant leadership style. President Mário Soares voiced criticism of the PSD's seemingly untouchable majority and described a "tyranny of the majority." Economic growth slowed down. In the parliamentary elections of 1995 and the presidential election of 1996, the PSD's dominance ended for the time being. Prime Minister Antônio Guterres came to office when the PS won the October 1995 elections, and in the subsequent presidential contest, in January 1996, socialist Jorge Sampaio, the former mayor of Lisbon, was elected president of the republic, thus defeating Cavaco Silva's bid. Young and popular, Guterres moved the PS toward the center of the political spectrum. Under Guterres, the PS won the October 1999 parliamentary elections. The PS defeated the PSD but did not manage to win a clear, working majority of seats, and this made the PS dependent upon alliances with smaller parties, including the PCP.
       In the local elections in December 2001, the PSD's criticism of PS's heavy public spending allowed the PSD to take control of the key cities of Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra. Guterres resigned, and parliamentary elections were brought forward from 2004 to March 2002. The PSD won a narrow victory with 40 percent of the votes, and Jose Durão Barroso became prime minister. Having failed to win a majority of the seats in parliament forced the PSD to govern in coalition with the right-wing Popular Party (PP) led by Paulo Portas. Durão Barroso set about reducing government spending by cutting the budgets of local authorities, freezing civil service hiring, and reviving the economy by accelerating privatization of state-owned enterprises. These measures provoked a 24-hour strike by public-sector workers. Durão Barroso reacted with vows to press ahead with budget-cutting measures and imposed a wage freeze on all employees earning more than €1,000, which affected more than one-half of Portugal's work force.
       In June 2004, Durão Barroso was invited by Romano Prodi to succeed him as president of the European Commission. Durão Barroso accepted and resigned the prime ministership in July. Pedro Santana Lopes, the leader of the PSD, became prime minister. Already unpopular at the time of Durão Barroso's resignation, the PSD-led government became increasingly unpopular under Santana Lopes. A month-long delay in the start of the school year and confusion over his plan to cut taxes and raise public-sector salaries, eroded confidence even more. By November, Santana Lopes's government was so unpopular that President Jorge Sampaio was obliged to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, two years ahead of schedule.
       Parliamentary elections were held on 20 February 2005. The PS, which had promised the electorate disciplined and transparent governance, educational reform, the alleviation of poverty, and a boost in employment, won 45 percent of the vote and the majority of the seats in parliament. The leader of the PS, José Sôcrates became prime minister on 12 March 2005. In the regularly scheduled presidential elections held on 6 January 2006, the former leader of the PSD and prime minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, won a narrow victory and became president on 9 March 2006. With a mass protest, public teachers' strike, and street demonstrations in March 2008, Portugal's media, educational, and social systems experienced more severe pressures. With the spreading global recession beginning in September 2008, Portugal's economic and financial systems became more troubled.
       Owing to its geographic location on the southwestern most edge of continental Europe, Portugal has been historically in but not of Europe. Almost from the beginning of its existence in the 12th century as an independent monarchy, Portugal turned its back on Europe and oriented itself toward the Atlantic Ocean. After carving out a Christian kingdom on the western portion of the Iberian peninsula, Portuguese kings gradually built and maintained a vast seaborne global empire that became central to the way Portugal understood its individuality as a nation-state. While the creation of this empire allows Portugal to claim an unusual number of "firsts" or distinctions in world and Western history, it also retarded Portugal's economic, social, and political development. It can be reasonably argued that the Revolution of 25 April 1974 was the most decisive event in Portugal's long history because it finally ended Portugal's oceanic mission and view of itself as an imperial power. After the 1974 Revolution, Portugal turned away from its global mission and vigorously reoriented itself toward Europe. Contemporary Portugal is now both in and of Europe.
       The turn toward Europe began immediately after 25 April 1974. Portugal granted independence to its African colonies in 1975. It was admitted to the European Council and took the first steps toward accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1976. On 28 March 1977, the Portuguese government officially applied for EEC membership. Because of Portugal's economic and social backwardness, which would require vast sums of EEC money to overcome, negotiations for membership were long and difficult. Finally, a treaty of accession was signed on 12 June 1985. Portugal officially joined the EEC (the European Union [EU] since 1993) on 1 January 1986. Since becoming a full-fledged member of the EU, Portugal has been steadily overcoming the economic and social underdevelopment caused by its imperial past and is becoming more like the rest of Europe.
