Portugal

PORTUGAL, a republic of western Europe, forming part of the Iberian Peninsula, and bounded on the N. and E. by Spain, and on the S. and W. by the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1900), 5,016,267; area, 34,254 sq. m. These totals do not include the inhabitants and area of the Azores and Madeira Islands, which are officially regarded as parts of continental Portugal. In shape the country resembles a roughly drawn parallelogram, with its greatest length (362 m.) from N. to S., and its greatest breadth (140 m.) from E. to W. For map, see Spain. The land frontiers are to some extent defined by the course of the four principal rivers, the Minho and Douro in the north, the Tagus and Guadiana in the south; elsewhere, and especially in the north, they are marked by moun- Proetie P Y ? Y Y and Coasrsts. tain ranges; but in most parts their delimitation was originally based on political considerations. In no sense can the boundary-line be called either natural or scientific, apart from the fact that the adjacent districts on either side are poor, sparsely peopled, and therefore little liable to become a subject of dispute. The Portuguese seaboard is nearly 500 m. long, and of the six ancient provinces all are maritime except Traz-osMontes. From the extreme north to Cape Mondego and thence onward to Cape Carvoeiro the outline of the coast is a long and gradual curve; farther south is the prominent mass of rock and mountain terminating westward in Capes Roca and Espichel; south of this, again, there is another wide curve, broken by the headland of Sines, and extending to Cape St Vincent, the southeastern extremity of the country. The only other conspicuous promontory is Cape Santa Maria, on the south coast. The only deep indentations of the Portuguese littoral are the lagoon of Aveiro and the estuaries of the Minho, Douro, Mondego, Tagus, Sado and Guadiana, in which are the principal harbours. The only islands off the coast are the dangerous Farilhoes and Berlings (Portuguese Berlengas) off Cape Carvoeiro.

Table of contents

1 Physical Features 2 Geology 3 Climate 4 Fauna and Flora 5 Inhabitants 6 National Characteristics 7 Chief Towns 8 Communications 9 Agriculture 10 Fisheries 11 Mines 12 Manufactures 13 Commerce 14 Banks and Money 15 Finance 16 Constitution 17 Colonies 18 Religion 19 Defence 20 Bibliography 21 The 15th Century 22 The Drama 23 The Renaissance 24 The 17th Century 25 The 18th .Century

Physical Features

Few small countries contain so great a variety of scenery as Portugal. The bleak and desolate heights of the Serra da Estrella and the ranges of the northern frontier are almost alpine in character, although they nowhere reach the limit of perpetual snow. At a lower level there are wide tracts of moorland, covered in many cases with sweet-scented cistus and other wild flowers. The lagoon of Aveiro, the estuary of the Sado and the broad inland lake formed by the Tagus above Lisbon, recall the waterways of Holland. The sand-dunes of the western coast and the Pinhal de Leiria resemble the French Landes. The Algarve and parts of Alemtejo might belong to North-West Africa rather than to Europe. The Paiz do Vinho, on the Douro, and the Tagus near Abrantes, with their terraced bush-vines grown up the steep banks of the rivers, are often compared with the Rhine and the Elbe. The harbours of Lisbon and Oporto are hardly inferior in beauty to those of Naples and Constantinople. Apart from this variety, and from the historic interest of such places as Braga, Bussaco, Cintra, Coimbra, or Torres Vedras, the attractiveness of the country is due to its colouring, and not to grandeur of form. Its landscapes are on a small scale; it has no vast plains, no inland seas, no mountain as high as 7000 ft. But its flora is the richest in Europe, and combines with the brilliant sunshine, the vivid but harmonious costumes of the peasantry, and the white or paletinted houses to compensate for any such deficiency. This wealth of colour gives to the scenery of Portugal a quite distinctive character and is the one feature common to all its varieties.

The orography of Portugal cannot be scientifically studied except in relation to that of Spain, for there is no dividing line between the principal Portuguese ranges and the highlands of Galicia, Leon and Spanish Estremadura. Three so-called Portuguese systems are sometimes distinguished: (1) the Transmontane, stretching between the Douro and the Minho; (2) the Beirene, between the Douro and the Tagus; (3) the Transtagine, south of the Tagus. The following ranges belong to the Transmontane system, which is the southern extension of the mountains of Galicia: Peneda (4728 ft.), forming the watershed between the river Lima and the lower Minho; the Serra do Gerez (4817 ft.), which rises like a gigantic wall between the Lima and the Homem, and sends off a spur known as the Amarella, Oural and Nora, south-westward between the Homem and the Cavado; La Raya Seca, a continuation of Gerez, which culminates in Larouco (4390 ft.) and contains the sources of the Cavado; Cabreira (4196 ft.), which contains the sources of the river Ave and separates the basin of the Tamega from that of the Cavado; Marao (4642 ft.), Villarelho (3547 ft.) and Padrella (3763 ft.), forming together a large massif between the rivers Tamega, Tua and Douro; and Nogueira (4331 ft.) and Bornes (3944 ft.), which divide the valley of the Tua from that of the Sabor. The Beirene system comprises two quite distinct mountain regions. North of the Mondego it includes Montemuro (4534 ft.), separating the Douro from the upper waters of its left-hand tributary the Paiva; Gralheira (3681 ft.) between the Paiva and the Vouga; the Serra do Caramullo (35 11 ft.), between the Vouga and the Dao; and the Serra da Lapa (3215 ft.), which gives rise to the Paiva, Tavora, Vouga and ado. South of these ranges, but nominally included in the same system, is the Serra da Estrella, the loftiest ridge in Portugal (6532 ft.). The Estrella Mountains, which enclose the headwaters of the Mondego in a deep ravine, stretch from north-east to south-west and are continued in the same direction by the Serra de Lousa (3944 ft.). They form the last link in the chain of mountain ranges, known to Spanish geographers as the Carpetano-Vetonica, which extends across the centre of the Peninsula from east to west. The greater part of the Serra da Estrella constitutes the watershed between the Mondego and Zezere. Lesser ranges, which are included in the Beirene system and vary in height from 2000 to 4000 ft., are the Mesas, between the rivers Coa and Zezere; the Guardunha and Moradal, separating the Zezere from the Ponsul and Ocreza, tributaries of the Tagus; the Serra do Aire, and various ridges which stretch south-westward as far as the mountains of Cintra (q.v.). The Transtagine Mountains cannot rightly be described as a single system, as they consist for the most part of isolated ranges or massifs. The Serra da Arrabida (1637 ft.) rises between Cape Espichel and Setubal. Sao Mamede (3363 ft.), with the parallel and lower Serra de Portalegre, extends along part of the frontier of northern Alemtejo. Ossa (2129 ft.), Caixeiro (1483 ft.), Monfurado (1378 ft.) and Mendro (1332 ft.) form the high ground between the rivers Sado, Sorraia and Guadiana. East of the Guadiana the outliers of the Spanish Sierra Morena enter Portuguese territory. The Serra Grandola and Monte Cereal, two low ranges stretching from north to south, skirt the coast of southern Estremadura. In the extreme south the ranges are more closely massed together. They include Monchique, with the peak of Foya or Foia (2963 ft.), and various lower ranges. There are numerous large expanses of level country, the most notable of these being the plains (cameos) of the Tagus valley, and of Aviz or Benavilla, Beja and Ourique, in Alemtejo; the high plateaux (cimas) of Mogadouro in Traz-os-Montes and Ourem between the Tagus and the upper Sorraia; the highly cultivated lowlands (veigas) of Chaves and Valenta do Minho in the extreme north; and the marshy flats (baixas) along the coast of Alemtejo and the southern shore of the lower Tagus.

The three principal rivers which flow through Portugal to the sea - the Douro, Tagus and Guadiana - are described in separate articles. The chief Portuguese tributaries of the Douro are the Tamega, Tua and Sabor on the north, the Agueda, Coa and Paiva on the south; of the Tagus, the Ocreza, Ponsul and Zezere on the north, the Niza and Sorraia on the south, while into the Guadiana, on its right or Portuguese bank, flow the Caia, Degebe, Cobres, Oeiras and Vascao. The whole country drains into the Atlantic, to which all the main rivers flow in a westerly direction except the Guadiana, which turns south by east in the lower part of its course. The Minho (Spanish Mino) is the most northerly river of Portugal, and in size and importance is only inferior to the three great waterways already mentioned. It rises in the highlands of Galicia, and, after forming for some distance the boundary between that province and Entre-Minho-e-Douro, falls into the sea below the port of Caminha. Its length is 170 m. Small coasters can ascend the river as far as Salvatierra in Galicia (20 m.), but larger vessels are excluded by a sandy bar at the mouth. Between the Minho and Douro the chief rivers are the Lima (Spanish Limia or Antela), which also rises in Galicia, and reaches the sea at Vianna do Castello; the Cavado, which receives the Homem on the right, and forms the port of Espozende in its estuary; and the Ave, which rises in the Serra da Cabreira and issues at the port of Villa do Conde. Between the Douro and Tagus the Vouga rises in the Serra da Lapa and reaches the sea through the lagoon of Aveiro; the Mondego flows north-east through a long ravine in the Serra da Estrella, and then bends back so as to flow west-south-west. Its estuary contains the important harbour of Figueira da Foz; its chief tributaries are the Dao on the right, and the Alva, Ceira and Arunca on the left; its length is 125 m. of which 52 m. are navigable by small coasters. Several comparatively unimportant streams, chief among which are the Liz and Sizandro, enter the Atlantic between the mouths of the Mondego and Tagus. Between the Tagus and Cape St Vincent the principal rivers are the Sado, which is formed by the junction of several lesser streams and flows north-west to the port of Setubal; and the Mira, which takes a similar direction from its headwaters south of Monte Vigia to the port of Villa Nova de Milfontes. On the south coast the united waters of the Odelouca and Silves form the harbour of Villa Nova de Portimao, and the Algoz, Algibre or Quarteira, and the Asseca flow into the sea farther east. Portugal abounds in hot and medicinal springs, such as those of Caldas de Monchique, Caldas da Rainha and Vidago.

