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1 Chronology
15,000-3,000 BCE Paleolithic cultures in western Portugal.400-200 BCE Greek and Carthaginian trade settlements on coast.202 BCE Roman armies invade ancient Lusitania.137 BCE Intensive Romanization of Lusitania begins.410 CE Germanic tribes — Suevi and Visigoths—begin conquest of Roman Lusitania and Galicia.714—16 Muslims begin conquest of Visigothic Lusitania.1034 Christian Reconquest frontier reaches Mondego River.1064 Christians conquer Coimbra.1139 Burgundian Count Afonso Henriques proclaims himself king of Portugal; birth of Portugal. Battle of Ourique: Afonso Henriques defeats Muslims.1147 With English Crusaders' help, Portuguese seize Lisbon from Muslims.1179 Papacy formally recognizes Portugal's independence (Pope Alexander III).1226 Campaign to reclaim Alentejo from Muslims begins.1249 Last Muslim city (Silves) falls to Portuguese Army.1381 Beginning of third war between Castile and Portugal.1383 Master of Aviz, João, proclaimed regent by Lisbon populace.1385 April: Master of Aviz, João I, proclaimed king of Portugal by Cortes of Coimbra. 14 August: Battle of Aljubarrota, Castilians defeated by royal forces, with assistance of English army.1394 Birth of "Prince Henry the Navigator," son of King João I.1415 Beginning of overseas expansion as Portugal captures Moroccan city of Ceuta.1419 Discovery of Madeira Islands.1425-28 Prince D. Pedro, older brother of Prince Henry, travels in Europe.1427 Discovery (or rediscovery?) of Azores Islands.1434 Prince Henry the Navigator's ships pass beyond Cape Bojador, West Africa.1437 Disaster at Tangier, Morocco, as Portuguese fail to capture city.1441 First African slaves from western Africa reach Portugal.1460 Death of Prince Henry. Portuguese reach what is now Senegal, West Africa.1470s Portuguese explore West African coast and reach what is now Ghana and Nigeria and begin colonizing islands of São Tomé and Príncipe.1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas between kings of Portugal and Spain.1482 Portuguese establish post at São Jorge da Mina, Gold Coast (now Ghana).1482-83 Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão reaches mouth of Congo River and Angola.1488 Navigator Bartolomeu Dias rounds Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and finds route to Indian Ocean.1492-93 Columbus's first voyage to West Indies.1493 Columbus visits Azores and Portugal on return from first voyage; tells of discovery of New World. Treaty of Tordesillas signed between kings of Portugal and Spain: delimits spheres of conquest with line 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands (claimed by Portugal); Portugal's sphere to east of line includes, in effect, Brazil.King Manuel I and Royal Council decide to continue seeking all-water route around Africa to Asia.King Manuel I expels unconverted Jews from Portugal.1497-99 Epic voyage of Vasco da Gama from Portugal around Africa to west India, successful completion of sea route to Asia project; da Gama returns to Portugal with samples of Asian spices.1500 Bound for India, Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral "discovers" coast of Brazil and claims it for Portugal.1506 Anti-Jewish riots in Lisbon.Battle of Diu, India; Portugal's command of Indian Ocean assured for some time with Francisco de Almeida's naval victory over Egyptian and Gujerati fleets.Afonso de Albuquerque conquers Goa, India; beginning of Portuguese hegemony in south Asia.Portuguese conquest of Malacca; commerce in Spice Islands.1519 Magellan begins circumnavigation voyage.1536 Inquisition begins in Portugal.1543 Portuguese merchants reach Japan.1557 Portuguese merchants granted Chinese territory of Macau for trading factory.1572 Luís de Camões publishes epic poem, Os Lusíadas.1578 Battle of Alcácer-Quivir; Moroccan forces defeat army of King Sebastião of Portugal; King Sebastião dies in battle. Portuguese succession crisis.1580 King Phillip II of Spain claims and conquers Portugal; Spanish rule of Portugal, 1580-1640.1607-24 Dutch conquer sections of Asia and Brazil formerly held by Portugal.1640 1 December: Portuguese revolution in Lisbon overthrows Spanish rule, restores independence. Beginning of Portugal's Braganza royal dynasty.1654 Following Dutch invasions and conquest of parts of Brazil and Angola, Dutch expelled by force.1661 Anglo-Portuguese Alliance treaty signed: England pledges to defend Portugal "as if it were England itself." Queen Catherine of Bra-ganza marries England's Charles II.1668 February: In Portuguese-Spanish peace treaty, Spain recognizes independence of Portugal, thus ending 28-year War of Restoration.1703 Methuen Treaties signed, key commercial trade agreement and defense treaty between England and Portugal.1750 Pombal becomes chief minister of King José I.1755 1 November: Massive Lisbon earthquake, tidal wave, and fire.1759 Expulsion of Jesuits from Portugal and colonies.1761 Slavery abolished in continental Portugal.1769 Abandonment of Mazagão, Morocco, last Portuguese outpost.1777 Pombal dismissed as chief minister by Queen Maria I, after death of José I.1791 Portugal and United States establish full diplomatic relations.1807 November: First Napoleonic