Whoever wrote this question is a well travelled person since anyone who
has met the Portuguese knows that they have no specific physical features.
By the end of the fifties of the past century, the Portuguese who lived
in Portugal
were short, somewhat fat, had dark eyes and hair and white skin. I was born in Africa and my parents were Portuguese.
My skin was white; my hair was brown reddish and curled; my skin full of
freckles, my height 1.76. These features were the opposite of the Portuguese
people of that generation.
We all know that the majority of the Portuguese love to travel to other
countries and they are really spread over the whole world. More than 600 years
ago, when they arrived in Bahia ,
Brazil , this
has helped to race miscegenation.
Since my son married a girl from Bahia with Belgian ancestors, for many
years I know people from Bahia : she is a very
tall, slim girl, totally different from the majority of the Brazilian girls,
who are short and strong looking.
I remember being in a restaurant and seeing a 4-generations family
celebrating the 95 birthday of a grandfather. I love the diversity and the
ethnic mixes and I was marvelled looking at that family: the table seemed to be
a framed portrait painted with many colors. The old couple, both of them black,
but in that family there were blacks, mullatos and many truly white with green
eyes and blonde hair.
The person who asked the above question, was she referring solely Portugal , or to
all those who speak Portuguese?
Whoever comes to Portugal ,
upon arrival in Lisbon is going to see such a
mixing of races that the people in Portugal look like a rainbow. And
this since a long time! Who ignores that Portugal was considered the first
global Empire in the History of the world? And also the most powerful country,
from the economic and military point of view?
Why has Portugal
today a human development index (IDH) considered as very high and why is it one
of the nations more peaceful and more global in the world?
It’s because, for a long time, Portuguese went out and brought in
tolerance and a mix of races! My country is the world, my residence is on board
of planes, I don’t intend to be a permanent resident in Portugal , but the more I know about other
countries, the more I recognize that Portugal has many good things which
shall be taught to citizens of other countries!


