Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, known as Marquis of Pombal, was an 18th century Portuguese statesman. He was the Prime Minister in the government of Joseph I from 1750 to 1777. Pombal is notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. He implemented sweeping economic policies in Portugal to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the institutions of the country. The term Pombal style (Pombalino) is used to describe not only his tenure, but also the architectural style implemented in Lisbon after the great earthquake.

Maria I (Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joana) (Lisbon, December 17th, 1734 – Rio de Janeiro, March 20th, 1816), nicknamed “the Pityful One”(“a Piedosa”) and “the Crazy One” (“a Louca”), was the first Queen of Portugal and Algarves from 1777 until her death, and the Queen of Brazil in late 1815. From 1792 until her death, her eldest son John was regent of the kingdom in her name, due to her mental illness. She was the eldest daughter of King Joseph I.

Manuel Maria de Barbosa l’Hedois du Bocage (Setúbal, 15th of September of 1765 – Lisbon, 21st of December of 1805) was a Portuguese poet and, possibly, the greatest representative of the Lusitanian arcadism. Although, an icon of this literary movement, is a figure inserted in a period of transition from the classic style to the romantic style that will have a strong presence in the Portuguese literature of the 19th century

Infante Dom Henrique de Avis, (Porto, March 4, 1394 – Sagres, November 13, 1460), was the most important figure of the beginning of the era of the discoveries, popularly known as Infant of Sagres or The Navigator. The Infante promoted navigation through the western Atlantic Ocean, during which the archipelago of Madeira (1418/19) was found, and the archipelago of the Azores was discovered (1427). At the same time, it increased navigation along the west coast of Africa, in the south. The great obstacle that was the Cape Bojador that was exceeded in the year of 1434, by Gil Eanes. From there, with the breaking of the great psychological and geographical barrier that was this Cape, the navigation course to the south was made easier.

Luís Vaz de Camões (Lisbon 1524 – Lisbon, June 10, 1579) is considered one of the greatest figures of Portuguesespeaking literature and one of the great poets of the Western tradition. He attended the court of King João III, began his career as a lyric poet and became involved in love with ladies of the nobility and lead a bohemian and turbulent life, wounded a servant of the palace and was arrested. When he was forgiven, he left for the far east, where he wrote his best known work, the nationalist epic “Os Lusíadas”. Camões was a reformer of the Portuguese language and fixed a long-standing canon; Has become one of the strongest symbols of identity of its homeland and is a reference for the entire international Portuguese-speaking community.

Vasco da Gama (Sines, Portugal, 1469 – Kochi, India, 1524) was a navigator and Portuguese explorer. In the Age of Discovery, he was noted for having been the commander of the first ships to sail from Europe to India, on the longest ocean voyage held, superior to a complete return to the world by Ecuador. At the end of his life he was briefly the Viceroy of India.

Roberto Ivens (São Pedro, Ponta Delgada June 12, 1850 – Dafundo, Oeiras January 28, 1898), was an officer of the
Navy, colonial administrator and explorer of the African continent. On April 19, 1883, he was appointed member of the commission responsible for preparing and publishing a collection of Portuguese overseas possession letters. Roberto Ivens was in charge of making the necessary recognitions and explorations to gather the elements and indispensable information in order to reconstruct the geographical chart of Angola. It was necessary to demonstrate the Portuguese presence in the interior of southern Africa. After 14 months of exploration, on June 21, 1885, the expedition finally arrives at Quelimane, in Mozambique, fulfilling all the objectives defined by the government.

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (Lisbon, June 13th, 1888 – November 30th, 1935) was a poet, writer, publiciter, astrologer, literary critic, inventor, entrepreneur, translator, commercial correspondent, philosopher and Portuguese political commentator. Fernando Pessoa is the most universal Portuguese poet. To have been educated in South Africa, at an Irish Catholic school, he became more familiar with English than with Portuguese, having written his first poems in English. It is considered that a great aesthetic creation of Pessoa was an invention of heteronyms that runs throughout his work. The heteronyms are complete poetic personalities: identities that are, originally, false, and become true through their own artistic manifestation and different from the original author.

Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho (Lisbon, February 17th, 1869 – Lisbon, February 18th, 1959) was a cartographer, a geographer, an officer in the Portuguese Navy, a navigator and an historian. With the aviator Sacadura Cabral, he became an aviation pioneer in the first South Atlantic air crossing on the Lusitania hydroplane in 1922.

José Sobral de Almada Negreiros (Trindade, São Tomé and Príncipe, April 7th, 1893 – Lisbon, June 15th, 1970) was a Portuguese multidisciplinary artist who devoted himself mainly to the plastic arts (drawing, painting, etc.) and writing (Novels, poetry, essay, dramaturgy), occupying a central position in the first generation of Portuguese modernists.

Amália da Piedade Rodrigues (Lisbon, July 1st, 1920 – Lisbon, October 6th, 1999) was a Portuguese fado singer and actress, generally recognized as the voice of Portugal and one of the most brilliant female singers of the 20th century. She is buried in the National Pantheon, among the illustrious Portuguese.

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (Lourenço Marques, 25th January, 1942 – Lisbon, 5th January, 2014) was a Portuguese football player, born in Mozambique during the colonial period. He is considered one of the best football players of all time by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. He received the nickname “Pantera Negra” (Black Panther), and helped the Portuguese National Team to reach third place in the 1966 World Championship, being the biggest scorer in the competition. He won the Golden Ball in 1965 and came second in receiving of which in 1962 and 1966. Eusébio played for Sport Lisboa e Benfica 15 of his 22 years. At Benfica he won 11 National Championships.