Portugal History

The history of Portugal dates back to the Early Middle Ages. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal ascended to the status of a world power during Europe's "Age of Discovery" as it built up a vast empire, including possessions in South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Over the following two centuries, Portugal kept most of its colonies, but gradually lost much of its wealth and status as the Dutch, English, and French took an increasing share of the spice and slave trades by surrounding or conquering the widely scattered Portuguese trading posts and territories.

Signs of military decline began with two disastrous battles: the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco in 1578 and Spain's abortive attempt to conquer England in 1588 by means of the Spanish Armada – Portugal was then in a dynastic union with Spain and contributed ships to the Spanish invasion fleet. The country was further weakened by the destruction of much of its capital city in an earthquake in 1755, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars and the loss of its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822. From the middle of the 19th century to the late 1950s, nearly two million Portuguese left Portugal to live in Brazil and the United States.

In 1910, there was a revolution that deposed the monarchy. Amid corruption, repression of the church, and the near bankruptcy of the state, a military coup in 1926 installed a dictatorship that remained until another coup in 1974. The new government instituted sweeping democratic reforms and granted independence to all of Portugal's African colonies in 1975.

Portugal is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It entered the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1986.

葡萄牙的历史可以追溯到中世纪早期。在15世纪和16世纪，葡萄牙上升到一个世界大国的过程中欧洲的“大航海时代”的地位，因为它建立了一个庞大的帝国，包括南美，非洲，亚洲和大洋洲的财产。在接下来的两个世纪中，葡萄牙保持其大部分殖民地，但逐渐失去了它的财富和地位的荷兰语，英语和法语周围或征服广泛分布葡萄牙贸易的岗位采取了香料和奴隶贸易的份额越来越大和领土。

军事下滑迹象开始有两个灾难性的战役：阿尔卡塞尔Quibir之战在摩洛哥于1578年和西班牙的失败的企图由西班牙无敌舰队的手段来征服英格兰在1588年 - 葡萄牙当时是与西班牙王朝联盟和促进船舶西班牙入侵舰队。该国因备受其首都的破坏进一步削弱了在地震于1755年，在拿破仑战争期间占领和殖民最大的巴西，在1822年损失从19世纪中叶到20世纪50年代末，近两百万葡萄牙人离开葡萄牙生活在巴西和美国。

1910年，有废黜帝制的革命。在一片腐败，教会和国家的濒临破产的压制，在1926年的军事政变安装一直持续到1974年另一场政变，新政府实行席卷民主改革并在1975年获得独立于所有葡萄牙非洲殖民地专政。

葡萄牙是北大西洋公约组织（北约），在经济合作与发展组织（OECD）和欧洲自由贸易联盟（EFTA）的创始成员之一。它于1986年进入欧共体（现欧盟）。