History: The part of
Iberia which is now Portugal was occupied by a people known as the Lusitanos
who are thought to be direct ancestors of the Portuguese people. The region
was invaded and occupied by the Romans and later the Moors; it remained
under the latter's control until the 11th century, when Ferdinand, ruler of
the Kingdom of Leon and Castilla (in what is now Spain) conquered much of
the territory. Over the next 200 years, the remaining Moors were driven out
and the boundaries of Portugal fixed; and it was during this period (in
1143) that Portugal first became recognised as an independent entity under
the rule of King Afonso Henriques.
The Castilians were themselves expelled in
1385 after defeat at the hands of Joćo of Aviz (who became King Joćo I) at
the Battle of Aljubarotta. From this point, the Portuguese went on to
build a colonial empire in Africa, Latin America, India and the Far East.
One of the most famous figures during this period was Prince Henry the
Navigator, amongst whose acquisitions were the Azores and Madeira. One of
the best-known visitors to Madeira was Christopher Columbus, who married a
daughter of one of the island's governors and lived for some time on Porto
Santo. The island survived a brief invasion by a French pirate in 1566,
but in 1580, along with the rest of Portugal, came under Spanish
domination. This
arose from the recurring friction between the two kingdoms, particularly
after the union of Aragon and Castilla in the late 15th century. In the
16th century, with the Portuguese regime weakened by a struggle for the
succession to the throne and the legacy of a disastrous 'crusade' against
the Moors, Philip II of Spain (who had a claim to the Portuguese crown)
invaded. Spanish rule lasted just 60 years until 1640, when the Portuguese
launched a successful uprising and seceded from Spain. However, by the
time they recovered their independence, the Portuguese had lost the bulk
of their empire, including most of the valuable East Indies territories
which had been occupied by the Dutch.
Portugal ceased to be a major player in the
European colonial scramble thereafter. The Braganza dynasty, which took
power after the defeat of the Spanish, lasted until the mid-19th century,
presiding over a weak economy and a largely feudal society. One of the
princesses of the royal house, Catherine, married Charles II of England,
confirming the friendly relations between the two countries which date
back to the 14th century. This brought many advantages to English
merchants in Portugal, and also on the island of Madeira where the treaty
helped the rapid development of the trade in the island's wine which
became popular in England. Portuguese political development lagged behind
that of many European states during this period and it remained
comparatively untouched by the Enlightenment until the emergence in the
late 18th century of the Marquis de Pombal, who was both dictatorial yet
enlightened (by the standards of the time) on matters of social reform.
He did much to break the power of the landed
aristocracy over the country. Occasional conflicts with the Spanish and
French - sometimes in alliance - threatened the country's autonomy, but
the Portuguese always managed to preserve their independence, often with
the support of the British. The monarchy was finally overthrown in 1910 by
republican forces, who particularly resented the strong influence of the
Catholic church on the regime. Portugal supported the Allied Powers during
World War I, but contributed little due to the presence of a strong
pro-German element in the armed forces, which made several coup attempts.
Finally, a right-wing dictatorship took power in 1926.
Though military in composition, the key figure
in the new regime was finance minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Having
addressed Portugal's chaotic financial situation, Salazar became President
in 1932. Salazar was influenced by the populist fascism of Benito
Mussolini in Italy and founded a party, the National Union, to prepare the
way for an 'Estado Novo'. Despite its Government's sympathies, Portugal,
like Spain, stayed neutral during World War II. Salazar remained in power
until 1968 without effecting any of the post-war reforms which had been
forced upon or embraced by other European countries: the economy remained
largely agricultural and under-industrialised, while the Portuguese
colonies were subject to regimes more consistent with the conditions of
the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Salazar's eventual successor, Marcello
Caetano, eased the restrictions on domestic political activity, but
otherwise altered little. His downfall six years later was connected with
the colonial policies inherited from his predecessor: specifically that
Portugal's overseas possessions were an 'inalienable' part of the country.
The strain of fighting several different nationalist movements
simultaneously (see, for example, separate entries on Angola, Mozambique,
Guinea-Bissau and Indonesia) strained both army morale and the
Government's finances. On April 25, 1974 (a date of great significance in
Portugal), a group of radical army officers deposed Caetano in a bloodless
coup. The African colonies were immediately abandoned: indeed, they were
left with such haste that internal crises were almost inevitable.
Portugal was governed for two years by a
leftist military junta led by members of the Movimiento das Forcas
Armardas, the instigators of the revolution, while civilian politicians
re-emerged and crystallised around the Socialist and Communist Parties and
the right-wing Partido Popular Democratico. Under the constitution adopted
in 1976, Portugal was nominally committed to a path of socialist
development, but the country has since followed a standard Western
European model of political pluralism. Portugal has been a member of NATO
since its inception in 1949 and a member of the EC, now the EU, since
1986. The Government of Anibal Cavaco Silva which took office in 1987
concentrated on bridging the economic gap between Portugal and its richer
fellow Community members. With average annual growth of around five per
cent in the last four years, the Government was broadly successful on the
economic front. This
as much as anything else won Cavaco Silva's centre-right Partido Social
Democrata (PSD, Social Democrats) a further endorsement from the
electorate in October 1991. Since the election, the Government has been
pursuing a controversial austerity programme which aims to dispose of
almost the entire state sector as part of a drive to increase
competitiveness and reduce structural inefficiency. The unpopularity of
this programme became apparent at the October 1995 general election at
which the Socialists were returned as the largest single party with
sufficient parliamentary seats to form a minority government. The new
Prime Minister was Antonio Guterres, who reformed his party since taking
it over in 1991 in much the same direction as the British Labour Party
leader, Tony Blair. Guterres new-model Socialists proved reasonably
competent in government and were perhaps unlucky to narrowly miss securing
an absolute majority at the most recent legislative elections held in
October 1999. Guterres retained the premiership. His Socialist colleague,
Jorge Sampaio, was also elected to a second term at the presidential poll
held in January 2001.
The centre-right alliance of the People's
Party and Democratic Social Centre went into opposition. The Socialists
relied on occasional support from the Communist Party. Guterres'
Socialists were the undoubted victors at the most recent general election
held in October 1999, but a strong showing by the Communists and the
environmentalist Os Verdes party deprived them of an overall majority.
Portugal held the European Community presidency in 1992, and again in 1999
, and is a relatively contented participant in the post-Maastricht
integration process, including the introduction of European Monetary Union
at the beginning of 1999. EU reforms were a principal motivation for the
constitutional changes effected by the government in 1997, of which the
most important was a measure allowing for referendums on important matters
of national interest. Outside Europe, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry,
contributed substantially to the various political settlements in Angola
and, co-operating closely with Italian diplomats, Mozambique.
Relations with the government of Indonesia
have deteriorated because of the latter's behaviour in the former
Portuguese colony of East Timor, where widespread human rights violations
have been condemned by Lisbon. There has been some recent improvement,
however, following the withdrawal of Indonesian forces from the territory
(see Indonesia section). The future of Macau, which reverted to Chinese
possession in December 1999, was settled far more amicably between Beijing
and Lisbon than the parallel negotiations between the British and Chinese
governments over the future of Hong Kong. |