PORTUGAL 



6279 



PORTUGAL 



PORTUGAL: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 



A. D. Innes, K. G. Jayne, and Robert Mnchray 



See the articles on the cities and towns, statesmen, navigators, and 



men of letters of Portugal : also those on Goa, East Africa, and other 



Portuguese colonial possessions. See also Europe 



Portugal is a republic of S.W. 

 Europe. The ancient Lusitania, 

 it is bounded N. and E. by Spain, 



_ __ _ __ and elsewhere 



by the Atlantic 

 Ocean. It is a 

 maritime coun- 

 try, only one of 

 its provinces, 

 Tras-os - Montes, 

 not touching the 

 sea. Its greatest 



Por i ug p' ^r" of length, from N. 

 the Republic |" ^ ^ ^ 



and its greatest breadth 141 m. 

 Its area is 34,254 sq. m., or, with 

 the Azores and Madeira Islands, 

 officially included with conti- 

 nental Portugal, 35,490 sq. m. 

 Pop. 5,545,595 and 5,957,985 

 respectively. 



Portugal possesses colonies in 

 Africa and Asia as follows : Cape 

 Verde Islands, Guinea, Principe 

 and St. Thomas Islands, Angola, 

 East Africa or Mozambique, Goa, 

 Diu, Timor, Macao, etc.; total area, 

 936,264 sq. m.; total pop. 8,736,000. 

 Physical Features 



Physically, Portugal is an in- 

 tegral part of the Iberian Penin- 

 sula, its mts. and rivers being 

 mainly prolongations of those of 

 Spain. The longest river rising in 

 Portugal is the Mondego, in Beira. 

 The largest mt. range is the Serra 

 da Estrella, 6,540 ft. In the S. is 

 the Serra d' Ossa, a continuation 

 of the Sierra Morena, and, still 

 farther S., the Serra de Monchique. 

 The chief rivers are the Minho, 

 which forms part of the N. bound- 

 ary ; the Guadiana, which forms 

 part of the S.E. frontier ; the 

 Douro, and the Tagus. The coast, 

 some 500 m. in length, is generally 

 low and flat, except near the Tagus 

 and Cape St. Vincent. Apart from 

 the estuaries of rivers, the only 

 deep indentations are the Bay of 

 Setubal and the Ria de Aveiro or 

 Aveiro lagoon, S. of Oporto. The 

 only islands are the Farilhoes and 

 Berlengas. Among the minerals 

 found are sulphur, copper, wolfram, 

 lead,coal, tin, silver, gold, iron, etc. 

 Salt is obtained from the Aveiro 

 lagoon and other salt-marshes. 



Portugal's propinquity to the 

 sea tempers the heat felt in Spain, 

 and, apart from some too sheltered 

 valleys and exposed parts of 

 Alemtejo, the climate generally is 

 equable and temperate. 



The indigenous flora embraces 

 the usual plants of N. Europe, 

 but imported semi-tropical varie- 

 ties also flourish, and include the 



agave, eucalyptus, maple, Portugal 

 cypress, magnolia, Barbary oak, 

 carob-tree, myrtle, palm, aloe, 

 and tree-fern. There are large 

 forests of oak and cork trees, and 

 the botanical forest garden of 

 Busaco is one of the richest in 

 Europe. The fauna of Portugal re- 

 sembles generally that of Spain. In 

 the Estrella Mts. wolves are found. 

 The people are of mixed race. 

 Originally of Iberian stock, they 

 were influenced racially by Car- 

 thaginians, Romans, Celts, Jews, 

 Arabs, and negroes. In the N. the 

 Galician Spanish type prevails, in 

 the centre the Arabic, and in the S. 

 the negroid. All, however, were 

 largely influenced by the Visigothic 

 invasion, and 

 but little by 

 the Spaniards. 

