The
Portuguese people are the
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
or
nationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
native to the country of
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, in the far west of the
Iberian peninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
of
southThe term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean "all countries in the south of Europe". However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical...
-
westWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
.
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
is their native language and Roman Catholicism is their
predominant nominal religionThe most predominant religion in Portugal is Roman Catholicism. Approximately 84% of the population are nominally Catholic, but only about 19% attend mass and take the sacraments regularly...
.
Once the builders and owners of a
global empireThe Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, with territories in South America, Africa, India and South East Asia...
, due to maritime discovery, colonization and
emigrationEmigration is the act of leaving one's native country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state, is termed migration. There are many reasons why...
, Portuguese people-related communities can be found in the most diverse regions of the world beyond their native Portugal, from North and South America to Africa and Asia.
General traits
Modern Portuguese are an Iberian ethnic group and their ancestry is very similar to other
westernWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
and
southernThe term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean "all countries in the south of Europe". However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical...
European peoples, particularly from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, with whom it shares ancestry and has some cultural proximity. It is largely consistent with the geographic position of the western part of the Iberian peninsula, located on the extreme southwest of continental Europe. There are clear connections with Mediterranean people as well as with those of
AtlanticAtlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
and
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
. Dark to medium
brown hairBrown hair is the second most common human hair color. Brown hair varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment phaeomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as...
and brown and hazel eyes predominate in a majority of Portuguese people, however,
blondBlond or fair-hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...
hair and blue or green
eyeEyes are organs that detect light, and send electrical impulses along the optic nerve to the visual and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system...
s are also found with some regular frequency. Chestnut and auburn colored hair types occur generally. Light, true red hair (meaning red shades that are non-auburn) is seen on occasion.
Historical origins
The Portuguese are a southwestern
EuropeanThe European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
population, with origins predominantly from
Atlantic EuropeAtlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
,
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
and the Mediterranean.
The earliest
modern humansHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
inhabiting Portugal are believed to have been
PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
peoples that may have arrived in the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
as early as 35,000-40,000 years ago. Current interpretation of Y-chromosome and mtDNA data suggests that modern-day Portuguese traces largely a significant amount of these lineages to the
paleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
peoples which began arriving to the European continent between the end of the
last glaciationThe last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended about 9,600 - 9,700 BC. During this period there were several changes between glacier advance and retreat. The maximum extent of...
around 45,000 years ago.
Northern Iberia is believed to have been a major Ice-age refuge from which Paleolithic humans later colonized Europe. Migrations from what is now Northern Iberia during the Paleolithic and
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
, links modern
IberianIberian refers to Iberia, which has two basic meanings, the disused, of Caucasian Iberia , and the modern sense of someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Portugal and Spain...
s to the populations of much of
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
and particularly the
British IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and numerous smaller islands. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland...
and
Atlantic EuropeAtlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
. Recent books published by geneticists
Bryan SykesBryan Sykes is Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College.Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA from ancient bone...
,
Stephen OppenheimerStephen Oppenheimer , a British physician, a member of Green College, Oxford and an honorary fellow of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, carries out and publishes research in the field of genetics....
and
Spencer WellsSpencer Wells is a geneticist and anthropologist, an at the National Geographic Society, and Frank H.T. Rhodes Visiting Professor at Cornell University...
have argued the large Paleolithic and Mesolithic Iberian influence in the modern day
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
,
WelshThe Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
and
ScottishThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
gene-pool as well as parts of the
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
. Indeed, Y-chromosome
haplogroupIn the study of molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single nucleotide polymorphism mutation. Because a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, this is what makes it possible to predict a haplogroup from haplotypes. An SNP...
R1b (of Paleolithic origin) is the most common haplogroup in practically all of the Iberian peninsula and western Europe. Within the R1b haplogroup there are modal haplotypes. One of the best-characterized of these haplotypes is the
Atlantic Modal HaplotypeIn human genetics, the Atlantic Modal Haplotype or haplotype 15 is a Y chromosome haplotype of Y-STR microsatellite variations, associated with the Haplogroup R1b. It was discovered prior to many of the SNPs now used to identify subclades of R1b and references to it can be found in some of the...
(AMH). This haplotype reaches the highest frequencies in the Iberian Peninsula and in the British Isles. In Portugal it reaches 33% generally and higher than 90% in some of the northern regions of the country.