       Membership in the EU has speeded up the structural transformation of Portugal's economy, which actually began during the Estado Novo. Investments made by the Estado Novo in Portugal's economy began to shift employment out of the agricultural sector, which, in 1950, accounted for 50 percent of Portugal's economically active population. Today, only 10 percent of the economically active population is employed in the agricultural sector (the highest among EU member states); 30 percent in the industrial sector (also the highest among EU member states); and 60 percent in the service sector (the lowest among EU member states). The economically active population numbers about 5,000,000 employed, 56 percent of whom are women. Women workers are the majority of the workforce in the agricultural and service sectors (the highest among the EU member states). The expansion of the service sector has been primarily in health care and education. Portugal has had the lowest unemployment rates among EU member states, with the overall rate never being more than 10 percent of the active population. Since joining the EU, the number of employers increased from 2.6 percent to 5.8 percent of the active population; self-employed from 16 to 19 percent; and employees from 65 to 70 percent. Twenty-six percent of the employers are women. Unemployment tends to hit younger workers in industry and transportation, women employed in domestic service, workers on short-term contracts, and poorly educated workers. Salaried workers earn only 63 percent of the EU average, and hourly workers only one-third to one-half of that earned by their EU counterparts. Despite having had the second highest growth of gross national product (GNP) per inhabitant (after Ireland) among EU member states, the above data suggest that while much has been accomplished in terms of modernizing the Portuguese economy, much remains to be done to bring Portugal's economy up to the level of the "average" EU member state.
       Membership in the EU has also speeded up changes in Portuguese society. Over the last 30 years, coastalization and urbanization have intensified. Fully 50 percent of Portuguese live in the coastal urban conurbations of Lisbon, Oporto, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, Viseu, Évora, and Faro. The Portuguese population is one of the oldest among EU member states (17.3 percent are 65 years of age or older) thanks to a considerable increase in life expectancy at birth (77.87 years for the total population, 74.6 years for men, 81.36 years for women) and one of the lowest birthrates (10.59 births/1,000) in Europe. Family size averages 2.8 persons per household, with the strict nuclear family (one or two generations) in which both parents work being typical. Common law marriages, cohabitating couples, and single-parent households are more and more common. The divorce rate has also increased. "Youth Culture" has developed. The young have their own meeting places, leisure-time activities, and nightlife (bars, clubs, and discos).
       All Portuguese citizens, whether they have contributed or not, have a right to an old-age pension, invalidity benefits, widowed persons' pension, as well as payments for disabilities, children, unemployment, and large families. There is a national minimum wage (€385 per month), which is low by EU standards. The rapid aging of Portugal's population has changed the ratio of contributors to pensioners to 1.7, the lowest in the EU. This has created deficits in Portugal's social security fund.
       The adult literacy rate is about 92 percent. Illiteracy is still found among the elderly. Although universal compulsory education up to grade 9 was achieved in 1980, only 21.2 percent of the population aged 25-64 had undergone secondary education, compared to an EU average of 65.7 percent. Portugal's higher education system currently consists of 14 state universities and 14 private universities, 15 state polytechnic institutions, one Catholic university, and one military academy. All in all, Portugal spends a greater percentage of its state budget on education than most EU member states. Despite this high level of expenditure, the troubled Portuguese education system does not perform well. Early leaving and repetition rates are among the highest among EU member states.
       After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal created a National Health Service, which today consists of 221 hospitals and 512 medical centers employing 33,751 doctors and 41,799 nurses. Like its education system, Portugal's medical system is inefficient. There are long waiting lists for appointments with specialists and for surgical procedures.
       Structural changes in Portugal's economy and society mean that social life in Portugal is not too different from that in other EU member states. A mass consumption society has been created. Televisions, telephones, refrigerators, cars, music equipment, mobile phones, and personal computers are commonplace. Sixty percent of Portuguese households possess at least one automobile, and 65 percent of Portuguese own their own home. Portuguese citizens are more aware of their legal rights than ever before. This has resulted in a trebling of the number of legal proceeding since 1960 and an eight-fold increase in the number of lawyers. In general, Portuguese society has become more permissive and secular; the Catholic Church and the armed forces are much less influential than in the past. Portugal's population is also much more culturally, religiously, and ethnically diverse, a consequence of the coming to Portugal of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from former African colonies.
