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61 Alcácer-Quivir, Battle of
(4 August 1578)Known to history also as "The Battle of the Three Kings," this event helped weaken Portugal, deprive the country of a non-Castilian legitimate male heir, and led to her loss of independence. The site of the battle, known in Arabic as Alcazar-el-Kebr, is southwest of Arzila, Morocco, some 32 kilometers (20 miles) from Tangier. It was here that the Portuguese armed forces under the command of the foolhardy young king, 24-year-old Sebastião I of Aviz, were defeated and dispersed by Muslim forces under the Sharif of Morocco. More than 8,000 Portuguese died, including the king, whose body was apparently buried in Alcácer. About 15,000 of the Portuguese and their allied forces became prisoners in Morocco and few managed to escape to Portuguese forts on the coast. As a result of the disappearance of Sebastião and the defeat of an important part of the country's defense forces, Portugal was more vulnerable to Spanish power than since the late 14th century. In Morocco and in Portugal, rumors grew into legends concerning the fate of the young king. The cult and mythology of Sebastianism arose out of the initial uncertainty concerning the monarch's fate and the tragic decline and defeat of Portugal. "Sebas-tianism" featured myths that the king had survived and would return on a foggy morning to Portugal to drive out the Spanish invaders and restore Portugal to its former greatness. A vast literature in poetry, stories, novels, songs, and folklore grew around the sentiment of "Se-bastianism." Beginning in the late 16th century in Portugal, persons posing as the returned Sebastian, there to save Portugal, began to appear.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Alcácer-Quivir, Battle of
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62 Cinema
Portuguese cinema had its debut in June 1896 at the Royal Coliseum, Lisbon, only six months after the pioneering French cinema-makers, the brothers Lumiere, introduced the earliest motion pictures to Paris audiences. Cinema pioneers in Portugal included photographer Manuel Maria da Costa Veiga and an early enthusiast, Aurelio da Paz dos Reis. The first movie theater opened in Lisbon in 1904, and most popular were early silent shorts, including documentaries and scenes of King Carlos I swimming at Cascais beach. Beginning with the Invicta Film company in 1912 and its efforts to produce films, Portuguese cinema-makers sought technical assistance in Paris. In 1918, French film technicians from Pathé Studios of Paris came to Portugal to produce cinema. The Portuguese writer of children's books, Virginia de Castro e Almeida, hired French film and legal personnel in the 1920s under the banner of "Fortuna Film" and produced several silent films based on her compositions.In the 1930s, Portuguese cinema underwent an important advance with the work of Portuguese director-producers, including AntônioLopes Ribeiro, Manoel de Oliveira, Leitao de Barros, and Artur Duarte. They were strongly influenced by contemporary French, German, and Russian cinema, and they recruited their cinema actors from the Portuguese Theater, especially from the popular Theater of Review ( teatro de revista) of Lisbon. They included comedy radio and review stars such as Vasco Santana, Antônio Silva, Maria Matos, and Ribeirinho. As the Estado Novo regime appreciated the important potential role of film as a mode of propaganda, greater government controls and regulation followed. The first Portuguese sound film, A Severa (1928), based on a Julio Dantas book, was directed by Leitão de Barros.The next period of Portuguese cinema, the 1930s, 1940s, and much of the 1950s, has been labeled, Comédia a portuguesa, or Portuguese Comedy, as it was dominated by comedic actors from Lisbon's Theatre of Review and by such classic comedies as 1933's A Cancáo de Lisboa and similar genre such as O Pai Tirano, O Pátio das Cantigas, and A Costa do Castelo. The Portuguese film industry was extremely small and financially constrained and, until after 1970, only several films were made each year. A new era followed, the so-called "New Cinema," or Novo Cinema (ca. 1963-74), when the dictatorship collapsed. Directors of this era, influenced by France's New Wave cinema movement, were led by Fernando Lopes, Paulo Rocha, and others.After the 1974-75 Revolution, filmmakers, encouraged by new political and social freedoms, explored new themes: realism, legend, politics, and ethnography and, in the 1980s, other themes, including docufiction. Even after political liberty arrived, leaders of the cinema industry confronted familiar challenges of filmmakers everywhere: finding funds for production and audiences to purchase tickets. As the new Portugal gained more prosperity, garnered more capital, and took advantage of membership in the burgeoning European Union, Portuguese cinema benefited. Some American producers, directors, and actors, such as John Malkovich, grew enamored of residence and work in Portugal. Malkovich starred in Manoel de Oliveira's film, O Convento (The Convent), shot in Portugal, and this film gained international acclaim, if not universal critical approval. While most films viewed in the country continued to be foreign imports, especially from France, the United States, and Great Britain, recent domestic film production is larger than ever before in Portugal's cinema history: in 2005, 13 Portuguese feature films were released. One of them was coproduced with Spain, Midsummer Dream, an animated feature. That year's most acclaimed film was O Crime de Padre Amaro, based on the Eça de Queirós' novel, a film that earned a record box office return. In 2006, some 22 feature films were released. With more films made in Portugal than ever before, Portugal's cinema had entered a new era. -