The
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
colonization of Europe from Western Asia and the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
beginning around 10,000 years ago reached Iberia, as most of the rest of the continent although, according to the
demic diffusionDemic diffusion is a demographic term referring to a migratory model developed by Cavalli-Sforza , that consists of population diffusion into and across an area previously uninhabited by that group, possibly, but not necessarily, displacing, replacing, or intermixing with a pre-existing population...
model, its impact was most in the southern and eastern regions of the European continent.
Starting in the
3rd millennium BCThe 3rd millennium BC spans the Early to Middle Bronze Age.It represents a period of time in which imperialism, or the desire to conquer, grew to prominence, in the city states of the Middle East, but also throughout Eurasia, with Indo-European expansion to Anatolia, Europe and Central Asia. The...
as well as in the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
, the first wave of migrations into Iberia of speakers of
Indo-European languagesThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
occurred. These were later (
7thThe 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the near east during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last two decades of the century, however, the empire began to...
and
5thThe 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC.-Overview:This century saw the beginning of a period of philosophical brilliance among Western civilizations, particularly the Greeks which would continue all the way through the 4th century until the time of...
Centuries BC) followed by others that can be identified as
CeltCelts is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic language...
s.
Eventually urban cultures developed in southern Iberia, such as
TartessosTartessos was a harbor city and its surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. It was mentioned by Herodotus, Strabo, in Pliny's Natural History, and in the fourth-century Avienus's literary travel itinerary Ora Maritima, long after...
, influenced by the
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
n colonization of coastal Mediterranean Iberia, with strong competition from the
GreekAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
colonization.
These two processes defined Iberia's, and Portugal's, cultural landscape - Mediterranean towards the southeast and a Continental in the northwest, as historian José Mattoso describes it.
Given the origins from Paleolithic and Neolithic settlers as well as Indo-European migrations, one can say that the Portuguese ethnic origin is mainly a mixture of pre-Roman Pre-Indo-Europeans (such as, in other parts of Iberia, the
IberiansThe Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
,
TartessiansTartessos was a harbor city and its surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. It was mentioned by Herodotus, Strabo, in Pliny's Natural History, and in the fourth-century Avienus's literary travel itinerary Ora Maritima, long after...
and
AquitaniansThe Aquitanian language was spoken in ancient Aquitaine before the Roman conquest and, probably much later, until the Early Middle Ages....
), Pre-Celtic, Proto-Celtic and Celtic peoples, producing peoples such as the
LusitaniansThe Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania . They spoke the Lusitanian language, and were either of Celtic origin or else became Celticized over time...
of
LusitaniaLusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
, the
Calaicians or GallaeciThe Gallaeci, Callaeci, or Callaici were a Pre- Roman Celtic single or various tribes living in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula , North of the River Douro in Northern Portugal and Galicia...
of
GallaeciaGallaecia or
Callaecia was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of
Hispania...
, the
Celtici]The Celtici were a Celtic tribe of the Iberian peninsula, akin either to the Lusitanians and Gallaecians or the Celtiberians, living in what today are the provinces of Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal, though some migrated north alongside the Turduli...
and the
Cynetes]The Cynetes or Conii were a one of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Low Alentejo regions of southern Portugal before the 6th century BCE .-Origin:Whether they were Celts or pre-Celtic Iberians has not been established...
of the
AlentejoAlentejo is a south-central region of Portugal. Its name's origin, "Além-Tejo", literally translates to "Beyond the Tagus" or "Across the Tagus". The region is separated from the rest of Portugal by the Tagus river, and extends to the south where it borders the Algarve...
and the
AlgarveThe Algarve from the Arabic word meaning "the west" is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal. It has an area of 5,412 square kilometres with approximately 410,000 permanent inhabitants, and incorporates 16 municipalities...
.
The
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
were an important influence on
Portuguese cultureThe culture of Portugal is rooted in the Latin culture of Ancient Rome, with. Celtiberian and Lusitanian backgrounds...
, considering the
Portuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
itself derives from
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
.
Other influences included the Phoenicians/Carthaginians (small semi-permanent commercial coastal establishments in the south before 200 BC), the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under .The Vandals are perhaps...
(
SilingiThe Silings or Silingi were an East Germanic tribe, probably part of the larger Vandal group. According to most scholars, the Silingi lived in Silesia...
and
HasdingiThe Hasdingi were the southern tribes of the Vandals, an East Germanic tribe. They lived in areas of today's southern Poland, Slovakia and Hungary...