Geology

By far the greater part of Portugal is occupied by ancient rocks of Archean and Palaeozoic age, and by eruptive masses which probably belong to various periods. All the higher mountains are formed of these rocks, and it is only near the coast and in the plain of the Tagus that later deposits are found. The Mesozoic beds form an irregular triangle extending from Lisbon and Torres Novas on the south to Oporto on the north. There are also a narrow strip along the southern shores of the Algarve and a few smaller patches along the western coast. The Tertiary deposits cover the plain of the Tagus and are found in other low-lying areas near the coast. Of the Lower Palaeozoic rocks the Ordovician appears to be the most widely-spread. Large areas have been referred to the Cambrian, but it is only at Villa Boim, about 6 m. W.S.W. of Elvas, that Cambrian fossils have been found. The Ordovician beds have yielded fossils in several places, Vallongo and Bussaco being amongst the best-known localities. The succession is similar to that of Brittany and Spain. Supposed Silurian beds have been described at Portalegre, and in the same neighbourhood Devonian fossils have been found. The Lower Carboniferous, which belongs to the " Culm " facies so widely spread in central Europe, occupies a wide area in southern Portugal; but the Upper Carboniferous is very restricted in extent, and occurs in small basins like those of the Central Plateau of France, resting unconformably upon the rocks below. The deposits in these basins consist largely of coarse sandstones and conglomerates, amongst which lie seams of coal. It is possible that some of these deposits may belong to the Permian or at least to the Perma-Carboniferous. Of the Mesozoic systems the Jurassic is the most widely-spread. Supposed Triassic beds are found, but they are confined chiefly to the eastern margin of the Mesozoic area north of Lisbon. The Jurassic deposits are partly marine and partly fresh-water or terrestrial, including beds of lignite. On the whole, excepting in eastern Algarve, the Upper Jurassic beds indicate the neighbourhood of a shore-line. The Cretaceous system is very limited in extent. Its most interesting feature is the occurrence near its summit, north of Cape Mondego, of sands and gravels containing plant remains. Here both Cretaceous and Tertiary forms are found, and the Mondego beds seem to represent the passage between the. two systems. At the close of the Cretaceous period great eruptions of basalt and basaltic tuff took place, especially in the Lisbon area. The volcanic rocks then formed are followed by marine deposits of Oligocene and Miocene age. Towards the north these are associated with fresh-water limestones, indicating the presence of land in that direction. Marine Pliocene beds occur at the mouth of the Tagus. The contemporaneous beds inland are of freshwater origin. Eruptive masses of various age are found in many localities. The Cintra granite sends veins into the base of the Upper Jurassic, and is very probably of Tertiary age. The Serra de Monchique is petrographically of great interest. It consists chiefly of elaeolite-syenite and other rocks derived from the same igneous magma.

Climate

The climate of Portugal is equable and temperate. Lisbon, Coimbra, Evora and Oporto have mean temperatures between 60° and 61.5° F., and the daily variation nowhere exceeds 23°. This equability of temperature is partly caused by the very heavy rainfall precipitated on Portugal as one of the westernmost countries of Europe and the one most exposed to the Atlantic. The rainfall has been as heavy as 16 ft. in a year, and sometimes, as in the winter of 1909-1910, great damage is wrought by floods. Heavy fogs are also common along the coast, rendering it dangerous to ships. The rainfall is heaviest in the north and on the Serra da Estrella; it is least in Algarve. A fine climate and equability of temperature are not universal in Portugal; they are to be enjoyed mainly in Beira and Estremadura, especially at Cintra and Coimbra, and in the northern provinces. In the deep valleys where the mountains keep off the cool winds, it is excessively hot in summer; while on the summits of the mountains snow lies for many months. The meteorological station on the Serra da Estrella, with a mean annual temperature of 44.7° F., is the coldest spot in Portugal in which systematic observations are taken. Montalegre has a mean of 48.3° and Guarda of 50.3°. Even in Lisbon the yearly variation is not less than 50°. In Alemtejo the climate is very unfavourable, and, though the heat is not so great as in Algarve (where Lagos has a mean of 63°), the country has a more deserted appearance; while in winter when the Tagus overflows, unhealthy swamps are left. Notwithstanding that Algarve is hotter than Alemtejo, a profuse vegetation takes away much of the tropical effect. Portugal is very rarely visited by thunderstorms; but shocks of earthquake are frequently felt, and recall the great earthquake of Lisbon (q.v.) in 1755.

Fauna and Flora

An account of the fauna of the Iberian Peninsula as a whole is given under Spain. Wolves are found in the wilder parts of the Serra da Estrella, and wild boars are preserved in some districts. As far as the constituents of its flora are concerned Portugal is not very dissimilar from Spain, but their distribution is peculiar. The vegetation of Spain is distributed in clearly marked zones; but over the whole of Portugal, except the hottest parts of Algarve and Alemtejo, the plants of northern Europe flourish side by side with cacti, palms, aloes and tree-ferns (see Cintra). This is largely due to the fact that the moistureladen winds from the Atlantic penetrate almost as far inland as the Portuguese frontier, but do not reach the interior of Spain. The soil is fertile, and the indigenous flora has been greatly enriched by the importation of such plants as the agave, the Mexican opuntia, the American maple, the Australian eucalyptus, the Scotch fir and the so-called Portuguese cypress (Cupressus lusitanica) from the Azores. There are many fine tracts of forest, among which may be mentioned the famous convent-wood of Bussaco (q.v.); cork trees are extensively cultivated, Barbary oaks (Quercus ballota, Port. azinheira) furnish edible acorns and excellent timber for charcoal, and carob-trees (Ceratonia siliqua, Port. alfarrobeira) also produce edible seed-pods somewhat resembling beans. Elms, limes and poplars are common north of the Tagus, ilexes, araucarias, myrtles, magnolias and a great variety of conifers in all parts. The Serra da Estrella has a rich alpine flora, and the lagoon of Aveiro contains a great number of aquatic plants.

Inhabitants

The population of Portugal numbered 4,550,699 in 18 7 8, 5, 0 49,7 2 9 in 1890 and 5,423,132 in 1900. These totals include the inhabitants of the Azores and Madeira, which together amounted to 406,865 in 1900. Few immigrants enter the country, but the birth-rate is about 30 per 1000, while the mortality is only about 20 per 1000. Large bodies of emigrants, chiefly recruited from the sober, hardy and industrious peasantry of the northern provinces, annually leave Portugal to seek fortune in America. A few go to the Portuguese colonies, the great majority to Brazil. Many of these emigrants return with considerable savings and settle on the land. The mortality is highest among male children, and the normal excess of females is in the proportion of 109 to loo. Six-sevenths of the population of continental Portugal inhabit the provinces north of the Tagus. The density of population is greatest in Madeira (479.5 per sq. m. in 1900), Entre-Minho-e-Douro (419.5) and the Azores (277.9), nowhere else does it reach 200 per sq. m. In Alemtejo the percentage sinks to 45.1, and for the whole country, including the islands, it amounts only to 152.8.

The Portuguese people is composed of many racial elements. Its earliest known ancestors were the Iberians. The peasantry, especially in the north, are closely akin to the Galician and Asturian Spaniards in character, physique and dialect; and these three ethnical groups - Portuguese of the north, Galicians, Asturians - may perhaps be regarded as the purest representatives of the Spanish stock. The first settlers with whom they intermarried were probably Carthaginians, who were followed in smaller numbers by. Greeks; but the attempts which have sometimes been made to ascribe certain attributes of the Portuguese to the influence of these races are altogether fanciful. The Romans, whose supremacy was not seriously threatened for some six centuries after the Punic Wars, gave to Portugal its language and the foundation of its civilization; there is, however, no evidence that they seriously modified the physical type or character of its people. In these respects the Suevic and Visigothic conquests left a more permanent impression, especially in the northern provinces. After 711 came the long period of Moorish (i.e. Arab and Berber) predominance. The influence of the Moors was greatest south of the Tagus. In Alemtejo, and still more in Algarve, Arab and Berber types are common; and the influence of these races can everywhere be discerned in the architecture, handicrafts and speech of the peasantry. So complete was the intellectual triumph of the Moors that an intermediate " Mozarabic " population arose, Portuguese in blood, Christian in religion, but Arab in language and manners. Many of the Mozarabs even adopted the characteristic Mahommedan rite of circumcision. Under the tolerant rule of Islam the Portuguese Jews rose to a height of wealth and culture unparalleled in Europe; they intermarried with the Christians both at this period and after their forced conversion by King Emanuel I. (1495-1521). After 1450 yet another ethnical element was introduced into the nation, through the importation of African slaves in vast numbers. Negroid types are common throughout central and southern Portugal. No European race confronted with the problem of an immense coloured population has solved it more successfully than the Portuguese and their kinsmen in Brazil; in both countries intermarriage was freely resorted to, and the offspring of these mixed unions are superior in character and intelligence to most half-breeds.

National Characteristics

The normal type evolved from this fusion of many races is dark-haired, sallow-skinned, browneyed and of low stature. The poorer classes, above all the fishermen and small farmers, are physically much finer than the wellto-do, who are prone to excessive stoutness owing to their more sedentary habits. The staple diet of the labouring classes and small farmers is fish, especially the dried codfish called bacalhdo, rice, beans, maize bread and meal, olive oil, fruit and vegetables. Meat is rarely eaten except on festivals. In Alemtejo chestnuts and figs are important articles of diet. Drunkenness is extremely rare. There is no single national dress, but a great variety of picturesque costumes are worn. The sashes, broad-brimmed hats and copper-tipped quarterstaves of the men, and the brilliant cotton dresses and gold or silver filigree ornaments worn on holidays by the women are common throughout the country; but many classes have their own costumes, varying in detail according to the district or province. These costumes may be seen at their best at bull-fights and at such popular festivals as the romarias or pilgrimages, which combine religion with the attractions of a fair. The national sport of bull-fighting is conducted as humanely as possible, for the Portuguese are lovers of animals. The artistic sense of the nation is perhaps greatest among the peasantry, although Portugal has the most illiterate peasantry in western Europe. It is manifested in their poetry and music even more than in their admirable costumes and in the good taste which has preserved the Roman or Moorish forms of their domestic pottery. Even the men and women who till the soil are capable of improvizing verse of real merit, and sometimes excel in the ancient and difficult art of composing extempore amoebean rhymes. In this way, although the ancient ballads are not forgotten, new words are also fitted to the plaintive folk-tunes (fados) which every farm-hand knows and sings, accompanied sometimes by a rude clarinet or bagpipes, but more frequently by the so-called Portuguese guitar - an instrument which resembles a mandolin rather than the guitars of Italy and Spain. The native dances, slow but not ungraceful, and more restrained than those of Andalusia or the south of France, are obviously Moorish in origin, and depend for their main effects on the movement of the arms and body. Many curious superstitions survive in the country districts, including the beliefs in witches (feitigeiras, bruxas) and werewolves (lobishomens); in sirens (sereias) which haunt the dangerous coast and lure fishermen to destruction; in fairies (fadas) and in many kinds of enchantment. It will be observed that the nomenclature of Portuguese folk-lore suggests that the popular superstitions are of the most diverse origin - Latin, Greek, Arabic, native: lobishomem is the Latin lupus homo, wolf-man, sereia is the Greek aaprt y, bruxa is Arabic, feitireira and fada Portuguese. Other beliefs can be traced to Jewish and African sources.

