|
Outsiders have flocked to Portugal's shores before - to invade it.
The territory - once known as Lusitania - was occupied by Phoenicians, Romans, Moors and Celts, among others. And the Portuguese learned a lesson from those who conquered them: From 1400 to 1600, they themselves were a major colonial power, developing territories in South America, Africa, India and Asia. That 200-year era has come to be known as Portugal's Golden Age. Portugal only relinquished the last of those colonies in 1975 |
|
The Golden Age ended in a series of costly wars with Spain. The Portuguese monarchy
gradually lost the respect of its citizens, who ousted the last king in 1910. After two decades of turmoil, Dr. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar emerged as Portugal's unquestioned leader. Salazar, who ruled as Prime Minister for more than 35 years, isolated Portugal from the rest of Europe and clung to power through a brutal police force that censored virtually anyone who opposed him. |
|
Salazar suffered a stroke in 1968 and died two years later. His
regime died shortly thereafter, and by 1976 Portugal had become a true democracy. Portuguese culture today contains remnants of the conquering and conquered cultures, but the modern Portuguese way of life is not entirely constrained by the past, as evidenced by the development of tourism, particularly in the Algarve. |
|
History
|
Languages spoken: English / Portuguese / Dutch
A personal experience