) and the Sarmatian
AlansThe Alans or Alani were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan — Greek: Αλανοί, Αλαννοί; Chinese: 阿蘭聊...
(both migrated to
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
, while some were partially integrated by the Visigoths and Suevi), and the Visigoths and Suevi (including the
BuriThe Buri first appear in history as a Germanic tribe mentioned in the Germania of Tacitus, where they initially "close the back" of the Marcomanni and Quadi of Bohemia and Moravia. It is said that their speech and customs were like those of the Suebi...
, permanently established in the early 5th century), along with, in the period of the
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
, numbers of
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
s and
BerbersBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
,
SaqalibaSaqaliba refers to the Slavs, particularly Slavic slaves and mercenaries in the medieval Arab world, in the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. The Arabic term is a Byzantine loanword: saqlab, siklab, saqlabi etc. is a corruption of Greek Sklavinoi for "Slavs"...
(people of Slavic origin) and
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s who also settled in what is today
Portuguese territoryPortugal is a coastal nation in southwestern Europe. Its mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula and borders only Spain, to the east and north, with a total of of borders...
.
For the Y-chromosome and MtDNA lineages of the Portuguese and other peoples see
this map and
this one.
General
The ancestry of modern Portuguese has been influenced by the many people which have passed on its territory throughout history. These people include the Pre-Indo-European people of Iberia, Proto-Celts and Celts (such as the
LusitaniansThe Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania . They spoke the Lusitanian language, and were either of Celtic origin or else became Celticized over time...
,
CalaiciansThe Gallaeci, Callaeci, or Callaici were a Pre- Roman Celtic single or various tribes living in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula , North of the River Douro in Northern Portugal and Galicia...
,
Celtici]The Celtici were a Celtic tribe of the Iberian peninsula, akin either to the Lusitanians and Gallaecians or the Celtiberians, living in what today are the provinces of Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal, though some migrated north alongside the Turduli...
,
Cynetes]The Cynetes or Conii were a one of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Low Alentejo regions of southern Portugal before the 6th century BCE .-Origin:Whether they were Celts or pre-Celtic Iberians has not been established...
and other Pre-Roman People of the Iberian Peninsula, such as other minor local tribes as the
BracariThe Bracari were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, akin to the Calaicians or Gallaeci, living in the northwest of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, between the rivers Tâmega and Cávado, around the area of the modern city of Braga .Appian wrote they were a very warlike people...
,
CoelerniThe Coelerni were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia in Hispania , part of Calaician or Gallaeci people , living in what was to become the Roman Province of Hispania Citerior, convent of Bracara Augusta , in what is now the southern part of the province of Ourense .Some sources, like Alarcão,...
,
EquaesiThe Equaesi were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, between the provinces of Minho and Trás-os-Montes, near the border of modern Galicia .-External links:*...
,
GroviiThe Grovii were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, around the Minho river, and spreading into modern day Galicia . One of their main gods was Turiacus.-External links:*...
,
InteramiciThe Interamici were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, near the border with Galicia .-External links:*...
,
LeuniThe Leuni were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, between the rivers Lima and Minho.-External links:*...
,
LuanquiThe Luanqvi were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, between the rivers Tâmega and Tua.-External links:*...
,
LimiciThe Limici were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the swamps of the river Lima, in the border region between Minho and Galicia .-External links:*...
,
NarbasiThe Narbasi were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the province of Minho and nearby areas of modern Galicia .-External links:*...
,
NemetatiThe Nemetati were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal between the Cávado and Ave Rivers, in the province of Minho, north of the Douro.They lived near the valley of the Ave River and may have some link with inscriptions to the war god Cosus Nemedecus. The...
,
PaesuriThe Paesuri were an ancient Celtiberian tribe of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitanians, to whom they were a dependent tribe. Located between the rivers Douro and Vouga, in the modern northern central Portugal, the Paesures comprised four tribes - Ireucoutiori, Aravoni, Seareas and Paisicaicoi, which...
,
QuaquerniThe Quaquerni were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, province of Minho, in the mountains at the mouths of the rivers Tâmega and Cávado.-External links:*...
,
SeurbiThe Seurbi were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, between the rivers Cávado and Lima .-External links:*...
