Portuguese people

The Portuguese people (Portuguese: Portugueses – masculine – or Portuguesas) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation indigenous to Portugal, a country that occupies the west side of the Iberian Peninsula in south-west Europe, who share culture, ancestry and language.

The Portuguese state began with the founding of the County of Portugal in 868. Following the Battle of São Mamede (1128), Portugal gained international recognition as a kingdom through the Treaty of Zamora and the papal bull Manifestis Probatum. This Portuguese state paved the way for the Portuguese people to unite as a nation.

The Portuguese explored distant lands previously unknown to Europeans—in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania (southwest Pacific Ocean). In 1415, with the conquest of Ceuta, the Portuguese took a significant role in the Age of Discovery, which culminated in a colonial empire. It was one of the first global empires and one of the world's major economic, political and military powers in the 15th and 16th centuries, with territories that became part of numerous countries. Portugal helped to launch the spread of Western civilization to other geographies.

During and after the period of the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese diaspora spread across the world.

The Portuguese people's heritage largely derives from the Indo-European (Lusitanians, Conii), and Celtic peoples (Gallaecians, Turduli and Celtici). They were later Romanized after the Roman conquest. The Portuguese language–the native language of the overwhelming majority of Portuguese people–stems from Vulgar Latin.

A number of male Portuguese lineages descend from Germanic tribes who arrived as ruling elites after the Roman period, starting in 409. These included the Suebi, Buri, Hasdingi Vandals and Visigoths. The pastoral North Caucasus' Alans left traces in a few central-southern areas (e.g. Alenquer, from "Alen Kerke" or "Temple of the Alans").

The Umayyad conquest of Iberia, between the early 8th century until the 12th century, also left small Moorish, Jewish and Saqaliba genetic contributions. Other minor – as well as later – influences include small Viking settlements between the 9th and 11th centuries, made by Norsemen who raided coastal areas mainly in the northern regions of Douro and Minho. Low-incidence, pre-Roman influence came from Phoenicians and Greeks in southern coastal areas.

The name Portugal is a portmanteau that comes from the Latin word Portus (meaning port) and a second word Cale, whose meaning and origin are unclear. Cale is probably a reminder of the Gallaeci (also known as Callaeci), a Celtic tribe that lived in part of Northern Portugal.