Portugal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
200
Portugal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
200Paperback(Third edition)
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Overview
Legend has it that when Caesar’s general arrived on Portuguese soil in the first century CE, he claimed to have discovered a country blessed with a mild climate and a beautiful coastline, but whose inhabitants were ungoverned and ungovernable. Today, the Portuguese are still impulsive, set in their ways, and resistant to change, yet they are ever charming, romantic, and nostalgic, with an unshakable loyalty toward family and friends.
Culture Smart! Portugal takes you beneath the surface of this fascinating country and shows you how to blend in and make the most of your visit. In these pages, you will gain insight into Portuguese priorities and learn how to tap into a helpful and resourceful nature that is often overlooked by the casual visitor. Beneath a sometimes vociferous manner, the Portuguese are laid-back and gentle, so slacken your pace, put away your watch, and enjoy the rich meals, lively festivals, and ancient traditions of this great land.
Have a more meaningful and successful time abroad through a better understanding of the local culture. Chapters on values, attitudes, customs, and daily life will help you make the most of your visit, while tips on etiquette and communication will help you navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781787023338 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Kuperard |
| Publication date: | 03/23/2023 |
| Series: | Culture Smart! |
| Edition description: | Third edition |
| Pages: | 200 |
| Sales rank: | 506,989 |
| Product dimensions: | 4.10(w) x 6.60(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Portugal - Culture Smart!
By Sandy Guedes de Queiroz
Bravo Ltd
Copyright © 2016 Sandy Guedes de QueirozAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-85733-864-5
CHAPTER 1
LAND & PEOPLE
GEOGRAPHY
Portuguese territory is divided between continental Portugal, at the westernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula, and the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean. Continental Portugal shares borders with Spain to the north and east, while the western and southern extremities dive directly into the Atlantic.
On the continent, Portugal spans 349 miles (561 km) at its longest and 135 miles (218 km) at its widest, making it a small rectangle that can be quite easily covered in a short amount of time. The frontiers are partly defined by the four major rivers, the Minho and the Douro in the north, the Tagus (Tejo) and the Guadiana in the south. Elsewhere they are marked by mountain ranges.
The continental territory is divided into eighteen districts, with each district's capital city bearing that district's name. The districts from north to south are Viana do Castelo, Braga, Vila Real, Bragança, Porto, Aveiro, Viseu, Guarda, Coimbra, Leiria, Castelo Branco, Santarém, Portalegre, Lisbon, Setúbal, Évora, Beja, and Faro.
Madeira is situated 566 miles (910 km) southwest of Lisbon and is comprised of the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, which make up the Funchal district. The Azores archipelago lies 769 miles (1,238 km) west of Lisbon and is formed by the Horta, Angra do Heroísmo, and Ponta Delgada districts, with a total of nine islands.
The capital, Lisbon, is situated on the coast more or less in the middle of the national territory, at the mouth of the Tagus River. Lisbon's history spans over twenty centuries, and this is still visible today. Although Lisbon is a modern and cosmopolitan city, one can still relive the old classical traditions in the ancient neighborhoods of narrow cobblestone streets and medieval architecture where old houses still stand alongside ancient palaces and grand churches.
Following the coast north, to where the Douro River meets the Atlantic, is Porto. With a Unesco World Heritage classification for its historic center and a dynamic business and cultural life, Porto is considered Portugal's second capital.
The differences that distinguish Lisbon and Porto could at first glance hint at a certain rivalry between the two cities, but they actually complement each other. Whereas Lisbon at first comes across as a very classical, traditional city, the people are more modern, cosmopolitan, and open-minded. Porto, on the other hand, is outwardly modern in terms of aesthetics and sense of style (architecture, art, décor, fashion), yet at heart its inhabitants are very traditional and home-loving.
CLIMATE AND WEATHER
Despite its relatively small expanse, continental Portugal's climate varies significantly from region to region, with pronounced differences in temperature between the north and the south as well as between the coast and the territories further inland. Generally, however, the climate is mild, with daily temperatures ranging between 46.4°F and 64.4°F (8°C and 18°C) in the winter and 60.8° F and 86° F (16° C and 30° C) in the summer.
