The soil is generally rich, hut the husbandry is slovenly in the extreme. Wheat, barley, oats, maize, flax, and hemp, are cultivated in the more elevated tracts, and rice in the lowlands. Oranges, lemons, figs, and almonds, are produced in abundance in the central and southern provinces. The cultivation of the vine is the most important branch of industry, and the vineyards of the Upper Douro furnish the finest qualities of port-wine, which is so-called in consequeuce of being exported from Oporto (' o porto,' the port). The olive is culti vated, but the oil is not of the finest quality. The date-tree and the American aloe grow in the south. There are forests of oak in the northern provinces, of chestnuts in the central districts, and of cork trees in the south. Cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs are in considerable numbers. Mules and asses are the chief beasts of burden. Fish abound in the rivers and on the coasts. Slates, marble, iron, and anthracite coal are obtained. Salt is made in large quantities by evaporatiou in the marshes on the coast.
Inhabitanta.—The peasantry in the northern and mountainous regions are active and spirited ; in the lower districts they are indolent and dejected, dirty in their persons and habitations, and ill-fed with coarse bread, dried fish, goat-milk-cheese, chestnuts, garlic, oil, and other cheap articles. The educated classes are polished in their man ners, and courteous to strangers. The provincial nobility, called fidalgos, are very numerous, but mostly poor.
Commerce and Manufactures.—The exports from Portugal dnring the year 1851 amounted to 1,974,0001., of which 955,000/. were sent to Great Britain or British possessions. The imports into Portugal during the same year amounted to 3,293,000/.., of which 2,500,000/. came from Great Britain or British possessions. Of the imports 590,000/. were re-exported. The exports consist almost eutirely of wine (which is the staple), fruits, and cork. The manufactures consist of coarse woollens, common cottons and linens, silks, jewellery, and a few other articles. Iron-work, wood-work, and earthenware are almost everywhere of the rudest kind.
Revenue, Army, and Navy.—The revenue for 1854 was somewhat leas than 3,000,000/. The public debt amounted to 9,890,439/. The army of Portugal in 1854 numbered about 30,000 men, exclusive of about 9000 who protect the colonial possessions. The navy in the same year consisted of 1 ship of the line (80 guns), 1 frigate (50 guns), 6 corvettes of 18 guns each, 10 brigs mounting altogether 103 guns, 22 schooners and other small vessels mounting altogether 55 guns, and 7 steamers mounting altogether 32 guns.
Religion and Education.—The established religion is Roman Catho lic, and the church is governed by the patriarch of Lisbon, the arch bishops of Braga, Evora, and Goa, and 16 bishops. Though Catholicism is the religion of the state, and the constitution contains no clause allowing any other form of worship, other creeds are tolerated, and foreigners, not Roman Catholic, residing in the country, are not interfered with. The convents were suppressed by Don Pedro in 1834, and the revenues and buildings have been applied to secular purposes. The educational establishments are in a very low state, and the scientific and literary institutions, and even common libraries and printing offices, are almost exclusively confined to Lisbon, Coimbra, and Oporto.
Government—The present government of Portugal is a constitu tional monarchy established in 1836, and the parliament consists of a chamber of peers and a chamber of deputies. The present chamber of peers is composed of 3 archbishops, 6 bishops, 3 dukes, 8 marquises, 39 counts, 23 viscounts, 10 barons, and 26 untitled persons. The chamber of deputies is composed of 131 moo:theca elected by 36 districts of Portugal, 11 members elected by the inhabitants of the Azores and Madeira, and 14 sent from the other colonial possessions : total 156. The president is named annually by the crown.
Hiatary.—The Iberians and the Celts were the oldest inhabitants of the Peninsula. When the Carthaginians invaded it, their general Hamilcar overran and subdued the western provinces. The Romans, who succeeded the Carthaginians as masters of the Peninsula, governed by their prmtors the province of Lusitania, the ancient limits of which have been variously defined by different authors. Strabo (iii. p. 152) intimates that it extended from the Tagus to the Ocean on the north and on the west, and was bounded on the east by the Carpetani, Vettones, Vacaei, and Callaici. But when Augustus had divided the Peninsula into three provinces, Baitica, Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, the last comprised the greater part of the modern kingdom of Portugal, besides a considerable portion of Leon and Spanish Eatre madura. When Spain was inundated by the Visigoths, Portugal shared in the general devastation; and when, at the beginning of the 8th century, the torrent of Arabian conquest spread over the Peninsula, the territories and towns of Portugal were as easily subdued as the rest of the country. In the 9th century however the greater part of northern Portugal had been wrested from the Mohammedans, and had become subject to local governors dependent on the Counts of Galicia. The south still remained in the hands of the Mohammedans until toward' the close of the 12th century, when Santarem, Lisbon, and Cintra were reduced by Alfonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. About the year 1095 Alfonso VI., king of Castilla and Leon, conferred upon his son-in-law Henry of Besancon, who was descended in a direct line from the Duke of Burgundy, the govern ment of the subdued territories from the 3linho to the Tagus, with the title of Count. At the same time Henry, who took up his residence at Guimaraens, was permitted to hold in his own right what ever conquests he might make from the Moors beyond the Tagus. In this manner he reduced moat of the Mohammedan governors of fortresses south and east of the Tagus to the condition of tributaries. On his death in 1112, his eon Alfonso succeeded to the dignity of count, which the Castilian king bad previously rendered hereditary in his family. The new count proved a more formidable enemy to the Mohammedans than even his father. In 1139, having resolved to reduce the Moorish fortresses west of the Guadiana, be assembled a powerful army at Coimbra, and advanced towards Badajoz, the governor of which place, having received considerable reinforeemeuts from Africa, hastened to meet him. The armies met in the great plain of Ourique, in Alcmtejo, where the Moors were defeated with great loan in 1139. After the victory Alfonso was proclaimed king by his soldiers, and his title was confirmed by the eortes and by the Pope.