| Year | Date | Event |
| 1502 | | Miguel Corte-Real set out for New England in search of his brother, Gaspar. |
| 1502 | | João da Nova discovered Ascension Island. |
| 1502 | | Fernão de Noronha discovered the island which still bears his name. |
| 1503 | | On his return from the East, Estêvão da Gama discovered Saint Helena Island. |
| 1505 | | Francisco de Almeida "the Great" appointed 1st Viceroy of India, arriving in Cochin in the same year at the head of the 7th Portuguese Indian Armada. |
| 1506 | | Tristão da Cunha discovered the island that bears his name. Portuguese sailors landed on Madagascar. |
| 1506 | | The Lisbon Massacre. |
| 1509 | | The Gulf of Bengal crossed by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira. On the crossing he also reached Malacca. |
| 1509 | | Francisco de Almeida becomes the first Portuguese to arrive in Bombay by sea, seeking to avenge the death of his son. |
| 1509 | 3 February | At the naval Battle of Diu, Francisco de Almeida inflicts a decisive victory on the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Sultan of Gujarat, ridding the Indian Ocean of Egyptians and Ottomans and giving Portugal a monopoly of the sea route to Indian for almost 150 years. |
| 1510 | | Conquest of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque, Governor of India. |
| 1511 | | Conquest of Malacca by Afonso de Albuquerque. |
| 1512 | | António de Abreu reaches Timor island and the Banda Islands, Ambon Island and Seram. Francisco Serrão reaches the Maluku Islands. |
| 1513 | | The first European trading ship to touch the coasts of China, under Jorge Álvares and Rafael Perestrello later in the same year. |
| 1515 | | Afonso de Albuquerque captures the Kingdom of Hormuz. |
| 1517 | | Fernão Pires de Andrade and Tomé Pires were chosen by Manuel I of Portugal to sail to China to formally open relations between the Portuguese Empire and the Ming Dynasty during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor. |
| 1521 | | João III of Portugal becomes king. |
| 1521 | | António Correia captures Bahrain, which is under Portuguese rule until 1602. |
| 1526 | | Jorge de Meneses reaches New Guinea for the first time. |
| 1536 | 27 January | Fernão de Oliveira publishes his Grammatica da lingoagem portuguesa, the first Grammar of the Portuguese language. |
| 1537 | | After moving back and forth between Lisbon and Coimbra in the last two centuries, the General Study is definitely established in the latter. |
| 1543 | | Portuguese explorers Fernão Mendes Pinto, Francisco Zeimoto and António Mota are the first Europeans to land in Japan. |
| 1557 | | Macau given to Portugal by the Emperor of China as a reward for services rendered against the pirates who infested the South China Sea. |
| 1557 | | Sebastião of Portugal becomes king. |
| 1568 | | King Sebastião of Portugal comes of age and takes control of government. |
| 1569 | | Plague epidemic in Portugal. 60,000 people die in Lisbon alone. |
| 1569 | | Nagasaki is opened to Portuguese traders. |
| 1570 | | Luís de Camões returns to Lisbon from the Orient. |
| 1570 | | Goa, in Portuguese India, is attacked by a coalition of Indian forces, but these are defeated by Portuguese Vice-Roy Luís de Ataíde, Count of Atouguia. |
| 1572 | | The first edition of the epic poem The Lusiads is published. |
| 1578 | | Portuguese troops utterly defeated in Africa, in the battle of Alcácer Quibir; king Sebastião disappears in the battle never to be seen again. |
| 1578 | | Cardinal Henrique I of Portugal becomes king. |
| 1579 | | Cortes in Lisbon. |
| 1580 | | Cortes in Almeirim. |
| 1580 | | King Cardinal Henrique I of Portugal dies. |
| 1580 | | Invasion of Portugal by a Spanish army commanded by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba. |
| 1580 | | Battle of Alcântara between Portuguese and Spanish forces. |
| 1580 | | The Fortress of St. Julian, in Lisbon, surrenders to the Spanish. |
| 1580 | | Anthony of Portugal, the Prior of Crato, is acclaimed King of Portugal in Santarém. |
| 1580 | | Death of Luís de Camões, Portugal's national poet. |
| 1580 | | Beginning of the Cortes of Tomar. |
| 1581 | | Philip II of Spain is acclaimed in the Cortes of Tomar as King Philip I of Portugal in a personal union of the Crowns. Portugal loses de facto independence to Spain. |
| 1581 | | Anthony of Portugal, the Prior of Crato, takes refuge in England. |
| 1581 | | The Azores refuse to recognise Philip I of Portugal as King. |
| 1582 | | The Spanish Fleet of Santa Cruz defeats the Portuguese-French Fleet of Strozzi in the Azores in the Battle of Vila Franca do Campo. |
| 1582 | | Introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in Portugal. |
| 1583 | | Cortes in Lisbon. |
| 1583 | | King Philip I of Portugal departs for Madrid and leaves the government of Portugal with Portuguese trustees. |
| 1583 | | The Azores are submitted in the Conquest of the Azores naval battle. |
| 1583 | | Francis Drake attacks the Portuguese colony of Brazil. |
| 1589 | | Anthony of Portugal, the Prior of Crato, attacks Lisbon with English aid, but with no success. |
| 1589 | August - September | In the Azores Voyage of 1589, England sacks the Azores in the context of the Anglo-Spanish War. |
| 1595 | | Anthony of Portugal, the Prior of Crato, dies in Paris. |
| 1598 | | Philip III of Spain becomes Philip II of Portugal. |
| Year | Date | Event |
| 1603 | 25 February | Three Dutch ships seize Santa Catarina, leading to a scandal that would start the Dutch–Portuguese War. |
| 1621 | | Philip IV of Spain becomes Philip III of Portugal. |
| 1622 | 22–24 June | In the context of the Dutch–Portuguese War, the two forces engage in the Battle of Macau. Portugal won. |
| 1638 | | Battle of Goa takes place, in the context of the Dutch-Portuguese war. Portugal won. |
| 1640 | 1 December | A small group of conspirators storms the Palace in Lisbon and deposes the Vicereine of Portugal, Margaret of Savoy. The Duke of Bragança, head of the senior family of the Portuguese nobility, accepts the throne as Dom João IV of Portugal, despite deep personal reluctance, by popular acclaim and at the urging of his wife. His entire reign will be dominated by the struggle to maintain independence from Spain. Francisco de Lucena, secretary to the governing council of Portugal for the past 36 years and thus the most experienced bureaucrat in the country, smoothly changes his loyalties and becomes chief minister of the restored monarchy. |
| 1641 | | The Portuguese Inquisition attempts to derail the national restoration by giving its support to a counter-revolution mounted by a duke, a marquis, three earls and an archbishop. The plot fails, quelled by Francisco de Lucena, who has the ringleaders executed, but it initiates a 28-year-long war against Spain punctuated by frequent internal threats to the stability of the new regime. Meanwhile, the Dutch renew their attack on Angola and capture the most extensive Portuguese slaving grounds in Africa, including the Angolan port of Luanda. The Portuguese garrison flees upriver while trying to decide whether to declare continuing loyalty to the Habsburgs, accept Dutch rule or declare for João IV. They choose the House of Bragança and appeal to the Portuguese colony of Brazil for help in fending off African and Dutch attacks on their enclave. Salvador de Sá, leader of Rio de Janeiro, persuaded by the Jesuits in Brazil, also declares for King João and responds to the Angolan appeal. |
| 1644 | | Elvas withstands a nine-day siege by Spanish troops. |
| 1648 | | The Portuguese from Brazil under Salvador de Sá land in Angola, expel the Dutch and restore the African colony to Portugal. |
| 1654 | | Anglo-Portuguese treaty between João IV and Oliver Cromwell signed at Westminster. João agrees to prevent the molestation of the traders of the English Protector; they are allowed to use their own bible and bury their dead according to Protestant rites on Catholic soil. The Portuguese in Brazil drive the Dutch out of the great plantation colonies of the north-east, re-establishing the territorial integrity of Portugal's South American empire. |
| 1656 | | Death of João IV after a reign of 15 years. His Queen now reigns as Regent for their son, Afonso VI of Portugal. She seeks an accommodation with Spain. Portugal loses control of Colombo in Portuguese Ceylon when it is captured by the Dutch. |
| 1659 | | The Treaty of the Pyrenees ends Spain's long war with France, and Spanish troops are freed once more to suppress the Portuguese 'rebellion'. The Spaniards besiege Monção and are driven off by the Countess of Castelo Melhor. |
| 1660 | | On the restoration of Charles II in Britain, the Queen-Regent re-negotiates the treaty of 1654. Portugal is allowed to recruit soldiers and horses in England for the fight against Spain; and to seek out 4,000 fighting men in Scotland and Ireland and charter 24 English ships to carry them. The expeditionary force is to be issued with English weapons on arrival in Portugal and guaranteed religious freedom of worship. |
| 1661 | | Catarina da Bragança, sister of Afonso VI, marries Charles II of Great Britain on 31 May. She brings to London a dowry of 2,000,000 gold pieces, the practice of drinking afternoon tea, and England is given colonial toe-holds in the Portuguese Empire at Tangier and Bombay, per the Marriage Treaty. Servicing the wedding debt burdens the Portuguese exchequer for the next half-century, and this marriage with a Protestant monarch is deeply unpopular with that section of the Portuguese nobility which favours alliance with France. |
| 1662 | | In a palace coup d’etat in Lisbon a restive younger faction of the nobility, supported by the young Afonso VI, overthrows the Queen Regent and installs the 26-year-old Count of Castelo Melhor as 'dictator' to prosecute the war with Spain. The adolescent king is married to a French princess and the young dictator models his government on the royal absolutism of the Bourbon dynasty. Opposition to this pro-French absolutism is swept aside, and Castelo Melhor initiates the final, successful phase of the Portuguese war of restoration with the aid of the Franco-German Marshal Schomberg, who brilliantly commands an international mercenary army against the Spanish forces. |
| 1665 | 17 June | Portugal is victorious at the decisive Battle of Montes Claros, in which António Luís de Menezes defeats the Spanish army under the Prince of Parma; Spain ceases to make war, but peace will not be signed for another three years. |
| 1667 | | Castelo Melhor and his Francophile party are overthrown in a new palace revolution. Prince Pedro, leader of the Anglophile party, becomes Regent for Afonso VI, who is declared incapable of governing and removed to the Azores. The French alliance is rejected, though Pedro shores up his political position by marrying his brother's estranged Queen. Castelo Melhor flees into exile. |
| 1668 | | Peace treaty with Spain ends nearly 30 years of war. Portugal keeps all his possessions and territory with the exception of Ceuta in Morocco, which is ceded to Spain. Portugal remains economically weak, however, agriculturally undeveloped and dependent on British grain and trade goods generally, especially woven cloth. The Count of Ericeira, economic adviser to the Prince Regent, advocates the development of a native textile industry modelled on Flemish lines. 'Factories' are established at Covilhã with easy access to flocks of sheep and clean mountain water, but are highly unpopular with both town consumers and traditional weavers. Meanwhile, Portuguese attempts to develop a silk industry are fiercely resisted by the French, who wish to monopolise that market. |
| 1683 | | Death of Afonso VI. Pedro II of Portugal becomes king. |
| 1690 | | Suicide of Luís de Meneses, Count of Ericeira. |
| 1692 | | Great drought disrupts Portuguese silk production. |
| 1697 | | Discovery of gold in the interior of São Paulo province, Brazil. |
| 1700 | | Brazil now producing 50,000 ounces of gold per year. |
| Year | Date | Event |
| 1807 | 22 October | Portugal signs the Secret Convention on the Transfer of the Portuguese monarchy to Brazil with the UK. |
| 1807 | 19–30 November | Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, invades Portugal and the Portuguese Royal Family is transferred to the colony of Brazil, where it becomes the centre of the Portuguese Empire. |
| 1808 | | Insurrection against Napoleon's general, Junot and landing of Arthur Wellesley to defeat the French at the Battle of Vimeiro. Beginning of the Peninsular War. |
| 1808 | 30 August | After being defeated at Vimeiro, the French forces sign the Convention of Cintra, ending the first French invasion of Portugal. |
| 1809 | 3 February | The Second French invasion of Portugal begins, this time crossing the border at Minho. |
| 1809 | 12 May | The French are defeated in the Second Battle of Porto, bringing an end to the second French invasion of Portugal. |
| 1809 | September | In the Battle of the Tiger's Mouth, Chinese pirates led by Zheng Yi Sao skirmish with the Portuguese fleet. |
| 1809 | 3 November | The Lines of Torres Vedras start being built. |
| 1810 | | French attack in 1810 led by Masséna repulsed at the Lines of Torres Vedras. |
| 1813 | 21 June | The Battle of Vitoria takes place, in the context of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Portugal, together with Spain and the UK, defeat the French forces. |
| 1815 | | The colony of Brazil is elevated to the status of kingdom. Portugal changes the official name from Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves to United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. |
| 1816 | | João VI of Portugal becomes king. Portugal is governed by a Regency council headed by Marshal Beresford, head of the Portuguese army in the Peninsular War. |
| 1820 | | Liberal Revolution of 1820 against the British-led Regency of William Carr Beresford begins in Porto on 24 August. The Regency's troops decline to act against their countrymen and on 15 September declare for King, Cortes and Constitution. A provisional government is established on 1 October to oversee elections to the Cortes. |
| 1820 | 10 to 27 December | The first ever parliamentary elections in Portugal take place, with the 1820 Portuguese legislative election who elected the Constituent Cortes of 1820. |
| 1821 | 26 January | The Constituent Cortes hold their first meeting. |
| 1821 | 9 March | The Constituent Cortes adopts a liberal parliamentary constitution, inspired by the recent liberal advances in Spain, notably the 1812 Constitution of Cadiz. |
| 1821 | | Metropolitan Portugal demands the return of João VI to Lisbon. João VI advises his son, Pedro, to declare the independence of Brazil and become its emperor, to ensure its continued rule by the Bragança dynasty. |
| 1821 | 4 July | João VI lands in Portugal, but only after consenting to the restrictions on his power proposed by the Cortes and agreeing to accept the new constitution. His wife Queen Carlota Joaquina and younger son Dom Miguel refuse to do so and become the focus of a reactionary movement. |
| 1821 | 1 October | João VI swears allegiance to the Portuguese Constitution of 1822. |
| 1822 | 9 January | Prince Pedro declared that he would not comply with the orders of the Portuguese Cortes that demanded his return to Lisbon, in what is known as the Dia do Fico. |
| 1822 | | Military coup against the parliamentarians. Fearing a move by France against democratic Portugal, or a civil war, Brigadier [João Carlos de João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha|Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha|Saldanha], a grandson of the Marquis of Pombal, raises a small army and expels the 'constitutional extremists' from Lisbon. He proposes instead a compromise constitution in which the powers of the crown will be partially restored to the King.. |
| 1822 | 7 September | Prince regent Pedro of Braganza declared Brazil's independence and becomes Emperor Pedro I of Brazil. |
| 1822 | 23 September | Portugal's first constitution is ratified. |
| 1822 | 4 November | The last meeting of the Constituent Cortes takes place. |
