Concept
The Portuguese people (Portugueses - masculine - or Portuguesas) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation indigenous to Portugal, a country in the west of the Iberian Peninsula in the south-west of Europe, who share a common culture, ancestry and language. The Portuguese people's heritage largely derives from the proto-Celtic/proto-Italic Indo-European (Lusitanians, Conii) and Celtic peoples (Gallaecians, Turduli and Celtici), who were later Romanized after the conquest of the region by the ancient Romans. As a result of Roman colonization, the Portuguese language - the native language of the overwhelming majority of Portuguese people - stems from Vulgar Latin. A small number of male lineages descend from Germanic tribes who arrived as ruling elites after the Roman period, starting in 409. These included the Suebi, Buri, Hasdingi Vandals and Visigoths. The pastoral Caucasus' Alans left small traces in a few central-southern areas (e.g. Alenquer, from "Alen Kerke" or "Temple of the Alans"). The Umayyad conquest of Iberia also left small Moorish, Jewish and Saqaliba genetic contributions in the country, lasting from the 1st half of the 8th century until the 12th century. The political origin of the Portuguese state can be traced back to the founding of the County of Portugal in 868. However, it was not until the Battle of São Mamede (1128) that Portugal gained international recognition as a kingdom through the Treaty of Zamora and the papal bull Manifestis Probatum. This establishment of the Portuguese state in the 12th century paved the way for the Portuguese people to unite as a nation. In 1415, with the conquest of Ceuta, the Portuguese began an Age of Exploration that culminated in a colonial empire with territories that are now part of over 50 countries. The Portuguese played a key role in the age of geographical discoveries, and explored several distant lands previously unknown to Europeans in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania (southwest Pacific Ocean).
