History of Portugal Image:PortugueseFlag1095.svg The first Portuguese flag.Portugal as an independent nation started on June 24 1128, when the Count of Portugal, Afonso Henriques proclaimed himself as king. In October 5 1143, Alfonso VII, King of León and Castile, recognized the independence of the County of Portugal, with Afonso I as its King. Afonso and his successors, aided by the military monastic Orders, pushed southwards to wrest more land from the Moors, as Portugal started with about half its present area. In 1249 the Portuguese Reconquista ended when it reached the southern coast of the Algarve. In 1383, the King of Castile claimed the right to the throne of Portugal, as he was married to the daughter of the King of Portugal who had died with no male heir. The ensuing popular revolt led to the 1383-1385 Crisis. A faction of petty noblemen and common folk, led by John of Aviz (later John I), seconded by general Nuno álvares Pereira, defeated the Castilians on the Battle of Aljubarrota, the most celebrated battle in Portuguese history and still a symbol of the struggle for independence from neighbour Spain. In 1373 Portugal made an alliance with England, probably the longest in History as it still stands today. In the following decades, Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and started the Age of Discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King John I, took on the role of main sponsor and patron of this endeavour. In 1415, the Portuguese Empire began when a Portuguese fleet conquered Ceuta, a rich Islamic trade centre in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries in the Atlantic: Madeira and the Azores, which led to the first colonization movements. Throughout the 15th Century, the Portuguese Explorers sailed down the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts along the way, while they were looking for the route to India, land of the spices, which were very coveted and precious in Europe. In 1498, Vasco da Gama finally arrived in India by sea, and economic prosperity ensued for Portugal, then with a population of one million, one-tenth the present number. Belém Tower, in Lisbon, symbol of the Age of Discovery.In 1500, Pedro álvares Cabral landed on Brazil and claimed it for the Portuguese Crown. Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa, in India, Ormuz in the Persian Straight, and Malacca in modern day Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese Empire had the dominion of the commerce in the Indian Ocean and in the South Atlantic. The independence of Portugal was interrupted from 1580 to 1640. As King Sebastian died in a battle in Morocco leaving no heir, Philip II of Spain claimed the throne and got it, becoming Philip I of Portugal. Although Portugal did not lose its formal indepence as a kingdom, the fact is that it was governed by same king that governed Spain, forming a Union of Kingdoms; but not for long: in 1640, John IV spearheded a rebellious uprising backed by disgruntled Portuguese nobles, and was acclaimed King, starting the long-lasting dynasty of Braganza. By this time, however, the Portuguese Empire was already under severe attack from the ambitions of other countries, namely Britain and the Netherlands, and Portugal entered a slow but inexorable decline until the 20th Century, especially after the independence of Brazil in 1822, entering a period of political chaos and civil wars. In 1910, a republican revolution deposed the Portuguese monarchy. But the chaos continued and considerable economic problems aggravated by a disastrous military intervention in the First World War led to a military coup d'état in 1926. This led to the establishment of the right-wing dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. In the early 1960s, independence movements in the colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea originated the Portuguese Colonial War, weakening the regime. In 1974, a bloodless left-wing military coup led the way for the democratic regime of today. Membership in the European Union was achieved in 1986 and since then Portugal has been engaged in a process of convergence with its EU counterparts.
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