A Concise History of Portugal

I bought and read the 2003 second edition of David Birmingham's A CONCISE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL shortly after returning from a two week Road Scholar/Elderhostel study trip to the Douro River, Porto and Lisbon -- the first time in my 76 years to set foot in that country. That visit, built around a river cruise through the port wine region of northern Portugal, had pulled together much of my previous knowledge of the country. Birmingham's book has added considerably more. *** The author makes no secret of several biases, slants, emphases and theses that appear and reappear throughout. These include Portugal's longtime economic and political dominance first by England and later by the United Kingdom; Portugal's economy and its usually unhealthy trade balance; the country's cultural and religious conservatism and the passivity of its farmers; the usually negative impact of Roman Catholicism, especially of the Inquisition and finally dictator Antonio Salazar's political misuse for nationalistic purposes of the religious shrine at Fatima. There is not as much about national language, art and literature as one might expect. But, with caveats, A CONCISE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL is a slightly above average survey of and introduction to Portuguese history to the year 2003. *** At 225 pages the book is not long. It is well illustrated, has good maps, genealogical charts of the ruling royal families from 1385 - 1910 and of "Presidents of the Republic," with emphasis on the long rule of Antonio Salazar (1932 - 1968). Materials consulted are indicated in two consecutive sections, "Select Source Materials" and "Selected Works Published Since 1990." The book concludes with a substantively helpful 11-page Index in unhelpfully small print. *** Like other authors, David Birmingham notes that Christian Portugal threw off the yoke of Muslims long before Spain did -- and with the notable help of English Crusaders. He showcases the work of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394 -1460) in giving a solid technical basis to Portuguese explorations of the coasts of Africa and the later discovery of new sea routes to India, China and Japan. Unsurprisingly, Brazil is made much of. The author, who in other books writes mainly about Africa, stresses the importance of Portugal's colonies as safety valves via emigration for impoverished farmers and fishermen. Portugal suffered immensely by being bullied by Britain into World War One. Dictator Antonio Salazar, by contrast, stayed out of World War II, but won virtually eternal gratitude from the USA for providing it bases in the Azores. *** One notable result of Portugual's entry into the European Community and the Euro financial zone was the de facto final reunification of the Iberian Peninsula through its suddenly opened border with Spain. Mass tourism has since played a very large role in the economy. Portugal was still educationally and economically backward when its ten million people "entered Europe" in 1986. "... the entire Portuguese domestic product amounted to only one per cent of Europe's total product. ... The national product of an average Portuguese, although only one half of an average Spaniard, and one third that of an average European, rose towards 5000 US dollars a year during the 1980s, ten times the 500 dollars per capita per annum during the painful post-war years" (Ch. 7, p. 200). *** Bottom Line: A CONCISE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL is not subtle in what the author likes and dislikes about his subject and its history. During our April 2012 cruise on the Douro River with a very talented instructor, and later in Porto and Lisbon, my wife and I saw for ourselves that Portugal was well into the painful earliest stages of belt-tightening in the face of Europe's 2012 banking crisis. The country was surprisingly well endowed with good roads and tourism was thriving. But like Spain and others, Portugal had lived well beyond its means and would now have to pay the price. David Birmingham's book deserves one quick read if you know little of Portugal. Then move on without lingering to something better and less biased. -OOO-