| 1822 | 22 November | Parliamentary elections take place under the newly ratified constitution. |
| 1823 | 27 May | In May a 'Regency of Portugal' is established by the expelled traditionalists who had opposed the constitution at Valladolid, under the presidency of the Patriarch of Lisbon and becomes a centre for plotting to put Dom Miguel on the throne. This event is known as Vilafrancada. |
| 1824 | 30 April | Miguel attempts a coup d'etat but is defeated with British aid and goes into exile in Vienna. This event is known as the April Revolt. |
| 1826 | 10 March | Death of João VI. The country is split between liberals and absolutists. Emperor Pedro I of Brazil becomes king Pedro IV of Portugal. |
| 1826 | 2 May | Pedro IV of Portugal abdicates in favour of his daughter, Maria II of Portugal. |
| 1826 | 23 April | Pedro IV of Portugal draws up a new constitution, somewhat less liberal than that of 1820 and based upon the Brazilian constitution, and invites all parties to accept it. This constitution assigns authority to the crown to moderate between the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the state and proposes a House of Lords of 72 aristocrats and 19 bishops. Miguel makes a show of agreement. |
| 1826 | 8 to 17 October | The 1826 Portuguese legislative election takes place, the first under the Charter of 1826. |
| 1827 | July | Pedro names his brother Dom Miguel as Lieutenant and Regent of the Kingdom. Miguel leaves Vienna and visits Paris and London on his way to Portugal. |
| 1828 | February | Miguel returns to Portugal, ostensibly to take the oath of allegiance to the Charter and assume the regency. He was immediately proclaimed king by his supporters, who pressed him to return to absolutism. |
| 1828 | 13 March | Dom Miguel abolishes parliament and the constitution, re-instituting the medieval Cortes. |
| 1828 | 18 May | The garrison in Porto, the center of Portuguese progressives, declared its loyalty to Pedro IV and his daughter Maria II, and the Constitutional Charter. Beginning of civil war, known as the Liberal Wars. |
| 1828 | 11 July | Dom Miguel becomes Miguel I of Portugal, as proclaimed by the medieval Cortes he summed. |
| 1828 | May | The 1828 Portuguese legislative election takes place, electing seats to the People's Branch of the new medieval-styled Three Estates Cortes. |
| 1829 | 11 August | In the Battle of Praia da Vitória, the Miguelites under command of José António Azevedo e Lemos attempted to disembark troops on Terceira island, but were defeated by the liberal troops under command of the Duke of Terceira. |
| 1831 | 7 April | Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favour of his son Pedro II of Brazil and sets out to regain Portugal for his daughter. |
| 1832 | | Pedro's expeditionary force of Portuguese exiles and foreign mercenaries gathers in Terceira, regains the Azores, then sails for Portugal. Pedro is supported by Britain and France and the Portuguese intelligentsia, including the politically ambitious soldiers Saldanha and Sá da Bandeira. |
| 1832 | 9 July | Pedro lands at Pampelido north of Porto, where he is closely besieged by some 13,000 Miguelites across the River Douro. His defending force, the city garrison being commanded by Sá da Bandeira, includes an international brigade with a British contingent under Charles Shaw and Colonel George Lloyd Hodges. The city suffers cholera, starvation and bombardment. |
| 1833 | | Miguel's navy is defeated by Pedro's Admiral Charles Napier at the fourth Battle of Cape St Vincent. The Duke of Terceira defeats Miguel's army at Almada and occupies Lisbon. |
| 1834 | 16 May | The Duke of Terceira wins the Battle of Asseiceira. Miguel capitulates at EvoraMonte on 26 May. End of the civil war: Miguel is exiled to Genoa, where he renounces his capitulation. For many years he plots his return, but is never able to put it into effect. After six years of bitter and destructive war the country is once again bankrupt and beholden to foreign creditors, and the constitutional radicals turn their anger against the landowners and ecclesiastical institutions that had supported Miguel. The crown lands are taken over by the state to help pay the national debt. |
| 1834 | 13 to 27 July | The 1834 Portuguese legislative election takes place under the Charter of 1826. The supporters of the Charter win a plurality of votes. |
| 1834 | 24 September | Death of Dom Pedro. Maria II of Portugal becomes queen in her own right. Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela, becomes the first prime minister of Portugal. Dissolution of the monasteries – over 300 monastic communities are abolished – however the sale of church and crown lands does not revitalise Portugal in the way that had been anticipated. |
| 1835 | 26 January | Queen Maria II marries Auguste, Duke of Leuchtenberg, who becomes the first Prince Consort of Portugal. |
| 1835 | 28 March | Auguste, Prince Consort of Portugal, dies of an illness. |
| 1835 | 15 April | After a piece of legislation was drafted on 15 April 1835, which provided for the sale of national property and property of the Catholic Church, and facilitated their disposal among leading members of the liberal party, the Devourism period begins. |
| 1835 | 4 May | Vitório Maria de Sousa Coutinho, 2nd Count of Linhares becomes prime minister of Portugal. |
| 1835 | 27 May | João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha becomes prime minister of Portugal. |
| 1835 | | Revolutionary fervour is rekindled by an urban uprising and a military coup d’etat. The national Guard sides with the insurgents and approved the call for Sá da Bandeira to lead the nation and bring back the constitution of 1822. Queen Maria is forced to swear allegiance to the 1822 constitution but the moderate leader, Saldanha, reaches an accommodation with Sá da Bandeira and a modest programme of modernisation can begin. |
| 1835 | 18 November | José Jorge Loureiro becomes prime minister of Portugal. |
| 1836 | 17 and 31 July | The July 1836 Portuguese legislative election takes place under the Charter of 1826. The Cartistas win a majority of votes. |
| 1836 | 9 April | Queen Maria II marries Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who becomes Prince Consort of Portugal. |
| 1836 | 20 April | António José Severim de Noronha, 1st Duke of Terceira becomes prime minister of Portugal. |
| 1836 | 9 September | The September Revolution coup, led by Passos Manuel, ends the Devourism period. The Constitution of 1822 is restored. |
| 1836 | 10 September | José da Gama Carneiro e Sousa becomes Prime Minister of Portugal after the September revolution events. |
| 1836 | 3 to 5 of November | In the Belenzada, Queen Maria II and her husband Ferdinand II attempt a coup to remove the liberal government established by the September revolution and place José Bernardino de Portugal e Castro as prime minister, but the coup fails and José is nominally prime minister for 2 days. Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo, 1st Marquis of Sá da Bandeira becomes prime minister instead. |
| 1836 | 20 November | The November 1836 Portuguese legislative election takes place under the 1822 constitution. The supporters of the September revolution win the majority of votes. |
| 1837 | 1 June | António Dias de Oliveira becomes prime minister. |
| 1837 | 12 July | In the Revolt of the Marshals, a group of Marshals attempts to bring back the Charter of 1826 but fail. |
| 1837 | 2 August | Sá da Bandeira becomes prime minister again. |
| 1837 | 16 September | With the birth of Prince Pedro by Queen Maria II, his father, then Prince Consort of Portugal, becomes Ferdinand II of Portugal, co-ruler with Queen Maria II. |
| 1838 | 13 March | In the Rossio massacre, forces loyal to the Portuguese government of Prime Minister Sá da Bandeira put down a revolt by radical sections of the National Guard and their supporters. |
| 1838 | 24 April | The Portuguese Constitution of 1838 is promulgated. |