 The Moorish 

 invasion, both 

 physically and 

 intellectually, 

 was the most 

 powerful fac- 



Portugal. Nation- 

 al flag ; green and 

 red 



tor in determining the type. Inter- 

 marriage was so general that there 

 arose a class called the Mozarabic, 

 which was Arabic in tongue and 

 manners, Christian in religion, and 

 Portuguese in blood. The con- 

 quests in Africa introduced a new 

 type, since the tolerant habits of 

 the people interposed no racial 

 bar against Africans, even negro 

 slaves. To-day, the Portuguese are 

 a kindly, hospitable, artistic, sober, 

 and patriotic people, though some- 

 what shiftless, and, in the rural 

 districts, rather superstitious. The 

 chief towns are Lisbon, the capital 

 (pop., 1911, 435,000), and Oporto 

 (194,000), the only two which have 

 a population in excess of 50,000. 

 Portugal is divided into six pro vs., 

 viz. Entre Minho-e-Douro, Tras- 

 os-Montes, Beira, Estremadura, 

 Alemtejo, and Algarve. 



Government and Constitution 

 After the fall of the monarchy a 

 new constitution was adopted Aug. 

 2Q, 1911. It provides that there 

 shall be a president and two cham- 

 bers, viz. the national council, and 

 the second or upper chamber. The 

 former consists of 164 members, 

 elected for three years by direct 

 suffrage ; the latter is composed 

 of 71 members, elected by all the 

 municipal councils, and is renew- 

 able as to one half of the members 

 every three years. The president 

 of the republic is electsd by both 

 chambers, his term of office being 

 for four years ; he may not be re- 



elected. He appoints the ministers 

 of state, who are responsible to 

 parliament. The constitution may 

 be revised every ten years. There 

 are ten ministries, viz. those of 

 the colonies, held by the premier, 

 the interior, justice, finance, public 

 works, war, marine, education, 

 foreign affairs, and labour. For 

 judicial purposes Portugal is divi- 

 ded into 193 comarcas, tach of 

 which has three courts of appeal 

 sitting in Lisbon, Oporto, and 

 Ponta Delgada (Azores), and a 

 supreme court in Lisbon. 



A new monetary system, abolish- 

 ing the antiquated and cumber- 

 some reis currency, was established 

 May 22, 1911. The new unit is the 

 gold escudo (q.v.) of 100 centavos. 



For local government and ad- 

 ministrative purposes the six pro- 

 vinces were in 1833 divided into 

 districts named after their chief 

 towns. These units are admini- 

 stered by a commission consisting 

 of a civil governor, an auditor, 

 and three elected members. The 

 districts are divided into councils 

 or communes called concelhos 

 governed by elected councils, in- 

 cluding a mayor appointed by the 

 state ; these are sub-divided into 

 freguesias or parishes, administered 

 by a junta de parochia and the 

 regedor,nominated by the governor, 

 to represent the communal mayor. 



RELIGION AND EDUCATION. There 

 is no state religion in Portugal ; all 

 forms of worship are tolerated, but 

 the bulk of the people are Roman 

 Catholic. Portugal is divided into 

 three ecclesiastical provinces, those 

 of Lisbon, Braga, and Evora, each 

 with its own archbishop. The 

 Azores, Madeira, and the W.African 

 Colonies, with five sees, form part 

 of the province of Lisbon ; there 

 are also the provinces of Mozam- 

 bique and Goa. The archbishop 

 of Lisbon is called the patriarch, 

 and of Braga the primate. 

 Educational Statistics 



Conventual establishments were 

 formally suppressed by law in 1834, 

 their property being confiscated by 

 the state ; this law has been en- 

 forced by the republic. There are 

 Protestant churches and missions 

 in some of the larger towns, but 

 the number of Protestants is small. 

 Primary education is compulsory, 

 but, though supposed to be en- 

 forced by law, it is still far from 

 general. According to the census 

 returns of 1900, only 21 p.c. of the 

 whole population could read. In 

 1913 there were 5,563 public ele- 

 mentary schools, and 31 secondary 

 schools. There are three univer- 

 sities, at Coimbra, Lisbon, and 

 Oporto. The teaching of divinity is 

 prohibited by the state. There are 

 various private schools, including 



