Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese:
República Portuguesa), is a country located in southwestern
Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost
country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the
west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic
archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The
land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been
continuously settled since prehistoric times. In 29 B.C. the
territory was occupied by the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians when
it was integrated in the Roman Empire as the provinces of
Lusitania and part of Gallaecia. Roman settlers strongly
influenced Portuguese culture, particularly the Portuguese
language, mostly derived from Latin. In the 5th century, after
the fall of the Roman empire, it was occupied by several
Germanic peoples, mainly the Suevi and the Visigoths. In the
early 8th century Muslim Moors conquered those Christian
kingdoms, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula.