Timeline Portugal
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In Roman times this area was a Roman
province named Lusitania.
(WUD, 1994, p.854)
c22,500BC Portuguese
archeologists led by Dr. Joao Zilhao found the skeleton of a young
boy (the Lagar Velho child) in the Lapedo Valley on Nov 28, 1998,
who reportedly exhibited both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens features,
the first possible hybrid to be found.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, p.A4)(AM, 7/00, p.25)
800BC-500BC Texts called
Southwest Script dating to this period were later discovered in
Portugal. Most experts have concluded they were authored by a people
called Tartessians, a tribe of Mediterranean traders who mined for
metal but disappeared after a few centuries. Some scientists have
proposed that the composers were other pre-Roman tribes, such as the
Conii or Cynetes, or maybe even Celts who roamed this far south.
(AP, 2/28/09)
218BCE Hannibal crossed Portugal on his way to
storm Rome.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
63BCE Caesar’s troops plundered
Terena in Portugal’s Alentejo province.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
711 Jul 9, Berbers under
Tarik-ibn Ziyad occupied Northern Spain. The Umayyads with the help
of the Berbers in North Africa moved across the Strait of Gibraltar
and began the conquest of Spain and Portugal. The Berber leader
Tarik crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began the Muslim conquest
of Spain. The word Gibraltar comes from the term Jabal-al-Tarik,
which means the hill of Tarik. Gebel-al-Tarik means "Rock of Tarik."
(ATC, p.79)(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.170)(SFEC,
9/29/96, Z1 p.2)(MC, 7/9/02)
900-1000 Viking longships entered the Douro River
mouth in Portugal. Their ships are believed to be the design form
from which the wine carrying boats "barcos rabelos" were designed.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T7)
1064 Jun 9, Coimbra, Portugal,
fell to Ferdinand, the King of Castile.
(HN, 6/9/98)
1128 Jun 24, Afonso I of
Portugal defeated the army of his mother Theresa.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1207 Sep 8, Sancho II, king of
Portugal, was born.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1261 Oct 9, Dionysius, the
Justified, king of Portugal (1279-1325), was born.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1291 Feb 8, Afonso IV, King of
Portugal (1325-57), was born.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1300-1400 A spiritual retreat for monks was built
in Redondo. It later became the Hotel Convento de Sao Paolo.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T6)
1345 Oct 31, Ferdinand I, the
wise one, king of Portugal (built navy), was born.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1357 Apr 22, Johan I, King of
Portugal (1383-1433), was born.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1357 May 28, Afonso IV (66),
King of Portugal (1325-57), died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1385 Aug 14, Portuguese forces
defeated Castilians at Aljubarrota and gained independence. Nuno
Alvares Pereira helped secure Portugal's independence from the
Spanish kingdom of Castile. After leaving the military, Pereira
entered religious life as a Carmelite and changed his name to Nuno
de Santa Maria. He dedicated himself to the poor, never taking the
privileges that would have been afforded to him as a former
commander. In 2009 the Vatican declared him a saint.
(PCh, 1992, p.136)(HN, 8/15/98)(AP, 4/26/09)
1391 Oct 30, Eduard, [Dom
Duarte], King of Portugal (1433-38) and author, was born.
(MC, 10/30/01)
1394 Mar 4, Prince Henry the
Navigator, sponsor of Portuguese voyages of discovery, was born.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1415 Jun 13, Henry the
Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to
Africa. This marked the beginning of Portuguese dominance of West
Africa.
(HN, 6/13/98)
1419 Prince Henry
(d.1460), as governor of Portugal's southernmost province, attracted
shipbuilders, cartographers and other nautical experts. His
patronage was instrumental in stimulating European exploration in
the first half of the 15th century.
(HN, 6/21/01)
1420 Prince Henry the Navigator
(b.1394) gathered cartographers, navigators and shipbuilders in a
fortress in Sagres, Portugal, to invent navigation technology to
reach India, China and the Americas. He later sailed south of
the Canary Islands to the great eastward curve of West Africa at
Sierra Leone. The search for Prester John as an ally against the
Muslims helped inspire his explorations. Henry began dispatching
expeditions from the nearby port of Lagos. Although dubbed "Henry
the Navigator" by English writers, he never embarked on the voyages
of exploration he himself sponsored. Nevertheless, the prince helped
advance European cartography and the accuracy of navigation tools as
well as spurring maritime commerce.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(HN, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 1/28/00,
p.A18)(HNQ, 6/21/01)
1420 Portuguese sailors and
soldiers begin fighting the natives of the Canary Islands, 800 miles
southwest of the southern tip of Portugal.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1420-1480 The Portuguese explored the west coast
of Africa along the Gold Coast, so named because here could be found
plenty of gold to buy pepper.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1424 A Portuguese navigation
chart showed a land called Antilia in the vicinity of the West
Indies.
(SFEC, 5/28/00, Z1 p.2)
1432 Jan 15, Afonso V "the
African", king of Portugal (1438-1481), was born.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1434 Gil Eannes,
Portuguese explorer, made the first successful rounding of Cape
Bojador, off Western Sahara, in a lug-rigged boat.
(www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/e/eannes.shtml)
1441 Portuguese kidnapped
several noble-born Africans, who in turn offered African slaves to
the captors as ransom. In 1998 John Reader published "Africa: A
Biography of a Continent."
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.12)
1443 Jun 5, Ferdinand,
Portuguese saint, slave to Fez, died.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1444 Slaves from Africa were
first carried to Portugal.
(WSJ, 12/1/97, p.A20)
1448 The Portuguese established
the first European trading post in Africa.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
c1450 The Portuguese brought
slaves to the uninhabited Cape Verde Island.
(SFC, 8/5/98, p.A8)
1455 Jan 8, The Romanus
Pontifex, a papal bull, was written by Pope Nicholas V to King
Afonso V of Portugal. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas, it
confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands
discovered or conquered during the Age of Discovery.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanus_Pontifex)
1460 Nov 13, Prince Henry the
Navigator (b.1394), Portuguese prince and patron of explorers, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator)
1460?-1526? Pedro Alvarez Cabral, Portuguese
navigator, discovered and claimed Brazil for Portugal on April 22,
1500.
(AHD, p.185)(HFA, '96, p.28)
1462-1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer.
(V.D.-H.K.p.174)
1469 May 31, Manuel I, king of
Portugal (1495-1521), was born.
(HN, 5/31/98)
1469-1472 The islands of Sao Tome and Principe
were discovered by Portuguese navigators and settled by 1500.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1470 Princess Juana popularized
the farthingale, a wide-hipped skit stiffened by whale bone.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R40)
1471 The Portuguese arrived in
Ghana as intermediaries, bringing slaves and other goods from
Senegal and Benin in order to sell them to the Asante and other
local people.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)
1477 Joao II (John II) served
as king of Portugal for a short time when his father retired to a
monastery. He succeeded his father as king in 1481.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_II_of_Portugal)
1479 Sep 4, After four years of
war, Spain agreed to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along
Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledged Spain's rights in the
Canary Islands.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1480-1521 Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese
navigator. He was assigned the task of finding a route to the Spice
Islands.
(V.D.-H.K.p.177)
1481 Aug 29, Joao II (John II)
became king of Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_II_of_Portugal)
1482 Captain Diogo Cao sailed
south along the African coast and became the first Portuguese sailor
to reach the equator. He4 landed at the mouth of the Zaire (Congo)
River. He left four servants and took four Africans hostage back to
his king, John, in Portugal. This was the first European encounter
with the vast kingdom of the Kongo.
(ATC, p.149)(ON, 11/07, p.1)
1485 Diogo Cao, Portuguese
explorer, sailed south beyond Cape Palmas, beyond Cape St.
Catherine, until he reached Cape Cross (Namibia) at 22’ south
latitude. His expedition returned to Portugal in 1486.
(V.D.-H.K.p.124)(ATC, p.149)(ON, 11/07, p.1)
1486 King Joao II of Portugal
chose Bartolomeu Dias (~1450-1500 to attempt to find a route to
India around Africa. Diaz departed with 3 ships in the fall of 1487.
(ON, 11/07,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias)
1488 Feb 3, Bartolomeu Dias,
Portuguese explorer, sighted the coast of Africa sailing north and
made landing at Mossel Bay (South Africa) and realized that they had
rounded the continent. He saw the southern tip on his return journey
in May and named it Cabo Tormentoso (Cape of Storms). He continued
north to the Great Fish River near present day Port Elizabeth, and
then returned home in December. King Jaoa changed the cape’s name to
Cape of Good Hope to encourage future explorers.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias)(ON,
11/07, p.2)
c1492 About this time King
Manuel I, bedazzled by the Moorish tiles at the Alhambra in Spain,
brought home enough to decorate his palace in Sintra.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T6)
1493 Feb 18, Columbus landed on
the island of Santa Maria, the southernmost island of the
Portuguese-controlled Azores.
