The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/prgtools/editors/cvhyptxt.lzh/PORTUGAL.CVH

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Portugal, an independent nation along the Atlantic Ocean at the
southwestern edge of Europe, occupies about one-sixth of the
Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Spain, Portugal's only
neighbor.  The !AZORES!Azores~ and !MADEIRA!Madeira Islands~ are Portuguese
autonomous regions.  Continental Portugal covers 88,944 sq km
(34,341 sq mi), the !AZORES!Azores~ and !MADEIRA!Madeira~ islands have a combined
area of 3,041 sq km (1,174 sq mi), and there is 404 km (156 sq
mi) of inland water.  Mainland Portugal has a north-south
extent of about 575 km (360 mi) and an east-west extent of
almost 195 km (120 mi).  Its highest point, in the Serra da
Estrela, is 1,993 m (6,539 ft).

The name Portugal is probably derived from the Roman settlement
of Portus Cale, located on the present site of Porto.  One of
the oldest nations in Europe, Portugal became independent of
both Moorish and Castilian control in 1143, when !ALFONSOI!Alfonso I~ was
proclaimed king.  The original kingdom was located north of the
Douro River, but it expanded southward along the coast by
driving the Moors from Lisbon and Alentejo and Algarve, south
of the Tagus River, by 1252.  In the 15th and early 16th
century Portugal created a large overseas empire.  A period of
Spanish control (1580-1640) contributed to the subsequent
decline of Portugal's influence and commercial prosperity.  A
republic from 1910, Portugal was under a dictatorial government
from the late 1920s until 1974;  !SALAZAR!Antonio de Oliveira Salazar~
was the dominant figure until 1968.  With the establishment of
democratic government in 1974, Portugal granted independence to
its African colonies.  Its sole remaining overseas colony is
the enclave of !MACAO!Macao~, will be ceded to China at the end of the
century.

LAND AND RESOURCES

Portugal is composed of the Meseta, the nation's mountainous
interior, and a coastal plain in the west that widens
significantly from north to south.  In the Meseta broad,
flat-floored river valleys separate the main southwest-trending
mountain ridges.  The highest ridge is the Serra da Estrela in
central Portugal.  The Tagus River flows across Portugal from
east to west.  The Meseta north of the Tagus is high, with
about 80% of the land more than 400 m (1,300 ft) above sea
level and summits exceeding 1,200 m (4,000 ft).  South of the
river the land is lower and more gently rolling with only 3% of
the land higher than 400 m (1,300 ft) above sea level and peaks
in the Serra de Monchique, the highest mountains in the south,
under 915 m (3,000 ft).

Soils

The most fertile soils occur on alluvium in the main river
valleys.  Upland soils are generally less fertile, and many
upland areas are left uncultivated and given over to forest,
scrub, and pasturage for sheep and goats.  Uplands in the north
have peaty, usually infertile soils on wetter summits and soils
of moderate fertility in better-drained areas.    Soils deficient
in lime predominate in some northern areas, especially where
underlain by schistose rock or sandstones.  Thin, dry soils are
common in the hilly country near Lisbon and in Algarve in the
far south, where limestones predominate.

Climate

Portugal has a unique variant of the typical Mediterranean
climate, the northern areas being wetter than average with only
a short dry season and the south approaching subtropical,
semiarid conditions.  Along the coast the mean monthly
temperatures range, according to latitude, from 9 deg to 12 deg
C (48 deg to 54 deg F) in January and from 20 deg to 24 deg C
(68 deg to 75 deg F) in July.  Winds from the Atlantic moderate
temperatures throughout the year.  Frosts are rare in the north
and virtually unknown in the south.  Inland, mean temperatures
fall by 3 deg or 4 deg C (5 deg or 7 deg F) in winter and,
except on the highlands, rise appreciably in summer.

The average yearly precipitation decreases from between 1,000
and 1,300 mm (40 and 51 in) in the north to between 400 and 600
mm (16 and 24 in) in the south.  Most rain falls during the
cooler months.    During spring and fall cloudy and sunny spells
alternate, whereas in summer, the Azorean high pressure area
dominates, bringing a period of dry, sunny weather that lasts
an average of two months at Porto, three months at Lisbon, and
four months on the southern coast.

