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  • 1 regal

    выч. дистанционный язык обобщенного применения

    English-Russian dictionary of modern abbreviations > regal

  • 2 regal

    remote general language выч. дистанционный язык обобщенного применения

    English-Russian dictionary of modern abbreviations > regal

  • 3 Artificial Intelligence

       In my opinion, none of [these programs] does even remote justice to the complexity of human mental processes. Unlike men, "artificially intelligent" programs tend to be single minded, undistractable, and unemotional. (Neisser, 1967, p. 9)
       Future progress in [artificial intelligence] will depend on the development of both practical and theoretical knowledge.... As regards theoretical knowledge, some have sought a unified theory of artificial intelligence. My view is that artificial intelligence is (or soon will be) an engineering discipline since its primary goal is to build things. (Nilsson, 1971, pp. vii-viii)
       Most workers in AI [artificial intelligence] research and in related fields confess to a pronounced feeling of disappointment in what has been achieved in the last 25 years. Workers entered the field around 1950, and even around 1960, with high hopes that are very far from being realized in 1972. In no part of the field have the discoveries made so far produced the major impact that was then promised.... In the meantime, claims and predictions regarding the potential results of AI research had been publicized which went even farther than the expectations of the majority of workers in the field, whose embarrassments have been added to by the lamentable failure of such inflated predictions....
       When able and respected scientists write in letters to the present author that AI, the major goal of computing science, represents "another step in the general process of evolution"; that possibilities in the 1980s include an all-purpose intelligence on a human-scale knowledge base; that awe-inspiring possibilities suggest themselves based on machine intelligence exceeding human intelligence by the year 2000 [one has the right to be skeptical]. (Lighthill, 1972, p. 17)
       4) Just as Astronomy Succeeded Astrology, the Discovery of Intellectual Processes in Machines Should Lead to a Science, Eventually
       Just as astronomy succeeded astrology, following Kepler's discovery of planetary regularities, the discoveries of these many principles in empirical explorations on intellectual processes in machines should lead to a science, eventually. (Minsky & Papert, 1973, p. 11)
       Many problems arise in experiments on machine intelligence because things obvious to any person are not represented in any program. One can pull with a string, but one cannot push with one.... Simple facts like these caused serious problems when Charniak attempted to extend Bobrow's "Student" program to more realistic applications, and they have not been faced up to until now. (Minsky & Papert, 1973, p. 77)
       What do we mean by [a symbolic] "description"? We do not mean to suggest that our descriptions must be made of strings of ordinary language words (although they might be). The simplest kind of description is a structure in which some features of a situation are represented by single ("primitive") symbols, and relations between those features are represented by other symbols-or by other features of the way the description is put together. (Minsky & Papert, 1973, p. 11)
       [AI is] the use of computer programs and programming techniques to cast light on the principles of intelligence in general and human thought in particular. (Boden, 1977, p. 5)
       The word you look for and hardly ever see in the early AI literature is the word knowledge. They didn't believe you have to know anything, you could always rework it all.... In fact 1967 is the turning point in my mind when there was enough feeling that the old ideas of general principles had to go.... I came up with an argument for what I called the primacy of expertise, and at the time I called the other guys the generalists. (Moses, quoted in McCorduck, 1979, pp. 228-229)
       9) Artificial Intelligence Is Psychology in a Particularly Pure and Abstract Form
       The basic idea of cognitive science is that intelligent beings are semantic engines-in other words, automatic formal systems with interpretations under which they consistently make sense. We can now see why this includes psychology and artificial intelligence on a more or less equal footing: people and intelligent computers (if and when there are any) turn out to be merely different manifestations of the same underlying phenomenon. Moreover, with universal hardware, any semantic engine can in principle be formally imitated by a computer if only the right program can be found. And that will guarantee semantic imitation as well, since (given the appropriate formal behavior) the semantics is "taking care of itself" anyway. Thus we also see why, from this perspective, artificial intelligence can be regarded as psychology in a particularly pure and abstract form. The same fundamental structures are under investigation, but in AI, all the relevant parameters are under direct experimental control (in the programming), without any messy physiology or ethics to get in the way. (Haugeland, 1981b, p. 31)
       There are many different kinds of reasoning one might imagine:
        Formal reasoning involves the syntactic manipulation of data structures to deduce new ones following prespecified rules of inference. Mathematical logic is the archetypical formal representation. Procedural reasoning uses simulation to answer questions and solve problems. When we use a program to answer What is the sum of 3 and 4? it uses, or "runs," a procedural model of arithmetic. Reasoning by analogy seems to be a very natural mode of thought for humans but, so far, difficult to accomplish in AI programs. The idea is that when you ask the question Can robins fly? the system might reason that "robins are like sparrows, and I know that sparrows can fly, so robins probably can fly."
