[República Portuguesa] European country occupying a strip of land in the western Iberian Peninsula, bordered to the north and east by Spain and to the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean (see fig.); the Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores are also Portuguese possessions. The total population is c. 9.9 million, with c. 1 million in the capital and largest city, Lisbon. The area of Portugal is c. 92,000 sq. km, divided geographically into the mountainous Meseta region of the interior and a western coastal plain that broadens towards the south of the country. It is also traversed by two major rivers, the Douro and the Tagus, which both run east to west. Having been occupied by different tribal groups from c. 10,000 bc, Portugal was settled by Celts from c. 1000 ...