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Stone burial chambers (dolmens) andmenhirs are characteristic of this period. By 1000 BC, Phoenicians have established sizeable trading stations. The Greeks also come, but their trade links are severed by the Carthaginians who blockade the Straits of Gibraltar and in 550 BC found the city of Portus Hannibalis (Portimão).

The Romans defeat the Carthaginians, then sweep through the Iberian peninsula. During the next 400 years, grand Roman cities and luxurious villas sprout up.

After the fall of the Roman Empire the reins of power are seized by the Visigoths, a formidable warrior caste from eastern France and Germany.

Internal strife and persecution among the Visigoths ultimately leads to one faction appealing for aid from Muslim North Africa. A large army of Berbers and Arabs conquers huge swathes of the Iberian peninsula. The Moors dominate the Algarve for well over 500 years, giving the region its name, al-Gharb, and turning Silves into an intellectual hub of staggering opulence.

Though Christians reconquer central Portugal in the 12th century, the Algarve is still firmly under Moorish rule. Dom Sancho (1185–1211) briefly takes Silves in 1189, but the city is recaptured by Al-Mansur. Dom Sancho II (1223–48) later launches a campaign to invade southern Portugal with the help of northern European Crusaders.

Faro is the last Moorish stronghold to fall, in 1249. Portuguese sovereignty over the Algarve is confirmed in a treaty with the kingdom of Castile in 1297.

The Algarve plays a pivotal role in Portugal’s maritime expansion in the 15th century. Henry the Navigator is made governor of the Algarve in 1418 and initiates the voyages of discovery from his bases in Sagres and Lagos. By the time of his death in 1460, Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde islands have been discovered and much of the west coast of Africa has been mapped. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope, and ten years later Vasco da Gama opens the trade route to India.

The discovery of gold and diamonds in Brazil during the reign of Pedro II (1683–1706) later finances a period of great artistic extravagance under João V, who rules until 1750.

The quake devastates Lisbon and much of southern Portugal and plunges the nation into long-lasting crisis. Napoleon’s troops invade in 1807.

The late 19th century witnesses political strife, with Republicanism taking root. António de Oliveira Salazar becomes prime minister in 1932, and turns around a stagnating economy but with the sacrifice of democracy. The army overthrows the government in 1974 in a near-bloodless coup. On 1 January 2002 the country adopts the euro currency.