Drainage

Portugal's four largest rivers are the Minho, Douro, Tagus, and
the Guadiana;  all rise in Spain and, with the exception of the
Guadiana, flow from east to west across Portugal.  In the north
the principal rivers entirely in Portugal are the Vouga, which
enters the large coastal lagoon near Aveiro, and the Mondego,
which flows for a total course of 219 km (137 mi) to enter the
Atlantic at Figueira da Foz.  The principal Portuguese
tributary of the Tagus is the Zezere, which rises in the Serra
da Estrela and is an important source of hydroelectric power.
In the southern part of the country major rivers solely in
Portugal are the Sorraia, which enters the Tagus estuary, and
the Sado, which drains much of southern Alentejo.  All
Portuguese rivers have low water flow in summer, and in the
extreme south many watercourses almost dry up during this
season.  The country abounds in hot mineral springs (caldes),
which are popular for medicinal reasons.

Vegetation and Animal Life

More than 2,700 species of plants are known to occur in
Portugal.  Of these, only 90 are unique to the country, and the
remainder is a mixture of European and African species and
exotic elements introduced since the 15th century from the New
World and the Far East.  About 31% of Portugal is forested, and
trees cover most slopes up to an altitude of 1,220 m (4,000
ft).  Oaks, deciduous in the north and evergreen in the south,
cover about one-third of all timberland, and pines cover about
one-half.  Wolves survive in remote mountain areas, and wild
boars are protected by law.

Resources

Portugal is Europe's leading producer of tungsten ore and also
possesses important deposits of coal and copper pyrites.  Some
kaolin, hematite (iron ore), cassiterite (tin ore), and gold
also occur, but additional surveys are required to assess the
nation's total mineral wealth.    About 48% of the land is
cultivated;  6% is in meadows and pasture, and 15% in
heathland, swamp, and other waste, all with good reclamation
potential.  Hydroelectric power is generated on the Zezere and
other rivers and is the principal energy source.

PEOPLE

The original Portuguese stock was Iberian.  Celtic invaders
added other physical characteristics during the 1st millennium
BC;  as did the Romans after 137 BC;  Visigoths and Suevi, who
settled north of the Douro in the 4th century AD;  and the
Moors, after 711 AD.  A Jewish community flourished in Portugal
under the Moors, but the Jews were expelled or absorbed during
the Reconquista (Christian Reconquest) of Muslim areas in the
12th and 13th centuries.  Blacks were freely imported from
Africa as slaves and were also absorbed into the Portuguese
population.  Despite such complex origins, the population today
is one of Europe's most homogeneous, and the only important
minority is about 100,000 black colonial refugees from Africa.

Language and Religion

The Portuguese language is one of the Romance Languages, with
an admixture of Arabic and other foreign idioms.  It is related
to and similar to Galician, a Spanish dialect.    About 97% of
the population is Roman Catholic, served by three
ecclesiastical provinces under archbishops at Lisbon (also a
cardinalate), Braga, and Evora.

Demography

Population densities are highest in the northern coastal areas
and in the Douro River valley and decrease inland and toward
the south.  In all, about 80% of the total population is
concentrated north of the Tagus River, where habitable areas
are densely settled with towns, villages, and farmsteads.  By
contrast, except for a densely settled strip along the Algarve
coast, areas south of the Tagus are sparsely populated, and the
landscape, especially in the Alentejo (between the Algarve and
the Tagus), is one of widely spaced towns and villages and
large, isolated farmsteads.

Only one-third of the total population is officially classified
as rural, but many of the two-thirds listed as urban dwellers
live in small towns and villages rather than large urban
centers.  The two largest cities are LISBON, on the mouth of
the Tagus;  and PORTO, on the north bank of the Douro River.
Lisbon, with well over 1,000,000 inhabitants in its
metropolitan area, is the capital and the main industrial,
commercial, and financial center.  Porto, the principal town in
the north, has the second-largest metropolitan area.  Of the
six other large cities, !BRAGA!Braga~, !COIMBRA!Coimbra~, and Setubal are each
important regional centers;  Barreiro and Amadora are suburbs
of Lisbon;  and Vila Nova de Gaia lies within the economic
orbit of Porto;  and !FUNCHAL!Funchal~ is the capital of the Madeira
Islands.  The administrative centers of the nation's 18
mainland administrative districts, including Evora and Faro,
are also important.

Portugal's birthrate and death rate, once among the highest in
Europe, have fallen significantly in the last 25 years and are
now close to the Western European average.

Traditionally, Portuguese have emigrated from overpopulated
areas of Portugal in large numbers since the 15th century;
many still leave permanently for Brazil, the United States, and
Canada, but increasing numbers now seek temporary employment in
West Germany and other European Economic Community (EEC)
countries.  Conversely, about 1,000,000 Portuguese of European
and black-African descent returned to Portugal when Angola,
Mozambique, and other African colonies became independent in
the 1970s.

