Portugal

Portugal: capital Lisbon, population 10.8M, area 92,090 km². The 89th most populous country, in Europe. Facts, map, neighbours and more.

Portugal holds the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula together with the Azores and Madeira, and its internal waters and territorial sea account for two-fifths of its territory. Afonso Henriques was recognised as king at Zamora in 1143, Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498, and the earthquake of 1755 flattened Lisbon and began the scientific study of earthquakes. The Manueline stonework of Belém, the terraced Douro that became the world's first demarcated wine region in 1756, and fado sung in Lisbon since the 1820s all belong to the same small country.

• Alfonso VII of León recognised his cousin Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal at Zamora on 5 October 1143; a papal bull confirmed the new kingdom in 1179.
• The Treaty of Windsor of 1386, sealed by John I's marriage to Philippa of Lancaster, still binds Portugal and England; it is the oldest alliance anywhere that remains in force.
• The earthquake of 1 November 1755 struck Lisbon on All Saints' Day at about 09:40, killed 30,000 to 40,000 people with the fires and tsunami that followed, and gave rise to modern seismology.
• A radio broadcast of José Afonso's song Grândola, Vila Morena signalled the officers to act on 25 April 1974; almost no shots were fired, and Celeste Caeiro's carnations named the day.

• Vasco da Gama landed at Kozhikode on 20 May 1498, opening the first sea route from Europe to India round the Cape; his outward and return legs were the longest ocean voyages then made.
• Ferdinand Magellan was killed at Mactan on 27 April 1521, but the expedition he had planned came home under Juan Sebastián Elcano in 1522 as the first circumnavigation of the world.
• Luís de Camões wrote Os Lusíadas in exile and printed it in 1572, ten cantos of 1,102 stanzas in ottava rima; the day of his death, 10 June, is Portugal's national day.
• Fernando Pessoa wrote under roughly seventy-five other names and called the three main ones, Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis, heteronyms, a word he coined himself.

• The Jerónimos Monastery was raised near where Vasco da Gama sailed and paid for with a tax on the India Armadas' profits; his tomb and Camões's were moved into its nave in 1880.
• Bertrand opened in the Chiado quarter of Lisbon in 1732, and Guinness declared it the oldest bookshop still trading anywhere in 2011; Pessoa and Eça de Queirós were among its regulars.
• Nazaré is known for enormous surf: Sebastian Steudtner rode a wave measured there at 26.2 metres in 2020, and it still stands as the tallest wave ever surfed.
• Mount Pico rises 2,351 metres on its Azorean island, the highest point in Portugal, and the vineyards below it grow inside currais, small rectangles walled with black basalt.

• Fado can be traced in Lisbon to the 1820s and turns on saudade, a sense of loss; UNESCO listed it on 27 November 2011 after Mariza and Carlos do Carmo championed the bid.
• Portugal's montado woodlands yield about half the cork harvested in the world each year, and it was cork under a microscope that led Robert Hooke to name the cell.
• The word azulejo comes from the Arabic al-zillīj; the painted tin-glazed tiles cover Portuguese façades and were laid partly to help keep the rooms behind them cool.
• Cante alentejano is sung in the Alentejo without instruments, a habit said to come from campinos coordinating their work herding bulls; UNESCO listed it in 2014.

What is the capital of Portugal?

The capital of Portugal is Lisbon.

What is the population of Portugal?

Portugal has about 10.8M people — the 89th most populous country in the world.

How big is Portugal?

Portugal covers 92,090 km², making it the 109th largest country by area.

Which region is Portugal in?

Portugal is in Southern Europe, Europe.