(ON, 8/09, p.3)
1493 May 4, Pope Alexander VI
divided the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(HN, 5/3/98)(HN, 5/4/98)
1494 Jun 7, Spain and Portugal
divided the new lands they had discovered between themselves. King
Joao II signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in which he conceded to
Spain a monopoly on Columbus’ western route in exchange for a
Portuguese monopoly on the eastern route.
(HN, 6/7/98)(ON, 11/07,
p.2)(www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1028.html)
1495 Mar 8, Juan de Dios,
Portuguese-Spanish saint, founder (Brothers of Mercy), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1495 Oct 25, Portugal’s King
Joao II died without leaving male issue. He was succeeded by his
brother-in-law Manuel I.
(www.nndb.com/people/561/000095276/)
1496 Dec 5, Jews were expelled
from Portugal by order of King Manuel I.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1497 Jul 8, Vasco da Gama,
Portuguese explorer, departed on a trip to India. He sailed from
Lisbon enroute to Calicut, India. His journey took him around South
Africa and opened the Far East to European trade and colonial
expansion.
(V.D.-H.K.p.143)(WUD, 1994,
p.1672)(www.indhistory.com/vasco-da-gama.html)
1497 Nov 18, Vasco da Gama
reached the Cape of Good Hope.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1497 Nov 22, Portuguese
navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1497 Portuguese Jews were
forced to convert to Christianity and were known as "New
Christians," though many continued to practice their original faith
in secret.
(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1498 Apr 7, Vasco da Gama,
Portuguese explorer, arrived at Mombasa, Kenya, where the Arabs
repelled him. He sailed on to Malindi and came to terms with the
local sultan, who supplied a pilot that knew the route to Calicut
(Kozhikode), the most important commercial port in Southwest India
at the time.
(Econ, 9/30/06,
p.58)(www.kenyalogy.com/eng/info/histo4.html)
1498 May 20, Portuguese
explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut (Kozhikkode) in Kerala,
India.
(www.indhistory.com/vasco-da-gama.html)
1500 Mar 9, Pedro Cabral
(~1460-1520), Portuguese navigator, departed to India. He left
Lisbon with 13 ships headed for India and was blown off course.
(WUD, 1994 p.206)(SFC, 4/20/00,
p.A14)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03128a.htm)
1500 Apr 22, Pedro Alvares
Cabral (c1460-c1526), Portuguese explorer, discovered Brazil and
claimed it for Portugal. He anchored for 10 days in a bay he called
"Porto Seguro" and continued on to India. [see Jan 1, Apr 23]
(HFA, '96, p.28)(WUD,1994, p.206)(AHD,
p.185)(TL-MB, 1988, p.8) (HN, 4/22/98)(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A14)
1500 Apr 23, Pedro Cabal landed
at Terra da Vera Cruz and claimed Brazil for Portugal. The native
population was later estimated to have been from 1 to 11 million
people. [see Apr 22]
(AP, 4/23/98)(SFC, 7/6/98,
p.A10)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03128a.htm)
1500 May 29, Bartholomeu Diaz
de Narvaez (Novaez), Portuguese sea explorer, drowned.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1500 Aug 10, Diego Diaz
discovered Madagascar.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1500 The Portuguese arrived in
East Africa with little resistance.
(NH, 6/97, p.43,46)
1501 The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos
was funded by King Manuel I. The architectural style known as
"Manueline" was invented in his honor.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.T10)
1501 May 20, Portuguese
explorer Joao da Nova Castelia (1460-1509) discovered the Ascension
Islands on Ascension Day.
(www.eoearth.org/article/Ascension_scrub_and_grasslands)
1502 Jan 1, Guanabara Bay was
first encountered by Europeans when one of the Portuguese explorers
Gaspar de Lemos and Goncalo Coelho arrived on its shores. Guanabara
Bay is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of
Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lies the city of Rio de
Janeiro, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niteroi and Sao
Goncalo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanabara_Bay)
1502 Feb 12, Vasco da Gama,
Portuguese explorer, departed on a second trip to India with 20
well-armed ships.
(www.indhistory.com/vasco-da-gama.html)
1502 Jun 6, Jofo III, King of
Portugal (1521-57), was born.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1502 Portuguese traders took
peanuts from Brazil and Peru to Africa.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, Z1 p.8)
1505 Jul 24, On their way to
India, a group of Portuguese explorers sacked the city-state of
Kilwa, East Africa, and killed the king for failing to pay tribute.
(HN, 7/24/98)
1505 Magellan began to serve
Portugal when he enlisted in the fleet of Francisco de Almeida. He
continued in Portuguese service on many expeditions, being wounded
in a campaign against the Moroccan stronghold of Azamor in
1513. The wound caused him to limp for the rest of his life.
Magellan petitioned King Manuel of Portugal for an increase in his
pension as a titular rise in rank, but the king refused and sent him
back to Morocco. Upon his second petition in 1516, Magellan was told
he might offer his services elsewhere.
(HNQ, 10/9/00)
1506 Riots in Lisbon, Portugal,
led to the slaughter of 2,000-4,000 converted Jews. This became the
setting for a 1998 novel by Richard Zimler, "The Last Kabbalist of
Lisbon."
(TL-MB, 1988, p.9) (WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1509 In Portugal the Madre de
Deus convent was established by Queen Leonor. The tile-bedecked
church, Igreja de Madre de Deus, was built almost 50 years later.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.96)
1511 Malacca, the center of
East Indian spice trade, was captured by the Portuguese.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1511 Portuguese traders reached
the Banda Islands, including Run, and broke the Venetian monopoly
over nutmeg. Over the next century the Dutch muscled in an almost
cornered the nutmeg market. The history of the nutmeg trade was
documented in 1999 by Giles Milton in his: "Nathaniel's Nutmeg."
(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.W7)
1512 Portuguese explorers
discovered the Celebes and found nutmeg trees in the Moluccas. This
began an 84-year monopoly of the nutmeg and mace trades.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.10)
1512 The Portuguese took over
control of East Timor.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A6)
1513 Portugal captured Goa,
India.
(SSFC, 3/19/06, p.F7)
1515 Afonso d’Albuquerque,
Viceroy of the Portuguese Indies, captured Hormuz (Ormuz) and forced
all other traders to round the Cape of Good Hope. This established
Portugal’s supremacy in trade with the Far East. Hormuz is the
strait between Iran and Trucial Oman.
(TL-MB, p.11)(WUD, 1994, p.684)
1515-1520 The Belem Tower was built in Lisbon and
served as a beacon to sailors. It originally stood well in the water
but now the Tagus laps only its base.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T7)
1518 Gil Vicente, founder of
Portuguese drama, wrote "The Ship of Purgatory."
(TL-MB, p.11)
1518 Portugal and the Kingdom
of Kotte, Ceylon, signed a peace treaty.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1519 Sep 20, Portuguese
navigator Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain with 270 men and 5
ships on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in
Indonesia. (Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships
eventually circumnavigated the world.)
(V.D.-H.K.p.182)(DD-EVTT, p.41)(AP, 9/20/97)(HN,
9/20/98)
1520 Nov 28, Portuguese
navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing
through the South American strait, the straits of Magellan, and
entered the “Sea of the South.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.177)(AP, 11/28/97)
1521 Apr 26, Magellan was
killed in a fight with natives on Mactan Island. Magellan named the
Mariana Islands Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of Thieves), and was
killed by natives on Cebu. Juan Sebastian Elcano, Magellan’s second
in command, returned to Spain with 18 men and one ship, the
Vittorio, laden with spices. His coat of arms was augmented in
reward with the inscription Primus circumdisti me: "You were the
first to encircle me." Some 50,000 Chamorro people populated the
islands. [see Apr 27]
(V.D.-H.K.p.177-178)(SFEC,11/10/96,Z1p.2)(TL-MB,
p.12)(SFEC, 3/7/99,Z1 p.4)
1521 April 27, Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the
Philippines. [see Apr 26]
(AP, 4/27/99)
1522 The Portuguese crown began
administering Sao Tome.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1522 In 2007 The book "Beyond
Capricorn" said a 16th century maritime map in a Los Angeles library
vault, which accurately marks geographical sites along Australia's
east coast in Portuguese, proves that Portuguese seafarer
Christopher de Mendonca lead a fleet of four ships into Botany Bay
in this year.
(Reuters, 3/21/07)
1523 Portuguese settlers were
expelled from China.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1524 Dec 24, Portuguese
navigator Vasco da Gama (~55), who had discovered a sea route around
Africa to India, died in Cochin, India. He had served as Viceroy in
India. Gama served under the patronage of Dom Manoel and at one time
burned alive 380 men, women and children.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.12)(AP, 12/24/97)(MC,
12/24/01)(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.M3)
1524 Aden became a tributary of
Portugal.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1525 Aug 21, Estavao Gomes
returned to Portugal after failing to find a clear waterway to Asia.
