Portugal
Portugal is a country in Europe. It was a great seafaring nation and built the world's first European overseas empire, which also turned out to be the last. It was a ancient kingdom until 1910 and after a revolution became a republic the following year. Its most notable head of government in the 20th century was Dr. António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970).
Portugal fought notable wars against Soviet-supplied communist terrorists in her African colonies. A sad loss for Portugal was when India invaded (Dec 1961) and annexed their colony of Goa, which Portugal had held for over 450 years, since 1510.
The so-called Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos) was a military coup by Left-leaning military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Lisbon, producing major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in Portugal and its overseas colonies through the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso. It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and the abandonment of Portugal's colonies in Africa.
External links
Sources
- Axelson, Eric, Portuguese in South-East Africa 1488-1600, Struik pubs., University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1973. ISBN: 0-85494-193-2
- Boxer, Charles R., The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415-1825, Carncanet, U.K., 1991, ISBN: 0-85635-962-9
- Bruce, Neil, Portugal: The Last Empire, David & Charles, U.K., 1975, ISBN: 0-7153-6956-3
- Derrick, Michael, The Portugal of Salazar, The Palladin Press, London, 1938.
- Egerton, F.C.C., Salazar: Rebuilder of Portugal, Hodder & Stoughton, London, August 1943.