,
TamaganiThe Tamagani were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, from the area of Chaves, near the river Tâmega.-External links:*...
,
TapoliThe Tapoli were an ancient Celtiberian tribe of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitanians, to whom they were a dependent tribe, living just north of the river Tagus, around the border area of modern day Portugal and Spain.-External links:*...
,
TurduliThe Turduli were an ancient Celtiberian tribe of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitanians. They lived in the south of modern Portugal, in the east of the province of Alentejo, along the Guadiana valley, and Extremadura .-External links:*...
,
Turduli VeteresThe Turduli Veteres, also known as "Ancient Turduli" or "Old Turduli" were an ancient Celtiberian tribe of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitanians and Calaicians or Gallaeci, living south of the estuary of the river Douro, in the north of modern Portugal...
,
Turdulorum OppidaThe Turdulorum Oppida , or Turduli, living in the Portuguese region of Estremadura , were an ancient Celtiberian tribe of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitanians.-External links:*...
,
TurodiThe Turodi were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes and border areas in Galicia .-External links:*...
and
ZoelaeThe Zoelae were an ancient Celtic tribe of Gallaecia, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, between the mountains of Serra da Nogueira and the mountains of Mogadouro.-External links:*...
), Phoenicians (
PunicsThe Punics were a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples originating from Carthage in North Africa who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician and Cypriot settlers, but also to North African Berbers. Punics were probably a mix of Berbers and Phoenicians in terms of culture and ancestry...
), Carthaginians,
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
,
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under .The Vandals are perhaps...
,
SuebiThe Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
, Visigoths,
AlansThe Alans or Alani were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan — Greek: Αλανοί, Αλαννοί; Chinese: 阿蘭聊...
,
BuriThe Buri first appear in history as a Germanic tribe mentioned in the Germania of Tacitus, where they initially "close the back" of the Marcomanni and Quadi of Bohemia and Moravia. It is said that their speech and customs were like those of the Suebi...
, Vikings, Byzantines,
SaqalibaSaqaliba refers to the Slavs, particularly Slavic slaves and mercenaries in the medieval Arab world, in the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. The Arabic term is a Byzantine loanword: saqlab, siklab, saqlabi etc. is a corruption of Greek Sklavinoi for "Slavs"...
(Slavs), Berbers and Arabs (
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
), and Jews (Sephardim or Marranos).
Genetic impact of Muslim rule
There exists a number of studies which focus on the genetic impact of the eight centuries of
Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsulaThis is a timeline of notable events in the Muslim presence in Iberia, which started with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.-Conquest :...
(
al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
) on the genetic make up of the Iberian population. Recent studies agree that there is some genetic relationship between some regions in Iberia and some
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
n populations as a result of this period of history. Iberia is the region in Europe which has the most significant presence of E-M81,
U6In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup U is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup.-Origin:Haplogroup U descends from a woman, in the Haplogroup R branch of the phylogenetic tree, who lived around 55,000 years ago...
and Haplotype Va, although this influence may be the result of ancient demic processes that predate the Islamic presence, and may constitute the result of some common western Mediterranean population background. In Portugal, North Africans Y-DNA haplogroups (especially the typically North West African Y-chromosome haplotypes E-M81) are found at a total frequency of 7.1 %. Some mtDNA studies also found evidence of the characteristic North African haplogroup
U6In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup U is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup.-Origin:Haplogroup U descends from a woman, in the Haplogroup R branch of the phylogenetic tree, who lived around 55,000 years ago...
especially in northern Portugal. Although the absolute frequency of U6 is low (4-6%), Gonzalez et al. 2003 estimated a possible North African ancestry proportion of 27% in North Portugal, because U6 is not a common lineage in North Africa itself.
Nevertheless, the North African and Arab element in modern day Iberian ancestry is exceedingly trivial when compared to the pre-Islamic ancestral basis, and the Gibraltar Strait seems to have functioned much more as a genetic barrier than a bridge..
Middle-Eastern genetic markers
According to a highly criticized recent study that was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in December 2008 by Adams et al., about 30 percent of modern Portuguese (23.6 in the north and 36.3 in the south) have DNA reflecting what can be a male Sephardic Jewish ancestry and about 14 % (11.8 in the north and 16.1% in the south) have a probable Moorish ancestry. Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin, these proportions attest to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants. In agreement with the historical record, analysis of haplotype sharing and diversity within specific haplogroups suggests that the Sephardic Jewish component is more ancient than the Moorish one.