        Generalization and abstraction are also natural reasoning process for humans that are difficult to pin down well enough to implement in a program. If one knows that Robins have wings, that Sparrows have wings, and that Blue jays have wings, eventually one will believe that All birds have wings. This capability may be at the core of most human learning, but it has not yet become a useful technique in AI.... Meta- level reasoning is demonstrated by the way one answers the question What is Paul Newman's telephone number? You might reason that "if I knew Paul Newman's number, I would know that I knew it, because it is a notable fact." This involves using "knowledge about what you know," in particular, about the extent of your knowledge and about the importance of certain facts. Recent research in psychology and AI indicates that meta-level reasoning may play a central role in human cognitive processing. (Barr & Feigenbaum, 1981, pp. 146-147)
       Suffice it to say that programs already exist that can do things-or, at the very least, appear to be beginning to do things-which ill-informed critics have asserted a priori to be impossible. Examples include: perceiving in a holistic as opposed to an atomistic way; using language creatively; translating sensibly from one language to another by way of a language-neutral semantic representation; planning acts in a broad and sketchy fashion, the details being decided only in execution; distinguishing between different species of emotional reaction according to the psychological context of the subject. (Boden, 1981, p. 33)
       Can the synthesis of Man and Machine ever be stable, or will the purely organic component become such a hindrance that it has to be discarded? If this eventually happens-and I have... good reasons for thinking that it must-we have nothing to regret and certainly nothing to fear. (Clarke, 1984, p. 243)
       The thesis of GOFAI... is not that the processes underlying intelligence can be described symbolically... but that they are symbolic. (Haugeland, 1985, p. 113)
        14) Artificial Intelligence Provides a Useful Approach to Psychological and Psychiatric Theory Formation
       It is all very well formulating psychological and psychiatric theories verbally but, when using natural language (even technical jargon), it is difficult to recognise when a theory is complete; oversights are all too easily made, gaps too readily left. This is a point which is generally recognised to be true and it is for precisely this reason that the behavioural sciences attempt to follow the natural sciences in using "classical" mathematics as a more rigorous descriptive language. However, it is an unfortunate fact that, with a few notable exceptions, there has been a marked lack of success in this application. It is my belief that a different approach-a different mathematics-is needed, and that AI provides just this approach. (Hand, quoted in Hand, 1985, pp. 6-7)
       We might distinguish among four kinds of AI.
       Research of this kind involves building and programming computers to perform tasks which, to paraphrase Marvin Minsky, would require intelligence if they were done by us. Researchers in nonpsychological AI make no claims whatsoever about the psychological realism of their programs or the devices they build, that is, about whether or not computers perform tasks as humans do.
       Research here is guided by the view that the computer is a useful tool in the study of mind. In particular, we can write computer programs or build devices that simulate alleged psychological processes in humans and then test our predictions about how the alleged processes work. We can weave these programs and devices together with other programs and devices that simulate different alleged mental processes and thereby test the degree to which the AI system as a whole simulates human mentality. According to weak psychological AI, working with computer models is a way of refining and testing hypotheses about processes that are allegedly realized in human minds.
    ... According to this view, our minds are computers and therefore can be duplicated by other computers. Sherry Turkle writes that the "real ambition is of mythic proportions, making a general purpose intelligence, a mind." (Turkle, 1984, p. 240) The authors of a major text announce that "the ultimate goal of AI research is to build a person or, more humbly, an animal." (Charniak & McDermott, 1985, p. 7)
       Research in this field, like strong psychological AI, takes seriously the functionalist view that mentality can be realized in many different types of physical devices. Suprapsychological AI, however, accuses strong psychological AI of being chauvinisticof being only interested in human intelligence! Suprapsychological AI claims to be interested in all the conceivable ways intelligence can be realized. (Flanagan, 1991, pp. 241-242)
        16) Determination of Relevance of Rules in Particular Contexts
       Even if the [rules] were stored in a context-free form the computer still couldn't use them. To do that the computer requires rules enabling it to draw on just those [ rules] which are relevant in each particular context. Determination of relevance will have to be based on further facts and rules, but the question will again arise as to which facts and rules are relevant for making each particular determination. One could always invoke further facts and rules to answer this question, but of course these must be only the relevant ones. And so it goes. It seems that AI workers will never be able to get started here unless they can settle the problem of relevance beforehand by cataloguing types of context and listing just those facts which are relevant in each. (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986, p. 80)
       Perhaps the single most important idea to artificial intelligence is that there is no fundamental difference between form and content, that meaning can be captured in a set of symbols such as a semantic net. (G. Johnson, 1986, p. 250)
        18) The Assumption That the Mind Is a Formal System
       Artificial intelligence is based on the assumption that the mind can be described as some kind of formal system manipulating symbols that stand for things in the world. Thus it doesn't matter what the brain is made of, or what it uses for tokens in the great game of thinking. Using an equivalent set of tokens and rules, we can do thinking with a digital computer, just as we can play chess using cups, salt and pepper shakers, knives, forks, and spoons. Using the right software, one system (the mind) can be mapped into the other (the computer). (G. Johnson, 1986, p. 250)
