Quercus suberQuercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. In the Mediterranean basin the tree is an ancient species with fossil remnants dating back to the Tertiary period. It endures drought and makes little demand on the soil quality and is regarded as a defence against desertification.
Castro cultureCastro culture (cultura castrexa, cultura castreja, cultura castriega, cultura castreña, meaning "culture of the hillforts") is the archaeological term for the material culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day northern Portugal together with the Spanish regions of Galicia, Asturias, and western León) from the end of the Bronze Age (c. 9th century BC) until it was subsumed by Roman culture (c. 1st century BC). It is the culture associated with the Gallaecians and Astures.
TagusThe Tagus (ˈteɪɡəs ; Tajo ˈtaxo; Tejo ˈtɛʒu; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward with two main south-west sections, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Its drainage basin covers – exceeded in the peninsula only by the Douro. Several dams and diversions supply drinking water to population centers of central Spain and Portugal, and dozens of hydroelectric stations produce power.
GuadianaThe Guadiana River (ˌɡwɑːdiˈɑːnə, also USɡwɑːdˈjɑːnə, ɡwaˈðjana, ɡwɐðiˈɐnɐ), is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from the eastern portion of Extremadura to the southern provinces of the Algarve; the river and its tributaries flow from east to west, then south through Portugal to the border towns of Vila Real de Santo António (Portugal) and Ayamonte (Spain), where it flows into the Gulf of Cádiz.
Siege of LisbonThe siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action against the Muslim-ruled Taifa of Badajoz that brought the city of Lisbon under the definitive control of the new Christian power, the Kingdom of Portugal. The siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade—it was "the only success of the universal operation undertaken by the pilgrim army", i.e., the Second Crusade, according to the near contemporary historian Helmold, although others have questioned whether it was really part of that crusade.
County of PortugalThe County of Portugal (Condado de Portugal, Condado Portucalense, Condado de Portucale; in documents of the period the name used was Portugalia) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Braga and Porto, today corresponding to littoral northern Portugal, within which the identity of the Portuguese people formed. The first county existed from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries as a vassalage of the Kingdom of Asturias and the Kingdom of Galicia and also part of the Kingdom of León, before being abolished as a result of rebellion.
Don (honorific)The term Don (don, roughly 'Lord') abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, Croatia, and formerly in the Philippines. Don is derived from the Latin dominus: a master of a household, a title with background from the Roman Republic in classical antiquity. With the abbreviated form having emerged as such in the Middle Ages, traditionally it is reserved for Catholic clergy and nobles, in addition to certain educational authorities and persons of distinction.
CynetesThe Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Real provinces in Spain before the 6th century BCE (in what part of this become the southern part of the Roman province of Lusitania). According to Justin's epitome, the mythical Gargoris and Habis were their founding kings.
Portuguese escudoThe Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal from May 22, 1911, until the introduction of the euro on January 1, 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos. The word escudo derives from the scutum shield. Amounts in escudos were written as escudos centavos with the cifrão as the decimal separator (for example: means , means ). Because of the conversion rate of 1,000 réis = , three decimal places were initially used ( = ). The currency replaced by the escudo in 1911 was denominated in Portuguese reals (plural: réis) and milréis worth 1,000 réis.
CaravelThe caravel (Portuguese: caravela, kɐɾɐˈvɛlɐ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing windward (beating). Caravels were used by the Portuguese and Castilians for the oceanic exploration voyages during the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Age of Discovery.
