What made the Portuguese very rich?
What made the Portuguese very rich?
The Portuguese colonists adopted an economy based on the production of agricultural goods that were exported to Europe. Sugar became by far the most important Brazilian colonial product until the early 18th century, when gold and other minerals assumed a higher importance.
When was Portugal the richest country?
286) considered Portugal one of Europe’s five richest countries as late as 1800, and Bairoch et al. (Reference Bairoch, Jean and Paul1988) placed Lisbon as one of Europe’s four most populous cities (after Naples, Paris, and London).
What are the social classes of Portugal?
One study found four social categories: an upper class of industrialists, proprietors, and high government officials accounting for 3.8 percent of the population; a middle stratum of rural proprietors, military officers, teachers, and small-scale entrepreneurs constituting 6.9 percent; a lower-middle stratum of clerks.
Why did the Portuguese empire fall?
By the end of the 20th century these colonial empires were history. The rise of Soviet influence in the working class, and the cost of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974), led to the collapse of the Portuguese Second Republic (Estado Novo) in 1974.
Is Portuguese a poor country?
Portugal was the world’s richest country when its colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and South America was at its peak. Because this wealth was not used to develop domestic industrial infrastructure, however, Portugal gradually became one of western Europe’s poorest countries in the 19th and 20th centuries.
What is middle class in Portugal?
Portugal was long an essentially two-class society consisting of elites and peasants, between which existed a small class of artisans, soldiers, and tradespeople. With the acceleration of industrialization and economic development since the 1950s, this middle class began to grow.
