Spain recognizes Portuguese independence
On this day · 13 February 1668
After twenty-eight years of war, the Treaty of Lisbon finally undid the Iberian Union and confirmed Portugal as its own kingdom again.
On 13 February 1668, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Lisbon, by which Spain at last recognized Portuguese independence and the legitimacy of the new ruling House of Braganza. The agreement closed the Portuguese Restoration War, a conflict that had simmered since 1640.
For sixty years Portugal had been bound to Spain in the Iberian Union, sharing a crown since 1580. In December 1640 a band of conspirators in Lisbon rebelled and proclaimed the Duke of Braganza king as John IV, igniting nearly three decades of fighting.
The 1668 peace was brokered with English mediation. Spain’s regent, Queen Mariana of Austria, acted for her young son Charles II, while Portugal’s prince-regent Pedro negotiated on behalf of his incapacitated brother, Afonso VI.
Portugal kept its overseas possessions, save the African exclave of Ceuta, which remained — and remains — Spanish. The two Iberian neighbors would never again share a single throne.
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