Aljubarrota: The battle that defined Portugal

There's no doubt that there's one battle all Portuguese know, even if only by hearing about it: the Battle of Aljubarrota. This great military confrontation between the Portuguese and Castilians, which was crucial to maintaining our country's independence and confirmed that the idea of nationality existed and was strong among the working classes, occurred 640 years ago today—August 14th. The theater of operations was the field known as São Jorge, near the small town of Aljubarrota (municipality of Alcobaça, district of Leiria, former province of Estremadura), and swords and spears began to clang at dusk on that hot summer day in 1385. The skirmish, though fierce, was short-lived, and, contrary to the odds (if there had been any...), the Portuguese, though vastly outnumbered, triumphed beyond doubt, to the point that for decades the Castilians did not recover from the heavy defeat they had suffered. It is worth remembering that at that time, a state called Spain did not yet exist, and the territory of the country now our neighbor was divided among the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Granada (the latter, Muslim). Castile, the largest of all and bordering Portugal, was what posed the threat to our country's independence.

The Battle of Aljubarrota had the greatest impact on our history, as it prevented Portugal from being absorbed by the Castilian Crown and, later, integrated into a unified Spain. It must be emphasized that this was no "just any battle": if the outcome had been the opposite, everything that happened in the Iberian Peninsula from the 14th century onward would have been different, and perhaps even overseas expansion (aka "the Discoveries") would not have unfolded as it did. It suffices to remember that Portugal took to the seas because its back was turned to Castile and the Atlantic Ocean was the only open route open to it. And our neighbors only embarked on this same path when Columbus, having his proposal to sail west to India rejected, went knocking on the next door offering his services.