(HN, 8/21/98)
1526 Jul 6, King Afonso of
Kongo (1509-1542) sent a letter of complaint to Portugal regarding
the impact of slave trade in his country.
(www.millersville.edu/~winthrop/Thornton.html)
1527 May 21, Philip II
(d.1598), king of Spain and Portugal (1556-98), was born. He invaded
England and roasted heretics. He collected a fifth of all the wealth
generated from the mines and trade in the Americas. He invested
heavily into his military and lost it all with the defeat of the
Armada in 1588. His debt at his death amounted to 85 million ducats,
or 300 tons of gold.
(HN, 5/21/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(MC, 5/21/02)
1529 Apr 22, Spain and Portugal
divided the eastern hemisphere in Treaty of Saragosa.
(HN, 4/22/98)
1536 May 23, Pope Paul III
installed the Portuguese Inquisition.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1536 Jul 14, France and
Portugal signed the naval treaty of Lyons aligning themselves
against Spain.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1538 Portugal captured Diu,
India, and established it as part of a fortified trade network.
(SSFC, 3/19/06, p.F7)
1540 Coimbra Univ. was founded
in a royal palace.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T7)
c1541 Portugal colonized East
Timor.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)
1543 Feb 21, In the Battle at
Wayna Daga Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Moslem army. Ahmed
Gran, sultan of Adal, died in the battle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelawdewos_of_Ethiopia)
1556 Apr 13, Portuguese
Marranos who reverted back to Judaism were burned alive by order of
Pope.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1557 The Portuguese settled in
Macao, on the coast of southern China, and established trading
factories.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A24)
1573 The Portuguese crown
began administering Principe.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1574 The Portuguese began to
settle in Angola.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)
1578 Apr 14, Philip III, king
of Spain and Portugal (1598-1621), was born.
(HN, 4/14/97)
1578 Aug 4, A crusade against
the Moors of Morocco was routed at the Battle of Alcazar-el-Kebir.
King Sebastian of Portugal and 8,000 of his soldiers were killed.
Sebastian was killed along with the King of Fez and the Moorish
Pretender in the Battle of Alcazar. He was succeeded by Cardinal
Henry.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(HN, 8/4/98)
1579 Portuguese explorer Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered San Diego Bay. His mate, Bartolome
Ferrelo, continued exploring north. [see 1542]
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W34)
1579 Portuguese merchants set
up trading stations in Bengal.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)
1580 Jun 10, Luis Camoes
(b.1524), Portuguese poet, died. He fought in colonial battles in
Morocco and India and lost one eye. He was arrested in a street
brawl in Lisbon and left for India. He traveled to Macao and
Mozambique after which he published "Os Lusiadas" (The Lusiads,
1572), a poem that glorified Vasco da Gama and the history of
Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es)(SFC, 6/4/99,
p.D6)(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.M3)
1580 Jun 27, Duke of Alba's
army occupied Portugal.
(MC, 6/27/02)
1580 Aug 25, Spain defeated
Portugal in the Battle of Alcantara.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1580 The Duke of Alba invaded
Portugal and put it under Spain’s rule. Spain’s Philip II was
proclaimed King Philip I of Portugal and united the colonial empires
of Spain and Portugal.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.23)(PCh, 1992, p.200)
1581 The Portuguese Cortes
(national assembly) submitted to Philip II of Spain.
(TL-MB, p.23)
1582 Oct 15, The Gregorian (or
New World) calendar was adopted in Italy, France, Spain, and
Portugal; and the preceding ten days were lost to history. This day
followed Oct 4 to bring the calendar into sync. by order of the
Council of Trent. Oct 5-14 were dropped.
(K.I.-365D, p.97)(NG, March 1990, J.
Boslough)(HN, 10/15/98)
1584 Portugal dominated the
world’s sugar trade and sold Brazilian sugar to Europe.
(TL-MB, p.23)
1590 Jul 6, English admiral
Francis Drake took the Portuguese Forts at Taag, Angola.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1605 Apr 8, Philip IV king of
Spain and Portugal (1621-65) ), was born.
(HN, 4/8/98)
1627 Two Portuguese Jesuits,
Estevao Cacella and Joao Cabral, arrived in Bhutan, the first
westerners to do so.
(http://visitbhutan2008.blogspot.com/2007/04/zhabdrung-kuchoe.html)
1637 The Dutch attacked and
captured Elmina (Ghana), which up to that point was the centre of
Portuguese activity in West Africa.
(www.moxon.net/ghana/cape_coast.html)
1640 Dec 1, Spain lost Portugal
as the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed João IV (John IV),
king of Portugal.
(HoS, p.267)
1650 Portuguese rule ended in
Oman.
(SSFC, 3/30/08, p.E4)
1660s The British began to
dominate the trade in port wine from Portugal after a political spat
with the French denied them the French Bordeaux wines. Brandy was
added to the Portuguese wines to fortify them for the Atlantic
voyage.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T7)(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)
1661 May 25, King Charles II
married Portuguese princess Catherina the Bragança.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1661 Aug 6, Holland sold Brazil
to Portugal for 8 million guilders.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1671 The St. James Anglican
Church was founded in Porto to serve the spiritual needs of the
British working in the port wine industry.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.T5)
1678 The 1st recorded shipment
of Vinho do Porto was made from Portugal to England.
(SFC, 11/13/03, p.D1)
1680 Portuguese founded Colonia
del Sacramento (Uruguay) for smuggling contraband across the Rio de
la Plata to Spanish-controlled Argentina.
(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.F7)
1692 Taylor’s restaurant and
lodge was founded in Porto.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T10)
1695 Portugal established
colonial rule in the eastern half of Timor Island. The western side
was incorporated into the Dutch East Indies.
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.A15)
1696 In the late 1600s the
Xukuru Indians fought the Portuguese to a stand off in what was
later referred to as the "War of the Barbarians."
(WSJ, 8/20/99, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/bhqlp)
1698-1701 The Portuguese built the Old Fort in
Stone Town on Zanzibar to defend against the sultan of Oman.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T6)
1707 Apr 25, At the Battle of
Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated Anglo-Portuguese.
(HN, 4/25/98)
1739 Sep 1, 35 Jews were
sentenced to life in prison in Lisbon, Portugal.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1741 Apr 8, Jose B. da Gama,
Portuguese poet (O Uraguai), was born.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1775 Mar 19, Portuguese fleet
was repulsed in attack on Montevideo, Uruguay.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1755 Nov 1, An 8.7 earthquake
hit Lisbon, Portugal, and killed some 70,000 people. Heavy damage
resulted from ensuing fires and tsunami flooding in Morocco and
nearly a quarter of a million people were killed. In 2008 Nicholas
Shrady authored “The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin and Reason in the Great
Lisbon Earthquake.”
(HN,
11/1/98)(http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqsmosde.html)(Econ,
4/5/08, p.86)
1761 Sep 21, Gabriel Malagrida
(b.1689), Portuguese Jesuit missionary, was garroted and burned in
Lisbon. In his “Opinion of the True Cause of the Earthquake,”
referring to Lisbons 1755 quake, Malagrida argued that rebuilding
was an offense against God.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/09565c.htm)(Econ,
4/5/08, p.86)
1790 The House of Sandeman
winery was found by the Scot, George Sandeman.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)
1808 Feb 16, The Peninsular War
began when Napoleon ordered a large French force into Spain under
the pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying
Portugal.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1808 Aug 21, Napoleon
Bonaparte's General Junot was defeated by Wellington at the first
Battle of the Peninsular War at Vimiero, Portugal.
(HN, 8/21/02)
1808 Napoleon chased Portugal’s
royal family to Brazil. King Joao VI of Portugal and his court were
installed in Rio de Janeiro by a British fleet.
(Econ, 4/14/07, SR p.5)(Econ, 9/11/10, SR p.3)
1813 Jun 21, The Peninsular War
ended. It began on February 16, 1808, when Napoleon ordered a large
French force into Spain under the pretext of sending reinforcements
to the French army occupying Portugal.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1822 Sep 7, Brazil declared its
independence from Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Brazil)(AP, 9/7/97)
c1822-1889 King John VI of Portugal fled Napoleon
and went to Brazil.
(Hem, 8/96, p.68)
1826 Dom Pedro IV, emperor of
Brazil, attained the Portuguese throne.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.T1)
1840 The Teatro Nacional Dona
Maria II was built in Lisbon. It was named after the daughter of Dom
Pedro IV.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T7)(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.T1)
1847-1911 Queen Maria Pia lived.
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16)
1849 Aug 22, The Portuguese
governor of Macao, China, was assassinated because of his
anti-Chinese policies.
