Portugal is the most Western country in Europe and has a fascinating and proud history that can be felt throughout the entire country
So let's explore some fascinating and interesting facts about Portugal
Hey guys, so thanks for joining me again on FTD facts
My name is Leroy Kenton and this video has been requested for quite a while
I mean like quite a bit of you did request for us to do a video on Portugal
People like Eva Neera LX Sergio macieira as well as martin pereyra
So I'm actually very interested in sharing this video with you, so let's actually start off with the facts right now
Afonso Henriques was the first King of Portugal in 1139 and Portugal remained a kingdom for nearly 800 years after that
Throughout this time as other European nations had changes in their borders different monarch empires
Portugal has remained simply Portugal
Also Lisbon Portugal's capital which was called ELISA PO at the time is four centuries older than Rome and the
second oldest European capital after Athens
Portugal was the world's first maritime power and the birthplace is some of the world's first explorers
During the Age of Discovery Ferdinand Magdalene was the first to circumnavigate the world
Vasco da Gama discovered this sea route to India and
Bartholomae Diaz was a first to sail around the southern tip of Africa, which he called the Cape of storms
But is now called the Cape of Good Hope
And a virus cabral and others discovered Brazil parts of Africa and claimed them for Portugal
Now did you know that half of the new world once belonged to Portugal?
Portugal was one of the leading countries during the European exploration of the world during the 15th century the Treaty of
Tordesillas was signed in 1494 between the Portuguese Empire and the crown of Castile which is modern-day Spain
It divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between themselves
this line of demarcation
Was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands already Portuguese and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus
on his first voyage the lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west took Castillo the
Portugal half included Brazil Africa and Asia making the Portuguese Empire the first global empire in history and
one of the longest-lived colonial powers lasting for almost six centuries
Portugal's official name is the Portuguese Republic and it's named after the country's second largest city
Portal portal is located a few hours driving from Lisbon
It's one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole country with beautiful
architecture and has been listed as a
Unesco world heritage site now. What's interesting is that this city has two official names, Porto and Oporto
So you might hear both when referring to the city now the original borders of Portugal have stayed the same for almost a thousand years
Now this is huge considering both world wars took place in Europe
Although Portugal has lost its colonies over time its territorial borders have remained unchanged
Other countries in Western Europe like Germany France and Slovenia have had their land and their borders change
Multiple times this is not the case however when it came to Portugal
The city of Lisbon was struck by one of the most powerful earthquakes in European history on November 1st
1755 the city of Lisbon was struck by a devastating earthquake which was followed by a tsunami
As well as fires and these fires burnt the city down the 9.0 magnitude earthquake
Happened on All Saints Day and this was when churches in the city were filled with lit candles
So when the earthquake struck the candles of course fell over and started major?
Fires and over a hundred thousand people lost their lives and over 85% of the buildings were destroyed
And I wanted to touch on the Portuguese style of music now so that style of music is called fado
Fate is a common thing in the Portuguese culture
And this is clearly notice in the traditional music vadhu fado actually means fate or destiny
Fodder music is characterized by sad tones and lyrics most songs are about the life of the poor
with an undertone of
resignation and hopelessness
Fodder music has been recognized by the UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage
And that happened in the year 2012
And also did you know that Portuguese is the official language of 10 countries including of course Portugal Brazil?
Cape Verde Angola Guinea bisa
Mozambique Equatorial
Guinea Macao East Timor as well as the country of South Tomei and
Príncipe the Portuguese language is spoken by over 230 million people worldwide
And it's a result of the fact that the Portuguese like the British were one of the first colonizers whose influence spread around the world
And Portuguese is the ninth most influential language in the world
Portugal was also the first European nation to engage in the transatlantic slave trade
Taking slaves from West Africa to the new world
He was also the first colonial power to abolish slavery about fifty years before Britain Spain France and the United States
Portugal and England have the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world the anglo-portuguese
alliance which was signed in 1373 is active till this day the treaty was signed between King Edward 1/3 of England and
King Ferdinand and Queen Eleanor of Portugal both countries entered Wars to defend the other
Including the United Kingdom and during the Iberian Peninsula war and Portugal entering World War one
Now Portugal has a coastline that spans 497 miles which is 800 kilometers
And it's known to have a year long surf
And it's becoming Europe's favorite site for surfing for any surfers watching
This you may want to book a trip to Portugal like I'm telling you. It's crazy
And you see the Portuguese love
football of course many of you know this so at the Euro 2016
Portugal won its first-ever major trophy their national team also finished third in the 1966 World Cup
Second in the Euro 2004 and fourth in the 2006 World Cup
However they have not yet won the World Cup but with FIFA 2018 coming up
I mean Portugal's team with Cristiano Ronaldo as its captain is looking a hundred percent for the gold
And that's all the facts that I have for you in this episode about Portugal
Hope it was an eye-opener, and you learned something interesting, and if you thought this video was very informative
Then you got to see our other
Videos on Spain as well as our video on Italy the links of those videos are both down below
To more powerful European nations with a lot of exciting facts for you
We've been covering a lot more European facts in recent days
If you noticed so there's so much more to talk about again the links to those are down below your personating place
Yeah, we love sharing these videos with you
But in closing though Portugal is a country that is filled with loving and generous
People who never hide their national pride and with Portuguese being among the 10 most spoken
languages in the entire world it's a place where people have a lot to say not only because of the unique culture of
Portugal, but also the long lasting history of the nation that will forever be remembered
for generations to come
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