Frommer's Portugal. Paul Ames
back on its often prickly Spanish neighbors and the rest of Europe. Instead, it reached out to continents beyond the Atlantic, gaining riches though maritime trade and forging Europe’s first and longest-lasting colonial empire.
In Camões’ day, Portuguese seafarers like Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan pushed back the boundaries of the known world, discovering routes to Africa, Asia, and America, laying the foundations for a global empire. Today’s Portugal carries the legacy of that Age of Exploration, from the Brazilian gold that lines its churches to the diversity of the population, and the exotic touches that spice Portuguese cuisine.
The sea also provided an escape route. In hard times, millions of emigrants sailed for a better life, founding communities that today flourish as outposts of Portuguese culture, from Massachusetts to Macau, Paris to São Paulo.
Maritime expansion had a dark side. Portugal initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade that lasted hundreds of years. Up to the 1970s, the dictatorship in Lisbon fought to cling to its overseas colonies. The wars left Portugal cut off from the European mainstream, economically backward, and culturally isolated. Since a peaceful 1974 revolution restored democracy, the country has taken huge strides toward modernity. Portugal joined the European Union in 1986 and adopted the euro as its currency in 1999. Today, Lisbon is fast developing as a tech hub. Tourism is booming, thanks to Portugal’s reputation as a safe, easy-on-the-wallet destination, plus the timeless advantages of living on Europe’s southwestern seaboard—from the endless sun-kissed beaches to superlative seafood and cities brimming with heritage.
Portugal Today
For much of the past 100 years, Portugal has been out of step with the European mainstream. While World War II raged, it was peacefully neutral; while post-WWII democracies embraced unity, it labored under a “proudly alone” dictatorship; while other colonial powers dismantled their empires, it waged doomed wars against African independence movements up to 1975. Now, as much of Europe is racked by political turmoil, angry demonstrations grip the streets, and voters turn to insurgent parties, this nation of 10 million is a haven of contentment and stability.
The radical right has failed to make a mark in repeated elections; the radical left, which has been a fixture for decades, seems unable to emulate the breakthroughs of comrades in Spain and Greece. From 2015 to 2019 they supported a center-left government that has given the country a balanced budget for the first time in years and ensured Portugal remains among the most enthusiastic members of NATO and the European Union. In a system where most power lies with the prime minister, but the president can impose significant checks on government policy, politicians holding both posts have managed to cooperate amiably and maintain high levels of popularity, despite coming from rival political parties: one socialist, the other conservative.
The economy helps maintain this rosy scenario. Portugal was hard hit by international economic crisis in 2009. The shock cut short the progress Portugal had been making since the 1980s when it emerged from decades of dictatorship and years of post-revolutionary turmoil. From 2009 to 2013 the economy shrank by 8%. Unemployment hit record levels. Since 2015, however, the economy has bounced back. Talented youngsters who emigrated during the lean years have been tempted home, bringing new skills and experiences that are helping renew Lisbon’s creative buzz.
Textiles, shoemaking, agriculture, and other traditional mainstays are winning markets with a new focus on high-quality production. Tourism has boomed, thanks in part to security fears in rival Mediterranean destinations. Tourism revenues doubled between 2012 and 2018 to total 16 billion€.
Lisbon and Porto have thriving tech scenes, boosted by the annual Web Summit, the world’s biggest geek gathering which moved from Dublin to the banks of the Tagus in 2015, bringing in 11,000 CEOs. Porto-based online fashion retailer Farfetch became the country’s first unicorn startup, valued at $5.8 billion at its 2018 flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. Volkswagen recently more than doubled production at its state-of-the-art plant south of Lisbon. Unemployment has halved since 2015, but many fear the recovery remains fragile given the national debt at over 120% of economic output.
It’s not just big businesses that are investing. Foreign homebuyers are fueling a real-estate boom that has brought urban renewal in downtown Lisbon and Porto, but also pushed out many local residents; vacation rentals now account for over half of housing in some historic neighborhoods.
Portugal looks toward Europe, but retains close economic, political, cultural, and personal ties with its former colonies. Brazilians make up the biggest immigrant community. Angola is a major trade partner. International networking helped Portugal’s push to have former Prime Minister António Guterres appointed secretary general of the United Nations in 2017.
The country is now firmly established as a European democracy unrecognizable from the poor, backward dictatorship of the early 1970s. Back then, under over 4 decades of authoritarian rule instituted by dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese women were forbidden to travel without the permission of husbands or fathers, homosexuality was outlawed, and poor children left school illiterate with minimal education.
Today, women make up 35% of lawmakers (compared to 27% in Canada and 20% in the United States). Of the five main political parties, two are led by women. The mainly Roman Catholic nation legalized same-sex marriage in 2010 and gave gay couples equal adoption rights in 2016. Education is free and compulsory until the age of 18, and foreign students are flocking to its increasingly well-reputed universities.
Looking Back: History
Ancient Beginnings Legend has it Lisbon was founded by the Greek hero Ulysses, somewhat off course as he voyaged home from the Trojan War. Whether that’s true or not, what is certain is that man and beasts have lived in Portugal for several millennia. Some of Europe’s most spectacular dinosaur remains were unearthed at Lourinhã up the coast from Lisbon. Rock carvings in the Côa valley are among humanity’s oldest known art. In the Iron Age, Celtic tribes traded with visiting Mediterranean seafarers—Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians.
The Romans began muscling in around 200 b.c. as part of their struggle with Carthage for Mediterranean supremacy. They met tough resistance from the Lusitanians, a Celtic tribe whose leader, Viriato, is Portugal’s oldest national hero. As usual, the Romans won, but they named their new province Lusitania after their defeated foes. For around 600 years, they built roads and cities, kept order, and eventually introduced Christianity.
Invasions from North & South As Roman power waned, the Iberian Peninsula filled with Germanic folk. The Suevi ruled northern Portugal for 150 years. They were ousted in 588 by the Visigoths, who built a Christian kingdom covering Spain and Portugal, and made Braga a major religious center.
In 711, Islamic warriors crossed from North Africa. They took less than a decade to conquer almost the entire peninsula and would remain for more than 8 centuries. At times, Portugal formed part of powerful caliphates based in Cordoba, Seville, or Marrakesh. At others, local emirs ran independent Muslim kingdoms like those in the Algarve, Lisbon, and Mértola. Arabic influences are still felt in Portugal’s culture, cuisine, and language.
Portugal is Born In the early days, resistance to Muslim rule was led by the Kingdom of Asturias in the high mountains of northern Spain. Toward the end of the 9th century, land between the Minho and Douro rivers was reconquered and given the name Portocale after a Roman-era town close to today’s Porto.
Christian knights from across Europe traveled to join the fight. One was Henry of Burgundy, given the title Count of Portugal in 1092 by his father-in-law, one of the kings of León. When Henry died young, his son, Afonso Henriques, took the title, but since the boy was just 3 years old, his mother Teresa got to rule the country.
As he grew, Afonso became unhappy with his mother’s politics and love life, especially her cozy relations with a leading Spanish nobleman. The youngster led a rebellion by Portuguese nobles, defeated Teresa at a battle outside Guimarães, and in 1139 declared himself King Afonso I of Portugal.
Impressed by Afonso’s prowess battling the Muslims and his enthusiastic church construction program, the Pope confirmed Portugal’s status as an independent kingdom in 1179.
The Reconquista With