Latest news and stories about portuguese history in Portugal for expats and residents.
A historical look at the date Lisbon was captured from the Moors in 1147.
The question is on the table: after all, was Portugal born after the victory at the Battle of São Mamede in 1128, after the victory at Ourique in 1139, or after the signing of the Treaty of Zamora in 1143?
The political assassinations that followed the coup of 19 October 1921 were never fully explained. The traumatic episode tarnished the regime's institutions and hastened the end of the First Republic.
Journalist and writer Joaquim Letria passed away this Friday at the age of 82. A founder of publications such as O Jornal, Tal & Qual and the magazine Sábado, he was a key figure in Portuguese journalism in the decades following the April Revolution. Born in Lisbon in 1943, he worked for the Diário de Lisboa, the Associated Press, the DPA, and the BBC. After returning to Portugal in 1974, he helped direct information services at RTP and later gained popularity in the 80s for television shows like Directíssimo. He also served as a spokesperson for President Ramalho Eanes. The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, expressed her condolences, describing him as a multifaceted professional.
A kingdom born from the will to be master of itself cannot accept being unable to know who enters through its doors.
What hides in our recent past? How much of what happened in the 1990s determines who we are today as a country? Notes from a journey into the past
Bernard Shaw had already settled the matter: those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. He missed a third option: those who can neither do nor teach and, therefore, call the UN.
We turn to the 'Chronicle of King John I' by Fernão Lopes to recount, step by step, this battle between the Portuguese and the Castilians on 29 May 1385, a rehearsal for the Battle of Aljubarrota months later.
Fernando Pessoa called him an accountant. We know he was neither poor nor averse to the wealthy or to perks.
The swearing-in of Paulo Portas signals a new phase in the commemorative events marking the 900th anniversary of Portugal's foundation.
The city of Viana do Castelo held an event for the launch of the book titled 'Portugal: from Dictatorship to Democracy'.
For the first time, a high-ranking dignitary of the Portuguese Catholic Church, responsible for the diocese of the country's second-largest city, declared his opposition to the regime.
50 years later, Eanes remains our president with the best image among the population. But how can the election of the 41-year-old young general be explained? And what role did he play in democracy?
Whether by a stroke of luck or geographical chance, much has been said about the Gulbenkian Foundation over the last 70 years. But there are still facts to be told about its origin: an identity problem created at birth and the mark of the Portuguese dictator. Now, the founder's great-grandson has left, never to return.
She went down in history as the 'Carnation Celeste'. Decades after the 25th of April, her granddaughter decided to take family memories and write a book that tells the true story of her grandmother.
In a time marked by the speed of opinion and the growing polarisation of the public sphere, it may be important to recover a certain ethics of debate. Opinion by Luís de Miranda Correia
The book detailing Portugal's transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state will have its official launch in Lisbon tomorrow.
Faced with the genius of Camões, the temptation to find in the poet a politically useful hero has never ceased to be transversal across both the right and the left.
The publication of a piece over 50 years old reminds us that those who possess freedom excessively make it captive and turn others into captives. Opinion by Nuno Pacheco
90 years ago, in 1936, the Mocidade Portuguesa and the Legião Portuguesa were founded. What were these organisations, what were their objectives, and what was their true importance in the dynamics of the Estado Novo?
90 years ago, in 1936, the Mocidade Portuguesa and the Legião Portuguesa were founded. What were these organizations, what were their objectives, and what was their real importance in the dynamics of the Estado Novo?
The maturity of a people is also measured by how they look at their past. Insecure societies turn history into propaganda; confident societies turn it into knowledge.
Half a century after the 1976 Constitution, Portugal celebrates its National Day while reflecting on the complex transition from the Salazar dictatorship. Once branded a 'radioactive fossil' of the fascist regime and the 'Day of the Race,' the holiday was nearly abolished after the 1974 revolution. This article explores how political leaders, including Mário Soares and António Ramalho Eanes, successfully 'decolonized' the date by shifting its focus from colonial ideology to the Portuguese diaspora, ultimately rebranding it as the 'Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities.'
A new book detailing Portugal's shift from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state is being released this June in both Lisbon and the Portuguese community in Toronto.
Despite the anti-parliamentarianism, anti-communism, and some folklore regarding the 'militarisation of politics', neither the 28th of May, the Military Dictatorship, nor the Estado Novo were fascist.
The film 'Pai Nosso: The Last Days of Salazar' is inspired by true events from the life of the man responsible for one of the darkest periods in Portugal's history.
Alice Brito dodges the clichés and Manichaeism of the Salazar dictatorship to reveal, through the lives of the people, how authoritarianism intruded into the intimate sphere. It is no small feat. It is, in fact, almost everything.
The Republic, which had created so many hopes, was living through difficult days. Crises followed one another, and enemies multiplied. This was the ideal environment for a coup that turned into a dictatorship, and which would become enchanted by a young Salazar.
It is one of Portugal's most important monuments, due to its architectural value and the historical and political tradition that gave it its name.