(HN, 8/22/98)
1862 Aug 24, The C.S.S. Alabama
was commissioned at sea off Portugal's Azore Islands, beginning a
career that would see over 60 Union merchant vessels sunk or
destroyed by the Confederate raider. The ship was built in secret in
the in Liverpool shipyards, and a diplomatic crisis between the US
government and Britain ensued when the Union uncovered the ship’s
birth place.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1862 Baron James Forester, a
wealthy Scottish port wine shipper, capsized on the Douro River in
Portugal and was dragged to the river bottom by his money belt full
of gold coins.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T7)
1871 Portuguese immigrants in
the SF Bay area began holding their annual Pentecost Festival named
Chamarita, after a traditional folk dance.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.E4)
1874 Nov 29, Antonio Egas
Moniz, lobotomist (Nobel 1949), was born in Portugal.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1884 Feb 26, Leopold II of
Belgium signed in Congo a British and Portuguese treaty.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1886 The Dom Luis I metal
bridge in Porto was constructed.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T8)
1887-1918 Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Portuguese
futurist artist. He moved to Paris in 1906 befriended Modigliani,
Brancusi, Gris and others. 8 of his works were exhibited at the 1913
Armory Show in New York.
(WSJ, 2/1/00, p.A24)
1889 Apr 28, Antonio de
Oliveira Salazar, premier, dictator of Portugal (1932-68), was born.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1891 Jun 11, Portugal assigned
Barotseland, now in Zambia, to Britain and Nyasaland becomes a
British protectorate.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1900 Jose Eca de Queiroz,
Portuguese novelist, died. His novels included an 1875 satire about
a priest struggling with his vows of celibacy. It was made into a
Mexican film "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" (The Crime of Father
Amaro) in 2002.
(AP, 8/9/02)
1901 The Santa Justa Elevador,
one of the world’s great cast-iron structures, was built in Lisbon.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T6)
1904 Alexandrina Maria da Costa
of Portugal (d.1955) was born. She became a lay Salesian cooperator
and according to the Vatican lived the last 13 years of her life
eating only the bread and wine of Communion. She was beatified in
2004.
(AP, 4/25/04)
1906 Apr 13, There was a mutiny
on the Portuguese battleships Dom Carlos and Vasco da Gama.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1908 Feb 1, Carlos I (44), King
of Portugal (1889-1908), assassinated by mob.
(MC, 2/1/02)
1910 Nov 9, France, Spain,
Norway, Belgium, Germany, Russia, and Great Britain established
diplomatic relations with the new republic of Portugal.
(HN, 11/9/98)
1910 Manuel II, Portugal’s last
king, was overthrown and went into exile in England.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C12)
1911 Jan 5, Portugal expelled
the Jesuits.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1911 Apr 30, Portugal approved
woman suffrage.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1916 Mar 9, Germany declared
war on Portugal.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1917 May 13, Three peasant
children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the
Virgin Mary. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and Lucia de Santos
(d.2005) later reported appearances on 5 more occasions. Dos Santos
was said by believers to be the main recipient of prophecies from
the Virgin about key 20th century events. The Vatican said the 1st
secret foretold the end of World War I and that the 2nd predicted
the spread and collapse of Communism and the conversion of Russia.
In 2000 the Vatican disclosed that the so-called 3rd Secret of
Fatima was a vision of an attempt to kill a pope. It was reportedly
associated to the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt. In 2000 the
Vatican unveiled the 62-line handwritten account of Lucia de Jesus
dos Santos.
(AP, 5/13/97)(SFEC, 5/14/00, p.A2)(SFC, 6/27/00,
p.A12)
1918 Dec 14, Sidonio Pais,
prince of Portugal, was murdered.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1919 May 29, A solar eclipse
occurred that was photographed by two British expeditions, one in
Africa and the other in Sobral, Brazil. Arthur Eddington, British
astronomer, confirmed Einstein’s prediction of the deflection of
light from Principe, a Portuguese island off the Atlantic coast of
Africa. In 1980 Harry Colling and Trevor Pinch published "The
Golem," an account of the expedition. The play “Rose Tattoo” by
Tennessee (Thomas Lanier) Williams was originally titled “The
Eclipse of May 29, 1919.”
(SFC, 10/12/96,
p.E3)(www.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~suchii/Edd.on1919.html)
1926 May 31, Portuguese
president Bernardino Machedo resigned after coup.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1932 Jul 5, Antonio de Oliveira
Salazar became premier and dictator of Portugal.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1933 Aug 30, Portuguese
dictator Salazar formed secret police (PIDE).
(MC, 8/30/01)
1933 Antonio Salazar began his
41-year conservative dictatorship.
(SFC, 10/9/98, p.A2)
1935 Nov 30, Fernando Pessoa
(b.1888), Portuguese poet, died.
(Econ, 10/04/08,
p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa)
1936 Maria Severa, the 1st
great fadista, died. Fado music is about heartsickness and yearning
and has been called the "Portuguese blues."
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.T10)
1939 Jun 28, Pan American
Airways began regular trans-Atlantic passenger air service as the
"Dixie Clipper" left Port Washington, N.Y., for Portugal.
(AP, 6/28/99)(NPub, 2002, p.13)
1936 Portuguese neurologist
Antonio Egas Moniz (1874-1955) performed the first prefrontal brain
lobotomy. It was later rejected as a valid medical technique. Moniz
won the Nobel Prize in 1949 for his development of prefrontal
leucotomy (lobotomy).
(www.britannica.com/nobel/micro/186_81.html)
1940 In France Aristides de
Sousa Mendes (1885-1954), a Portuguese diplomat posted in Bordeaux,
issued 30,000 visas to Jews and 20,000 to other refugees against the
instructions of his government. Dictator Antonio Salazar responded
by removing him from the diplomatic corps, denying him a pension and
blacking out his actions from official state records.
(SFC, 9/7/96, p.A13)(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A16)(SFC,
2/19/09, p.B5)
1941 Japan invaded Indonesia
and ended the Dutch era of colonial power. East Timor, under
Portuguese for some 400 years, was also invaded.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)
1946 Feb 8, Premier Salazar of
Portugal forbade opposition parties.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1947 Jose Saramago, a
metalworker of Portugal, authored his first novel "Terra do Pecado"
(Country of Sin). He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.16A)(SFC, 10/9/98, p.A2)
1949 Apr 4, The (NATO) North
Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy,
Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for
mutual defense against aggression and for close military
cooperation.
(www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)(TOH, 1982,
p.1949)
1949 Portuguese neurologist
Antonio Egas Moniz (1874-1955) won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for
his pioneering work in prefrontal brain lobotomy. It was later
rejected as a valid medical technique.
(SFEC,11/2/97, Z1 p.6)(WUD, 1994, p.925)(SFC,
10/8/01, p.A17)
1951 Jun 11, Mozambique became
an oversea province of Portugal.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1953 Nov 8, Salazar's party won
all parliament seats in Portugal.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1954 Apr 3, Aristides de Sousa
Mendes (b.1885), former Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux,
France, died in poverty. He is credited with defying his
government’s ordes and saving 10,000 European Jews and some 20,000
other nationals by issuing transit visas to “undesirables” fleeing
the Nazis during WW II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes)(SFC,
2/19/09, p.B5)
1958 Dictator Antonio Salazar
appointed Gen Costa Gomes as undersecretary of state for the armed
forces.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1959 Nov 20, Seven European
nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European
Free Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative
on May 3 1960.
(www.iceland.org/efta/the-mission/int-organizations/efta/)
1959 In Portugal the first
stations of Lisbon’s underground were opened. They were all
decorated by contemporary artists working in tiles.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.96)
1961 Jan 22, A Portuguese ocean
liner, the "Santa Maria," was hijacked in the Caribbean with some
600 passengers aboard; the drama ended eleven days later when the
ship docked in Brazil.
(AP, 1/22/01)
1961 Jan 30, Dorothy Thompson
(b.1893), American journalist and radio broadcaster, died in Lisbon,
Portugal. In 1939 she was recognized by Time magazine as the second
most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2011
Susan Hertog authored “Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy
Thompson, New Women in Search of Love and War.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Thompson)(Econ, 12/31/11,
p.69)
1961 Feb 4, In the Portuguese
colony of Angola fighting erupted as 3 anti-colonial guerrilla
movements battled for independence. Rebels butchered Portuguese
settlers, including women and children, on remote Angolan
plantations. In revenge, Portuguese militias and troops carried out
a vicious campaign of repression, despite pressure from the US and
UN to pull out of Africa.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A11)(AP, 12/9/07)(Econ, 9/3/11,
p.46)
1961 Portugal engaged in wars
against independence movements in 5 African colonies.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1961 India wrested Goa and Diu
from Portugal.
(SSFC, 3/19/06, p.F6)
1967 Nov 26, Cloudburst over
Lisbon, Portugal, killed 250-450.
(MC, 11/26/01)(AP, 11/26/02)
1968 Mar 3, The embassies of
Greece, Portugal and Spain were bombed in the Hague.
