Destinations
Although Portugal lost its domination over the lucrative Asian spice trade to the Dutch, the country’s fortune changed following early 18th century gold and diamond discoveries in Brazil. The huge 1755 earthquake and resulting tsunami completely destroyed much of Lisbon and killed thousands of people. The British, with whom Portugal had a centuries-long alliance, helped keep Napoleon’s forces out during the end of the 18th century so they could begin to rebuild.
King Manuel II, Portugal’s last reigning monarch, went into exile after a democratic republic replaced the government in 1910. A 1926 military coup placed dictator António de Oliveira Salazar in power where he remained until 1968. Salazar’s successor, Marcello Caetano, was deposed in a bloodless 1974 coup known as the Carnation Revolution, and Portugal has been a modern free nation ever since.
