Portugal

Portugal,}} officially the Portuguese Republic, .
In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* .}} is a country in the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring the westernmost point in continental Europe, to its north and east is Spain, with which it shares the longest uninterrupted border in the European Union; to the south and the west is the North Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and southwest lie the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, which are two autonomous regions of Portugal. Lisbon is the capital and largest city, followed by Porto, which is the only other metropolitan area.

Founded in 1143, with its current borders established in 1297, Portugal is the oldest nation state in Europe and among the oldest in the world. Its territory has been continuously inhabited since prehistoric times, with the earliest signs of settlement dating to 5500 BCE. Celtic and Iberian peoples arrived in the first millennium BCE, with Phoenician and later Punic influence reaching the south during the same period. The region came under Roman control in the second century BCE, followed by a succession of Germanic peoples and the Alans from the fifth to eighth centuries CE. Muslims conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century CE, but were gradually expelled by the Christian ''Reconquista'' over the next several centuries. Modern Portugal began taking shape during this period, initially as a county of the Christian Kingdom of León in 868, and ultimately as an independent Catholic kingdom with the Treaty of Zamora in 1143.

After consolidating its territorial and political integrity in 1297, the Kingdom of Portugal pioneered a series of ambitious commercial and maritime expeditions that catalyzed the Age of Discovery in the late 15th century. Portuguese supremacy in seafaring and nautical technology helped achieve the world's first global maritime empire, which spanned five continents and lasted into the late 20th century. Reaching its economic and political height in the late 16th century, Portugal faced internal divisions and growing rivalry and conflict with other European powers. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755, French occupation in 1807–1808 during the Napoleonic Wars, and the subsequent independence of Brazil in 1822 further hastened the country's decline. A civil war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists over royal succession ensued from 1828 to 1834. The 1910 revolution deposed Portugal's monarchy and established the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic, later superseded by the authoritarian regimes of ''Ditadura Nacional'' (National Dictatorship) and ''Estado Novo'' (New State). Democracy was restored after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which also ended the Portuguese Colonial War by allowing the remaining Portuguese territories in Africa to gain independence.

Portugal's imperial history has left a global cultural legacy, with around 300 million Portuguese speakers around the world. Today, it is a developed country with an advanced economy relying chiefly upon services, industry, and tourism. Portugal is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Schengen Area, and the Council of Europe, as well as a founding members of NATO, the eurozone, the OECD, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Provided by Wikipedia