invasion; French forces under Junot conquer Portugal. Royal family flees to colony of Brazil and remains there until 1821.1809 Second French invasion of Portugal under General Soult.1811 Third French invasion of Portugal under General Masséna.1813 Following British general Wellington's military victories, French forces evacuate Portugal.1817 Liberal, constitutional movements against absolutist monarchist rule break out in Brazil (Pernambuco) and Portugal (Lisbon, under General Gomes Freire); crushed by government. British marshal of Portugal's army, Beresford, rules Portugal.Liberal insurrection in army officer corps breaks out in Cadiz, Spain, and influences similar movement in Portugal's armed forces first in Oporto.King João VI returns from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and early draft of constitution; era of constitutional monarchy begins.1822 7 September: João VI's son Pedro proclaims independence ofBrazil from Portugal and is named emperor. 23 September: Constitution of 1822 ratified.Portugal recognizes sovereign independence of Brazil.King João VI dies; power struggle for throne ensues between his sons, brothers Pedro and Miguel; Pedro, emperor of Brazil, abdicates Portuguese throne in favor of his daughter, D. Maria II, too young to assume crown. By agreement, Miguel, uncle of D. Maria, is to accept constitution and rule in her stead.1828 Miguel takes throne and abolishes constitution. Sections of Portugal rebel against Miguelite rule.1831 Emperor Pedro abdicates throne of Brazil and returns to Portugal to expel King Miguel from Portuguese throne.1832-34 Civil war between absolutist King Miguel and constitutionalist Pedro, who abandons throne of Brazil to restore his young daughter Maria to throne of Portugal; Miguel's armed forces defeated by those of Pedro. Miguel leaves for exile and constitution (1826 Charter) is restored.1834-53 Constitutional monarchy consolidated under rule of Queen Maria II, who dies in 1853.1851-71 Regeneration period of economic development and political stability; public works projects sponsored by Minister Fontes Pereira de Melo.1871-90 Rotativism period of alternating party governments; achieves political stability and less military intervention in politics and government. Expansion of colonial territory in tropical Africa.January: Following territorial dispute in central Africa, Britain delivers "Ultimatum" to Portugal demanding withdrawal of Portugal's forces from what is now Malawi and Zimbabwe. Portugal's government, humiliated in accepting demand under threat of a diplomatic break, falls. Beginning of governmental and political instability; monarchist decline and republicanism's rise.Anglo-Portuguese treaties signed relating to delimitation of frontiers in colonial Africa.1899 Treaty of Windsor; renewal of Anglo-Portuguese defense and friendship alliance.1903 Triumphal visit of King Edward VII to Portugal.1906 Politician João Franco supported by King Carlos I in dictatorship to restore order and reform.1908 1 February: Murder in Lisbon of King Carlos I and his heir apparent, Prince Dom Luís, by Portuguese anarchists. Eighteen-year-old King Manuel II assumes throne.1910 3-5 October: Following republican-led military insurrection in armed forces, monarchy falls and first Portuguese republic is proclaimed. Beginning of unstable, economically troubled, parliamentary republic form of government.May: Violent insurrection in Lisbon overturns government of General Pimenta de Castro; nearly a thousand casualties from several days of armed combat in capital.March: Following Portugal's honoring ally Britain's request to confiscate German shipping in Portuguese harbors, Germany declares war on Portugal; Portugal enters World War I on Allied side.Portugal organizes and dispatches Portuguese Expeditionary Corps to fight on the Western Front. 9 April: Portuguese forces mauled by German offensive in Battle of Lys. Food rationing and riots in Lisbon. Portuguese military operations in Mozambique against German expedition's invasion from German East Africa. 5 December: Authoritarian, presidentialist government under Major Sidónio Pais takes power in Lisbon, following a successful military coup.1918 11 November: Armistice brings cessation of hostilities on Western Front in World War I. Portuguese expeditionary forces stationed in Angola, Mozambique, and Flanders begin return trip to Portugal. 14 December: President Sidónio Pais assassinated. Chaotic period of ephemeral civil war ensues.1919-21 Excessively unstable political period, including January1919 abortive effort of Portuguese monarchists to restore Braganza dynasty to power. Republican forces prevail, but level of public violence, economic distress, and deprivation remains high.1921 October: Political violence attains peak with murder of former prime minister and other prominent political figures in Lisbon. Sectors of armed forces and Guarda Nacional Republicana are mutinous. Year of financial and corruption scandals, including Portuguese bank note (fraud) case; military court acquits guilty military insurrectionists, and one military judge declares "the country is sick."28 May: Republic overthrown by military coup or pronunciamento and conspiracy among