Port Philip Association.
An association of Pioneers under John Pascoe Fawkner and John Batman, who were the first colonists to settle on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, and therefore the founders of Melbourne, in 1835.
Porteous Riots.
An outbreak in Edinburgh in 1736, when the mob broke into the Tolbooth and hanged an officer named Porteous, who had been sentenced to death for firing on the crowd at an execution where he was in command of the guard, and afterwards reprieved. After executing their vengeance, the mob dispersed, and none of the rioters were ever detected.
Portroyal.
A religious and literary community established in Paris circ. 1594 by the Arnault family, the leaders of the Jansenists. Pascal was one of its most famous members.
Portugal, Independence of.
In 1640 the weakness of Spain under Charles IV induced the Portuguese nobles, headed by the Archbishop of Lisbon, to throw off their allegiance to the Spanish Crown, and proclaim their legitimate sovereign, the Duke of Braganza, King of Portugal by the title of John IV. The Spaniards accepted the situation, without any effort to maintain their authority.
Portuguese Mars.
Alfonso d’Albuquerque (1453-1515), the famous Indian Viceroy, was so called.