The present-day areas of Libya and Portugal were part of the trade routes of the Phoenicians, who lived here between the 10th and 4th centuries BC.

Since the late 15th century, the corsairs of Tripoli expanded their pirate attacks to further and further areas of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic.

In doing so, they also hindered the trade routes of the Portuguese Empire, as well as those of the emerging maritime powers Spain and England.

Tripoli remained a stronghold of the corsairs, who, in addition to Portugal and Spain, caused problems especially for the new sea powers France, the Netherlands and England until the early 19th century.

However, the activities of the Libyan corsairs had declined since the bombardment of Tripoli (1728) and finally came to a complete standstill at the beginning of the 19th century.

In 1969, the officer Muammar al-Gaddafi came to power in a bloodless coup and transformed the country into an Arab socialist state.

Only after the fall of the dictatorship as a result of the Carnation Revolution in 1974 did Portugal's foreign policy undergo a realignment.

[9] The Portuguese Chamber of Foreign Trade AICEP maintains a contact office at the Portuguese Embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, and there is also a department for Libya in the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon, the Câmara de Comércio e Indústria Àrabe Portuguesa.