Chief Towns

The chief towns of Portugal are Lisbon (pop. 1900, 356,009), the capital and principal seaport; Oporto (167,955), the capital of the northern provinces and, after Lisbon, the most important centre of trade; the seaports of Setubal (22,074), Ilhavo (12,617), Povoa de Varzim (12,623), Tavira (12,175), Faro (11,789),(11,789), Ovar (10,462), Olhao (10,009) Vianna do Castello (io,000), Aveiro (9975), Lagos (8291), Leixoes (7690) and Figueira da Foz (6221); and the inland cities or towns of Braga (24,202), Louie (22,478), Coimbra (18,144), Evora (16,020), Covilha (15,469), Elvas (13,981), Portalegre (11,820), Palmella (11,478), Torres Novas (10,746), Silves (9687), Lamego (9471), Guimaraes (9104), Beja (8885), Santarem (8628),(8628), Vizeu (8057), Estremoz (7920), Monchique (7345), Castello Branco (7288), Abrantes (7255), Torres Vedras (6900), Thomar (6888), Villa Real (6716), Chaves (6388), Guarda (6124), Cintra (5914), Braganza (5535), Mafra (4769), Leiria (4459), Batalha (3858), Almeida (2330), Alcobaga (2309), Bussaco (1661). All these are described in separate articles.

Communications

Up to 1851 there was practically no good carriage road in the country except the highway between Lisbon and Cintra. In 1853 the work of constructing a proper system of roads was undertaken, and by the end of the century all the larger towns were linked together by the main or " royal " highways to which the " district " and " municipal " roads were subsidiary. Each class of road was named after the authority responsible for its construction and upkeep. In some of the remoter rural districts there are only bridle-paths, or rough tracks, which become almost impassable in wet seasons, and are never suitable for vehicles less solid than the Portuguese ox-carts. The first railway was opened in 1853 to connect Lisbon with Badajoz. In 1910 1758 m. were completed, of which 672 m. were state lines. The Portuguese ] railways meet the Spanish at Valenta do 1Vlinho on the northern frontier, at Barca d'Alva, at Villar Formoso, near Valencia de Alcantara, and near Badajoz on the eastern frontier. In some of the chief towns there are electric tramways. The most important internal waterways are the lower Tagus and the Douro between Oporto and the Paiz do Vinho. In 1908, 11,045 vessels of 19,354,967 tons entered Portuguese seaports, but a very large majority of these ships were foreign, and especially British. The postal and telegraphic services are adequate; tel° p hone systems are installed in Lisbon, Oporto and other large towns; and the Eastern Telegraph Co. has an important cable station at Carcavellos near Lisbon (q.v.).

Land Tenure. - Four modes of land tenure are common in Portugal. The poor and thinly-peopled region of Alemtejo is divided into large estates, and cultivated by tenant farmers. Numerous estates in various provinces are held on the metayage system. In the north, where the land is much subdivided, peasant proprietorship and a kind of emphyteusis (see Roman Law) are the most usual tenures. The Portuguese form of emphyteusis is called aforamento; the landlord parts with the user of his property in exchange for a quit-rent (foro or canon). He may evict his tenant should the rent be in arrear for five years, and may at any time distrain if it be overdue; but he cannot otherwise interfere with the holding, which the tenant may improve or neglect. Should the tenant sell or exchange his interest in the property, the right of pre-emption is vested in the landlord, and a corresponding right is enjoyed by the tenant should the quitrent be for sale. As this tenure is very ancient, though modified in 1832 and 1867, the value of such holdings has been greatly enhanced with the improvement of the land and the decline in the purchasing power of currency.

Agriculture

Many of the instruments and processes of Portuguese agriculture and viticulture were introduced by the Romans, and are such as Columella described in the 1st century A.D. The characteristic springless. ox-cart which is used for heavy loads may be seen represented on Roman frescoes of even earlier date. One form of plough still used consists of a crooked bough, with an iron share attached. Oxen are employed for all field-work; those of the commonest breed are tawny, of great muscular power, very docile, and with horns measuring 5 or 6 ft. from tip to tip. The ox-yokes are often elaborately carved in a traditional pattern in which Gothic and Moorish designs are blended. The Moors introduced many improvements, especially in the system of irrigation; the characteristic Portuguese wells with their perpetual chains or buckets are of Moorish invention, and retain their Moorish name of noras. In all, rather more than 45% of the country is uncultivated, chiefly in Alemtejo, Traz-os-Montes and the Serra da Estrella. The principal grain-crops are maize, wheat and rye; rice is grown among the marshes of the coast. Gourds, pumpkins, cabbages and other vegetables are cultivated among] the cereals.. The large onions sold in Great Britain as Spanish are extensively produced in the northern provinces. Every district has its vineyards, the finest of which are in the Paiz do Vinho (see Oporto and Wine). The bush vines of this region are more exposed to the attacks of Oidium Tuckeri, which invaded the country in 1851, and of Phylloxera vastatrix, which followed in 1863, than the more deeply-rooted vines trained on trellises or trees. Both these pests have been successfully combated, largely by the use of sulphur and by grafting immune American vines upon native stocks. In addition to grapes the commoner fruits include quinces, apples, pears, cherries, limes, lemons and loquats (Port. nespras); Condeixa is famous for oranges, Amarante for peaches, Elvas for plums, the southern provinces for carobs and figs. Large quantities of olive oil are manufactured south of the Douro. Almost all cattle, except fighting-bulls, are stall-fed. The fighting-bulls are chiefly reared in the marshes and alluvial valleys; they are bred for strength and swiftness rather than size, and a good specimen should be sufficiently agile to leap over the inner barrier of the arena (about 68 in. high). Large herds of swine are fed in the oak and chestnut woods of Alemtejo; sheep and goats are reared in the mountains, where excellent cheeses are made from goats' milk.

Fisheries

About 50,000 Portuguese are classed as hunters and fishermen. The majority of these are employed in the sardine and tunny fisheries. This industry is carried on in a fleet of more than to,000 small vessels, including the whalers of the Azores and the cod-boats which operate outside Portuguese waters. The fishermen and fisherwomen form a quite distinct class of the people; both sexes are noted for their bodily strength, and the men for their bold and skilful seamanship. Tunny and sardines are cured and exported in large quantities, oysters are also exported, and many other sea fish, such as hake, sea-bream, whiting, conger and various flat-fish are consumed in the country. In the early years of the 10th century the competition of foreign steam trawlers inflicted much hardship on the fishermen. The average yearly value of the fish landed in Portugal (exclusive of cured fish from foreign countries) is about 800,000. Salmon, lampreys and eels are caught in some of the larger rivers; trout abound in the streams of the northern provinces; but many fresh-water fish common elsewhere in Europe, including pike, perch, tench and chub, are not found.

Mines

It is usually stated that Portugal is rich in minerals, especially copper, but that want of capital and, especially in the south, of transport and labour, has retarded their exploitation. The mineral deposits of the country are very varied, but their extent is probably exaggerated. The average yearly output from 1901 to 1905 was worth less than £300,000. Copper is mined in southern Portugal. Common salt (chiefly from Alcacer do Sal near Setubal), gypsum, lime and marble are exported; marble and granite of fine quality abound in the southern provinces. Iron is obtained near Beja and Evora, tin in the district of Braganza. Lead, wolfram, antimony and auriferous quartz exist in the districts of Coimbra, Evora, Beja and Faro. Lignite occurs at many points around Coimbra, Leiria and Santarem; asphalt abounds near Alcobaca; phosphorite, asbestos and sulphur are common south of the Tagus. Petroleum has been found near Torres Vedras; pitchblende, arsenic, anthracite and zinc are also mined. Gold was washed from some of the Portuguese rivers before the Christian era, and among the Romans the auriferous sands of the Tagus were proverbially famous; it is, however, extremely improbable that large quantities of gold were ever obtained in this region, although small deposits of alluvial gold may still be found in the valleys of the Tagus and Mondego.

Manufactures

The Methuen Treaty of 1703 prevented the establishment of some manufacturing industries in Portugal by securing a monopoly for British textiles, and it was only after 1892 that Portuguese cotton-spinning and weaving were fostered by heavy protective duties. In 20 years these industries became the most important in the country after agriculture, the wine and cork trades and the fisheries. In connexion with the wine trade there are many large cooperages; cork products are extensively manufactured for export. Lisbon is the headquarters of the ship-building trade. Here, and in other cities, tanning, distilling, various metallurgical industries, and manufactures of soap, flour, tobacco, &c., are carried on; the entire output is sold in Portugal or its colonies. There is a steady trade in natural mineral waters, which occur in many parts of continental Portugal and the Azores. From the 16th century to the 18th many artistic handicrafts were practised by the Portuguese in imitation of the fine pottery, cabinetwork, embroideries, &c., which they imported from India and Persia. Portuguese cabinet-work deteriorated in the 19th century; the glassworks and potteries of the Aveiro and Leiria districts have lost much of their ancient reputation; and even the exquisite lace of Peniche and Vianna do Castello is strangely neglected abroad. The finest Caldas da Rainha china-ware, with its fantastic representations of birds, beasts and fishes, still commands a fair price in foreign markets; but the blue and white ware originally copied from Delft and later modified under the influence of Persian pottery is now only 'manufactured in small quantities, of inferior quality. Skilful copies of Moorish metal-work may be purchased in the goldsmiths' and silversmiths' shops of. Lisbon and Oporto; conspicuous among these are the filigree ornaments which are bought by the peasant women as investments and by foreign visitors as curiosities. In 1900 the total industrial population of Portugal was 455,296.

Years.	Exports.	Imports.
1901	£6,284,800	£12,849,622
1902	£6,318,888	£12,354,800
1903	£6,800,710	£13,068,000
1904	£6,824,692	£13,801,622
1905	£6,460,000	£13,486,666

Commerce

The annual value of the foreign trade of Portugal amounts approximately to £19,000,000. The following table shows the value for five years of the exports, and of all imports not reexported (exclusive of coin and bullion): - In 1910 the principal exports, in order of value, were wine (chiefly port, common wines and Madeira), raw and manufactured cork, preserved fish, fruits and vegetables, cottons and yarn, copper ore, timber, olive oil, skins, grain and flour, tobacco and wool. The imports were raw and manufactured cotton, wool and silk, wheat and maize, coal, iron and machinery, dried codfish, sugar, rice, hides and skins, oils. The United Kingdom, which annually purchases wine to the value of about £900,000 and cork to the value of about £500,000, is the chief consumer of Portuguese goods, and the chief exporter to Portugal. Germany and the United States rank respectively second and third among the countries which export to Portugal; Spain, which buys bullocks and pigs, Brazil, which buys wine, and the Portuguese colonies, which buy textiles, are among the chief purchasers of Portuguese products. In addition to its direct foreign commerce Portugal derives much benefit from its share in the trade between South America and Europe. Large liners from Liverpool, Southampton, London, Hamburg, Havre and Antwerp call regularly for passengers or cargo at Leixoes or Lisbon, or both ports, on their way to and from South America (especially Brazil). In connexion with this trade an important tourist traffic, chiefly from Great Britain and Germany, was developed towards the end of the 19th century.

Banks and Money

In 1910 the Bank of Portugal, to which the XXII. 5 a treasury was deeply indebted, had a capital of £1,500,000, and a monopoly of note issue in continental Portugal, but the notes of the Ultramarine Bank circulated in the colonies. The notes of the Bank of Portugal in circulation amounted in value to about £14,000,000. For an account of the Monte Pio Geral, which is a combined bank, pawnbroking establishment and benefit society, see Pawnbroking; the deposits in the Monte Pio and the State Savings Bank amounted in 1910 to some £5,228,000. There are also many private banks, including savings banks. Gold is the standard of value, but the actual currency is chiefly Bank of Portugal notes. The values of coin and notes are expressed in multiples of the real (plural reis), a monetary unit which does not actually exist. The milreis, 1000 reis of the par value of 4s. 5d. (or 4.5 milreis to the pound sterling) and the conto of reis (moo milreis) are used for the calculation of large sums. Gold pieces of 10, 5, 2 and 1 milreis were coined up to 1891; 10, 5, and 2 testoon (testdo) pieces, worth respectively 1000, 500 and 200 reis, are coined in silver; testoons of Ioo reis and half testoons of 50 reis, in nickel; pieces of 20, 10 and 5 reis in bronze. The milreis fluctuates widely in value, the balance of exchange being usually adverse to Portugal; for the purposes of this article the milreis has been taken at par. The British sovereign is legal tender for 4500 reis, but in practice usually commands a premium. The metric system of weights and measures has been officially adopted, but many older standards are used, such as the libra (1.012 lb avoirdupois), alqueire (0.36 imperial bushel), moio (2.78 imp. bushels), almude of Lisbon (3.7 imp. gallons) and almude of Oporto (5.6 imp. gallons).

Finance

For the five financial years,1901-1902to 1905-1906, the average revenue of Portugal was about £13,300,000 and the average expenditure £13,466,000. The chief sources of revenue were customs duties, taxes on land and industries, duties on tobacco and breadstuffs, the Lisbon octroi, receipts from national property, registration and stamps, &c. The heaviest expenditure (nearly £ 5,000,000) was incurred for the service of the consolidated debt; payments for the civil list, cortes, pensions, &c., amounted to more than £2,000,000, and the cost of public works to nearly as large a sum. The ministries of war and marine together spent about £ 2,500,000 each year. The practice of meeting deficits by loans, together with the great expenditure, after 1853, on public works, especially roads and railways, explains the rapid growth of the national debt in modern times. In 1853 the total public debt, internal and external, amounted to £2,082,680. It exceeded £90,000,000 in 1890, and in1891-1892the finances of the kingdom reached a crisis, from which there was no escape except by arranging for a reduction in the amount payable as interest (see History, below). By the law of the 26th of February 1892 30% was deducted from the internal debt payable in currency; by the law of the 20th of April 1893 663% was deducted from the interest on the external debt, due in gold. A law of the 9th of August 1902 provided for the conversion of certain gold debts into three series of consolidated debt, at reduced interest. In 1909 the total outstanding debt amounted to £161,837,430, made up as follows: new external 3% converted in three series, £34,223,465 42% tobacco loan £7,267,480; internal 3% (quoted in London) £ 11 3, 1 3 2 ,979. Internal debt at 3, 4 and 42% was also outstanding to the amount of £7,213,506.

Constitution

Up to October 1910 the government was an hereditary and constitutional monarchy, based on the constitutional charter which was granted by King Pedro IV. on the 29th of April 1826, and was afterwards several times modified; the most important changes were those effected by the acts of the 5th of July 1852, the 24th of July 1885, and the 28th of March and 25th of September 1895. The revolution of the 5th of October 1910 brought the monarchy to an end and substituted republican government for it. The monarchical constitution recognized four powers in the state - the executive, moderating, legislative and judicial. The two first of these were vested in the sovereign, who might be a woman, and who shared the legislative power with two chambers, the Camara dos Pares or House of Peers, and the Camara dos Deputados or House of Commons; these were collectively styled the Corks Geraes, or more briefly the Conies. The royal veto could not be imposed on legislation passed twice by both houses. The annual session lasted four months, and a general election was necessary at the end of every four years, or immediately after a dissolution. A committee representing both houses adjudicated upon all cases of conflict between Peers and Commons; should it fail to reach a decision, the dispute was referred to the sovereign, whose award was final. Up to 1885 some members sat in the House of Peers by hereditary right, while others were nominated for life. It was then decided that such rights should cease, except in the case of princes of royal blood and members then sitting, and that when all the hereditary peerages had lapsed the house should be composed of the princes of the royal blood, the archbishops and bishops of the continental dioceses, a hundred legislative peers appointed by the king for life, and fifty elected every new parliament by the Commons. In 1895 the number of nominated life peers was reduced to ninety and the elective branch was abolished. Subject to certain limitations and to a property qualification, any person over 40 years of age was eligible to a peerage. The titles and social position of the Portuguese aristocracy were not affected when its political privileges were abolished. In the nomination of life peers, and in certain administrative matters the sovereign was advised by a council of state, whose twelve members were nominated for life and were principally past or present ministers. The sovereign exercised his executive power through a cabinet which was responsible to the cortes, and consisted of seven members, representing the ministries of (I) the interior, (2) foreign affairs, (3) finance, (4) justice and worship, (5) war, (6) marine and colonies, (7) public works, industry and commerce. The House of Commons was composed of 148 members, representing the 26 electoral divisions of Portugal, the Azores and Madeira, which returned 113 elected members and 35 representatives of minorities, and of 7 members representing the colonies. Peers, naturalized foreigners and certain employees of the state were unable to sit in the House of Commons; members were required to be graduates of one of the highest, secondary or professional schools, or to possess an income of not less than 400 milreis (88). All members might, in connexion with their official duties, travel free on railways and ships owned by the state; but since 1892 none had received any salary except the colonial members, who were paid loo milreis (£22) per month during the session, and So milreis (III) per month during the remainder of the year. All male citizens 21 years old who could read and write, or who paid taxes amounting to 500 reis yearly, had the parliamentary franchise, except convicts, beggars, undischarged bankrupts, domestic servants, workmen permanently employed by the state and soldiers or sailors below the rank of commissioned officer. (For changes made under republican rule, see History, § 8.) Local Government. - Continental Portugal was formerly divided for administrative purposes into six provinces which corresponded to a great extent with the natural geographical divisions of the country and are described in separate articles; the names of these, which are still commonly used, are Entre-Minho-e-Douro (also called Entre-Douro-e-Minho or Minho), Traz-os-Montes, Beira, Estremadura, Alemtejo and Algarve. The province of Douro, another administrative division of less antiquity, comprised the present districts of Aveiro and Oporto, or part of Beira and EntreMinho-e-Douro. The six ancient provinces were subdivided on the 28th of June 1833 into districts, each named after its chief town, as follows: Entre-Minho-e-Douro into Vianna do Castello, Braga, Oporto; Traz-os-Montes, into Villa Real, Braganza; Beira, into Aveiro, Vizeu, Coimbra, Guarda, Castello Branco; Estremadura, into Leiria, Santarem, Lisbon; Alemtejo, into Portalegre, Evora, Beja; Algarve was renamed Faro. In 1910 the Azores comprised three districts and Madeira formed one. Each district was governed by a commission composed of (I) the civil governor, who was nominated by the central authority and presided over the commission; (2) the administrative auditor; and (3) three members chosen by indirect suffrage. The districts were divided into communes (concelhos), each administered by an elected council, and a mayor nominated by the central authority. The mayor could not preside over the council, which appointed one of its own members to preside and to give effect to its decisions. The communes were subdivided into parishes (freguesias), which were administered by the elected council (junta de parochia) over which the parish priest (presbitero) presided, and by the regedor, an official who represented the mayor of the commune and was nominated by the civil governor. The central authority had almost complete control over local administration through its representatives, the civil governor, mayors and regedores. Justice. - In 1910 Portugal was divided into 193 judicial districts (comarcas), in each of which there was a court of first instance. The three courts of appeal (tribunaes de relacao) sat at Lisbon, Oporto and Ponta Delgada (Azores), and there was a Supreme Court in Lisbon.

Colonies

At the beginning of the 19th century Portugal possessed a larger colonial empire than any European power except Great Britain and Spain. At the beginning of the 10th century its transmarine possessions had been greatly reduced in size by the loss of Brazil, but were still only surpassed in extent by those of three powers - Great Britain, France and Germany. Their total area was about 803,000 sq. m., of which 7 9 4,000 sq. m. are in Africa. They comprised, in Africa, the Cape Verde Islands, St Thomas and Prince's Islands, Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Portuguese East Africa, or Mozambique; in India, Goa, Damaun and Diu; in China, Macao; and in the Malay Archipelago part of Timor. All these are described in separate articles. In all the white population is in a minority; in most the climate is unsuitable for European colonization, nor is the commercial value of the colonies commensurate with their extent. Viewed as a whole, Portuguese administration has been carried on under difficulties which have rendered it costly and inefficient, the home government being compelled to contribute a large annual subsidy towards its maintenance. The amount paid in subsidies from 1870 to 1900 was about £15,000,000.

Religion

Roman Catholicism was the state religion until 1910, but other creeds were tolerated, and the Church lost its temporal authority in 1834, when the monasteries were suppressed and their property confiscated for the first time. There are three ecclesiastical provinces - Braga, Lisbon and Evora, each under an archbishop. The archbishop of Braga, whose see is the most ancient, has the title of Primate; the archbishop of Lisbon has the honorary title of Patriarch, and is usually elected a cardinal. His province includes Madeira, the Azores and the West African colonies. There are fourteen dioceses, of which Oporto is the most important. The annual revenues of the upper hierarchy of the Church amounted, up to 1910, to about £65,000. In some of the larger towns the foreign residents have their own places of worship. (See further under History.) Education. - Primary education is regulated by a law of 1844, under which children between the ages of 7 and 15 are bound to attend a school, should there be one within a mile, under penalty to the parents of a fine and deprivation of civil rights. This law has not been strictly enforced; primary education was never properly organized; and, according to census returns, the proportion of the population (including children) unable to read was 82.4% in 1878, 79.2 in 1890 and 78.6 in 1900. There were in 1910 5250 public and 1750 private primary schools. In the chief towns there are training schools for teachers. The system of secondary education was reorganized in 1894. In 1905 there were state lyceums in each district capital and in Guimardes, Lamego and Amarante; 5 municipal lyceums, at Celorico de Basto, Chaves, Ponte de Lima, Povoa de Varzim and Setubal; military and naval colleges; a secondary school for girls in Lisbon; numerous private secondary schools and ecclesiastical seminaries; industrial, commercial and technical schools; and pilot schools at Lisbon, Oporto, Faro and Ponta Delgada (Azores). Other important educational institutions are described under Lisbon and Oporto. The national university is at Coimbra (q.v.).

Defence

Under the monarchy, the army was maintained at its normal strength partly by voluntary enlistment and conscription, the chief law regulating it being that of 1887, as variously modified in subsequent years. The cortes fixed the number of conscripts to be enrolled in each year: in 1905, 15,000 men for the army, moo for the navy, 500 for the municipal guards and 400 for the fiscal guards. The organization of the army was based on the acts of the 7th of September 1899 and the 24th of December 1901. With certain exceptions all men over 21 years of age were liable for service3 years in the regular army, 5 years in the first reserve and 7 years in the second reserve; but exemption could always be purchased. In time of war, the municipal guards, numbering about 2200, and the fiscal guards, numbering about 5200, might be incorporated in the army. The total effective force of the active army on a peace footing was 1787 officers, 31,281 men, 6479 horses and mules and 100 guns. The total effective force on a war footing, inclusive of reservists, municipal guards and fiscal guards, was 4221 officers, 178,603 men, 19,600 horses and mules and 336 guns. Lisbon, Elvas and Angra in the Azores, were considered first-class fortresses, but only Lisbon had modern defences. The Portuguese navy in 1910 consisted of 1 armoured vessel, 5 protected cruisers, 2 third-class cruisers, 19 gunboats, I torpedo gunboat, 4 torpedo boats, 16 river gunboats, 4 transports and 3 training ships. Twelve other vessels, including 2 submarines, were under construction. The whole fleet was manned by about 5000 men.

Bibliography

Numerous official reports, chiefly statistical, are published periodically in Lisbon; a few are written in French, the majority in Portuguese. Read in conjunction with the British consular and diplomatic reports, they afford a comprehensive survey of the movement of population, the progress of trade, &c. The following state papers deserve special notice: Caminhos de ferro (1877, &c.), Commercio e navigarao (annual, issued by the Ministry of Marine), Le Portugal vinicole (1900), Le Portugal .... agricole (1900), Notas sobre Portugal (2 vols., 1908). For geology, see the section of Le Portugal .... agricole written by P. Choffat and entitled " Apergu de la geologie de Portugal," also " The Work of the Portuguese Geological Survey," by Philip Lake, in Science Progress (1896) v. 439-453; both these summaries refer to the most important original papers. Two illustrated volumes by Oswald Crawford, Portugal Old and New (London, 1880) and Round the Calendar in Portugal (London, 1890) contain much valuable information on agriculture, viticulture and peasant life in the northern provinces. Through Portugal, by Major Martin Hume (London, 1907) and Lisbon and Cintra, by A. A. Inchbold (London, 1908), describe the towns, &c., most frequently visited by tourists, and are illustrated in colours. Le Portugal (Paris, 1899), by 18 writers, is a brief but encyclopaedic description of continental Portugal. See also Portugal: its Land and People, by W. H. Koebel (London, 1909), and Portuguese Architecture, by W. C. Watson (London, 1908). The following books deal comprehensively with the Portuguese colonies; As Colonias portuguezas, by E. J. de Vasconcellos (2nd ed., Lisbon, 1903), Les Colonies portugaises, by A. de Almada Negreiros (Paris, 1908). (K. G. J.) History Throughout the centuries which witnessed the destruction of Carthaginian power by Rome, the establishment and decline of Latin civilization, the invasion by Alani, Suevi and other barbarian races, the resettlement under Visigothic rule and the overthrow of the Visigoths by Arab and Berber tribes from Africa, Portugal remained an undifferentiated part of Hispania, without sign of national consciousness. The Iberian Peninsula was one: and its common history is related under Spain. It is true that some Portuguese writers have sought to identify their race with the ancient Lusitani, and have claimed for it a separate and continuous existence dating from the 2nd century B.C. The revolt of Lusitania against the Romans has been regarded as an early manifestation of Portuguese love of liberty, Viriathus as a national hero. But this theory, which originated in the 15th century and was perpetuated in the title of The Lusiads, has no historical foundation. In 1095 Portugal was an obscure border fief of the kingdom of Leon. Its territories, far from the centres of European civilization and consisting largely of mountain, moorland and forest, were bounded on the north by the Minho, on the south by the Mondego. Its name (Portucalia, Terra portucalensis) was derived from the little seaport of Portus Cale or Villa Nova de Gaia, now a suburb of Oporto, at the mouth of the Douro. Its inhabitants, surrounded by Moorish or Spanish enemies and distracted by civil war, derived such rudiments of civilization as they possessed from Arabic or Leonese sources. But from these obscure beginnings Portugal rose in four centuries to be the greatest maritime, commercial and colonial power in Europe.

The history of the nation comprises eight periods. (I) Between 1095 and 1279 a Portuguese kingdom was established and extended until it reached its present continental limits. (2) Between 1279 and 1415 the monarchy was gradually consolidated in spite of resistance from the Church, the nobles and the rival kingdom of Castile. (3) In 1415 began a period of crusades and discoveries, culminating in the discovery of an ocean-route to India (1497-1499). (4) From 1499 to 1580 Portugal acquired an empire stretching from Brazil eastward to the Moluccas, reached the zenith of its prosperity and entered upon a period of swift decline. (5) Spanish kings ruled over Portugal from 1581 to 1640. (6) The chief event of the years 1640 to 1755 was the restoration of the Portuguese monarchy. (7) Between 1755 and 1826 the reforms of Pombal and the Peninsular War prepared the country for a change from absolutism to constitutional monarchy. (8) In 1826 the era of constitutional government began.

1. The Establishment of the Monarc/iy. - The origin of Portugal, as a separate state, was an incident in the Christian reconquest of Spain. Towards the close of the 11th century crusading knights came from every part of Europe to aid the kings of northern and central Spain in driving out the Moors. Among these adventurers was Count Henry of Burgundy, an ambitious warrior who, in 1095, married Theresa, natural daughter of Alphonso VI., king of Leon. The county of Portugal, which had already been won back from the Moors (1055-1064), was included in Theresa's dowry. Count Henry ruled as a vassal of Alphonso VI., whose Galician marches were thus secured against any sudden Moorish raid. But in 1109 Alphonso VI. died, bequeathing all his territories to his legitimate daughter Urraca, and Count Henry at once invaded Leon, hoping to add to his own dominions at the expense of his suzerain. After three years of war against Urraca and other rival claimants to the throne of Leon, Count Henry himself died in 1112. He left Theresa to govern Portugal north of the Mondego during the minority of her infant son Affonso Henriques (Alphonso I.): south of the Mondego the Moors were still supreme.

Theresa renewed the struggle against her half-sister and suzerain Urraca in 1116-1117, and again in I r 20; in 1121 she was besieged in Lanhoso and captured. But a peace was negotiated by the archbishops Diogo p g Y o P g Gelmires of Santiago de Compostela and Burdino of Braga, rival churchmen whose wealth and military resources enabled them to dictate terms. Bitter jealousy existed between the two prelates, each claiming to be primate of " all the Spains," and their antagonism had some historical importance in so far as it fostered the growth of separatist tendencies among the Portuguese. But the quarrel was temporarily suspended because both Gelmires and Burdino had reason to dread the extension of Urraca's authority. It was arranged that Theresa should be liberated and should continue to hold the county of Portugal as a fief (honor) of Leon. During the next five years she lavished wealth and titles upon her lover Fernando Peres, count of Trava, thus estranging her son, the archbishop of Braga and the nobles, most of whom were foreign crusaders. In I128, after her power had been crushed in another unsuccessful conflict with Leon and Castile, she was deposed by her own rebellious subjects and exiled in company with Peres. She died in 1130. Alphonso, who became count of Portugal in 1128, was one of the warrior heroes of medieval romance; his exploits were sung by troubadours throughout south-western Europe, and even in Africa " ibn Errik " - the son of Henry - was known and feared. The annals of his reign have been encum Alphonso 1., bered with a mass of legends, among which must be g g included the account of a cortes held at Lamego in 1143; probably also the description of the Valdevez tournament, in which the Portuguese knights are said to have vanquished the champions of Leon and Castile. Alphonso was occupied in almost incessant border fighting against his Christian or Moorish neighbours. Twelve years of campaigning on the Galician frontier were concluded in 1143 by the peace of Zamora, in which Alphonso was recognized as independent of any Spanish sovereign, although he promised to be a faithful vassal of the pope and to pay him a yearly tribute of four ounces of gold. In 1167, however, the war was renewed. Alphonso succeeded in conquering part of Galicia, but in attempting to capture the frontier fortress of Badajoz he was wounded and forced to surrender to Ferdinand II. of Leon (1169). Ferdinand was his son-in-law, and was probably disposed to leniency by the imminence of a Moorish invasion in which Portugal could render useful assistance. Alphonso was therefore released under promise to abandon all his conquests in Galicia.

