Work done by: Filipa Ribeiro nº 9 Luís Matos nº 16 Rui Oliveira nº 20 Sara Aller nº 22 Raquel Leite nº 26

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located in southwestern Europe, on the Iberean Peninsula. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.

Portugal was first populated by Gaelics, Lusitanian, Celtic and mainly invaded by Phoenicians and Carthaginians. The Romans incorporated it in their empire and after this, Portugal was invaded by the Swabians and Visigoths. It was later conquered by the Moors. In the following years, D. Afonso Henriques rises to power and managed to drive out the Moors. He was able to give Portugal its independence, too.

the 5 October 1910 revolution instated Republicanism. During the decades of 1940-60, Portugal was co-founding member of NATO, OECD and EFTA, leaving the latter in 1986 to join the European Union. In 1999, Portugal joined the Euro Zone, and later, it gave Macau the sovereignty on the People's Republic of China. Portugal is a democratic republic whose current president is Aníbal Cavaco Silva and whose Prime Minister is José Sócrates.

Portugal is divided into eight administrative regions, namely: Alentejo, Algarve, Beira Interior, Beira Litoral, Entre Douro e Minho; Estremadura and Ribatejo, Lisboa and Setúbal; Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro. Lisbon is the capital where most of the population live.

Portuguese architecture dates back to prehistoric times during the invasions of the Romans and the Moors. They all left their mark, leaving a rich legacy of archaeological ruins such as the Temple of Diana in Évora and the typical Moorish architecture of southern cities, such as Olhão and Tavira.

In Portuguese literature and poetry is important to remember two of the greatest Portuguese poets of all time: Luís de Camões (Lusíadas) and Fernando Pessoa (Mensagem). In prose, Padre Antonio Vieira (Sermão de Santo António aos peixes), Almeida Garrett (Frei Luís de Sousa), Eça de Queirós (Maias), Camilo Castelo Branco (Amor de Perdição), Miguel Torga (O quinto Dia da criação do Mundo), and José Saramago (Memorial do Convento) are prominent names. Gil Vicente was the founder of Portuguese and Spanish dramatic traditions

The traditional Portuguese enconpasses a wide varety of genres. There are many folk dances such as ‘’ danças do vira’’ from Minho region, ‘’

Pauliteiros de Miranda’’, from Mirandese set in Algarve or ‘’Corridinho Bailinho’’ from

Madeira. Typical instruments are the small guitar, the

harmonica in a pipe, accordion, violin, drums, Portuguese

guitar (typical instrument of fado). The most popular style of

music is Portuguese Fado, whose most famous interpreter

was Amália Rodrigues.

The cuisine is very rich in variety. Each area of the country has its traditional dishes. Among the highlights cheese there are those from Serra da Estrela, Azeitão and São Jorge. Portuguese consume a lot of dry cod for which there are hundreds of recipes: ‘’Bacalhau á Brás’’, ‘’à Gomes de Sá or ‘’pastéis’’. There are other typical food such as ‘’Espetadas da Madeira’’, ‘’cozido vulcânico dos Açores’’ (São Miguel), ‘’leitão assado à moda da Bairrada’’ ‘’ rojões de Aveiro and Minho’’, ‘’chanfana da Beira’’,’’ carne de porco à alentejana’’,’’ peixes grelhados’’ , ‘’as tripas’’ (from Porto), ‘’as pataniscas’’ (from Lisbon) or ‘’ gaspacho’’ (from Alentejo and Algarve).

Football is the most widely practiced sport in Portugal. The country as also achieved notable performances in sports like sailing, horse riding, judo, cycling, fencing, hockey skates, athletics and shooting.

In terms of religion the majority of the Portuguese population (84.6% of the total population - according to official results of census 2001) consider themselves as Roman Catholic. Furthermore there are also Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Gnostics and Spiritualists.

There are many ethnic minorities in Portugal such as Ucranian, Gypsies, Chines, Brasilians and Romanian. Often these ethnic minorities suffer exclusions from society that lead to their isolation and even discrimination against a particular group. They try to integrate themselves and be accepted from the society around them. Poverty is one of the reason that leads to a situation of social exclusion. Other reasons of social exclusion for these ethnic minorities are unemployment or precarious employment.

There are several types of exclusion: * The exclusion of an economic nature; * Social; * Cultural; * Pathology; * Self-destructive Behaviors

Due to immigration, Europe has become a multicultural continent. On the one hand, multiculturalism is a positive development as it enriches both cultures, but, on the other side this could lead to the exclusion of ethnic minorities.

One of the cornerstones of human rights is the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Race is defined as "a group of people of common ancestry, distinguished from others by physical characteristics such as hair type, eye color and skin, stature, etc" (Collins English Dictionary). Ethnicity is defined as "relating to or characteristic of a human group that has certain common racial, religious, linguistic traits. " (Collins English Dictionary).

During this work we face with a real problem that is the existence of many ethnic minorities in our country. We consider them as a positive factor because, by observing them, we are able to have contact with different people, cultures and habits and to compare them with our own.

‘’ I have a dream. The dream of seeing my children judged by their personality, not by the color of their skin. ‘’

Martin Luther King