Portugal

Islands, relief, agriculture and climate of Portugal:

Portugal controls in the Atlantic Ocean two groups of islands: the archipelagos of Azores and Madeira. With a rectangular form, the country has a mountainous relief in the northern part, but the central and southern parts are formed from a low plain with large arable lands where more than a tenth of the population is working in agriculture cultivating olive trees, vine, citrus, cereals, but also growing cattle and pigs.

Because more than a third of its territory is covered by forests, especially in the mountain area, the fauna and flora are not affected. The climate is temperate with oceanic influences where summers are warm with many sunny days especially in south in Algarve region which attracts the most tourists and with mild winters, but cold in the mountains where the snow is perfect for the winter resorts and tourists come here for ski and other winter sports.

Industries and colonies of Portugal:

Portuguese are famous for their tasty wines like the ones of Madeira and Porto. The most developed industries in the country are textile, shoes, timber (number 1 in the world as production of raft) and alimentary industries. Besides the Spanish explorers, the Portuguese ones were also famous and they conquered huge territories in Africa, Asia, South America or Caribbean. Nowadays, Brazil, one of the biggest countries in the world, an old Portuguese colony, adopted the language and some parts of Portugal’s culture. The Portuguese are great fishermen with a big fishing fleet and they catch annually tons of code, mackerel, anchovy, oysters, crustaceans and sardines.

Short history, more about the islands, rivers and cities:

After obtaining the independence at 05 October 1143, the country was governed by a monarch till 1910 and since then it’s a republic. Madeira islands are 1.000 km away south-west of Portugal and Azores islands are 1.200 km away west of the coast of Portugal. (Find more journeys on blog.worldlifetimejourneys.com) Here is the highest peak of the country, Ponta de Pico with 2.351 m height. The largest city and the capital is Lisbon and other important cities are Porto, Coimbra, Braga or Setubal. The most important rivers are Tajo which split the country in two parts, Douro and Guadiana. Visit Portugal!

Seaside Beach Holidays in Portugal please visit our Portugal Seaside Holiday Offers

City Breaks in Portugal please visit our Portugal City Breaks

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University of Coimbra, Portugal