History of Portugal: Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia

Source: Wikipedia

The first Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula occurred in 219 BC. Within 200 years, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Empire.

The Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies.

The Roman conquest of what is now part of modern day Portugal took several decades: it started from the south, where the Romans found friendly natives, the Conii.

It suffered a severe setback in 194 BC, when a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus, wrested control of all of Portugal.

Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail — the Lusitanians gained more and more territory.

The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed Viriathus' ambassador to kill his own leader. Viriathus was assassinated, and the resistance was soon over.

Rome installed a colonial regime. During this period, Lusitania grew in prosperity and many of modern day Portugal's cities and towns were founded.

In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Gallaecia, with capital in Bracara (today's Braga).

As with the Roman names of many European countries, Lusitania was and is often used as an alternative name for Portugal, especially in formal and literary or poetic contexts.

The 16th century colony, which would develop into Brazil, was named Nova Lusitânia ("New Lusitania").

In common use are such terms as Lusophone, meaning Portuguese-speaking, and Lusitanic, referring to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries — once Portugal's colonies and presently independent countries still sharing some common heritage.

Source: Wikipedia

Larissa Bona

History of Portugal: The Pre-History

Source: eb1-mateus-n2.rcts.pt

The region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens.

Early in the first millennium BC, several waves of Celts invaded Portugal from central Europe and intermarried with the local populations, forming different ethnic groups, with many tribes.

Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, and the Cynetes or Conii of the Algarve.

Among the lesser tribes or sub-divisions were the Bracari, Coelerni, Equaesi,Grovii, Interamici, Leuni, Luanqui, Limici, Narbasi, Nemetati, Paesuri, Quaquerni, Seurbi, Tamagani, Tapoli,Turduli, Turduli Veteres, Turdulorum Oppida, Turodi, and Zoelae).

There were, in the southern part the country, some small, semipermanent commercial coastal settlements founded by Phoenicians-Carthaginians (such as Tavira, in the Algarve).

It should also be mentioned that, according to some scholars, Celtic culture may well have developed first in far Southern Portugal and Southwestern Spain, approximately 500 years prior to anything recorded in Central Europe.

Source: Wikipedia

Larissa Bona

Portugal: a Country that Has Changed the World

Source: Video posted on Youtube by user jocamar15 (click here to access his page)

I saw this video on Youtube and thought it would be perfect to introduce our new series: History of Portugal.

The Portuguese history has over 2000 years and it is impossible to tell it in a very detailed manner here. Yet, I think it would be nice for the readers to know a little bit more about the history of their ancestors, because Portugal, indeed, was a country that has changed the world, as the title of the video says.

Therefore, I will try to tell a summed up history of Portugal in this blog, not through a deep approach, but listing all relevant events, every 15 days (I do similar thing at Olhar Direito blog, in which I write about the History of Brazil, but in Portuguese and in a more detailed way).

Larissa Bona