officer corps. Parliament's doors locked and parliament closed for nearly nine years to January 1935. End of parliamentary republic, Western Europe's most unstable political system in this century, beginning of the Portuguese dictatorship, after 1930 known as the Estado Novo. Officer corps assumes reins of government, initiates military censorship of the press, and suppresses opposition.February: Military dictatorship under General Óscar Carmona crushes failed republican armed insurrection in Oporto and Lisbon.April: Military dictatorship names Professor Antônio de Oliveira Salazar minister of finance, with dictatorial powers over budget, to stabilize finances and rebuild economy. Insurrectionism among military elements continues into 1931.1930 Dr. Salazar named minister for colonies and announces balanced budgets. Salazar consolidates support by various means, including creation of official regime "movement," the National Union. Salazar engineers Colonial Act to ensure Lisbon's control of bankrupt African colonies by means of new fiscal controls and centralization of authority. July: Military dictatorship names Salazar prime minister for first time, and cabinet composition undergoes civilianization; academic colleagues and protégés plan conservative reform and rejuvenation of society, polity, and economy. Regime comes to be called the Estado Novo (New State). New State's constitution ratified by new parliament, the National Assembly; Portugal described in document as "unitary, corporative Republic" and governance influenced by Salazar's stern personality and doctrines such as integralism, Catholicism, and fiscal conservatism.1936 Violent instability and ensuing civil war in neighboring Spain, soon internationalized by fascist and communist intervention, shake Estado Novo regime. Pseudofascist period of regime features creation of imitation Fascist institutions to defend regime from leftist threats; Portugal institutes "Portuguese Youth" and "Portuguese Legion."1939 3 September: Prime Minister Salazar declares Portugal's neutrality in World War II. October: Anglo-Portuguese agreement grants naval and air base facilities to Britain and later to United States for Battle of the Atlantic and Normandy invasion support. Third Reich protests breach of Portugal's neutrality.6 June: On day of Allies' Normandy invasion, Portugal suspends mining and export of wolfram ore to both sides in war.8 May: Popular celebrations of Allied victory and Fascist defeat in Lisbon and Oporto coincide with Victory in Europe Day. Following managed elections for Estado Novo's National Assembly in November, regime police, renamed PIDE, with increased powers, represses opposition.1947 Abortive military coup in central Portugal easily crushed by regime. Independence of India and initiation of Indian protests against Portuguese colonial rule in Goa and other enclaves.1949 Portugal becomes founding member of NATO.1951 Portugal alters constitution and renames overseas colonies "Overseas Provinces." Portugal and United States sign military base agreements for use of air and naval facilities in Azores Islands and military aid to Lisbon. President Carmona dies in office, succeeded by General Craveiro Lopes (1951-58). July: Indians occupy enclave of Portuguese India (dependency of Damão) by means of passive resistance movement. August: Indian passive resistance movement in Portuguese India repelled by Portuguese forces with loss of life. December: With U.S. backing, Portugal admitted as member of United Nations (along with Spain). Air force general Humberto Delgado, in opposition, challenges Estado Novo's hand-picked successor to Craveiro Lopes, Admiral Américo Tomás. Delgado rallies coalition of democratic, liberal, and communist opposition but loses rigged election and later flees to exile in Brazil. Portugal joins European Free Trade Association (EFTA).January and February: Estado Novo rocked by armed African insurrection in northern Angola, crushed by armed forces. Hijacking of Portuguese ocean liner by ally of Delgado, Captain Henrique Galvão. April: Salazar defeats attempted military coup and reshuffles cabinet with group of younger figures who seek to reform colonial rule and strengthen the regime's image abroad. 18 December: Indian army rapidly defeats Portugal's defense force in Goa, Damão, and Diu and incorporates Portugal's Indian possessions into Indian Union. January: Abortive military coup in Beja, Portugal.1965 February: General Delgado and his Brazilian secretary murdered and secretly buried near Spanish frontier by political police, PIDE.1968 August and September: Prime Minister Salazar, aged 79, suffers crippling stoke. President Tomás names former cabinet officer Marcello Caetano as Salazar's successor. Caetano institutes modest reforms in Portugal and overseas.1971 Caetano government ratifies amended constitution that allows slight devolution and autonomy to overseas provinces in Africa and Asia. Right-wing loyalists oppose reforms in Portugal. 