« The garden of Portugal »

1In March 1916, Germany declared war on Portugal, which, fixed in a century-old alliance with Great Britain, entered the heart of the war : Flanders (France). Portugal, however, had already been fighting in Africa (Angola and Mozambique) since 1914, and with the intervention into the European conflict and the consequent dispatch of thousands of men, the political conflicts in Portuguese society were accentuated. Economic and social problems, due to lack of subsistence and increase in the cost of living lowered, dramatically, the standard of life of the population. Agitation among the workers increased throughout the country.

2Modern tourism blossomed during the nineteenth century. Railways, steamboats, the gradual expansion of the automobile, travel agencies; in all, the culmination of the transport revolution of the nineteenth century resulted in liberation of tourism. Portugal and the Algarve were still somewhat behind, both economically and touristically. This period is disti