Education and Health

Education has been free and compulsory since 1911, and all
children over the age of 7 must attend school for 7 years.  The
first 4 years are spent in primary schools, and secondary
education takes place in either state-run lyceums and other
high schools or in a variety of professional and technical
institutions.  The government also sponsors an adult education
program.  Several hundred private, mostly church-run schools,
provide an alternate education system.    About 2% of the
population continue education beyond the high school level.
The five major universities are at !COIMBRA!Coimbra~ (1290), Lisbon,
Porto, Aveiro, and !BRAGA!Braga~.

Health care has improved significantly in recent years.  A
national health service was established in 1979, and infant
mortality rates declined by nearly 50% between the mid-1970s
and the mid-1980s.  Doctors are paid by the state and must
reside in the areas to which they are appointed.

Arts

The 16th century was the Golden Age of Portuguese literature.
Its luminaries included the dramatist Gil VICENTE and the poet
Luis de CAMOES, author of Portugal's great epic The Lusiads


PORTUGUESE ART AND ARCHITECTURE reached its peak during the
16th century during the reign of MANUEL I (r.  1495-1521).
During this period, the golden age of Portuguese maritime
expansion, a new MANUELINE STYLE was developed;  its reliance
on marine and overseas motifs can be seen at the monastery at
Batalha.  Music traditions include the celebrated FADO, and
each major region has its traditional folk music, songs, and
musical instruments.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

In the 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese navigators brought
great wealth into Portugal from their command of the profitable
spice trade and the import of luxury items from India and the
Far East.  After 1600, command of world sea routes passed to
the Dutch and the English, but Portugal continued to profit
from development of the agricultural and mineral wealth of its
overseas colonies.  The economy of the mainland, lacking most
industrial resources, remained tied to agriculture and fishing,
exporting mainly sardines, wine, and cork.  Industrial
development has been emphasized since the 1960s, but the
economic and social turmoil following the overthrow (1974) of
the Salazar-Caetano regime have significantly slowed
development.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing provides less than one-half of the national
income, but its share is growing, and it employs a continuously
increasing percentage of the labor force.  Most manufacturing
is concentrated in and around Lisbon and Porto.  The
metallurgical industry remains small, despite efforts to
enlarge it, and the Siderugia Nacional, established in 1961 at
Seixal, supplies much of the nation's pig iron and most of its
steel.    Shipbuilding and repair yards are located in Lisbon and
Setubal;  most of the nation's production of armaments,
agricultural implements, general hardware, and textile
machinery is located in Lisbon.  Textiles are manufactured in
many towns and are especially important at Porto.  Ceramics,
based on kaolin quarried in plateaus near the course of the
Douro River, are also widely produced, the products ranging
from industrial ceramics to decorated tiles (azulejos).  Leiria
specializes in the manufacture of glass, and Barreiro in the
production of fertilizers, insecticides, and other chemicals.
Other important products, all processed from local raw
materials, include wines, cork, pulpwood, and canned sardines.

Power

Production of electricity increased more than tenfold from 1955
to 1985.  The only domestic fuel resources are two small
coalfields in the Douro River valley.  About one-half of all
electricity is derived from hydroelectric installations;  most
of the remainder is produced in thermal electric stations,
fueled with imported petroleum.  A nuclear power station is in
operation in Sacavem.

Agriculture

Farming is an important part of the economy, employing about
one-quarter of the labor force.  Cereal crops predominate and
occupy two-thirds of all cultivated land;  corn is the
principal crop north of the Tagus River, and wheat the
principal crop in the south.  Beans, a staple food in the
Portuguese diet, are both intercropped and rotated with
cereals, the beans supplying the soil with a natural source of
nitrogen.  The major cash crops are grapes and olives.
Livestock includes sheep, pigs, cattle, goats, donkeys, and
mules.    Good grassland is limited, and much of the livestock
grazes on scrub, brush, acorns, and windfalls from fruit trees.
Farms in the north are generally less than 12 ha (30 acres),
with scattered fields.    In the south, large estates
(latifundia) predominate;  used mainly for wheat, many of these
units were owned by absentee landlords before the land reforms
of 1974-75 and farm employment drops drastically after the
wheat harvest.    Yields are generally low and could be raised
significantly through improved irrigation, fertilization,
mechanization, and management.

Forestry and Fishing

Pine trees covering half the timbered areas are cut for lumber
and pulp and also supply large quantities of resin and
turpentine for export.    An additional one-third of the
timberland bears cork oak, which supplies about one-half of the
world's total cork supply.  Fishing employs about 30,000
persons in coastal regions.  The most valuable fish caught are
sardines, mackerel, hake, haddock, cod, and tunny.

