A Traveller's History of Portugal

by Ian Robertson

A definitive concise history of Portugal, from its earliest beginnings right up to the politics and life of the present day.

It was not until the twelfth century that Portugal became a country in its own right, having been a Roman colony and then having suffered both Barbarian and Islamic invasions.

The golden age of discoveries, the reign and foresight of Henry the Navigator, and great seamen such as Vasco da Gama led to the founding of Portugal's empire and wealth. Troubled times followed: in 1755 Lisbon was virtually leveled by the "Great Earthquake," and the country had hardly recovered its former prosperity when it was overrun by Napoleon's troops at the start of the Peninsular War, to be followed not long after by the Miguelite civil war. The middle decades of the nineteenth century saw the Port Wine trade flourishing, and further expansion into Africa.

During the last quarter of the twentieth century, ever since the bloodless revolution of 1974 overthrew the rightwing dictatorship of Salazar, the country has regained its stability, and now takes its rightful place in the European Community.

Illustrated with maps and line drawings, the book has a full Historical Gazetteer cross-referenced to the main text that concentrates on the historic sites in a country that has retained its individuality and thus its appeal to the individual traveler.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Portugal

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

British author Ian Robertson (1928-2020) travel-guide writer & historian. Robertson was a leading authority on the Peninsular War and on the early travel writers and diarists who visited Spain.

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

read in preparation for a family holiday, certainly not exhaustive but definitely exhausting, densely packed, dry in most places but very amusing (to me anyway) when there are streams of people deposing their own close relatives only to die of some medieval disease in a few months and then set off a whole new set of problems

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to read but I learned a little history and info for my upcoming trip so it was still helpful.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good concise, if somewhat dry, overview of Portugal’s history...from the beginning to early 2000’s.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but at times more like an endless stream of facts than an engaging historical narrative.

[Filipa Nicolau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this book due to my advanced English class but its actually very helpful in other subjects as well, it explains in an useful way the history of Portugal :)

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this book was mostly unreadable, but I struggled through it anyway. It was pretty much a boring presentation by some obviously British author(s).

[Maria]

It's condensed but packed with enough detail to feel you are learning something. I would recommend the series.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a history book so if you don't like history it's not for you. If you are planning a trip to Portugal I think it is a good required reading.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

dry. wars and leaders. not much more than a timeline.