Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, its mainland west and south border with the North Atlantic Ocean and in the north and east, the Portugal-Spain border constitutes the longest uninterrupted border-line in the European Union. Its archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. In the mainland, Alentejo region occupies the biggest area but is one of the regions in Europe with a lower population density. Lisbon is the capital and largest city by population, being also the main spot for tourists alongside Porto and Algarve.
Chalcolithic Dolmen Anta da Arca
A statue of Count Vímara Peres, first Count of Portugal
King Afonso I of Portugal ruled between 1143–1185.
Vera Cruz Caravel replica sailing on the Tagus River, near Lisbon
Macaronesia is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands, which are formed by seamounts on the ocean floor whose peaks have risen above the ocean's surface.
Layers of volcanic tephra from the 1957 eruption of Capelinhos on Faial in the Azores. Macaronesian islands are created by volcanic activity.
Remaining patches of Macaronesia's threatened primeval laurisilva forest, except in Cape Verde, were protected by EU law in 2001.