PORTUGAL, a republic of western Europe, forming part of the Iberian peninsula, and bounded on the N. and E. by Spain, and on the S. and W. by the Atlantic ocean. Pop. (1930), 6,360,347; area 34,254 sq.m. In shape the country resembles a roughly drawn parallelogram, with its greatest length (362 m.) from N. to S., and its greatest breadth (14o m.) from E. to W. For physical details see also SPAIN. The frontiers are partly de fined by the course of the four principal rivers, the Minho and Douro in the north, the Tagus and Guadiana in the south; else where, and especially in the north, they are marked by mountain ranges; but in most parts their delimitation was originally based on political considerations. The Portuguese seaboard is nearly 50o m. long. From the extreme north to Cape Mondego and thence on ward to Cape Carvoeiro the outline of the coast is a long and gradual curve; farther south is the prominent mass of rock and mountain terminating westward in Capes Roca and Espichel ; south of this, again, there is another wide curve, broken by the headland of Sines, and extending to Cape St. Vincent, the south-eastern ex tremity of the country. The only deep indentations of the Portu guese littoral are the lagoon of Aveiro (q.v.) and the estuaries of the Minho, Douro, Mondego, Tagus, Sado and Guadiana, in which are the principal harbours. The only islands off the coast are the dangerous Farilhoes and Berlings (Portuguese Berlengas) off Cape Carvoeiro. Pop. Azore and Madeira isls. 465,536, area 1,236 sq.m.
Physical Features.—Few small countries contain so great a variety of scenery as Portugal. The bleak and desolate heights of the Serra da Estrella are almost alpine in character; at a lower level there are wide tracts of moorland, covered in many cases with sweet-scented cistus and other wild flowers. The lagoon of Aveiro, the estuary of the Sado and the broad inland lake formed by the Tagus above Lisbon (q.v.), recall the waterways of Hol land. The sand-dunes of the western coast and the Pinhal de Leiria (q.v.) resemble the French Landes. The Algarve and parts of Alentejo might belong to North-West Africa rather than to Europe. The Paiz do Vinho, on the Douro, and the Tagus near Abrantes, with their terraced bush-vines grown up the steep banks of the rivers, are often compared with the Rhine and the Elbe.
The harbours of Lisbon and Oporto are hardly inferior in beauty to those of Naples and Constantinople. Apart from this variety, and from the historic interest of such places as Braga, Bussaco, Cintra, Coimbra or Torres Vedras, the attractiveness of the country is due to its colouring, and not to grandeur of form. The following mountain ranges belong to the Transmontane sys tem, which is the southern extension of the mountains of Galicia : Peneda (4,728 ft.); the Serra do Gerez (,Si47 ft.); La Raya Seca, a continuation of Gerez, which culminates in Larouco (4,390 ft.) ; Cabreira (4,196 ft.) ; Mara° (4,642 ft.) ; Villarelho (3,547 ft.); Padrella (3,763 ft.) ; Nogueira (4,331 ft.) and Bornes (3,944 ft.). The Beira system comprises two quite distinct moun tain regions. North of the Mondego it includes Montemuro (4534 ft.) ; Gralheira (3,681 ft.) ; the Serra do Caramulo (3,511 ft.) and the Serra da Lapa (3,215 ft.). South of these ranges, but nominally included in the same system, is the Serra da Estrella, the loftiest ridge in Portugal (6,532 ft.) continued by the Serra de Lousa (3,944 ft.). They form the last link in the chain of moun tain ranges, known to Spanish geographers as the Carpetano Vetonica, which extends across the centre of the Peninsula from east to west. The Transtagan mountains consist for the most part of isolated ranges or massifs. The Serra da Arrabida (1,637 ft.) rises between Cape Espichel and Setubal. Sao Mamede (3,363 ft.), extends along part of the frontier of northern Alentejo. Ossa (2,129 ft.), Caixeiro (1,483 ft.), Monfurado (1,378 ft.) and Mendro (1,332 ft.) form the high ground between the rivers Sado, Sorraia and Guadiana. In the extreme south the ranges in clude Monchique (2,963 ft.). There are numerous large expanses of level country, the most notable of these being the plains (cameos) of the Tagus valley, and of Aviz, Beja and Ourique, in Alentejo and the high plateaux (cimas) of Mogadouro in Trazos Montes and Ourem between the Tagus and the upper Sorraia.