Why are Portugal and Spain so different?

Culturally speaking both countries are not that apart. I believe the biggest differences are matters of national and political identity and of course, linguistic. The Portuguese Kingdom established itself long before Spain was a “thing”. read more

This makes Portugal almost a de facto «island». All the border between Portugal and Spain is populated by defensive castles. It has been 800+ years of war. Besides, Portugal always had very close diplomatic ties with France and England, and received a lot of influence from different parts of the world. read more

France and Spain are in two very different regions, divided by the Pyrenees. German and Poland have never had, at any point in their history, spoken the same language. Spain and Portugal, for almost 1000 years, have spoken Latin and the evolution of their language started after the fall of the Roman Empire. read more

Castilian became the de facto language of Spain following the Reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella (late 1400s CE). Back to the question: The exact dates of when Portuguese and Spanish became distinctly separate is difficult to say but there are examples of Galician-Portuguese in literature from the 800s CE. read more