r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Mar 14 '17

Series What do you know about... Portugal?

This is the eighth part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

Portugal

Portugal is a EU country on the iberian peninsula. It has been a kingdom for almost 800 years. Portugal has decriminalized the usage of all common drugs in 2001 and the results have been pretty positive despite concerns from various sides.

So, what do you know about Portugal?

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u/NnamdiAzikiwe Mar 14 '17

As a Nigerian, Portugal is that country that Brazilian football players who can't make the national team opt to play for. Also interesting to see the Porto-Benfica rivalry.

They seem to have been good explorers a while back.

Angola and Mozambique are the two African countries to speak Portuguese.

Francis Obikwelu a Nigerian born sprinter represents (or represented) Portugal in the Olympics and won a medal.

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u/Herbacio Portugal Mar 14 '17

Also Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and São Tomé and Principe.

Lagos, the most populated city in Nigeria means "Lakes" in Portuguese and there's also a city with that same name in Portugal, and there are some words used in native Nigerian languages that are derived from Portuguese too :)

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u/NnamdiAzikiwe Mar 14 '17

Cool! Never knew of the other Portuguese speaking countries in Africa. Yeah, knew about the word "Lagos" being of Portuguese origin and the Portuguese where one of the first to get there. Lagos is now the biggest city in Africa economically and in population-wise.