        19) A Statement of the Primary and Secondary Purposes of Artificial Intelligence
       The primary goal of Artificial Intelligence is to make machines smarter.
       The secondary goals of Artificial Intelligence are to understand what intelligence is (the Nobel laureate purpose) and to make machines more useful (the entrepreneurial purpose). (Winston, 1987, p. 1)
       The theoretical ideas of older branches of engineering are captured in the language of mathematics. We contend that mathematical logic provides the basis for theory in AI. Although many computer scientists already count logic as fundamental to computer science in general, we put forward an even stronger form of the logic-is-important argument....
       AI deals mainly with the problem of representing and using declarative (as opposed to procedural) knowledge. Declarative knowledge is the kind that is expressed as sentences, and AI needs a language in which to state these sentences. Because the languages in which this knowledge usually is originally captured (natural languages such as English) are not suitable for computer representations, some other language with the appropriate properties must be used. It turns out, we think, that the appropriate properties include at least those that have been uppermost in the minds of logicians in their development of logical languages such as the predicate calculus. Thus, we think that any language for expressing knowledge in AI systems must be at least as expressive as the first-order predicate calculus. (Genesereth & Nilsson, 1987, p. viii)
        21) Perceptual Structures Can Be Represented as Lists of Elementary Propositions
       In artificial intelligence studies, perceptual structures are represented as assemblages of description lists, the elementary components of which are propositions asserting that certain relations hold among elements. (Chase & Simon, 1988, p. 490)
       Artificial intelligence (AI) is sometimes defined as the study of how to build and/or program computers to enable them to do the sorts of things that minds can do. Some of these things are commonly regarded as requiring intelligence: offering a medical diagnosis and/or prescription, giving legal or scientific advice, proving theorems in logic or mathematics. Others are not, because they can be done by all normal adults irrespective of educational background (and sometimes by non-human animals too), and typically involve no conscious control: seeing things in sunlight and shadows, finding a path through cluttered terrain, fitting pegs into holes, speaking one's own native tongue, and using one's common sense. Because it covers AI research dealing with both these classes of mental capacity, this definition is preferable to one describing AI as making computers do "things that would require intelligence if done by people." However, it presupposes that computers could do what minds can do, that they might really diagnose, advise, infer, and understand. One could avoid this problematic assumption (and also side-step questions about whether computers do things in the same way as we do) by defining AI instead as "the development of computers whose observable performance has features which in humans we would attribute to mental processes." This bland characterization would be acceptable to some AI workers, especially amongst those focusing on the production of technological tools for commercial purposes. But many others would favour a more controversial definition, seeing AI as the science of intelligence in general-or, more accurately, as the intellectual core of cognitive science. As such, its goal is to provide a systematic theory that can explain (and perhaps enable us to replicate) both the general categories of intentionality and the diverse psychological capacities grounded in them. (Boden, 1990b, pp. 1-2)
       Because the ability to store data somewhat corresponds to what we call memory in human beings, and because the ability to follow logical procedures somewhat corresponds to what we call reasoning in human beings, many members of the cult have concluded that what computers do somewhat corresponds to what we call thinking. It is no great difficulty to persuade the general public of that conclusion since computers process data very fast in small spaces well below the level of visibility; they do not look like other machines when they are at work. They seem to be running along as smoothly and silently as the brain does when it remembers and reasons and thinks. On the other hand, those who design and build computers know exactly how the machines are working down in the hidden depths of their semiconductors. Computers can be taken apart, scrutinized, and put back together. Their activities can be tracked, analyzed, measured, and thus clearly understood-which is far from possible with the brain. This gives rise to the tempting assumption on the part of the builders and designers that computers can tell us something about brains, indeed, that the computer can serve as a model of the mind, which then comes to be seen as some manner of information processing machine, and possibly not as good at the job as the machine. (Roszak, 1994, pp. xiv-xv)
       The inner workings of the human mind are far more intricate than the most complicated systems of modern technology. Researchers in the field of artificial intelligence have been attempting to develop programs that will enable computers to display intelligent behavior. Although this field has been an active one for more than thirty-five years and has had many notable successes, AI researchers still do not know how to create a program that matches human intelligence. No existing program can recall facts, solve problems, reason, learn, and process language with human facility. This lack of success has occurred not because computers are inferior to human brains but rather because we do not yet know in sufficient detail how intelligence is organized in the brain. (Anderson, 1995, p. 2)

    Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science > Artificial Intelligence

  • 4 Macau

       Portuguese colonial territory in south China. Portugal's last colony, in effect, and by agreement turned over to the People's Republic of China in 1999. Since Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in 1557, this tiny territory of 11 square kilometers (7 square miles) has been a Portuguese colony headed by a Portuguese administration. Long a dependency of the Viceroyalty of Goa, Portuguese India, Macau's prosperity depended on the vicissitudes of diplomatic and trade relations between China and the West. For nearly three centuries (ca. 1557-1842), Macau was the only Western entrepót-outpost-enclave-colony on the China coast. Even after Japan expelled Western traders in the 17th century, Macau had a key role as the link between China and the West. This role changed after Great Britain seized neighboring Hong Kong (1842) as a colony. Thereafter, Macau fell into the shadow of a booming Hong Kong.
       While it was a remote dependency of Portugal in the Far East, Macau has long played a multiplicity of roles: China's window on the West, preempted in the 1840s by Hong Kong; sanctuary and refuge for various waves of refugees from China or Hong Kong; because of its peculiar international status and location, a center of vice (gambling, smuggling, prostitution, and drug traffic); and a meeting place and exchange point for the Chinese and Portuguese civilizations.
       Following the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Lisbon offered to return Macau to mainland China, but the offer was refused, and negotiations between China and Portugal ensued. In the 1980s, China and Portugal negotiated a settlement whereby Portuguese sovereignty would continue until December 1999; "a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration" was the formula's general description. Chinese businessmen controlled Macau's economy, including its lucrative gambling and tourist industries, while Portugal provided nominal law and order. The settlement included a pledge by China that protection for the use of Portuguese language and the maintenance of democratic liberties would be continued for at least 50 years. In late December 1999, the last Portuguese governor-general hauled down the flag of Portugal, and the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty over Macau. In effect, Portugal's formal overseas empire ceased with this historic change. During colonial times, Macau was known for its gambling casinos. Since its return to China, gambling has become its biggest industry and, in 2006, Macau overtook Las Vegas in gaming revenue.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Macau