As with almost everything to do with Portugal, the climate can be divided into north, center, and south. The north registers higher precipitation with more rain and lower temperatures, whereas south of the Tagus River, due to the Mediterranean influence, the winters are shorter and drier and the summers extremely hot. The climate in the center, of course, lies somewhere in between. It is inland in the mountainous regions, however, where the climate ranges between bitter cold and snow in the winter and a parched, overbearing heat in the summer.
The Madeira Islands boast a typically Mediterranean climate, with mild temperatures and conditions all year-round, whereas the Azores, while also mild, have a more bracing maritime climate and an abundance of rain.
REGIONS
Though culturally the Portuguese divide their country into north, center, and south, Portugal is divided into eight geographic regions, plus the Madeira and Azores archipelagos, which are, for administrative purposes, each considered "autonomous regions."
Entre Douro e Minho
The Minho and Douro Rivers give the northwestern region its name, Entre Douro e Minho. Translated literally as "Between Douro and Minho," this region includes the Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, and northern Aveiro districts. Usually referred to only as "Minho," the coastal area is flat, whereas further inland it becomes hilly and mountainous. The Minhoto culture is rich in tradition and folklore that is most evident during the local festivals.
Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Directly East of Minho lies the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region, also shortened to simply "Trás-os-Montes" for practicality. This region encompasses Vila Real, Bragança, northern Viseu, and northern Guarda. Its agriculture consists mainly of almond trees and the vines that produce grapes for the famous Port and Douro wines. This region is rich in traditional dialects that can make the locals quite difficult to understand.
Beira Interior
South of Trás-os-Montes is the Beira Interior region, which is formed by southern Guarda and the Castelo Branco district. The summer here can be very hot, but in the winter this is where the coldest temperatures register, often dropping below zero with snow in the mountain ranges.
These regions comprise what is generally referred to as "the north." The inhabitants of this area often have to move to the larger cities for work, but are extremely attached to their hometowns and roots. People from the north are typically hot-blooded, quick-tempered, and very straightforward. They keep their relationships simple, expressing their thoughts and emotions in a rowdy and often harsh manner, but once an issue has been dealt with, they move on. The reigning philosophy is to forgive and forget, and their loyalty and friendship has no bounds — though they expect the same in return.
Beira Litoral
Next to Beira Interior, toward the coast, southern Aveiro and Viseu, Coimbra, and parts of Leiria form the Beira Litoral. The land here is flat by the coast but becomes rocky inland. In this region industrial activity abounds, but the area is renowned primarily for its architectural beauty. Coimbra University was the first in Portugal. Located in Lisbon at its inception in 1290 and then relocated to its present site in 1537, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe
Estremadura e Ribatejo
Between the Beiras and Lisbon lies the Estremadura e Ribatejo region. This is an area where fertile soils, watered by the Tagus River, produce an abundance of fruit, vegetables, grain, tomatoes, olives, and vines. Horse and bull breeding is also concentrated here, and there are many enthusiastically attended agricultural fairs and bullfights. This small, wealthy region holds the country's highest concentration of World Heritage sites, such as Alcobaça, Batalha, Fátima, and Mafra.
Lisboa e Setúbal
The Lisboa e Setúbal region is made up of those two districts. It is here that the rivers Tagus and Sado are found. This is one of the better-known regions and is a tourist attraction due to its pleasant climate, green countryside, and beautiful beaches.
The area known as "the center" lies roughly between Setúbal and Coimbra. Here the people have a more modern and cosmopolitan attitude that can make them come across as aloof and inaccessible in comparison to their northerly neighbors. Friendships may seem more superficial, but this is primarily due to a more reserved and temperate nature. Feelings are either kept hidden or expressed in a more diplomatic manner, though there is always the possibility that someone is holding a grudge.
Alentejo
The Alentejo region is the largest district and includes southern Setúbal, Beja, Évora, and Portalegre. The land is mostly flat and dry, due to low precipitation all year-round and an extreme heat in the summer that imbues its inhabitants with a sleepy, relaxed demeanor. Though this region dedicates itself mainly to farming, the coast is quite wild and beautiful and is becoming a growing tourist attraction. Alentejanos are a typically rural population who, living in large, extended family units, often miles away from the next household, generally keep to themselves. Life here revolves around the dining table, and as in the Ribatejo, local fairs are very popular.
Algarve
At the southernmost tip of Portugal lies the Algarve, made up wholly of the Faro district. This is probably the best-known region, since it depends greatly on tourism. Due to a lack of rivers, this area is very dry and hot and boasts a Mediterranean climate.
The Alentejo and Algarve are what make up "the south," where a permanently procrastinating and laid-back attitude pervades. Away from the coast people often live on properties that may be miles from their closest neighbor or town, and this brings about a tendency to socialize little and keep to oneself. Foreigners and strangers are treated as just that and are usually kept at a comfortable distance. Closer to the coast and the more touristy areas, however, the inhabitants of the south are very much aware that their livelihood depends on visitors. Thus a concerted effort is made by all to communicate and be understood, and it is common to hear even the least cosmopolitan of locals speak some broken English or German.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Early Inhabitants
The Iberian Peninsula's location between the Atlantic Ocean, the Cantabrian Sea (the southern part of the Bay of Biscay), and the Mediterranean provides an easy link between the European and African continents. This, as well as the mild and pleasant climate, has made it especially attractive for passage and settlement by many peoples down the ages.
The earliest inhabitants to leave their mark were the races of the Neolithic culture, believed to have traveled to the Iberian Peninsula from Asia Minor between 3,000 and 4,000 BCE in search of minerals. Remnants of dolmens (large stone chamber tombs) produced by this culture can still be found in the Algarve and Andalusian Spain. The Phoenicians, who were traders and navigators, arrived around the twelfth century bce, followed by the Iberians. Though the Iberians, to whom the peninsula owes its name, are believed to have first migrated to the Ebro Valley from North Africa in the Iron Age, their presence in Portugal in historical records dates to around the sixth century BCE, settling after the Phoenicians.
Around the seventh century BCE the Greeks, also merchants, arrived, followed a century later by the Celts from central Europe. The Celts held an enormous advantage over the earlier inhabitants in that they were skilled ironworkers. Whereas previous settlers had come in search of copper and tin to transform into bronze, iron could be used not only for adornments and arms but also to make farming tools; with crops growing and hunger diminishing, the population thrived. The Celts were also gifted goldsmiths and from them the Portuguese would inherit their craftsmanship and the traditional Minhoto (meaning "from Minho") filigree designs that are still created and worn today.
The Carthaginians, descendants of the Phoenicians, settled in the territory around the third century BCE, and dedicated themselves mainly to commerce and salting fish. The Romans expelled them that same century, during the Punic Wars. The fusion of these rich and diverse cultures — primarily between the Celts and the Iberians, who produced a race called the Celtiberians — created the people the Romans referred to as the Lusitanians. They were the tribe who occupied Lusitania, the lands that stretched between the Tagus and Douro Rivers. They were considered "the strongest of all the Iberian nations" and remained known throughout history for their courage and bravery. The word Lusitano is still used today to describe all things Portuguese.
The Romans
When the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BCE, they found Celts north of the Douro River and Lusitanians between the Douro and Tagus Rivers. It was the Lusitanians, led by a humble but courageous shepherd named Viriato, who offered them the greatest resistance and whose name would become a symbol of Portuguese independence.
The Roman presence lasted approximately seven centuries. During this time they founded cities — Olispo (Lisbon), Bracara (Braga), Scalabis (Santarém) — and built roads, bridges, and monuments, some of which still exist today. The founding of schools led to the spread of literacy and, from Latin, the local people under Roman influence created a dialect that would eventually become the Portuguese language.
