The formation of nations and nationalism: explanatory paradigms and the case of Portugal

Abstract

This article looks at the issue of how the Portuguese national identity was formed, and places it in the context of the controversy regarding the greater or lesser antiquity of the birth of nationalism. The writer reviews some of the more influential approaches to this issue and then examines the specific case of Portugal. He gives us a summary of the key contributions of Portuguese historiography on this subject, and puts forward a procedural interpretation of the birth of national identity in Portugal which positions its early origins at the end of the Middle Ages.