Since more than 700 years Portugal has existed in today's boundaries. The country belongs to the great seafaring and discovering nations: Prince Henry the Navigator (1394 - 1460) had the African coast probed by his ships. Bartolomeu Dias sailed to the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India in 1498 and Pedro Alvares Cabral was the first European to land in Brazil in 1500. The most famous is Magalhaes (Magellan), the first person ever to sail around the world between 1519 and 1522. Even today Lisbon has one of the largest ports in Europe.

Colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America made Portugal the richest nation in the world during its heyday. But as the wealth was not used to build up an industry in Portugal the economic decline was rapid when decolonisation set in. Almost 50 years of dictatorship (1926 - 1974) brought the country close to a social and economic crash. The wars to keep the African colonies Mozambique, Angola and Portuguese Guinea caused increasing opposition not only among the civil population. In the end it was the military that finished the dictatorship on 25th April 1974. The take-over by the "Movement of the Army" took place without bloodshed and was dubbed by the population the "Carnation Revolution".

A rapid process of economic development transformed Portugal into an industrialized country: automobiles, robotics, telecommunications equipment are being exported, amongst others. Since 1986, Portugal has been a member of the EU and belongs to the Euro Area.

Portugal including the Azores and Madeira is a popular holiday destination. The Portuguese guest workers have made the Portuguese cuisine and the Fado music well known in Europe. A recognition of contemporary Portuguese literature was the Nobel price for Literature awarded to Jose Saramago in 1998. Porto - an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996 - will be the European City of Culture in 2001. In 2004, the European Football Championship will take place in Portugal.