20 Fun & Interesting Facts about Portugal
1. The national flower of Portugal is the Lavander
2. Portugal has a total of 21 different rivers along its borders
3. It is the considered Europe’s gateway to the west.
4. Portugal opened the first ecofriendly energy plant in 2006
5. Portugal was the first country in Europe to have a slave market which was outlawed in 1850
6. The capitol of Portugal is Lisbon
7. There is one Portugal river that will run north in the whole country Sado river
8. Portuguese is the official language of 9 separate countries and is 9th spoken in the world based on population
9. The oldest alliance in the world, still in force, is the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, signed in 1373
10. Portugal was the first country in the world to setup a wave farm to produce electricity
11. The University of Coimbra, established in 1290, is one of the oldest universities in Europe
12. Portugal used to have a monarchy government which was overthrown and made to be a republic in 1910
13. Portugal was invaded by napoleon in 1897 and along with British allies napoleon was driven out of the land
14. Mount Pico is the highest mountain in Portugal
15. Portugal is made up of 18 different regions each region has a capitol named after the country capitol
16. The main religion in Portugal is roman catholic where over 95% of the population practices
17. Luis de Camoes and Fernando Pessoa where the mo2 most famous poets in Portugal and the world in the early 1800s
18. The longest bridge currently in Europe is the Vasco de Gama bridge located in Portugal at over 17km (10mi)
19. From 1910 to 1926 Portugal had 44 governments, 20 military takeovers, and 12 different presidents
20. Portugal in the Roman empire area was actually known as Luisitania
