History of Portugal: Difference between revisions
Lore about the 1755 earthquake and second habsburg rule added
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The area that is now [[Portugal]] was ruled successively by the Celts, Romans, Goths, and Arabs until the independent [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Portugal County of Portugal] was established in 1096 during the Reconquista. [[Spain]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Zamora recognized Portugal's sovereignty in 1143] and the [[Catholic Church|Church]] in 1179. Portugal, under the Burgundy dynasty, conquered the Algarve in 1249, establishing the final form of its continental European territory.
The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_(1386) Treaty of Windsor] in 1386 formed a strong alliance with [[United Kingdom|England]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I_of_Portugal King John I] established the Portuguese empire in 1415 with the invasion of [[Morocco]] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ceuta capture of Ceuta]. In the 15th century, the Portuguese reached India, [[Cape Republic|the Cape]], [[Kongo]], western Africa, and eventually the Americas. After the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas Treaty of Tordesillas] in 1494, explorer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral Pedro Cabral] arrived in
==Gilded Century (1656-1754)==▼
== The Iberian Union (1580-1640) ==
The Iberian Union was the name given to the dynastic union of the crowns of Aragon, Castille and Portugal for sixty years, bringing together the Iberian Peninsula and the vast Spanish and Portuguese empire under the next three Spanish Habsburg monarchs: Philip II, Phillip III and Phillip IV.
Started by a succession crisis between the grandchildren of king Manuel I, due the death of the young king D. Sebastian in 1578 and shortly after the death of his successor, Cardinal Henry due to old age in 1580, the throne of Portugal was taken by Phillip II after his successful campaign in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alc%C3%A2ntara_(1580) Battle of Alcântara].
The Iberian Union saw its end after the restoration of the Portuguese Crown under John IV, former 8th Duke of Braganza, in 1640. In the late stages of the Iberian Union, the Portuguese noble support to the Spanish king was reaching its lowest point. High taxation, the economic burden of Spanish wars across Europe and the mostly Spanish occupied public offices, drove them, along with the wealthy class of merchants from Portugal, to rise in a rebellion which began a conflict that would last for the next almost 30 years, as peace with Spain was reached only in 1668.
From 1645 to 1654, a joint force of Pernambucan colonists and Portuguese troops retook Recife, the last bastion of Dutch occupation in Brasil. In 1661, peace between the [[Netherlands]] and Portugal was finally established as the Dutch ownership of Ceylon, Cochin and Malabar was recognized.
In the next 86 years of peace, Portugal saw its empire lose prestige and relevance on the world stage to other European nations.
== Three Tragedies period (1755-1834) ==
==== 1755 earthquake ====
On November 1, 1755, Portugal was hit by a powerful earthquake with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. The disaster destroyed almost all of Lisbon. Shortly after the earthquake, a tsunami took shore, elevating even more the destruction. It’s estimated that the death toll of the catastrophe was around tens of thousands. Among these ten thousand was most of the Portuguese Royal Family. The earthquake not only caused massive destruction but also almost ended the House of Braganza. The only ones spared were King Henry II’s brother, John, proclaimed King John IV, and one of his daughters, Joana, who ended up receiving the nickname Astúcia (the Astuteness).
==== '''Arrangement with Tuscany:''' ====
To prevent the end of the royal house, efforts to engage Joana took place as quickly as possible. At the end, one of the sons of Tuscany’s Grand Duke, Ferdinando (Fernando in Portugal), was chosen to engage in a marriage with the heir to the crown of Portugal. The ceremony happened in 1757, and the hopes of a new generation of Braganzas were high.
'''Second Habsburg Rule:'''
In 1766, Joana became regent of Portugal as King John IV's health deteriorated, and she was crowned queen in 1768 after her uncle's death. Still childless and with a life marked by miscarriages, tensions over the fate of the royal house started again as uncertainty arose about the generation of an heir. In 1771, the expectations were finally fulfilled after the birth of a healthy boy, Afonso. Although the heritance of the throne was secured for now, Queen Joana died days after giving birth.
After Joana's death, no one in Portugal was in a position to take regency until Afonso’s 18th birthday. Therefore, the king of Habsburg Spain, Philip V, was recognized as regent of Portugal. Once again, Portugal was under the rule of a Spanish Habsburg more than a hundred and thirty years after the dissolution of the Iberian Union in 1640.
Differently from the Iberian Union, this period of Habsburg control was much shorter and calmer, as Europe was at the moment in a state of stability. Of course, a significant part of the government became upset and fearful of Philip appointing the Spanish to take their positions, but this did not end up happening. The most notorious achievement of the second Habsburg period was the completion of the Lisbon reconstruction in 1773.
Philip V's rule as regent lasted until 1789, when Afonso reached his 18th birthday and was crowned King Afonso II.
====Portugal in the Great Silesian War====
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