Portugal: Difference between revisions

{{Nation|common_name=Portugal|full_name=Kingdom of Portugal|local_name=Reino de Portugal|capital=Lisbon|largest_city=Lisbon|population=10 million|government_type=Constitutional Monarchy|flag=Portugal flag.png|map=Portugal location.png}}

 

 

== History ==

 

 

Portugal was the first medieval European nation to start sailing across the Atlantic in the search of resources in distant lands. The many voyages of Portuguese ships started what is called the Age of Discoveries. Portuguese caravels crossed the seas, making use of the best scientific and practical knowledge of the time. During the centuries XIV, XV and XVI sailed to Africa, to the far East and to the depths of the South American continent. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral reached the coast of Brazil, a thing that changed the history of the tiny Iberian nation, and put the kingdom among the powers of Europe for centuries.

 

 

==== Portuguese role in the Great Silesian War (1750-1755) ====

Around half way on the conflict, in 1807, fearing at some moment in the future the French would invade through Spain, the counselors of king Dom Afonso VII proposed to move the kingdom capital to Rio de Janeiro temporarily, so if the Portuguese territories in Europe fall, the king and the court would take refugee in Brazil. The idea was thrown away later and never got out of paper.

 

 

In the early 1830s, revolutionaries inspired by the French Revolution decades prior started a rebellion in Spain. Motivated by the liberal, nationalist and republican ideals, those revolutionaries advocated the reform of the Spanish monarchy and the end of absolutism. Soon these revolutions reached Portugal.

 

After months of discussion, the main articles of the constitution were: Abolishment of absolutism; creation of the independent executive, legislative and judicial powers; political representativity for the literated, male and over 20 years old population; the church would still has voice in nationwide decisions; the monarch would have the role to keep the harmony among the other three powers. The 1834 constitution wasn’t as liberal as the French revolutionary one, the Church and the Estate were still united, the monarch could still have voice in decisions and dissolve the parliament in cases of crisis. These small characteristics of the Ancien Regime were considered to gain support from the catholic Portuguese society and have harmony among the institutions of the nation.

 

 

==== Independence of Bahia and the Riograndense Republic ====