| 1838 | 12 August and 12 September | The 1838 Portuguese legislative election takes place, the first under the 1838 Constitution. A coalition of Septembrist and Charter supported wins the elections. |
| 1839 | 18 April | Rodrigo Pinto Pizarro becomes prime minister, the last government fully composed of members in support of the September revolution. |
| 1839 | 26 November | The Conde do Bonfim becomes prime minister with a coalition government. |
| 1840 | 22 March | The 1840 Portuguese legislative election takes place, with Conde do Bonfim remaining prime minister. |
| 1841 | 9 June | Joaquim António de Aguiar becomes prime minister. |
| 1842 | 7 to 9 February | Marquis of Palmela served briefly as Prime Minister again. |
| 1842 | 9 February | The Duke of Terceira becomes prime minister again. Start of Cabralism, in which Costa Cabral, 1st Marquis of Tomar dominated Portuguese politics. |
| 1842 | 5 and 19 June | The 1842 Portuguese legislative election takes place, with the Charter supporters winning the election with a plurality of votes. |
| 1843 | | Fernando II commissions the German architect Baron Eschwege to begin the building of the Pena Palace at Sintra. |
| 1845 | 3 and 17 August | The 1845 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The result was a victory for the Cabralistas, with Miguelistas advising voters to boycott the elections. |
| 1846 | | The Revolution of Maria da Fonte, a 'peasants' revolt' inaugurates the last phase of the Revolution, starting as an uprising of the peasants of the Minho, largely led by women against land enclosures and new land taxes demanded by the Costa Cabral government to finance its grandiose public works. They make common cause with the clergy and call for the return of the exiled Miguel as their saviour. Martial law is declared but soldiers refuse to fire on their kin. Fall of the Costa Cabral government and substitution of a government of national reconciliation in Lisbon. Autumn: A revolutionary government is proclaimed in Porto with Sá da Bandeira at its head. He opens negotiations with Britain, whence Costa Cabral has fled into exile, and settles terms for his return to take responsibility for the national debt. Civil war between the supporters of Queen Maria and the radical constitutionalists. The Count of Bonfim, for the Porto junta, is defeated by Saldanha at the siege of Torres Vedras and exiled to Angola. |
| 1846 | 20 May | The Marquis of Palmela becomes prime minister for the third time. |
| 1846 | 6 October | Duke of Saldanha becomes prime minister for the second time as an outcome of the Emboscada, in which Queen Maria II successfully deposed the Marquis of Palmela. |
| 1846 | | As a result of the Emboscada, the Patuleia begins. An eight month civil war putting those who defended the Constitutional Charter against a coalition of Septembristas and Miguelistas. |
| 1847 | 29 June | Convention of Gramido brings the civil war to an end. The Cartistas win with the support of the 1834 Quadruple Alliance. Return of the political exiles from Angola. |
| 1847 | 28 November and 12 December | The 1847 Portuguese legislative election takes place. |
| 1849 | 18 June | António Bernardo da Costa Cabral, 1st Marquis of Tomar becomes prime minister. |
| 1849 | 25 August | In the Passaleão incident, Chinese troops attempt to take Macau but fail to do so. |
| 1851 | 26 April | Duke of Terceira becomes prime-minister for the third time. |
| 1851 | | Another coup d’etat by Saldanha. He ejects Costa Cabral, appoints himself prime minister and rules reasonably progressively from the house of lords for a full five-year term. Thus a proper parliamentary regime is finally established, with a two-party system and a bourgeois monarchy. Portugal enters its Age of Regeneration, with an old-fashioned cavalry officer in charge. The government embarks on an elaborate programme of public works to modernise the country, beginning with the establishment of a modern post office and a programme of road-building: in the entire country there is less than 200 km of all-weather road surface, and the government uses road taxes to finance 200 km of new road per year. |
| 1851 | 1 May | Duke of Saldanha becomes prime-minister for the third time. |
| 1851 | 2 and 16 November 1851 | The 1851 Portuguese legislative election takes place, Duke of Saldanha supporters win the elections. |
| 1851 | | The Regenerator Party is founded. |
| 1852 | 12 December | The 1852 Portuguese legislative election takes place. |
| 1852 | | The Historic Party is founded. |
| 1853 | 15 November | Queen Maria II dies in childbirth, Pedro V of Portugal, her son, becomes king. |
| 1856 | 30 April | Pedro V founds the Associação Naval de Lisboa, Portugal's oldest sports club. |
| 1856 | 6 June | Nuno José Severo de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto, 1st Duke of Loulé becomes prime-minister. |
| 1856 | 28 October | Opening of Portugal's first railway line. |
| 1856 | 9 November | The 1856 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Historic Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1858 | 2 May | The 1858 Portuguese legislative election takes place with the Historic Party winning a second absolute majority. |
| 1859 | 16 March | The Duke of Terceira becomes prime minister for the 4th time. |
| 1860 | 1 January | The 1860 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party, together with the Cabralistas, wins an absolute majority. |
| 1860 | 1 May | The Duke of Terceira dies due to an illness. Joaquim António de Aguiar becomes prime minister for the second time. |
| 1860 | 4 July | The Duke of Loulé becomes prime minister for the second time. |
| 1861 | 22 April | The 1861 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Historic Party recovers its absolute majority. |
| 1861 | 11 November | Amidst the 1846–1860 cholera pandemic, King Pedro V dies and Luis I of Portugal, his brother, becomes king. |
| 1864 | 11 September | The 1834 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Historic Party keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1865 | 17 April | The Marquis Sá da Bandeira becomes prime minister for the third time. |
| 1865 | 8 July | The 1865 Portuguese legislative election takes place. A coalition of the Historic Party and the Regeneration Party win the election and form a government under Joaquim António de Aguiar, against the Duke of Loulé. |
| 1865 | 4 September | Joaquim António de Aguiar becomes prime minister for the third time. |
| 1867 | 4 February | The 1867 Portuguese legislative election takes place, with a victory for the parties opposing Joaquim António de Aguiar, but he would not life office until the Janeirinha protests in 1986. |
| 1867 | 1 July | After the legislation of 1852 regarding political crimes, the Penal and Prison Reform abolishes the death penalty for all civilian crimes. |
| 1868 | 1 January | A movement known as Janeirinha protests against the tax on consumables and went on to carry out administrative reform of the country. |
| 1868 | 4 January | The Janeirinha movement forces Joaquim António de Aguiar to resign, António José de Ávila, 1st Duke of Ávila and Bolama becomes prime-minister. |
| 1868 | 22 March and 12 April | The 1868 Portuguese legislative election takes place. Victory for the Reformist Party, which was founded as a breakaway from the History party over the Janeirinha events, in a coalition with the Duke of Ávila and Bolama supporters. |
| 1868 | 22 July | Marquis of Sá da Bandeira becomes prime minister for the 4th time. |
| 1869 | 11 April 1869 | The 1869 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Reformist Party maintains the absolute majority. |
| 1869 | | The government of Sá da Bandeira formally abolishes slavery in all Portuguese territories. |
| 1869 | 11 August | Duke of Loulé becomes prime-minister for the 3rd time. |
| 1870 | 13 March | The March 1870 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Historic Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1870 | 19 May | A financial crisis in the wake of European recession brings the fall of the government and yet another coup d’etat by the aged Duque de Saldanha, who becomes prime-minister. |
