11 ATLASES
History of Portugal in maps
Portugal as it appears in 11 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Lusitania, Portugal — the western Reconquista, Portugal. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Portugal before it was Portugal? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Lusitania (mod. Portugal) · Ancient Rome
Viriathus, remembered as a shepherd who became a general, resisted Rome in Lusitania for a decade. Roman agents offered rewards to his killers, and he was assassinated in 139 BC. In one ancient account a consul tells them, “Rome does not pay traitors,” although payment had been promised. Augustus organized the province around Emerita Augusta (Mérida), founded in 25 BC for veterans; its theater, bridge and aqueduct still stand. After 409 Sueves took the north, while the south passed to Visigothic rule. The region’s Latin eventually developed into Portuguese.
| 264 BC | Tribal peoples & confederations — the opening position |
| 133 BC | Roman territory |
| Breakaway Roman empires (260–274) | |
| Roman territory | |
| Former Roman lands (lost) |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · Norse and Aztecs
| Other peoples and states — the opening position |
NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal — the western Reconquista · Crusades
Portugal emerged from the Reconquista as a new kingdom advancing south along the Atlantic. In 1147, English, Flemish and German crusaders on their way to the Holy Land stopped to help take Lisbon from the Muslims. The capture made Lisbon the Portuguese capital and supplied one of the few successes of the otherwise disastrous Second Crusade.
| Latin Christendom — the opening position |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · Industrial Revolution
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · Age of Revolutions
Portugal refused the Continental System and faced invasion in 1807. The royal court sailed to Brazil under British escort, making Portugal the only European monarchy to reign from a colony. Britain’s oldest ally also became the site of Wellington’s fortress at Torres Vedras. The country emerged from the age with a liberal constitution and civil wars, and without Brazil, which it lost in 1822.
| The conservative monarchies — the opening position | |
| Britain & its empire | |
| The conservative monarchies |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · WWI
| The Entente & Allies — the opening position | |
| The Entente & Allies | |
| The Entente & Allies |
Portugal · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · WW2
Portugal · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Partial or unequal; treaty signed only; transition — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Portugal · Refugee crises
| Western bloc or democracy — the opening position | |
| Western bloc or democracy |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Related
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