Vandals and Visigoths
In the year 416 CE, while the Romans were fighting barbarian invasions on several fronts, the Suebi and the Vandals occupied the Iberian Peninsula. They in turn were pushed into the northwest and eventually conquered by the Visigoths. The Germanic kingdoms lasted for three centuries, adopting the existing Roman social, administrative, and economic structures. They also introduced laws concerning the ownership and inheritance of land, which led to a stratified society based on wealth and birth. Thus were cast the fundamental social divisions of clergy, nobility, and the people, a model that would later be adopted by medieval Portuguese society.
The Vandals and Visigoths subscribed to Arianism, a heretical form of Christianity, and persecuted the native Catholic Church. This complicated even further the fusion between the Germanic cultures and the Christian Hispano-Romans, until 589 CE, when King Reccared and all the Visigoths converted from Arianism to Catholicism. Thereafter the Christian kings of Spain, divinely appointed, worked closely with the Church to form an ideology of kingship.
The Moors
In the seventh century, the Arabs swept out of the Arabian Peninsula to spread the new religion of Islam by conquest. In 711 CE the Moors — Arabs and converted Berbers from North Africa — sailed across the narrow sea and overran the Iberian Peninsula. There they would remain for over five centuries. Apart from an undefeated Visigothic remnant in the inhospitable north, which formed the nucleus of resistance, Portugal and Spain were absorbed into the Umayyad Caliphate.
In the ninth century the Christian kingdoms of the northeast began a centuries-long counteroffensive known as the reconquista, and the Caliphate of Cordova, after a period of internal strife, eventually disintegrated into a number of independent kingdoms. The Christian advance was checked by the Moroccan Almoravids in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, and again in the 1150s by the sectarian Shi'ite Almohads.
By and large, Muslim rule was benign. The Moors produced a brilliant, multiethnic civilization in the Iberian Peninsula that stimulated the search for knowledge, allowed freedom of worship, and ushered in a period of cultural and intellectual cross-fertilization. Their treatment of their subject peoples depended on the attitude of those peoples toward the Islamic religion. If they converted, they were accepted into the community with equal rights and duties. If they maintained their Christian faith, they could own land and practice their religion, though with limitations, and were obliged to pay a tax. If they resisted with arms, they were either slaughtered or sold into slavery.
Moorish influence was greatest in the south and is still evident today in the whitewashed houses and rounded chimneys typical of the Algarve. The Moors also added new vocabulary to the existing Roman language, and brought about economic and technical renewal — for instance, by the use of the Alcatruz wheel to raise water from the riverbeds to channels for irrigation.
Kings and Kingdoms
The expansion of the Christian Kingdom of León in the twelfth century liberated much of Portugal. While the Almoravid caliphs were reestablishing Muslim control of the south, in the north Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile, enlisted foreign nobles to his cause. To his aid came the cousins Raymond and Henry of Burgundy (Raimundo and Henrique de Bourgogne), descendants of Robert II, King of France. As a token of his thanks, Alfonso gave Raimundo his daughter Urraca's hand in marriage as well as the county of Galicia, and to Henrique he gave his daughter Teresa and the county of Portucale (Portugal), which stretched between the Minho and Tagus Rivers.
Henrique made Guimarães the capital of Portucale and ruled as a vassal of Alfonso, securing the Galician marches from Moorish raids. He held the firm desire to turn the county into an independent kingdom, but died in 1112 before seeing his dream realized. Upon his death, Teresa governed as regent, their son Afonso Henriques being only three years old. At the age of thirteen Afonso Henriques declared himself king and vowed to gain independence from León. In 1128 he seized control from his mother, who remained loyal to the Galician court, defeating her at the battle of São Mamede. For nine years he fought Alfonso VI of León, and in 1139, after a great victory over the Moors at Ourique, he was crowned Afonso I, first king of an independent Portugal. Finally, in 1143, through the Treaty of Zamora, Alfonso recognized Portugal as an independent kingdom.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Portugal - Culture Smart! by Sandy Guedes de Queiroz. Copyright © 2016 Sandy Guedes de Queiroz. Excerpted by permission of Bravo Ltd.
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