| 1870 | 29 August | Luis I dismisses Duque de Saldanha and nominates Marquis of Sá da Bandeira who becomes prime-minister for the 5th time. |
| 1870 | 18 September | The September 1870 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Reformist Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1870 | 29 October | Marquis of Ávila becomes prime-minister for the 2nd time. |
| 1871 | 9 July | The 1871 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Historic Party wins a plurality of votes. |
| 1871 | 13 September | Fontes Pereira de Melo becomes prime-minister. |
| 1874 | 12 July | The 1874 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1876 | 25 March | The Portuguese Republican Party is founded. |
| 1876 | 7 September | The Progressive Party is founded by merging the Historic and Reformist parties. |
| 1877 | 6 March | Marquis of Ávila becomes prime-minister for the 3rd time. |
| 1878 | 26 January | Fontes Pereira de Melo becomes prime-minister for the 2nd time. |
| 1878 | 29 May | Anselmo José Braamcamp becomes prime-minister. |
| 1878 | 13 October | The 1878 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1879 | 19 October | The 1879 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Progressive Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1881 | 23 March | António Rodrigues Sampaio becomes prime-minister. |
| 1881 | 21 August | The 1881 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1881 | 14 November | Fontes Pereira de Melo becomes prime-minister for the 3rd time. |
| 1884 | 29 June | The 1884 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1884 | 15 November | Portugal takes part in the Berlin Conference. |
| 1885 | | The Pink Map is published, representing Portugal's claim of sovereignty over a land corridor connecting the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique during the Scramble for Africa. |
| 1886 | 16 February | José Luciano de Castro becomes prime-minister. |
| 1887 | 6 March | The 1887 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Progressive Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1887 | 1 December | Portugal and China sign the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking, in the aftermath of the Second Opium War. |
| 1889 | 19 October | Luís I dies of neurosyphilis. Carlos I of Portugal, Luís' son, becomes king. |
| 1889 | 20 October | The 1889 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Progressive Party keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1890 | 11 January | The British Government presents the Kingdom of Portugal with an Ultimatum. |
| 1890 | 14 January | António de Serpa Pimentel becomes prime-minister. |
| 1890 | 30 March | The 1890 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party wins an absolute majority. |
| 1890 | 11 October | João Crisóstomo de Abreu e Sousa becomes prime-minister. |
| 1891 | 31 January | Republican insurrection in Porto. It is violently put down by the authorities, who afterwards institute a tight press censorship. Opponents of the government are accused of anarchism and exiled to the colonies. |
| 1891 | 11 June | Portugal signs the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891. |
| 1892 | 18 January | José Dias Ferreira becomes prime-minister. |
| 1892 | 23 October | The 1892 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1893 | 22 February | Ernesto Rodolfo Hintze Ribeiro becomes prime-minister. |
| 1894 | 15 April | The 1894 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party again keeps its absolute majority. |
| 1895 | 7 November | The Battle of Coolela takes place. Portugal wins, defeating the Gaza Empire. |
| 1895 | 17 November | The 1895 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Regenerator Party wins again, but the Progressive Party and the Portuguese Republican Party boycott the elections. |
| 1897 | 30 January | An arbitration by Italy finally establishes the international boundary between the British colony of Southern Rhodesia and Portugal's Mozambique colony. |
| 1897 | 5 February | José Luciano de Castro Pereira Corte-Real becomes prime-minister. |
| 1897 | 2 May | The 1897 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Progressive Party wins a majority of votes. |
| 1899 | 14 October | Portugal signs the Treaty of Windsor with the United Kingdom, marking the restoration of Anglo-Portuguese relation. |
| 1899 | 26 November | The 1899 Portuguese legislative election takes place. The Progressive Party keeps its majority. |
| Year | Date | Event |
| 1905 | | The Progressive Dissidence party is founded by Minister of Justice José Maria de Alpoim as a breakaway from the Progressive Party. |
| 1906 | May | João Franco is appointed as Prime Minister of Portugal. |
| 1906 | | Big strike of the typographers. |
| 1906 | | Foundation of the Escola Superior Colonial |
| 1907 | | João Franco establishes a Dictatorship within the framework of the Monarchy. |
| 1907 | | Student's strike at the University of Coimbra. |
| 1908 | | The Portuguese Republican Party manages to elect all its candidates in the local elections of Lisbon. |
| 1908 | 28 January | Failed Republican revolutionary attempt. The conspirators are arrested. |
| 1908 | 1 February | Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and his son and heir, prince Luis Filipe, Duke of Braganza, are killed in the Regicide of Lisbon by Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buíça, republicans of the Carbonária. |
| 1908 | 1 February | Manuel II of Portugal, King Carlos's youngest son, becomes king. |
| 1909 | | King Manuel II of Portugal goes on a personal trip to Madrid, London and Paris. |
| 1909 | | The Portuguese Republican Party's Conference takes place in Setúbal, where the motion to accelerate the revolutionary movement to establish the Republic is approved. |
| 1909 | | In Lisbon a demonstration with more than 100,000 persons protests against the political and economical situation of the Monarchy. |
| 1910 | 31 August | Gafanha da Nazaré is founded by Prior Sardo and is bestowed to become a parish by the king Manuel II. Officially being the last town to receive such royal distinction by a Portuguese monarch. |
| 1910 | 4 October | Beginning of the Republican Revolution. |
| 1910 | 5 October | The Portuguese Republic is officially proclaimed in Lisbon. End of the Monarchy. Teófilo Braga is the president of the Provisional Government. |
| 1910 | 5 October | The last King of Portugal, Manuel II of Portugal, and the Portuguese Royal Family embark in Ericeira for exile in England. |
| 1911 | 28 May | Constituent National Assembly election, the Democratic Party wins a majority of 229 of the 234 seats. |
| 1911 | 24 August | Indirect presidential election. Manuel de Arriaga wins in the 1st round. |
| 1911 | 3 September | João Pinheiro Chagas is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1911 | 13 November | Augusto de Vasconcelos is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1911 | | East Timorese rebellion. |
| 1912 | 16 June | Duarte Leite is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1912 | 8 July | The royalist attack on Chaves, led by Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Cabral Couceiro, fails to reinstate the Monarchy. |
| 1912 | 23 September | Augusto de Vasconcelos becomes interim prime-minister. |
| 1913 | 9 January | Afonso Costa is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1913 | 16 November | Legislative election, the Democratic Party wins a plurality of 68 of the 153 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 24 of the 71 seats in the Senate. |
| 1914 | 9 February | Bernardino Machado is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1914 | 12 December | Victor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1915 | 28 January | Pimenta de Castro is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1915 | 14 May | A revolt brings the end of Pimenta de Castro's government. A Constitutional Junta is formed. |