(http://1968ineurope.sneakpeek.de/index.php/chronologies/index/42)
1968 Sep 27, Portugal’s
President Americo Thomaz replaced PM Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
with Marcelo Caetano after Salazar suffered a major stroke, caused
by his falling from a chair in his summer house.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar)
1970 Jul 27, Antonio de
Oliveira Salazar (b.1889), former dictator of Portugal (1932-68),
died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar)
1972-1974 Gen. Costa Gomes served as commander in
chief of the armed forces.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1974 Feb, In Portugal Marshal
Antonio de Spinola (1910-1996) published a critique of the
dictatorship's African policy.
(SFC, 8/15/96,
p.C4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Sp%C3%ADnola)
1974 Apr 25, Marshal Antonio de
Spinola (1910-1996) was called to the barricades in Portugal to
receive the surrender of the 41-year old regime of Antonio Salazar.
Spinola was then named head of state by the 7-member military junta,
which included Gen. Costa Gomes. The Carnation Revolution changed
the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a
democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC
(Processo Revolucionário Em Curso), characterized by social
turmoil and power dispute between left and right wing political
forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution)(SFC, 8/12/99,
p.D6)(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1974 Sep 30, In Portugal
Marshal de Spinola (1910-1996) resigned as head of state in protest
against rushed attempts to dismantle the colonial empire.
(SFC, 8/15/96,
p.C4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Sp%C3%ADnola)
1974 The process of
decolonization in Portuguese Timor began, following the change of
government in Portugal in the wake of the Carnation Revolution.
(SFC, 3/3/98,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor)
1974 Guinea-Bissau, a former
Portuguese colony, became independent after a decade-long war.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)(AP, 10/6/03)
1974-1975 Mario Soares served as foreign minister.
(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A10)
1975 Jul 5, The Cape Verde
Islands officially became independent after 500 years of Portuguese
rule. Aristides Pereira, a former guerrilla fighter against the
Portuguese colonial administration, became head of state following
independence. He ruled until 1991 when he lost the country's first
democratic elections.
(SFC, 8/5/9, p.A8)(AP, 7/5/00)(AP, 9/22/11)
1975 Jul 12, The islands of Sao
Tome and Principe achieved independence from Portugal.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1975 Nov 25, The Portuguese
Communist Party under Alvaro Cunhal attempted a coup in Lisbon with
leftist army paratroops.
(WSJ, 10/14/98, p.A22)
1975 Nov 28, After colonial
rule collapsed East Timor proclaimed independence, but 10 days later
it was invaded by Indonesia.
(SFC, 7/21/96, zone 1, p.8)(SFC, 10/16/96,
p.A18)
1976 Jul 23, Mario Soares
(b.1924) became Prime Minister of Portugal.
(SFC, 4/19/00,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1rio_Soares)
1979 Jose Samarago won the
Portuguese Critics Award and was sent by his editors on a
cross-country road trip during which he authored "Journey to
Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal’s History and Culture."
(SSFC, 3/4/01, BR p.3)
1979 Maria de Lourdes
Pintasilgo (d.2004) served as Portugal's prime minister.
(AP, 7/10/04)
1981 Gen. Francisco da Costa
Gomes was promoted to marshal, Portugal’s highest military rank.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1982 May 12, In Fatima,
Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish ex-priest armed with
a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II. John Paul was
visiting to give thanks for surviving an assassination attempt on
May 13, 1981. Ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez
Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the
ground by police and arrested. The pope was wounded, but this was
not disclosed until 2008.
(AP,
10/12/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)(Reuters,
10/15/08)
1982 Portugal’s economics began
a current account reversal.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.64)
1985 Mar 29-1985 Mar 30, A
European Council is held in Brussels, Belgium. It accepts the
adhesion of Spain and Portugal in the European Communities and
agrees on the Integrated Mediterranean Programmes (IMP) as proposed
by the Commission.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1985/index_en.htm)
1985 Jun 12, Spain and Portugal
signed Accession Treaties to the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1985/index_en.htm)
1986 Feb 16, Mario Soares
(b.1924), Socialist, was elected Portugal's 1st civilian president
in the 2nd round of elections.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_presidential_election%2C_1986)
1986 Portugal and Spain entered
the European Union expanding the membership to 12.
(WSJ, 5/23/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 7/18/03, p.D5)(Econ,
6/13/09, SR p.3)
1986-1996 Mario Soares served as president of
Portugal.
(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A10)
1987 Apr 13, Portugal signed an
agreement to return Macau to China in 1999.
(http://tinyurl.com/kq3l5)
1987 Nov 10, The Bank of
Portugal signed an agreement to join the European Monetary System
(EMS).
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1987/index_en.htm)
1988 Aug 25, A major fire
destroyed the historic center of Lisbon, Portugal.
(www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ACOS-64CRPV?OpenDocument)
1989 Jun 19, The Spanish peseta
entered the European Monetary System (EMS) exchange-rate mechanism;
the composition of the ECU is adjusted following the inclusion of
the Spanish peseta and the Portuguese escudo.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1989/index_en.htm)
1989 Jose Saramago authored
"The History of the Siege of Lisbon."
(SFC, 10/9/98, p.A2)
1990 Jul 1, The first phase of
the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) comes into force. Four Member
States (Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland) are granted an
exceptional regime given their insufficient progress towards
financial integration.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1990/index_en.htm)
1991 Jose Saramago (75)
authored "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ."
(SFC, 10/9/98, p.A2)
1992 Dec 11, Portugal ratifies
the Treaty on the European Union.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1992/index_en.htm)
1992 Dec 21, A Dutch DC-10
burst into fire at landing on Faro, Portugal, and 56 died.
(http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19921221-0)
1995 Volkswagen built a large
car factory near Lisbon, Portugal.
(Econ, 1/15/11, p.78)
1996 Jan, Socialist Jorge
Sampaio was elected president. He was the former major of Lisbon.
The Socialists also recently won control of the parliament.
(WSJ, 1/15/96, p. A-1)
1996 Jun 9, The latest
unemployment rate was 8%.
(SFC, 6/9/96, Par, p.9)
1996 The Rasin Embankment
Building, home to a Dutch insurance company, was completed. It was
co-designed by Frank Gehry and dubbed "the Dancing Building" because
of its undulating lines.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.T6)
1997 Apr 16, Gunmen burst into
the Mea Culpa topless bar in Amarante and set it on fire killing 12
people.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 6, Flooding of the
Guadiana River killed 18 people in Badajoz, Spain. A total of 31
died along the Spanish-Portuguese border from the storm induced
flood.
(SFC,11/7/97, p.D3)
1998 Mar 29, The $1 billion,
10-mile Vasco da Gama bridge over the River Tagus opened in time to
bring traffic from Spain for the Lisbon Expo.
(SFC, 3/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May 21, In Portugal the
4-month Expo ‘98 was inaugurated in Lisbon. The theme of the fair
expanded on the UN theme Int’l. Year of the Oceans. 15 million
people were expected to visit with exhibits from almost 150
countries.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T6)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D3)
1998 May 22, Just 12,000 people
visited the Expo by midday on its first day. Organizers had
predicted an average daily attendance of 140,000.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 30, The end of Expo
‘98.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T6)
1998 Oct 8, The Nobel Prize for
Literature was awarded to Jose Saramago (75) of Portugal. His work
included "The History of the Siege of Lisbon" (1989), "Blindness,"
"Memorial do Convento" (Baltasar and Blimunda, 1982), "The Year of
the Death of Ricardo Reis" (1984), "The Stone Raft" and "Journey to
Portugal."
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.16A)(SFC, 10/9/98, p.A2)
1998 Oct 18, In Oporto,
Portugal, 21 member nations met for the Ibero-American summit. 19
Latin American countries were represented along with Spain and
Portugal. A document was prepared urging the industrialized nations
to help stave off economic recession.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.A23)
1998 Oct 26, Jose Cardoso
Pires, author, died at age 73. His work included "O Delfim," an
account of life under the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1998 Nov 28, In Portugal the
skeleton of a 4-year-old Paleolithic child was found in the Lapedo
Valley. The Lagar Velho child was dated to about 23,000 BC and
possibly represented a mixed Neanderthal and early human ancestry.
(AM, 7/00, p.25)
1998 The book "Lisbon" by Julia
Wilkinson was published by Lonely Planet.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.T7)
1999 Jan 1, Portugal along with
10 other European Union nations made the transition to the new Euro
monetary system.
(SFC, 1/1/99, p.A8)
1999 Apr 23, The foreign
ministers of Indonesia and Portugal completed an agreement for the
people of East Timor to vote on their future.
(SFC, 4/24/99, p.A14)
1999 May 5, Indonesia and
Portugal signed accords to enable the people of East Timor to vote
on independence Aug 8.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A15)
1999 Oct 6, Amalia Rodrigues
(b.1920), Portuguese actress and fado singer, died at age 79.
(SFC, 10/11/99,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues)
1999 Oct 11, In Portugal the
Socialist Party returned to power with a 44% vote in the elections
giving them 111 seats in the 230 seat Assembly. The Social Democrats
won 32% and got 79 seats.