He had already won many victories over the Moors. At the beginning of his reign the religious fervour which had sustained the Almoravide dynasty was rapidly subsiding; in Portugal independent Moorish chiefs ruled over cities and petty states, ignoring the central government; in Africa the Almohades were destroying the remnants of the Almoravide power. Alphonso took advantage of these dissensions to invade Alemtejo, reinforced by the Templars and Hospitallers, whose respective headquarters were at Soure and Thomar. On the 25th of July 1139 he defeated the combined forces of the Moors on the plains of Ourique, in Alemtejo. Legend has magnified the victory into the rout of 200,000 Moslems under five kings; but so far was the battle from being decisive that in 1140 the Moors were able to seize the fortress of Leiria, built by Alphonso in 1135 as an outpost for the defence of Coimbra, his capital. In 1144 they defeated the Templars at Soure. But on the 15th of March 1147 Alphonso stormed the fortress of Santarem, and about the same time a band of crusaders on their way to Palestine landed at Oporto and volunteered for the impending siege of Lisbon. Among them were many Englishmen, Germans and Flemings, who were afterwards induced to settle in Portugal. Aided by these powerful allies, Alphonso captured Lisbon on the 24th of October 1147. This was the greatest military achievement of his reign. The Moorish garrisons of Palmella, Cintra and Almada soon capitulated, and in 1158 Alcacer do Sal, one of the chief centres of Moorish commerce, was taken by storm. At this time, however, the Almohades had triumphed in Africa and invaded the Peninsula, where they were able to check the Portuguese reconquest, although isolated bands of crusading adventurers succeeded in establishing themselves in various cities of Alemtejo. The most famous of these free-lances was Giraldo Sempavor (" Gerald the Fearless "), who captured Evora in 1166. In 1171 Alphonso concluded a seven years' truce with the Moors; weakened by his wound and by old age, he could no longer take the field, and when the war broke out afresh he delegated the chief command to his son Sancho. Between 1179 and 1184 the Moors retrieved many of their losses in Alemtejo, but were unable to retake Santarem and Lisbon. Alphonso died on the 6th of December 1185. He had secured for Portugal the status though not the name of an independent kingdom, and had extended its frontier southwards from the Mondego to the Tagus. He had laid the foundation of its navy and had strengthened, if he did not inaugurate, that system of co-operation between the Crown and the military orders which afterwards proved of incalculable service in the maritime and colonial development of the nation.

Sancho I. continued the war against the Moors with varying fortune. In 1189 he won Silves, then the capital of Algarve; in 1192 he lost not only Algarve but the greater part of Alemtejo, including Alcacer do Sal. A eace was ancho 1, g p 11 8 ,x1 211 . then arranged, and for the next eight years Sancho was engaged in hostilities against Alphonso IX. of Leon. The motives and course of this indecisive struggle are equally obscure. It ended in 1201, and the last decade of Sancho's reign was a period of peaceful reform which earned for the king his popular name of o Povoador, the " maker of towns." He granted fresh charters to many cities, legalizing the system of self-government which the Romans had bequeathed to the Visigoths and the Moors had retained or improved. Lisbon had already (1179) received a charter from Alphonso I. Sancho also endeavoured to foster immigration and agriculture, by granting estates to the military orders and municipalities on condition that the occupiers should cultivate or colonize their lands. Towards the close of his reign he became embroiled in a dispute with Pope Innocent III. He had insisted that priests should accompany their flocks in battle, had made them amenable to secular jurisdiction, had withheld the tribute due to Rome and had even claimed the right of disposing of ecclesiastical domains. Finally he had quarrelled with Martinho Rodrigues, the unpopular bishop of Oporto, who was besieged for five months in his palace and then forced to seek redress in Rome (1209). As Sancho was in weak health and had no means of resisting Papal pressure, he made full submission (1210); and after bestowing large estates on his sons and daughters, he retired into the monastery of Alcobaca (q.v.), where he died in 1211.

HISTORY]

The reign of Alphonso II. (" the Fat ") is noteworthy for the first meeting of the Portuguese cortes, to which the upper hierarchy of the Church and the nobles (fidalgos and ricos homens) were summoned by royal writ. The king was no warrior, but in 1212 a Portuguese con- 1223. tingent aided the Castilians to defeat the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa, and in 1217 the ministers, bishops and captains of the realm, reinforced by foreign crusaders, retook Alcacer do Sal. Alfonso II. repudiated the will of his father, refused to surrender the estates left to his brothers, who went into exile, and only gave up the property bequeathed to his sisters after a prolonged civil war in which Alphonso IX. of Leon took part against them. Even then he compelled the heiresses to take the veil. His attempts to strengthen the monarchy and fill the treasury at the expense of the Church resulted in his excommunication by Pope Honorius III., and Portugal remained under interdict until Alphonso II. died in 1223.

Sancho II. succeeded at the age of thirteen. To secure the removal of the interdict the leading statesmen who were identified with the policy of his father - Goncalo Mendes the 23 chancellor, Pedro Annes the lord chamberlain 1223--121248. (mordomo-mor) and Vicente, dean of Lisbon - resigned their offices. Estevao Soares, archbishop of Braga, placed himself at the head of the nobles and churchmen who threatened to usurp the royal power during Sancho II.'s minority, and negotiated an alliance with Alphonso IX., by which it was arranged that the Portuguese should attack Elvas, the Spaniards Badajoz. Elvas was taken from the Moors in 1226, and in 1227 Sancho assumed control of the kingdom. He reinstated Pedro Annes, made Vicente chancellor, and appointed Martim Annes chief standard-bearer (alferes mor). He continued the crusade against the Moors, who were driven from their last strongholds in Alemtejo, and in 1239-1244, after a dispute with ROme which was once more ended by the imposition of an interdict and the submission of the Portuguese ruler, he won many successes in the Algarve. But his career of conquest was cut short by a revolution (1245), for which his marriage to a Castilian lady, D. Mecia Lopez de Haro, furnished a pretext. The legitimacy of the union has been questioned, on grounds which appear insufficient; but of its unpopularity there can be no doubt. The bishops, resenting the favour shown by Sancho to his father's anti-clerical ministers, took advantage of this unpopularity to organize the rebellion. They found a leader in Sancho's brother Alphonso, count of Boulogne, who owed his title to a marriage with Matilda, countess of Boulogne. The pope issued a bull of deposition in favour of Alphonso, who reached Lisbon in 1246; and after a civil war lasting two years Sancho II. retired to Toledo, where he died in January 1248.

One of the first acts of the usurper, and one of the most important, was to abandon the semi-ecclesiastical titles of visitor (visitador) or defender (curador) of the realm, and to 111., 1248- proclaim himself king (rei). Hitherto the position 1279. of the monarchy had been precarious; as in Aragon the nobles and the church had exercised a large measure of control over their nominal head, and though it would be pedantry to over-emphasize the importance of the royal title, its assumption by Alphonso III. does mark a definite stage in the evolution of a national monarchy and a centralized government. A second stage was reached shortly afterwards by the conquest of Algarve, the last remaining stronghold of the Moors. This drew down upon Portugal the anger of Alphonso X. of Leon and Castile, surnamed the Wise, who claimed suzerainty over Algarve. The war which followed was ended by Alphonso III. consenting to wed Donna Beatriz de Guzman, illegitimate daughter of Alphonso X., and to hold Algarve as a fief of Castile. The celebration of this marriage, while Matilda, countess of Boulogne and first wife of Alphonso III., was still alive, entailed the imposition of an interdict upon the kingdom. In 1254 Alphonso III. summoned a cortes at Leiria, in which the chief cities were represented, as well as the nobles and clergy. Fortified by their support the king refused to submit to Rome. At the cortes of Coimbra (1261), he further strengthened his position by conciliating the representatives of the cities, who denounced the issue of a debased coinage, and by recognizing that taxation could not be imposed without consent of the cortes. The clergy suffered more than the laity under a prolonged interdict, and in 1262 Pope Urban VI. legalized the disputed marriage and legitimized Dom Diniz, the king's eldest son. Thus ended the contest for supremacy between Church and Crown. The monarchy owed its triumph to its championship of national interests, to the support of the municipalities and military orders, and to the prestige gained by the royal armies in the Moorish and Castilian wars. In 1263 Alphonso X. renounced his claim to suzerainty over Algarve, and thus the kingdom of Portugal simultaneously reached its present European limits and attained its complete independence. Lisbon was henceforth recognized as the capital. Alphonso III. continued to reign until his death in 1279, but the peace of his later years was broken by the rebellion (1277-1279) of D. Diniz,' the heir-apparent.

2. The Consolidation of the Monarchy: 1279-1415. - The chief problems now confronting the monarchy were no longer military, but social, economic and constitutional. It is true that the reign of Diniz was not a period of uninterrupted peace. At the outset his legitimacy was disputed by his brother Alphonso, and a brief civil war ensued. Hostilities between Portugal and the reunited kingdoms of Leon and Castile were terminated in 1297 by a treaty of alliance, in accordance with which Ferdinand IV. of Leon and Castile married Constance, daughter of Diniz, while Alphonso, son of Diniz, married Beatrice of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand. A further outbreak of civil war, between the king and the heir-apparent, was averted in 1293 by the queen-consort Isabella of Portugal, who had married Diniz in 1281, and was canonized for her many virtues in the 16th century. She rode between the hostile camps, and succeeded in arranging an honourable peace between her husband and her son.