       Portuguese are becoming more cosmopolitan and sophisticated through the impact of world media, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. A prime case in point came in the summer and early fall of 1999, with the extraordinary events in East Timor and the massive Portuguese popular responses. An internationally monitored referendum in East Timor, Portugal's former colony in the Indonesian archipelago and under Indonesian occupation from late 1975 to summer 1999, resulted in a vote of 78.5 percent for rejecting integration with Indonesia and for independence. When Indonesian prointegration gangs, aided by the Indonesian military, responded to the referendum with widespread brutality and threatened to reverse the verdict of the referendum, there was a spontaneous popular outpouring of protest in the cities and towns of Portugal. An avalanche of Portuguese e-mail fell on leaders and groups in the UN and in certain countries around the world as Portugal's diplomats, perhaps to compensate for the weak initial response to Indonesian armed aggression in 1975, called for the protection of East Timor as an independent state and for UN intervention to thwart Indonesian action. Using global communications networks, the Portuguese were able to mobilize UN and world public opinion against Indonesian actions and aided the eventual independence of East Timor on 20 May 2002.
       From the Revolution of 25 April 1974 until the 1990s, Portugal had a large number of political parties, one of the largest Communist parties in western Europe, frequent elections, and endemic cabinet instability. Since the 1990s, the number of political parties has been dramatically reduced and cabinet stability increased. Gradually, the Portuguese electorate has concentrated around two larger parties, the right-of-center Social Democrats (PSD) and the left-of-center Socialist (PS). In the 1980s, these two parties together garnered 65 percent of the vote and 70 percent of the seats in parliament. In 2005, these percentages had risen to 74 percent and 85 percent, respectively. In effect, Portugal is currently a two-party dominant system in which the two largest parties — PS and PSD—alternate in and out of power, not unlike the rotation of the two main political parties (the Regenerators and the Historicals) during the last decades (1850s to 1880s) of the liberal constitutional monarchy. As Portugal's democracy has consolidated, turnout rates for the eligible electorate have declined. In the 1970s, turnout was 85 percent. In Portugal's most recent parliamentary election (2005), turnout had fallen to 65 percent of the eligible electorate.
       Portugal has benefited greatly from membership in the EU, and whatever doubts remain about the price paid for membership, no Portuguese government in the near future can afford to sever this connection. The vast majority of Portuguese citizens see membership in the EU as a "good thing" and strongly believe that Portugal has benefited from membership. Only the Communist Party opposed membership because it reduces national sovereignty, serves the interests of capitalists not workers, and suffers from a democratic deficit. Despite the high level of support for the EU, Portuguese voters are increasingly not voting in elections for the European Parliament, however. Turnout for European Parliament elections fell from 40 percent of the eligible electorate in the 1999 elections to 38 percent in the 2004 elections.
       In sum, Portugal's turn toward Europe has done much to overcome its backwardness. However, despite the economic, social, and political progress made since 1986, Portugal has a long way to go before it can claim to be on a par with the level found even in Spain, much less the rest of western Europe. As Portugal struggles to move from underde-velopment, especially in the rural areas away from the coast, it must keep in mind the perils of too rapid modern development, which could damage two of its most precious assets: its scenery and environment. The growth and future prosperity of the economy will depend on the degree to which the government and the private sector will remain stewards of clean air, soil, water, and other finite resources on which the tourism industry depends and on which Portugal's world image as a unique place to visit rests. Currently, Portugal is investing heavily in renewable energy from solar, wind, and wave power in order to account for about 50 percent of its electricity needs by 2010. Portugal opened the world's largest solar power plant and the world's first commercial wave power farm in 2006.
       An American documentary film on Portugal produced in the 1970s described this little country as having "a Past in Search of a Future." In the years after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, it could be said that Portugal is now living in "a Present in Search of a Future." Increasingly, that future lies in Europe as an active and productive member of the EU.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Historical Portugal

