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Chapters: Fishing Communities in Portugal, Culture of Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 25. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Fishing is a major economic activity in Portugal. The country has a long tradition in the sector, and is among the countries in the world with the highest fish consumption per capita. Roman ruins of fish processing facilities were found across the Portuguese coast. Fish has been an important staple for the entire Portuguese population, at least since the Portuguese Age of Discovery. The Portuguese fishing sector is divided into various subsectors, which in turn are divided between industrial fishing and artisanal fishing. According to trade union sources, over 50% of fishing workers work in the artisanal area. There are a variety of trade unions and employers' organisations representing sectoral and regional interests. Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone, a seazone over which the Portuguese have special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has 1,727,408 km². This is the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the European Union and the 11th in the world. The fishing sector in Portugal faced deep structural changes in terms of both the volume of its business and its working conditions since adhesion to the European Economic Community in 1986. The fishing fleet dropped from 12,299 vessels of all kinds in 1994 to 10,933 in 1999, while the number of registered fishing workers fell from 31,721 to 27,191. The volume of imported fish increased by 31% from 1990 to 1999, whereas exports decreased by 0.4% over the same period. In 1997, 4,932 people were registered as employees in the fishing sector. In 2004, there were 10 089 vessels registered with a total size of 112 978 GRT and a total power of ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=19592707 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, published by Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc. on September 1, 1998. The length of the article is 4222 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Renaissance time for one of Europe's great coffee cultures. (Portugal's coffee industry)(Industry Overview)
Author: Jonathan Bell
Publication: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 1998
Publisher: Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc.
Volume: v170Issue: n9Page: p14(12)

Article Type: Industry Overview

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The culture of Portugal is rooted in the Latin culture of Ancient Rome, with. Celtiberian (a mixture of pre-Roman Celts and Iberians) and Lusitanian backgrounds. Portugal, as a country with a long history, is home to several ancient architectural structures, as well as typical art, furniture and literary collections mirroring and chronicling the events that shaped the country and its peoples. It has a large number of cultural landmarks ranging from museums to ancient church buildings to medieval castles, which testify its rich national cultural heritage. Portugal was once one of the largest and most powerful cultural, political and economic powers in the world. Starting with the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, since the 16th century to the end of the Estado Novo regime in 1974 Portugal's dominions were transcontinental. Since then Portugal has redefined its role in the world as a member state of the European Union. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1849 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Intended to provide a comprehensive description of the enterprise of education both within the United States and throughout the world. Articles offer a view of the institutions, people, processes, and products found in educational practice. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 498 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Jose Saramago: Journey to Portugal: in Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture.
Author: George Monteiro
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 76Issue: 1Page: 234(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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Tilting Cervantes examines several contemporary texts -- Fight Club, Brazil, The Matrix, and The Moor's Last Sigh, among others -- by reflecting them against a cluster of early modern Spanish and Latin American literary works, principally Don Quixote.Through a deliberate juxtaposition of these cross-cultural and cross-epochal texts, this book explores the notion that each of these varied cultural products can be read -in a very Borgesian manner- as precursors to each other, especially for contemporary readers who may not come to them in their Â"properÂ" chronological order.At the same time, and within this larger juxtaposition, this book examines the interrelated baroque and postmodern preoccupation with mirrors and self-reflexivity, and thus argues that many postmodern writers and performers do not so much break new ground as simply rediscover terrain already explored by such baroque literary figures as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. ... Read more

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Modern Spain is a revelation in this up-to-date overview. Stanton vibrantly describes the startling variety of landscape, people, and culture that make up Spain today. Included are a context chapter and others on religion, customs, media, cinema, literature, performing arts, and visual arts. Students of Spanish and a general audience will be rewarded with engrossing insights into what writer Ernest Hemingway called "the very best country of all." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

High-quality country analysis
This book gives an excellent overview of many aspects of Spain, in chapters entitled Context (geographic setting, languages spoken, etc.), Religion, Customs, Media, Cinema, Literature, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts. Particular attention is given to the changes in these respects that have taken place during the years of societal transition from 1975 and onward. It should thus not be thought of as a traveling guide. Each chapter is followed by a list of references documenting the stuff presented: none goes beyond the year 1999 so the book has obviously been in the editing process several years before appearing. But among the references there are many tips of quality internet sites for those interested to pursue a given topic at greater depth.
As one who has visited Spain many times I recognize much of what is written here as to the point. I sense no tilting to any one side when it comes to presenting controversial topics -and these abound in Spain. If I were a student of Spanish language and/or history, or a retiree contemplating to settle in Spain, I would want to own this book. The drawback is the ridiculous price asked for a 206-page book with only 25 b/w pictures. For this, I detract one star.
(Note that the "Handbook of Spanish popular culture" by the same author is virtually the same book, the main difference being that in this older version there is a separate chapter, Ch. 1, entitled Languages, which is of interest if you are specially looking for a non-technical overview of this. In the 2002 version language is taking a back seat with only a few pages devoted to it within the "Context" chapter 1.) ... Read more

