Interesting facts about Portugal

1. Portugal ( Pronounce as Por Chuh gal) country is located in southwestern Europe and shares its land border with Spain.

2. The official and national language is Portuguese. This language is also an official language of Brazil, Cape Verde, Sao Tome, and Principe, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Equatorial Guinea.  

Portuguese also spoken by people in -

Goa - India

Macao

East Timor

Portuguese is the 6^th largest spoken language in the world.

3. Capital and largest city of Portugal is Lisbon.

4. Portugal is Europe's oldest country. Lisbon is said to be four centuries older than Rome.

5. The University of Coimbra in Portugal is one of the oldest universities in the world. This University was established in 1290 and its also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

6. Ferdinand Magellan was the first person, who complete the full journey of the earth. He was from Portugal.

Some of the popular explorers from Portugal were -

- Vasco de Gama - discovered the sea route to India on May 20, 1498.

- Bartholomew Diaz - He was the first to sail around the southern parts of Africa.

- Pedro Álvares Cabral - Discovered new lands, including Brazil and parts of Africa

7. Portugal was a very powerful country and was ruled over half of the world.

8. Worlds oldest bookstore is in Lisbon. This book store's name is Bertrand Chiado and opens in 1732.

9. Half of the world cork comes from Portugal. The world's largest cork forest is also located in Portugal. Cork is mainly used in wine stoppers.

10. Tempura is a popular Japanese dish that mainly contains, seafood, meat, and vegetables that have been battered and deep-fried. This dish was brought by Portuguese traders to Japan.

11. Portugal’s colonial empire ruled for 600 years on the world and it's the longest-lived European empires. Portugal ruled over 53 countries. And some of them were -

Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome, Principe, Goa in India, Macau, and East Timor.

13. Most people in Portugal follow the Christianity religion.

14. The currency of Portugal is Euro.

1 EUR = 1.2 USD and 86 INR

15. Portugal’s most popular export and its national drink is port wine. The alcohol content in Port wine is 20% because it's mixed with brandy.

Port wine grapes are grown in Douro Valley and which is also a UNESCO heritage site.

16. Popular Football star Cristiano Ronaldo is Portuguese.

17. The Vasco da Gama Bridge is the longest bridge in Europe. It measures over 17 km long and connects the northern and southern parts of Portugal. 

This bridge was opened for the public on 29 March 1998 and built on the river Tagus.

18. It is believed that Portugal was named after Porto city. Porto means “Door to the ocean”. Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal.

19. The biggest omelet was made in Portugal and weighed around 6.466 tonnes.