  • 11 Port Wine

       Portugal's most famous wine and leading export takes its name from the city of Oporto or porto, which means "port" or "harbor" in Portuguese. Sometimes described as "the Englishman's wine," port is only one of the many wines produced in continental Portugal and the Atlantic islands. Another noted dessert wine is Madeira wine, which is produced on the island of Madeira. Port wine's history is about as long as that of Madeira wine, but the wine's development is recent compared to that of older table wines and the wines Greeks and Romans enjoyed in ancient Lusitania. During the Roman occupation of the land (ca. 210 BCE-300 CE), wine was being made from vines cultivated in the upper Douro River valley. Favorable climate and soils (schist with granite outcropping) and convenient transportation (on ships down the Douro River to Oporto) were factors that combined with increased wine production in the late 17th century to assist in the birth of port wine as a new product. Earlier names for port wine ( vinho do porto) were descriptive of location ("Wine of the Douro Bank") and how it was transported ("Wine of [Ship] Embarkation").
       Port wine, a sweet, fortified (with brandy) aperitif or dessert wine that was designed as a valuable export product for the English market, was developed first in the 1670s by a unique combination of circumstances and the action of interested parties. Several substantial English merchants who visited Oporto "discovered" that a local Douro wine was much improved when brandy ( aguardente) was added. Fortification prevented the wine from spoiling in a variety of temperatures and on the arduous sea voyages from Oporto to Great Britain. Soon port wine became a major industry of the Douro region; it involved an uneasy alliance between the English merchant-shippers at Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across the river from Oporto, where the wine was stored and aged, and the Portuguese wine growers.
       In the 18th century, port wine became a significant element of Britain's foreign imports and of the country's establishment tastes in beverages. Port wine drinking became a hallowed tradition in Britain's elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities' colleges, which all kept port wine cellars. For Portugal, the port wine market in Britain, and later in France, Belgium, and other European countries, became a vital element in the national economy. Trade in port wine and British woolens became the key elements in the 1703 Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal.
       To lessen Portugal's growing economic dependence on Britain, regulate the production and export of the precious sweet wine, and protect the public from poor quality, the Marquis of Pombal instituted various measures for the industry. In 1756, Pombal established the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro to carry out these measures. That same year, he ordered the creation of the first demarcated wine-producing region in the world, the port-wine producing Douro region. Other wine-producing countries later followed this Portuguese initiative and created demarcated wine regions to protect the quality of wine produced and to ensure national economic interests.
       The upper Douro valley region (from Barca d'Alva in Portugal to Barqueiros on the Spanish frontier) produces a variety of wines; only 40 percent of its wines are port wine, whereas 60 percent are table wines. Port wine's alcohol content varies usually between 19 and 22 percent, and, depending on the type, the wine is aged in wooden casks from two to six years and then bottled. Related to port wine's history is the history of Portuguese cork. Beginning in the 17th century, Portuguese cork, which comes from cork trees, began to be used to seal wine bottles to prevent wine from spoiling. This innovation in Portugal helped lead to the development of the cork industry. By the early 20th century, Portugal was the world's largest exporter of cork.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Port Wine

  • 12 VPI

    1) Общая лексика: Vision Performance Institute
    2) Компьютерная техника: Vital Processor Interlocking
    3) Военный термин: vendor parts index
    4) Техника: valve position indicator, (Vacuum Pressure Impregnation) пропитка в вакууме под давлением
    5) Сельское хозяйство: Virginia Poultry Industry
    9) Университет: Virginia Polytechnic Institute
    10) Вычислительная техника: Virtual Path Identifier (ATM, VP), Virtual Private Internet (TradeWave)
    11) Нефть: vapour phase inhibitor
    12) Фирменный знак: Venom Performance, Inc.
    13) Деловая лексика: Volume Producing Item
    15) Полимеры: vapor-phase inhibitor
    16) Безопасность: Very Poor Integrity
    17) Расширение файла: Virtual Pascal Unit (VP/OS2)
    19) NYSE. Vintage Petroleum, Inc.

