Industrialization in Liberal Portugal (1820-1910). Incentives and Obstacles

The history of the industry has not been a subject much to the attention of researchers. In addition to other reasons, the thesis defended by some authors, according to which an Industrial Revolution did not take place in Portugal and, even in Spain, has not contributed to the study of what, effectively, would not have existed. However, as will be seen below, if we move away from the idea of considering only the British model as an expression of industrial development, we find that, in Portugal, there was effectively a certain increase in the secondary sector, between the dawn of liberalism and the proclamation of the First Republic. In addition to the evolution of the political and socio-economic context, the main incentives for industrialization and the reasons for their success will be analyzed. On the other hand, as the process also faced obstacles, the most significant ones will be identified for the fact that industrialization in the country was, in fact, slow and late.