The year 1922 marks the centenary of the crossing of the South Atlantic by two Portuguese airmen.  The years following the World War had seen efforts by many airmen to complete the first flights over the oceans of the world.

 Part 7. A Tale of Two Henrys. 1415 – a year etched in the English and Portuguese history books, for different reasons, yet also a story of two famous cousins, King Henry V of England, and Henry “The Navigator”, Prince of Portugal.

This year marks the centenary of the first flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, and it is appropriate also to remember the crucial part played by Portugal in the communications between Europe and America during the Second World War.

Part 6. The timelines of Portuguese houses Burgundy and Aviz.

It is well known that the Estado Novo, the new constitution introduced by Portugal´s dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar, made provision for a secret police force. This police force was first known as the PVDE (Policia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado: 1933-45), later as PIDE (Policia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado: 1945-69) and lastly as DGS (Direção Geral de Segurança: 1969-74).

The Moors in Portugal. Al-Andalus” (“land of the vandals”). Prior to Moorish rule, the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by the Visigoths. The Moors, under Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Muslim ruler of Tangier, invaded Portugal and Spain in the year 711 AD.

The Suebis and Visigoths in Portugal. Al-Andalus - “land of the vandals" - During the Dark Ages following the fall of Rome, Germanic tribes controlled the territory between the 5th and 8th centuries, including the Kingdom of the Suebi centred in Braga and the Visigothic Kingdom in the south.

After the military coup of 1926, and during the Salazar dictatorship, there were dozens of prisons in Portugal and its Overseas Provinces dedicated to the incarceration of political prisoners.  The most famous is the purpose built prison camp at Tarrafal in Cabo Verde.