Portuguese Empire Portuguese personnel established logging infrastructure in an area now referred to as the "Portuguese Fireplace". Throughout 1917 Portugal dispatched contingents of troops to the Allied front in France. Midway in the year, Portugal suffered its first World War I casualty. In Portuguese Africa, Portugal and the British fought numerous battles against the Germans in both Mozambique and Angola. Later in the year, U-boats entered Portuguese waters again and once more attacked Madeira, sinking multiple Portuguese ships. Through the beginning of 1918, Portugal continued to fight along the Allied front against Germany, including participation in the infamous Battle of La Lys.
Portuguese dialects dialects of Brazil, Africa, and Asia derived mostly from those of central and southern Portugal. In the Portuguese town of Barrancos (in the border between Extremadura, Andalucia and Portugal), a dialect of Portuguese heavily influenced by Southern Spanish dialects is spoken, known as "barranquenho". Brazilian dialects are divided into northern and southern groups, the northern dialects tending to slightly more open pre-stressed vowels. The economic and cultural dominance of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil made their dialects end up having some influence on the rest of the country. However, migration from the Northern states to the Southern