25 April: Military coup engineered by Armed Forces Movement overthrows Estado Novo and establishes provisional government emphasizing democratization, development, and decolonization. Limited resistance by loyalists. President Tomás and Premier Caetano flown to exile first in Madeira and then in Brazil. General Spínola appointed president. September: Revolution moves to left, as President Spínola, thwarted in his program, resigns.March: Military coup by conservative forces fails, and leftist response includes nationalization of major portion of economy. Polarization between forces and parties of left and right. 25 November: Military coup by moderate military elements thwarts leftist forces. Constituent Assembly prepares constitution. Revolution moves from left to center and then right.March: Constitution ratified by Assembly of the Republic. 25 April: Second general legislative election gives largest share of seats to Socialist Party (PS). Former oppositionist lawyer, Mário Soares, elected deputy and named prime minister.1977-85 Political pendulum of democratic Portugal moves from center-left to center-right, as Social Democratic Party (PSD) increases hold on assembly and take office under Prime Minister Cavaco Silva. July1985 elections give edge to PSD who advocate strong free-enterprise measures and revision of leftist-generated 1976 Constitution, amended modestly in 1982.1986 January: Portugal joins European Economic Community (EEC).1987 July: General, legislative elections for assembly give more than 50 percent to PSD led by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva. For first time, since 1974, Portugal has a working majority government.1989 June: Following revisions of 1976 Constitution, reprivatization of economy begins, under PS government.January: Presidential elections, Mário Soares reelected for second term. July: General, legislative elections for assembly result in new PSD victory and majority government.January-July: Portugal holds presidency of the Council of the European Economic Community (EEC). December: Tariff barriers fall as fully integrated Common Market established in the EEC.November: Treaty of Maastricht comes into force. The EEC officially becomes the European Union (EU). Portugal is signatory with 11 other member-nations.October: General, legislative elections for assembly result in PS victory and naming of Prime Minister Guterres. PS replace PSD as leading political party. November: Excavations for Lisbon bank uncover ancient Phoenician, Roman, and Christian ruins.January: General, presidential elections; socialist Jorge Sampaio defeats PSD's Cavaco Silva and assumes presidency from Dr. Mário Soares. July: Community of Portuguese Languages Countries (CPLP) cofounded by Portugal and Brazil.May-September: Expo '98 held in Lisbon. Opening of Vasco da Gama Bridge across Tagus River, Europe's longest (17 kilometers/ 11 miles). June: National referendum on abortion law change defeated after low voter turnout. November: National referendum on regionaliza-tion and devolution of power defeated after another low voter turnout.October: General, legislative elections: PS victory over PSD lacks clear majority in parliament. Following East Timor referendum, which votes for independence and withdrawal of Indonesia, outburst of popular outrage in streets, media, and communications of Portugal approves armed intervention and administration of United Nations (and withdrawal of Indonesia) in East Timor. Portugal and Indonesia restore diplomatic relations. December: A Special Territory since 1975, Colony of Macau transferred to sovereignty of People's Republic of China.January-June: Portugal holds presidency of the Council of the EU; end of Discoveries Historical Commemoration Cycle (1988-2000).United Nations forces continue to occupy and administer former colony of East Timor, with Portugal's approval.January: General, presidential elections; PS president Sampaio reelected for second term. City of Oporto, "European City of Culture" for the year, hosts arts festival. December: Municipal elections: PSD defeats PS; socialist prime minister Guterres resigns; President Sampaio calls March parliamentary elections.1 January: Portugal enters single European Currency system. Euro currency adopted and ceases use of former national currency, the escudo. March: Parliamentary elections; PSD defeats PS and José Durão Barroso becomes prime minister. Military modernization law passed. Portugal holds chairmanship of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).May: Municipal law passed permitting municipalities to reorganize in new ways.June: Prime Minister Durão Barroso, invited to succeed Romano Prodi as president of EU Commission, resigns. Pedro Santana Lopes becomes prime minister. European Parliament elections held. Conscription for national service in army and navy ended. Mass grave uncovered at Academy of Sciences Museum, Lisbon, revealing remains of several thousand victims of Lisbon earthquake, 1755.February: Parliamentary elections; PS defeats PSD, socialists win first absolute majority in parliament since 1975. José Sócrates becomes prime minister.January: Presidential elections; PSD candidate Aníbal Cavaco Silva elected and assumes presidency from Jorge Sampaio. Portugal's national soccer team ranked 7th out of 205 countries by international soccer association. European Union's Bologna Process in educational reform initiated in Portugal.July-December: Portugal holds presidency of the Council of the European Union. For reasons of economy, Portugal announces closure of many consulates, especially in France and the eastern US. Government begins official inspections of private institutions of higher education, following scandals.2008 January: Prime Minister Sócrates announces location of new Lisbon area airport as Alcochete, on south bank of Tagus River, site of air force shooting range. February: Portuguese Army begins to receive new modern battle tanks (Leopard 2 A6). March: Mass protest of 85,000 public school (primary and secondary levels) teachers in Lisbon schools dispute recent educational policies of minister of education and prime minister. -
