Portugal

Portugal

Portugal is a European country located on the west side of Spain. It is actually the western most country in Europe. The Portuguese Republic is named after its largest city or Porto, which is widely recognized for its wine. The Portuguese has a long and rich history and many different countries and civilizations fought over its rich land since ancient times. Portugal gained their independence in 1143. In the 15th and 16th century Portugal was seen as a world power, but lost its status in 1755 with an extremely destructive earth quake that hit its nation’s capital of Lisbon. In 1986 Portugal became a member- country of the European Union and remains to this day.

The Climate in Portugal depends on where you are within the country. Low temperatures only occur in the southern regions, while it tend to stay warmer up north. It is a humid country with very heavy rainfall. Portugal’s natural resources are bountiful. It’s most valuable resources include copper, coal, iron, gold, and tin.

The Portuguese people are very diverse and there are several ethic back grounds mainly being Iberian, Roman, Visigoth and Moors. The majority of Portuguese people are Roman Catholic and family and religion are both very important to them. Since it is a free country the constitution states the people can be of any religion so there are more Protestant churches popping up these days.

Portugal is under a constitution that was made in 1976, with some revisions made in 1982. This means that the Republic of Portugal has a president who appoints a prime minister. The judicial system includes a Supreme Court and district courts.

Portugal’s economy functions with as a high income country. Ever since 1960 there has been a gradual improvement of their education system, but the country remained under developed until the early 2000s. Portugal uses the euro and its main bank is the Banco de Portugal. In 2008 it had a financial crisis and has gone down in the...