(SFC, 10/11/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 20, Macao, a enclave
of 430,000 under Portugal, reverted to Chinese control. Edmond Ho,
local banker, took over to head the new government. Local autonomy
was to be had for at least 50 years.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-18)(SFEC, 12/19/99,
p.A28)(SFC, 12/20/99, p.A10)
2000 Mar, EU leaders met in
Lisbon, Portugal, and agreed to turn Europe into the world’s most
competitive economy by 2010. this became known as the Lisbon Agenda.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.15)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.58)
2000 Apr 16, In Portugal 7
people were killed in a stampede at the Luanda nightclub in Lisbon
after canisters thought to contain pepper gas were released.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.A12)
2000 May 30, Pres. Clinton
traveled to Portugal for talks with the EU and met with Pres. Jorge
Sampaio at the Belem Palace outside of Lisbon.
(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A10)
2000 Nov 24, Germany and the
Portuguese Azores Islands recorded new cases of mad cow disease.
Main land Portugal has reported 467 cases since 1990.
(SFC, 11/25/00, p.A16)
2001 Jan 14, Pres. Sampaio won
re-election with 55.8% of the vote. The turnout was a record low.
(WSJ, 1/15/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 24, Portugal Telecom
and Spain’s Telefonica announced today the formation of a US$ 10
billion Strategic Joint Venture ("JV") for mobile services in
Brazil. The resulting entity, named Vivo, was formed from seven
assorted mobile units they already controlled.
(Econ, 5/22/10, p.71)(http://tinyurl.com/2cxlgd4)
2001 Feb, Workers began felling
trees for a new reservoir to be created by a 315-foot-high dam
across the Guadiana River.
(SFC, 2/13/01, p.D3)
2001 Mar 4, In Portugal a
bridge over the Douro River near Penafiel collapsed and at least 70
people in a bus and 2 cars plunged into the river and were killed.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
3/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 1, In Portugal a
nationwide law took effect to decriminalize the personal use and
possession of all drugs.
(Econ, 8/29/09,
p.43)(www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080)
2001 Jul 31, Gen. Francisco da
Costa Gomes died at age 87. He had helped transition Portugal to a
democracy.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
2001 Dec 16, The Social
Democratic Party lost heavily to the Socialists in local elections.
PM Antonio Guterres resigned following the results.
(SFC, 12/18/01, p.A7)
2002 Mar 17, In Portugal the
Social Democrats won elections with 40% of the vote to 37.85% for
the Socialists. The SD gained 102 seats and the Popular Party won 14
giving them a majority in the 230-seat parliament. Jose Manuel Durao
Barroso became prime minister.
(SFC, 3/18/02, p.A5)(Econ, 3/27/04, p.51)
2002 Sep 7, In Portugal the
town of Reguengos de Monsaraz openly flouted a new bullfighting law,
killing a bull in the ring without government permission, and
selling the beef for human consumption afterward. The matador and
the festival organizers will be arraigned in the first legal test of
the new anti-bullfighting law. Killing in the bullring had been
banned since 1928. However, Parliament voted in July to allow bulls
to be put to death, but only in cities and towns that have carried
on the bullfighting tradition for 50 years or more.
(AP, 9/8/02)
2002 Sep 18, Abu Salem, alleged
terrorist mastermind, Mafia boss and one of India's most wanted men,
was arrested in Portugal. Salem is accused by Indian police of being
involved in the country's worst bombing attack, which killed 257
people in Bombay in 1993, as well as a string of murder and
extortion cases.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Dec 10, In Portugal a
national strike forced schools to cancel classes, reduced hospital
care to emergency treatment, left garbage uncollected and clogged
roads with traffic as most public transport stopped running.
(AP, 12/10/02)
2002 Antonio Lobos Antunes
authored his novel "The Return of the Caravels." It reflected the
use of modernist narrative collage technique.
(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.M3)
2003 Aug 3, The worst wildfires
in 20 years raged across central Portugal, killing at least nine
people. The fires this year killed 18 people and destroyed 1.05
million acres of forest.
(AP, 8/4/03)(Econ, 8/27/05, p.42)
2003 Sep 12, In Portugal's
Madeira Islands a small airplane crashed into the sea, apparently
killing all nine people on board. The Beechcraft 200 was carrying
eight Spaniards and a British pilot from the islands off northwest
Africa to the southern Spanish city of Malaga.
(AP, 9/12/03)
2003 Dec 29, In Portugal 9 men
and one woman were charged with sexually abusing minors and
adolescents, rape and organizing a pedophile ring at the state-run
Casa Pia home. Among those indicted were 2 popular television
personalities, a lawmaker and a retired ambassador.
(AP, 12/30/03)
2004 Jul 10, Maria de Lourdes
Pintasilgo (74), the only woman to serve as Portugal's prime
minister (1979), died of heart failure.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 18, Pedro Santana
Lopes was sworn in as PM of Portugal's 16th constitutional
government at a ceremony with President Jorge Sampaio.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Nov, Manuel Durao Barroso,
former PM of Portugal, took over as head of the European Commission.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.52)
2005 Jan 1, Portugal was
forecast for 2.3% annual GDP growth with a population at 10.4
million and GDP per head at $17,680.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.89)
2005 Jan 4, Portugal’s national
meteorology office said many regions, including the southernmost
province of Algarve, the country's main tourism center, are facing
their worst drought in over a decade.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Feb 20, Portugal voted in
an early general election. Socialists led by Jose Socrates swept PM
Pedro Santana Lopes' centre-right Social Democrats from office on
the back of rising unemployment.
(AFP, 2/20/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.49)
2005 Mar 12, In Portugal Jose
Socrates was sworn in as PM vowing to keep friendly ties with the US
despite naming a foreign minister who has compared Pres. Bush to
Adolf Hitler.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 May, In Portugal an audit
estimated that the nation’s deficit could reach 7% of GDP this year,
well over the 1999 EU limit of 3%.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.53)
2005 Jun 11, Vasco Goncalves
(83), former Portugal prime minister (1974-1975), died. He played a
key part in the 1974 April revolution that toppled 48 years of
right-wing dictatorship.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 13, Alvaro Cunhal
(91), Portuguese Communist leader, died. He led Portugal's CP for
half a century and became a national hero after the overthrow of the
country's dictatorship.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 22, The European
Union's head office told Portugal to cut its burgeoning budget
deficit and public debt, saying the country's economic slowdown was
no excuse for violating euro-zone rules on sound finances.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Aug 13, Fires at a rate of
400 per day began breaking out in Portugal.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.42)
2005 Aug 22, In Portugal
wildfires fanned by high winds burned out of control, destroying
more than 10 houses on the outskirts of Coimbra, Portugal's
third-largest city, forcing 50 people to leave their homes amid the
country's worst drought in years.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Oct 2, Portuguese Prime
Minister Jose Socrates met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli,
as Libya continues its bid to warm relations with the West.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 3, In northern and
central Portugal 11 wildfires burned out of control amid the
country's worst drought on record.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Afghanistan a
Portuguese soldier was killed and three others were wounded when an
explosion struck their vehicles outside Kabul.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Dec 10, China and Portugal
vowed to boost their economic cooperation in resource-rich former
Portuguese colonies in Africa as the premiers of the two nations
attended a business conference in Lisbon.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2006 Jan 22, Portugal voted in
a presidential election. Anibal Cavaco Silva (66), a former
centre-right prime minister (1985-1995), won over his five left-wing
rivals. He has pledged to help lead Portugal out of an economic
slump and supports deeper European Union integration.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Feb 21, Portugal's
President Jorge Sampaio was granted honorary citizenship of East
Timor as he began a three-day official trip to the former Portuguese
colony.
(AFP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 25, Portugal and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) signed an accord that
could lead to technology partnerships in the Iberian nation.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2006 Mar 31, A Portuguese court
convicted 96 people, including 81 police officers, in a corruption
case involving bribes for dismissed traffic fines.
(AP, 3/31/06)
2006 May 25, PM John Howard
increased Australia’s contingent to Timor-Leste to some 1,300
troops. 500 Malaysians and troops from New Zealand and Portugal were
also deployed.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.15)
2006 Jun, Off the northern
coast of Portugal Ocean Power Delivery began hooking up 3 Pelamis
Wave Energy Converters to the national power grid. This was the
first stage of a planned 24-megawatt wave-power farm.
(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.11)
2006 Jul 5, France beat
Portugal 1-0 and will play Italy for Soccer’s World Cup on July 9.
(WSJ, 7/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 23, Portuguese bank
BPI said it will open 30 new branches in fast-growing Angola next
year, bringing its total number of outlets in the oil-rich
southwestern African nation to 100 by the end of 2007.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Nov 4, Swathes of Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the
Netherlands and went dark for up to an hour in the late evening as
cold Germans rushing to switch on heaters sucked up electricity from
Europe's interconnected networks.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2007 Feb 11, Portugal held a
national referendum on whether to discard its strict abortion law, a
battle that pits the Socialist government against conservative
parties and the Catholic Church. Almost 60 percent of voters
approved the referendum allowing women to opt for abortions up to
the 10th week of pregnancy.