63 Equestrianism
Equestrianism or Equitation has an ancient tradition in Portugal. Although today this sport of horseback riding, which is related to the art and science of horse breeding, is a peaceful activity, for centuries Portugal's use of the horse in cavalry was closely associated with war. Beginning in the 18th century, the activity became connected to bull- fighting. In war, the Portuguese used horse cavalry longer than most other European nations. While most armies gave up the horse for mechanized cavalry or tanks after World War I, Portugal was reluctant to change this tradition. Oddly, Portugal used a specialized form of cavalry in combat as late as 1969-1971, in Angola, a colony of Portugal until 1975. Portugal's army in Angola, engaged in a war with Angolan nationalist forces, employed the so-called "Dragoons," a specialized cavalry in rural areas, until 1971, a case perhaps of the last use of cavalry in modern warfare.Soccer, or futebol, is Portugal's favorite mass sport today, but equestrianism retains a special place in sports as a now democratized, if somewhat elite, sport for both Portuguese and visiting foreign riders. As of 1900, equestrianism was still the sport of royalty and aristocracy, but in the 21st century persons from all classes and groups enjoy it. The sport now features the unique Lusitano breed of horse, which evolved from earlier breeds of Iberian ponies and horses. Touring equestrianism recently has become an activity of niche tourism, and it is complemented by international competitive riding. Following the early 20th century, when the Olympics were revived, Portuguese competitors have excelled not only in sailing, field hockey on roller-skates, rowing, and marksmanship, but also in equestrianism. Notable Portuguese riders were medal winners in summer Olympics such as those of 1948 and 1988. This sport is engaged in primarily if not exclusively in regions with a history of horse breeding, riding, and cattle herding, in Ribatejo and Alentejo provinces, and has featured career military participants.Portuguese equestrianism, including the use of horses in bull-fighting, hunting, and other forms of sport, as well as in horse cavalry in war, was long associated with the lifestyles of royalty and the nobility. The use of traditional, Baroque riding gear and garb in competitive riding, instruction, and bull-fighting reflects such a tradition. Riders in bull-fighting or in exhibitions wear 18th-century male costumes that include a tricornered hat, long frock coats, breeches, stockings, and buckled shoes. The Ribatejo "cowboy" or riding herder wears the regional costume of a green and red cap, red tunic, white breeches and stockings, Portuguese bridles, and chaps sometimes made of olive leaves.Although their prestigious classical riding academy remains less well known than the famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Portugal has preserved the ancient tradition of a classical riding school in its Royal School of Portuguese Equestrian Arts, at Queluz, not far from the National Palace of Queluz, a miniature Portuguese Versailles, with a hall of mirrors, tiled garden, and canal. One of the great riding masters and trainers was the late Nuno Oliveira (1925-89), whose work generated a worldwide network of students and followers and who published classic riding manuals. Oliveira's widely admired method of instruction was to bring about a perfect harmony of action between horse and rider, an inspiration to new generations of riders. -
64 Great Britain
(England before 1707)Next to Spain, the country with which Portugal has had the closest diplomatic, political, and economic relations into contemporary times and during much of its history as a nation. Today, the two countries retain the formal bonds of the world's oldest diplomatic alliance. Whatever the diplomatic ups and downs of the alliance, Britain and Portugal increasingly linked their economies, starting with the Methuen Treaty ( 1703) in the early 18th century. "English woolens for Portuguese wines" was the essence of this trade arrangement, but many other products were traded between these two peoples with quite different religious and cultural features. Among economic links, now traditional, are those in banking and finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and trade.Portugal joined Britain in several international economic organizations well before Portugal entered the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the European Union (EU), in 1986, among these the European Free Trade Association (in 1959), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Tourism, too, has long been a key connection. Ever since the 1700s, privileged tourists have enjoyed the sun and citrus fruits of Portugal and Madeira for their health. Another significant link is that Britons comprise one of the largest foreign communities in Portugal. Tourism and foreign communities have increased considerably since the early 1960s, when cheap airfares began. Among EU members, Britain remains one of Portugal's largest foreign investors. -
