A instauração do liberalismo em Portugal numa visão global socioeconómica : a participação do Algarve
Estudos da Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Algarve, I (November):
23--48 (2004)Abstract
Algarve in the first half of the 19thC was a peripheral and almost marginalized region. However, it never ceased being a geo-strategic region (as from the time of the Portuguese Discoveries) of core importance in the Portuguese historic evolution process. Algarve as an area/region and its inhabitants as active (re)agents were, as a whole, decisive in preventing political upheaval and consequent civil war, ultimately establishing liberalism in Portugal. In the national context, Algarve was one of the more burdened regions both in terms of human values and economic resources. Clearly, the inhabitants played a role in the construction of Portuguese liberalism, with the geographical asset of the Atlantic-Mediterranean coastline holding key importance for the onset of civil war. On the other hand, Algarve has, since the beginning of the 19thC with the Napoleonic invasions, become one of the more sensitive poles within the Portuguese revolutionary context. Military conflicts that impelled political changes also crossed Algarve. As such, from a military perspective, the region gained a repute of geo-political axis from which it revolved during practically the first half of the Portuguese Oitocentismo