The history of Portugal (same in Portuguese) closely parallels that of Spain, its neighbor on the Iberian peninsula. Portugal was a major player during the Age of Exploration, and her empire left its mark all over the world, most notably in Brazil, and it's no accident that most Angolans you are likely to meet are Portuguese-speaking Catholics. The first global empire, its possessions spanned the globe and included enclaves as far away as Japan, where the trade they brought turned Nagasaki from a small fishing village into the island nation's most important, and then only, window to the outside world. The name of Portugal itself comes from what was once an unassuming little settlement on the Douro River in northern Iberia.
Like all of Europe south of the Danube and West of the Rhine, the lands that would become what we know as Portugal were once a part of the Roman Empire. But before the Romans became the sole superpower in their day, there was the long and famous struggle with the Carthaginians for the control of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula known as the Punic Wars. The Second Punic War, which ended in 201 BC, left the Romans "in control" of the peninsula, but they would have to fight for it over the next century or two as they dealt with uppity Celtic tribes and local warlords. Eventually, though, by the time the Republic became the Empire, Iberia was divided into several provinces and was one of the nicer neighborhoods of Rome. (See Spain)
During the course of all this, the Romans came across a little Celtic settlement on the peninsula's western seaboard at the mouth of the Douro River. The village, on the river's southern bank, was known as Cale, and it had a deep-water port on the other side, in Latin, portus (root portu-). Perhaps you see where this is going. Since ports are important, eventually this Portus Cale, or "Port of Cale" rose in prominence, and the settlement became known by that name in the Second Century BC. Today the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal's second-largest city home of port wine, sprawls along the northern bank of the Douro (It's Portuguese name, o Porto, simply means "the port"). On the southern bank is Vila Nova de Gaia, or just Gaia, which is the "new city" of Cale, replacing the original one which was deserted and destroyed by the Moors. "Gaia" is just the name "Cale" as it evolved from Latin to Portuguese. The following picture shows a view of Porto from Gaia:
While the "Portus" part of the name is easy to understand, where does "Cale" come from? Some wishful thinkers have tried to put forth the idea that the city was originally settled by Greeks, and that the word derives from the Greek καλλις (kallis), "beautiful", referring to the beauty of the Douro Valley. This was back when it was cool to be associated with Greece, before that country became more well-known for living off the welfare of other European nations whose citizens do not retire will full pension at age 58 than for its ancient culture. Despite the economic problems in Portugal, the Portuguese are happy to say "yeah, well, at least we're not Greece."
No, it's much more likely that the name comes from the Gallaeci, the Celtic tribe who also lent their name to the later Roman province of Gallaecia north of the Douro, and thus to the modern region of Galicia in Spain (Roman Gallaecia also included northern Portugal). The Romans did not always distinguish between "C" and "G", and though a Roman invented "G" around 230 BC (yes, someone invented "G!"), the two were often used interchangeably, so along with Gallaecia and Gallaeci, one finds Callaecia and Callaeci, which may be more accurate anyway, since the Greek name for the tribe was Καλλαικοι (Kallaikoi), using kappa instead of gamma. The name, however it is spelled, is similar to other words for Celtic people and places; the Gauls, Galicia (in Spain and the Ukraine), the Galatians of the Bible, and perhaps even the word "Celtic" itself may all derive from the name source (see France).
So then how did the name of this town come to be the name for a whole country? Well, as we know, the Roman Empire, as a political entity, more or less fell apart in the West as various Germanic peoples overran the former provinces and even the Eternal City itself. In the early 5th century AD, Iberia was conquered by Suevi and Vandals, with the help of the Alans, a group of Sarmatian tribes who had been joyriding all the way from Central Asia and loving this whole "Fall of Rome" thing. Soon after that, the Visigoths came to town and defeated the Vandals and Alans. The Suevi held out in the northeast for a little while, but they too fell to the Visigoths, whose kingdom would last about a century and a half before being swallowed up by Moors from North Africa. At this time, Portus Cale was known, to the dismay of pedants (if there were still any in Western Iberia at that time) as "Portucale".
The Moors conquered the whole area, but remaining Christian kingdoms wasted no time reconquering the land from the Muslims. In 868, a Galician warlord by the name of Vímara Peres, vassal of Alfonso III, King of Asturias, León, and Galicia, was sent to reconquer the lands between the rivers Minho and Douro. Peres succeeded, and as a reward he was given control of the newly conquered lands, and the title "Count of Portugal." The form of the name around this time was "Portugale," with a predictable voicing of the consonant between vowels (a common feature of Iberian Romance languages).
Once there was a political entity called "Portugale" it was smooth sailing for the name: this polity born in the Reconquista just kept reconquering, and it enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy as part of the Kingdom of León (sometimes the Kingdom of Galicia), but the county was abolished, then reinstated in the 11th century, when Henry, a Burgundian Knight, was given the title by King Alfonso VI of León. This Second County of Portugal was a direct dependency of León by 1097, but Henry w
anted independence. After Henry died, his son Afonso and widow Theresa were involved in a drawn-out and complicated series of conflicts that led up to the Battle of São Mamede in 1128, in which Afonso's forces fought the forces of his mother, who was a puppet of Galicia, who was a puppet of León (I said it was complicated).