Sub-Saharan genetic markers
Portugal is also the region in Europe with the highest frequency of the female mediated mtDNA
haplogroup LHaplogroup L may refer to:* Haplogroup L , a human Y-chromosome haplogroup* Haplogroup L0 , a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup* Haplogroup L1 , a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup...
of Sub-Saharan origin, possibly a result of
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
and Arab colonization or slave trade. In 2003, a study by Brehm at al. which analysed 525 Portuguese individuals reported mtDNA L haplogroups at 11.8% in the south, 8.1% in the center, 3.3% in the north and also found a significant Sub-Saharan imprint in the
Autonomous regions of PortugalThe two Autonomous Regions of Portugal are the Azores and Madeira...
, with L haplogroups constituting about 13% of the lineages in
MadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago in the mid Atlantic Ocean that lies between and . It is one of the Autonomous regions of Portugal, with Madeira Island and Porto Santo Island being the only inhabited islands...
and 3.4 % in the
AzoresThe Azores is a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about from Lisbon and about from the east coast of North America. The two westernmost Azorean islands actually lie on the North American plate...
.
In a 2005 study by Pereira et al. that analysed 549 Portuguese individuals, sub-Saharan mtDNA L haplogroups were found at rates of 11.38% in the south, 5.02% in the center and 3.21% in the north. Y-DNA Sub-Saharan haplogroups are practically non-existent. In a 2006 study by Beleza et al. using 663 individual samples only 0.3% of Sub-Saharan Y-DNA was detected overall.
Demographics of Portugal
There are around 10 to 10.2 million native Portuguese in Portugal, out of a total population of 10.75 million (estimate).
Native minority languages in Portugal
A small minority of about 15,000 speak the
Mirandese languageThe Mirandese language is a Romance language belonging to the Astur-Leonese linguistic group, sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal, in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro and Vimioso...
, close to
LeoneseThe Leonese language developed from Vulgar Latin with contributions from the pre-Roman languages which were spoken in the territory of the Spanish provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca and in some villages in the District of Bragança, Portugal. Close to Mirandese and Asturian, it belongs to...
in the
municipalitiesA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
of
Miranda do DouroMiranda do Douro , locally Miranda de l Douro , is a city in Miranda do Douro Municipality.The city has a population of 1,960.-General information:...
,
VimiosoVimioso is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 481.6 km² and a total population of 5,105 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 14 parishes and is located in the district of Bragança....
and
MogadouroMogadouro is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 760.4 km² and a total population of 10,792 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 28 parishes and is located in the district of Bragança....
- even if all of the speakers are bilingual with
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
.
An even smaller minority of no more than 2,000 people speak
BarranquenhoBarranquenho , is a dialect of Portuguese heavily influenced by Extremaduran, or an Extremaduran dialect heavily influenced by Portuguese, spoken in the Portuguese town of Barrancos .-See also:*Iberian languages*Languages of Portugal*Languages of Spain*Iberian Romance...
, a dialect of Portuguese heavily influenced by
ExtremaduranExtremaduran is a Romance language, spoken by several thousand people in Spain, in an area covering the north-western part of the autonomous community of Extremadura and adjoining areas in the province of Salamanca....
, spoken in the Portuguese town of
BarrancosBarrancos is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 168.3 km² and a total population of 1,825 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 1 parish, being one of the six Portuguese municipalities composed of only one parish, and is located in Beja District.Among its economic activities are...
(in the border between
ExtremaduraExtremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. It includes the provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz...
and
AndalusiaAndalusia Andalusia Andalusia ' onMouseout='HidePop("81025")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Spain">Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, and Portugal).
Ethnic minorities in Portugal
People from the former
coloniesThe Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, with territories in South America, Africa, India and South East Asia...
(namely
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, Africa -
Afro-PortuguesePortuguese of Black African ancestry are residents or citizens of Portugal of Black-African descent. They should not confused with Africans of Portuguese descent or Portuguese Africans.- Overview :...
, and parts of
IndiaPortuguese India was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de Almeida, then settled at Kochi...
) have, in the last two to three decades, migrated to Portugal. More recently, a great number of Slavs, especially
UkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
(now the third biggest ethnic minority ), are also migrating to Portugal. There is also a small
ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the...
minority.