(AP, 2/11/07)(AP, 2/12/07)
2007 Feb 12, Portugal's prime
minister said he will enact more liberal abortion laws in the
conservative Roman Catholic country even though his proposal to
relax restrictions failed to win complete endorsement in a
referendum.
(AP, 2/12/07)
2007 Mar 8, Portugal's
parliament voted overwhelmingly to legalize abortion up until the
10th week of pregnancy, a major step in bringing this small Roman
Catholic nation in line with most of its European neighbors.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 16, Portugal said it
is closing its embassy in Baghdad because of security concerns.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 May 3, Madeleine McCann
(3), a British girl, was kidnapped from her bed in a Portuguese
beach resort while her parents dined nearby.
(Reuters, 5/5/07)
2007 Jun 21, Portugal
introduced a new law that allows abortion up to the 10th week of
pregnancy, but imposes a three-day reflection period for women
seeking the procedure and grants doctors the right to opt out on
moral grounds.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jul 1, Portugal took over
the rotating EU presidency.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.14)
2007 Jul 4, On the historic
occasion of their first summit, the EU and Brazil decided to
establish a comprehensive strategic partnership, based on their
close historical, cultural and economic ties. Brazil and EU leaders
met in Lisbon, Portugal.
(www.eu2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/20070704BRSUM.htm)(Econ,
7/7/07, p.40)
2007 Sep 7, Portuguese police
suggested that Kate McCann (39), the mother of a toddler whose
disappearance sparked international headlines, accidentally killed
her daughter Madeleine, who disappeared on May 3.
(AFP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 9, The British couple
named as suspects in the disappearance of their 4-year-old daughter
returned to England, days after being grilled by Portuguese police
about new forensic evidence authorities believe ties them to the
case.
(AP, 9/9/07)
2007 Oct 19,
European Union leaders in Portugal endorsed a reform treaty to
replace their failed European constitution and give the 27-nation
union a more influential say in world affairs. The new Treaty of
Lisbon created 2 new posts, a European foreign minister in all but
name and a new standing president of the European Council.
(AP, 10/19/07)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.64)
2007 Oct 29, In Portugal senior
officials from the EU, three US states (California, New York, New
Jersey), Canada, Norway and New Zealand launched the International
Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), an international effort to fight
climate change by building a global carbon trading market.
(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct, The first commercial
wave farm was set up off the coast of Portugal. The system was
created at Pelamis Wave Power, a firm based in Scotland.
(Econ, 6/7/08, TQ p.22)
2007 Nov 5, A bus collided with
a car on a highway in central Portugal and rolled down a slope,
killing at least 12 people.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 27, Mozambique
formally took over from Portugal the control of Cahora Bassa
hydroelectric dam, Africa's second most important after that of
Aswan in Egypt.
(AFP, 11/27/07)
2008 Jan 4, The annual 5,760
Dakar Rally was canceled on the eve of the race across the Sahara
Desert because of terror threats and the recent Christmas Eve
killings of a French family in Mauritania blamed on al-Qaida-linked
militants. The race, organized by the France-based Amaury Sport
Organization (ASO), had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, and
finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20.
(AP, 1/4/08)(WSJ, 1/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 24, Portugal's
President Anibal Cavaco Silva began a 3-day official visit to
Mozambique, where members of his government have signed four
bilateral accords.
(AFP, 3/25/08)
2008 Sep 23, Portugal's
Socialist government began the roll-out of 500,000 ultra-cheap
laptops for school children in a program that the government said
could be extended to Venezuela. While the Magellan computer will be
assembled in Portugal by a company called JP Sa Couto, it is based
on Intel's Classmate PC, a cheap computer that has been adopted in
various formats in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.
(Reuters, 9/23/08)
2008 Oct 10, Portugal's
Parliament voted by a large majority against proposals to allow
same-sex marriages in the mostly Roman Catholic country.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2009 Jan 21, Portugal became
the 3rd euro zone country this month, after Spain and Greece, to
have its credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s.
(WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A9)
2009 Feb 17, In Portugal
Conchita Cintron (b.1922), Peruvian-born matador, died. She faced
her first bull at age 13 and made her premier at the main arena in
Lima in 1937. She reportedly killed over 750 bulls during her career
in Europe.
(SFC, 2/20/09, p.B8)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.93)
2009 Mar 17, Portuguese police
said they have captured more than 7.7 tons (7 metric tons) of
hashish from Morocco with an estimated street value of more than
euro70 million (US$91 million). Police said they netted the drug in
a series of coordinated operations over three days beginning last
weekend.
(AP, 3/17/09)
2009 Apr 26, Pope Benedict XVI
named five new saints, including Portugal's 14th century
independence leader and an Italian priest who ministered to factory
workers at the dawn of the industrial era.
(AP, 4/26/09)
2009 May 1, Special forces on a
Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates
after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19
men. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, another band of pirates
hijacked a cargo ship. The captain and 23 crew were all Ukrainians
and the Greek-owned, Maltese-flagged Ariana was carrying a cargo of
soya from Brazil to Iran when pirates attacked it southwest of the
Seychelles islands. The Ariana was freed on Dec 10 following a
ransom payment of $2.8 million by Athens-based Alloceans Shipping.
(AP, 5/2/09)(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 Jun 21, The Portuguese
foreign minister said his country will take in 2-3 Guantanamo Bay
detainees once they are released by the US detention camp.
(AP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 22, Pirates off
Somalia were chased down and captured by NATO’s Portuguese warship,
the Corte-real, after an attempted hijacking of a Singaporean
freighter.
(SFC, 6/23/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 7, Portugal said it
has agreed to take two Syrian detainees from Guantanamo prison.
(AP, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 21, A landslide at
Portugal’s Maria Luisa beach in Albufeira on the Algarve coast
killed five people and injured at least four.
(AP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 29, Portugal’s
government said 2 Syrians previously held at Guantanamo Bay have
arrived in Portugal as free men.
(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Sep 16, The European
Parliament gave Jose Manuel Barroso another five-year term as
European Commission president, but its vote reflected lingering
misgivings about the conservative ex-Portuguese premier.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 27, Portugal voted in
parliamentary elections that are predicted to keep the Socialist
Party in power despite the highest jobless rate in over 20 years.
The center-left Socialist Party of PM Jose Socrates retained power
winning 36.5% of the vote compared with 29% for the center-right
Social Democratic Party. Turnout was about 60%.
(AP, 9/27/09)(SFC, 9/28/09, p.A2)(Econ, 10/3/09,
p.65)
2009 Portugal’s budget deficit
for the year reached 9.3% of GDP.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.84)
2010 Jan 8, Portugal's
parliament passed a bill that would make the predominantly Catholic
nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.
(AP, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 9, Four suspected
members of the Basque separatist group ETA were arrested in Portugal
and France, one driving a van loaded with explosives near a police
barracks. two police officers stopped the van in Spain when their
suspicions were raised by its French license plates. The driver of
the van then pushed passed the police and proceeded to flee the
scene driving off in their patrol car which he stole. The police
alerted their Portuguese counterparts who rapidly arrested the man
and a woman, who had been following the van in a presumed getaway
vehicle with French plates.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Feb 5, Portuguese police
seized a large amount of explosives at a home being used by Basque
separatist group ETA as a base to prepare attacks in neighboring
Spain.
(AP, 2/5/10)
2010 Feb 20, On Portugal’s
Madeira Islands torrential flash floods and mudslides killed at
least 42 people in the capital city of Funchal. The number of people
missing soon rose to 29.
(AP, 2/21/10)(AP, 2/22/10)(AP, 2/23/10)(AP,
2/25/10)
2010 Feb 28, A violent late
winter storm named Xynthia battered France, Spain, Portugal and
Germany with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds. The storm
smashed sea walls and killed at least 62 people across western
Europe.
(AP, 2/28/10)(AP, 3/1/10)(SFC, 3/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 8, Portugal announced
new austerity measures to avoid a debt crisis like the one engulfing
Greece, cutting welfare benefits and government hiring as well as
selling assets and raising taxes on the well-off.
(AP, 3/8/10)
2010 Mar 24, Fitch Ratings, a
leading credit rating agency, downgraded Portugal's debt amid
growing concerns about the government's ability to service its
borrowings, another piece of bad news for the eurozone as it
struggles to deal with a debt crisis.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 May 17, Portugal’s Pres.
Anibal Cavaco Silva said he would not veto a new law allowing
same-sex marriages because majority liberal lawmakers would only
override his decision.
(SFC, 5/18/10, p.A3)
2010 Jun 7, In Portugal a
lesbian couple wed in the country’s first same-sex ceremony since
the predominantly Catholic country introduced a law allowing gay
marriage last month.