| 1915 | 15 May | João Pinheiro Chagas is appointed prime-minister for a second time, but he did not take office. |
| 1915 | 17 May | José de Castro is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1915 | 29 May | Indirect presidential election to select someone to complete Manuel de Arriaga's term. Teófilo Braga wins in the 1st round. |
| 1915 | 6 August | Indirect presidential election. Bernardino Machado wins in the 3rd round. |
| 1915 | 13 June | Legislative election, the Democratic Party wins a majority of 106 of the 163 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 45 of the 69 seats in the Senate. |
| 1915 | 29 November | Afonso Costa is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1916 | 16 March | António José de Almeida is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1916 | 7 August | The Portuguese Parliament accepts the participation of Portugal in the first world war, following the invitation of the British government to join the allied forces |
| 1917 | 2 February | The first members of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps arrive in France. |
| 1917 | 25 April | Afonso Costa is appointed prime-minister a third time. |
| 1917 | 7 October | José Norton de Matos is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1917 | 25 October | Afonso Costa is appointed prime-minister a fourth time. |
| 1917 | 17 November | José Norton de Matos becomes interim prime-minister. |
| 1917 | 5 – 8 December | The December 1917 coup d'état marks the beginning of Sidónio Pais' rise to power. He leads the Military Junta. |
| 1918 | 28 April | Sidónio Pais wins the 1918 Portuguese general election. He ran unopposed. |
| 1918 | 11 November | The Armistice of 11 November 1918 marks the end of World War I. |
| 1918 | 14 December | Sidónio Pais is assassinated in the Rossio railway station. João do Canto e Castro succeeds Pais in leading the government. |
| 1918 | 16 December | Indirect presidential election. João do Canto e Castro wins in the 2nd round. |
| 1918 | 23 December | João Tamagnini Barbosa is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1919 | 15 January | The Monarchy of the North is proclaimed in Porto, and the restoration of the Portuguese monarchy lasts for about a month before being crushed by republican forces. |
| 1919 | 22 January | The Monarchy is proclaimed in Lisbon, in the Assault of Monsanto. |
| 1919 | 24 January | The Monarchic forces in Monsanto surrender, leading to the resignation of João Tamagnini two days later. |
| 1919 | 27 January | José Relvas is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1919 | 30 March | Domingos Leite Pereira is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1919 | 11 May | Legislative election, the Democratic Party wins a majority of 86 of the 163 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 36 of the 71 seats in the Senate. |
| 1919 | 30 June | Alfredo de Sá Cardoso is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1919 | 6 December | Indirect presidential election. António José de Almeida wins in the 3rd round.in the 3rd round. |
| 1920 | 15 January | Francisco José Fernandes Costa is appointed prime minister. He did not take office and Alfredo de Sá Cardoso is re-appointed prime-minister. |
| 1920 | 21 January | Domingos Leite Pereira is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1920 | 8 March | António Maria Baptista is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1920 | 6 June | José Ramos Preto is appointed prime-minister, after António Maria Baptista suddenly dies. |
| 1920 | 26 June | António Maria da Silva is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1920 | 19 July | António Granjo is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1920 | 20 November | Álvaro de Castro is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1920 | 30 November | Liberato Pinto is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1921 | 2 March | Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1921 | 6 March | The Portuguese Communist Party was founded from the ranks of the Portuguese Maximalist Federation as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International. |
| 1921 | 23 May | Tomé de Barros Queirós is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1921 | 10 July | Legislative election, the Republican Liberal Party wins a plurality of 79 of the 163 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 32 of the 71 seats in the Senate. |
| 1921 | 6 August | Indirect presidential election. Manuel Teixeira Gomes wins in the 3rd round. |
| 1921 | 30 August | António Granjo is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1921 | 19 October | In the Bloody Night, then-head of Government António Granjo is killed, along with other politician associates of his. Manuel Maria Coelho is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1921 | 5 November | Carlos Maia Pinto is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1921 | 16 December | Francisco Cunha Leal is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1922 | 29 January | Legislative election, the Democratic Party wins a plurality of 74 of the 163 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 37 of the 70 seats in the Senate. |
| 1922 | 7 February | António Maria da Silva is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1922 | 1 August | Portugal receives the Balfour Note, requiring that the loan Portugal had from the UK be paid back. |
| 1923 | 15 November | António Ginestal Machado is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1923 | 18 December | Álvaro de Castro is appointed prime-minister a second time. |
| 1924 | 7 July | Alfredo Rodrigues Gaspar is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1924 | 22 November | José Domingues dos Santos is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1925 | 15 February | Vitorino Guimarães is appointed prime-minister. |
| 1925 | 5 March | First failed coup attempt by Filomeno da Câmara. |
| 1925 | 18 April | Second failed coup attempt by Filomena da Câmara, now with the aid of Raul Esteves. |
| 1925 | 1 July | António Maria da Silva is appointed prime-minister a third time. |
| 1925 | 19 July | Failed coup attempt by Mendes Cabeçadas. |
| 1925 | 1 August | Domingos Leite Pereira is appointed prime-minister a third time. |
| 1925 | 8 November | Legislative election, the Democratic Party wins a majority of 83 of the 163 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 39 of the 65 seats in the Senate. |
| 1925 | 11 December | Indirect presidential election. Bernardino Machado is elected President of the Republic for the 2nd time. |
| 1925 | 18 December | António Maria da Silva is appointed prime-minister a fourth time. |
| 1926 | 27 May | The General Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa arrives at Braga with the purpose of initiating a Coup d'état. |
| 1926 | 27 May | The Republican Government and Prime Minister António Maria da Silva, knowing of the forthcoming coup, try to organise resistance believing the uprising can be defeated. |
| 1926 | 28 May | A Military coup d'état begins in Braga led by Gomes da Costa. Believing to have failed, Gomes da Costa announces his surrender. |
| 1926 | 29 May | The Portuguese Communist Party interrupts its 2nd Congress due to the political and military situation. |
| 1926 | 29 May | The Confederação Geral do Trabalho declares its neutrality in the military confrontations. |
| 1926 | 29 May | The Military Coup spreads to the rest of the country, by influence of Mendes Cabeçadas, Sinel de Cordes and Óscar Carmona, and establishes the Ditadura Nacional against the democratic but unstable 1st Republic. |
| 1926 | 29 May | The Government of Prime Minister António Maria da Silva resigns. |
| 1926 | 30 May | The General Gomes da Costa is acclaimed in Porto. |
| 1926 | 30 May | The President of the Republic, Bernardino Machado, resigns. |
| 1926 | 30 May | José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior becomes Prime Minister and President of the Republic. |