These wars were too brief to interfere seriously with the social reconstruction to which the king devoted himself. At his accession the Portuguese people was far from homogeneous; it would be long before its component g ? g p races - Moors and Mozarabs of the south, Galicians of the north, Jews and foreign crusaders - could be fused into one nationality. There were also urgent economic problems to be solved. The Moors had made Alemtejo the granary of Portugal, but war had undone their work, and large tracts of land were now barren and depopulated. Commerce and education had similarly been subordinated to the struggle for national existence. The machinery of administration was out of date and complicated by the authority of feudal and ecclesiastical courts. The supremacy of the Crown, though recognized, was still unstable. It was Diniz who initiated the needful reforms. He earned his title of the rei lavrador or "farmer king " by introducing improved methods of cultivation and founding agricultural schools. He encouraged maritime trade by negotiating a commercial treaty with England (1294) and forming a royal navy (1317) under the command of a Genoese admiral named Emmanuele di Pezagna (Manoel Pessanha). In 1290 he founded the university of Coimbra (q.v.). He was a poet and a patron of literature and music (see Literature, below). His chief administrative reforms were designed to secure centralized government and to limit the jurisdiction of feudal courts. He encouraged and nationalized the military orders. In 1290 the Portuguese knights of Sao Thiago (Santiago) were definitely separated from the parent Spanish order. The orders of Crato and of St Benedict of Aviz had already been established, the traditional dates of their incorporation being 1113 and 1162. After the condemnation of the Templars by Pope Clement V. (1312) an ecclesiastical commission investigated the charges against the Portuguese branch of the order, and found in its favour. As the Templars were rich, influential and loyal, Diniz took advantage of the death of Clement V. to maintain the order under a new name; the Order of Christ, as it was henceforth called, received the benediction of the pope in 1319 and subsequently played an important part in the colonial expansion of Portugal.

Alphonso IV. adhered to the matrimonial policy initiated by Diniz. He arranged that his daughter Maria should wed Alphonso XI. of Castile (1328), but the marriage precipitated the war it was intended to avert, and IV., 1325- peace was only restored (1330) after Queen Isabella 1357. had again intervened. Pedro, the crown prince, afterwards married Constance, daughter of the duke of Penafiel (near Valladolid), and Alphonso IV. brought a strong Portuguese army to aid the Castilians against the Moors of Granada and their African allies. In the victory won by the Christians on the banks of the river Salado, near Tarifa, he earned his title of Alphonso the Brave (1340). In 1347 he married his daughter Leonora 1 Throughout this article the abbreviation D. is used for the Portuguese title Dom and for its feminine form Dona (see DoMINus).

(Lenor) to Pedro IV. of Aragon. The later years of his reign were darkened by the tragedy of Inez de Castro. He died in 1357, and the first act of his successor, Pedro the Severe, 1., was to take vengeance on the murderers of Inez. Pedro 1357-1367. Throughout his reign he strengthened the central government at the expense of the aristocracy and the Church, by a stern enforcement of law and order. In 1361, at the cortes of Elvas, it was enacted that the privileges of the clergy should only be deemed valid in so far as they did not conflict with the royal prerogative. Pedro maintained friendly relations with England, where in 1352 Edward III. issued a proclamation in favour of Portuguese traders, and in 1353 the Portuguese envoy Affonso Martins Alho signed a covenant with the merchants of London, guaranteeing mutual good faith in all commercial dealings.

The foreign policy of Diniz, Alphonso IV. and Pedro I. had been, as a rule, successful in its main object, the preservation of peace with the Christian kingdoms of Spain; in consequence, the Portuguese had advanced in prosperity and culture. They had supported the monarchy because it was a national institution, hostile to the tyranny of nobles and clergy. During the reign of Ferdinand (1367-1383) and under the regency of Leonora the ruling dynasty ceased to represent the national will; the Portuguese people therefore made an end of the dynasty and chose its own ruler. The complex events which brought about this crisis may be briefly summarized.

Ferdinand, a weak but ambitious and unscrupulous king, claimed the thrones of Castile and Leon, left vacant by the death of Pedro I. of Castile (1369); he based his claim on the fact that his grandmother Beatrice 1367-1385. belonged to the legitimate line of Castile. When the majority of the Castilian nobles refused to accept a Portuguese sovereign, and welcomed Henry of Trastamara (see Spain: History), as Henry II. of Castile, Ferdinand allied himself with the Moors and Aragonese; but in 1371 Pope Gregory XI. intervened, and it was decided that Ferdinand should renounce his claim and marry Leonora, the daughter of his successful rival. Ferdinand, however, preferred his Portuguese mistress, Leonora Telles de Menezes, whom he eventually married. To avenge this slight, Henry of Castile invaded Portugal and besieged Lisbon. Ferdinand appealed to John of Gaunt, who also claimed the throne of Castile, on behalf of his wife Constance, daughter of Pedro I. of Castile. An alliance between Portugal and England was concluded; and although Ferdinand made peace with Castile in 1374, he renewed his claim in 1380, after the death of Henry of Castile, and sent Joao Fernandes Andeiro, count of Ourem, to secure English aid. In 1381 Richard II. of England despatched a powerful force to Lisbon, and betrothed his cousin Prince Edward to Beatrice, only child of Ferdinand, who had been recognized as heiress to the throne by the cortes of Leiria (1376). In 1383, however, Ferdinand made peace with John I. of Castile at Salvaterra, deserting his English allies, who retaliated by ravaging part of his territory. By the treaty of Salvaterra it was agreed that Beatrice should marry John I. Six months later Ferdinand died, and in accordance with the terms of the treaty Leonora became regent until the eldest son of John I. and Beatrice should be of age.

Leonora had long carried on an intrigue with the count of Ourem, whose influence was resented by the leaders of the aristocracy, while her tyrannical rule also aroused of bitter opposition. The malcontents chose D. John, 1383.1383. grand-master of the knights of Aviz and illegitimate son of Pedro the Severe, as their leader, organized a revolt in Lisbon, and assassinated the count of Ourem within the royal palace (Dec. 6, 1383). Leonora fled to Santarem and summoned aid from Castile, while D. John was proclaimed defender of Portugal. In 1384 a Castilian army invested Lisbon, but encountered a heroic resistance, and after five months an outbreak of plague compelled them to raise the siege. John I. of Castile, discovering or alleging that Leonora had plotted to poison him, imprisoned her in a convent at Tordesillas, where she died in 1386. Before this, Nuno Alvares Pereira, constable of Portugal, had gained his popular title of " The Holy Constable " by twice defeating the invaders, at Atoleiro and Trancoso in the district of Guarda.

On the 16th of April 1385 the cortes assembled at Coimbra declared the crown of Portugal elective, and at the instance of Joao das Regras, the chancellor, D. John was chosen king. No event in the early constitutional history of Portugal is more important than this election, which definitely affirmed the national character of the monarchy. The choice of the grand-master of Aviz ratified the old alliance between the Crown and the military orders; his election by the whole cortes not only ratified the alliance between the Crown and the commons, but also included the nobles and the Church. The nation was unanimous.

Ferdinand had been the last legitimate descendant of Count Henry of Burgundy. With John I. began the rule of a new dynasty, the House of Aviz. The most urgent matter which confronted the king - or the group of statesmen, led by Joao das Regras and the " Holy Constable " who inspired his policy - was the menace of Castilian aggression. But on the 14th of August 1385 the Portuguese army, aided by 500 English archers, utterly defeated the Castilians at Aljubarrota. By this victory the Portuguese showed themselves equal in military power to their strongest rivals in the Peninsula. In October the " Holy Constable " won another victory at Valverde; early in 1386 5000 English soldiers, under John of Gaunt, reinforced the Portuguese; and by the treaty of Windsor (May 9, 1386), the alliance between Portugal and England was confirmed and extended. Against such a combination the Castilians were powerless; a truce was arranged in 1387 and renewed at intervals until 1411, when peace was concluded. D. Diniz, eldest son of Inez de Castro, claimed the throne and invaded Portugal in 1398, but his supporters were easily crushed. The domestic and foreign policy pursued by John I. until his death in 1433 may be briefly described. At home he endeavoured to reform administration, to encourage agriculture and commerce, and to secure the loyalty of the nobles by grants of land and privileges so extensive that, towards the end of his reign, many nobles who exercised their full feudal rights had become almost independent princes. Abroad, he aimed at peace with Castile and close friendship with England. In 1387 he had married Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; Richard II. sent troops to aid in the expulsion of D. Diniz; Henry IV., Henry V. and Henry VI. of England successively ratified the treaty of Windsor; Henry IV. made his ally a knight of the Garter in 1400. The convent of Batalha (q.v.), founded to commemorate the victory of Aljubarrota, is architecturally a monument of the English influence prevalent at this time throughout Portugal.

The cortes of Coimbra, the battle of Aljubarrota and the treaty of Windsor mark the three final stages in the consolidation of the monarchy. A period of expansion oversea began in the same reign, with the capture of Ceuta in Morocco. The three eldest sons of King John and Queen Philippa - Edward, Pedro and Henry, afterwards celebrated as Prince Henry the Navigator - desired to win knighthood by service against the Moors, the historic enemies of their country and creed. In 1415 a Portuguese fleet, commanded by the king and the three princes, set sail for Ceuta. English men-at-arms were sent by Henry V. to take part in the expedition, which proved successful. The town was captured and garrisoned, and thus the first Portuguese outpost was established on the mainland of Africa.

HISTORY]

3. The Period of Discoveries: 1415-1499. - Before describing in outline the course of the discoveries which were soon to render Portugal the foremost colonizing power in Europe it is necessary to indicate the main causes which contributed to that result. As the south-westernmost of the free peoples of Europe, the Portuguese were the natural inheritors of that work of exploration which had been carried on during the middle ages, chiefly by the Arabs. They began where the Arabs left off, by penetrating far into the Atlantic. The long littoral of their country, with its fine harbours and rivers flowing westward to the ocean, had been the training-ground of a race of adventurous seamen. It was impossible, moreover, to expand or reach new markets except by sea: the interposition of Castile and Aragon, so often hostile, completely prevented any intercourse by land between Portugal and other European countries. Consequently the Portuguese merchants sent their goods by sea to England, Flanders, or the Hanse towns. The whole history of the nation had also inspired a desire for fresh conquests among its leaders. Portugal had won and now held its independence by the sword. The long struggle to expel the Moors, with the influence of foreign Crusaders and the military orders, had given a religious sanction to the desire for martial fame. Nowhere was the ancient crusading spirit so active a political force. To make war upon Islam seemed to the Portuguese their natural destiny and their duty as Christians.

