Portuguese Colonial War in the context of "Estado Novo (Portugal)"

The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos), code-named Operation Historic Turn (Operação Viragem Histórica), also known as the 25th of April (25 de Abril), was a military coup in Portugal by officers that overthrew the Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974. The coup produced major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in the European country and its overseas colonies through the Ongoing Revolutionary Process (Processo Revolucionário em Curso). It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and the end of the Portuguese Colonial War. It also had worldwide repercussions by marking the beginning of the third wave of democracy.

The revolution began as a coup organised by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA), composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but it was soon coupled with an unanticipated popular civil resistance campaign. Negotiations with African independence movements began, and by the end of 1974, Portuguese troops were withdrawn from Portuguese Guinea, which became a UN member state as Guinea-Bissau. This was followed in 1975 by the independence of Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in Africa and the declaration of independence of East Timor in Southeast Asia. These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million Portuguese "returned" – the retornados.

This is a list of cities in Portugal. In Portugal, a city (Portuguese: cidade) is an honorific term given to localities that meet several criteria, such as having a minimum number of inhabitants, good infrastructure (schools, medical care, cultural and sports facilities), or major historical importance. The country's demographic expansion in the aftermath of the Carnation Revolution, which brought an end to the Portuguese Colonial War and the arrival of over 500,000 retornados [pt] from Portugal's former colonies in Africa, prompted the elevation of several towns to city status. As of 2023, 159 localities in Portugal are considered a city.