Continental Portugal or
mainland Portugal is the colloquial term used to distinguish the portion of the
Portuguese unitary state located in the
Iberian Peninsula (and so in
Continental Europe). Mainland Portugal is commonly referred to, by residents living in the archipelagos of the
Azores and
Madeira, as simply
the Continent referring to both the socio-geographic and political status that exists between the islands and
Lisbon. Before 1975, when the Portuguese territory also included several now independent states in Africa, the designation
metrópole was also used.