Geography of Portugal Geography of Portugal Portugal is a coastal nation in southwestern Europe, located at the western end of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering Spain (on its northern and eastern frontiers: a total of ). The Portuguese territory also includes a series of archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean (the Açores and Madeira), which are strategic islands along the North Atlantic. The extreme south is not too far from the Strait of Gibraltar, leading to the Mediterranean Sea. In total, the country occupies an area of of which is land and water. Despite these definitions, the Portugal-Spain border remains an unresolved territorial dispute between
Portugal in the Middle Ages privileges and favours given to the Roman Catholic Church were compensated. In the papal bull " Manifestis Probatum", Pope Alexander III acknowledged Afonso as King and Portugal as an independent land with the right to conquer lands from the Moors. With this papal blessing, Portugal was at last secured as a country and safe from any Leonese attempts at annexation. In 1184, in spite of his great age, King Afonso of Portugal still had sufficient energy to relieve his son Sancho, who was besieged in Santarém by the Moors. He died shortly after, on December 6, 1185. Afonso had already