John I. “the Great” 1385 Edward 1433 Affonso V. “the African” 1438 John II. “the Perfect” 1481 Emmanuel “the Fortunate” 1495 John III. 1521 Sebastian 1557 Henry “the Cardinal” 1578 THE SPANISH DOMINION. Philip I. (Philip II. of Spain) 1580 Philip II. (Philip III. of Spain) 1598 Philip III. (Philip IV. of Spain) 1621 THE HOUSE OF BRAGANZA. John IV. 1640 Affonso VI. 1656 Pedro II. (Regent 1667) 1683 John V. 1706 Joseph 1750 Maria I. and Pedro III. 1777 Maria I. alone 1786 John VI. (Regent 1799) 1816 Pedro IV. abdicated 1826 Maria II. 1826 (Miguel, 1828-1834.) Maria II. 1834 Pedro V. 1853 Luis I. 1861 Carlos I. 1889 [Illustration: Map of Portugal] THE STORY OF PORTUGAL. I. EARLY HISTORY. The Story of Portugal possesses a peculiar interest from the fact that it is to its history alone that the country owes its existence as a separate nation Geographically, the little kingdom is an integral portion of the Iberian peninsula, with no natural boundaries to distinguish it from that larger portion of the peninsula called Spain; its inhabitants spring from the same stock as the Spaniards, and their language differs but slightly from the Spanish. Its early history is merged in that of the rest of the peninsula, and but for two great men, Affonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, and John I., the founder of the house of Aviz, Portugal would not at the present day rank among the independent nations of Europe. The first of these monarchs created his dominions into a kingdom like Leon, Castile, and Aragon, and the latter encouraged the maritime explorations which gave the little country an individuality and national existence, of which it was justly proud. When Philip II. annexed Portugal in 1580, it was at least a century too late for the Portuguese to coalesce with the Spaniards. They had then produced Vasco da Gama and Alboquerque and other great captains and explorers, who had shown Europe the way to India by sea; and their tongue had been developed by the genius of Camoens and Sá de Miranda, from a Romance dialect, similar to those used in Gallicia, Castile, or Aragon, into a great literary language. Conscious of its national history, Portugal broke away again from Spain in 1640, and under the