2 Music
The serious composer who thinks about his art will sooner or later have occasion to ask himself: why is it so important to my own psyche that I compose music? What makes it seem so absolutely necessary, so that every other daily activity, by comparison, is of lesser significance? And why is the creative impulse never satisfied; why must one always begin anew? To the first question-the need to create-the answer is always the same-self-expression; the basic need to make evident one's deepest feelings about life. But why is the job never done? Why must one always begin again? The reason for the compulsion to renewed creativity, it seems to me, is that each added work brings with it an element of selfdiscovery. I must create in order to know myself, and since selfknowledge is a never-ending search, each new work is only a part-answer to the question "Who am I?" and brings with it the need to go on to other and different part-answers. (Copland, 1952, pp. 40-41)When collaboration occurs, when, for a while, the lines of conscious and unconscious thought run along the same track, we achieve the feeling of wholeness and satisfaction which is characteristic of our response to great art and other transcendent states of mind. The patterns of music, translated, analyzed, shorn of detail, are able to stimulate the patterns of emotions on many levels simultaneously, thus bringing various hierarchical states of consciousness and unconsciousness into harmony with one another during the existence of the music for us, whether this is in a performance or purely in the memory. As this happens we experience the sense of unity which arises from the cessation of conflict between conscious and unconscious. (McLaughlin, 1970, pp. 104-105)Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science > Music
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3 Programming Language
1) Theories of Human Mental Processes Can Be Expressed in Programming LanguagesIt [the information-processing revolution] has introduced computer programming languages as formal ["mathematical"] languages for expressing theories of human mental processes; and it has introduced the computers themselves as a device to simulate these processes and thereby make behavioral predictions for testing of the theories. (Simon, 1979, p. ix)LISP is now the second oldest programming language in present widespread use (after FORTRAN).... Its core occupies some kind of local optimum in the space of programming languages given that static friction discourages purely notational changes. Recursive use of conditional expressions, representation of symbolic information externally by lists and internally by list structure, and representation of program in the same way will probably have a very long life. (McCarthy, quoted in Barr & Feigenbaum, 1982, p. 5)Although it sounds implausible, it might turn out that above a certain level of complexity, a machine ceased to be predictable, even in principle, and started doing things on its own account, or, to use a very revealing phrase, it might begin to have a mind of its own. (Lucas, quoted in Hand, 1985, p. 4)Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science > Programming Language
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4 Himalaya Cloth
A plain weave cotton fabric woven on an ordinary plain loom using specially spun weft. A check appearance is given to the cloth by coarse picks of 8 to 12 threads being woven at irregular intervals. The base weft will be 28's and after about 20 yards of 28's have been spun an extra roving is added for 8 to 12 yards, making the weft much thicker, equivalent to about 6's. At places the heavier weft may begin or end in the middle of a pick. Usually 34-in. wide 90 yards, 72 ends and 36 picks per inch, 20's T., 28's/6's W. The weft yam may be termed an elongated slub. -
5 Santos, José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso
(1929-1987)Balladeer, singer, poet, musician, composer, and teacher. Known to the public simply as "Zeca" or "José Afonso," he was a student poet, singer, and musician in the 1950s, and premier interpreter of Coimbra fado, creator of a new school of fado music, and leader of a reform movement in popular music. Using his distinctive musical compositions, appealing baritone singing voice, and iconoclastic lyrics of resistance to tyranny, Afonso Santos employed his poetic and musical gifts as instruments of resistance and opposition to the enduring Estado Novo. Two recorded songs became early shots in this war: Balada de Outono (Autumn's Ballad) and Menino d'Oiro (Golden Boy). With diverse, subversive meanings usually disguised in allegory, his lyrics and style eschewed the traditional Coimbra fado's fare of broad sentiment and unrequited love. Instead, Afonso presented new ballads with contemporary resonance. In the mid-1960s, when so many Portuguese youth were drafted and mobilized for Portugal's colonial wars in Africa, he lived and taught school in Mozambique, where he organized opposition to the regime. Later in that colony, he was arrested by the PIDE.After his return to Portugal, Afonso's reputation as a rebel ballad-eer grew; among his most celebrated recorded ballads were Cantigas de Maio (Songs of May, 1971) and Venham Mais Cinco (Five More Came, 1973). His famous revolutionary, rallying song, Grândola, Vila Morena, banned by the Estado Novo before 1974, became the single most famous piece of Portuguese revolutionary music in the second half of the 20th century. Grândola featured Afonso's voice and lyrics and expressed a clearly leftist ideology and resistance to tyranny, to the background sounds of marching feet growing louder. Selected by the coup planners of the Armed Forces Movement as a signal for action, a secret password sign to be played over Lisbon radio at about midnight on 24/25 April 1974, this remarkable song acquired new fame and a place in history as both an actual signal for rebel military operations to begin and an enduring revolutionary rallying cry. After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Grândola became the most potent symbol of the move to topple the Estado Novo and open the way for profound change, as well as a musical icon, equaled only by the iconographic red carnation. The first stanza of Afonso's lyrics, translated from the Portuguese, is: Grândola, dark-brown town, Homeland of Brotherhood The people have more power within you, oh city....Historical dictionary of Portugal > Santos, José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso
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6 Torres Vedras, Battle of
(1810)A hilly area near the village of Torres Vedras, north of Lisbon, is the site where Portuguese and English forces of the Duke of Wellington withstood repeated French attacks under Andre Masséna from 9 October to 14 November 1810. Blocking the way to Lisbon, Wellington's defensive preparations were successful, based as they were on successful British and Portuguese liaison and shared fighting spirit. After his failure before the Lines of Torres Vedras and British and Portuguese fortified works, Masséna hesitated and sent to Napoleon for instructions.The French commander, however, was greatly weakened due to food shortages and to the fact that the supply lines with Spain were now cut. Therefore, before Napoleon could answer his messages, Mas-séna was forced to begin his withdrawal to Spain. Masséna withdrew from Portugal in April 1811 and, with the abandonment of a French garrison at Almeida on the frontier, France's occupation of Portugal was at an end. The remainder of the Peninsular Wars then moved to Spain.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Torres Vedras, Battle of
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7 Tourism
Although certain places in Portugal have attracted travelers since the 18th century, mass tourism did not begin until the 1960s. After 1780, English romantics such as Robert Southie, Lord Byron, and other foreign writers put the town of Sintra on the map of romantic places to visit. In the 1920s and 1930s, the town of Estoril, about 32 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon, along the coast, began to be developed as a high-class resort town. During the 1930s, Estoril attracted wealthy Spaniards escaping from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and, after World War II, displaced and dethroned ex-royalty from Europe. Tourism was encouraged in the late 1930s, when the Estado Novo began to restore Portuguese castles in connection with the Double Centenary Exposition of the Portuguese World in 1940, an event designed to attract visitors to Portugal. In the 1960s, the Estado Novo began to develop the infrastructure for a mass tourist industry. Hotels and golf courses were built, especially in the Algarve, and a national system of pousadas (government subsidized inns) was established in restored castles and other historic structures.During the 1960s, the number of tourists visiting Portugal reached 6 million per year. Tourists stayed away from Portugal during the turbulent years immediately after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, but returned during the 1980s, and the tourist industry has grown at a phenomenal rate ever since. The number of tourists rose from 7.3 million in 1981-82 to about 18.4 million in 1990. Expo '98, Portugal's worlds fair of 1998, attracted hundreds of thousands of additional visitors, mostly from Europe. -
8 activity based costing
