Portugal's National Identity

National identity is the term used to define the different nations that are all built on similar beliefs. Some common examples are that they have traditions, political stances, language, history, and territory. By being able to form this sense of identity, nations can have shared traits and form bonds giving the country a sense of belonging in the world and making them feel as though they are unique (Triandafyllidou,1998). However, national identity can't be formed without the introduction of the others who are people classified as different. With these combined, a country can build on their national identity and make it stronger.   

During the Roman Empire of 140 BC - 452 AD, Christianity was first introduced into the culture by a Germanic tribe ("Short History of Portugal", n.d.). During the Moorish rule in the Middle Ages of 452-1279, southern Portugal was being wiped away off its Christianity but, in the northern areas, it remained strong and Christianity and Roman Catholicism continued to be more predominant religions. In hopes of ridding the Moors re-establishing their strong religion, King Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, made strong connections with the Roman Catholic Church giving them enough power to use as they please which eventually drove out of the Moors. However, after the establishment of the First Republic, many of the churches powers and properties were diminished. The church currently has some power today however, religion isn’t practiced as actively compared to the past (Solsten, 1993). Through the establishment of religion in their country, it shows how its influence helped it during harsher times.  

In 1279, Portugal became independent from Spain and lead on began its Imperial Era. Making discoveries and establishing colonies around the world, it grew into one of the bigger empires.  Monarchy was favored by the Portuguese countryside and was under threat of being overthrown due to the modernization and liberalism that was forming within the more modernized areas of the country. In 1908, the monarchy was overthrown and a few years after, the First Portuguese Republic was established. This led to leaderships that were ruled with strong force of military dictatorship ("Short History of Portugal", n.d.). In 1933, the second Portuguese Republic was established by Antonio Oliveira de Salazar who kept the colonies under his strict ruling for as long as he could until the end of his dictatorship in 1974 ("Short History of Portugal", n.d.). Not everywhere in Portugal was made aware such as in the older countryside areas ("History of Portugal", 2018). After the fall of the First Republic, the Second Republic came into action and was referred to as the New State due to its traditional Portugal society while at the same time bringing to attention and critiquing the guidelines of the newer republic (Rivero, 2013). Through Salazar’s intellectual leadership, Portugal was able to obtain political stability and the history played an important part in the formation of what Portugal is today. Looking at how Portugal is today, they struggle with having a stable government due to misconduct occurring with their higher officials and seem to have had a downfall since their dictatorship.  

The Portuguese language was formed through an interesting history. During the Arab invasion, the Arabic language was introduced and contributions from interactions between many other languages as well as vulgar Latin, the common tongue spoken in Lusitania, lead to the Portuguese language (Tanner, 1998). Having also been in contact with similar countries as Portugal during the development of its country, Spanish is commonly referred to as their sister language due to its similarities. Portugal saw that Spain had already found themselves to be a stable nation during the Renaissance movement and grew jealous. In hopes of being like Spain, Portuguese writers copied certain traits of the literature in order to also improve their country (Birmingham, 2003). Eventually, the Portuguese came to the realization that they didn’t need to change their language to achieve stability. This helped to form the national identity of Portugal by teaching them of the important events that eventually lead to the creation of its what's known to be unique and "angelic" language (Tanner, 1998). Showing that they didn’t need to copy another country, the Portuguese language grew to be a beautiful way for the Portuguese to show their expressions and nationalism.  

Originating from a myth, a tale tells the story of a sailor singing into the salty winds of the ocean from his boat, promising his lover that he will return from his travels to marry her or die to a shipwreck caused by the ocean waves. Through this story, Fado was born. Navigators would bring musical instruments aboard their ships to express their feelings through song of the worries of not knowing where their unpredictable journeys on the oceans would lead them. An important contributing factor to the preservation of Fado is saudade, or the feeling of longing or melancholy (Holton, 2006). This type of music is an important factor contributing to the national identity of Portugal. As Fado began to become popular within the music scene of Portugal, the term "saudade" was also growing to become a common description of the Portuguese soul (Dekker, Helsloot & Wijers, 2000). Describing the historic times of the troubles that Portugal had faced during their past, saudade proves to be a historic symbol of their national importance and played a factor in the creation of Fado (Holton, 2006).     

Discussing the others that have an effect on Portugal, the one country that fits this standard is its neighbor Spain. Having had territorial disputes in the past, the most recent disagreement has been about whether a land formation known as The Savage Islands are actual islands or just simply rock formations. By declaring if they are island or rock formations, one of the countries can be given the power to claim them as part of their land. This expansion can affect of one of the countries with a positive while leaving the other country unsatisfied or upset (Paulos, 2015).  

Without the impact of Portugal's religion affiliations, linguistic history, musical traditions and ideologies, and history of past rulings, the country would not have the description used today to form its national identity that makes it different from other countries.  

  

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References:   

“History of Portugal” (2018). Portugal.com Retrieved from https://portugal.com/portugal/information/history  

Rivero (2013). “Race, Culture, and Language in the Making of Modern Portuguese National Identity”. General Conference Science. Retrieved from https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/e7ec408d-76d2-4257-99e5-39bd9d3c886b.pdf   

Birmingham (2003). “A Concise History of Portugal”. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://content.schweitzer-online.de/static/catalog_manager/live/media_files/representation/zd_std_orig__zd_schw_orig/002/353/713/9780521830041_table_of_content_pdf_1.pdf  

Dekker, Helsloot & Wijers (2000). “Roots and Rituals: The construction of ethnic identities”. Het Spinhuis Publishers, Amsterdam. Retrieved from https://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/4386/1/The%20Makin...pdf   

“Short History of Portugal” (n.d.). Just Landed. Retrieved from https://www.justlanded.com/english/Portugal/Portugal-Guide/Culture/Short-history-of-Portugal   

Tanner (1998, March 17). “The History of the Portuguese Language”. Brigham Young University. Retrieved from http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/portuguese.html   

Solsten (1993). “Portugal: A Country Study”. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/portugal/56.htm   

Holton (2006). “Fado Historiography: Old Myths and New Frontiers”. Portuguese Cultural Studies. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=p   

Paulos (2015, February 11). “Portugal & Spain- the territorial disputes of Olivenza and the Savage Islands Part II” One Europe. Retrieved from http://one-europe.net/portugal-spain-the-territorial-disputes-of-olivenza-and-the-savage-islands  

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. Retrieved from: https://login.proxy.seattleu.edu/login?url=http://openurl.ebscohost.com/linksvc/linking.aspx?sid=sih&volume=21&date=19980701&spage=593&issn=0141-9870&stitle=&genre=article&issue=4&title=Ethnic+%26+racial+studies.&epage=612