65 Portuguese Communist Party
(PCP)The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has evolved from its early anarcho-syndicalist roots at its formation in 1921. This evolution included the undisciplined years of the 1920s, during which bolshevization began and continued into the 1930s, then through the years of clandestine existence during the Estado Novo, the Stalinization of the 1940s, the "anarcho-liberal shift" of the 1950s, the emergence of Maoist and Trotskyist splinter groups of the 1960s, to legalization after the Revolution of 25 April 1974 as the strongest and oldest political party in Portugal. Documents from the Russian archives have shown that the PCP's history is not a purely "domestic" one. While the PCP was born on its own without Soviet assistance, once it joined the Communist International (CI), it lost a significant amount of autonomy as CI officials increasingly meddled in PCP internal politics by dictating policy, manipulating leadership elections, and often financing party activities.Early Portuguese communism was a mix of communist ideological strands accustomed to a spirited internal debate, a lively external debate with its rivals, and a loose organizational structure. The PCP, during its early years, was weak in grassroots membership and was basically a party of "notables." It was predominantly a male organization, with minuscule female participation. It was also primarily an urban party concentrated in Lisbon. The PCP membership declined from 3,000 in 1923 to only 40 in 1928.In 1929, the party was reorganized so that it could survive clandestinely. As its activity progressed in the 1930s, a long period of instability dominated its leadership organs as a result of repression, imprisonments, and disorganization. The CI continued to intervene in party affairs through the 1930s, until the PCP was expelled from the CI in 1938-39, apparently because of its conduct during police arrests.The years of 1939-41 were difficult ones for the party, not only because of increased domestic repression but also because of internal party splits provoked by the Nazi-Soviet pact and other foreign actions. From 1940 to 1941, two Communist parties struggled to attract the support of the CI and accused each other of "revisionism." The CI was disbanded in 1943, and the PCP was not accepted back into the international communist family until its recognition by the Cominform in 1947.The reorganization of 1940-41 finally put the PCP under the firm control of orthodox communists who viewed socialism from a Soviet perspective. Although Soviet support was denied the newly reorganized party at first, the new leaders continued its Stalinization. The enforcement of "democratic centralism" and insistence upon the "dictatorship of the proletariat" became entrenched. The 1940s brought increased growth, as the party reached its membership apex of the clandestine era with 1,200 members in 1943, approximately 4,800 in 1946, and 7,000 in 1947.The party fell on hard times in the 1950s. It developed a bad case of paranoia, which led to a witch hunt for infiltrators, informers, and spies in all ranks of the party. The lower membership figures who followed the united antifascist period were reduced further through expulsions of the "traitors." By 1951, the party had been reduced to only 1,000 members. It became a closed, sectarian, suspicious, and paranoiac organization, with diminished strength in almost every region, except in the Alentejo, where the party, through propaganda and ideology more than organizational strength, was able to mobilize strikes of landless peasants in the early 1950s.On 3 January 1960, Álvaro Cunhal and nine other political prisoners made a spectacular escape from the Peniche prison and fled the country. Soon after this escape, Cunhal was elected secretary-general and, with other top leaders, directed the PCP from exile. Trotskyite and Maoist fractions emerged within the party in the 1960s, strengthened by the ideological developments in the international communist movement, such as in China and Cuba. The PCP would not tolerate dissent or leftism and began purging the extreme left fractions.The PCP intensified its control of the labor movement after the more liberal syndical election regulations under Prime Minister Mar- cello Caetano allowed communists to run for leadership positions in the corporative unions. By 1973, there was general unrest in the labor movement due to deteriorating economic conditions brought on by the colonial wars, as well as by world economic pressures including the Arab oil boycott.After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, the PCP enjoyed a unique position: it was the only party to have survived the Estado Novo. It emerged from clandestinity as the best organized political party in Portugal with a leadership hardened by years in jail. Since then, despite the party's stubborn orthodoxy, it has consistently played an important role as a moderating force. As even the Socialist Party (PS) was swept up by the neoliberal tidal wave, albeit a more compassionate variant, increasingly the PCP has played a crucial role in ensuring that interests and perspectives of