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Portugal, with its long Atlantic coast, lies on the western side of the Iberian peninsula. The River Tagus divides the more mountainous north from the lower, undulating terrain to the south. In 1974, a bloodless military coup overthrew a long-standing conservative dictatorship. A constituent assembly was elected in 1975 and the armed forces withdrew from politics thereafter. Portugal then began a substantial program of economic modernization and accompanying social change. Membership of the EU has helped underpin this process.