Portugal National Anthem

Key Facts

• 1. Written as a protest song against the British Ultimatum, which forced Portugal to withdraw from territories in Africa
• 2. It was not written as a party song, but it became the marching song of the failed republican revolt in Porto on 31 January 1891, after which the monarchy banned it
• 3. The cry 'Às armas!' ('To arms!') recalls the 'Aux armes' of the French Marseillaise; musicologist Maria José Borges cites the view that Keil deliberately wove reminiscences of the Marseillaise and of fado into the music
• 4. A popular story holds that the chorus once ran 'contra os bretões' (against the Britons) instead of 'contra os canhões' (against the cannons), but copies printed in 1890 already read 'canhões', and historian Rui Ramos calls the story a legend