the traditional Left are aired.One of the most consistent planks of the PCP electoral platform has been opposition to every stage of European integration. The party has regularly resisted Portuguese membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) and, following membership beginning in 1986, the party has regularly resisted further integration through the European Union (EU). A major argument has been that EU membership would not resolve Portugal's chronic economic problems but would only increase its dependence on the world. Ever since, the PCP has argued that its opposition to membership was correct and that further involvement with the EU would only result in further economic dependence and a consequent loss of Portuguese national sovereignty. Further, the party maintained that as Portugal's ties with the EU increased, the vulnerable agrarian sector in Portugal would risk further losses.Changes in PCP leadership may or may not alter the party's electoral position and role in the political system. As younger generations forget the uniqueness of the party's resistance to the Estado Novo, public images of PCP leadership will change. As the image of Álvaro Cunhal and other historical communist leaders slowly recedes, and the stature of Carlos Carvalhas (general secretary since 1992) and other moderate leaders is enhanced, the party's survival and legitimacy have strengthened. On 6 March 2001, the PCP celebrated its 80th anniversary.See also Left Bloc.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Portuguese Communist Party
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66 Soares, Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes
(1924-)Lawyer, staunch oppositionist to the Estado Novo, a founder of Portugal's Socialist Party (PS), key leader of post-1974 democratic Portugal, and twice-elected president of the republic (1986-91; 1991-96). Mário Soares was born on 7 December 1924, in Lisbon, the son of an educator and former cabinet officer of the ill-fated First Republic. An outstanding student, Soares received a degree in history and philosophy from the University of Lisbon (1951) and his law degree from the same institution (1957). A teacher and a lawyer, the young Soares soon became active in various organizations that opposed the Estado Novo, starting in his student days and continuing into his association with the PS. He worked with the organizations of several oppositionist candidates for the presidency of the republic in 1949 and 1958 and, as a lawyer, defended a number of political figures against government prosecution in court. Soares was the family attorney for the family of General Humberto Delgado, murdered on the Spanish frontier by the regime's political police in 1965. Soares was signatory and editor of the "Program for the Democratization of the Republic" in 1961, and, in 1968, he was deported by the regime to São Tomé, one of Portugal's African colonies.In 1969, following the brief liberalization under the new prime minister Marcello Caetano, Soares returned from exile in Africa and participated as a member of the opposition in general elections for the National Assembly. Although harassed by the PIDE, he was courageous in attacking the government and its colonial policies in Africa. After the rigged election results were known, and no oppositionist deputy won a seat despite the Caetano "opening," Soares left for exile in France. From 1969 to 1974, he resided in France, consulted with other political exiles, and taught at a university. In 1973, at a meeting in West Germany, Soares participated in the (re)founding of the (Portuguese) Socialist Party.The exciting, unexpected news of the Revolution of 25 April 1974 reached Soares in France, and soon he was aboard a train bound for Lisbon, where he was to play a major role in the difficult period of revolutionary politics (1974-75). During a most critical phase, the "hot summer" of 1975, when a civil war seemed in the offing, Soares's efforts to steer Portugal away from a communist dictatorship and sustained civil strife were courageous and effective. He found allies in the moderate military and large sectors of the population. After the abortive leftist coup of 25 November 1975, Soares played an equally vital role in assisting the stabilization of a pluralist democracy.Prime minister on several occasions during the era of postrevolu-tionary adjustment (1976-85), Soares continued his role as the respected leader of the PS. Following 11 hectic years of the Lusitanian political hurly-burly, Soares was eager for a change and some rest. Prepared to give up leadership of the factious PS and become a senior statesman in the new Portugal, Mário Soares ran for the presidency of the republic. After serving twice as elected president of the republic, he established the Mário Soares Foundation, Lisbon, and was elected to the European Parliament.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Soares, Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes
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67 Mozambique
