A concise history of Portugal, from its earliest beginnings up to the politics and life of the present day. It was not until the twelfth century that Portugal became a country in its own right, having been a Roman colony and then having suffered both Barbarian and Islamic invasions. The golden age of discoveries, the reign of Henry the Navigator, and great seamen such as Vasco da Gama led to the founding of Portugal's empire. But in 1755 Lisbon was virtually levelled by the Great Earthquake, and the country had hardly recovered when it was overrun by Napoleon's troops at the start of the Peninsular War, to be followed not long after by the Miguelite civil war. The middle decades of the nineteenth century saw the Port Wine trade flourishing, and further expansion into Africa. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, ever since the bloodless overthrow the right-wing dictatorship of Salazar in 1974, the country has regained its rightful place in the European Community.