  • 5 computer

    1) компьютер; вычислительная машина; ЭВМ; вычислительное устройство; вычислитель; редк. процессор
    2) редк. счётная машина (см. тж calculator, machine)
    •
    - adaptive computer
    - airborne computer
    - all-applications computer
    - all-purpose computer
    - alternating-current analog computer
    - analog computer
    - analog-digital computer
    - arbitrary sequence computer
    - associative computer
    - asynchronous computer
    - automotive computer
    - baby-sized computer
    - back-end computer
    - batch-oriented computer
    - battery-operated computer
    - binary computer
    - binary-transfer computer
    - board computer
    - boutique computer
    - brand-name computer
    - breadboard computer
    - buffered computer
    - business computer
    - business-oriented computer
    - byte computer
    - byte-organized computer
    - byte-oriented computer
    - cassette-based computer
    - census computer
    - central computer
    - character-oriented computer
    - chemical-based computer
    - chess computer
    - CISC computer
    - commercial computer
    - commodity computer
    - communication computer
    - communications oriented computer
    - compatible computer
    - complete-instruction-set computer
    - concurrent computer
    - consecutive computer
    - consecutive sequence computer
    - continuously acting computer
    - control computer
    - control flow computer
    - correlation computer
    - coupled computers
    - cryogenic computer
    - cryotron computer
    - custom computer
    - database computer
    - data-flow computer
    - decimal computer
    - dedicated computer
    - desk computer
    - desk-size computer
    - desk-top computer
    - dialing set computer
    - dial set computer
    - digital computer
    - direct execution computer
    - direct-analogy computer
    - direct-current computer
    - diskless computer
    - distributed logic computer
    - drum computer
    - dual-processor computer
    - education computer
    - electromechanical analog computer
    - electronic tube computer
    - electron tube computer
    - electronic computer
    - end-user computer
    - ever-faster computer
    - externally programmed computer
    - fault-tolerant computer
    - fifth-generation computer
    - file computer
    - first-generation computer
    - fixed word-length computer
    - fixed-point computer
    - fixed-program computer
    - flat screen computer
    - floating-point computer
    - fluid computer
    - four-address computer
    - fourth-generation computer
    - fractional computer
    - front-end computer
    - gateway computer
    - general-purpose computer
    - giant computer
    - giant-powered computer
    - giant-scale computer
    - giant-size computer
    - gigacycle computer
    - gigahertz computer
    - guidance computer
    - handheld computer
    - high-end computer
    - high-function computer
    - high-level language computer
    - high-level computer
    - highly parallel computer
    - high-performance computer
    - high-speed computer
    - hobby computer
    - home banking computer
    - home computer
    - host computer
    - hybrid computer
    - IBM-compatible computer
    - IC computer
    - incompatible computer
    - incremental computer
    - industrial computer
    - integrated circuit computer
    - interface computer
    - interim computer
    - intermediate computer
    - internally programmed computer
    - Internet computer
    - keyboard computer
    - kid computer
    - laptop computer
    - large computer
    - large-powered computer
    - large-scale computer
    - large-scale integration circuit computer
    - large-size computer
    - laser computer
    - linkage computer
    - local computer
    - logical computer
    - logic computer
    - logic-controlled sequential computer
    - logic-in-memory computer
    - low-end computer
    - low-profile computer
    - low-speed computer
    - LSI computer
    - mainframe computer
    - massively parallel computer
    - master computer
    - mechanical computer
    - medium computer
    - medium-powered computer
    - medium-size computer
    - medium-speed computer
    - medium-to-large scale computer
    - mediun-scale computer
    - megacycle computer
    - megahertz computer
    - microprogrammable computer
    - microwave computer
    - mid-range computer
    - molecular computer
