Portugal, an independent nation along the Atlantic Ocean at the southwestern edge of Europe, occupies about one-sixth of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Spain, Portugal's only neighbor. The \TAzores\t and \TMadeira Islands\t are Portuguese autonomous regions. Continental Portugal covers 88,944 sq km (34,341 sq mi), the Azores and Madeira islands have a combined area of 3,041 sq km (1,174 sq mi), and there is 404 km (156 sq mi) of inland water. Mainland Portugal has a north-south extent of about 575 km (360 mi) and an east-west extent of almost 195 km (120 mi). Its highest point, in the Serra da Estrela, is 1,993 m (6,539 ft). The name Portugal is probably derived from the Roman settlement of Portus Cale, located on the present site of Porto. One of the oldest nations in Europe, Portugal became independent of both Moorish and Castilian control in 1143, when Alfonso I was proclaimed king. The original kingdom was located north of the Douro River, but it expanded southward along the coast by driving the Moors from Lisbon and Alentejo and Algarve, south of the Tagus River, by 1252. In the 15th and early 16th century Portugal created a large overseas empire. A period of Spanish control (1580-1640) contributed to the subsequent decline of Portugal's influence and commercial prosperity. A republic from 1910, Portugal was under a dictatorial government from the late 1920s until 1974; Antonio de Oliveira \TSalazar\t was the dominant figure until 1968. With the establishment of democratic government in 1974, Portugal granted independence to its African colonies. Its sole remaining overseas colony is the enclave of \TMacao\t, will be ceded to China at the end of the century. LAND AND RESOURCES Portugal is composed of the Meseta, the nation's mountainous interior, and a coastal plain in the west that widens significantly from north to south. In the Meseta broad, flat-floored river valleys separate the main southwest-trending mountain ridges. The highest ridge is the Serra da Estrela in central Portugal. The \TTagus River\t flows across Portugal from east to west. The Meseta north of the Tagus is high, with about 80% of the land more than 400 m (1,300 ft) above sea level and summits exceeding 1,200 m (4,000 ft). South of the river the land is lower and more gently rolling with only 3% of the land higher than 400 m (1,300 ft) above sea level and peaks in the Serra de Monchique, the highest mountains in the south, under 915 m (3,000 ft). Soils The most fertile soils occur on alluvium in the main river valleys. Upland soils are generally less fertile, and many upland areas are left uncultivated and given over to forest, scrub, and pasturage for sheep and goats. Uplands in the north have peaty, usually infertile soils on wetter summits and soils of moderate fertility in better-drained areas. Soils deficient in lime predominate in some northern areas, especially where underlain by schistose rock or sandstones. Thin, dry soils are common in the hilly country near Lisbon and in Algarve in the far south, where limestones predominate. Climate Portugal has a unique variant of the typical Mediterranean climate, the northern areas being wetter than average with only a short dry season and the south approaching subtropical, semiarid conditions. Along the coast the mean monthly temperatures range, according to latitude, from 9 deg to 12 deg C (48 deg to 54 deg F) in January and from 20 deg to 24 deg C (68 deg to 75 deg F) in July. Winds from the Atlantic moderate temperatures throughout the year. Frosts are rare in the north and virtually unknown in the south. Inland, mean temperatures fall by 3 deg or 4 deg C (5 deg or 7 deg F) in winter and, except on the highlands, rise appreciably in summer. The average yearly precipitation decreases from between 1,000 and 1,300 mm (40 and 51 in) in the north to between 400 and 600 mm (16 and 24 in) in the south. Most rain falls during the cooler months. During spring and fall cloudy and sunny spells alternate, whereas in summer, the Azorean high pressure area dominates, bringing a period of dry, sunny weather that lasts an average of two months at Porto, three months at Lisbon, and four months on the southern coast. Drainage Portugal's four largest rivers are the Minho, \TDouro\t, Tagus, and the Guadiana; all rise in Spain and, with the exception of the Guadiana, flow from east to west across Portugal. In the north the principal rivers entirely in Portugal are the Vouga, which enters the large coastal lagoon near Aveiro, and the Mondego, which flows for a total course of 219 km (137 mi) to enter the Atlantic at Figueira da Foz. The principal Portuguese tributary of the Tagus is the Zezere, which rises in the Serra da Estrela