When did Portugal become a country?

Afonso Henriques called himself King of Portugal from 1139. The King of León recognised him in the Treaty of Zamora in 1143, and Pope Alexander III recognised the kingdom in 1179.

Why is Portugal not part of Spain?

Portugal broke away from the Kingdom of León in the 12th century, before Spain existed as one country. It was ruled by the Spanish kings from 1580 to 1640, but revolted in 1640 and Spain recognised its independence in 1668.

Where does the name Portugal come from?

From Portus Cale, a Roman-era settlement at the mouth of the Douro river where the city of Porto stands today.

What is the oldest alliance in the world?

The alliance between England and Portugal, dating back to a treaty of 1373, is usually described as the oldest alliance still in force.

How Portugal became a country.

Look at the Iberian Peninsula and Portugal seems like the obvious odd one out: one thin country on the Atlantic edge of a much bigger Spain. It started as a county of a Spanish kingdom, and it broke away thanks to a young prince who went to war with his own mother.

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A county named after a port

The name comes from Portus Cale, a settlement at the mouth of the Douro river where Porto stands today. In the 9th century, as Christian kingdoms in the north pushed back against the Muslim rulers of the south, the area became the County of Portugal, one of several counties of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, which later became the Kingdom of León.

In 1096 King Alfonso VI of León gave the county to a French knight, Henry of Burgundy, who had married his daughter Teresa. It was a reward, and it was supposed to stay loyal.

A son against his mother

Henry died in 1112 and Teresa ruled the county, leaning on nobles from Galicia to the north. Her young son, Afonso Henriques, and the Portuguese nobles around him did not like it. On 24 June 1128, at the Battle of São Mamede near Guimarães, Afonso's forces defeated his mother's. He took control of the county.

From count to king

In 1139, after a victory over Muslim forces at the Battle of Ourique, Afonso began calling himself King of Portugal. His cousin, King Alfonso VII of León, accepted it in the Treaty of Zamora in 1143. In 1147 Afonso took Lisbon, with help from crusaders sailing to the Holy Land. And in 1179 Pope Alexander III recognised Portugal as a kingdom in a papal bull, the stamp of approval every medieval king wanted.

By the Treaty of Alcañices in 1297, Portugal and Castile had agreed a border that is still, give or take, the border today, one of the oldest in Europe.

Sixty years under Spain

Portugal's independence was not a straight line. In 1578 the young King Sebastian died in battle in Morocco without an heir, and in 1580 his uncle, King Philip II of Spain, took the Portuguese throne. For sixty years the two crowns shared one king.

On 1 December 1640 Portuguese nobles rose up and crowned the Duke of Braganza as King John IV. A long war followed, until Spain recognised Portugal's independence in the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668. The first of December is still a public holiday in Portugal, Restoration of Independence Day.

Why it stayed separate

Portugal faced the Atlantic, not Madrid. It built an empire across the oceans, and it had a powerful friend: England. The two signed a treaty in 1373, and the Anglo-Portuguese alliance is usually called the oldest alliance in the world still in force.

1096 Henry of Burgundy receives the County of Portugal
1128 Afonso Henriques defeats his mother's forces at São Mamede
1143 Treaty of Zamora: León recognises the king
1179 Papal recognition
1580–1640 Ruled by the Spanish kings
1668 Spain recognises independence again