THE HISTORY OF PORTUGAL can be divided into seven broad
periods.
The first begins in the Paleolithic period and extends to
the
formation of Portugal as an independent monarchy. During
this
period, Lusitania, that portion of the western Iberian
Peninsula
known today as Portugal, experienced many waves of
conquest and
settlement by Iberos, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans,
Swabians,
Visigoths, and Muslims. Of these successive waves of
people, the
Romans left the greatest imprint on present Portuguese
society.
The second broad period of Portuguese history runs from
the
founding of the monarchy in 1128 until the disappearance
of the
House of Burgundy, Portugal’s first dynasty,