The Wolf Point herald., 1922-08-31

duced annually in Portugal for each
Port and Madeira are the best known
of the vintages They are shipped
through Opporto in great quantities,
going chiefly to Great Britain and
Brazil, but in less quantities to many
other markets. Nearly two gallons Of
olive oil per inhabitant are produced
each year. Portugal's cork forests are
one of the chief sources of wealth for
the country From them comes nearly
one-half of the cork produced in
the world. The United States imports
from Portugal about three-fourths of
the cork which it uses.
South of the Tagus river the long
occupation of the country by the Moors
is evident not only through the archi-
lecture, but also because of the ap-
pearance of the people. Almost pure
Berber types are met in many parts
of the district
Its Rise as Kingdom.
There was really no Portugal during
Roman, Germanic and Moorish domfna
tion. Portugal may be considered |
to have begun to emerge for the
first time in 1895 when the Spanish I
crown, having conquered small part
of the northern portion of the
present Portugal, made it an hered-
itary countship. The rise of Portugal
from this small beginning to an i'm
portant kingdom and then an empire
constitutes perhaps the most spectacu-
ar development of nation to be found
IN modern history. The son of the
first count, Alfonzo Henriques, made
his country Independent of Spain and
himself its king. He then began
What was practically a crusade against
he Moors to the south, and with the
assistance of Christian knights from
,ther countries of Europe, succeeded
n driving the infidels from Lisbon in I
lat. He and his successors continued
he fight, and by about the hundredth
Of the fall of Lisbon the
ntire area of the present Portugal
ad been freed of Moorish dominion.
The country continued to grow in
Importance, wealth and power. Prince
[enry the Navigator became the patron
f navigation early in the Fifteenth v
and under his encouragement n
ortugars great page of discovery and
began to be written. The
ortuguese were the first Of the
uropeans to have the necessary vision
, make an ordered search for the
idden places of the earth; and their
iilors were the first to establish con-
let between Europe and large part
the then unknown world, both east
I'D west.
But if the rise of Portugal was rapid
8 fall from great power and wealth
as equally swift. Its man power was
verely drained to take care of its
.tensive possessions and its even
oader spheres of influence. Even
en- colonial affairs were managed
ther poorly and there came the in
liable reaction. Weak kings at home
tn spendthrift proclivities combined
undermine Portugars rapidly built =
er-seas empire; and the competition ]
other nations which went about the
Hiding Of empires more methodically /
is no unimportant factor In the dis
acing of Portugal from the foremost
sition in world affairs which she had
N so quickly and with such seeming /
Sc.
Even though shorn OF many of its !
'mer possessions. Portugal still con-
lis more than 100000 square miles |
colonial dependencies, chiefly In
RIGA. The possession OF this exten- I
e territory makes Portugal the
nth colonial power Of the world, II
ssia be disregarded.