The Portuguese territory before modern-day Portugal: roots or precedents? A geo-historical reflection

Stéphane Boissellier (1)

1 CESCM [Poitiers] - Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale [UMR 6223]

Portugal's identity has given rise to numerous theories. For a long time, many of them have been continuist, founded notably on what was believed to be the 'ultima ratio' [last argument]: environmental factors. By considering that a territory like the Portuguese Kingdom around 1250, almost complete from a geographical point ol view, was the product of different systems (economical exchanges, links between local communities, political network) and one identity, we shall attempt to look back over many years and study the relationship between the shape of this territory and that of the units that preceded it since in the Roman provinces of Lusitania and Galicia. Is there continuity, repetition or coincidence? Putting aside the problem of borders as such (the crossing of extremely voluntarist limits at precise points), considering that their global (not detailed) outline was always imposed by strolig polarisation processes, we shall adopt a comparative approach to these "prefigurations" of Portugal.

Mots clés: Portugal; long term; frontiers; geohistory; territorialisation

Domaines: Histoire; Géographie

Stéphane Boissellier. The Portuguese territory before modern-day Portugal: roots or precedents? A geo-historical reflection. Imago temporis. Medium Aevum, 2009, III, pp.45-66. ⟨halshs-00936754⟩