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Spain |
Portugal–Spain relations describes relations between the governments of the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain. The two states make up the vast majority of the Iberian Peninsula and as such, the relationship between the two is sometimes known as Iberian relations.
In recent years, both countries enjoyed a much friendlier relationship. In 1986, they entered the European Union together, as well as both being Schengen countries.
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In Portugal, 1139 is generally recognized as the date of the country's foundation. Spain, in its modern form, is widely believed to have begun by the Union of the thrones of Castile and Aragon in 1479, although the unification of Spain and creation of one nation state only took place during the Iluminism. Until then Spain was a geographic location referring to the Iberian peninsula, and the kingdoms united under the same king were collectively known as the Spains although this was not the official name. It was only in the constitution of 1812 that was adopted the name "Españas" (Spains) for the Spanish nation and the use the title of "king of the Spains". The constitution of 1876 adopts for the first time the name "Spain" for the Spanish nation and from then on the kings would use the title of "king of Spain". Much of the Iberian Peninsula had come under the control of the Moors, a series of wars were launched and the reconquista saw the new Castilian Kingdom acquire the remainder of the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
During the 15th century, both kingdoms, Portugal and Castille, built increasingly large fleets of ships and began to explore the world beyond Europe, sending explorers to Africa and Asia. Following the Castillian discovery of the American continent in 1492, both states began acquiring territory in the New World. Portugal acquired its most potentially important colony, Brazil (much of the South American continent), as well as a number of possessions in Africa and Asia as a result of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, while Castille took the rest of South America and much of the North American continent. Although the Treaty of Tordesillas attempted to clarify their empires, many subsequent treaties were needed to establish the modern boundaries of Brazil, and the 1529 Treaty of Zaragoza was needed to demarcate their Asian possessions.
In 1578, king Sebastian of Portugal died in the Battle of Ksar El Kebir against the Moroccans and the Turks. Having no heirs, he was succeeded by his great-uncle Henry of Portugal, who reigned until his death (31 January 1580).
Henry also lacked heirs, and his death triggered a succession crisis, where the main claimants to the throne were Philip II of Spain and Anthony, Prior of Crato. Philip was crowned king in 1581, beginning a personal union between the two nations known as the Iberian Union. After a three years war with Antonio and his foreign allies, resistance crumbled and the union was consolidated.
The Iberian Union would last until 1640, when the Portuguese Restoration War began, and Portugal regained its independence under the Braganza dynasty.
During the wars of the 18th century, which were often fought by the major powers to maintain the European balance of power, Spain and Portugal usually found themselves on opposite sides. The Portuguese, courtesy of their long-standing alliance, aligned themselves with Great Britain, while Spain, through the Bourbon Family Compact, allied themselves to France. In 1762, during the Seven Years War, Spain launched an unsuccessful invasion of Portugal.
In 1777, there was a conflict between the two states over the borders of their possessions in South America.
In 1806, the king of Spain and his French allies invaded Portugal, using a route that crossed through Spanish territory. However, the French decided to take over both countries, overthrowing the King of Spain and forcing the Portuguese royal family to escape to the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Spain and Portugal subsequently became allies for the first time in centuries and, allied to a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley, drove the French back across the border in 1813 after a prolonged, brutal conflict known as the Peninsular War.
After the fall of Napoleon, both countries came close to war a number of times during the early 19th century. Both lost their American colonies shortly after the end of the Peninsular War, which severely weakened their global power.
The 1930s saw similar right-leaning, authoritarian and nationalist regimes emerge in both countries. In Portugal, António de Oliveira Salazar established his Estado Novo in 1933. In 1936, Francisco Franco launched a rebellion against the Spanish government, and after three years of civil war, his nationalists were triumphant. However, despite the relative similarity of their ideologies, the two leaders did not enjoy the warmest of relations.
Both states remained neutral in World War II, though Spain was more predisposed to Nazi Germany, Portugal also maintained a friendly relationship with Nazi Germany, supplying them with many key resources such as tungsten. Yet in virtue of the 14th century alliance Portugal had with England it was also supplying England with all sorts of produce, and whilst the Germans had to pay immediately, Britain had an open account for most of the war.
When World War II came to a close in 1945, with the Allies victorious, the two states of Portugal and Spain became increasingly isolated with their governments rooted in the old war was the authoritarian dictatorship, rather than the democracy that was spreading through the rest of Western Europe.
While the other colonial powers, such as France, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands, gave up their colonial empires in the post-war years, both Spain and Portugal clung to their possessions around the globe. Portugal fought a costly colonial war in Africa, and in 1961 saw its territory of Goa invaded by India. Despite their apparent mutual self-interest, there was very little co-operation between Spain and Portugal when it came to defending their empires.
In 1974, the dictatorship of the Estado Novo was brought to an end by a left-wing military coup known as the Carnation Revolution. This left Spain increasingly isolated from the rest of Europe, which lasted until the death of Franco a year later, after which Spain returned to being a constitutional monarchy and embraced parliamentarism. The PREC that had followed the Carnation Revolution in Portugal came to an end in 1976, and Portugal also became a democracy.
The two states gave independence to their former colonies, liberalized their economies, and began the process of applying for membership of the European Economic Community. In 1986, the two states formally entered the Community, which was later merged into the European Union.
Current relations between Spain and Portugal are healthy. They cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking and forest fires (common in the Iberian Peninsula in summers), for example. These close relations are facilitated by similar governments; such as the conservative government of José María Aznar & José Manuel Durão Barroso and the social democratic government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero & José Sócrates. Sócrates even claims that he has one of the best personal relations with Zapatero among international political relation.
These two countries had a bid to jointly host the 2018 World Cup, but it was lost to Russia.
There is an unsettled territorial dispute regarding the municipality of Olivenza/Olivença and the smaller town and municipality of Táliga, both administered as a part of the province of Badajoz, in the Spanish autonomous community of Extremadura. Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over this territory, which was acquired by Spain during the War of the Oranges in 1801. This matter is not pressed by the Portuguese government, which, however, never draws the frontier line in this area in official maps.
There is also some diffuse dispute regarding Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone in the territorial waters of the Savage Islands (a small archipelago north of the Canary Islands), under Portuguese sovereignty. Spain objects on the basis that the Savage Islands do not have a separate continental shelf[1], according to the article 121[2] of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The status of the Savage Islands as islands or rocks is thus at the core of the current dispute. Today the Savage Islands constitute a natural reserve whose only year-round inhabitants are two wardens of Madeira's Natural Park. Over the years the Portuguese authorities have seized some Spanish fishing boats around the area for illegal fishing.[3]
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