Continental Portugal

Continental Portugal (Portuguese: Portugal continental, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣal kõtinẽˈtal]) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 96.6% of the country's land. Mainland Portugal is therefore commonly called by residents of the Portuguese archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira the continent (Portuguese: o continente) in all respects including minor elements of combined governance from Lisbon, the country's capital. Before 1975, when the Portuguese territory also stretched to several now-independent states in Africa, the designation metropolis (Portuguese: metrópole) was also used.

Context

The designation mainland Portugal is used to differentiate the continental territory of Portugal from its insular territory. The latter comprises the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. The Azores and Madeira are also commonly referred to as the autonomous regions (Portuguese: as regiões autónomas), insular Portugal (Portuguese: Portugal Insular) or, simply, the islands (Portuguese: as ilhas).

Continental Portugal is divided into 18 districts. Outside of these the islands of Madeira and the Azores are the Autonomous Regions of Portugal.

The European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics defines the geographic plurality of the mainland Portugal and the islands as the primary NUTS I territorial division (see administrative divisions of Portugal: NUTS for details).

While in modern Portugal the difference between European continental and total territory is minor (in terms of area), it mattered during the existence of the Portuguese Empire, when the distinction was more frequently made, such as in the colonisation of Brazil. Continental Portugal has an area of 89,015 square kilometres (34,369 sq mi) or 96.6% of the Portuguese national territory (92,145 square kilometres (35,577 sq mi)) and 10,142,079 inhabitants (or 95.3% of the total population of 10,639,726).^[1]

Districts

District	Province(s)	EU Statistical region(s)
Viana do Castelo	Minho	Alto Minho
Braga	Minho	Ave Cávado Tâmega e Sousa
Porto	Douro Litoral	Porto Tâmega e Sousa
Vila Real	Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro	Douro Alto Tâmega Ave
Bragança	Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro	Trás-os-Montes (majority) Douro
Aveiro	Beira Litoral (majority) Douro Litoral	Aveiro (majority) Coimbra Porto Tâmega e Sousa
Viseu	Beira Alta (majority) Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Douro Litoral	Viseu Dão Lafões (majority) Douro Beira Litoral Tâmega e Sousa
Guarda	Beira Alta (majority) Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro	Beiras e Serra da Estrela (majority) Viseu Dão Lafões Douro
Coimbra	Beira Litoral (majority) Beira Alta Beira Baixa	Coimbra
Castelo Branco	Beira Baixa	Beira Baixa Beiras e Serra da Estrela Médio Tejo
Leiria	Beira Litoral Estremadura	Leiria Oeste
Santarém	Ribatejo (majority) Beira Litoral Beira Baixa	Médio Tejo Lezíria do Tejo
Lisbon	Estremadura (majority) Ribatejo	Lisbon (majority) Oeste Lezíria do Tejo
Portalegre	Alto Alentejo (majority) Ribatejo	Alto Alentejo
Évora	Alto Alentejo	Alentejo Central
Setúbal	Estremadura Baixo Alentejo	Lisbon Alentejo Litoral
Beja	Baixo Alentejo	Baixo Alentejo (majority) Alentejo Litoral
Faro	Algarve	Algarve

EU Statistical Regions (NUTS II)

NUTS II	Districts (entirely or partly included)
Norte Alto Minho Cávado Ave Porto Douro Tâmega e Sousa Alto Tâmega Trás-os-Montes	Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Aveiro (part), Guarda (part), Viseu (part), Vila Real, Bragança
Centro Beira Baixa Beiras e Serra da Estrela Médio Tejo Oeste Região de Aveiro Região de Coimbra Região de Leiria Viseu Dão Lafões	Castelo Branco, Guarda (majority), Santarém (part), Lisbon (part), Aveiro (majority), Coimbra, Leiria, Viseu (majority)
Lisbon Metropolitan Region Lisbon	Lisbon (majority), Setúbal (part)
Alentejo Alentejo Litoral Alentejo Central Alto Alentejo Baixo Alentejo Lezíria do Tejo	Setúbal (part), Évora, Portalegre, Beja, Santarém (part), Lisbon (part)
Algarve Algarve	Faro