Portugal, officially Portuguese Republic, is located in south-western Europe, in the west of the Iberian Peninsula and islands in the North Atlantic. It has a total area of 92,391 km ²,  and is the nation's most western European continent. The Portuguese territory is bounded to the north and east by Spain and the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean and includes the mainland and the autonomous regions: the Azores and Madeira. Two most beautiful islands.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portugal was a world economic power, social and cultural, becoming the first and most enduring colonial empire of global scope.
It is now a developed country, economically prosperous, socially and politically stable and with high Human Development Index. Is among the 20 countries of the world with better quality of life, even though their GDP per capita is the lowest among Western European countries.

It is a member of the United Nations and European Union (at the time of its accession in 1986, EEC) and a founding member of NATO, OECD, euro zone (European Union) and the CPLP. Participates in various peace-keeping missions of the United Nations. Portugal is a Member State of the Schengen area.

The name Portugal appeared between the years 930 to 950 of the Christian Era, but only at the end of the  twentieth century that the name began to get used more often. Fernando Magno officially named the territory of Portugal, in 1067 when he gave it to his son, D. Garcia, who was dubbed King of the same name.

In the fifth century, during the reign of the Suevos, Idácio de Chaves already wrote about a place called Portucale, where he fled Requiário: Rechiarius ad locum qui Portucale appellatur, profugus region Theudorico captivus adducitur: quo drawn in guard, of which caeteris Priore certamine superfuerant , tradentibus is Suevis, aliquantis nihilominus interfectis, regnum destructum et finitum is Suevorum.

(Requiário place to which the fugitive Portucale call was taken as prisoner to the king Teodorico. Was put in custody, while the rest of the suevos survived the previous battle it yielded - though some have died -; this way the kingdom was destroyed and the Suevos finished). Calem, the current Vila Nova de Gaia, was known as the Goths time by Portucale .

A diploma of 841, is per incident, the first mention of the province.

The first time the name appears as part of Portugal root heraldry, is a letter of donation from the Church of St. Bartholomew by Campelo of D. Afonso Henriques in 1129

In continental Portugal, the average annual temperatures are 13 ° C in the north and 18 ° C in the south. The islands of Madeira and Azores, due to its location in the Atlantic, are more humid and rainy, with a narrower temperature range.

Typically, the months of spring and summer are sunny and temperatures are high during the dry months of July and August and may occasionally move from 40 ° C in most of the country in extreme days and more frequently in the Alentejo.

The summers are mild in the highlands north of the country and the coastal region of the far north and central. The autumn and winter are typically windy, rainy and cool, and cooler in the northern and central districts of the country, in which negative temperatures occur during the colder months. However, most cities in the south of Portugal, the temperatures only very occasionally fall below 0 ° C, leaving it by 5 ° C in most cases.

The snow occurs regularly in three districts to the north of the country (Guarda, Bragança and Vila Real) and reduces its occurrence in the south direction, to become non-existent in most of the Algarve. In winter, temperatures below -10 ° C and snowfalls occur with some frequency in restricted items, such as the Serra da Estrela, Sierra and the Sierra de Montesinho Gerês, nevar can from October to May in these places.

The cuisine is very rich in variety and the satisfaction of national and foreigners in general. Each area of the country has its traditional dishes, including the most diverse food, through the meat of cattle, sheep, pig and poultry, the various sausages, the various species of fresh fish and seafood (large variety of dishes of cod). Among the cheeses out of the Serra da Estrela and Azeitão, among many others.

Portugal is a country of strong wine, and the famous wines of the Douro, Dão and Alentejo, the green freshness of the Minho wine, liqueur and the Port wine and Madeira wine.

In desserts, and through a variety of traditional recipes, is very famous so-called pastel de Belém, keeping its secret recipe well kept up and the soft eggs of Aveiro, the pastel of Tentúgal of the sericaia or sponge cake of Ovar, along with many others.

Among the dishes that highlight the Portuguese cuisine we have, cod to Brás, Gomes de Sá or cod pastels, the espetada made by Madeira tradition, the Azores volcanic cooked cod (San Miguel), the roast pig of the Bairrada located near Aveiro, and in Minho, the chanfana tipicall of the Beira region, in the Alentejo we have pork, grilled fish (in the whole country), Tripas à moda do Porto (in the region of Porto), the pataniscas (the region of Lisbon) and the gazpacho ( Alentejo and Algarve). The Portuguese cuisine also influenced cuisine such as Japanese, with the introduction of tempura in fried food.