    Универсальный англо-русский словарь > VPI

  • 13 essential

    1. adjective
    1) (fundamental) wesentlich [Unterschied, Merkmal, Aspekt]; entscheidend [Frage]
    2) (indispensable) unentbehrlich; lebenswichtig [Nahrungsmittel, Güter]; unabdingbar [Erfordernis, Qualifikation, Voraussetzung]; unbedingt notwendig [Bestandteile, Maßnahmen, Ausrüstung]; wesentlich, entscheidend [Rolle]

    it is [absolutely or most] essential that... — es ist unbedingt notwendig, dass...

    2. noun, esp. in pl.
    1) (indispensable element) Notwendigste, das
    2) (fundamental element) Wesentliche, das

    the essentials of French grammar — die Grundzüge der französischen Grammatik

    * * *
    [i'senʃəl] 1. adjective
    (absolutely necessary: Strong boots are essential for mountaineering; It is essential that you arrive punctually.) wesentlich
    2. noun
    (a thing that is fundamental or necessary: Everyone should learn the essentials of first aid; Is a television set an essential?) das Wesentliche
    - academic.ru/25041/essentially">essentially
    * * *
    es·sen·tial
    [ɪˈsen(t)ʃəl]
    I. adj
    1. (indispensable) unbedingt erforderlich, unentbehrlich, unverzichtbar
    it is \essential to record the data accurately eine genaue Aufzeichnung der Daten ist unabdingbar
    \essential vitamins lebensnotwendige [o lebenswichtige] [o fachspr essenzielle] Vitamine
    ▪ to be \essential to [or for] sb/sth für jdn/etw von größter Wichtigkeit sein
    it is \essential [that] our prices remain competitive unsere Preise müssen unbedingt wettbewerbsfähig bleiben
    2. (fundamental) essenziell; element wesentlich; difference grundlegend
    \essential component Grundbestandteil m
    \essential subject zentrales Thema
    II. n usu pl
    ▪ the \essentials pl die Grundlagen, das Wesentliche kein pl, die wichtigsten Punkte
    I regard my car as an \essential mein Auto ist für mich absolut unverzichtbar
    the \essentials of Spanish die Grundzüge des Spanischen
    the bare \essentials das [Aller]nötigste
    to be reduced to its \essentials auf das Wesentliche reduziert werden
    * * *
    [I'senSəl]
    1. adj
    1) (= necessary, vital) (unbedingt or absolut) erforderlich or notwendig; services, supplies lebenswichtig

    it is essential to act quickly —

    it is essential that he come(s) — es ist absolut or unbedingt erforderlich, dass er kommt, er muss unbedingt kommen

    it is essential that you understand this — du musst das unbedingt verstehen

    do it now – is it really essential? — mach es jetzt – ist das wirklich unbedingt nötig?

    this is of essential importance — dies ist von entscheidender Bedeutung

    the essential thing is to... — wichtig ist vor allem, zu...

    2) (= of the essence, basic) wesentlich, essenziell (geh), essentiell (geh); (PHILOS) essenziell, essentiell, wesenhaft; question, role entscheidend

    I don't doubt his essential goodness — ich zweifle nicht an, dass er im Grunde ein guter Mensch ist

    to establish the essential nature of the problem —

    to establish the essential nature of the disease — feststellen, worum es sich bei dieser Krankheit eigentlich handelt

    2. n
    1)

    (= necessary thing) a compass is an essential for mountain climbing — ein Kompass ist unbedingt notwendig zum Bergsteigen

    the first essential is to privatize the industry — als Erstes muss die Industrie unbedingt privatisiert werden

    just bring the essentials — bring nur das Allernotwendigste mit

    with only the bare essentials — nur mit dem Allernotwendigsten ausgestattet

    2) pl (= most important points) wichtige Punkte pl, Essentials pl

    the essentials of German grammar — die Grundlagen pl or die Grundzüge pl der deutschen Grammatik