It was the genius of Prince Henry the Navigator (q.v.) that co-ordinated and utilized all these tendencies towards expansion. Prince Henry placed at the disposal of his captains the vast resources of the Order of Christ, the best information and the most accurate instruments and maps which could be obtained. He sought to effect a junction with the half-fabulous Christian Empire of " Prester John " by way of the " Western Nile," i.e. the Senegal, and, in alliance with that potentate, to crush the Turks and liberate Palestine. The conception of an ocean route to India appears to have originated after his death. On land he again defeated the Moors, who attempted to re-take Ceuta in 1418; but in an expedition to Tangier, undertaken in 1436 by King Edward (1433-1438), the Portuguese army was defeated, and could only escape destruction by surrendering as a hostage Prince Ferdinand, the king's youngest brother. Ferdinand, known as " the Constant," from the fortitude with which he endured captivity, died unransomed in 1 443. By sea Prince Henry's captains continued their exploration of Africa and the Atlantic. In 1433 Cape Bojador was doubled; in 1 434 the first consignment of slaves was brought to Lisbon; and slave trading soon became one of the most profitable branches of Portuguese commerce. The Senegal was reached in 1445, Cape Verde was passed in the same year, and in 1446 Alvaro Fernandes pushed on almost as far as Sierra Leone. This was probably the farthest point reached before the Navigator died (1460). Meanwhile colonization progressed in the Azores and Madeira, where sugar and wine were produced; above all, the gold brought home from Guinea stimulated the commercial energy of the Portuguese. It had become clear that, apart from their religious and scientific aspects, these voyages of discovery were highly profitable. Under Alphonso V., surnamed the African (1443-1481), the Gulf of Guinea was explored as far as Cape St Catherine, and three expeditions (1458, 1461, 1471) were sent to Morocco; in 1471 Arzila (Asila) and Tangier were captured from the Moors. Under John II. (1481-1495) the fortress of Sao Jorge da Mina, the modern Elmina, was founded for the protection of the Guinea trade in 1481-1482; Diogo Cam, or Cao, discovered the Congo in 1482 and reached Cape Cross in 1486; Bartholomeu Diaz doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, thus proving that the Indian Ocean was accessible by sea. After 1492 the discovery of the West Indies by Columbus rendered desirable a delimitation of the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration. This was accomplished by the treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1 494) which modified the delimitation authorized by Pope Alexander VI. in two bulls issued on the 4th of May, 1493. The treaty gave to Portugal all lands which might be discovered east of a straight line drawn from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic, at a distance of 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. Spain received the lands discovered west of this line. As, however, the known means of measuring longitude were so inexact that the line of demarcation could not in practice be determined (see J. de Andrade Corvo in Journal das Sciencias Mathematicas, xxxi. 147-176, Lisbon, 1881), the treaty was subject to very diverse interpretations. On its provisions were based both the Portuguese claim to Brazil and the Spanish claim to the Moluccas (see Malay Archipelago: History). The treaty was chiefly valuable to the Portuguese as a recognition of the prestige they had acquired. That prestige was enormously enhanced when, in 1497-1499, Vasco da Gama completed the voyage to India.

While the Crown was thus acquiring new possessions, its authority in Portugal was temporarily overshadowed by the growth of aristocratic privilege. At the cortes of Evora (1433) King Edward had obtained the enactment of a law' declaring that the estates granted by John I. to his adherents could only be inherited by the direct male descendants of the grantees, and failing such descendants, should revert to the Crown. After the death of Edward further attempts to curb the power of the nobles were made by his brother, D. Pedro, duke of Coimbra, who acted as regent during the minority of Alphonso V. (1438-1447). The head of the aristocratic opposition was the duke of Braganza, who contrived to secure the sympathy of the king and the dismissal of the regent. The quarrel led to civil war, and in May 1449 D. Pedro was defeated and killed. Thenceforward the grants made by John I. were renewed, and extended on so lavish a scale that the Braganza estates alone comprised about a third of the whole kingdom. An unwise foreign policy simultaneously injured the royal prestige, for Alphonso married his own niece, Joanna, daughter of Henry IV. of Castile, and claimed that kingdom in her name. At the battle of Toro, in 1476, he was defeated by Ferdinand and Isabella, and in 1478 he was compelled to sign the treaty of Alcantara, by which Joanna was relegated to a convent. His successor, John II. (1481-1495) reverted to the policy of matrimonial alliances with Castile and. friendship with England. Finding, as he said, that the liberality of former kings had left the Crown " no estates except the high roads of Portugal," he determined to crush the feudal nobility and seize its territories. A cortes held at Evora (1481) empowered judges nominated by the Crown to administer justice in all feudal domains. The nobles resisted this infringement of their rights; but their leader, Ferdinand, duke of Braganza, was beheaded for high treason in 1483; in 1484 the king stabbed to death his own brother-in-law, Ferdinand, duke of Vizeu; and 80 other members of the aristocracy were afterwards executed. Thus John " the Perfect," as he was called, assured the supremacy of the Crown. He was succeeded in 1495 by Emanuel (Manoel) I., who was named " the Great " or " the Fortunate," because in his reign the sea route to India was discovered and a Portuguese Empire founded.

4. The Portuguese Empire: 1499-1580. - In 1500 King Emanuel assumed the title " Lord of the conquest, navigation and commerce of India, Ethiopia, Arabia and Persia," which was confirmed by Pope Alexander VI. in 1502. It was now upon schemes of conquest that the energy of the nation was to be concentrated, although the motives which called forth that energy were unchanged. " We come to seek Christians and spices," said the first of Vasco da Gama's sailors who landed in India: and the combination of missionary ardour with commercial enterprise which had led to the exploration of the Atlantic led also to the establishment of a Portuguese Empire. This expansion of national interests proceeded rapidly in almost every quarter of the known world. In the North Atlantic Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real penetrated as far as Greenland (their " Labrador ") in 1500-1501; but these voyages were politically and commercially unimportant. Equally barren was the intermittent fighting in Morocco, which was regarded as a crusade against the Moors. In the South Atlantic, however, the African coast was further explored, new settlements were founded, and a remarkable development of Portuguese-African civilization took place in the kingdom of Kongo (see Angola).

1 Known as the lei mental, because it was supposed to fulfil the intention which John I. had in mind when the grants were made.

Pedro Alvares Cabral, sailing to India, but steering far westward to avoid the winds and currents of the Guinea coast, reached Brazil Woo) and claimed it for his sovereign. Joao da Nova discovered Ascension (1501) and St Helena (1502);(1502); Tristao da Cunha was the first to sight the archipelago still known by his name (1506). In East Africa the small Mahommedan states along the coast - Sofala, Mozambique, Kilwa, Brava, Mombasa, Malindi - either were destroyed or became subjects or allies of Portugal. Pedro de Covilham had reached Abyssinia as early as 1490; in 1520 a Portuguese embassy arrived at the court of " Prester John," and in 1541 a military force was sent to aid him in repelling a Mahommedan invasion. In the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, one of Cabral's ships discovered Madagascar (150r), which was partly explored by Tristao da Cunha (1507); Mauritius was discovered in 1507, Socotra occupied in 1506, and in the same year D. Louren90 d'Almeida visited Ceylon. In the Red Sea Massawa was the most northerly point frequented by the Portuguese until 1541, when a fleet under Estevao da Gama penetrated as far as Suez. Hormuz, in the Persian Gulf, was seized by Alphonso d'Albuquerque (1515), who also entered into diplomatic relations with Persia. On the Asiatic mainland the first trading-stations were established by Cabral at Cochin and Calicut (1501); more important, however, were the conquest of Goa (1510) and Malacca (1511) by Albuquerque, and the acquisition of Diu (1535) by Martini Affonso de Sousa. East of Malacca, Albuquerque sent Duarte Fernandes as envoy to Siam (1511), and despatched to the Moluccas two expeditions (1512, 1514), which founded the Portuguese dominion in the Malay Archipelago (q.v.). Fernao Pires de Andrade visited Canton in 1517 and opened up trade with China, where in 1557 the Portuguese were permitted to occupy Macao. Japan, accidentally discovered by three Portuguese traders in 1542, soon attracted large numbers of merchants and missionaries (see Japan, § viii.). In 1522 one of the ships of Ferdinand Magellan - a Portuguese sailor, though in the Spanish service - completed the first voyage round the world.

Up to 1505 the Portuguese voyages to the East were little more than trading ventures or plundering raids, although a few " factories " for the exchange of goods were and Alba= founded in Malabar. In theory, the objects of querque King Emanuel's policy were the establishment of friendly commercial relations with the Hindus (who were at first mistaken for Christians " not yet confirmed in the faith," as the king wrote to Alexander VI.) and the prosecution of a crusade against Islam. But Hindu and Mahommedan interests were found to be so closely interwoven that this policy became impracticable, and it was superseded when D. Francisco d'Almeida (q.v.) went to India as first Portuguese viceroy in 1505. Almeida sought to subordinate all else to sea power and commerce, to concentrate the whole naval and military force of the kingdom on the maintenance of maritime ascendancy; to annex no territory, to avoid risking troops ashore, and to leave the defence of such factories as might be necessary to friendly native powers, which would receive in return the support of the Portuguese fleet. Almeida's statesmanship was to a great extent sound. The Portuguese could never penetrate far inland; throughout the 16th century their settlements were confined to the coasts of Asia, Africa or America, and the area they were able effectively to occupy was far less than the area of their empire in the 10th century. A Chinese critic, quoted by Faria y Sousa, said of them that they were like fishes, " remove them from the water and they straightway die." It is thus absurd to speak of a " Portuguese conquest of India "; in a land campaign they would have been outnumbered and destroyed by the armies of any one of the greater Indian states. But their artillery and superior maritime science made them almost invulnerable at sea, and their principal military achievements consisted in the capture or defence of positions accessible from the sea, e.g. the defence of Cochin by Duarte Pacheco Pereira in 1504, the defence of Diu (q v.) in 1538 and 1546.

Alphonso d'Albuquerque (q.v.), who succeeded Almeida in 1509, found it necessary to modify the policy formulated by his predecessor. Command of the sea could not be maintained - least of all in the monsoon months - while the Portuguese fleets were based on Lisbon, which could only be reached after a six months' voyage; and experience had proved that almost every Portuguese factory required a fortress for