Two years before Rush's 'A Passage to Bangkok', the operational command center for the April Revolution, carried out in the Algarve, was given the codename 'Bangkok'. Ten thousand kilometers to the west and six months later, inspired by the anti-government uprisings started by students in the Thai capital in October 1973, the revolutionary operation was carried out in the still-isolated Algarve region – included at the last minute – with the aim of occupying the transmitters and repeaters on the summit of Fóia. And it was only included at the insistence of two local captains. Even in the country's democratic revolution, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, the inhabitants of this region of the Algarve had to fight for their inclusion.

To the north of the capital, in Porto, the scene was quite different. At the No. 1 Driving Instruction Centre, operations to take the headquarters were being planned in detail. This eventually took place without major incidents or resistance. But whilst the revolutionaries were being celebrated by the people in the late afternoon of 25 April 1974 on Avenida dos Aliados in Porto, in the Algarve, that celebration would only take place two or three days later; such was the social and political distance from what was happening in the rest of the country. Five decades have passed since Operation Bangkok, and this chronic delay persists. It is as though the southernmost region of the country were still an independent kingdom left to its own devices – the so-called Kingdom of the Algarves. The last to form the territory we now know as Portugal.

In a world where, well into the 21st century, people are still being killed in the name of territorial conquest, we prefer to believe the theory that King Afonso III must have established a friendly pact with the Moors, who, it is said, peacefully accepted the Portuguese alliance. Yet even today, the governance of the Algarve region remains unclear, as the Spanish King holds the title of 'Rey de Los Algarves'.

Without delving into disputes over provenance, a territory is defined, above all, by those who populate and inhabit it. Such as those who built the whitewashed houses with their distinctive chimneys, in all their diversity of architectural and structural expression, achieved through of the various types of rock found in the Algarve's soil and subsoil, such as schist and limestone. But also those who commissioned the construction of mansions and luxury resort-style homes in the post-revolution period, by clearing areas of scrubland adjacent to the Ria Formosa Natural Park. An oasis for foreigners and for the local community. Another Algarve, where water rationing does not seem to apply, lest the region's largest source of income be lost. In Ludo, the outdoor melody provided by the woodlark and the common nightjar is drowned out by the sound of concrete mixers and compressors. In the markets, the chants of the fishmongers behind their stalls mingle with the chatter of curious tourists seeking local experiences, even though the locals prefer the large supermarkets stocked with imported fish. The natural landscape, which varies between shades of green, yellow, red and, of course, blue, is constantly interrupted by large advertising hoardings that have taken the place of the stone pines. Only the dwarf palm manages to withstand the summer drought, the scorching sun and the poor soil. All that remains for us is the 'diabolical' custom, forbidden by Christianity: the worship of the Goddess Maia. Goddess of the earth and fertility. But instead of the broom branch placed on doors to keep 'May' out, in the south the 'Maios' or 'Maias' are decorated at sunrise on 1 May and placed at the doors of houses or along the streets of the eastern Algarve. These figures ward off the dangers and evils of the world. The dangers and evils of the world are warded off with these dolls, around which it was customary to dance all night long. Just as at the Joaninas festivals in the north, where bonfires are lit to give thanks to the gods for a good harvest and to ward off evil spirits. A reminder of times gone by and a sense of nostalgia for community life. The 'Three Ds' revolution brought us freedom and an opening up to capitalism, which has since spread rapidly throughout the country. We observe the industrial north from the vantage point of a horse atop the modernist building: the boss's domain and the space relegated to the worker; to the south, the mass development along the coastline, built for tourists, coexists with the makeshift shelters of the Algarve's inhabitants. The landscape is transforming and leaving its mark; all that remains for us is the sensitivity of those who know how to observe and capture these changes for the sake of building memory.

The 1973 revolution in Bangkok, which is said to have inspired the Portuguese 'Captains of April', steered the fate of this distant Asian country in a very different direction from that currently experienced in Portugal. In our case, this was thanks to the 'Hot Summer' that dictated our fate and, with it, the territory we have today.

Susana Rodrigues, 2024