    - monoprocessor computer
    - multiaddress computer
    - multi-MIPS computer
    - multiple-access computer
    - multiple-user computer
    - multiprocessor computer
    - multiprogrammed computer
    - multipurpose computer
    - multiradix computer
    - navigation computer
    - net node computer
    - networked computer
    - N-node computer
    - no-address computer
    - node computer
    - nonsequential computer
    - nonstop computer
    - non-von Neumann computer
    - notebook computer
    - object computer
    - office computer
    - off-the-shelf computer
    - one-address computer
    - one-and-half-address computer
    - one-on-one computer
    - one-purpose computer
    - optical computer
    - optical path computer
    - original computer
    - palm-size computer     - parallel-processing computer
    - parallel-serial computer
    - parametric-electronic computer
    - parametron computer
    - pen-based computer
    - pentop computer
    - perihperal support computer
    - peripheral computer
    - personal computer
    - pictorial computer
    - pipeline computer
    - plugboard computer
    - plug-compatible computer
    - plugged program computer
    - pneumatic computer
    - pocket computer
    - Polish-string computer
    - polynomial computer
    - portable computer
    - process control computer
    - production control computer
    - professional computer
    - professional personal computer
    - program-compatible computer
    - program-controlled computer
    - programmed computer
    - punch-card computer
    - rack-size computer
    - radix two computer
    - real-time computer
    - recovering computer
    - reduced instruction set computer
    - reduction computer
    - remote computer
    - repetitive computer
    - RISC computer
    - satellite computer
    - scientific computer
    - second-generation computer
    - secondhand computer
    - self-adapting computer
    - self-organizing computer
    - self-programming computer
    - self-repairing computer
    - self-repair computer
    - sensor-based computer
    - sequence-controlled computer
    - sequenced computer
    - sequential computer
    - serial computer
    - service computer
    - service-oriented computer
    - SIMD computer
    - simultaneous-operation computer
    - simultaneous computer
    - single-address computer
    - single-board computer
    - single-purpose computer
    - single-user computer
    - slave computer
    - small computer
    - small-powered computer
    - small-scale computer
    - small-size computer
    - soft-compatible computer
    - solid-state computer
    - SOS computer
    - source computer
    - space computer
    - spaceborne computer
    - special-purpose computer
    - special computer
    - square-root computer
    - stack-oriented computer
    - standby computer
    - statistical computer
    - steering computer
    - stored-program computer
    - subscriber computer
    - super computer
    - superconductive computer
    - superhigh-speed computer
    - superpersonal computer
    - superspeed computer
    - supervisory computer
    - switch-control computer
    - switching computer
    - symbolic computer
    - synchronous computer
    - synchronous tracking computer
    - tagged computer
    - talking computer
    - target computer
    - technical computer
    - technical personal computer
    - terminal computer
    - terminal control computer
    - ternary-transfer computer
    - tessellated computer
    - thermal computer
    - thin-film memory computer
    - third-generation computer
    - three-address computer
    - three-dimensional analog computer
    - timeshared computer
    - top level computer
    - top-of-the-line computer
    - toy computer
    - training computer
    - transformation computer
    - transistorized computer
    - transistor computer
    - translating computer
    - tridimensional analog computer
    - trip computer
    - truth-table computer
    - Turing-type computer
    - two-address computer
    - ultrafast computer
    - underlying computer
    - user computer
    - vacuum tube computer
    - variable word-length computer
    - very-high-speed computer
    - video-and-cassette-based computer
    - virtual computer
    - von Neumann computer
    - wearable computer
    - weather computer
    - wired-program computer
    - word-oriented computer
    - workgroup computer
    - X-computer
    - zero-address computer