and is an important source of hydroelectric power. In the southern part of the country major rivers solely in Portugal are the Sorraia, which enters the Tagus estuary, and the Sado, which drains much of southern Alentejo. All Portuguese rivers have low water flow in summer, and in the extreme south many watercourses almost dry up during this season. The country abounds in hot mineral springs (caldes), which are popular for medicinal reasons. Vegetation and Animal Life More than 2,700 species of plants are known to occur in Portugal. Of these, only 90 are unique to the country, and the remainder is a mixture of European and African species and exotic elements introduced since the 15th century from the New World and the Far East. About 31% of Portugal is forested, and trees cover most slopes up to an altitude of 1,220 m (4,000 ft). Oaks, deciduous in the north and evergreen in the south, cover about one-third of all timberland, and pines cover about one-half. Wolves survive in remote mountain areas, and wild boars are protected by law. Resources Portugal is Europe's leading producer of tungsten ore and also possesses important deposits of coal and copper pyrites. Some kaolin, hematite (iron ore), cassiterite (tin ore), and gold also occur, but additional surveys are required to assess the nation's total mineral wealth. About 48% of the land is cultivated; 6% is in meadows and pasture, and 15% in heathland, swamp, and other waste, all with good reclamation potential. Hydroelectric power is generated on the Zezere and other rivers and is the principal energy source. PEOPLE The original Portuguese stock was Iberian. Celtic invaders added other physical characteristics during the 1st millennium BC; as did the Romans after 137 BC; Visigoths and Suevi, who settled north of the Douro in the 4th century AD; and the Moors, after 711 AD. A Jewish community flourished in Portugal under the Moors, but the Jews were expelled or absorbed during the Reconquista (Christian Reconquest) of Muslim areas in the 12th and 13th centuries. Blacks were freely imported from Africa as slaves and were also absorbed into the Portuguese population. Despite such complex origins, the population today is one of Europe's most homogeneous, and the only important minority is about 100,000 black colonial refugees from Africa. Language and Religion The Portuguese language is one of the \TRomance languages\t, with an admixture of Arabic and other foreign idioms. It is related to and similar to Galician, a Spanish dialect. About 97% of the population is Roman Catholic, served by three ecclesiastical provinces under archbishops at Lisbon (also a cardinalate), Braga, and Evora. Demography Population densities are highest in the northern coastal areas and in the Douro River valley and decrease inland and toward the south. In all, about 80% of the total population is concentrated north of the Tagus River, where habitable areas are densely settled with towns, villages, and farmsteads. By contrast, except for a densely settled strip along the Algarve coast, areas south of the Tagus are sparsely populated, and the landscape, especially in the Alentejo (between the Algarve and the Tagus), is one of widely spaced towns and villages and large, isolated farmsteads. Only one-third of the total population is officially classified as rural, but many of the two-thirds listed as urban dwellers live in small towns and villages rather than large urban centers. The two largest cities are \TLisbon\t, on the mouth of the Tagus; and \TPorto\t, on the north bank of the Douro River. Lisbon, with well over 1,000,000 inhabitants in its metropolitan area, is the capital and the main industrial, commercial, and financial center. Porto, the principal town in the north, has the second-largest metropolitan area. Of the six other large cities, \TBraga\t, \TCoimbra\t, and Setubal are each important regional centers; Barreiro and Amadora are suburbs of Lisbon; and Vila Nova de Gaia lies within the economic orbit of Porto; and \TFunchal\t is the capital of the Madeira Islands. The administrative centers of the nation's 18 mainland administrative districts, including \TEvora\t and Faro, are also important. Portugal's birthrate and death rate, once among the highest in Europe, have fallen significantly in the last 25 years and are now close to the Western European average. Traditionally, Portuguese have emigrated from overpopulated areas of Portugal in large numbers since the 15th century; many still leave permanently for Brazil, the United States, and Canada, but increasing numbers now seek temporary employment in West Germany and other European Economic Community (EEC) countries. Conversely, about 1,000,000 Portuguese of European