Presently an independent African state and formerly Portugal's main colonial territory in East Africa. After Angola, Portugal's largest colony in Africa, with some 784,090 kilometers (297,000 square miles) of territory. Lisbon controlled sections of what is now Mozambique from the early 16th century to 1975. In its long history as a Portuguese colony and outpost, Mozambique was influenced by its geography and its position in the Portuguese empire. Mozambique's location adjacent to industrializing South Africa was an important factor in its economic life. The colony's location on the sea route to Portugal's empire in India, mainly Goa, and its administrative subordination to Portuguese India during the centuries were also important historical factors.Until the 20th century, except for sections of the disease-ridden Zambezi valley, what little Portuguese colonization there was remained coastal. After 1910, Portuguese colonization in the interior burgeoned and plantations of sugar, cotton, and other crops were developed. As in Angola and other African colonies of Portugal, long after slavery was abolished in the 19th century, forced labor of Africans continued into the 1960s in Mozambique. In 1964, a colonial war in Mozambique began, a conflict between Portuguese armed forces and nationalist forces of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO). This conflict ceased following the Revolution of 25 April 1974 in Portugal. Mozambique obtained its independence in July 1975. -
68 Brazil
Former Portuguese colony (ca. 1500-1822), once described on old maps as "Portuguese America." Until 1822, the colony of Brazil was Portugal's largest, richest, and most populous colonial territory, and it held the greatest number of overseas Portuguese. Indeed, until 1974, long after Brazil had ceased being a Portuguese colony, the largest number of overseas Portuguese continued to reside in Brazil.Discovered in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral, Brazil experienced significant coastal colonization by Portugal only after 1550. As Portugal's world power and colonial position in North Africa and Asia entered a decline, Brazil began to receive the lion's share of her imperial attention and soon dominated the empire. While Portuguese colonization and civilization had an essential impact on the complex making of Brazil, this fact must be put into perspective. In addition to other European (Italian, German, etc.) and Asian (Japanese) immigrants, two other civilizations or groups of civilizations helped to construct Brazil: the Amerindians who inhabited the land before 1500 and black Africans who were shipped to Brazil's coast as slaves during more than three centuries, mainly from west and central Africa. There is a long history of Portuguese military operations to defend Brazil against internal rebellions as well as other colonial intruders. The French, for example, attacked Brazil several times. But it was the Dutch who proved the greatest threat, when they held northeast Brazil from 1624 to 1654, until they were expelled by Portuguese and colonial forces.Until the 17th century, Portuguese colonization was largely coastal. By the 18th century, Portuguese groups began to penetrate deep into the hinterland, including an area rich in minerals, the Minas Gerais ("General Mines"). Lisbon extracted the greatest wealth from Brazil during the "golden age" of mining of gold and diamonds from 1670 to 1750. But hefty profits for the king also came from Brazilian sugar, tobacco, cotton, woods, and coffee. By the time of Brazil's independence, declared in 1822, Portuguese America had become far more powerful and rich than the mother country. Only a few years before the break, Brazil had been declared a kingdom, in theory on a par with Portugal. A major factor behind the Brazilian independence movement was the impact of the residence of the Portuguese royal family and court in Brazil from 1808 to 1821.What is the Portuguese legacy to Brazil after more than 300 years of colonization? Of the many facets that could be cited, perhaps three are worthy of mention here: the Portuguese language (Brazil is the only Latin American country that has Portuguese as the official language); Portuguese political and administrative customs; and a large community, mostly in coastal Brazil, of overseas Portuguese. -
69 Fado
Traditional urban song and music sung by a man or woman, to the accompaniment of two stringed instruments. The Portuguese word, fado, derives from the Latin word for fate ( fatum), and the fado's usage does not distinguish the sex of the singer. Traditionally, wherever the fado is performed, the singer, the fadista—who is often but not always a woman wearing a shawl around her shoulders—is accompanied by the Portuguese guitarra, a 12-stringed mandolin-like instrument or lute, and the viola, a Spanish guitar. There are at least two contemporary variations of the fado: the Lisbon fado and the Coimbra or university student fado. While some authorities describe the song as typical of the urban working classes, its popularity and roots are wider than only this group and it appears that, although the song's historic origins are urban and working class, its current popularity is more universal. The historic origins of the fado are not only obscure but hotly debated among scholars and would-be experts. Some suggest that its origins are Brazilian and African, while others detect a Muslim, North African element mixed with Hispanic.After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, there was talk that the fado's days were numbered as a popular song because it seemed an obsolete, regime-encouraged entertainment, which, like