Portugal

📖 In short

Portugal is a country in the far west of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula next to Spain, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Lisbon, a beautiful city on hills overlooking the Tagus. The Portuguese were among the most famous explorers in history.

🤩 Did you know?

Portugal's capital is Lisbon.
Portugal's oldest university is in Coimbra.
Portugal became a republic in 1910.
The currency has been the euro since 2002, and the language is Portuguese.

🗂️ Fact file

Portugal lies in southwestern Europe. The Azores and Madeira are two groups of islands to the west that belong to Portugal.

The Portuguese coat of arms appears on the flag and in the picture on the left, showing castles and shields that recall Portugal's history.

Capital: Lisbon
Official language: Portuguese
Official name: Portuguese Republic
Currency: The euro. The old currency, the escudo, was withdrawn in 2002.
Area: 88,941 km²
Population: 2002 estimate: 9,863,000

🔎 Find out more

🌟 The explorers

About five hundred years ago Portuguese sailors set out for faraway lands. Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India by sea by sailing around Africa.

🔍 The Arab legacy

Muslims ruled part of Portugal for hundreds of years as part of al-Andalus, and many Arabic words remain in Portuguese, along with place names like the Algarve (“al-gharb”, the west).

💡 Blue tiles

The walls of many houses, churches and stations in Portugal are decorated with blue and white painted tiles called “azulejos”, a word of Arabic origin.

🎯 Cork

Portugal is the world's biggest producer of cork, which is taken from the bark of the cork oak without cutting the tree down, and then the bark grows back.