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| - The territory present on the present borders of the Kingdom of Portugal has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, the County of Portucale was formed in 868, with its first count being Vímara Peres, after whom the city of Guimarães is named. The county was for most of its history, a subject of the Kingdoms of Asturias (until 924), Galicia (whenever it and León didn't have the same monarchs), and León. The County essentially ceased to exist by the first time after the Count Nuno (II) Mendes started to claim the title of "King of Portucale", and subsequently died at the Battle of Pedroso, fought against Garcia II of Galicia. Garcia then, started to use the title of "King of Portucale". However, Garcia didn't last much with the title, as he was deposed by his brothers Sancho II of Castille and Alfonso VI of León. Thus, the Kingdom of Galicia, along with the territory of the county of Portucale, was absorbed by the Kingdom Of León. The former Kingdom of Galicia, including the Portugal and Coimbra, was given by Alfonso VI as a county to his son-in-law Raymond of Burgundy. However, concern for Raymond's growing power led Alfonso in 1096 to separate Portugal and Coimbra from Galicia and grant them to Henry of Burgundy, nephew of Alfonso's wife. Henry chose Braga as the base for this newly formed county, the Condado Portucalense, known at the time as Terra Portucalense or Província Portucalense, which would last until Portugal achieved its independence, recognized by the Kingdom of León in 1143. Its territory included much of the current Portuguese territory between the Minho River and the Tejo River. On 24 June 1128, the Battle of São Mamede occurred near Guimarães. Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother, Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself as sole leader. Afonso Henriques officially declared Portugal's independence when he proclaimed himself King of Portugal on 25 July 1139, after the Battle of Ourique. He was recognized as such in 1143 by King Alfonso VII of León and Castile, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors, as the size of Portugal covered about half of its present area. In 1249, this Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve on the southern coast, giving Portugal its present-day borders, with minor exceptions. The borders on the Iberian peninsula were defined in 1297, after two wars with Castille. In 1348 and 1349, like the rest of Europe, Portugal was devastated by the Black Death. In 1373, Portugal made an alliance with England. It was apparently reaffirmed in 1452. In 1383, the King of Castile (Juan I) , husband of the daughter (Beatriz) of the Portuguese King (Fernando I) who had died without a surviving male heir, claimed his throne. Other claimants also were Fernando's half-brothers, Dinis, Lord of Villar-Dompardo, and João, Lord of Porto de Mós. An ensuing popular revolt led to the 1383-1385 Crisis. A faction of petty noblemen and commoners, led by João of Avis (another half-brother of Fernando I, later João I), seconded by General Nuno Álvares Pereira defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota. In the following decades, Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and undertook the Age of Discovery. Infante Dom Henry the Navigator, son of King João I, became the main sponsor and patron of this endeavor. In 1415, Portugal acquired the first of its overseas colonies by conquering Ceuta. It was the first prosperous Islamic trade center in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries in the Atlantic: Madeira and the Azores, which led to the first colonization movements, that are still being undertaken. The archipelago of Cabo Verde was discovered in 1459 (by France), and a colony was founded there. The island of Achinet, or Tenerife was conquered in 1464. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for several common types of tradable commodities at the time, ranging from gold to slaves, as they looked for a route to India and its spices, which are coveted in Europe. During Afonso V's reign, Portugal continued to settle lands on Africa, particularly the Cabo Verde islands, and parts of the littoral, as feitorias. After his death in 1475, his son Afonso succeeded to the throne, and got himself involved on a disastrous war against Castille, which ended with the Portuguese defeat, and loss of Ceuta. On a lighter note, Portugal apparently became an ally of Venice. This Afonso died of the plague, and as he had sent his children to study in England, and England was apparently on an isolationist period, as it didn't answer any messages by Portugal, the throne was empty. João II, Duke Of Coimbra assumed as regent, but as he rarely was present in Lisboa. Duarte, Duke of Guimarães assumed the administrative issues. Duarte eventually would be the responsible for various policies that Portugal followed from Afonso VII's reign to the early part of Urraca's reign, such as the diplomatic isolationism after the war with Castille, and the colonial expansionism that would be more pronounced during Urraca's reign. With the end of the war, Afonso came back to Portugal, and was crowned. However, he died shortly after, the only achievements of his reign being the peace with Castille and the establishment of the feitoria of São Jorge da Mina, which quickly became the most lucrative of the Portuguese feitorias, surpassing Serra Leoa and Arguim. João II Of Coimbra, his uncle, then became King. João continued the focus on finding a route to India. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias discovered that the Indian Ocean wasn't landlocked, as it was said, thus discovering a sea route to India. The expedition of Pero de Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva to India and Abyssinia, respectively, also collected more information about those routes. And, in 1491, a Scandinavian navigator called Cjest Reginsson asked for funding of the King of Portugal for an expedition to find the settlement of "Vinland". João II accepted reluctantly. In 1492, Reginsson's expedition parted from Porto, and in 12 October, land was first sighted. The place was called "Myrland" by Reginsson, and the expedition continued to sail north, discovering an almost contiguous expanse of land, which was called "Antília" by one of his pilots, Gaspar Corte-Real. Despite this, Reginsson failed in discover Vinland, asking for funds for another expedition. Those funds were granted, and Reginsson managed to discover Vinland, or at least, he claimed to have done it. Other lands were also discovered. Other expeditions to the area also took place, and some went farther south, and in late 1497, an expedition led by Duarte Pacheco sighted a land mass to the south of Antília. It was called Terra de Santa Cruz, though most of the