Fin, Gen Mgta method of calculating the cost of a business by focusing on the actual cost of activities, thereby producing an estimate of the cost of individual products or services.Abbr. ABCEXAMPLEAn ABC cost-accounting system requires three preliminary steps: converting to an accrual method of accounting; defining cost centers and cost allocation; and determining process and procedure costs.Businesses have traditionally relied on the cash basis of accounting, which recognizes income when received and expenses when paid. ABC’s foundation is the accrual-basis income statement. The numbers this statement presents are assigned to the various procedures performed during a given period. Cost centers are a company’s identifiable products and services, but also include specific and detailed tasks within these broader activities. Defining cost centers will of course vary by business and method of operation. What is critical to ABC is the inclusion of all activities and all resources.Once cost centers are identified, management teams can begin studying the activities each one engages in and allocating the expenses each one incurs, including the cost of employee services.The most appropriate method is developed from time studies and direct expense allocation. Management teams who choose this method will need to devote several months to data collection in order to generate sufficient information to establish the personnel components of each activity’s total cost.Time studies establish the average amount of time required to complete each task, plus bestand worst-case performances. Only those resources actually used are factored into the cost computation; unused resources are reported separately. These studies can also advise management teams how best to monitor and allocate expenses which might otherwise be expressed as part of general overheads, or go undetected altogether. -
9 alpha rating
Finthe return a security or a portfolio would be expected to earn if the market’s rate of return were zero. Alpha expresses the difference between the return expected from a stock or unit trust, given its beta rating, and the return actually produced. A stock or trust that returns more than its beta would predict has a positive alpha, while one that returns less than the amount predicted by beta has a negative alpha. A large positive alpha indicates a strong performance, while a large negative alpha indicates a dismal performance.To begin with, the market itself is assigned a beta of 1.0. If a stock or trust has a beta of 1.2, this means its price is likely to rise or fall by 12% when the overall market rises or falls by 10%; a beta of 7.0 means the stock or trust price is likely to move up or down at 70% of the level of the market change.In practice, an alpha of 0.4 means the stock or trust in question outperformed the market-based return estimate by 0.4%. An alpha of –0.6 means the return was 0.6% less than would have been predicted from the change in the market alone.Both alpha and beta should be readily available upon request from investment firms, because the figures appear in standard performance reports. It is always best to ask for them, because calculating a stock’s alpha rating requires first knowing a stock’s beta rating, and beta calculations can involve mathematical complexities. -
10 get into bed with somebody
HRto begin a business association with an individual or organization (slang)The ultimate business dictionary > get into bed with somebody
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11 counseling
HRthe provision of help by a trained person to permit somebody to clarify concerns, come to terms with feelings, and take responsibility for and begin to resolve difficulties. Counseling is a technique inherent to the mentoring process. -
12 Death Valley curve
Gen Mgta point in the development of a new business when losses begin to erode the company’s equity base, so that it becomes difficult to raise new equity (slang) -
13 get your feet wet
Gen Mgtto begin a new project or activity (slang) -
14 lowball
Gen Mgtto begin a sales negotiation by quoting low prices, and then raise them once a buyer appears interested (slang) -
15 normal profit
Econthe minimum level of profit that will attract an entrepreneur to begin a business or remain trading -
16 shell company
Fina company that has ceased to trade but is still registered, especially one sold to enable the buyer to begin trading without having to establish a new company -
17 structured systems analysis and design method
Gen Mgta technique for the analysis and design of computer systems. The structured systems analysis and design method was developed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s. The technique adopts a structured methodology toward systems development through the use of data flow, logical data, and entity event modeling. Core development stages include: feasibility study; requirements analysis; requirements specification; logical system specification; and physical design. All the steps and tasks within each stage must be complete before subsequent stages can begin.Abbr. SSADMThe ultimate business dictionary > structured systems analysis and design method
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18 turnkey contract
Gen Mgtan agreement in which a contractor designs, constructs, and manages a project until it is ready to be handed over to the client and operation can begin immediately -
19 Baird, John Logie
