Portugal
country in Southwestern Europe
Portugal,officially thePortuguese Republic(Portuguese:República Portuguesa), is a country located in the southwestern tip ofEurope,in theIberian Peninsula.It borders withSpainby land (North and East) and with theAtlantic Oceanby sea (West and South).
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edit- If maps were shaded like balance sheets, the bottom part of mainlandEuropewould be deepest red.Italy,Spainand Portugal are heavily indebt.They are alsoCatholiccountries. Their predominantlyProtestantneighbours to the north, includingGermanyandScandinavia,are in comparatively good shape financially. Is that simply a coincidence, or isMax Weber's theory about theProtestant ethicbeing intertwined with the spirit ofcapitalismstill valid, over 100 years on?
- Chris Arnot,“Protestant v Catholic: which countries are more successful?”,The Guardian,(Mon 31 Oct 2011 13.00 EDT First published on Mon 31 Oct 2011 13.00 EDT)
- I remember vividly in 1974 being in the mass of people, descending the streets in my nativeLisbon,in Portugal, celebrating thedemocratic revolutionandfreedom.This same feeling of joy was experienced by the same generation inSpainandGreece.It was felt later inCentral and Eastern Europeand in theBaltic Stateswhen they regained theirindependence.Several generations of Europeans have shown again and again that their choice forEuropewas also a choice for freedom. I will never forgetRostropovichplayingBachat the fallenWallinBerlin.This image reminds the world that it was the quest for freedom anddemocracythat tore down the old divisions and made possible the reunification of the continent. Joining theEuropean Unionwas essential for theconsolidation of democracyin our countries. Because it places the person and respect of human dignity at its heart. Because it gives a voice to differences while creating unity. And so, after reunification, Europe was able to breathe with both its lungs, as said byKarol Wojtiła.The European Union has become our common house. The “homeland of our homelands” as described byVaclav Havel.
- José Manuel Barroso,Nobel Peace Prize Lecture of the European Union,10 December 2012
- Portugal is a small but, we are sure, proud nation located somewhere in Europe and boasting a history. During the Age of Exploration, Portugal produced many great navigators, men such asVasco da Gama(literally, "Vasco the Gama" ), who set out across the vast, stormyAtlanticin tinyships,which of course immediately sank like stones, thus paving the way for the Age of Remaining on Land. Today the main industry in Portugal is manufacturing thePortuguese man-of-war,which is a type ofjellyfishthat can sting you to death if provoked, so tipping is strongly recommended.
- Dave Barry,Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need(1991), New York: Fawcett Columbine, p. 149
- O Christ! it is a goodly sight to see
WhatHeavenhath done for this delicious land!- Lord Byron,Childe Harold's Pilgrimage(1812), Canto I, stanza 15.
- As armas e os barões assinalados
Que da ocidental praia lusitana
Por mares nunca de antes navegados
Passaram ainda além da Taprobana
Em perigos e guerras esforçados
Mais do que prometia a força humana
E entre gente remota edificaram
Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram.- Arms and the Heroes, who fromLisbon's shore,
Thro' seas where sail was never spread before,
Beyond whereCeylonlifts her spicy breast,
And waves her woods above the watery waste,
With prowess more than human forc'd their way
To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:
What wars they wag'd, what seas, what dangers past,
What glorious empire crown'd their toils at last.- Luís de Camões,opening lines ofThe Lusiads(1572), as translated byWilliam Julius Mickle(1776).
- Arms and the Heroes, who fromLisbon's shore,
- Esta é a ditosa pátria minha amada.
- This is my happy land, my home, my pride.
- Luís de Camões,The Lusiads(1572), Canto III, st. 21, as translated byRichard Francis Burton(1880).
- This is my happy land, my home, my pride.
- I found my April dream in Portugal with you
When we discovered romance, like we never knew.
My head was in the clouds, My heart went crazy too,
And madly I said: "I love you."- José Galhardo,Coimbra(1947), translated by Jimmy Kennedy asApril in Portugal(1950).
- Portuguese wit suggests rebranding the whole country as Poortugal.
- The Economist,"More Pain, Less Gain"(20 October 2012)
- In Portugal in April 1974, before theliberalsin thearmyturned on the oldestFascistdictatorshipin Europe and broke open all the literal and metaphoricalprisongates, there had beenonly one legal party.On May Day of that year, theSocialistandCommunistParties were able to fill the streets of the capital city. Within days, aconservativeand aliberalpartyhad been announced, and within a very short time Portugal was, so to say, a “normal” European country. Thoseparties,with their very seasoned leaders, had been there all along. All that was required was for the brittle carapace of theancien régimeto be shattered.
- Christopher Hitchens,"What I Don't See at the Revolution",Vanity Fair(April 2011)
- The year 1492 marks not only Columbus's voyage, but also one of the major expulsions of the Jews from Spain; Portugal would be next.
- Melanie Kaye/KantrowitzThe Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism(2007)
- TheEuropean Unionand many of its countries, which used to take initiatives in theUnited Nationsforpeaceful settlements of conflict,are now one of the most important war assets of theU.S./NATO front.Many countries have also been drawn into complicity in breakinginternational lawthroughU.S./U.K./NATO warsinAfghanistan,Iraq,Libya,and so on.
- Unlike the fleeting visits paid byCheng Ho,the actions of the Portuguese andSpanishexplorers symbolized a commitment to alter the world's economic and political balances. With their shipbornecannonandmusket-bearingsoldier,they did precisely that. In retrospect it sometimes seems difficult to grasp that a country with the limitedpopulationand resources of Portugal could reach so far and acquire so much. In the special circumstances ofEuropeanmilitary and naval superiority described above, this was by no means impossible. Once it was done, the evident profits ofempire,and the desire for more, simply accelerated the process of aggrandizement.
- Paul Kennedy,The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers(1987), p. 27
- The example offamilyunity, pursuit ofeducationandrespectfor the elderly set by the Portuguese are profound lessons for all of us.
- Barbara B. Kennelly,"Commemorating Day of Portugal",Congressional Record,Volume 143, Issue 69, (May 22, 1997), Page E1024,United States House of Representatives.
- Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!- Oh saltysea,how much of your salt
are tears of Portugal! - Fernando Pessoa,Poem "Mar Português" (1934), lines 1–2
- Oh saltysea,how much of your salt
- Cette petite nation se trouvant tout-à-coup maîtresse du commerce le plus riche & le plus étendu de la terre, ne fut bientôt composée que de marchands, de facteurs & de matelots, que détruisoient de longues navigations. Elle perdit aussi le fondement de toute puissance réelle, l'agriculture, l'industrie nationale & la population. II n'y eut pas de proportion entre son commerce & les moyens de le continuer. Elle fit plus mal encore: elle voulut être conquérante, & embrassa une étendue de terrein, qu'aucune nation de l'Europe ne pourroit conserver sans s'affoiblir.
- This small nation, suddenly finding itself mistress of the richest and most extensivecommercein the world, was soon peopled only bymerchants,factors and mariners, whosehealthwas destroyed by long voyages. It thus lost the foundation of all realpower,namelyagriculture,nationalmanufacturesandpopulation.There was no proportion between its trade and the means of continuing it. Worse still, it set out to makeconquests,and extended itself over a vast area of land that no nation inEuropewould have been able to retain without making itself weak.
- Guillaume-Thomas Raynal,Histoire des deux Indes(1770), Book I, Ch. 29 —A History of the Two Indies,Peter Jimack (ed.) (2006), Extract IX, p. 14
- This small nation, suddenly finding itself mistress of the richest and most extensivecommercein the world, was soon peopled only bymerchants,factors and mariners, whosehealthwas destroyed by long voyages. It thus lost the foundation of all realpower,namelyagriculture,nationalmanufacturesandpopulation.There was no proportion between its trade and the means of continuing it. Worse still, it set out to makeconquests,and extended itself over a vast area of land that no nation inEuropewould have been able to retain without making itself weak.
- Most Portuguese soldiers, as AR Disney notes, were “scoundrels from the prisons of Portugal” and were happy to serve in Asia as it gave hope for a better life.
- Twilight of Pepper Empire by AR Disney(Pg. 21)
- Notorious for their unethical trade practices, the Portuguese would levy illegal taxes and sometimes seize ships belonging to traders and sell their goods for sheer profit.
- The Portuguese, India Ocean And European Bridgeheads 1500–1800(Pg. 313) by Nagendra Rao
