North Region, Portugal

The region has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is a key area for the understanding of both Atlantic European, Megalithic and Castro cultures. Historically, Northern Portugal with Galicia in Spain, made up the Kingdom of Galicia. In protohistoric times, it was inhabited by Gallaeci tribes, related with the Lusitanians, and it corresponds roughly to Conventus Bracarensis of Roman Gallaecia. The historical Suebic Kingdom (5th-6th centuries AD) had its capital in the now Portuguese city of Braga and most of these migrants and invaders established themselves in Littoral Northern Portugal, when the Roman empire collapsed. After the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, a small county was established around the city of Porto, which expanded southwards and became a government, the County of Portugal in the 10th century. This county grew in ambition and it was where Portugal's first king, Dom Afonso Henriques, established the Portuguese kingdom and stated the southward expansion. The Portuguese language evolved from this area, and has a specific modern dialect, Northern Portuguese, taken down south as the Portuguese Kingdom expanded, namely after Afonso Henriques era.

The region has a number of manor-houses and castles featuring coats of arms as an indication of a very intense medieval period. Regional cuisine is renowned and varied offering products such as light wines (vinhos verdes) and rich wines, and a variety of handicrafts that mingles the shine of filigree with the colour of the local embroideries. Northern Portugal is also very rich in folklore and traditions dating back to antiquity.

Galicia and Northern Portugal have been promoting the official candidacy for the recognition of the common intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. The project is backed by the Galician Government, a number of Galician institutions and associations, together with local and regional governments and institutions in Northern Portugal. The official name is "Candidatura de Património Imaterial Galego-Português".

Lima river in Peneda-Gerês National Park, an area with expressive rainfall.

Northern Littoral Natural Park in Esposende.

The inland Douro Valley area is exposed to hot summers and seasonal aridity.

Northern Portugal is a mountainous region. Its peaks known as serras include Serra do Gerês (1544 m), Peneda (1416 m), Marão (1415 m) and Soajo (1415 m). Some of which forms natural parks: the Peneda-Gerês National Park, Montesinho Natural Park, and the Alvão Natural Park.

The coast, known as the Costa Verde, is a flat strip of land enclosed by sandy beaches and hills, the largest of which is the coastal plain between the Cávado and the Ave rivers. The area is known for the long stretch of picturesque sand dunes which accumulated during the Little Ice Age, part of which is protected in the Northern Littoral Natural Park.[4]

The Minho, Lima, Neiva, Cávado, Ave and the Douro are the most preeminent rivers that flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Inland, the Tâmega is a major tributary which empties in the Douro river. The Douro is the most preeminent river, and one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. The Minho river marks the northwestern Portuguese-Spanish border and is the second most important river.[5]

There are four World Heritage Sites: the Alto Douro Wine Region, the Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley, the Porto historical Center and the Guimarães historical Center. Throughout the region the rivers, waterfalls, vineyards and fertile plots combine with the ancestral monuments in urban centres.

Porto old town.

Politically, Northern Portugal is divided into 86 municipalities (municípios), which in turn are subdivided into 1,426 civil parishes (freguesias). The region was subdivided in supramunicipal districts in 1835. Northern Portugal includes the districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Vila Real, and Bragança, and partly the districts of Aveiro, Viseu, and Guarda. The largest urbanized localities with city status, some of which can be suburbs, are Porto (237,584), Vila Nova de Gaia (186,503), Braga (143,532), Guimarães (66,912), Rio Tinto (64,815), Matosinhos (49,486), Póvoa de Varzim (42,396), Maia (40,134), Ermesinde (38,798), and Vila Real (38,045), according to a 2004 survey.[11] As of the preliminary results of the 2021 Census,[12] such statuses have changed with Vila Nova de Gaia coming first in the list with a greater number of inhabitants.

Aerial of Braga showing the typical disperse settlement of the region.

Ignoring municipal subdivisions, the region has one urban area, Greater Porto, with about one million inhabitants, this includes Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia and some large suburbs such as Rio Tinto and Ermesinde. There are three urban areas with about 100,000 inhabitants: Braga, Póvoa de Varzim-Vila do Conde, and Guimarães. The cities rural areas are excluded. However, in Northern Portugal these tend to be well-populated with dispersed settlement between the diverse cities of the region. All these human settlements are part of the same polycentric urban-metropolitan agglomeration with 2,99 million inhabitants (2001).[13]

The EOCD using the Functional urban areas methology, using 2014 statistics, recognizes one metropolitan area: Porto (1,313,829inh.), one medium sized-urban area Braga ( 256,427 ) and three small urban areas Guimarães (182,433), Viana do Castelo (88,848), and Póvoa de Varzim (63,428).[14]

According to the Portuguese statistics institute, the INE, in the 2011 Census: 4.7% of the population was foreign-born, most arrived from France, Angola, Brazil, Mozambique, Venezuela, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, China, and Romania.[15]

Northern Portugal accounts for about 39% of the national exports and 29% of the national economy.[16] The region was hit hard by the EU's expansion to Eastern Europe, globalization and centralization. Even if once the richest in Portugal and the largest regional economy after Lisbon, it is now the poorest of the 7 NUTS II regions of Portugal, with a GDP per capita of 16,000 euros, converted to 19,500 according to GDP in Purchasing Power Standards or 65% of the European Union average in 2017.[17] It is also the Portuguese NUTS II region with the highest unemployment rate (9.5% as of 2007).[18] Northern Portuguese authorities have intensely promoted tourism as a means to attract external investment and further incomes in rural areas.

GDP at current market prices by NUTS 2 (2017).[19]

Even if it was hit by the Global recession in 2009 and the Eurozone crisis in 2011 and 2012, it was the only region of the whole Iberian Peninsula to increase in GDP per inhabitant in purchasing power standards (PPS) in relation to the EU-28 average, by NUTS 2 regions, between 2007–2015. Also one of the few regions in Western Europe to do so.[20] From 49,220 million euros to 52,740 million, while Lisbon declined from 65,590 to 63,194 million. In 2016, Northern Portugal GPD was 55,049.38 million euros at current market prices, a larger economy in that year than that of the whole countries of Bulgaria, Croatia or Slovenia, and with the largest growth in Portugal. In 2017, it reached 57,240.64 million, a 3.98% annual increase in GDP.[19]

It is highly industrialized within its densely populated western half, where well developed subregions such as Ave, Cávado, Entre Douro e Vouga, Grande Porto, and Tâmega have a notable business activity and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Textiles, footwear, food processing, mechanical, electrical, electronics and chemical industries, as well as finance and construction, are some of the main economic activities.

Northern Portugal and Galicia form a Euroregion, based on the common historical, cultural, linguistic and economic similarities. The Euroregion has its origins in the Galicia-North Portugal Work Community, established in 1991. This Euroregion is also backed by the Eixo Atlântico ("Atlantic Axis"), a lobby of Galician and Northern Portuguese cities and municipalities.

Notes

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Northern Portugal.