O Independente was first published in May 1988[2][3] by Miguel Esteves Cardoso, who became its first editor, and Paulo Portas,[4] who succeeded him in 1990 and served until 1995 when he left to run for office as a conservative politician.[5]
O Independente was published by Recoletos weekly[1][6] on Fridays. Its headquarters was in Lisbon.[7] The paper had a rightwing, conservative stance and a Eurosceptic discourse.[4]
The last edition of O Independente was published on 1 September 2006.[2][4]