natives called it Pindorama. A feitoria was built there in 1499, and occupation of the lands began right away. Another colony was founded on Antília in 1511. João II died in 1495, being succeeded by his son, also named João, who was a minor when he ascended to the throne, and died two years later. During this time, Duarte de Guimarães was the regent of the Kingdom. He was succeeded by his older sister Urraca, as he had no surviving brothers. After the coronation, Urraca married Afonso de Viseu, son and heir of Diogo, Duke of Viseu. Afonso died in 1502 on a hunting accident, having only two sons with Urraca. Urraca married again in 1504, this time with the son of the Duke of Bragança, also named Afonso. Urraca's reign was mainly marked by the increasing centralization of power, and some expansionist tendencies. A maritime way to India was discovered in 1500 on an expedition led by Vasco da Gama. However, Portugal's relations with India became only commercial due to the heavy presence of the Caliphate on the area. Thus, most of the expansion was made on the colonies on northern and southern Antília. Various land masses on Antília were discovered during her reign. Most notably, in the colony of Brasil, which by the end of her reign, had become as big as Portugal itself in area, though most of this area was disconnected. In Urraca's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government. The Portuguese Cortes (the assembly of the kingdom) only met six times during her 50-year reign, always in Lisbon, the queen's seat. She reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes and the concepts of tributes and rights. Urraca also was very religious and invested a large amount of Portuguese income to sponsor missionaries to the new colonies, such as Francisco Álvares, and the construction of religious buildings, such as the Monastery of Jerónimos. Despite this, her laws against Kappelianism were somewhat lenient if compared to other nations, such as Brandenburg. The reign of Urraca also was marked by active diplomacy, contrasting with João II's diplomatic isolationism. With Scandinavia, she made alliances through marriage (her son Pedro with Victoria of Sweden, who would eventually become queen of Scandinavia in 1547.), beside opening diplomatic relations with countries like Cyprus, France and Anhalt. However, diplomatic relations with Castille continued nearly non-existent, as they were since the war with Castille. Urraca's support for the humanist cause was also significant. In literature, his active support of Gil Vicente, Garcia de Resende, Sá de Miranda, Bernardim Ribeiro, Fernão Mendes Pinto and João de Barros was notable. In the sciences, Urraca supported mathematician Pedro Nunes and physician Garcia de Orta. She definitively transferred the Portuguese university from Lisbon to Coimbra in 1538, and in the same year, a university was created in São Salvador da Bahia. In 1542, Urraca created in Coimbra a College of Arts. Another noteworthy aspect of Urraca's rule was the support she gave to missionaries in the New World. Urraca I eventually died in 1547, being the longest-reigning Portuguese monarch up to that moment, only excluding Afonso I (only 46 years of his reign were spent as King, with him being, progressively, Count, Duke and Prince [the latter both self-proclaimed titles] for 11 years). She was succeeded by her son Pedro II. However, most of the state affairs began to be handled by his younger brother Garcia, Duke of Coimbra, due to Pedro's presence on Scandinavia for the most part of his reign. Pedro eventually became more present after 1557, and involved the country in its first war after the Galician war's failure, against Naples. As a result, Portugal gained a Neapolitan colony that was Portuguese but was traded with them in return for a fort in the Guaíba lake. However, Pedro died before reorganizing the colony. His son, Dinis succeeded him, and in his 17-month reign, basically finished what Pedro had left open in the colonies, aside of founding a new university in Portugal. Dinis II having died heirless, his brother Afonso ascended to the throne, and in 1564, Afonso X became the first king of both Scandinavia and Portugal. His reign was mostly uneventful, with Portugal briefly involving itself on a Caliph invasion of Venice, obviously fighting against the Caliph. Afonso then was succeeded by his son João, who, in 1582, invaded Galicia, and died in 1583, after taking Badalhós. The war with Castille was continued under his brother, Garcia I, who by 1586, deposed the Habsburg King of Castille, Fadrique II, and took his titles. Garcia, however, as well as his brother, died with no surviving children, and appointed his sister, Carina, as successor, ending the reign of the House of Avis, although the house still continued in the form of the lineages of the Dukes of Coimbra and Viseu (until 1648). Carina took the regnal name of Urraca in Portugal, León and Castille, and reigned jointly with her husband, Nuno Anes de Lara, Lord of Lara de los Infantes, (a title that he had acquired after the Second Galician War) which would become Count of Lara (the Portuguese title) as Nuno VIII in 1600. After a 40-year plus reign marked by expansionism, both in Portugal and Scandinavia, and stabilization and modernization, in Castille and León, Urraca II died in 1630, and her possessions were divided among her sons and grandsons, with Duarte, the eldest son, receiving Portugal and Scandinavia, Afonso, the second son, receiving León, and Fernando, son of Nuno, the third son, receiving Castille. Duarte was succeeded by his son Dinis, who in turn was succeeded by his son Valdemar, who in 1656, died and was succeeded by his uncle Garcia. Meanwhile in 1657, not long after Garcia's ascension, Fernando VI, the King of Castille, started a war with Aragon over a border dispute on Vizcaya. Garcia joined the war in support of Castille, and León joined in suport of Portugal. Aragon was defeated, and the Kingdom of Navarra was granted independence from Aragon and given to Garcia, and subsequently, to Fernando VI. Aragon still kept its monarch, but had to pledge vassalage to Portugal. After the war, Garcia added the title of Emperor of Spain to his titles, given the Portugal had now hegemony over the Iberian Christian kingdoms. Garcia died in 1680, and was succeeded by his son Afonso, whose reign was noted by the submission of the Muslim kingdom of Granada to Portugal, in an episode related to the defeat of the Nasrid kingdom to Morocco on an war. So, by the first time since the fall of the Visigoth Kingdom in 711, the Iberian peninsula was relatively unified. Aside from that, Aragon also involved itself in three wars against the Kingdom of Toulouse, all started by France, and, which, by 1711, had Aragon controlling most of the Languedoc.
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