    * * *
    essential [ıˈsenʃl]
    A adj (adv → essentially)
    1. wesentlich:
    a) grundlegend, fundamental
    b) inner(er, e, es), eigentlich, (lebens)wichtig, unentbehrlich, unbedingt erforderlich (to, for für):
    essential to life lebensnotwendig, -wichtig;
    it is essential for both of them to come es ist unbedingt erforderlich, dass sie beide kommen;
    essential condition of life BIOL Lebensbedingung f;
    essential goods lebenswichtige Güter;
    the essential vows REL die drei wesentlichen Mönchsgelübde (Keuschheit, Armut, Gehorsam)
    2. CHEM rein, destilliert:
    essential oil ätherisches Öl
    3. MUS Haupt…, Grund…:
    essential chord Grundakkord m
    B s meist pl
    1. (das) Wesentliche oder Wichtigste, Hauptsache f, wesentliche Umstände pl oder Punkte pl oder Bestandteile pl:
    the bare essentials das Allernotwendigste
    2. (wesentliche) Voraussetzung (to für):
    3. unentbehrliche Person oder Sache
    * * *
    1. adjective
    1) (fundamental) wesentlich [Unterschied, Merkmal, Aspekt]; entscheidend [Frage]
    2) (indispensable) unentbehrlich; lebenswichtig [Nahrungsmittel, Güter]; unabdingbar [Erfordernis, Qualifikation, Voraussetzung]; unbedingt notwendig [Bestandteile, Maßnahmen, Ausrüstung]; wesentlich, entscheidend [Rolle]

    it is [absolutely or most] essential that... — es ist unbedingt notwendig, dass...

    2. noun, esp. in pl.
    1) (indispensable element) Notwendigste, das
    2) (fundamental element) Wesentliche, das
    * * *
    adj.
    Pflicht- präfix.
    notwendig adj.
    wesentlich adj. n.
    wesentlich adj.

    English-german dictionary > essential

  • 14 concern

    1. n
    1) отношение, касательство
    2) беспокойство, обеспокоенность, озабоченность, тревога
    3) участие, интерес; забота
    4) важность; значение
    5) концерн, предприятие, фирма
    •

    to allay smb's concern about smth — снимать чьи-л. опасения относительно чего-л.

    to arouse concern — вызывать беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу

    to be of much concern to smb — вызывать большое беспокойство / большую озабоченность / тревогу у кого-л.

    to cause concern — вызывать беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу

    to display / to express ( one's) concern at / about / over smth — выражать / высказывать / проявлять беспокойство / озабоченность по поводу чего-л.

    to give (rise to) concern — вызывать беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу

    to raise concern — вызывать беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу

    to register ( one's) concern at / about / over smth — выражать / высказывать / проявлять беспокойство / озабоченность по поводу чего-л.

    to share with smb concern about smth — разделять с кем-л. беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу по поводу чего-л.

    to show ( one's) concern at / about / over smth — выражать / высказывать / проявлять беспокойство / озабоченность по поводу чего-л.

    to spell out one's concerns — излагать причины своей озабоченности

    to trigger concern — вызывать беспокойство / озабоченность / тревогу

    to voice ( one's) concern at / about / over smth — выражать / высказывать / проявлять беспокойство / озабоченность по поводу чего-л.

    - concern for the welfare of the people
    - concern is growing
    - concern mounting
    - considerable concern
    - constant concern
    - deep concern
    - domestic concern
    - dominant concern
    - grave concern
    - growing concern
    - heightened concern
    - industrial concern
    - industries of vital concern to the city
    - international concern
    - issue of increasing concern
    - main concern
    - major concern
    - matter of continuous concern
    - mounting concern
    - multinational concern
    - overriding concern
    - political concern
    - primary concern
    - private concern
    - profound concern
    - serious concern
    - war-industry concern
    - we view it with concern     2. v
    1) касаться, иметь отношение
    2) ( oneself with) заниматься чем-л., интересоваться чем-л.
    3) беспокоиться, проявлять беспокойство, проявлять озабоченность, проявлять тревогу
    •

    to concern oneself with politics — заниматься / интересоваться политикой

    Politics english-russian dictionary > concern

  • 15 ♦ component

    ♦ component /kəmˈpəʊnənt/
    A n.
    1 componente; elemento; parte: a vital component, un componente essenziale; separate components, elementi separati; parti separate
    3 (mat., fis., comput.) componente
    B a.
    ● (ind.) components industry, componentistica □ component part, parte; componente; pezzo: the component parts of a telescope, le parti di un telescopio.

