Portugal
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In other languages: Português (Portugal)Online Resources
- Historyworld.net's history of Portugal
- localhistories.org's history of Portugal
- "A History of Spain and Portugal: Volume One", "Volume 2", online PDFs hosted by the University of Central Arkansas
History
Portugal is one of the oldest states in Europe. It is also the most western country in Europe. Alfonso Henriques, the Count of Portugal, gained independence from the King of Leon-Castile of Spain, and became the country’s first king. He and his successors extended the kingdom southward, securing the present-day boundaries by 1249.
Inspired by Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), Portuguese explorers ranged to Latin America, Africa, and Asia, opening up trade routes and establishing colonies in Brazil, along the African coast, and in the Indies. This empire lasted for several hundred years.
Dynastic disputes weakened the kingdom and, from 1580-1640, Portugal was controlled by Spain. Then, a revolt brought the House of Bragança to the throne. It ruled Portugal for nearly three hundred years.
During the Napoleonic era, Portugal was ruled from Brazil, where the court had fled. The British under the Duke of wellington,and a group of Portuguese guerillas expelled the French invaders from Portugal. Brazil itself gained independence from Portugal in 1821.
In 1910, Portugal became a republic but it was politically unstable and in 1932 a military government appointed Antonio Salazar as the prime minister. He and his successor, Marcelo Caetano, 1968, ruled Portugal as an authoritarian corporate state for 42 years. The establishment of a republic saw the institution of civil registration.
In the 1960s, economic stagnation at home and wars of independence in Portugal’s African territories became a drain on the country’s prosperity. During 1974-75 most of the Portuguese overseas possessions gained independence. Professional dissatisfaction within the military led to the formation of a clandestine movement to overthrow the state and establish a provisional military government. The new government was temporarily influenced by communist and leftist forces. However, votes cast in a popular election in 1975 went overwhelming to three democratic parties. The communists responded by attempting to minimize the role of political parties. In the end they failed and a new constitution took effect on April 25, 1976. The elected government was a democratic entity for the first time since the 1920s.
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Timeline
1348 - 1349 Portugal, like the rest of Europe, was devastated by the Black Death
1373 - Portugal made an alliance with England, which is the longest-standing alliance in the world
1568 – 1648 A revolt of the Seventeen Provinces of what are today the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg against Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands
1755 - Lisbon was struck by a violent earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.5–9. The city was razed to the ground by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and ensuing fires
1822 – 1824 The Independence of Brazil comprised a series of political and military events, most of which involved disputes between Brazil and Portugal regarding the call for independence presented by the Brazilian Empire
1890 - The British Ultimatum was an ultimatum issued by the British government delivered to Portugal. The ultimatum forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the basis of historical discovery and recent exploration, but which the United Kingdom claimed on the basis of occupation
1947 - After India attained independence, it separated the territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portuguese rule in 1954
1961 - São João Baptista de Ajudá's annexation by the Republic of Dahomey was the start of a process that led to the final dissolution of the centuries-old Portuguese Empire
Inquisition Records
For three centuries, the Portuguese Inquisition led by the Catholic Church investigated those accused of religious infidelity. Candidates for investigation by the Inquisition had to prove “purity of blood.” Examinations probed the ancestry of both the man and his spouse or fiancée. Those accepted were exempt from taxation, from military service, and were given priority in the distribution of meat, fish, bread, wood, and coal, like all members of the Catholic faith. These records should not be confused with criminal trials.
There were Courts of Inquisition in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Évora. From 1542-1547, there were also courts in Porto, Tomar, and Lamego. The persons targeted by the Portuguese Inquisition were individuals who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism (Conversos), who were suspected of practicing Judaism in secret, and Catholics who practiced unorthodox traditions such as the Cult of the Holy Spirit. Such records were referred to as Diligências de Habilitações,[1]
Online Records
The Central Archives for the History of Jewish People in Jerusalem (CAHJP) contains microfilms of Portuguese Inquisition records from 1497 onwards. This includes Inquisition court records, an inventory of all inquisition records in Portugal’s Torre de Tombo, and documents pertaining to Jewish colonies across Portugal.[2].
- CAHJP communities list allows search for community holdings by individual location, such as Portugal.
- Portuguese Inquisition Trials 1853-1653 and 1716-1717 at SephardicGen Resources is a free index of the 514 individuals who were tried in the inquisition courts in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Evora, providing their full name, trial date, court, and the file number containing their court records.
In 2007, the Portuguese Government initiated a project to make available online by 2010 a significant part of the archives of the Portuguese Inquisition currently deposited in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, the Portuguese National Archives. Those records can be found through the Torre de Tombo.
- Torre de Tombo online catalog. Search for "Diligências de Habilitação or Inquisição."
References
- ↑ The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Portugal,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1986-1999.
- ↑ The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "Portugal," in The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem (CAHJP), http://cahjp.nli.org.il/content/portugal. Visited 12 June 2017.