Transportation and Trade

High-speed motorways are rare in Portugal.  Most of the roads,
though surfaced, tend to be winding, and minor roads are often
unsuitable for motor traffic.  The rail system is state-owned.
Both the road and rail systems run mainly north-south, with
only occasional branches eastward into Spain.  Except on the
Tagus, river traffic is of minor importance and restricted to
shallow vessels.  The main ports are Lisbon, Setubal, and
Leixoes (the port for Porto).

Portugal has an unfavorable balance of trade.  The principal
imports, by value, are petroleum, iron and steel, sugar, motor
vehicles, cotton, oil seeds, and wheat.  The main exports are
wines, cork, pulpwood, sardines, resin and turpentine, and
wolframite.  The principal trading partners are the EEC and the
United States;    most imports come from West Germany, the United
Kingdom, and the United States;  most exports are destined for
the United Kingdom.  In 1986, after years of difficult
negotiations, Portugal became a member of the EEC and withdrew
from the European Free Trade Association.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

In 1910, Portugal overthrew the monarchy and became a republic.
In 1926 a military coup took over the government, and Gen.
Antonio Oscar de Fragoso Carmona became president.  From 1928
the government was dominated by !SALAZAR!Antonio de Oliveira Salazar~,
who introduced (1933) a corporative constitution.  Salazar was
succeeded as premier by Marcello Caetano.  On Apr.  25, 1974, a
military coup led by Gen.  Antonio de Spinola overthrew the
Caetano regime.

A new constitution, Portugal's fifth, was promulgated in 1976
and revised in 1982.  It vested legislative power in a
unicameral legislative assembly, with 250 members elected every
5 years.  Executive authority rested with the president, also
elected for a 5-year term.

!EANES!Antonio Ramalho Eanes~ was elected president in 1976 and
reelected by a wide margin in 1980.  The succession of premiers
he appointed were generally unable to maintain the support of
the legislature for long because of the volatile nature of
Portuguese politics.  The principal political groups are the
Socialist party, led by Mario Soares;  the Communist party, led
by Alvaro Cunhal;  and the Democratic Alliance, a coalition of
the center-right political parties.  The Democratic Alliance,
first under Francisco Sa Caneiro and later under Francisco
Pinto Balsemao, held power from December 1979 until April 1983,
when Socialist electoral gains brought about the formation of a
new coalition headed by Mario Soares.  In 1985 the Social
Democrat Anibal Cavaco Silva replaced Soares as prime minister.
Soares was elected president in 1986, and was reelected in
January 1991 to a second five-year term.  In the elections of
1987, Cavaco Silva's right-of-center party captured more than
50% of the vote, the first time any party had done so since the
restoration of democracy;  he won reelection in October 1991.

LAND.  Area:  92,389 sq km (35,672 sq mi).  Capital and largest
city:  Lisbon (1986 pop., 829,600).  Elevations:
highest--Estrela, 1,993 m (6,539 1t);  lowest--sea level, along
the coast.

PEOPLE.  Population (1991 est.):  10,400,000;  density:  112.6
persons per sq km (291.5 per sq mi).  Distribution (1991):  30%
urban, 70% rural.  Annual growth (1990):  0.2%.  Official
language:  Portuguese.    Major religion:  Roman Catholicism.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH.  Literacy (1988 est.):  86% of adult
population.  Universities (1989):  15.    Hospital beds (1988):
48,838.  Physicians (1988):  26,831.  Life expectancy (1990):
74.  Infant mortality (1990):  14 per 1,000 live births.

ECONOMY.  GNP (1989):  $44.3 billion;  $4,260 per capita.
Labor distribution (1988):  agriculture--20%;  industry--35%;
services--45%.    Foreign trade (1988):  imports--$17.7 billion;
exports--$11.0 billion;  principal trade partners--Germany,
France, United Kingdom, Spain.     Currency:  1 escudo = 100
centavos.

GOVERNMENT.  Type:  parliamentary democracy.  Government
leaders (1992):  Mario Soares--president;  Anibal Cavaco
Silva--prime minister.    Legislature:  Assembly of the Republic.
Political subdivisions:  18 districts, 2 autonomous regions.

COMMUNICATIONS.  Railroads (1987):  3,451 km (2,144 mi) total.
Roads (1986):  69,942 km (43,460 mi).  Major ports:  7.  Major
airfields:  5.