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You'll never feel intimidated and awkward about the customs and etiquette of another country again. With the insights provided in this CULTURE SHOCK! Guide, you'll learn to see beyond the stereotypes and misinformation that often precede a visit to a foreign land. Whether you plan to stay for a week or for a year, you'll benefit from such topics as understanding the rules of driving and monetary systems, religious practices and making friends. There are tips on political traditions, building business relationships, and the particular intricacies of setting up a home or office.Great for the business traveler, the foreign exchange student, or the tourist who makes a sincere attempt to cross the bridge into a new and exciting culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good base knowledge
I bought this book to help prepare myself for an upcoming move to Madrid, Spain. It was pretty easy to read but also very vague. The last copyright date is 1998 which is a bit outdated now.

It's recommended if you want a broad overview of Spain and the history of the country but not if you're looking for more detail or depth.

Disappointing
Very superficial and not very helpful. I expected an analysis of behavior and attitudes and found a superficial description of the most obvious things you see and suffer every day.
Politically correct writing is fine when you don't want to offend a proud Spaniard, but not at all helpful for a struggling stranger.
I cannot recommend this book. For me it was a waste of time.

Culture Shock! Spain
This book - and series - has been very helpful to high school student, doing assignments on the cultures and countries where the languages they're trying to learn are spoken.This series offers these guides for France, Spain and Germany and many others.The information is easily accessible and helpful to any as a solid introduction - and assignment and travel "jump-start".

Good effort but not much there...
After reading some of the other books in the Culture Shock series, I was quite disappointed by this installment.The author obviously has great reverence for Spain, but some of the things in the book were quite upsetting to me.For instance (and as also pointed out by another reviewer), the author has some obvious prejudice against gypsies:

"They are avoided, and most Spaniards are reluctant to get involved with them."(18)

"Traditionally a nomadic people, [gypsies] do not hold regular jobs and many of them turn to begging or petty thievery."(19)

"A few years ago, mugging and bag-snatching were unusual but nowadays one hears of daring snatches in broad daylight, particularly in areas where gypsies abound."(69)

Also, there were quite a few mistakes in her list of "useful words and phrases" (48-50).There were some errors involving spelling, accents, and capitalization.I was surprised that mistakes that could probably be caught by a student of Spanish 1 would not only be made by somebody who had retired to Spain but also go unnoticed by the editor.

Finally, the author keeps stressing that Spaniards are a very proud and private people and stresses that foreigners will never be totally accepted by Spaniards.While this may be true to some point, her wording kind of bothered me, especially since she seems to generalize a LOT.Granted, the whole point of the Culture Shock series is to generalize as much as possible in order to give the foreigner a taste of the country, but I would take everything that the author says with a grain of salt.I get the feeling that her own endeavors to fully integrate herself into Spanish society have proved not as successful as she had hoped, which explains for much of what she says.She takes much of what has personally happened to her (and very often sprinkles these anecdotes into her writing) and uses it as a general representation for all of Spain.

Easy to read, but not very enlightening.
If you know absolutely nothing about Spain, this could be a nice book to very lightly acquaint you with the Spainish culture.It definitely does not live up to it's description.It touches on (one paragraph) many different topics, many of which I would have liked to know more about but just read about what I already know.It's not horrible, just basic.It most definetly does not prepare one for a trip to Spain or if you plan to move there(as I am doing).For example, it tells you there are comprehensive bus and train systems...I need to know their names and how to use them.(of course they have them, anyone would assume that)For me this was a waste of time and money. ... Read more

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From the ancient Phoenicians through Maimonides to Pablo Picasso's retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Moden Art in 1980, this fascinating swift trip through the past spans more than three thousand years of Spain's Andalusian civilization, the oldest in the Western world.

Allen Josephs focuses on the cultural distinctions that have set Andalucia apart throughout recorded history: its Oriental origins, its ancient commerce and industry, its religious practices, and its varied artistic expression of those practices through music, dance, and the drama of toreo. In a marvel of synthesis, Josephs interweaves the writings of poets, historians, and archaeologists from Strabo and Polybius to Adolph Schulten, Richard Ford, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Federico Garcia Lorca to illuminate the pervasive influence of this ancient culture on all Hispanic peoples. ... Read more