Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country in southwestern Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula.

The land within the borders of today’s Portuguese Republic has been constantly settled since Prehistoric Iberia or prehistoric times.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with its global empire which included possessions in Africa, Asia, and South America, Portugal was one of the world’s major economic, political, and cultural powers. In the nineteenth century, armed conflict with French and Spanish invading forces, and the loss of its largest territorial possession abroad, Brazil, which declared independence unilaterally, disrupted political stability and potential economic growth.

The Carnation Revolution’s coup d’état in 1974, replaced an authoritarian dictatorship with a communist state, while the country granted independence to its overseas territories in Africa.

Portugal is a developed country, and although having the lowest GDP per capita of all Western European countries, it has a high Human Development Index and one of the highest quality of life ratings in the world.