| 1926 | 3 June | António de Oliveira Salazar becomes Minister of Finance, he resigns 16 days after nomination. |
| 1926 | 3 June | The Congress of the Republic of Portugal is dissolved by dictatorial decree. |
| 1926 | 3 June | All heads of Municipalities are substituted. |
| 1926 | 3 June | The Carbonária is banned. |
| 1926 | 3 June | All Political parties are banned. |
| 1926 | 17 June | General Gomes da Costa provokes a military coup. |
| 1926 | 19 June | General Gomes da Costa becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1926 | 22 June | Censorship is instituted. |
| 1926 | 29 June | General Gomes da Costa becomes President of the Republic. |
| 1926 | 9 July | General Gomes da Costa is obliged to step down and goes into exile. |
| 1926 | 9 July | General António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona, of the conservative military wing, becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1926 | 15 September | Failed military coup. |
| 1926 | 18 September | Failed military coup. |
| 1926 | 29 November | General António Óscar Carmona becomes President of the Republic. |
| 1926 | 16 December | The Police of Information of Lisbon, a Political Police, is created. |
| 1927 | | The Confederação Geral do Trabalho is dissolved. |
| 1927 | February | Failed Republican coup attempt against the Ditadura Nacional in Porto and Lisbon. |
| 1927 | 26 March | The Police of Information of Porto, a Political Police, is created. |
| 1927 | 17 May | Minimum School years are reduced from the 6th to the 4th grade; in all levels of non-university schooling students are divided by sex. |
| 1927 | August | Failed right wing military coup. |
| 1927 | 1 December | Students demonstrate in Lisbon against the Ditadura Nacional. |
| 1928 | | General António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona remains President of the Republic. |
| 1928 | | Acordo Missionário between the Catholic Church and the Portuguese Republic, giving special status to the action of the Catholic Church in Portugal's colonies. |
| 1928 | | Failed Republican revolutionary attempt against the Ditadura Nacional. |
| 1928 | | The Portuguese Communist Party's Main Office is closed. |
| 1928 | February | The Comissão de Propaganda da Ditadura is created. |
| 1928 | 17 March | The Police of Information of Porto and Lisbon are fused. |
| 1928 | 18 April | General José Vicente de Freitas becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1928 | 26 April | António de Oliveira Salazar becomes Minister of Finance for the 2nd time. |
| 1928 | 20 July | Failed Republican coup attempt against the Ditadura Nacional. |
| 1929 | | Catholic religious institutes are again permitted in Portugal. |
| 1929 | | The Portuguese Communist Party is reorganised under Bento Gonçalves. Adapting the Party to its new illegal status, the reorganisation creates a net of clandestine cells to avoid the wave of detentions. |
| 1929 | 8 July | Artur Ivens Ferraz becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1930 | | The Acto Colonial is published, defining the status of Portuguese colonies. |
| 1930 | | The fundamental principles of the new regime are presented by António de Oliveira Salazar in the 4th anniversary of the 28 May Revolution. |
| 1930 | 21 January | Domingos da Costa e Oliveira becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1930 | 4 April | A Republican coup attempt against the Ditadura Nacional starts in Madeira. It would then expand to Azores and Portuguese Guinea, before dying out on 2 May 1931. |
| 1931 | 26 August | Failed Republican coup attempt against the Ditadura Nacional in Lisbon. There would be no remaining coup attempts during the Ditadura Nacional. |
| 1932 | 5 July | António de Oliveira Salazar becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1933 | | A new Constitution is approved in a false referendum, defining Portugal as a Corporative, Single Party and Multi-continental country. |
| 1933 | | A fascist-leaning right-wing Dictatorial regime entitled Estado Novo is installed. |
| 1933 | | The Single Party União Nacional is created. |
| 1933 | | The Estatuto do Trabalho Nacional is published, prohibiting all free trade unions. |
| 1933 | | A Political Police, the PVDE is created. |
| 1933 | | Censorship, particularly of the Mass media, is systematic and generalised. |
| 1935 | | The Portuguese Communist Party's Secretary General Bento Gonçalves participates in the 7th Congress of the Comintern. Soon after returning to Portugal he is arrested by the Political Police PVDE. |
| 1936 | | The concentration camp for political prisoners of Tarrafal is created in the colony of Portuguese Cape Verde, under direct control of the political police PVDE. |
| 1936 | | The political police PVDE focuses its action against Communism and the underground Portuguese Communist Party. During this pre-World War II period, several Italian Fascist and German Nazi advisors came to Portugal, to help the PVDE adopt a model similar to the Gestapo. |
| 1936 | 19 May | Creation of the Mocidade Portuguesa, a compulsory paramilitary youth organisation similar to the Hitler Youth. |
| 1936 | July | Beginning of the Spanish Civil War; Portugal promptly supports Nationalist Spain under General Francisco Franco and sends military aid in their fight against the Spanish Republicans. |
| 1937 | December | The female section of the Mocidade Portuguesa is created. |
| 1939 | | The Iberian Neutrality Pact is put forward by Salazar to Francisco Franco. |
| 1942 | | Salazar meets with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. |
| 1942 | 19 February | Japanese forces invade Portuguese Timor in the Battle of Timor. |
| 1942 | | The Portuguese Communist Party's Secretary General Bento Gonçalves dies in the concentration camp of Tarrafal. |
| 1944 | | An international embargo on tungsten, which Portugal initially exported to both factions of World War II, and the longest drought on mainland Portugal lead to an economic recession that would last until 1945. |
| 1945 | | The Political Police PVDE is reorganised and renamed PIDE. |
| 1945 | 8 October | The MUD is created with official permission. |
| 1948 | January | The MUD is banished. |
| 1949 | | The President António Óscar Carmona meets with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. |
| 1949 | | Spanish dictator Francisco Franco receives a Doctorate honoris causa by the University of Coimbra. |
| 1949 | | In the Presidential elections, General Norton de Matos, backed by the oppositionist illegal organisation MUD tries and fail to win the Presidency of the Republic. |
| 1949 | 4 April | Portugal is a founding member of NATO. |
| 1949 | | For the first time, a Portuguese citizen is awarded with the Nobel Prize: Egas Moniz, with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. |
| 1951 | | António de Oliveira Salazar becomes Provisional President of the Republic due to the death of President António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona. |
| 1951 | | Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes becomes President of the Republic. |
| 1951 | | The Portuguese government overhauls the entire colonial system in an attempt to curb criticism on Portuguese Colonialism, all Portugal's colonies were renamed Portuguese Overseas Provinces. |
| 1951 | | Due to a bad harvest year and lower external demand for Portuguese goods, Portugal enters an economic recession that would last until 1953. |
| 1954 | | The Dadra and Nagar Haveli Portuguese enclave, dependent of Daman, is occupied by India. |
| 1956 | | Amílcar Cabral founds the PAIGC. |
| 1956 | December | The MPLA, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, is founded by Agostinho Neto. |
| 1957 | | Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, is founded as União das Populações do Norte de Angola. |
| 1957 | 7 March | First live event of the Portuguese National Television and the beginning of the regular broadcasting. It was opened by the famous and former BBC war reporter, Fernando Pessa. |
| 1958 | | Américo Thomaz becomes President of the Republic. |