and black-African descent returned to Portugal when Angola, Mozambique, and other African colonies became independent in the 1970s. Education and Health Education has been free and compulsory since 1911, and all children over the age of 7 must attend school for 7 years. The first 4 years are spent in primary schools, and secondary education takes place in either state-run lyceums and other high schools or in a variety of professional and technical institutions. The government also sponsors an adult education program. Several hundred private, mostly church-run schools, provide an alternate education system. About 2% of the population continue education beyond the high school level. The five major universities are at Coimbra (1290), Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro, and Braga. Health care has improved significantly in recent years. A national health service was established in 1979, and infant mortality rates declined by nearly 50% between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s. Doctors are paid by the state and must reside in the areas to which they are appointed. Arts The 16th century was the Golden Age of Portuguese literature. Its luminaries included the dramatist Gil \TVicente\t and the poet Luis de \TCamoes\t, author of Portugal's great epic The Lusiads (see \TPortuguese literature\t). \TPortuguese art and architecture\t reached its peak during the 16th century during the reign of \TManuel I\t (r. 1495-1521). During this period, the golden age of Portuguese maritime expansion, a new \TManueline style\t was developed; its reliance on marine and overseas motifs can be seen at the monastery at Batalha. Music traditions include the celebrated \Tfado\t, and each major region has its traditional folk music, songs, and musical instruments. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY In the 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese navigators brought great wealth into Portugal from their command of the profitable spice trade and the import of luxury items from India and the Far East. After 1600, command of world sea routes passed to the Dutch and the English, but Portugal continued to profit from development of the agricultural and mineral wealth of its overseas colonies. The economy of the mainland, lacking most industrial resources, remained tied to agriculture and fishing, exporting mainly sardines, wine, and cork. Industrial development has been emphasized since the 1960s, but the economic and social turmoil following the overthrow (1974) of the Salazar-Caetano regime have significantly slowed development. Manufacturing Manufacturing provides less than one-half of the national income, but its share is growing, and it employs a continuously increasing percentage of the labor force. Most manufacturing is concentrated in and around Lisbon and Porto. The metallurgical industry remains small, despite efforts to enlarge it, and the Siderugia Nacional, established in 1961 at Seixal, supplies much of the nation's pig iron and most of its steel. Shipbuilding and repair yards are located in Lisbon and Setubal; most of the nation's production of armaments, agricultural implements, general hardware, and textile machinery is located in Lisbon. Textiles are manufactured in many towns and are especially important at Porto. Ceramics, based on kaolin quarried in plateaus near the course of the Douro River, are also widely produced, the products ranging from industrial ceramics to decorated tiles (azulejos). Leiria specializes in the manufacture of glass, and Barreiro in the production of fertilizers, insecticides, and other chemicals. Other important products, all processed from local raw materials, include wines, cork, pulpwood, and canned sardines. Power Production of electricity increased more than tenfold from 1955 to 1985. The only domestic fuel resources are two small coalfields in the Douro River valley. About one-half of all electricity is derived from hydroelectric installations; most of the remainder is produced in thermal electric stations, fueled with imported petroleum. A nuclear power station is in operation in Sacavem. Agriculture Farming is an important part of the economy, employing about one-quarter of the labor force. Cereal crops predominate and occupy two-thirds of all cultivated land; corn is the principal crop north of the Tagus River, and wheat the principal crop in the south. Beans, a staple food in the Portuguese diet, are both intercropped and rotated with cereals, the beans supplying the soil with a natural source of nitrogen. The major cash crops are grapes and olives. Livestock includes sheep, pigs, cattle, goats, donkeys, and mules. Good grassland is limited, and much of the