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Little is known of Portugal's earliest inhabitants, the Iberians, but
the successive visits and conquest by the Celts,
Moors, Visigoths, Romans, French and Spanish have all left their idiosyncratic genetic, architectural and
social impressions on its personality.
Portugal's fortunes have been firmly links to the ebb and flow of the Atlantic since Prince Henry 'the Navigator' focused the Church's attention
and finances seaward, founding a school of navigation at Sagres (then considered the world's end).
Madeira and the Azores were
discovered in 1419 and 1427 respectively and by Henry's death in 1460, the Cap Verde
Islands and the west coast of Africa had been explored.
In 1487, Bartolemeu Dias navigated the southern tip of Africa and named it Cabo da Boa Esperance (Cape of Good Hope) in the hope of
good things to come.
Within a decade, explored Vasco de Gamma had opened up trade routed with India. The cargo of pepper he brought back on his first trip
was enough to pay its expenses 60 times over and Portugal very quickly became the richest monarchy in Europe.
In 1494, Spain and Portugal divided the world between themselves along an imaginary line 370 leagues west of the
Cape Verde Islands. For the next
30 years, Portuguese wealth ad power were at their zenith until a combination of social and political factors brought a rapid end to the dynasty
of the House of Avis. The sadness of its demise reputably contributed to the term saudade, which
gives a name to the deeply melancholic inclination of
many Portuguese people.
Political life since then has been tumultuous. On April 25, 1974 a bloodless coup ended half a century of
nearly fascist rule, giving
independence to all Portugal's former colonies. Since 1975 there has been a period of growth and
consolidation, which included
the country's full membership of the EU in 1992.
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