The following is a list of notable and historically significant people from Portugal.
The history of the Kingdom of Portugal from the Illustrious Generation of the early 15th century to the fall of the House of Aviz in the late 16th century has been named the "Portuguese golden age" and the "Portuguese Renaissance". During this period, Portugal was the first European power to begin building a colonial empire as during the Age of Exploration Portuguese sailors and explorers discovered an eastern route to India as well as several Atlantic archipelagos and colonized the African coast and Brazil. They also explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, sending the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan, at the same time installing trading posts and the most important colony: Portuguese Macau. The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists. The Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende is taken to mark the transition from Old Portuguese to the modern Portuguese language.
Silva, da Silva, and de Silva are surnames of Portuguese or Galician origin which are widespread in the Portuguese-speaking countries including Brazil. The name is derived from Latin silva. It is the family name of the House of Silva.
Gonçalves is a Portuguese surname. Origin: Germanic patronymic Gundisalvis. Notable people with the surname include:
Teixeira is a Galician-Portuguese surname based on the toponym Teixeira, derived from teixo "yew tree". The progenitors of the name were a "Noble Portuguese Marrano family, originally bearing the surname of Sampayo," and the Teixeira coat of arms was conferred "in accordance with a decree of King Philip IV of Spain" in 1643. A less frequent variant spelling is Texeira. The variant Técher is common in the highlands of Reunion Island, notably in the Cilaos area.
Oliveira is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, used in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to a lesser extent in former Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Its origin is from the Latin word olivarĭus, meaning 'olive tree'. In Spain and Portuguese, de Oliveira may refer to both 'of the olive tree' and/or 'from the olive tree'.
Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European exploration, chronicling and mapping the coasts of Africa and Asia, then known as the East Indies, and Canada and Brazil, in what came to be known as the Age of Discovery.
Gama, Da Gama or Gamma is a Portuguese surname. Originating in southern Europe, Gama is a common surname in Portugal, Spain, Italy and countries colonized by Portugal, such as Brazil and Southern parts of Africa.
Events in the year 1919 in Brazil.
Diogo is a Portuguese masculine given name and surname.
Monteiro is an occupational Portuguese surname meaning 'hunter'. Notable people with the surname include: