Estado Novo (Portugal)
The Estado Novo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨʃˈtaðu ˈnovu], lit. 'New State') was the corporatist Portuguese state installed in 1933. It evolved from the Ditadura Nacional ("National Dictatorship") formed after the coup d'état of 28 May 1926 against the unstable First Republic. Together, the Ditadura Nacional and the Estado Novo are recognised by historians as the Second Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: Segunda República Portuguesa). The Estado Novo, greatly inspired by conservative and autocratic ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar, who was President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 until illness forced him out of office in 1968.
Portuguese Republic República Portuguesa (Portuguese) | |||||||||
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| 1933–1974 | |||||||||
| Motto: Deus, Pátria e Familia ("God, Fatherland and Family") | |||||||||
| Anthem: A Portuguesa ("The Portuguese") | |||||||||
| Flag of the National Union: | |||||||||
Map of the Portuguese Colonial Empire during the 20th century | |||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Lisbon 38°46′N 9°9′W 38°42′N 9°11′W | ||||||||
| Official language | Portuguese | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Portuguese | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary presidential one-party republic under an authoritarian corporatist dictatorship | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1926–1951 | Óscar Carmona | ||||||||
• 1951–1958 | Francisco Craveiro Lopes | ||||||||
• 1958–1974 | Américo Tomás | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1932–1968 | António de Oliveira Salazar | ||||||||
• 1968–1974 | Marcelo Caetano | ||||||||
| Legislature | |||||||||
• Consultative chamber | Corporative Chamber | ||||||||
• Legislative chamber | National Assembly | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 19 March 1933 | |||||||||
| 11 April 1933 | |||||||||
• UN admission | 14 December 1955 | ||||||||
| 25 April 1974 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 92,212 km2 (35,603 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1970 | 25,796,000 | ||||||||
| GDP (nominal) | 1970 estimate | ||||||||
• Total | $15.888 billion | ||||||||
• Per capita | $616 | ||||||||
| HDI (1970) | 0.653 medium | ||||||||
| Currency | Portuguese escudo | ||||||||
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Prime Minister of Portugal 1932–1968
Government
Other |
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Opposed to communism, socialism, syndicalism, anarchism, liberalism and anti-colonialism, the regime was conservative, corporatist, and nationalist in nature, defending Portugal's traditional Catholicism. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a pluricontinental nation under the doctrine of lusotropicalism, with Angola, Mozambique, and other Portuguese territories as extensions of Portugal itself, it being a supposed source of civilization and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions. Under the Estado Novo, Portugal tried to perpetuate a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of 2,168,071 square kilometres (837,097 sq mi), while other former colonial powers had, by this time, largely acceded to global calls for self-determination and independence of their overseas colonies.
Portugal joined the United Nations (UN) in 1955 and was a founding member of NATO (1949), the OECD (1961), and EFTA (1960). In 1968, Marcelo Caetano was appointed prime minister replacing an aged and debilitated Salazar; he continued to pave the way towards economic integration with Europe and a higher level of economic liberalization in the country, achieving the signing of an important free-trade agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1972.
From 1950 until Salazar's death in 1970, Portugal saw its GDP per capita increase at an annual average rate of 5.7 per cent. Despite the remarkable economic growth, and economic convergence, by the fall of the Estado Novo in 1974, Portugal still had the lowest per capita income and the lowest literacy rate in Western Europe (although this also remained true following the fall, and continues to the present day). On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, a military coup organized by left-wing Portuguese military officers – the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) – led to the end of the Estado Novo.