So
what’s that long bit there on the West side of Spain? Is that another region?
West Spain? Or is that another country? YES! It’s called Portugal and boasts having
the longest unchanged border in Europe! And if you’re honest with yourself,
just how much do you know about this country? Let’s see. Capital, Lisbon. A
famous person, Ronaldo. Language, Portuguese. Anything else?
Let’s
face it, people's general knowledge of this country is poor. It’s just so far from
the rest of Europe, all hidden away behind Spain. It’s high time we shed some
light on this lovely country. However, if you want to understand it a bit
better, we need to have a look at its history. I’m sure that you’re all capable
of reading and the information is out there for all so I’m only going to touch
on the four most important point here.
0. Pre-Portugal
Sorry I have to include a point 0 here to
quickly mention a few folks here, starting with the great merchants of the Phoenicians
who, together with many Spanish places, made their first appearance here.
Then came … the Romans! They did get around, didn’t
they? The area of Portugal was part of Hispania. They put a few bridges up here
and there, found a few cities and left. Although nowadays there isn't much
physical evidence of their rule there is something very important they left
behind: WINE!
Then, as usual, came the Moors, these guys left
behind some monuments as well, such as castles, forts and their general style
of architecture.
1. Alfonso
It only took one man to wake up one day and say ‘well,
this looks like a good day to found a country’ – and this was a knight called
Henry. He sadly didn’t achieve this goal, but fear not, here’s Alfonso, his
son, who in the 12th century officially founded the country. Yay for
Alfonso!
2. The
Age of Discovery
We have already seen how one man can make
history alone. The same thing happened again when Vasco da Gamma walked on to
his ship and said ‘I’m just gonna look around the corner to see if I can get
more pepper from over there’. That ‘corner’ happened to be Africa and that ‘over
there’ was India. He managed to establish a new Spice Route which basically made
the country rich.
3. The
Great Lisbon Earthquake
In 1755 on 1st November a huge
earthquake shook the country. The range of its magnitude is estimated that it
was between 8.5 – 9.0 and thought of as the deadliest earthquake in history. Its
implications were great, from bringing the colonial ambitions to halt to the
fact that the king became claustrophobic and decided to move out of the city
and live in a tent.
4. The
dictatorship
After this the country officially became a
republic and had a new flag as well.
This
is basically it in VERY small nutshell. You will see in the following blogs
that everything relates to these events so well done for reading it all
through. I’m sure these details will come in handy at some point in your life.
Bring on a pub quiz!
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