Portugal
With the kind permission of Michael Kustermann
Area : 88 944 km²
Population : 10 500 000 inhabitants
Languages : Portuguese; Mirandese (Miranda del Douro);
National anthem : Portuguese national anthem
National feast day : 25th April (Liberty Day); 10th June (Camões
Day); 5th October (Republic Proclamation); 1st December (Independence
Day)
Capital : Lisboa
Political status : independent, Republic since 1910
Assembleia da República
(10-OCT-1999) 
: 230
members
(115 Partido Socialista,
81 Partido
Social Democrata,
17 Coligação
Democrática Unitária [2 Os
Verdes],
15 Partido
Popular,
2 Bloco do Esquerda)
Sistema Interdepartamental de Informação ao Cidadão
Site of Norte Portugal
Site of Centro portugal
Site of Lisboa e Vale do Tejo
Site of Alentejo
Site of Algarve
Independentist movement : already independent
Regionalist movement : none
Miranda del Douro is a small region in the North-East of
Portugal, by the Spanish border. Mirandese, the Asturian-Leonese
language spoken in this area of Trás-os-Montes district, is
since September 1998 co-official language in Miranda del Douro
area, thanks to a law that was admitted in the Portuguese
Parliament. The former mayor of Miranda del Douro, Júlio
Meirinho (from the Socialist Party) proposed that Mirandese would
achieve the status of co-official language in Portugal and it
wasaccepted.
Mirandese possesses its own spelling system and grammar. It is a
co-dialect of Asturian and the number of its speakers is about 15
000.
Mirandese has been taught in Miranda do Douro school for the last
years.
Some links related to Miranda del Douro (Miranda
do Douro in Portuguese):
http://www.cm-miranda-douro.pt/concelho/mirandes.htm,
http://www.eb2-miranda-douro.rcts.pt/
In the North of Trás-os-Montes district other varieties of
Asturian-Leonese are spoken in Guadramil e Ridonor, but they are
closer to the Sanabrian dialect.
Article written by Xavier F.
Conde
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