650 



PORTUGAL (HISTORY.) 



in Bcira ; the wool resembles the Spanish, but is 

 nut so fine. Cows are not much used for milk, 

 which is obtained chiefly from goats. Butter and 

 cheese are imported from Britain and Holland. 

 The Portuguese swine resemble the Chinese variety, 

 and are very fat. Turkeys are raised in great num- 

 bers. The bees do not yield wax enough for the 

 churches. The culture of silk, which was formerly 

 extensively carried on, has been in some degree 

 revived in recent times, and, in 1804, yielded 61,700 

 pounds of silk. Deer, rabbits, hares, and wild boars, 

 are the only game. The birds are not numerous, 

 except red partridges. The rivers, particularly the 

 Tagus, abound in fish ; but the consumption is so 

 great that stock fish and salt fish are carried to the 

 country by the British, Americans, and the north- 

 ern nations, although in the sixteenth century the 

 Portuguese were largely engaged in the Newfound- 

 land fishery. To the prevalence of entails, and the 

 accumulation of the landed property in a few hands 

 (with their consequence that the cultivator is rarely 

 the proprietor of the soil), is to be attributed the 

 f-mallness of the population. The nobility, now less 

 numerous than formerly, is divided into the higher 

 sind lower ; the former, in 1805, consisted of thirty- 

 five families, many of which are opulent. 



The national character appears to most advantage 

 in the country and the small towns, particularly in 

 the northern provinces, where the Portuguese are 

 friendly, polite, hospitable, frank, moral, temperate 

 and sober. They have inherited the old national 

 hatred against the Spaniards. There are few public 

 amusements except bull-fights. The number of 

 ecclesiastics is stated by Balbi not to exceed 29,000. 

 The king appoints the patriarch, who resides at Lis- 

 bon, and has under him nine bishops, five European 

 and four foreign ; the ten other Portuguese bishops 

 are under the jurisdiction of the archbishops of 

 Braga and Evora, the former of whom is styled the 

 primate of the kingdom. All the bishops are nomi- 

 nated by the king. In 1821, according to the same 

 author, there were 260 convents for men, with 

 5760 monks, and a revenue of 6075 million reis, 

 and 138 convents for women, with 5903 sisters, and 

 H revenue of 363 million reis. The university of 

 Coimbra has 1 600 students. In the capital are four 

 schools for the learned languages, and other useful 

 institutions. The college for young noblemen, 

 established in 1761, is one of the best institutions 

 for education. Little has been done for popular 

 (duration. 



Of late years the useful arts have made progress, 

 but few of the products of Portuguese industry can 

 compare with the corresponding articles of foreign 

 manufacture; the most important are those of 

 wool, silk, cotton, linen, hats, and glass. The 

 most of the manufactories of woollen goods belong 

 to the king, who leases them for a certain number 

 of years to particular companies, with the right of 

 exclusively carrying on the business. The most 

 important manufactories of silk are in Lisbon, Bra- 

 ganza, Oporto, Beja, Mondim, and Almerim, and, 

 prior to 1808, employed 27,000 men. The internal 

 commerce suffers from the want of good roads. 

 Canals there are none, and the few navigable 

 rivers are not so at all seasons. The remains of 

 die Portuguese colonial possessions, and the empire 

 of Brazil, of which the independence, at first at 

 least, was rather an advantage to the mother 

 country, serve to maintain the commerce of Por- 

 tugal. The exports to those countries amounted, 

 l>efore the late troubles, to 16,000,000 dollars, and 

 the imports from them to 13,000,000; the imports 

 from other countries were estimated at 17,000,000 

 dollars, and the exports to them at about 12,000,000. 



As Portugal possesses comparatively few commer- 

 cial resources in agriculture, the products of manu- 

 facturing industry must have formed a considerable 

 item in the sums above-mentioned. The foreign 

 trade is chiefly in the hands of the British, and the 

 direct trade between Great Britain and Portugal 

 was formerly carried on chiefly in British bottoms; 

 but more recently about half the ships engaged in 

 it are Portuguese, and the trade with Ireland is 

 almost wholly carried on by Portuguese vessels. The 

 revenue, in 1827, was 8,500,000 dollars ; the expen- 

 diture, 11,000,000 dollars; the public debt, in 

 1824, was 41,500,000 dollars. The army, in 1827, 

 consisted of 50,638 men ; besides 27,1 10 of militia. 

 The navy of Portugal, in the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries, the largest in the world, perished during 

 the Spanish domination ; and, although revived 

 under the first princes of the house of Braganza, it 

 again declined. Pombal created a naval force ol 

 ten ships of the line and twenty frigates. In 1823, 

 the navy consisted of four ships of the line, eleven 

 frigates, and thirteen smaller vessels. The best 

 sailors are from Algarve and the Azores; the only 

 naval station is Lisbon, where there are an arsenal, 

 dock, marine school, &c. 



Portugal and Algarve had been divided into forty- 

 four comarcas ; but the civil, military, and eccle- 

 siastical, financial, and judicial powers ran into each 

 other in such a manner as to render a uniform 

 administration impossible. The cortes, therefore, 

 divided the kingdom into thirteen provinces, and 

 simplified the administration of all the departments. 

 In 1749, the king of Portugal received from Bene- 

 dict XI V. the title of rex fidelissimus ; and his most 

 most faithful majesty styles himself " king of Por- 

 tugal and Algarve, of both sides of the sea in 

 Africa, lord of Guinea, and of the navigation, con 

 quests and commerce of ./Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, 

 and India." The heir to the throne is styled 

 prince royal, his eldest son, prince of Leira, the 

 other royal children, infantes and infantas of Por- 

 tugal. There are seven orders of knighthood ; the 

 military order of Christ ; the order of San-Iago, foi 

 civil merit ; the order of Avis, for military merit ; 

 the female order of S. Isabella ; the military order 

 of the Tower and Sword (founded 1459, revived 

 1805) ; the order of Villa Vicosa, or the immaculate 

 conception ; and the order of Malta. Braganza 

 Line of Princes. John IV., proclaimed king 1640, 

 died 1656. Alphonso VI. died 1683. Pedro II. 

 died 1706. John V. died 1750. Joseph I. died 

 1777. Maria Francisca Isabella died 1816. John 

 VI., emperor and king, died 1826. Pedro, em- 

 peror and king, abdicated the throne in favour oi 

 tiis daughter donna Maria (born 1819), 1827. 

 Miguel, second son of John VI. (born 1802), 

 usurped the crown, 1828. Miguel expelled, and 

 donria Maria enthroned, 1831. 



History. 1. Earliest Period, before Portugal 

 formed a separate Kingdom, from the Christian 

 Era to A. D. 1139. The Phoenicians, Cartha- 

 ^ians, and Greeks early traded to this part of the 

 peninsula, which was afterwards conquered by the 

 Romans. (See Lusitania, and Hispania.) The 

 latter introduced among the inhabitants, a branch 

 of the wide-spread Celts (q. v.), their own civiliza- 

 tion ; the country was, several centuries later, inun- 

 dated by the Germanic tribes (see Alans, Suevi, 

 Goths, and also Sandals), and in the eighth cen- 

 tury (712) was conquered by the Saracens. (See 

 Moors.) When the gallant Spaniards of the Chris- 

 tian kingdoms of Castile and Leon (see Spain) 

 finally wrested the country between the Minho and 

 the Douro from Moorish hands, they placed counts 

 or governors over this region. Henry the younger 