    English-Italian dictionary > ♦ component

  • 16 ♦ importance

    ♦ importance /ɪmˈpɔ:tns/
    n. [u]
    1 importanza; gravità: Some raw materials are of great importance to industry, certe materie prime hanno grande importanza (o sono molto importanti) per l'industria; to attach great importance to st., annettere grande importanza a qc.; to stress the importance of st., sottolineare l'importanza di q.; of paramount importance, di somma importanza; of prime importance, di primaria importanza; of the utmost importance, della massima importanza; of vital importance, di vitale importanza
    2 (= self-importance) pompa; sussiego.

    English-Italian dictionary > ♦ importance

  • 17 key ****

    [kiː]
    1. n
    1) (also), fig chiave f, (for winding clock, toy) chiave, chiavetta, (can opener) chiavetta, (on map) leg(g)enda
    2) (of piano, computer, typewriter) tasto, (of wind instrument) chiave f
    3) Mus chiave f

    in the key of C/F — in chiave di do/fa

    major/minor key — tonalità maggiore/minore

    to be in/off key — essere in/fuori tono

    2. adj
    (vital: position, industry, man) chiave inv

    yes, this is a key point — sì, è un punto chiave

    •

    English-Italian dictionary > key ****

  • 18 key

    key [ki:]
    1. noun
       a. clé f
       b. (to map, diagram) légende f
       c. [of piano, computer] touche f
       d. [of music] ton m
    ( = crucial) clé inv
    also key in [+ text, data] saisir
    ► key worker noun (especiallyBritish) (Medicine, social work) coordinateur m, - trice f de soins
    * * *
    [kiː] 1.
    1) ( locking device) clé f

    a set ou bunch of keys — un jeu de clés

    2) ( for clock) clé f (de pendule), remontoir m
    3) Technology clé f

    radiator key — clavette f à radiateur

    4) (on computer, piano, phone) touche f; (on oboe, flute) clé f
    5) fig ( vital clue) clé f, secret m (to de)
    6) ( explanatory list) ( on map) légende f; (to abbreviations, symbols) liste f; ( for code) clé f
    7) ( answers) (to test, riddle) solutions fpl; School corrigé m
    8) Music ton m, tonalité f

    to sing in/off key — chanter juste/faux

    9) Geography caye m
    2.
    noun modifier [ industry, job, document, figure, role] clé inv (after n); [ difference, point] capital
    3.
    1) ( type) saisir
    2) ( adapt) adapter (to à)
    •
    Phrasal Verbs:

    English-French dictionary > key

  • 19 statistics

    статистика (наука); статистические методы; совокупность статистических данных

    Англо-русский словарь по экономике и финансам > statistics

  • 20 zone

    I n зона, пояс, район
    - denuclearized zone зона, вільна від ядерної зброї
    - free zone вільна гавань, порто-франко
    - grey zone "сіра зона"
    - military zone воєнна зона
    - nuclear (weapon)-free zone без'ядерна зона
    - zone of crucial strategic importance район, який має вирішальне страгічне значення
    - zone of peace зона миру
    - creation of a denuclearized/ nuclear-free zone створення без'ядерної зони
    - establishment of a denuclearized/ nuclear-free zone створення без'ядерної зони
    - to create a nuclear-free zone створити без'ядерну зону
    - to establisha nuclear-free zone створити без'ядерну зону
    - to set up a nuclear-free zone створити без'ядерну зону
    II v
    1. розділяти на зони/ на пояси; районувати
    2. установлювати зональний тариф/ поясні ціни

    English-Ukrainian diplomatic dictionary > zone

Страницы
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