    English-Russian dictionary of computer science and programming > computer

  • 6 Introduction

       Portugal is a small Western European nation with a large, distinctive past replete with both triumph and tragedy. One of the continent's oldest nation-states, Portugal has frontiers that are essentially unchanged since the late 14th century. The country's unique character and 850-year history as an independent state present several curious paradoxes. As of 1974, when much of the remainder of the Portuguese overseas empire was decolonized, Portuguese society appeared to be the most ethnically homogeneous of the two Iberian states and of much of Europe. Yet, Portuguese society had received, over the course of 2,000 years, infusions of other ethnic groups in invasions and immigration: Phoenicians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Suevi, Visigoths, Muslims (Arab and Berber), Jews, Italians, Flemings, Burgundian French, black Africans, and Asians. Indeed, Portugal has been a crossroads, despite its relative isolation in the western corner of the Iberian Peninsula, between the West and North Africa, Tropical Africa, and Asia and America. Since 1974, Portugal's society has become less homogeneous, as there has been significant immigration of former subjects from its erstwhile overseas empire.
       Other paradoxes should be noted as well. Although Portugal is sometimes confused with Spain or things Spanish, its very national independence and national culture depend on being different from Spain and Spaniards. Today, Portugal's independence may be taken for granted. Since 1140, except for 1580-1640 when it was ruled by Philippine Spain, Portugal has been a sovereign state. Nevertheless, a recurring theme of the nation's history is cycles of anxiety and despair that its freedom as a nation is at risk. There is a paradox, too, about Portugal's overseas empire(s), which lasted half a millennium (1415-1975): after 1822, when Brazil achieved independence from Portugal, most of the Portuguese who emigrated overseas never set foot in their overseas empire, but preferred to immigrate to Brazil or to other countries in North or South America or Europe, where established Portuguese overseas communities existed.
       Portugal was a world power during the period 1415-1550, the era of the Discoveries, expansion, and early empire, and since then the Portuguese have experienced periods of decline, decadence, and rejuvenation. Despite the fact that Portugal slipped to the rank of a third- or fourth-rate power after 1580, it and its people can claim rightfully an unusual number of "firsts" or distinctions that assure their place both in world and Western history. These distinctions should be kept in mind while acknowledging that, for more than 400 years, Portugal has generally lagged behind the rest of Western Europe, although not Southern Europe, in social and economic developments and has remained behind even its only neighbor and sometime nemesis, Spain.
       Portugal's pioneering role in the Discoveries and exploration era of the 15th and 16th centuries is well known. Often noted, too, is the Portuguese role in the art and science of maritime navigation through the efforts of early navigators, mapmakers, seamen, and fishermen. What are often forgotten are the country's slender base of resources, its small population largely of rural peasants, and, until recently, its occupation of only 16 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. As of 1139—10, when Portugal emerged first as an independent monarchy, and eventually a sovereign nation-state, England and France had not achieved this status. The Portuguese were the first in the Iberian Peninsula to expel the Muslim invaders from their portion of the peninsula, achieving this by 1250, more than 200 years before Castile managed to do the same (1492).
       Other distinctions may be noted. Portugal conquered the first overseas empire beyond the Mediterranean in the early modern era and established the first plantation system based on slave labor. Portugal's empire was the first to be colonized and the last to be decolonized in the 20th century. With so much of its scattered, seaborne empire dependent upon the safety and seaworthiness of shipping, Portugal was a pioneer in initiating marine insurance, a practice that is taken for granted today. During the time of Pombaline Portugal (1750-77), Portugal was the first state to organize and hold an industrial trade fair. In distinctive political and governmental developments, Portugal's record is more mixed, and this fact suggests that maintaining a government with a functioning rule of law and a pluralist, representative democracy has not been an easy matter in a country that for so long has been one of the poorest and least educated in the West. Portugal's First Republic (1910-26), only the third republic in a largely monarchist Europe (after France and Switzerland), was Western Europe's most unstable parliamentary system in the 20th century. Finally, the authoritarian Estado Novo or "New State" (1926-74) was the longest surviving authoritarian system in modern Western Europe. When Portugal departed from its overseas empire in 1974-75, the descendants, in effect, of Prince Henry the Navigator were leaving the West's oldest empire.
       Portugal's individuality is based mainly on its long history of distinc-tiveness, its intense determination to use any means — alliance, diplomacy, defense, trade, or empire—to be a sovereign state, independent of Spain, and on its national pride in the Portuguese language. Another master factor in Portuguese affairs deserves mention. The country's politics and government have been influenced not only by intellectual currents from the Atlantic but also through Spain from Europe, which brought new political ideas and institutions and novel technologies. Given the weight of empire in Portugal's past, it is not surprising that public affairs have been hostage to a degree to what happened in her overseas empire. Most important have been domestic responses to imperial affairs during both imperial and internal crises since 1415, which have continued to the mid-1970s and beyond. One of the most important themes of Portuguese history, and one oddly neglected by not a few histories, is that every major political crisis and fundamental change in the system—in other words, revolution—since 1415 has been intimately connected with a related imperial crisis. The respective dates of these historical crises are: 1437, 1495, 1578-80, 1640, 1820-22, 1890, 1910, 1926-30, 1961, and 1974. The reader will find greater detail on each crisis in historical context in the history section of this introduction and in relevant entries.
