resumo
- Portugal has a singular geographic position in lhe European context (Ribeiro et al., 1987). Set on lhe 11105t \Vestem coast of the lberian Peninsula. Portugal faces the Atlantic in an area where it is already characterized by the cold and rough waters so well known to northwestern Europeans. This coast looks due west, as can be seen from the continental map outline; and it certain]y contributed to Portugal's leading role in the fifteen to sixteenth centuries and later. As a maritime power Portugal provided Europe with the wonders from across the seas, and as a cultural melting pot Portugal, at that time, reshaped the European view of the world