Islam in Portugal: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Portugal

Islam first entered in 711 as Tariq bnu Ziyad troops conquered the Iberian Peninsula. It was part of the Umayyad Empire in al-Andalus. As Muslims lost their grip on the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Christian forces continued their slow advance towards the south. They conquered Porto (north) in 868, then Viseu in 1058, then Lisbon (west) in 1147, Évora (middle) in 1166, and finally Faro (south) in 1249. Thus, Portugal was under Muslim control between 157 years in the north and 538 years in the south. The Christians enslaved the Muslim population and confiscated their lands and houses by giving it to Christian settlers from the north. The Muslim population was expelled from Portugal in 1540, most of who settled in north Morocco.

Currently, the Portuguese Republic has a total area of 92,225 sq km, which includes two autonomous regions of the Azores (2,322 sq km) and Madeira (801 sq km). The mainland of Portugal is organized into five regions: Northern (21,286 sq km), Central (28,199 sq km), Lisbon (3,015 sq km), Alentejo (31,605 sq km) and Algarve Region (4,997 sq km).

The Azores archipelago is in the northern Atlantic Ocean, 1,370 km west of Portugal mainland. The islands were uninhabited when they were annexed by Portugal in 1427. There are nine major Azorean islands and an islet cluster, in three main groups. These are Flores (141 sq km) and Corvo (17 sq km), to the west; Graciosa (61 sq km), Terceira (402 sq km), São Jorge (244 sq km), Pico (445 sq km), and Faial (173 sq km) in the center; and São Miguel (745 sq km), Santa Maria (97 sq km), and the Formigas Reef (9 sq km) to the east. They extend for more than 600 km (370 mi) and lie in a northwest-southeast direction.

The Madeira archipelago is also located in the northern Atlantic Ocean, 780 km southwest of Portugal mainland, 660 km west of Morocco and 410 km north of the Canary Islands. The islands were uninhabited when they were annexed by Portugal in 1419. The archipelago consists of the main island of Madeira (741 sq km) where almost all the population lives, Porto Santo (42 sq km), and the Desertas. The latter is uninhabited nature reserve that consists of Deserta Grande (10 sq km), Bugio (3 sq km) and Chão Islet (1 sq km). Madeira is administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage (Selvagens) Islands (3 sq km), located 160 km north of the Canary Islands and 300 km south of Madeira Island, and is also uninhabited nature reserve.

Based on census data, the Muslim population in Portugal increased from none in 1890, to 365 or 0.0% in 1970, to 4,335 or 0.1% in 1981, to 9,134 or 0.1% in 1991, to 12,014 or 0.2% in 2001, to 20,640 or 0.3% in 2011, to 36,480 or 0.4% in 2021. The data was collected from people fifteen years old and above in 2001 and later, and twelve years old in 1991 and before. The difference in 1991 between the two age groups is only 25 Muslims and 4,107 in total population.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by a fifth of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain around 0.1 million throughout this century, comprising to 1.0% of the total population by 2050 and 2.0% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Portugal

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.