Portugal

The Portuguese Republica is a country in the extreme southwest of Europe, on
the Iberian peninsula, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and
south, and Spain to the north and east. It also includes two groups of
islands in the Atlantic: the Azores (A�ores) and the Madeira.

                                                         Portuguese
                                       Official language (Mirandese is
History                                                  officially
                                                         recognised.)
                                       Capital           Lisbon
Emerging from the Reconquista as an    President         Jorge Sampaio
independent country in 1143, and with  Prime Minister    Jos� Manuel Dur�o
almost always the same main territory                    Barroso
border line since the 13th century,    Area              Ranked 109th
Portugal has always been turned to the �- Total          92,391 km2
sea. Since early, fishing and overseas �- % water        0.5%
commerce have been main economical
activities. Henry the Navigator's      Population        Ranked 79th
interest in exploration together with  �- Total (2001)   10,356,117
some technological developments in     �- Density        112/km2
navigation brought together, gave way
to the Portuguese expansion and to     Independence      From Kingdom of
great geographical knowledge           �- Declared       Leon
advancements.                          �- Recognised     1139
                                                         1179

Following its heyday as a world power  Currency          Euro¹,
                                                         Portug. euro coins
during the 15th and 16th centuries,
Portugal lost much of its wealth and   Time zones        UTC -1 to 0
status with the destruction of Lisbon  National anthem   A Portuguesa
in a 1755 earthquake, occupation
during the Napoleonic Wars, and the    Internet TLD      .PT
loss of its Brazilian colony in 1822.  Calling Code      351
A 1910 revolution deposed the          (1) Prior to 1999: Portuguese escudo
Portuguese monarchy starting a period
of chaotic republicanism (First Republic); in 1926 a nationalist military
coup d'etat began a period of more than five decades of repressive fascist
governments.

In 1974, a effectively bloodless left-wing military coup (the Carnation
Revolution) installed a government that instituted broad democratic reforms.
The following year Portugal granted independence to its colonies in Africa:
Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and S�o Tom� and Pr�ncipe) and
lost its colony of East Timor in Asia to an Indonesian invasion. Portugal
itself entered the European Union in 1986, whilst another Asian dependency,
Macau, reverted to Chinese sovereignty in December 1999.

Politics

In the years following the 1974 coup Portugal has progressively done away
with undemocratic institutions and established itself as a constitutional
democracy. The four main organs of Portuguese politics are the presidency,
the prime minister and Council of Ministers (the cabinet), the Assembly of
the Republic (the parliament), and the judiciary.

The president, elected to a 5-year term by direct, universal suffrage, also
is commander in chief of the armed forces. Presidential powers include
appointing the prime minister and Council of Ministers, in which the
president must be guided by the assembly election results. The Council of
State, a presidential advisory body, is composed of six senior civilian
officers, any former presidents elected since 1976, five members chosen by
the Assembly, and five selected by the president.

The government is headed by the prime minister, who names the Council of
Ministers. A new government is required to define the broad outline of its
policy in a program and present it to the assembly for a mandatory period of
debate. Failure of the assembly to reject the program by a majority of
deputies confirms the government in office.

The Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da Rep�blica) is a unicameral body
composed of up to 230 deputies. Elected by universal suffrage according to a
system of proportional representation, deputies serve terms of office of 4
years, unless the president dissolves the assembly and calls for new
elections.

The national Supreme Court is the court of last appeal. Military,
administrative, and fiscal courts are designated as separate court
categories. A nine-member Constitutional Tribunal reviews the
constitutionality of legislation.

Districts and regions

Mainland Portugal consists of 18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito):

   * Aveiro

   * Beja
   * Braga
   * Bragan�a
   * Castelo Branco
   * Coimbra
   * �vora
   * Faro
   * Guarda
   * Leiria
   * Lisbon (Lisboa)
   * Portalegre
   * Oporto (Porto)
   * Santar�m
   * Set�bal
   * Viana do Castelo
   * Vila Real
   * Viseu

Beyond these there are two autonomous regions (regi�es aut�nomas): the
Azores (A�ores) and Madeira. Each district is further subdivided into the
Municipalities of Portugal.

Geography

Continental Portugal is split in two by its main river, the Tagus (Tejo). To
the north the landscape is mountainous, though Portugal's highest point is
Mount Pico in the Azores at 2,351 m. The south down to the Algarve features
mostly rolling plains and the climate here is somewhat warmer and drier than
the cooler and rainier north. Other major rivers include the Douro, the
Minho and the Guadiana, similar to the Tagus in that all originate in Spain.

Economy

Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy
since joining the European Union in 1986. Over the past decade, successive
governments have privatised many state-controlled firms and liberalised key
areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications
sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998
and began circulating its new currency, the euro, on January 1, 2002 along
with 11 other EU member economies.

Economic growth has been above the EU average for much of the past decade,
but GDP per capita stands at just 75% of that of the leading EU economies.
The government has failed to reign in a widening deficit and to advance
structural reforms needed to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness. A
poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater
productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by
lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign
direct investment.

Demographics

Portugal is a fairly homogenous country linguistically, ethnically and
religiously; Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only the town
of Miranda de Douro's Leonese dialect recognised as a locally co-official
language as Mirandese, Asturian in Spain is another Leonese dialect but not
officially recognized by Spain. Minorities, such as those of African
immigrants from the former colonies, number less than 100,000. The majority
of the Portuguese population are members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Disputes International

Portugal has periodically reasserted claims to territories around the town
of Olivenza, Spain

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