Timeline of Portuguese history (Pre-Roman)

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This is a historical timeline of Portugal.

Pre-Roman Western Iberia

Paleolithic

200th millennium BC – In the Paleolithic period the Neanderthal Man enters the Iberian peninsula.
70th millennium BC

Neanderthal Mousterian culture.
Beginning of the Last Ice Age.

40th millennium BC

Beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.
The first large settlement of Europe by Modern Humans, Nomadic Hunter-gathereres coming from the of the Steppes of Central Asia, characterized by the M173 mutation in the Y chromosome, allegedly defining them as an Haplogroup R population. When the Ice Age reached its maximum extent, these modern humans took refuge in Southern Europe, namely in Iberia, and in the steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia.

35th millennium BC – Beginning of the Neanderthal Châtelperronian cultural period, emanating from Southern France.
33rd millennium BC – Beginning of the Modern Human Aurignacian culture in Europe.
30th millennium BC – Modern Humans make way into the Iberian peninsula, coming from Southern France. Here, this genetically homogenous population (characterized by the M173 mutation in the Y chromosome), will supposedly develop the M343 mutation, giving rise to the R1b Haplogroup, still dominant in modern Portuguese and Spanish populations.
28th millennium BC

Extinction of the Neanderthal Man in its last refuge – the west of Iberia (in modern Portugal).
Gravettian culture in Europe.

20th millennium BC

Solutrean cultural period in Europe.
Pre-historic Art in the Vila Nova de Foz Côa (near modern Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in Portugal), one of the biggest sites in Europe.

15th millennium BC – Magdalenian cultural period in Europe.

Mesolithic

10th millennium BC

The Allerød Oscillation occurs, an interstadial Deglaciation that weakens the rigorous conditions of the Ice Age.
End of Upper Palaeolithic and beginning of the Mesolithic period.
The populations sheltered in Iberia, descendants of the Cro-Magnon, given the deglaciation, migrate and recolonize all of Western Europe, thus spreading the R1b Haplogroup populations (still dominant, in variant degrees, from Iberia to Scandinavia).
Azilian culture in Southern France and Northern Iberia (to the mouth of the Douro river).
Muge Culture in the Tagus valley.

Neolithic

5th millennium BC

Beginning of the Neolithic in the Iberian peninsula.
Autochthonous development of Agriculture in Iberia.
Beginning of the Megalithic European culture, spreading to most of Europe and having one of its oldest and main centres in the territory of modern Portugal.
The Nomadic Hunter-gathereres of the R Haplogroup (characterized by the M173 mutation in the Y chromosome) that had taken refuge during the Last Ice Age in the Steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia (and had allegedly developed the M17 mutation, originating the R1a Haplogroup), are believed to have given rise to the Proto-Indo-European cultures (predecessors of the Indo-European population and their languages), such as the Kurgan culture.

3rd millennium BC

Chalcolithic culture of Vila Nova, a Megalithic European culture, around the area of modern Lisbon.
Beaker culture spreads to most of Western Europe (Portugal, Spain, France (excluding the central massif), Great Britain and Ireland, the Low Countries, and Germany from the Elbe valley west, with an extension along the upper Danube into the Vienna basin in Austria, with Mediterranean outposts on Sardinia and Sicily).

Bronze Age

1st millennium BC

First wave of Indo-European migrations into Iberia, of the Urnfield culture (Proto-Celts).
Bronze culture (Indo-European) in the Northwest of Iberia (modern Galicia and northern Portugal), maintaining commercial relations with Brittany and the British Isles. Emergence of the Castro Village culture in this Iberian area.
Bronze culture in the Portuguese Estremadura (not Indo-European).
Bronze culture of Portuguese Beira Alta (not Indo-European but influenced by).
Emergence of Tartessian society in the territory of modern Andalusia.

Iron Age

10th Century BC

First contacts between Phoenicians and Iberia (along the Mediterranean coast).
Development of Tartessos, the first Iberia State mentioned in writing sources. Tartessos was a centralized Monarchy brought about under Phoenician influence and maintained commercial relations with the area of modern Algarve, inhabited by the Cynetes or Cunetes, and Portuguese Estremadura.
Emergence of towns and cities in the southern littoral areas of western Iberia.

