Prologue
Presentation
Genealogy
of S.Maltez
Anc/Desc
Family Tree
Maltez
Worldwide
INFO
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Family
Photo Album
Genealogical
Links/Sites
Formmail
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There are over 1100 people named Maltez, in more than 25
countries all over the World distributed according to the diagram below. This
non-comercial site will not only serve as a source of information for those in the family
surfing the web and wishing to know more about our relatives, it also intends ultimately
to become a point of contact for all people surnamed Maltez, who wishes so.
( * ) Angola, Australia,
Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, Honduras,
Luxembourg, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain and Switzerland, altogether.
If you're netting your ancestors or relatives
and you want to have a look inside the list of people surnamed Maltez living in your
country, you should firstly add your own name to the same list, in order to receive a
password that will allow you to enter. For details visit the Formmail
page.
' ... visiting Portugal to know
more bout your ancestors or the land they came from? '
Having in mind all of you with or without connection to Portugal, wishing to visit
the country in order to know more about your ancestors or the land they left, over a
century ago, and would like to have a brief historical glimpse that is not to be
found in tourism leaflets, I'm certain that you'll feel fortunate to travel to a land
whose soil carries evidence points of settlement as early as 10 000 BC. Around the
year 2000 BC there was an inflow av Iberian tribes which eventually mixed with the
Lusitanians who began to migrate into the area as of 700 BC. The Lusitanians (Lusitanos)
were of Celtic (Celta) blood and specially on the northern parts of the country,
left distinct traces of their culture, both archaelogical and ethnical. In the second
century anno Domini the Romans annexed Lusitania, making it a province of their empire.
Later on in the 5th century it would though be conquered by Germanic tribes such as
Suevi and Visigoths (Suevos e Visigodos). Three hundred years later approximately, in the
8th century, the Moors (Muslims) occupied large part of the Iberian peninsula.
In 1128 king D.Afonso Henriques
thanks to his victory in S.Mamede's battle established himself as the ruler of the Condado
Portucalense. His kingship was recognized by the Pope in 1179. King
D.Afonso III ended the portuguese reconquest from the Moors in Algarve, the southernmost
part of the country in 1249, and moved the capital from Coimbra to Lisboa. His son D.Dinis
would found the first universityin 1290. Prince Henry the Navigator (Infante D.Henrique)
was the first guiding spirit of the portuguese discoveries. From 1418 he sent ships almost
every year into the Atlantic. Portugal´s leadership in Europe's overseas expansion was a
remarkable achievement. New knowledge of the of the sea and the world allowed seafarers
and conquistadores to venture far from land. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of
Good Hope, in 1498 Vasco da Gama reached India and in 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral would
arrive in Brazil. Although the portuguese were too few to conquer many of these new
territories, the superiority of their ships and guns and the daring of their sailors
allowed them to defeat their enemies and dominate the Indian Ocean.
In 1755 a terrible earthquake
destroyed a great deal of Lisbon, the prime minister "O Marquês de Pombal" who
ruled the country with an iron hand, rebuild the city, reformed education and developed
fishing, trade and manufacture. He also limited British control over national commerce and
could stand against a spanish invasion (1762) known for the seven years' war. In 1910 the
republican politicians expelled the monarchy and wrote a new democratic constituition. The
country would however sustain a long dictatorship until 25th april 1974 when the
government would be toppled by a military junta, an event which paved the way for freedom,
and for a developed and stable democracy with a modern economy. Portugal receives with
open arms visitors from all over the World. The beaches of white sand, the simple people,
smiling and hospitable, and the golden Sun shining in a sky of deepest blue, will remind
you of a trip of which the pleasant memories will always remain with you. Tourist
facilities are widely available and additional information may be obtained from the
Portuguese National Tourist Office at www.portugal.org .
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