The Kingdom of Portugal emerged in the 12th
century connected with the process concerning the Christian reconquest of the
Iberian Peninsula. At the same time that all
the territories occupied by the Moors were conquered southwards
Portugal, originally a county and a part of one of the most ancient
Christian kingdoms of the Peninsula - Leão - demanded its independence
in 1143. Due to endless fights and negotiations D.
Afonso I, first
King of Portugal, was awarded by the pope (1179) with
the papal bull manifestis probatum thus bringing stability.
At the eyes of all the Christian world, that meant the birth of a
new kingdom in a part of the world were the fight against the infidels
would be reinforced by a backup force of attack (The Palestine and the
Peninsula). Portugal was an expert concerning the technological
development of cartography and navigation and that enabled us in the
15th century of discoveries.
The inventions and the technical improvements have the most various
roots, though Portugal''''s geographical position and its cultural
cohesion were a step ahead to find new things.n the beginning of the 15th century, due to the crisis
felt through all
Europe during the 14th century, Portugal was dealing
with serious economical problems.
It was urgent to find new resources, spereead the Christian belief to new people and fulfil the desire to find/know new lands.The Portuguese people in little less than a century found new lands in a big part of the world. In the 16th century Portugal had dominion over areas from the Atlantic until the Far East, making it altogether a vast empire.
The new worlds that Portugal found melted together. A new sensibility, a new taste and a new knowledge were brought in to a light with the discovery voyages made in 16th century. Lisbon in 16th century was the capital of an empire, it became the trade centre. Its geographical position was fundamental.
The city became the meeting point of all europeans, who soon would
settle in Lisbon, from Africa slaves were brought (in the 16th century,
in Lisbon, 10 out of 100 were slaves) people from all over the world
arrived to Lisbon seeking a better way of life. Portugal was then ruled by a Spanish king.
Though at beginning Portugal had same benefits with this fusion, by the
17th century the situation was different it was that this integration
in the big
empire of Carlos V''''s successors brought a higher tax
pressure along with all the empire troubles: participation in wars
which Portugal had nothing to do with (the Spanish Armada). After achieving the independence it was of major
importance to get back the lost empire, Portugal did not rule anymore
in the found lands, the Cape Route was now in the hands of the British,
the Dutch and the French. Brazil looked like a
good solution to the weakened Portuguese economy, they had the sugar
production during the 17th century and lots of gold in the 18th century.Like the Berlin Conference (1884-85) has confirmed,
other European major countries were looking for new markets and raw
materials, but Portugal was far back in this race, though without
enlarging its possessions, Portugal still maintained, with some effort,
the colonies. D.Manuel II (the second son of D.Carlos) was recognised king of Portugal by the end of that same year. He was the last king of Portugal. The first temporary cabinet declared:
The five shields of the Portuguese arms are representative of the five
Islamic kings that D.Afonso Henriques defeated at the Ourique battle. The situation of political instability leads to a military coup in
1926, a military dictatorship was declared. The press began being
censured and all liberties were diminished. This regime is strengthened by the nomination of
Salazar to the government and with the proclamation of a new
constitution in 1933, that set a new authoritarian regime - Estado Novo.
The Portuguese unicity is also seen here, for unlike its Europeans
partners, P
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