       LAND AND PEOPLE
       The Republic of Portugal is located on the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula. A major geographical dividing line is the Tagus River: Portugal north of it has an Atlantic orientation; the country to the south of it has a Mediterranean orientation. There is little physical evidence that Portugal is clearly geographically distinct from Spain, and there is no major natural barrier between the two countries along more than 1,214 kilometers (755 miles) of the Luso-Spanish frontier. In climate, Portugal has a number of microclimates similar to the microclimates of Galicia, Estremadura, and Andalusia in neighboring Spain. North of the Tagus, in general, there is an Atlantic-type climate with higher rainfall, cold winters, and some snow in the mountainous areas. South of the Tagus is a more Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry, often rainless summers and cool, wet winters. Lisbon, the capital, which has a fifth of the country's population living in its region, has an average annual mean temperature about 16° C (60° F).
       For a small country with an area of 92,345 square kilometers (35,580 square miles, including the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and the Madeiras), which is about the size of the state of Indiana in the United States, Portugal has a remarkable diversity of regional topography and scenery. In some respects, Portugal resembles an island within the peninsula, embodying a unique fusion of European and non-European cultures, akin to Spain yet apart. Its geography is a study in contrasts, from the flat, sandy coastal plain, in some places unusually wide for Europe, to the mountainous Beira districts or provinces north of the Tagus, to the snow-capped mountain range of the Estrela, with its unique ski area, to the rocky, barren, remote Trás-os-Montes district bordering Spain. There are extensive forests in central and northern Portugal that contrast with the flat, almost Kansas-like plains of the wheat belt in the Alentejo district. There is also the unique Algarve district, isolated somewhat from the Alentejo district by a mountain range, with a microclimate, topography, and vegetation that resemble closely those of North Africa.
       Although Portugal is small, just 563 kilometers (337 miles) long and from 129 to 209 kilometers (80 to 125 miles) wide, it is strategically located on transportation and communication routes between Europe and North Africa, and the Americas and Europe. Geographical location is one key to the long history of Portugal's three overseas empires, which stretched once from Morocco to the Moluccas and from lonely Sagres at Cape St. Vincent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is essential to emphasize the identity of its neighbors: on the north and east Portugal is bounded by Spain, its only neighbor, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the south and west. Portugal is the westernmost country of Western Europe, and its shape resembles a face, with Lisbon below the nose, staring into the
       Atlantic. No part of Portugal touches the Mediterranean, and its Atlantic orientation has been a response in part to turning its back on Castile and Léon (later Spain) and exploring, traveling, and trading or working in lands beyond the peninsula. Portugal was the pioneering nation in the Atlantic-born European discoveries during the Renaissance, and its diplomatic and trade relations have been dominated by countries that have been Atlantic powers as well: Spain; England (Britain since 1707); France; Brazil, once its greatest colony; and the United States.
       Today Portugal and its Atlantic islands have a population of roughly 10 million people. While ethnic homogeneity has been characteristic of it in recent history, Portugal's population over the centuries has seen an infusion of non-Portuguese ethnic groups from various parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Between 1500 and 1800, a significant population of black Africans, brought in as slaves, was absorbed in the population. And since 1950, a population of Cape Verdeans, who worked in menial labor, has resided in Portugal. With the influx of African, Goan, and Timorese refugees and exiles from the empire—as many as three quarters of a million retornados ("returned ones" or immigrants from the former empire) entered Portugal in 1974 and 1975—there has been greater ethnic diversity in the Portuguese population. In 2002, there were 239,113 immigrants legally residing in Portugal: 108,132 from Africa; 24,806 from Brazil; 15,906 from Britain; 14,617 from Spain; and 11,877 from Germany. In addition, about 200,000 immigrants are living in Portugal from eastern Europe, mainly from Ukraine. The growth of Portugal's population is reflected in the following statistics:
       1527 1,200,000 (estimate only)
       1768 2,400,000 (estimate only)
       1864 4,287,000 first census
       1890 5,049,700
       1900 5,423,000
       1911 5,960,000
       1930 6,826,000
       1940 7,185,143
       1950 8,510,000
       1960 8,889,000
       1970 8,668,000* note decrease
       1980 9,833,000
       1991 9,862,540
       1996 9,934,100
       2006 10,642,836
       2010 10,710,000 (estimated)

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Introduction

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