Tag Archives: Study in Portugal

Portugal, republic in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. The population, almost exclusively Portuguese, is predominantly Catholic. Portugal borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and Spain to the north and east. The Azores and Madeirabelong to Portugal. According to COUNTRYAAH, Portugal is a nation in Southern Europe, the capital city of which is Lisbon. The latest population of Portugal is 10,196,720. MYSTERYAROUND: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Portugal, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.

The mostly mountainous country is in the north, where the mountains reach heights of almost 2,000 m, sparsely populated and poorly developed in terms of traffic. To the south, the plains predominate, interspersed with individual low mountain ranges. Along the coast there are narrow strips of flat land that widen towards the south. Portugal has a maritime to subtropical climate; Abundant precipitation falls particularly in the north.

Agriculture uses almost 50% of the state’s land; Wheat, corn, rye, wine, olives, citrus fruits, figs and rice are grown; there is also sheep, pig and cattle breeding. In the forests, mainly cork is extracted. Fishing and fish processing (especially sardines) are also of great importance. The most important branch of industry is the textile and leather industry. Tourism is an important source of income.

History: The Iberian Peninsula has been inhabited since the Paleolithic. The most important culture of the Neolithic Age was the bell beaker culture, which spread from here over Central and Western Europe. Roman colonization was completed under Augustus (26–19 BC). Germanic tribes ruled from the 5th century AD, and at the beginning of the 8th century Portugal fell to the Arabs. The reconquest began under Ferdinand I of Castile-León in the first half of the 11th century; Alfons III (1245–79) ended the rule of the Moors in Portugal.

Since the beginning of the 15th century, the Portuguese made voyages of discovery to the African coast, India and China. Portugal became an important colonial power. The extinction of the Portuguese royal family Avis in 1580 led to the personal union with Spain. Only after a popular uprising (1640) did Portugal regain its independence.

Internal unrest, party and constitutional struggles shook the country in the 19th century. In 1910 the republic was proclaimed, which in turn was endangered by social disputes, financial and government crises. After a military coup d’état, a dictatorship emerged in 1926; For decades, power lay in the hands of General Oscar Antonio de Fragoso Carmona as President (1928–52) and António de Oliveira Salazar as Prime Minister (1932–68), who established authoritarian rule on the fascist model. In 1974 the regime was overthrown bloodlessly in the “Carnation Revolution”, and Portugal now became a democracy. In the following years it gave its colonies in Africa independence. In 1986 Portugal became a member of the European Communities. In the wake of the global economic and financial crisis from 2010 onwards, Portugal applied for financial help from the EU rescue package (2012-14). Due to drastic government austerity measures, there were nationwide demonstrations in 2012.