[br]b. 13 August 1888 Helensburgh, Dumbarton, Scotlandd. 14 June 1946 Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England[br]Scottish inventor of mechanically-based television.[br]Baird attended Larchfield Academy, then the Royal Technical College and Glasgow University. However, before he could complete his electrical-engineering degree, the First World War began, although poor health kept him out of the armed services.Employed as an engineer at the Clyde Valley Electrical Company, he lost his position when his diamond-making experiment caused a power failure in Glasgow. He then went to London, where he lived with his sister and tried manufacturing household products of his own design. To recover from poor health, he then went to Hastings and, using scrap materials, began experiments with imaging systems. In 1924 he transmitted outline images over wires, and by 1925 he was able to transmit recognizable human faces. In 1926 he was able to transmit moving images at a resolution of thirty lines per image and a frequency of ten images per second over an infrared link. Also that year, he started the world's first television station, which he named 2TV. In 1927 he transmitted moving images from London to Glasgow, and later that year to a passenger liner. In 1928 he demonstrated colour television.In 1936, when the BBC wanted to begin television service, Baird's system lost out in a competition with Marconi Electric and Musical Industries (EMI). In 1946 Baird reported that he had successfully completed research on a stereo television system.[br]Further ReadingR.Tiltman, 1933, Baird of Television, London: Seeley Service; repub. 1974, New York: Arno Press.J.Rowland, 1967, The Television Man: The Story of John Logie Baird, New York: Roy Publishers.F.Macgregor, 1984, Famous Scots, Gordon Wright (contains a short biography on Baird).HO -
20 Cotton, William
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 1819 Seagrave, Leicestershire, Englandd. after 1878[br]English inventor of a power-driven flat-bed knitting machine.[br]Cotton was originally employed in Loughborough and became one of the first specialized hosiery-machine builders. After the introduction of the latch needle by Matthew Townsend in 1856, knitting frames developed rapidly. The circular frame was easier to work automatically, but attempts to apply power to the flat frame, which could produce fully fashioned work, culminated in 1863 with William Cotton's machine. In that year he invented a machine that could make a dozen or more stockings or hose simultaneously and knit fashioned garments of all kinds. The difficulty was to reduce automatically the number of stitches in the courses where the hose or garment narrowed to give it shape. Cotton had early opportunities to apply himself to the improvement of hosiery machines while employed in the patent shop of Cartwright \& Warner of Loughborough, where some of the first rotaries were made. He remained with the firm for twenty years, during which time sixty or seventy of these machines were turned out. Cotton then established a factory for the manufacture of warp fabrics, and it was here that he began to work on his ideas. He had no knowledge of the principles of engineering or drawing, so his method of making sketches and then getting his ideas roughed out involved much useless labour. After twelve years, in 1863, a patent was issued for the machine that became the basis of the Cotton's Patent type. This was a flat frame driven by rotary mechanism and remarkable for its adaptability. At first he built his machine upright, like a cottage piano, but after much thought and experimentation he conceived the idea of turning the upper part down flat so that the needles were in a vertical position instead of being horizontal, and the work was carried off horizontally instead of vertically. His first machine produced four identical pieces simultaneously, but this number was soon increased. Cotton was induced by the success of his invention to begin machine building as a separate business and thus established one of the first of a class of engineering firms that sprung up as an adjunct to the new hosiery manufacture. He employed only a dozen men and turned out six machines in the first year, entering into an agreement with Hine \& Mundella for their exclusive use. This was later extended to the firm of I. \& R.Morley. In 1878, Cotton began to build on his own account, and the business steadily increased until it employed some 200 workers and had an output of 100 machines a year.[br]Bibliography1863, British patent no. 1,901 (flat-frame knitting machine).Further ReadingF.A.Wells, 1935, The British Hosiery and Knitwear Industry: Its History and Organisation, London (based on an article in the Knitters' Circular (Feb. 1898).A brief account of the background to Cotton's invention can be found in T.K.Derry and T.I. Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to AD 1900, Oxford; C. Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of Technology, Vol. V, Oxford: Clarendon Press.F.Moy Thomas, 1900, I. \& R.Morley. A Record of a Hundred Years, London (mentions cotton's first machines).RLH
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