(AP, 6/7/10)
2010 Jun 18, Jose Saramago
(b.1922), 1998 Nobel-winning Portuguese writer, died at his home in
the Canary Islands. His 1992 novel “The Gospel According to Jesus
Christ” was condemned by Portugal’s ministry of culture as
heretical. He accused the government of censorship and moved to the
Canary Islands.
(SFC, 6/19/10, p.C6)(Econ, 7/10/10, p.83)
2010 Aug 14, In Portugal more
than 600 firefighters battled at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks
fanned by gusting winds in three separate areas.
(AP, 8/14/10)
2010 Sep 3, A Portuguese court
found six men and one woman guilty of crimes relating to child sex
abuse in a major trial that lasted nearly six years. All seven
defendants were found guilty of crimes including sexually abusing
minors and adolescents, raping children and running a pedophile ring
at the Casa Pia, a state-run children's home in Lisbon during the
1990s.
(AP, 9/3/10)
2010 Sep 8, In northern Morocco
9 Portuguese tourists were killed and 14 injured when their tour bus
plunged into a ravine.
(AFP, 9/8/10)
2010 Oct 5, Portugal's Pres.
Anibal Cavaco Silva opened a new cancer and neuroscience research
center in Lisbon that aims to be among the world's best.
(AP, 10/5/10)
2010 Oct 12, At the United
Nations Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa were
elected to join the big guns on the UN Security Council for two
years, starting in January.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20101012/ts_csm/331624)(Reuters,
10/13/10)
2010 Nov 7, In Portugal Chinese
President Hu Jintao pledged to support Portugal's efforts to emerge
from financial crisis, but he did not commit to purchasing
Portuguese debt as was widely anticipated.
(AFP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 19, NATO leaders began
a 2-day meeting in Portugal. A top official said it will start
drawing down its troops in Afghanistan next July and its combat role
in the war-torn nation will end by 2014 or earlier so security can
be turned over to the Afghans. NATO leaders planned to approve a new
10-year vision for NATO.
(AP, 11/19/10)(Reuters, 11/19/10)
2010 Nov 20, NATO nations
meeting in Portugal formally agreed to start turning over
Afghanistan's security to its military next year and give them full
control by 2014. The US and its allies appeared to take conflicting
views on when NATO combat operations would end. NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he did not expect NATO
troops to stay in the fight against the Taliban after 2014. Russia
was receptive but stopped short of accepting a historic NATO
invitation to join a missile shield protecting Europe against
Iranian attack.
(AP, 11/20/10)(Reuters, 11/20/10)
2010 Nov 24, Portuguese labor
unions mounted a general strike, pressing the government to scrap
austerity measures intended to ward off a debt crisis spreading
through the euro zone.
(Reuters, 11/24/10)
2010 Nov 26, Portugal adopted a
raft of debt-reducing austerity measures, which the government
claimed would be enough to restore market confidence in its public
finances without resorting to a bailout.
(AP, 11/26/10)
2010 Nov 30, Investors sold off
government bonds from Spain, Portugal and Italy amid worries that
Europe's debt crisis has not been contained by Ireland's bailout but
will force more expensive rescue efforts.
(AP, 11/30/10)
2010 Dec 1, Portugal suffered
another blow when its borrowing costs rose sharply in a government
Treasury bill auction, but officials insisted the debt-ridden
country could survive without an international bailout.
(Reuters, 12/1/10)
2011 Jan 7, In NYC Carlos
Castro (65), a gay Portuguese TV reporter, was found castrated and
bludgeoned to death at the InterContinental Hotel. His young
boyfriend, model Renato Seabra (21) was arrested by police.
(SSFC, 1/9/11, p.A11)
2011 Jan 10, Portugal's
borrowing rates briefly spiked to euro-era highs amid reports that
Germany and France are pushing it to accept outside help to avoid
contagion.
(AP, 1/10/11)
2011 Jan 11, Portugal insisted
it doesn't need a bailout and criticized its European partners for
not doing enough to shield the euro from a debt crisis that has
already forced Greece and Ireland to seek outside help.
(AP, 1/11/11)
2011 Jan 23, Portuguese voted
in an election looking certain to return President Anibal Cavaco
Silva for a second term, a result that would uphold the government's
efforts to avoid an international financial bailout.
(Reuters, 1/23/11)
2011 Mar 9, Portugal's two-year
cost of borrowing hit the highest level since it joined the euro in
a bond auction. The government said yields were unsustainable in the
long run without Europe-wide action.
(Reuters, 3/9/11)
2011 Mar 12, In Portugal some
30,000 young people rallied in Lisbon to vent frustration over grim
career prospects.
(SSFC, 3/13/11, p.A4)
2011 Mar 23, Portugal’s PM Jose
Socrates resigned after parliament rejected new austerity measures
that his government unveiled to avoid being forced to seek EU/IMF
financial assistance.
(Reuters, 3/24/11)
2011 Mar 24, Portugal's
financial collapse appeared inevitable, as markets took the
government's resignation as proof the debt-heavy country will lose
its year-long battle to avoid a bailout and deliver another setback
to Europe's efforts to boost confidence in the euro.
(AP, 3/24/11)
2011 Mar 25, European leaders
agreed a new package of anti-crisis measures at a two-day summit,
but were forced to delay increasing their rescue fund and
acknowledged they faced new threats from a government collapse in
Portugal.
(Reuters, 3/25/11)
2011 Mar 28, Portugal's
financial tailspin gathered speed despite political efforts to
contain the acute debt crisis that is also unnerving the 17-nation
eurozone.
(AP, 3/28/11)
2011 Apr 1, Debt-stressed
Portugal got some respite from its financial troubles when it
managed to borrow euro1.645 billion ($2.3 billion) in a bond
auction.
(AP, 4/1/11)
2011 Apr 6, Portugal applied to
the EU for help after paying prohibitively high interest rates to
raise badly needed fresh funds to cover mounting debt as the market
bet it will have to seek a bailout sooner rather than later.
(AFP, 4/6/11)(Econ, 4/9/11, p.81)
2011 Apr 8, Europe's top
financial officials said that debt-ridden Portugal will need around
euro80 billion ($114 billion) in rescue loans and that negotiations
over a full, multiyear bailout program will begin immediately.
(AP, 4/8/11)
2011 May 3, Portugal announced
a bailout of 78 billion euros by the IMF, the EU and the European
Central Bank to avoid default. The conditions as well as the key
reaction of opposition parties remain unclear.
(AFP, 5/4/11)
2011 May 5, Officials said
Portugal will get IMF loans at rates similar to those granted to
Greece and Ireland, but Lisbon is still waiting for fellow European
countries to decide how much they'll charge for their slice of a
euro78 billion ($115 billion) bailout.
(AP, 5/5/11)
2011 May 20, The IMF approved
providing Portugal with $36.8 billion as part of a rescue package to
help the country tackle its debt.
(SFC, 5/21/11, p.D2)
2011 Jun 5, Portugal voted in
an early election to decide who implements a 78 billion euro bailout
deal, with the opposition favorites to win after six years of
Socialist rule and near financial collapse. The Social Democratic
Party, led by Pedro Passos Coelho (46), elected 105 lawmakers to the
230-seat parliament compared to 73 for the 2nd place socialists.
(AFP, 6/5/11)(SFC, 6/6/11, p.A4)(Econ, 6/11/11,
p.56)
2011 Jun 21, Portugal's new
coalition government took office, charged with steering the
debt-heavy country out of an acute financial crisis that forced it
to take a euro78 billion ($112 billion) bailout and contributed to
Europe's debt woes.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jul 5, Moody’s Investor
Service cut Portugal’s debt to junk status, a decision condemned by
all of Europe. Europe Central Bank pres. Jean-Claude Trichet called
for a European-based rating agency.
(SSFC, 7/10/11, p.A4)
2011 Sep 26, In Portugal George
Wright (68), named as one of the hijackers of a Delta flight in
1972, was taken into custody by local police. The US government
sought his extradition for escaping from a New Jersey jail after
being convicted of murder. Wright was convicted of the 1962 murder
of gas station owner Walter Patterson, a decorated World War II
veteran shot during a robbery at his business in Wall, New Jersey.
In November a Lisbon court denied the US request for his
extradition.
(AP, 9/28/11)(AP, 11/17/11)
2011 Oct 24, In Portugal an
overnight storm tore part of the roof off Faro airport in the
southern Algarve region, injuring five people and disrupting
flights.
(AP, 10/24/11)
2011 Nov 24, Portugal’s credit
rating was downgraded to junk status and a major strike gave voice
to broad public outrage over austerity measures that have
squeezed living standards.
(SFC, 11/25/11, p.A8)
2011 Maria Antonia Pinto de
Matos of Lisbon authored “The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics: A
Collector’s Vision.”
(Econ, 11/19/11, p.97)
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Subject = Portugal
End of file.