Portugal

Portugal is a country in southwestern Europe. It sits on the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, a block of land it shares with Spain. Spain is Portugal's only neighbor by land. To the west and south, Portugal meets the Atlantic Ocean. About 10 million people live there. The capital and largest city is Lisbon.

The country is small compared to its neighbors. It covers about 35,000 square miles, roughly the size of the state of Indiana. Even so, Portugal packs in many kinds of land. The north has green mountains and cool, rainy weather. The south, called the Algarve, has warm beaches and cliffs of orange rock. Two large islands also belong to Portugal: the Azores and Madeira, both sitting far out in the Atlantic.

Portuguese is the country's language. It grew out of Latin, the language of the ancient Romans who ruled this area nearly 2,000 years ago. Today, Portuguese is spoken by more than 250 million people around the world. That is because Portugal once controlled a huge empire. Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and other countries still speak Portuguese because of that history.

Portugal was a leader during the Age of Exploration in the 1400s and 1500s. Portuguese sailors built better ships and sharper maps than almost anyone else at the time. Prince Henry, later called Henry the Navigator, started a school that trained sailors to travel farther from home. In 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed all the way from Portugal to India around the tip of Africa. Other Portuguese sailors reached Brazil, China, and Japan. They brought home spices, gold, and new foods, but they also took part in colonizing other lands and in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Food in Portugal often comes from the sea. A salty dried fish called bacalhau is so popular that people say there is a different recipe for every day of the year. Portugal is also famous for its sweet pastries. The most well known is the pastel de nata, a small custard tart with a flaky crust. Soccer, known there as football, is the favorite sport. Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous athletes in the world.

Lisbon, the capital, is built on seven hills along the Tagus River. In 1755, a huge earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of the city in a single morning. Lisbon was rebuilt with wide, straight streets, making it one of the first cities in Europe designed to survive another big quake.