PORTUGAL 



4779 



PORTUGAL 



.ORTUGAL, pohr'tugal, a small nation 

 with a lonp history, now one of Europe's stable 

 republ \tends for 350 miles along the 



souths- of the Iberian peninsula, shar- 



ing with Spain the area of that corner of Eu- 

 rope. While it has no natural north and east 

 boundaries, except rivers for short distances, and 

 no marked differences from its Spanish neigh- 

 bors in the origin and language of its people, 



ory alone gives it distinction as a nation. 

 The area of Portugal is 35,490 square miles. 



equal to that of Indiana, but in the 

 republic live 5,957,985 people, double the popu- 

 lation of the "Hoosier" state. Since there is 

 but one province of the country which does not 



o Atlantic, it is essentially a maritime 

 nation, and unlike Spain, still retains large and 

 important colonial possessions. Portugal de- 

 rives its name from that of one of its chief sea- 

 ports, Oporto, which was anciently called the 



of Calc. 



The People. Phoenician, Carthaginian, Ro- 

 man and Greek colonists and Gothic and Moor- 

 ish invaders were the ancestors of the Portu- 

 guese of to-day. A short people, with dark hair 

 and eyes, the Portuguese are not unlike the 

 Spaniards in appearance, but they are strikingly 



;t from their light-hearted, keener-wit tin! 

 neighbors in temperament. Although their 

 dress is flauntingly gay, they are a serious, 

 ;uinded and busy people, lacking the ar- 

 tistic and aesthetic temperament of the other 

 southern nations of Europe. 



throngs of beggars, typical of most 



n cities, are not numerous in Portugal; 

 the people generally are industrious and de- 

 pendable. The burdens are carried upon the 

 heads of the women, who do much of the 

 heavy labor. The colonies have brought many 

 French, English and Dutch into Portugal, but 

 emigration to other countries has steadily m- 

 <TI i><d; in I'.HK ti:. number leaving the coun- 

 try was 40,056, while six yean later it was 

 92.119. 



Surface of the Country. The coast of Portu- 

 gal presents scenes of striking contrast, rising 

 from marshes and sand dunes in the extreme 

 north to steep, rugged cliffs which lift abruptly 

 from the sea at Setubal, farther south, then 

 dropping again to 

 sandy beaches, to 

 rise to inacces- 

 sible cliffs at Cape 

 Saint Vincent. 

 There are ten 

 prominent capes, 

 and four good 

 harbors in the 

 bays of Figueira, 

 Ereceira, Setubal LOCATION MAP 



and Sines. Not all of the bays and river 

 mouths can be used as ports, because of reefs 

 which make passage impossible except at flood 

 tide. Even in the great harbor of Oporto, 

 ships can pass the bar only at high tide. 



The interior is a succession of pine-covered 

 hills and mountains which are continuations, 

 west and southwest, of the mountain ranges of 

 Spain. Betwtrii tluse lie the valleys, in which 

 are the fertile wine districts of Portugal. The 

 Cantabrian Pyrenees spread over the two north- 

 ern provinces, their highest ranges, Serra do 

 Gerez and Serra de Marao, being only 4315 

 and 4,665 feet high, or about the height of the 

 Adirondacks. The loftiest mountains in Portu- 

 gal are the Serra da Estrella, in Beira, which 

 rise to 6,540 feet. In the south the ranges are 

 1<>\\. i . having an elevation of only 2,000 or 3,000 

 These mountain slopes, wooded with 

 pine, furnish the timber of Portuguese com- 

 merce. 



Many swift tributary streams flow into the 

 three great riven the Douro in the north, the 

 Tagus in the central part, and the Guadiana in 

 the south. All of these rivers are navigable 

 into Spain. As there are no inland lakes ex- 

 cept the mountain lakes, the rivers are very im- 

 portant as commercial highways. 



