They have marked the nine centuries of Portuguese history
For its 21st anniversary issue, “Sábado” celebrates on its front page and in its pages the famous figures who have punctuated the country's 900 years of history, ranked by importance by the Portuguese themselves in a survey. The magazine also looks at their genetic makeup, as well as the words or ideas that best define them.
From the top of its mountains, which form almost all of its borders – the oldest in Europe – Portugal has been gazing down on for nine centuries. This rich past is what Sábado is looking at this week , in a special issue marking its 21st anniversary. The weekly magazine goes back in time and explores the country's long history, from the day the man considered its founder, Afonso Henriques, was knighted in 1125.
Later, after his victory at the Battle of Ourique against the Moors, the latter would become the first king of Portugal, in 1143, under the name of Alfonso I. But other great figures, whose caricatures populate the magazine's cover, have left their mark on the country to this day. Figures ranked in order of importance in an “unpublished survey” which reveals “the choice of the Portuguese” . Afonso Henriques is, in their eyes, the most important.
The ranking is completed, in order, by the poet Luís de Camões (whose 500th birthday was celebrated in 2024), and then by more recent figures: Ramalho Eanes, the first democratically elected president of the Republic; the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo; the father of Portuguese democracy, Mário Soares; the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar; the navigator Vasco da Gama; the current head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa; and the hero of the “Carnation Revolution”, Salgueiro Maia. The first woman, the singer Amália Rodrigues, is ranked 18th .
Sábado also looks at the 21 words or ideas that best define the Portuguese. Their language comes first ( "my homeland," for the writer Fernando Pessoa), followed by "April 25," the day of the revolution in 1974, bacalhau (codfish), maritime "discoveries ," fado, the sea, saudade, resourcefulness ( desenrascanço ), wine, religious processions, azulejos, emigration, sardines, Fátima, poetry, the character of Zé Povinho, and football.
Finally, one of the articles in the dossier is dedicated to “Portuguese DNA.” The magazine summarizes: “Characterized by various mixtures and migrations, our genetics are similar to those of Iberia and very marked by the Mediterranean. Only in the south of the country is there a greater influence from sub-Saharan Africa, an effect of the discoveries. Our heritage is much more diverse than that of King Afonso Henriques.”