livestock grazes on scrub, brush, acorns, and windfalls from fruit trees. Farms in the north are generally less than 12 ha (30 acres), with scattered fields. In the south, large estates (latifundia) predominate; used mainly for wheat, many of these units were owned by absentee landlords before the land reforms of 1974-75 and farm employment drops drastically after the wheat harvest. Yields are generally low and could be raised significantly through improved irrigation, fertilization, mechanization, and management. Forestry and Fishing Pine trees covering half the timbered areas are cut for lumber and pulp and also supply large quantities of resin and turpentine for export. An additional one-third of the timberland bears cork oak, which supplies about one-half of the world's total cork supply. Fishing employs about 30,000 persons in coastal regions. The most valuable fish caught are sardines, mackerel, hake, haddock, cod, and tunny. Transportation and Trade High-speed motorways are rare in Portugal. Most of the roads, though surfaced, tend to be winding, and minor roads are often unsuitable for motor traffic. The rail system is state-owned. Both the road and rail systems run mainly north-south, with only occasional branches eastward into Spain. Except on the Tagus, river traffic is of minor importance and restricted to shallow vessels. The main ports are Lisbon, Setubal, and Leixoes (the port for Porto). Portugal has an unfavorable balance of trade. The principal imports, by value, are petroleum, iron and steel, sugar, motor vehicles, cotton, oil seeds, and wheat. The main exports are wines, cork, pulpwood, sardines, resin and turpentine, and wolframite. The principal trading partners are the EEC and the United States; most imports come from West Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States; most exports are destined for the United Kingdom. In 1986, after years of difficult negotiations, Portugal became a member of the EEC and withdrew from the European Free Trade Association. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS In 1910, Portugal overthrew the monarchy and became a republic. In 1926 a military coup took over the government, and Gen. Antonio Oscar de Fragoso \TCarmona\t became president. From 1928 the government was dominated by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who introduced (1933) a corporative constitution. Salazar was succeeded as premier by Marcello Caetano. On Apr. 25, 1974, a military coup led by Gen. Antonio de Spinola overthrew the Caetano regime. A new constitution, Portugal's fifth, was promulgated in 1976 and revised in 1982. It vested legislative power in a unicameral legislative assembly, with 250 members elected every 5 years. Executive authority rested with the president, also elected for a 5-year term. Antonio Ramalho \TEanes\t was elected president in 1976 and reelected by a wide margin in 1980. The succession of premiers he appointed were generally unable to maintain the support of the legislature for long because of the volatile nature of Portuguese politics. The principal political groups are the Socialist party, led by Mario \TSoares\t; the Communist party, led by Alvaro Cunhal; and the Democratic Alliance, a coalition of the center-right political parties. The Democratic Alliance, first under Francisco Sa Caneiro and later under Francisco Pinto Balsemao, held power from December 1979 until April 1983, when Socialist electoral gains brought about the formation of a new coalition headed by Mario Soares. In 1985 the Social Democrat Anibal Cavaco Silva replaced Soares as prime minister. Soares was elected president in 1986, and was reelected in January 1991 to a second five-year term. In the elections of 1987, Cavaco Silva's right-of-center party captured more than 50% of the vote, the first time any party had done so since the restoration of democracy; he won reelection in October 1991. Robert R. Beckinsale Bibliography: Baklanoff, Eric, The Economic Transformation of Spain and Portugal (1978); Barreno, Maria I., et al., The Three Marias: New Portuguese Letters, trans. by Helen R. Lane (1975); Bruneau, Thomas C., Politics and Nationhood: Postrevolutionary Portugal (1984); Figueiredo, Antonio de, Portugal: Fifty Years of Dictatorship (1976); Gallagher, Tom, Portugal: A Twentieth-Century Interpretation (1983); Harvey, Robert, Portugal: Birth of a Democracy (1978); Mailer, Phil, Portugal: The Impossible Revolution? (1977); Nowell, Charles E., Portugal (1973); Pina Cabral, Joao de, Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve (1986); Way, Ruth, and Simmons, Margaret, Geography of Spain and Portugal (1962); Wiarda, Howard J., Corporatism and Development: The Portuguese Experience (1977).