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| Portugal
History |
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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 during 1385 after defeat
at the hands of João of Aviz (who became
King João I) at the Battle of Aljubarrota. 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 2 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. 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 2 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.
The Marquis de Pombal was both dictatorial and
enlightened on matters of social reform. He did much to break the
power of the aristocracy over the country. Occasional conflicts
with the Spanish and French 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 during 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 during
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 during 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 6 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 strained both army morale and the Government’s
finances.
On April 25, 1974, a group of radical army officers deposed Caetano
in a bloodless coup. The African colonies were immediately abandoned
and 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 Movimento das Forcas Armadas,
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 during
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
5 per cent in the last 4 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 the structural
inefficiency. The unpopularity of this programme became apparent
in 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 after taking it over in 1991 in much the
same direction as the British Labour Party leader, although without
the benefit of Tony Blair’s huge parliamentary majority. The
party had to make accommodations at various stages with communist
and environmentalist parties. By March 2002, the electorate had
tired of the Socialists and re-elected the centre-right alliance.
José Manuel Durao Barroso, leader of the
Social Democrats – the main centre-right party – took
over as premier. Like his Socialist predecessor, Barroso lacked
an overall majority, and brought the far-right Partido Popular
Democratico (PPD) into government.
Like elsewhere in Western Europe, the far right has been gaining
ground in Portugal, although its historical background means that
the PPD often seems more interested in rekindling ancient rivalries
between Portugal and Spain than in pursuing the customary ultra-right
themes of race, immigration and crime. Barroso
was appointed as President of the European Commission
in Brussels and Pedro Santana Lopes was elected
as Portugal's Prime Minster in 2004.
Portugal is a relatively contented participant in the post-Maastricht
integration process, and joined the 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 more 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
suffered from the latter’s appalling behaviour in the former
Portuguese colony of East Timor. However, since
East Timor became an independent nation in May
2002, the issue is effectively closed. 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. |
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