In addition, there is a small minority of Gypsies (
Ciganos) of about 40,000 people and an even smaller minority of
JewsThe history of the Jews in Portugal is directly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula .-Before Portugal:...
of about 5,000 persons (some
AshkenaziAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland valley and northern France...
, the majority
SephardiSephardi Jews are a subgroup of Jews originating in the Iberian Peninsula, usually defined in contrast to Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews.-Definition:A...
, such as the
Belmonte JewsThe Belmonte Jews are a Jewish community of marranos that have survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of endogamy and by hiding all the external signs of their faith...
).
Minorities of Portuguese descent
| Country |
Total |
| Total |
5,485,373 |
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
|
1,806,292 |
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
|
798,837 |
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
|
500,000 |
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
|
170,000 |
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
|
152,826 |
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. [The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
|
126,651 |
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
|
54,490 |
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
|
38,000 |
| Rest of Europe |
28,422 |
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
|
3,281,853 |
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
|
1,471,549 |
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
|
??? |
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
|
550,000 |
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
415,000 |
GuyanaGuyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean.Guyana was discovered in 1498 by the Europeans,Guyana's past is punctuated by battles fought and won,...
|
50,000 |
BermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 kilometres northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1,350 kilometres south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada...
|
2,400 |
| Rest of the Americas |
24,776 |
| Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
|
731,228 |
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
|
300,000 |
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
|
367,908 |
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...
|
54,355 |
| Rest of Africa |
8,965 |
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
|
30,000 |
OceaniaOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
|
56,000 |
In the whole world there are easily more than one hundred million people with recognizable Portuguese ancestors, due to the
colonial expansionThe Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, with territories in South America, Africa, India and South East Asia...
and worldwide
immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
of Portuguese from the 16th century onwards to
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
,
MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
and East-Timor,
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
,
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
. Between 1886 and 1966, Portugal lost to emigration more than any West European country except
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
. From the middle of the 19th century to the late 1950s, nearly two million Portuguese left Europe to live in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. About 40 million Brazilians have relatively recent Portuguese background, due to massive immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. About 1.2 million Brazilian citizens are native Portuguese. Significant verified Portuguese minorities exist in: (see table)
Portuguese Sephardic Jews (mostly descendants) are also important in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, there are Portuguese communities in
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
, the
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
states, and
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. In the Pacific,
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
has a sizable Portuguese element that goes back 150 years (see
Portuguese AmericanPortuguese Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates in the southwest European nation of Portugal, including the offshore island groups of the Azores and Madeira....
s and
Luso AmericanLuso-Americans, or Lusitanic Americans are people living in the United States whose cultural background derives in part from countries with Portuguese speaking roots or traditions....
s).
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, particularly
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
,
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
, has developed a significant Portuguese community since 1940 (see
Portuguese CanadiansPortuguese Canadians are Canadians of Portuguese descent. According to StatCan, in 2001, there were 357,690 persons of Portuguese descent living in Canada, or 1.2% of the nation's total population...
).
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
(See
Portuguese ArgentineA Portuguese Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial Portuguese ancestry....
) and
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
had Portuguese immigration in the early 20th century. Portuguese fishermen, farmers and laborers dispersed across the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
, especially
BermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 kilometres northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1,350 kilometres south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada...
(3.75% to 10% of the population),
GuyanaGuyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean.Guyana was discovered in 1498 by the Europeans,Guyana's past is punctuated by battles fought and won,...
(4.3% of the population in 1891),
TrinidadTrinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of 4,768 km² it is also the fifth...
and the island of
BarbadosBarbados , situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent West Indian Continental Island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. For over three centuries Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom; and still currently maintains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state...
where there is high influence from the Portuguese community.
In the early twentieth century the Portuguese government encouraged white emigration to Angola and Mozambique, and by the 1970s, there were up to 1 million Portuguese settlers living in their overseas African provinces. An estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the country's African possessions gained independence in 1975, after the
Carnation RevolutionThe Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril, was a left-leaning military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, that effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC ,...
, while others moved to
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and south to
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
As of 1989, some 4,000,000 Portuguese were living abroad, mainly in France, Germany, Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela, and the United States.