a drug or soporific, encouraged passivity. In the new Portugal, however, the fado is still popular among various classes, as well as among an increasingly large number of visitors and tourists. The fado is performed in restaurants, cafes, and special fado houses, not only in Portugal and other Lusophone countries like Brazil, but wherever Portuguese communities gather abroad. Although there do not appear to be schools of fado, fadistas learn their trade by apprenticeship to senior performers, both men and women.In fado history, Portugal's most celebrated fadista was Amália Rodrigues, who died in 1999. She made her premier American debut in New York's Carnegie Hall in the 1950s, at about the same time Americans were charmed by a popular song of the day, April in Portugal, an American version of a traditional Portuguese fado called Fado de Coimbra, about Coimbra University's romantic traditions. The most celebrated fadista of the first decade of the 21st century is Marisa dos Reis Nunes, with the stage name of Mariza, who embodies a new generation of singers' contemporary interpretation of fado. The predominant tone of the Lisbon variation of the fado, sung often in the areas of Alfama, Mouraria, Bairro Alto, and Alcântara, is that of nostalgia and saudade — sadness and regret. Traditionally, the Coimbra version has a lighter, less somber tone. -
70 João II, king
(1455-1495)Known in Portuguese history as "The Perfect Prince," he ruled Portugal from 1481 to 1495. The son of King Afonso V and Dona Isabel, his life and reign reflected Portugal's ongoing struggle with Castile, a suppression of Portugal's more powerful nobility in order to reassert royal authority, and a continuation of Portugal's search for an all-water route to India around the coast of Africa. During his reign, two further exploratory steps were taken in this overseas strategy: the key voyages of Diogo Cão (as far south as the coast of Angola) and of Bartolomeu Dias, who rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean in 1488. As part of Portugal's quest to find and help "Prester John," supposedly a Christian king in Africa or Asia, King João also encouraged the departure in the late 1480s of Afonso de Paiva and Pero de Covilhã, at least one of whom reached Ethiopia, on an expedition overland in Africa. -
71 Almeida, Francisco de
(1450?-1510)One of the most notable conquistadores and empire builders of Portugal's early Asian empire and the first viceroy of Portuguese India. Having served the Catholic kings in the Granada campaigns, Almeida was also a skilled navigator-sailor. In 1505, King Manuel I dispatched Almeida to Portuguese India as the first viceroy, with a fleet of 21 ships and about 1,500 soldiers. A ferocious and cruel fighter, Almeida fought his way up the coast of East Africa and along the west coast of India. In early February 1509, Almeida's fleet annihilated a Muslim fleet in the harbor of Diu, ensuring Portugal's naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean for more than a century, one of the more decisive naval engagements in world maritime history. Having served as viceroy successfully during 1506-09 when replaced by Afonso de Albuquerque, under orders from King Manuel, Almeida obstinately refused to step down. Orders from Portugal arrived via a fleet in India in October 1509, and Almeida was forced to accept the fact of his dismissal. On his return to Portugal, when landing near the Cape of Good Hope, Almeida was killed in a skirmish with Africans. -
72 Generation of 1870
A generation of Portuguese writers and intellectuals and a postregeneration phase of the country's intellectual history in the last third of the 19th century. Many of them graduates of Coimbra University, these writers, whose work challenged conventional wisdom of their day, included J. Oliveira Martins, economist and social scientist; Eça de Queirós, novelist; Antero de Quental, poet; Ramalho Ortigão, editor and essayist; Teófilo Braga, literary historian; and the geographer and diplomat abroad, Jaime Batalha Reis. Coming of political age at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, the French Commune, and the French Third Republic (1870-71), these Portuguese intellectuals believed that economically weak Portugal had a polity and society in the grip of a pervasive decadence and inertia. They called for reform and renewal.Critical of romanticism, they were realists and neorealists and espoused the ideas of Karl Marx, Pierre Proudhon, and Auguste Comte. They called for revolution through the establishment of republicanism and socialism, and they were convinced that Portugal's backwardness and poverty were due primarily to the ancient influences of a weakened monarchy and the Catholic Church. This group of like-minded but also distinctive thinkers had an important impact on Portuguese letters and elite culture, but only a minor effect on contemporary politics and government.Like so many other movements in modern Portugal, the Generation of 1870's initiatives began as essentially a protest by university students of Coimbra, who confronted the status quo and sought to change their world by means of change and innovation in action and ideas. In certain respects, Portugal's Generation of 1870 resembled neighboring Spain's Generation of 1898, which began its "rebellion" in ideas following a disastrous foreign war (the Spanish-American War, 1898). -
