Interesting Portugal Country Facts for Kids

The official name of Portugal is the Portuguese Republic.

Portugal is the westernmost country of the European mainland.

The country also holds sovereignty over the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and the Madeira Islands.

Portugal has a population of over 10 million people (10,799,270) as of July 2013.

Portugal became the first global maritime power during the 15th & 16th centuries. Pioneering Portuguese explorers such as Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama and Álvares Cabral founded new lands and colonies making Portugal a major economic, political and military power, ultimately dividing the world with Spain.

The Portuguese Empire was the longest-lived of the modern European empires and was spread throughout areas that now make up 53 different sovereign states. The legacy of this exploration is that the language of Portuguese is today the 6th most spoken first language in the world with over 240 million speakers.

Over the years Portugal's empire has slowly been broken up, with Brazil gaining independence after the revolution of 1910 and the African colonies of Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau in 1974 and 75. Macau was handed over to China in 1999 and East Timor granted sovereignty in 2002.

Portugal was one of the original member states of the eurozone in 1999, and replaced the Portuguese Escudo with the euro (€) currency at this time.

Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is the oldest city in Western Europe and one of the oldest cities in the world. Lisbon was devastated by a major earthquake in 1755. Although the city was rebuilt within a few years, the quake led to the country losing much of its wealth and status.

Portugal is named after its 2nd largest city, Porto, the Latin name of which was Portus Cale. Porto's city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the city is also world-renown for being the home of Port wine.


The Vasco da Gama Bridge, over the Tagus River in Lisbon is the largest in Europe at 17.2 km's (10.7 mi).

The cork tree is one of the few native trees still found in Portugal. The various uses of the soft, spongy bark of the cork tree has made the country the largest producer of cork products in the world.

As of 2013, Portugal has 15 sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list, 14 of these cultural sites and 1 of them natural. The country is one of the 20 most visited countries in the world with more than 13 million tourists visiting each year.

Catholic monasteries of the Middle Ages are responsible for the wide range of famous Portuguese pastries today, including: the pastéis de Belém (or pastéis de nata) from Lisbon and ovos moles from Aveiro.

The most popular sport in Portugal is football (soccer), the national team finished 3rd in the 1966 World Cup, 2nd in Euro 2004, and 4th in 2006 World Cup.

Top 10 Best Countries for Women’s Rights

In most of the societies, being a woman is marvelous, but having a womb and a lack of y-chromosomes means the world would take you as granted. In different fields of life, like education, business, and others, the women are neglected and lesser taken seriously as competitive candidates. Let us take a look at the list of top 10 best countries for women’s rights in 2014.

10. Portuguese

According to the constitution of 1976, Portuguese women are given full legal equality. A person of 18-years has the right to vote, regardless of the gender. The task of the ’Commission on the Status of Women’ is to undertake several projects for the improvement of women’s position in the country. The protection of their rights, health, respect, and wealth is a responsibility of the government.

9. Spain

Spain is one of the best and established countries in the world. Here the government not only takes care of the men’s rights, but also of the women. The primarily female cabinet was appointed in 2008 under Prime Minister Jose Zapatero. The Spanish government has settled new standards for female political involvement. In Spain, there is a determination of patriarchal behavior and traditional stereotypes about the role of the females in families and society. They are given full right to vote to their favorite politician.

8. Australia

The government of Australia has come up with some better plans for the women’s rights. The Gender Equality Act has made it possible for the women to enjoy their freedom in an effective way. They are also attracted towards the workplaces, and this act is called the Workplace Gender Equality Act. In Australia, the health of the women and babies is much taken care of.

7. Norway

Norway is another country with great women rights. It has passed various laws on Gender Equality. As part of one of the country’s laws, the women are given full freedom and power to live their lives as per their desires. Also, the role of women in the workplaces is must. Not only this but also their wages are equal to men, and only depend upon their qualification and skills, but not on their gender difference.

6. New Zealand

New Zealand is the very first country to give women the right of vote. In 2000, the five most important positions under the NZ Constitution (Queen, Governor, Prime Minister, Parliament Speaker and President Supreme Court) were all held by women. This country’s government give equal rights of education and healthcare plans to the women. This country has one of the highest numbers of female members in parliament across the developed countries. In 2013, there were around 30% of the parliament members who are women, seizing big positions like prime minister and more.

5. Canada

Canada is another country to give take care of women’s rights. The females make up 39% of the upper houses of Canada’s government. The country has 34.9 million citizens and of the 72% of adults who are working, out of which about 53% are females. The government takes very good care of women’s rights.

4. Finland

In 1906, Finland granted females the right to vote. This country has no issues about gender equality, and has passed various acts like the Equality Act to take special care of the rights of the females. In Education, females make up 34% of students studying at professional colleges, and are then given good jobs.

3. Denmark

Denmark is a country of dreams. This state has a rich history of protection of women’s rights. In every walk and field of life, the women are given full respect, and are welcomed to join the race of professional life. In 2008 Global Gender Gap Report conducted by the World Economic Forum, Denmark possessed impressive records on gender equality.

2. Poland

The formulation of equal rights of males and females in Poland is not a new concept. The women are given great jobs, access to promotion, and equality of salary for their work and dedication as what is given to the men. In 2010, huge proposals were accepted about women’s rights.

1. Sweden

Sweden is another country to have a long history of better education, healthcare, and other facilities for the women. Sweden was named by the United Nations as one of the “exemplary countries” in terms of gender equality in 2011. The government here has provided many opportunities to the women to caste their vote without any fear. The average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is more than the index average: $27,456 vs. $23,938.

Facebook Free Definition, Uses and Types of Emoticons

Definition, Uses and Types of Emoticons

With the increase in communication all over the world, ways of expressions have also revolutionized. One of the news ways of expressions that has become common includes the use of emoticons.

These are keyboard characters which have been combined to form representations of facial expressions. The emoticons formed convey the user’s feelings or the tone of the message when communicating electronically. Some examples include: J, L and :-/.

Types of emoticons in use:

Emoticons used by various people may vary according to their culture or functionality of their devices. In terms of culture, the Western (from Europe and America) values the whole face in the representation of emoticons while the Eastern (from Asia) value the eyes in their representation.

This affects the choice of the icons or symbols. In terms of functionality; the ASCII is where keyboard symbols are used to represent a face and the Icon type involves using the faces already existing in the communication device.

There are also Animated Emoticons that can be downloaded and use in browser toolbar.