Portugal–United States relations

The relations between Portugal and the United States are the set of bilateral diplomatic, economic, historical, and cultural relations between those two countries, which have maintained bilateral relations since 1791.

History

Early history

Despite various attempts to set up colonies in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, the Kingdom of Portugal never held any long-lasting or significant colonies in North America due to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which stipulated that the Portuguese were only allowed to set up colonies in the Old World (aside from Brazil, which the treaty failed to account for), leaving the New World open to Spanish colonization. Despite the lack of colonies, a small number of Portuguese individuals did settle in North America prior to the 19th century.

Unlike other European colonial powers such as France and Spain, Portugal did not intervene on behalf of the United States during the American Revolutionary War. This was because of the aforementioned lack of Portuguese colonies in North America and also because of the historic alliance between Portugal and Britain, dating back to the 14th century. Portugal remained neutral throughout the conflict, eventually joining the First League of Armed Neutrality, a league of European states organized by Catherine the Great of Russia to protect neutral shipping, which was often interrupted and seized by the Royal Navy during the war. While the Portuguese military did not participate in the war, some of the aforementioned Portuguese settlers in the Thirteen Colonies did fight, such as the "Virginia Giant" Peter Francisco, a soldier of the Continental Army who was born in the Azores.

In 1791, Portugal became the first neutral nation to establish diplomatic ties with the United States, leading to the arrival of an American legation headed by David Humphreys in Lisbon. Consular relations with the Portuguese island territories of Madeira and the Azores were established in 1790 and 1795 respectively. When the Portuguese court fled to Brazil during the Napoleonic Wars, the American legation followed the court to Rio de Janeiro in 1810 and returned with it to Lisbon in 1822.