73 Ronaldo, Cristiano
(Dos Santos Aveiro)(1985-)Portuguese soccer player ranked as one of top professional players in the world. Born in Funchal, Madeira, in 1985, Ronaldo trained from the early age of eight with amateur Youth Clubs. In 2001, he joined one of the top professional futebol clubs of Portugal, Sporting CP, and in 2002, he was signed by the legendary British professional team, Manchester United. His salary was 12.24 million pounds sterling, a world record for a player of his youth. Although he preferred to wear the number "28," his Sporting CP number, his coach insisted that Ronaldo wear the legendary "7," the number of top British players who preceded him on the team, including George Best and David Beckham. Greatly in demand, Ronaldo was approached by Real Madrid, based in Spain, which tried several times in vain, using enormous salary pledges, to lure him from Manchester United. In 2007, Ronaldo was signed to a new contract for an immense sum and became the highest paid pro team player in history.Extremely popular but also controversial, this Portuguese player won many awards and scored many goals in many tournaments, all the while accumulating some criticism about rough play and "diving," faking falls in front of umpires to get the other team penalized so that his team could take penalty shots. Some authorities rank Ronaldo as the best soccer player in soccer history, although such a claim is debatable. Still, for Portuguese soccer and for Portugal's place in world soccer, having a player with Ronaldo's talent and accomplishments at such a young age, is a rare phenomenon. -
74 Tenth of June
An official Portuguese national holiday, called "Camões Day" or "Portugal Day" in official literature. It commemorates the death, on 10 June 1578, of Portugal's national epic poet, Luís de Camões, after the Moroccan disaster of the loss of King Sebastian and his army to Muslim forces in North Africa. The Tenth of June has become the principal national independence day of Portugal, a time when Portuguese in Portugal and in overseas Portuguese communities from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Macau, China, to Caracas, Venezuela, celebrate national independence and history. This is a day also when traditionally various honors and awards for the year are conveyed by the national leaders in ceremonies and when citizens in parades mark this historic day. -
75 Intelligence Services
Little information, much less knowledge, has been made public regarding Portugal's various intelligence services in recent times. Some information was published about the notorious political police during the Estado Novo (1926-74), but much less is known about intelligence units active during democratic Portugal (1974-). Although no comprehensive study has documented the Estado Novo's political police, the PIDE, which operated after 1932 under various names and was sometimes compared to the Portuguese Inquisition (1536-1821), more has become known since Portugal's democracy was established, on 25 April 1974. One striking feature of the pre-1974 political police's work was its multifunctional nature: in addition to terrorizing, persecuting, and sometimes murdering the opposition, PIDE operated a prison system, was empowered by special laws to detain prisoners for 90 days or more without charge, carried out criminal investigations, produced political and foreign intelligence for leaders, and exercised some censorship functions, as well as having the power of arrest.With the end of censorship after the Revolution of 25 April 1974 and the abolition of the political police, which had many informants among the population, more information was published on the intelligence services. Given the tragic, tangled history of the Estado Novo's political police and its impact, the new democratic regime was reluctant to set up intelligence services immediately. Care was taken to ensure that such activities under a democratic government would be conducted under strictly observed laws and would be consonant with democratic values and principles. Intelligence units were developed only in the 1980s and were oriented to report to the prime minister, as well as to the ministers of the interior and of national defense. By the late 1990s, the Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa e Militar/Strategic Defense and Military Information Service (SIEDM) was operating under the Ministry of Interior, along with Serviço de Informações de Segurança/Security Information Service (SIS), a civilian outfit responsible for domestic security. Along with the SIEDM, other military intelligence units are also responsible to the Ministry of National Defense, such as the Serviço de Informações Militares/Mili-tary Information Service (SIM) and Divisão de Informacões Militares/ Military Information Division (DIMIL). In the national legislature, the Assembly of the Republic, a number of permanent committees are responsible for monitoring intelligence activities. -
76 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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77 Legislatures