| 1959 | | Pijiguiti Massacre – Portuguese soldiers open fire on protesting dockworkers in Bissau, killing 50. |
| 1960 | January | A group of ten Portuguese Communist Party members escaped from the high-security prison in Peniche. Among the escapees was Álvaro Cunhal. |
| 1960 | 4 January | Portugal is one of the founding member of the EFTA – European Free Trade Association. |
| 1961 | | The Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar takes on himself the office of Minister of National Defence and reorganises the Government to face the war in Africa. |
| 1961 | 4 February | The Portuguese Colonial War starts in Portuguese Angola with the attacks to the Prison, Police headquarters and Radio central in Luanda. |
| 1961 | 15 March | Attacks in northern Angola by the UPA, against Portuguese colonists and African populations, provoking hundreds of deaths. |
| 1961 | 29 March | Portugal joins the International Monetary fund. |
| 1961 | 12 December | The Indian army conquers Portuguese Goa. |
| 1961 | 19 December | The Indian army conquers Portuguese Daman and Diu. |
| 1962 | | The PAIGC Guerrilla warfare against the Portuguese begins with an abortive attack on Praia. |
| 1962 | 24 March | The Academic Crisis of '62 culminates in a huge student demonstration in Lisbon brutally repressed by the shock police, which caused hundreds of students to be seriously injured. |
| 1962 | 25 June | The FRELIMO – Frente de Libertação de Moçambique is founded in Dar es Salaam. |
| 1963 | | The FLEC is founded. |
| 1963 | January | Amílcar Cabral and PAIGC declare full-scale war against the Portuguese in Portuguese Guinea. |
| 1964 | | The FRELIMO controls most of Northern Portuguese Mozambique. |
| 1964 | February | The first Party Congress of the PAIGC takes place at liberated Cassaca, in which both the political and military arms of the PAIGC were assessed and reorganised, with a regular army to supplement the guerrilla forces. |
| 1965 | | 6th Congress of the Portuguese Communist Party, one of the most important congresses in the Party's history, after Álvaro Cunhal released the report The Path to Victory – The tasks of the Party in the National and Democratic Revolution, which became an important document in the anti-dictatorship struggle. |
| 1966 | | The UNITA – União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola is founded by Jonas Savimbi. |
| 1966 | 6 August | The Salazar Bridge is inaugurated in Lisbon above the Tagus river. It is the longest suspension bridge in Europe and a replica of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. |
| 1967 | | By this time the PAIGC had carried out 147 attacks on Portuguese barracks and army encampments, and effectively controlled 2/3 of Portuguese Guinea. |
| 1968 | | Reorganisation of the Government. |
| 1968 | | Portugal begins a new campaign against the guerrillas in Portuguese Guinea with the arrival of the new governor of the colony, General António de Spínola. |
| 1968 | 25 September | António de Oliveira Salazar leaves the Government due to health problems. |
| 1968 | 28 September | Marcello das Neves Alves Caetano becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1969 | | The Single Party União Nacional is renamed Acção Nacional Popular. |
| 1969 | | The Political Police PIDE is renamed DGS. |
| 1969 | | Beginning of the Primavera Marcelista, a timid and failed opening of the regime. |
| 1970 | | Portugal invades Conakry, in the Republic of Guinea, 400 amphibious troops attacked the city and freed dozens of Portuguese Prisoners of war kept there by the PAIGC. |
| 1970 | 27 July | Death of António de Oliveira Salazar. |
| 1973 | January | Amílcar Cabral, leader of the PAIGC, is assassinated in Conakry by a disgruntled former associate under influence of the Portuguese Political Police DGS. |
| 1973 | 24 September | Independence of Guinea-Bissau is unilaterally declared. |
| 1973 | November | A United Nations' General Assembly vote recognises the Independence of Guinea-Bissau, unprecedented as it denounced illegal Portuguese aggression and occupation and was prior to complete control and Portuguese recognition. |
| 1973 | | An economic recession starts, in the context of the international 1973–1975 recession. |
| 1974 | | The Carnation Revolution of 25 April puts an end to five decades of dictatorship. |
| 1974 | 25 April | The Carnation Revolution puts an end to the authoritarian regime of Estado Novo. Prime-minister Marcello Caetano exiled to Brazil |
| 1975 | | Independence is granted to all Portuguese colonies in Africa and independence is promised to Portuguese Timor. |
| 1975 | 11 March | A right-wing coup fails: A turn to the left in the revolution happens and major industries and big properties are nationalised by government |
| 1975 | 2 August | A meeting takes place in Haga where the Committee for Friendship and Solidarity with Democracy and Socialism in Portugal is created. This Committee supported democratic trends in Portugal and opposed pro-soviet communist tendencies. In the meeting were present Olof Palme, Harold Wilson, Helmut Schmidt, Bruno Kreisky, Joop den Uyl, Trygve Bratteli, Anker Jørgensen, Yitzhak Rabin, Hans Janitschek, Willy Brandt, James Callaghan, François Mitterrand, Bettino Craxi and Mário Soares. |
| 1975 | 25 November | A coup removes far-left influence in politics. |
| 1975 | 7 December | East Timor is violently annexed by Indonesia. |
| 1976 | 2 April | A new Constitution is approved. The Constitutional Assembly disestablishes itself. |
| 1976 | 25 April | The Constitution of 1976 enters into force. |
| 1976 | 19 November | Jaime Ornelas Camacho becomes the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira. |
| 1977 | | Portugal requests International Monetary Fund aid for the first time since joining in 1961, in consequence of the 1973–1975 recession. |
| 1980 | 4 December | Prime minister Francisco Sá Carneiro and the Minister of Defence Amaro da Costa died in the 1980 Camarate plane crash, in strange circumstances. |
| 1983 | | An economic recession starts in Portugal, within the context of the early 1980s recession. It would last until around 1984. |
| 1984 | | Carlos Lopes wins the first Olympic gold medal for Portugal in the Los Angeles '84 marathon. |
| 1986 | 1 January | Portugal becomes a member of the European Economic Community, today's European Union'. |
| 1987 | 26 March | Portugal and China sign the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration establishing the process and conditions of the transfer of Macau from Portuguese rule to the People's Republic of China. |
| 1992 | | An economic recession starts in Portugal, within the context of the early 1990s recession, which affected most of the Western world. It would last until 1993. |
| 1995 | 1 October | The 1995 Portuguese legislative election would bring an end to 10 years of Social Democratic Party rule by Aníbal Cavaco Silva. After the only two elections in which a party or pre-electoral coalition ever received more than 50% of votes since the Estado Novo, PSD lost with 34.1% of votes to PS' 43.8%. |
| 1998 | | Lisbon organises the World's Fair Expo '98. |
| 1998 | 28 June | In the first Portuguese abortion referendum, the proposal to allow the abortion until 10 weeks of pregnancy is rejected by 50.91% of the voters. This is the first referendum in the History of the Portuguese democracy. |
| 1998 | 8 October | For the very first time, a Portuguese Language author is awarded with the Nobel Prize of Literature: José Saramago. |
| 1998 | 8 November | in the regionalisation referendum, a proposal to establish, in mainland Portugal, 8 administrative regions and to disestablish the 18 districts, is rejected in the polls: in the first question, the simple institution of the administrative regions is rejected by 60.67% of the voters; in the second question, the proposal to create 8 regions is rejected by 60.62% of the voters. This is the first referendum in the History of Portugal to have more than 1 question. |
| 1999 | 20 December | Macau, the last overseas Portuguese colony, is returned to China |