PortugueseA Portuguese Luxembourger or Lusoburguês is a person in Luxembourg that either was born in Portugal or is of Portuguese ancestry. Although estimates of the total Portuguese Luxembourg population vary, there are 59,000 people in Luxembourg with Portuguese nationality...
constitute 13% of the population of
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
. In 2006 there were estimates to be over half a million people of Portuguese origin in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
(see Portuguese in the United Kingdom), this is considerably larger than the around 50,000 Portuguese born people alone residing in the country in 2001 (however this figure doesn't include British born people of Portuguese descent). In areas such as
ThetfordThetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588 -History:...
and the crown dependencies of
JerseyThe Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes the nearly uninhabited islands of the Minquiers, Écréhous, the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs. Together with the bailiwick of Guernsey...
and
GuernseyThe Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou, Sark and other islets. Although the defence of all these islands is the...
, the Portuguese form the largest ethnic minority groups at 30% of the population, 20% and 3% respectively. The British capital
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
is home to the largest number of Portuguese people in the UK, with the majority being found in
Kensington and ChelseaThings known as Kensington and Chelsea include:*Kensington and Chelsea — a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom*The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea — a London borough...
,
LambethLambeth is a place in the London Borough of Lambeth, although the area is now more commonly known as Waterloo, after the railway station whose viaduct separates the former centre of the village from the River Thames...
and
WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
.
As a result of interracial marriage and cultural influence, there are Portuguese influenced people with their own culture and Portuguese based dialects in parts of the world other than former Portuguese colonies, most notably in
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
and
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(see
Kristang peopleThe Kristang are a creole Eurasian ethnic group of people of mixed Portuguese and Malaccan descent based in Malayasia and Singapore. Many people of this ethnicity also have Chinese, Indian and other Asian heritage due to intermarriage, which was common among the Kristang...
),
BarbadosBarbados , situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent West Indian Continental Island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. For over three centuries Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom; and still currently maintains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state...
,
ArubaAruba is a -long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.An...
,
CuraçaoCuraçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The island area of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is one of five island areas of the Netherlands...
,
Trinidad and TobagoThe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the...
,
GuyanaGuyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean.Guyana was discovered in 1498 by the Europeans,Guyana's past is punctuated by battles fought and won,...
(see
Portuguese immigrants in GuyanaThe history of Portuguese community in Guyana is directly in relation to the end of slavery.After the abolition of slavery in 1807, the planters of the then-British Guiana sought alternative sources of labour. They were eager to recruit white labourers in order to bolster the proportion of white to...
),
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km
2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million...
and
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
(see
Burgher peopleThe Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
and
Portuguese BurghersThe Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are Roman Catholic and spoke the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school as a...
).
Portuguese ancestry in the Brazilian population
There are no exact figures about the number of
BraziliansBrazilians are all people born in Brazil. A Brazilian can be also a person born abroad to a Brazilian parent or a foreigner living in Brazil who applied for the Brazilian citizenship...
of Portuguese descent, as the Portuguese
immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
to Brazil is as old a phenomenon as the country's colonization and happened in different immigration waves during the last centuries (see
Portuguese-BrazilianPortuguese-Brazilian is a Portuguese born citizen with Brazilian citizenship or a Brazilian born citizen of Portuguese ancestry or citizenship....
and
White Latin AmericanWhite Latin Americans are the white population of Latin America. They are the descendants of 15th–to–19th century colonial-era settlers and of post-independence immigrants. Original settlers were mostly Spanish and Portuguese, but post-independence immigrants were more diverse, among them many...
).
Portuguese immigration to Brazil from the beginning of colonization, in 1500, until present day in 1990
Source: Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGEThe Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
) |
|
|
Decade |
Nationality |
1500-1700 |
1701-1760 |
1808-1817 |
1827-1829 |
1837-1841 |
1856-1857 |
1881-1900 |
1901-1930 |
1931-1950 |
1951-1960 |
1961-1967 |
1981-1991 |
Portuguese |
100,000 |
600,000 |
24,000 |
2,004 |
629 |
16,108 |
316,204 |
754,147 |
148,699 |
235,635 |
54,767 |
4,605 |
Even with Portuguese heritage, many Portuguese-Brazilians identify themselves as being simply Brazilians, since Portuguese culture was a dominant cultural influence in the formation of Brazil (like many
British AmericanBritish Americans are Americans whose ancestry stems, either wholly or in part, from the United Kingdom, i.e. from England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland...
s in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who will never describe themselves as of British extraction, but only as "Americans").