Legislative assemblies during Portugal's long history have had various names, roles, and functions. Under the precon-stitutional monarchy, various Cortes were convened by the monarch. From 1834 on, the constitutional monarchy usually featured a two-chamber legislature: a House or Chamber of Deputies and a House or Chamber of Peers (Lords). During the First Republic (1910-26), after the 1911 Constitution was drafted and ratified by the Constituent Assembly, the two-chamber legislature was composed of a Chamber of Deputies (or "Congress") and a Senate. The legislature of President Sidónio Pais's "New Republic," which met only briefly, was described as a "Congress." More consultative than law-making, the Estado Novo's legislature met from January 1935 to April 1974 and was composed of a National Assembly and a Corporative Chamber. Since the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal has had a one-chamber legislature called the Assembly of the Republic. The Assembly of the Republic has 230 seats elected from 18 mainland constituencies, one each from the Azores and Madeira, one from Portuguese living in Europe, and one from among Portuguese citizens living in the rest of the world. -
78 Lisbon Earthquake
On 1 November 1755, All Saints' Day,Lisbon experienced the worst earthquake known during its recorded history. The earthquake destroyed large sections of the city. The greatest destruction occurred in the central downtown ( baixa) and the great Royal Palace square, now in a different form known as "Commerce Square," but still referred to by the old name, "Square of the Palace" (Terreiro do Paço). Thousands of buildings, including more than 100 churches and 300 palaces, collapsed, and tens of thousands of people died. The shocks from the earthquake were followed by a giant tidal wave from down the Tagus River, which drowned many, and then by devastating fires that were started by candles' lit during the All Saint's Day religious observances.The Marquis de Pombal, the king's prime minister, was decisive in his rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Much of the Lisbon downtown, the baixa, was rebuilt according to a master plan that laid out a grid pattern of streets upon which were erected buildings of a uniform height and design. The Lisbon earthquake became a great issue and discussion point in mid-l8th century Europe and Great Britain, and the British Parliament voted 100,000 pounds in humanitarian aid and relief to Portugal and the earthquake victims, one of the first cases of massive humanitarian aid for an international disaster from a foreign nation, albeit Portugal's oldest ally. -
79 Queluz, National Palace of
Considered Portugal's most beautiful former royal residence among a host of palaces, Queluz Palace was built in the 18th century. It is rightly regarded as the Portuguese mini-Versailles for several reasons. In some respects a miniature version of France's colossal palace and garden, Queluz, with its unusual gardens and park located west of Lisbon near Sin-tra, bears the touch of French architects and decorators, has French furniture and décor, and even boasts its own small Hall of Mirrors à la Versailles, the Throne Room. Queluz was a favorite dwelling place of King João VI and family, and symbolizes Portugal's efforts to be counted as worthy of the greatest European powers' tastes and standards of the day.Queluz's history began with a mid-17th century noble's country house, altered to accommodate the royal princes for a summer residence away from the noise and heat of Lisbon. Palace construction began in 1747 and lasted at least until 1786. Portuguese baroque and neoclassical styles dominate the charming palace's interior and exterior. The main architects were Portuguese and Italian, and also included the French decorator-artist Robillon. For materials, rare woods were imported from Brazil and marble from Italy. Especially striking in the garden-park, with its own small canal and walking bridges, are the azulejos or glazed tiles along the canal. In 1908, King Manuel II transferred ownership of Queluz to the state, and extensive restorations began in 1933.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Queluz, National Palace of
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80 Serra, José Francisco Correa da
(1750-1823)Known in history by the name "the Abbé Correa da Serra," this famous Portuguese figure of the Enlightenment, man of letters, diplomat, traveler, botanist, and intellectual spent many years abroad in Great Britain, Italy, and the young republic of the United States. Patronized by the powerful, rich Duke of Lafões and ordained as a priest at age 25, Correa da Serra received a doctorate in Italy two years later and soon undertook diplomatic missions abroad for Portugal. Minister for Portugal in the United States of America from 1816 to 1820, he became a close friend and longtime correspondent of Thomas Jefferson. In historic Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's stately home, in recent restorations one bedroom has been officially designated as Correa da Serra's room. Correa da Serra was one of the founders of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and had a wide correspondence with the scientific minds of the French Enlightenment. He was honored for his contributions to the field of botany in a number of other countries as well. In 1822, at the end of his life, he was elected to the new Constitutional Cortes in Lisbon.Historical dictionary of Portugal > Serra, José Francisco Correa da
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