9th Century BC

Foundation of the Phoenician (from the city-sate of Tyre) colony of Carthage (in North Africa).
Foundation of the Phoenician colony of Gadir (modern Cádiz) near Tartessos. Contrary to myth, there is no record of Phoenician colonies west of the Strait of Gibraltar, even though there might have been some voyages of discovery. Phoenician influence in what is now Portuguese territory was done through cultural and commercial exchange with Tartessos.
Phoenicians introduce in Iberia the use of Iron, of the Potter's wheel, the production of Olive oil and Wine. They were also responsible for the first forms of Iberian writing, had a big religious influence and accelerated urban development.
There are organized settlements in Olissipona (modern Lisbon, in Portuguese Estremadura) with clear Mediterranean influences. The myth of a Phoenician foundation of the city as far back as 1300 BC, under the name Alis Ubbo ("Safe Harbour") is not true

8th Century BC - Strong Phoenician influence in the city of Balsa (modern Tavira in the Algarve).
7th Century BC

Strong Tartessian influence in the area of modern Algarve.
Second wave of Indo-European (Celts of the Hallstatt culture?) migration into Portuguese territory.

6th Century BC

Decadence of Phoenician colonization of the Mediterranean coast of Iberia. Many of the colonies are deserted.
Fall of Tartessos.
Beginning of Greek settlement in the Iberian peninsula, namely in the eastern Mediterranean shore (modern Catalonia). There are no Greek colonies west of the Strait of Gibraltar, only voyages of discovery. The myth of an ancient Greek founding of Olissipo (modern Lisbon) by Ulysses is not true.
Rise of the colonial might of Carthage, which slowly replaces the Phoenician in its former areas of dominion.
Phoenician influenced Tavira is destroyed by violence.
Cultural shift in southern Portuguese territory after the fall of Tartessos, with a strong Mediterranean character that prolonges and modifies Tartessian culture. This occurs mainly in Low Alentejo and the Algarve, but has littoral extensions up to the Tagus mouth (namely the important city of Bevipo, modern Alcácer do Sal).
First form of writing in western Iberia (south of Portugal), the Southwest script (still to be translated), denotes strong Tartessian influence in its use of a modified Phoenician alphabet. In these writings the word Conii (similar to Cunetes or Cynetes, the people of the Algarve) appears frequently.
The poem Ora Maritima, written by Avienus in the 4th century and based on the Massaliote Periplus of the 6th Century BC, states that all of western Iberia was once called for the name of its people, the Oestriminis, which were replaced by an invasion of the Saephe or Ophis (meaning Serpent). From then on western Iberia would have been know as Ophiussa (Land of the Serpents).The poem also describes the various ethnic groups present at that time:

The Saephe or Ophis, today seen as probably Hallstatt culture Celts, in all of western Iberia (modern Portugal) between the Douro and the Sado rivers.
The Cempsi, probably Hallstatt culture Celts, in the Tagus mouth and the south up to the Algarve.
The Cynetes or Cunetes in the extreme south and some cities along the Atlantic coast (such as Olissipo, modern Lisbon), probably not Indo-European, but autochthonous Iberian (even if strongly or totally celticized over the next centuries).
The Dragani, Celt or Proto-Celt of the first Indo-European wave, in the mountainous areas of Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Cantabria.
The Lusis, probably a first reference to the Lusitanians, similar to the Dragani (Celt or Proto-Celt of the first Indo-European wave).

5th Century BC

Further development of strong Central European (Celtic) influences and migrations in western Iberia north of the Tagus river.
Development of a 2nd Castro Village culture in Galicia and northern Portugal.
First mint of coins and use of money in the Iberian peninsula.
Discovery voyages to the Atlantic by the Carthaginians.
The Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus cites the word Iberia to designate what is now the Iberian peninsula, according to ancient Greek costume.
Urban bloom of Tartessian influenced Tavira.

4th Century BC

The Celtici, a new wave of Celtic migration (of the La Tène culture), enter deeply into Portuguese territory and settle in the Alentejo also penetrating in the Algarve.
The Turduli and Turdetani, probably descendants of the Tartessians, are established in the area of the Guadiana river, in the south of modern Portugal.
A series of cities in the Algarve, such as Balsa (Tavira), Baesuris (Castro Marim), Ossonoba(Faro) and Cilpes (Silves), are inhabited by the Cynetes or Cunetes progressively mingled with Celtic populations.
The Lusitanians (most probably proto-Celt) inhabit the area between the Douro and the Tagus rivers (and progressively penetrate the High Alentejo). They are neighbored to the east by the Vettones (also probably proto-Celt).
The Celtic Calaicians or Gallaeci inhabit all the region above the Douro river (modern Galicia and northern Portugal).
Rome begins to rise as a Mediterranean power rival to Carthage.

3rd Century BC

The First Punic War (264 BC-241 BC) between Rome and Carthage. Roman victory.

Timeline of Portuguese history (Pre-Roman)

Pre-Roman Western Iberia

Paleolithic

Mesolithic

Neolithic

Bronze Age

Iron Age

See Also