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 Portugal is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and 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.
The land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times. Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici, Cynetes, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and many Germanic tribes such as the Suevi, the Buri and the Visigoths, all left its influence on what is today Portuguese territory. The territory was integrated in the Roman Empire as the province of Lusitania and Romans settlers strongly influenced Portuguese culture, particularly the Portuguese language, mostly derived from Latin. After the fall of Roman empire and occupation by different Germanic tribes in the early 8th century, the Moors conquered the Christian Germanic kingdoms, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. Later, during the Christian Reconquista, the Portucalensis County was settled, as part of the Kingdom of Galicia. Portugal emerged during the 12th century from this brief earldom and would establish almost its entire modern-day borders in 1249.
Portugal is a developed country and it has the world's 19th highest quality-of-life, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. It is the 14th most peaceful and the 13th most globalized country in the world. It is a member of the European Union (joined the then EEC in 1986, leaving the EFTA where it was a founding member in 1960) and the United Nations; as well as a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union's Eurozone, and also a Schengen state.
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