The most relevant landmarks in the history of portugal are here chronologically listed and explained, although many minor events and their dates will inevitably be left out, for such is the unfinished nature of any chronology.
From Pre-Historical Times to the Foundation of Nationality
The Origins of the People of Portugal
It was from the millennia-long process of mixing and merging various human and cultural features that a highly homogeneous type originated – the type of the Portuguese man.
A craving for independence – the idea of Portugal
According to some authors, the idea of Portugal will not have started earlier than the 10th century, at a time when the middle nobility of the geographical area of Minho started its social rising. This can be explained by the existence at that time of two organized and distinct poles (Braga - Porto and Coimbra - Viseu) in the territory that nowadays constitutes Portugal.
The craving for independency shared by these two groups, at times hostile to one another, at times conciliatory, can be clearly seen as stemming from an autonomous attitude – such noble aspirations no doubt being the driving force essential to the hatching of a nationality.