In 1872, there were 3.7 million Whites in Brazil (the vast majority of them of Portuguese ancestry), 4.1 million mixed-race people (mostly of Portuguese-
AfricanAfro-Brazilian, African-Brazilian or Black Brazilian, is the term used to racially categorize Brazilian citizens who self-reported to be of black or brown skin colors to the official IBGE census...
-
Native AmericanThe Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the arrival of Europeans around 1500...
ancestry) and 1.9 million
BlacksThe term black people usually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black. It also has been used to categorize a number of diverse populations into a common group. Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent Sub Saharan...
. These numbers give the percentage of 80% of people with total or partial Portuguese ancestry in Brazil in the 1870s.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a new large wave of immigrants from Portugal arrived. From 1881 to 1991, over 1.5 million Portuguese immigrated to Brazil. In 1906, for example, there were 133,393 Portuguese-born people living in
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
, comprising 16% of the city's population. Rio is, still today, considered the largest "Portuguese city" outside of Portugal itself.
Genetic studies also confirm the strong Portuguese racial influence in Brazilians. According to a study, at least half of the Brazilian population's
Y ChromosomeThe Y chromosome is the sex-determining chromosome in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development, thus determining sex. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs.- Overview :...
comes from Portugal.
Black BraziliansAfro-Brazilian, African-Brazilian or Black Brazilian, is the term used to racially categorize Brazilian citizens who self-reported to be of black or brown skin colors to the official IBGE census...
have an average of 48% non-African genes, most of them may come from Portuguese ancestors.
It was estimated that around 5 million Brazilians can acquire Portuguese citizenship, due to the last
Portuguese nationality lawPortuguese nationality law is the legal set of rules that regulate access to Portuguese citizenship, which is acquired mainly through descent from a Portuguese parent, naturalisation in Portugal or marriage to a Portuguese citizen....
that grants citizenship to grandchildren of Portuguese nationals.
See also
- Genetic history of Europe
The genetic history of Europe can be inferred from the patterns of genetic diversity across continents and time. The primary data to develop historical scenarios coming from sequences of mitochondrial, Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA from modern populations and if available from ancient DNA...
- European ethnic groups
The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
- Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
- Portuguese Africans
Portuguese Africans are Portuguese people born or permantely settled in Africa .The largest Portuguese African population lives in South Africa , while there are important minorities living in Namibia and the Portuguese-speaking African countries Portuguese Africans are Portuguese people born...
- Portuguese Angolans
Portuguese Angolan is a person of Portuguese descent born in Angola.-History:During the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, the Portuguese reached Angola and exported millions of native Africans for slave trade to be brought to Portugal before sending most of them to Brazil.The first Portuguese...
- Portuguese Mozambicans
Portuguese Mozambicans are Mozambican-born descendants of Portuguese settlers.-History:Portuguese explorers turned to present-day Mozambique and two other PALOP nations to bring black slaves to Portugal before bringing them to work for their plantations in their Latin American province, the...
- Portuguese-South Africans
Portuguese-South Africans are South Africans of Portuguese ancestry.-History:The Portuguese explored the coasts of South Africa in the late 15th century, and nominally claimed them as their own with the laying of padrões...
- Portuguese-Brazilian
Portuguese-Brazilian is a Portuguese born citizen with Brazilian citizenship or a Brazilian born citizen of Portuguese ancestry or citizenship....
s
- Portuguese Luxembourger
A Portuguese Luxembourger or Lusoburguês is a person in Luxembourg that either was born in Portugal or is of Portuguese ancestry. Although estimates of the total Portuguese Luxembourg population vary, there are 59,000 people in Luxembourg with Portuguese nationality...
- Portuguese of Black African ancestry
- Portuguese British
- Portuguese American
Portuguese Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates in the southwest European nation of Portugal, including the offshore island groups of the Azores and Madeira....
s
- Portuguese Canadians
Portuguese Canadians are Canadians of Portuguese descent. According to StatCan, in 2001, there were 357,690 persons of Portuguese descent living in Canada, or 1.2% of the nation's total population...
- Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel
Eleonora Anna Naria Felice de Fonseca Pimentel was an Italian poet and revolutionary connected with the Neapolitan revolution and subsequent short-lived Neapolitan Republic of 1799, a sister republic of the French Republic and one of many set up in the 1790s...
External links