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Continental Portugal or Mainland Portugal (Portuguese: Portugal Continental) is the designation of the mainland Portuguese territory, located on Europe's Iberian Peninsula.

The designation is sometimes used to differentiate the continental territory of Portugal (also known as The Continent - O Continente) from the insular territory of Portugal. The latter is composed by the Madeira and Azores archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean. It is also a NUTS I division (see administrative divisions of Portugal: NUTS for details). While in modern Portugal the difference between continental and total territory is not significant (in terms of area), it mattered during the existence of the Portuguese Empire, when this terminology was used.

The Azores and Madeira archipelagos are also commonly referred to as The Autonomous Regions (As Regiões Autónomas), Insular Portugal (Portugal Insular) or simply The Islands (As Ilhas).

Mainland Portugal has 89,015 km² or 96.6% of the national territory of 92,145 km² and 10,126,880 inhabitants or 95.4% of the total population of 10,617,575.

[edit] See also

• Portugal
  • Metropole
  • Regions of Portugal
  • Autonomous regions of Portugal
    • Azores
    • Madeira
  • Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone