Portus Cale was an ancient

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

in present-day northern Portugal, in the area of today's

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and Vila Nova de Gaia. The name of the town eventually influenced the name of the subsequent country of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, from the 9th century onwards.

Early history

Cale was an early settlement located at the mouth of the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

, which flows into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

in the north of what is now Portugal. The Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus conquered the region and founded the Roman city ''Portus Cale'' in around 136 BC. At the end of Brutus's campaigns,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

controlled the territory between the Douro and Minho rivers plus probable extensions along the coast and in the interior. It was only under

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, however, at the end of the 1st century BC, that present north Portugal and Galicia were fully pacified and under Roman control. During the Roman occupation, the city developed as an important commercial port, primarily in the trade between '' Olisipo'' (the modern

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

) and '' Bracara Augusta'' (the modern

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

). As the Roman Empire declined, these regions fell under

Suebi file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple. The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...

dominion, between 410 and 584. These Germanic invaders settled mainly in the areas of Braga (''Bracara Augusta''), Porto (''Portus Cale''),

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

(''Lucus Augusti'') and Astorga (''

Asturica Augusta Asturica Augusta was a Ancient Rome, Roman city corresponding to the Spanish city of Astorga, Spain, Astorga, in the province of León, Spain, León. Founded around 14 B.C. as a camp of the Legio X Gemina, at the beginning of the first century it ...

''). Bracara Augusta, capital of Roman ''

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

'', became the capital of the Suebi. As trade collapsed, Portus Cale went into decline. Another Germanic people, the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

s, also invaded the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

and would eventually conquer the Suebi kingdom in 584. The region around Cale became known by the Visigoths as ''Portucale''. Portus Cale would fall under the Moorish invasion of the

in 711. In 868, Vímara Peres, a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...

from

and a vassal of the King of

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Léon and Galicia, Alfonso III, was sent to reconquer and secure from the Moors the area from the

Minho River The Minho ( ; ) or Miño ( ; ; ; ) is the longest river in the autonomous community of Galicia in Spain, with a length of . It forms a part of the international border between Spain and Portugal. By discharge volume, it is the fourth largest r ...

to the

, including the city of Portus Cale, and founded the First County of Portugal or Condado de Portucale. ''Portus Cale'' is thus the former name of current-day

and Vila Nova de Gaia's riverside area, that would be used to name the whole region and, later, the country.

Origin of Portugal's name

The mainstream explanation for the name is that it is an

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

derived from the Castro people, also known as the Callaeci, Gallaeci or Gallaecia, a people who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. ''Cala'' was the name of a Celtic goddess – in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter – and at the time the land of a specific people was frequently named after its deity. The names ''Callaici'' and ''Cale'' are the origin of today's ''

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

'', '' Galicia'', and the -''gal'' in ''Portugal''. The meaning of ''Cale'' or ''Calle'' is likely a derivation of the Celtic word for port which would confirm very old links to pre-Roman, Celtic languages. Compare today's Irish ''caladh'' or Scottish ''cala'', both meaning "port", but considered by most etymological studies as a derivation from Late Latin ''calatum'' Alexander Macbain, ''An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language'', Gairm Publications; 1982 (new edition), p. 66. compare Italian ''calata'' / ''cala'', French ''cale'', itself from Occitan ''cala'' "cove, small harbour" from a Pre-Indo-European root ''*kal'' / ''*cala''CNRTL : etymology of ''cale4'' (read online)
/ref> (see '' calanque'', '' chalet'', etc.). The medieval Scottish historian

Hector Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Ancient university governance in Scotland, Principal of King's College, Aberdeen, ...

thought the name ''Portugal'' was derived from ''Porto Gatelli'', the name Gatelo gave to

when he settled there, while others say he gave it to

. Other historians have argued that Greeks were the first to settle Cale and that the name derives from the Greek word ', 'beautiful', referring to the beauty of the Douro valley. Others have hypothesized that the word ''Cale'' came from the Latin word for 'warm' (''Portus Cale'' thus meaning 'warm port'). Portugal's name derives from the Roman name ''Portus Cale''. ''Portucale'' evolved into ''Portugale'' during the 7th and 8th centuries, and by the 9th century, ''Portugale'' was used extensively to refer to the region between the rivers Douro and Minho, the Minho flowing along what would become the northern border between Portugal and Galicia.

References

{{coord, 41, 08, N, 8, 37, W, display=title, region:PT_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Cities in Portugal Port cities and towns in Portugal Roman towns and cities in Portugal History of Porto

Early history

Origin of Portugal's name

See also

References