In 1129 Afonso declared himself Prince of Portugal, and in 1139 King of Portugal, a pretty ballsy move. León recognized Portugal's independence in 1143, and in 1179, the Kingdom of Portugal was officially recognized by Pope Alexander III. Thus, what would become modern Portugal was born. The land borders were set by 1250, and the capital moved from Coimbra to Lisbon in 1255.
LUSO-
The "Luso-" root used in words having to do with Portugal or the Portuguese language, such as lusophone, lusophile, Luso-Brazilian, etc. come from the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, which included modern Portugal south of the Douro and modern Extremadura in Spain. The province was named for the indigenous (or so it seemed to the the Romans) Lusitani people, who may have been Celtic.
While the "Portus" part of the name is easy to understand, where does "Cale" come from? Some wishful thinkers have tried to put forth the idea that the city was originally settled by Greeks, and that the word derives from the Greek καλλις (kallis), "beautiful", referring to the beauty of the Douro Valley. This was back when it was cool to be associated with Greece, before that country became more well-known for living off the welfare of other European nations whose citizens do not retire will full pension at age 58 than for its ancient culture. Despite the economic problems in Portugal, the Portuguese are happy to say "yeah, well, at least we're not Greece."
No, it's much more likely that the name comes from the Gallaeci, the Celtic tribe who also lent their name to the later Roman province of Gallaecia north of the Douro, and thus to the modern region of Galicia in Spain (Roman Gallaecia also included northern Portugal). The Romans did not always distinguish between "C" and "G", and though a Roman invented "G" around 230 BC (yes, someone invented "G!"), the two were often used interchangeably, so along with Gallaecia and Gallaeci, one finds Callaecia and Callaeci, which may be more accurate anyway, since the Greek name for the tribe was Καλλαικοι (Kallaikoi), using kappa instead of gamma. The name, however it is spelled, is similar to other words for Celtic people and places; the Gauls, Galicia (in Spain and the Ukraine), the Galatians of the Bible, and perhaps even the word "Celtic" itself may all derive from the name source (see France).
So then how did the name of this town come to be the name for a whole country? Well, as we know, the Roman Empire, as a political entity, more or less fell apart in the West as various Germanic peoples overran the former provinces and even the Eternal City itself. In the early 5th century AD, Iberia was conquered by Suevi and Vandals, with the help of the Alans, a group of Sarmatian tribes who had been joyriding all the way from Central Asia and loving this whole "Fall of Rome" thing. Soon after that, the Visigoths came to town and defeated the Vandals and Alans. The Suevi held out in the northeast for a little while, but they too fell to the Visigoths, whose kingdom would last about a century and a half before being swallowed up by Moors from North Africa. At this time, Portus Cale was known, to the dismay of pedants (if there were still any in Western Iberia at that time) as "Portucale".
The Moors conquered the whole area, but remaining Christian kingdoms wasted no time reconquering the land from the Muslims. In 868, a Galician warlord by the name of Vímara Peres, vassal of Alfonso III, King of Asturias, León, and Galicia, was sent to reconquer the lands between the rivers Minho and Douro. Peres succeeded, and as a reward he was given control of the newly conquered lands, and the title "Count of Portugal." The form of the name around this time was "Portugale," with a predictable voicing of the consonant between vowels (a common feature of Iberian Romance languages).
Once there was a political entity called "Portugale" it was smooth sailing for the name: this polity born in the Reconquista just kept reconquering, and it enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy as part of the Kingdom of León (sometimes the Kingdom of Galicia), but the county was abolished, then reinstated in the 11th century, when Henry, a Burgundian Knight, was given the title by King Alfonso VI of León. This Second County of Portugal was a direct dependency of León by 1097, but Henry w
anted independence. After Henry died, his son Afonso and widow Theresa were involved in a drawn-out and complicated series of conflicts that led up to the Battle of São Mamede in 1128, in which Afonso's forces fought the forces of his mother, who was a puppet of Galicia, who was a puppet of León (I said it was complicated).In 1129 Afonso declared himself Prince of Portugal, and in 1139 King of Portugal, a pretty ballsy move. León recognized Portugal's independence in 1143, and in 1179, the Kingdom of Portugal was officially recognized by Pope Alexander III. Thus, what would become modern Portugal was born. The land borders were set by 1250, and the capital moved from Coimbra to Lisbon in 1255.
LUSO-
The "Luso-" root used in words having to do with Portugal or the Portuguese language, such as lusophone, lusophile, Luso-Brazilian, etc. come from the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, which included modern Portugal south of the Douro and modern Extremadura in Spain. The province was named for the indigenous (or so it seemed to the the Romans) Lusitani people, who may have been Celtic.
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