A country of southwest Europe on the western Iberian Peninsula and the Madeira Islands and the Azores in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Originally inhabited by the Lusitanians, a Celtiberian people, the mainland area was subsequently held by the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Moors before the establishment of an independent Christian kingdom in the 1100s. Portugal flourished as a maritime and colonial power in the 1400s and 1500s with holdings in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. Much of its empire was lost to the British and the Dutch in the 1600s and 1700s, and the remaining colonies became independent in the 1800s and 1900s. Lisbon is the capital and the largest city.